The international oil price benchmark, Brent crude, rose to its highest level since March on Monday as major oil producers cut their output levels and countries eased lock-downs.
The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies reached a deal in April to cut oil production by 9.7 million barrels per day in May and June in a bid to prop up the price of the commodity.
Brent, against which Nigeria’s oil is priced, increased by $2.88 to $35.38 per barrel as of 6:05pm Nigerian time on Monday, ThePUNCH reports.
OPEC said last Friday that the total effective global production adjustments could reach 20.1 million bpd, noting that some of its members, namely Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, had agreed on an additional 1.2 million bpd adjustment.
The Chief Market Analyst at Avatrade, Naeem Aslam, was quoted by Business Insider as saying that Monday was turning out to be a “remarkable day” for both Brent and the US benchmark, West Texas Intermediate.
He said, “The global economy is reopening and the oil glut has eased off.
“It is still unclear if the prices can continue their upward journey at the current pace, and especially if we have a valid reason for the crude price to top the $35.”
Energy Intelligence reported on Monday that OPEC might extend the cuts to the rest of the year, citing an unnamed OPEC delegate.
The Office of Communications, the regulatory authority for the broadcasting and telecommunications industries in the United Kingdom, has sanctioned Loveworld Limited, operators of LoveWorld, a religious cable channel, for airing “unsubstantiated claims linking the pandemic to 5G technology”.
The television network owned by the Founder of Christ Embassy, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, was also penalised for feeding viewers with the claim that coronavirus is a ‘global cover-up’.
In a statement on Monday published on its website, Ofcom stated that the caution followed an investigation into the matter.
The statement read in part, “Our investigation found that a report on Loveworld News included unsubstantiated claims that 5G was the cause of the pandemic, and that this was the subject of a ‘global cover-up’.
“Another report during the programme suggested hydroxychloroquine as a ‘cure’ for Covid-19, without acknowledging that its effectiveness and safety as a treatment was clinically unproven, or making clear that it has potentially serious side effects.
“There is no ban on broadcasting controversial views which are different from, or which challenge, official authorities on public health information. However, given the unsubstantiated claims in both these programmes were not sufficiently put into context, they risked undermining viewers’ trust in official health advice, with potentially serious consequences for public health.
“Given these serious failings, we concluded that Loveworld Limited did not adequately protect viewers from the potentially harmful content in the news programme and the sermon, and the news reports were not duly accurate. Loveworld Limited must broadcast our findings and we are considering whether to impose any further sanction.”
The PUNCH reports that Oyakhilome had alleged in April on the cable TV that the fifth generation of wireless communications technologies supporting cellular data networks was initiated to facilitate a “new world order”.
He had argued that the pandemic was created to instil fear among people in actualising the alleged agenda and that the 5G technology was an initiative of “the Anti-Christ”.
The comments courted controversy with the Federal Government of Nigeria and clerics knocking Oyakhilome for propounding such claims for which he would later backtrack on, saying he was only opposed to the initiative because of its perceived health risks.
“No matter how interested I am in the 5G, I’m going to put health first,” he had said in a rejoinder.
Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has reacted to the cancellation of the planned nationwide broadcast by President Muhammadu Buhari as the first phase of the lockdown ease elapses.
247NNU had reported that the President was due to address the nation but instead the presidential committee on coronavirus will brief the nation on the next step as the first phase of the lockdown ease ends
Reacting, Kanu on his Twitter page said the cancellation of nationwide broadcast shows Buhari is not fit to rule Nigeria.
His tweet read: “China must stop propping up a dead rogue regime in #ZooNigeria that has no living President or Vice.
“Cancellation of purported ‘presidential’ speech is the recognition you cannot rule 200M people with GUNS, few theatrical masks and DEEP FAKE engineered videos. “
Meanwhile, there are speculations that Buhari may impose ‘isolated lockdown in Lagos, Kano and other top states in Nigeria with high COVID-19 cases
The Governor of Lagos State, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has said government officials will be visiting churches, mosques, companies to evaluate their preparedness to fully reopen.
According to him, social distancing and hygiene will be prerequisites to reopening religious places of worship in the state.
Sanwo-Olu stated these at a briefing on Sunday after the State Security Council meeting at the Lagos House, Marina.
He noted that with the size of the state’s economy and numbers of businesses operating in its domain, the government could not afford to keep people and businesses on lockdown permanently.
The governor said in the coming days, officials from the Lagos State Safety Commission and Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency would be assessing the readiness of the players in identified sectors for supervised operations.
He said, “We are at a level where we are reviewing the other arms of the economy. In the coming days, we will be starting what we call Register-to-Open, which means all players in the restaurant business, event centres, entertainment, malls and cinemas, will go through a form of re-registration and space management.
“There is a regulation that will be introduced to supervise this move. We will be coming to their facilities to assess their level of readiness for a future opening. I don’t know when that opening will happen in the weeks ahead, but we want these businesses to begin to tune themselves to the reality of COVID-19 with respect to how their work spaces need to look like.
“For us, it is not to say they should re-open fully tomorrow or any time; there has been a process guiding the re-opening.
“We will be mandating LASEPA and safety commission to begin the enumeration process and the agencies will be communicating with all relevant businesses and houses in the days ahead. I must, however, caution that this should not be misinterpreted as a licence for full opening; it is certainly not. The state’s economy is not ready for that now.”
Sanwo-Olu said the government agencies would also be visiting places of worship ahead of full reopening.
He stressed that social distancing and hygiene would be fully considered in determining whether mosques and churches could re-open.
“We are reviewing and considering how the phased unlocking will happen. If we see huge level of compliance, then it can happen in the next two to three weeks. If not, it could take a month or two months. It is until we are sure all these players are ready to conform to our guidelines,” the governor said.
Sanwo-Olu urged businesses, religious houses and residents to maintain the status quo, while the state worked out modalities for full re-opening.
He also disclosed that all the 10 members of staff of the Government House who tested positive for the coronavirus had fully recovered and returned to their beats.
The Presidency has said that the President, Muhammadu Buhari, will not make any broadcast on COVID -19 updates today.
Buhari’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, made this known on Monday afternoon via Twitter.
He said the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 led by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, would update the nation during its briefings.
“No presidential broadcast on COVID-19 updates today.
“None was planned. Rather, the Presidential Task Force will during its usual media briefings bring the nation up to speed on the next steps,” he tweeted.
Madagascar has registered its first coronavirus death, a 57-year-old medical worker who suffered from diabetes and high blood pressure, the national COVID-19 taskforce said on Sunday.
Taskforce spokeswoman Hanta Danielle Vololontiana said in a televised statement that the man died on Saturday night.
“A man died from COVID-19 in Madagascar … he is 57 years old and a member of the medical staff,” she said
Members of the Cross River state COVID-19 taskforce disrupted a wedding that held at the Christ Apostolic Church in Calabar, the state capital yesterday Saturday May 16.
The state government banned public gathering as part of efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19.
A video shared online shows the intending couple and their guests taking to their heels as men of the task force stormed the church service.
Members of the Cross River state COVID-19 taskforce disrupted a wedding that held at the Christ Apostolic Church in Calabar, the state capital yesterday Saturday May 16.
The state government banned public gathering as part of efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19.
A video shared online shows the intending couple and their guests taking to their heels as men of the task force stormed the church service.
Nigerian singer, Tiwa Savage has teased that she might have to go naked in her next musical video shoot in order to beat the accolades her last project received.
The 40-year-old vocalist, who recently put out ‘44-99‘, a song which was accompanied by detailed visuals, was speaking to BBC on what to expect from her forthcoming album entitled ‘Celia’.
“I might just have to go butt naked in my next video, because I don’t know what else I’m going to have to do to top that one!,” Tiwa Savage said.
“And, just to put it out there, this was done in Nigeria. All the cast is Nigerian, the director, the AP, everybody is Nigerian.
“I love the fact that I could present this to the label and say this was done in Africa by Africans, this is what we can do. Imagine when you invest in us even more, you would get amazing work.”
Speaking on what fans are to look out for as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to discourage showbiz releases, Tiwa said she might end up shooting her next video at home using her iPhone.
“We’re going through this pandemic, so the idea was I want to let them know that I’m still a boss, that I’m still beautiful, that I’m still African,” she explained.
“People have been really really creative with it which is amazing. The album is a whole mix of the emotions an African woman goes through: love, aspiration, being bossy, being sexy, being vulnerable.
“All of that is what I think the modern African woman is, and that’s what I wanted to portray. It’s really touched my heart to see that people are having a hard time during this. I mean we’re blessed to be at home, we have light, we can pile up food for months if we want to.
“But there’s some people who can’t, people who only have money for today or food for today. So this pandemic has really opened my heart to the real situation of where the world is right now.”
Last year, Tiwa had left Don Jazzy’s Mavin Records and joined the Universal Music Group (UMG), a US music company that boasts of artistes like Rihanna, Taylor Swift, and Lady Gaga.
Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State, on Friday lifted the ban on religious gatherings across the State with immediate effect from May 15.
Mr Uchenna Orji, Commissioner for Information and Orientation, disclosed this in a statement issued in Abakaliki on Friday as part of measures to ease COVID-19 lockdown in the State.
He added that the decision was made following an appeal from by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the State.
He, however, announced that all churches are to observe their services only on Sundays from 9.am to 11.am.
“The re-opening of the worship centres must however, be under strict observance of the state laws and must be once a week.
“Seventh Day Adventists and Muslim faithful are to observe their services on Saturdays and Fridays, respectively and also from 9.am to 11.am.
“No religious centre shall permit more than 50 people and worshippers must observe a minimum of two metres social distancing from one another,” he said.
Orji said that wearing of face masks, washing of hands with running water and use of sanitisers must be strictly observed in all religious centres.
“No religious service is allowed to hold any other day than the days specified herein and which must be in strict observance of all COVID-19 laws and regulations,” he added.
He urged CAN to close down any religious gathering and arrest the principal of the worship centre, which violates this order, NAN reports.
Orji told religious leaders to use the medium to advise members on the need to ensure strict compliance and discipline.
