Lai Mohammed lied about police killing of petrol attendant – Abia govt

      Abia State Government has countered a claim made by the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, over the recent killing of a petrol attendant in the state.

     Mr Mohammed, during a recent briefing of the presidential task force on COVID-19 said the man was killed by a motorist, and not the police. “The petrol attendant was not actually killed by the policeman,” Mr Mohammed had said. “Fact at our possession is that the policeman hit a Keke, people were protesting so during the protest another motorist hit the petrol attendant.”

   Continuing, he said, “Well, it does not matter who killed, a life is very precious but we just wanted to establish the fact of the matter that the petrol attendant actually died when he was hit by an oncoming vehicle during the protest.” The Commissioner for Information in Abia, John Kalu, in a statement on Friday, however, insisted that the petrol attendant, Chibuisi Okameme, was shot dead by a police officer, contrary to the minister’s claims.

U.S. states to cut oil production

     U.S. President Donald Trump has disclosed that Texas, Oklahoma, and North Dakota will cut their oil production, without giving specifics on numbers, amid a glut in energy supplies and shortages of storage that led to massive drops in prices on the market. “They gotta cut,” Trump said, speaking to reporters at the White House.

    He also said Canada would make cuts. “I want to help that industry,” Trump said, calling himself an “energy person.” He described the cuts as a “natural” evolution, responding to the market. The benchmark U.S. oil price, West Texas Intermediate (WTI), plummeted to an unprecedented minus 37 dollars at the end of Monday’s session.

WHO Appoints Okonjo-Iweala As COVID-19 Special Envoy

 

  The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Friday named former Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, as a Special Envoy for the newly inaugurated Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator.

   She is to serve alongside British business executive, Sir Andrew Witty in the same capacity, to mobilise international commitment to the initiative. Director-General of the organisation, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, made the announcement during the launch of the ACT Accelerator — via webinar from Geneva.

Liverpool legend Carragher’s wife tests positive for Coronavirus

  Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher has revealed his wife Nicola has tested positive for coronavirus and is now second person in his family to contract the virus.

One Million Masks Purchased From China Unfit For Health Workers – Canada Government

     The Canadian government said Friday that one million KN95 masks imported from China did not meet its strict standards and so could not be distributed to frontline health workers amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The Public Health Agency of Canada “has identified approximately one million KN95 masks as non-compliant with specifications for healthcare settings,” a spokesman told AFP. “These items were not distributed to provinces and territories for frontline health care response, and are being subsequently assessed for use in non-healthcare settings,” he said.

   Chinese model KN95 masks are similar to N95 masks, as well as the FFP2 model used in Europe. “Much of the world’s supply is manufactured in China and moving materials out of that country is highly complex,” said Public Services and Procurement Minister Anita Anand. The relationship between Ottawa and Beijing has been on the rocks ever since the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, an executive at Chinese telecoms giant Huawei, in December 2018 in Vancouver.