They're spying on you 🔦
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It’s a global climate crisis.
In Today’s issue
Sanwo-Olu vs Lagos thieves vs COVID
Lawmakers approve budget for National Intelligence Agency (NIA) to monitor WhatsApp
The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) says news outlets are telling too much bad news. Urges them to stop it
FG apprehends 3 Israelis for allegedly speaking with IPOB supporters
#Hero! Sanwo-Olu takes down thieves and COVID
When he is not physically apprehending suspected traffic thieves, the Governor of Lagos State (Sanwo-Olu) is tracking COVID. Last week, he informed that Nigeria is very possibly on the verge of a third wave of the pandemic.
Sanwo-Olu revealed that the number of confirmed cases, which had earlier reduced to one percent average as of the end of June, has suddenly increased to 6.6 percent rate as of July 8
Premium Times reports that the majority of the new COVID cases recorded are in Lagos
Last week, the University of Lagos directed an emergency shutdown of all on-campus accommodations, after a rise in the number of cases on campus.
Not gotten the vaccine? Don't worry. The Federal Government announced that Nigeria is expecting an additional 8million vaccines by the end of August
By the end of July, they're scheduled to get another delivery of 3.924 million doses of Oxford/AstraZeneca from the global vaccine-sharing scheme, COVAX.
They'll also be receiving Pfizer/Biotech or Moderna from COVAX and 29.85 million doses of Johnson & Johnson, by the start of Q3.
Still skeptical? Here's a short article by Healthline on how vaccines work.
Vaccine Elitism
Meanwhile, the EU is excluding people who have certain vaccines from the list eligible for their "digital vaccine certificate".
The digital certificate is supposed to allow people who have been vaccinated to move freely in the EU- without the need to quarantine for 14 days.
The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is one of those excluded from their list. While it is recognized by major global health custodians World Health Organization and the United Nations, the EU says the manufacturers did not apply for their approval (even though it was created and tested as an emergency response to a pandemic).
While the initial plan was to allow all vaccinated people to obtain the certificate, some countries in the region have however decided that only those vaccines verified by their regulatory board are eligible for the vaccine.
Countries like Germany and Malta have excluded themselves from this what some experts have described as "vaccine elitism".
The Cable reports that Kano is currently experiencing a cholera outbreak that is spreading faster than medical staff and hospitals can handle.
Bandits: Our other “out-of-control” plague
In Kaduna, the Emir of Kajuru, Alhassan Adamu has been kidnapped by "Bandits", along with his staff, 3 wives, and 2 of his grandchildren.
The Emir was released days later, but the others are still in captivity.
The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has asked broadcast stations in Nigeria to stop reporting details of attacks by bandits and insurgents.
They said it’s just too much and that all the reporting with "too many details" is "leading Nigerians in daily hysteria".
They want broadcasts to "collaborate with the government in dealing with the security challenges" by "Not giving too many details".
They also said broadcasters should be careful not to "give details of either the security issues or victims of these security challenges so as not to jeopardize the efforts of the Nigerian soldiers and other security agents.”
Meanwhile, the House of Reps has realized that poor infrastructure, lack of jobs, and poverty are the leading drivers of insecurity.
Last week, they asked President Muhammadu Buhari to "declare a state of emergency" on unemployment.
“Target poverty as a must; as poverty is the main driver for all the insecurity issues currently prevalent across the nation”.
Putting a Number on it: A recent study by the UN found that in the last 12 years, 13.1 million people in northern Nigeria have been affected by conflict, out of whom over 350,000 have died as a direct or indirect result of “Bandit” attacks.
More on censorship: They’re tracking your WhatsApp
Among the items in the recently passed 2021 budget is N4.8 billion allocated to the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) to monitor WhatsApp, Thuraya, and other major communication and SMS platforms.
This is the latest in the FG's censorship tactics.
Last month, reports revealed that shortly after "temporarily" banning Twitter, the FG met with the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) to discuss plans to build an internet (mega) firewall
A few weeks ago, Buhari noted that Nigeria can't afford to improve education in the country.
ICPC says Nigeria won't need loans if looted funds are repatriated. They'll have enough to invest in more fancy censorship gadgets. yay
Speaking of out of control…
Last week, the DSS detailed 3 Israeli filmmakers for "coming into contact with" IPOB activists.
According to their families, their lawyers, and local recounts, the three men were visiting Anambra to film the Jewish scene for a documentary they're working on. They also visited Kenya, Uganda, and Madagascar
The Israelis are said to have been arrested on the 9th of July, at a synagogue in Ogidi, Anambra. They are still in detention.
Election drama
Senate (finally) rejects Buharist Lauretta Onochie for INEC Commissioner. After much back and forth and petitions and indecision, the lawmakers finally decided that a visibly biased person cannot be on the independent electoral commission.
More definitive decisions
After weeks of debates on whether or not to make electoral counts transmittable digitally, the Senate has finally passed the bill.
We recently reported that the lawmakers were working to pass the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, and they attempted to remove a clause to make elections more transparent by digitizing it.
Some Senate members and other stakeholders were not having it, so they reached a compromise: the digital transmission of election results will be dependent on responsible reportage by the National Communications Commission. And The National Assembly is in charge of determining what is "responsible".
The Senate also passed an Electoral Offense bill that proposes to sentence anyone that steals a ballot box, and anyone who attempts to obstruct elections at polling units to 20 and 10 years in prison respectfully.
Don't forget to register to vote!
INEC has moved the start date for physical registration from the 19th to the 26th of July due "partly to public holidays on the 20th and 21st"
Festus Okoye, the INEC national commissioner, says those who have online appointments for 19th to 23rd will be rescheduled.
If you haven't yet, you can register to vote here
Other News
People’s Gazette reports that 7 protesting workers were killed by soldiers at Dangote Sugar in Adamawa* last week
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced the restriction of the importation of sugar into the country to only 3 companies: BUA Sugar Refinery Limited, Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, and Golden Sugar Company (Nairametrics)
Cuba president denounces unrest as a ‘lie,’ calls protest images ‘false’ (The Guardian Ng)
UAE finds antiviral drug used to treat Covid-19 to be 100% effective at preventing deaths and hospital admissions among coronavirus patients (The National News)
Nigerian lawmakers want to slash DStv prices without a clear path on Pay-As-You-Go (TechCabal)
*The original version of this incorrectly stated that solders killed 7 at Dangote Sugar in Anambra. It happened in Adamawa, not Anambra
Recommended read
For Aeon, Alexander Stern writes that the struggle to find your “true self” has created another avenue for corporations to profit off our innermost desires. ‘Finding yourself’ is a sham