Following reports that the United Kingdom is implementing a new ‘Health and Care Visa’ policy to attract the best doctors in Nigeria and other parts of the world, the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire has advised Nigerian doctors with emigration plans to reconsider.

Speaking during Thursday’s Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 briefing, the Health Minister discouraged such plan by Nigerian doctors, stressing that they will not be paid hazard allowances in the United Kingdom.

“I think we are one of the few countries giving hazard allowance. Now, this UK where they are going to, there’s no hazard allowance. They don’t give doctors hazard allowance. You just get your salary, that’s all. I’ve spoken to doctors there and they said it’s part of their job, part of what they’re trained for. But here, apart from your salary, we still try to add something to it in the hope that we’re going to attract our people to stay,” Ehanire said.

Punch reports that until June, medical doctors in Nigeria earned as meagre as N5,000 in hazard allowances monthly. The ‘Health and Care Visa’ policy allows for a cheaper and more comfortable way for healthcare professionals to move to the UK.

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Wizkid releases new song featuring popular American singer, H.E.R

Nigerian singer and songwriter, Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun, popularly known as Wizkid, celebrated his 30th birthday on Thursday, gifting his fans a new song titled ‘Smile.’

The song features Grammy Award winning American singer and songwriter, Gabriella Wilson popularly known as H.E.R and it is reported to be a single off Wizkid’s forthcoming album, Made In Lagos.

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Buhari presented with Nigeria’s first artisanally-mined gold

President Muhammadu Buhari, was on Thursday, presented with Nigeria’s first artisanally-mined gold by the Presidential Artisanal Gold Mining Development Initiative (PAGMDI). President Buhari asserted that the Federal Government is committed to establishing gold refineries in Nigeria; assuring the public that gold mining would earn the country over $500 million annually and help create 250,000 jobs for Nigerians.

“These developments will also help in improving our foreign reserves by enabling the Central Bank of Nigeria to increase the amount of gold in its reserves,” he said.

President Buhari in 2019, inaugurated the PAGMDI to address the issues of illegal gold smuggling and to facilitate the integration of artisanal gold mining into the formal sector.

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National Assembly Commission queries clerk over insubordination

The National Assembly Service Commission (NASC) has queried the Clerk of National Assembly(CNA), Mohammed Sani-Omolori, over the reported offence of ‘gross insubordination.’ Sani-Omolori has been given 24hours to reply to the query, explaining why disciplinary action should not be taken against him.

Crisis leading up to this query started when Omolori issued a press release that fixed the retirement age for a staff of the National Assembly as 40 years of service or 65 years of age.  

The Commission responded to the press release with a query; stating that a Clerk has no authority whatsoever to dictate anything to the Commission, emphasising that Omolori’s press release is considered gross insubordination to a constituted authority.

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NCDC confirms 595 new cases of coronavirus

595 new cases of #COVID19Nigeria;

Lagos-156
Ondo-95
Rivers-53
Abia-43
Oyo-38
Enugu-29
Edo-24
FCT-23
Kaduna-20
Akwa Ibom-17
Anambra-17
Osun-17
Ogun-14
Kano-13
Imo-11
Delta-6
Ekiti-5
Gombe-4
Plateau-4
Cross River-2
Adamawa-1
Bauchi-1
Jigawa-1
Yobe-1 pic.twitter.com/XQfsmVTlAZ

— NCDC (@NCDCgov) July 16, 2020