ALL THE RELEVANT NEWS: MONDAY

29 Nov ALL THE RELEVANT NEWS: MONDAY

🌍Canada confirmed two cases of Omicron COVID variant in two individuals who recently travelled from Nigeria, as the virus spread around the world on Sunday.

* But the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said, also yesterday, that although it is monitoring emerging evidence on Omicron variant and its implication, the variant has so far not been detected in Nigeria. The NCDC reported 110 new cases on Sunday, from 58 on Saturday.

* Nigeria Caseload: The NCDC reported 110 new cases, 70 recoveries and one death on Sunday. So far, Nigeria has confirmed 214,092 infections, 207,254 recoveries and 2976 deaths

🌍Oil prices rebounded on Monday as investors looked for bargains after Friday’s slump and on speculation that OPEC+ may pause an output increase in response to the spread of Omicron, but the mood remained cautious with little known about the new variant. Brent crude futures climbed $3.17, or 4.4%, to $75.89 a barrel by 0748 GMT, after falling $9.50 on Friday.

* OPEC and its allies have postponed technical meetings to later this week, giving them more time to assess the impact of the new Omicron coronavirus variant on oil demand and prices

🌍Bank of Industry (BoI) Limited has received an upgraded rating from ‘Aa’ to ‘Aaa’ with a stable outlook by a leading African credit rating agency, Agusto & Co.

🌍The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), has established a new Domestic Base Price (DBP) framework and applicable gas wholesale price for the domestic sector.

🌍Minister of Transportation, Amaechi, has called for an urgent review of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria bill to improve best practices in the country’s port system.

🌍The NCC has commenced sensitization campaigns to stamp out Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) swaps and Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) e-payment frauds in a bid to check cyber threats in the telecom industry.

🌍The FG on Sunday announced a six-day traffic diversion on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, starting today, to speed up construction works.

🌍Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, has described the panel the Lagos State Government set up to probe police brutality as illegal.

🌍Gunmen were trapped inside Jos Prison after attacking the Custodial Centre on Sunday but normalcy has been restored in the facility.

🌍The police have arrested Abdullahi Usman, a senior immigration officer, over his alleged role in the invasion of the residence of Mary Odili, a Supreme Court judge.

🌍Security Stories: Police authorities have confirmed the release of 10 of the 13 abducted workers of the Zaria Local Government Council in Kaduna State. The workers, who were on their way to Giwa from Zaria to commiserate with a colleague who lost his father, were kidnapped after being misled to the kidnappers den by a bandit collaborator on November 8.

* Gunmen, suspected to be pirates, in the early hours of Sunday, attacked two oil installations, killing three and abducting seven oil workers in Bayelsa State.