Headlines
Nigeria COVID-19 Cases Rise to 5, 162 with 193 New Infections
Nigeria on Thursday recorded 193 new cases of COVID-19 as the number of infected people exceeded 5,000. Three people also died from the virus on Thursday.
According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), with Thursday’s figure, the total tally of infected people in the country rose to 5,162, from 4,971 reported on Tuesday evening.
The public health agency in a tweet Thursday night said the new cases were reported in 15 states. These are Lagos, Kano, Jigawa, Yobe, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Ogun, Plateau, Gombe, imo, Edo, Kwara, Borno, Bauchi, Nasarawa and Ondo states.
All the reporting states already had at least a case of the virus.
“Till date, 5, 162 cases have been confirmed, 1, 180 cases have been discharged and 167 deaths have been recorded in 34 states and the Federal Capital Territory,” the NCDC said.
The details of the 193 new cases are as follows: Lagos – 58, Kano – 46, Jigawa – 35, Yobe – 12, FCT – 9, Ogun – 7, Plateau – 5, Gombe – 5, Imo – 4, Edo- 4, Kwara – 3, Borno – 3, Bauchi – 1, Nasarawa – 1 and Ondo – 1.
Nigeria has so far tested 30,657 persons since the beginning of the pandemic in the country.
A breakdown of all the confirmed cases so far shows that 5,162 infections have been reported in Nigeria since the index case in February. Of that number, 3,815 cases are still active, 1,180 have recovered and have been discharged, and 167 deaths have been reported.
NCDC said two cases reported Wednesday from Kaduna, were repeat tests. Therefore, Kaduna has a total of 114 confirmed cases
“We apologise to @contactkdsg and remain committed to ensuring the release of accurate and reliable data,” it said.
A breakdown of the 5,162 confirmed cases shows that Lagos State has so far reported 2, 099 cases, followed by Kano – 753, FCT – 379, Katsina – 224, Bauchi – 207, Borno – 191, Jigawa – 176, Ogun – 134, Gombe – 124, Kaduna – 114, Sokoto – 112, Edo – 92, Zamfara – 73, Oyo – 73, Kwara – 56, Osun – 42, Rivers – 33, Yobe – 32, Kebbi – 31, Nasarawa – 29, Plateau – 25,:Delta – 22, Adamawa – 21, Ondo – 19, Taraba – 17, Akwa Ibom – 17, Ekiti – 15, Enugu – 12, Niger – 10, Ebonyi – 9, Imo – 7, Bayelsa – 6, Benue – 4, Anambra – 2 and Abia – 2.
Since the federal and state governments eased the lockdown in various states, many Nigerians have flouted the guidelines put in place by the government to combat the spread of the disease.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, during the Presidential Task Force briefing on Thursday said the countdown to the end of the first phase of eased lockdown approved by the president begins on Thursday so that the economy could gradually reopen.
He said the government is also assessing the level of compliance with the guidelines and the impact on slowing down the spread of COVID 19.
Mr Mustapha said, “The statistics on COVID 19 have continued to come out daily and the indications are that our testing strategy is yielding results because we can now give care to those that need it.”
“In due course, we shall make further recommendations before the second phase commences,” he said.
Premium Times
President Bola Tinubu has nominated Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas, the immediate past sole administrator of Rivers State and a former Chief of Naval Staff, as a non-career ambassador.
Tinubu also nominated Ita Enang, a former senator; Chioma Ohakim, former First Lady of Imo State; and Abdulrahman Dambazau, former Minister of Interior and ex-Chief of Army Staff, as non-career ambassadors.
The United States Department of State on Wednesday announced that it is outlining new measures to address violence against Christians in Nigeria and other countries.
The policy, according to a statement released by the department, targets radical Islamic terrorists, Fulani ethnic militias, and other actors responsible for killings and attacks on religious communities.
“The United States is taking decisive action in response to the mass killings and attacks on Christians carried out by radical Islamic terrorists, Fulani militias, and other violent groups in Nigeria and beyond,” said Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a statement.
According to the statement, a new policy under Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act allows the State Department to restrict visas for individuals who have “directed, authorised, significantly supported, participated in, or carried out violations of religious freedom,” and, when appropriate, extend those “restrictions to their immediate family members.”
The briefing, led by House Appropriations Vice Chair and National Security Subcommittee Chairman Mario Díaz-Balart, included members of the House Appropriations and House Foreign Affairs Committees, as well as religious freedom experts.
Participants included Representatives Robert Aderholt, Riley Moore, Brian Mast, Chris Smith, US Commission on International Religious Freedom Chair Vicky Hartzler, Alliance Defending Freedom International’s Sean Nelson, and Dr Ebenezer Obadare of the Council on Foreign Relations.
President Bola Tinubu recently approved Nigeria’s delegation to the new US–Nigeria Joint Working Group, formed to implement security agreements from high-level talks in Washington led by National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu.
The move follows growing concerns over terrorism, banditry, and targeted attacks on Christians in Nigeria, prompting increased US scrutiny and warnings about the protection of vulnerable faith communities.
On November 20, the US House Subcommittee on Africa opened a public hearing to review Trump’s redesignation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern, placing the country under heightened scrutiny for alleged religious-freedom violations.
Lawmakers examined the potential consequences of the designation, which could pave the way for sanctions against Nigerian officials found complicit in religious persecution.
The Punch
United States of America lawmakers have sharply contradicted the Nigerian government’s position on the ongoing massacres in the country, describing the violence as “escalating,” “targeted,” and overwhelmingly directed at Christians during a rare joint congressional briefing on Tuesday.
The closed-door session – convened by House Appropriations, Vice Chair Mario Díaz-Balart, as part of a Trump-ordered investigation – examined recent killings and what Congress calls Abuja’s “deeply inadequate” response.
President Trump has asked lawmakers, led by Reps. Riley Moore and Tom Cole, to compile a report on persecution of Nigerian Christians and has even floated the possibility of U.S. military action against Islamist groups responsible for the attacks.
At the briefing, Vicky Hartzler, chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, warned that “religious freedom [is] under siege” in Nigeria, citing mass abductions of schoolchildren and assaults in which “radical Muslims kill entire Christian villages [and] burn churches.” She said abuses were “rampant” and “violent,” claiming Christians are targeted “at a 2.2 to 1 rate” compared with Muslims.
While acknowledging Nigeria’s recent move to reassign 100,000 police officers from VIP protection, Hartzler said the country is entering a “coordinated and deeply troubling period of escalated violence.” She urged targeted sanctions, visa bans, asset freezes and tighter conditions on U.S. aid, insisting Abuja must retake villages seized from Christian communities so displaced widows and children can return home.
The strongest rebuke came from Dr. Ebenezer Obadare of the Council on Foreign Relations, who dismissed Abuja’s narrative that the killings are not religiously motivated. He called the idea that extremists attack Muslims and Christians equally a “myth,” stressing the groups operate “for one reason and one reason only: religion.” Higher Muslim casualty figures, he argued, reflect geography, not equal targeting.
Obadare described Boko Haram as fundamentally anti-democratic and accused the Nigerian military of being “too corrupt and incompetent” to defeat jihadist networks without external pressure. He urged Washington to push Nigeria to disband armed religious militias, confront security-sector corruption and respond swiftly to early warnings.
Sean Nelson of ADF International called Nigeria “the deadliest country in the world for Christians,” claiming more Christians are killed there than in all other countries combined and at a rate “five times” higher than Muslims when adjusted for population. He said extremists also kill Muslims who reject violent ideologies, undermining Abuja’s argument that the crisis is driven mainly by crime or communal disputes.
He pressed for tighter oversight on U.S. aid, recommending that some assistance be routed through faith-based groups to avoid corruption. Without “transparency and outside pressure,” he said, “nothing changes.”
Díaz-Balart criticised the Biden administration’s reversal of Trump’s designation of Nigeria as a “country of particular concern” in 2021, saying the decision had “clearly deadly consequences.” Lawmakers from the Appropriations, Foreign Affairs and Financial Services committees signaled further oversight actions as they prepare the Trump-directed report.
Hartzler pointed to recent comments by Nigeria’s Speaker of the House acknowledging a “coordinated and deeply troubling period of escalated violence,” calling it a rare moment of candor. She also welcomed the redeployment of police officers as “a promising start after years of neglect.”
But she stressed that these gestures are far from sufficient, insisting the Nigerian government must demonstrate a real commitment to “quell injustice,” act swiftly on early warnings, and embrace transparency.
The Nigerian Embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment, according to source.
