A statement released by Dele Alake, Special Adviser to the President on Special Duties, Communications and Strategy, says the Summit, which takes place on Sunday, July 9, is expected to address memoranda on pressing sub-regional issues including; Report of the 50th Ordinary Session of the Mediation and Security Council (MSC) covering security challenges faced by the member countries ; Report of the 90th Ordinary Session of ECOWAS Council of Ministers on the financial situation of the body and the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), as well as Report on the status of Transition in the Republics of Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea.

Alake mentioned that other items slated for discussion include; Memoranda on the ECOWAS Single Currency Programme and the Report on Obstacles to Free Movement of Goods on the Abidjan- Lagos corridor.

He added that President Tinubu will be accompanied by some members of the Presidential Policy Advisory Council and other top government officials.

Alake stated that the President is expected back in the country at the end of the meeting.

The Nigeria Television Authority confirmed the meeting between the two leaders in a video posted on Twitter.

The reason for their meeting was not stated

The Registrar, Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, Dr. Tajudeen Sanusi, announced this in a notice on it’s official website, Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, (mdcn.gov.ng) on Tuesday.

The areas of specialities requested includee: Gynaecology and Obstetrics (10), Specialists Neonatology (3), Paediatrics (10), Ortho-Traumatology (4), General Surgery (11), Internal Medicine (10); Cardiology (1) Pulmonology (1), Intensive Therapy (2); Psychiatry (1), Anaesthesiology (10), Neurology (2), Urology (2), Ophthalmology (3), Gastroenterology (1), Nephrology (1) Otolaryngology (1) and Rheumatology (1).”

The notice was titled, “Notice to registered practitioners of urgent recruitment of specialists.”

It reads: “The Technical Aid Corps has requested the Council to bring to the notice of registered medical practitioners its need to urgently recruit specialists in the underlisted specialties for deployment as part of the Technical Aid to the Republic Guinea Bissau for a period of two years in the first instance.

“Interested specialists who are desirous of participating in the Technical Aid should apply to the Registrar.”

Mustapha who reacted to claim of the Nigerian government being asked to pay €170,000 for the Madagascar herbal mixture delivered to President Buhari on Saturday May 16, by the visiting President of Guinea Bissau Umaro Sissoco Embalo, said same mixture was taken to other African countries without an invoice.

He said “In terms of the question of whether it comes with a cost. It was handed to me without an invoice so I assume it doesn’t come with a cost. That’s my assumption. For that, I think the Madagascar issue and the Chinese issue should be laid to rest. I think we have said repeatedly hear that we did not ask for the Madagascar consignment, it was given by the government of Madagascar to African countries as their contribution to wanting to find solution to the COVID-19 pandemic and we have repeatedly said our consignment and those of West African countries, was dropped off at Guinea Bissau and that we were making arrangements to go and airlift it. As God would have it, the President of Guinea Bissau decided to visit our President last Saturday and when he was coming, he came with our consignment of five cartons and those five cartons were delivered to me yesterday in the evening, sealed, without a bottle out of it. I’m going to engage the Minister of Health who has the responsibility of validation, through his institutions that are chartered by law to do that. The President was upfront with that even when he took delivery of it from the President of Guinea Bissau. He said it quite clear of what we are going to do with the consignment would be guided by science, under the processes of validation, we’ll now know where to go.”

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an organization of 189 countries, that helps foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and reduce poverty around the world.

The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ms. Kristalina Georgieva, in a statement in Washington last night, announced debt service relief for 25 poor countries saying the debt relief was to enable the affected countries to better tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.

The countries that were relieved of the debt include Afghanistan, Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, D.R., The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Tajikistan, Togo and Yemen.

She said, ” Today, I am pleased to say that our Executive Board approved immediate debt service relief to 25 of the IMF’s member countries under the IMF’s revamped Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT) as part of the Fund’s response to help address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. This provides grants to our poorest and most vulnerable members to cover their IMF debt obligations for an initial phase over the next six months and will help them channel more of their scarce financial resources towards vital emergency medical and other relief efforts. The CCRT can currently provide about US$500 million in grant-based debt service relief, including the recent US$185 million pledge by the UK and US$100 million provided by Japan as immediately available resources. Others, including China and the Netherlands, are also stepping forward with important contributions. I urge other donors to help us replenish the Trust’s resources and boost further our ability to provide additional debt service relief for a full two years to our poorest member countries.”