Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says that the public sector is critical for national development, very vital for governance, and quality public service delivery.
Prof. Osinbajo noted at the secretariat that the commissioning was historic because the seat of the civil service of any arm of government anywhere in the world is usually one of the major monuments enshrining not just the power, but also the splendour of the authority of government.
He says the imposing complex clearly meets this requirement and in due course, such buildings become historical monuments.

Britain’s government defended the pace and scale of its response to the new Omicron strain of Covid-19 against criticism that it is again falling behind the curve.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid says mandatory mask-wearing would return to shops and public transport in England on Tuesday, but told families to plan for Christmas as normal, despite new rules to combat the Omicron variant.
The government’s website is instructing all passengers entering the UK to take a PCR test for Covid-19 two days after their arrival, and to self-isolate, until they receive a negative result.
Travel from 10 countries in southern Africa is now banned because of Omicron, but Javid conceded that hundreds of passengers had arrived on flights from South Africa on Friday without being tested.

The United Kingdom’s government has announced plans for its own talks on the Channel crisis with European ministers this week as it was frozen out of a crisis meeting in France.
Government ministers from Belgium, France, Germany, and the Netherlands will meet in Calais on Sunday with officials from the European Union and EU border agency Frontex and police agency Europol following the drownings of 27 people in the Channel last Wednesday.
UK Home Secretary Priti Patel was barred from the meeting after Prime Minister Boris Johnson published the text of a letter he sent to French President Emmanuel Macron setting out London’s demands for concerted action on refugees.

Israel says it will ban the entry of all foreigners into the country, making it the first nation to shut its borders completely in response to a new and potentially more contagious coronavirus variant.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett says the ban, pending government approval, would last 14 days.
Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked says working hypotheses are that the variant is already in nearly every country.
Dr Ran Balicer, head of the government’s advisory panel on COVID-19, told Israel’s Kan public radio the new measures were necessary for the fog of war surrounding the new variant, saying it was better to act early and strictly to prevent its spread.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called on countries to immediately and urgently reverse scientifically unjustified travel bans linked to the discovery of the new coronavirus variant Omicron.
Dozens of nations have blacklisted South Africa and its neighbours since South African scientists flagged Omicron on November 25.
The World Health Organization has labelled Omicron a variant of concern, while scientists are still assessing its virulence.
Ramaphosa says the prohibition of travel is not informed by science and accused Western countries of Afrophobia for shutting their borders.

Sudan’s reinstated Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok has replaced the country’s police chiefs, in a move that came after more than 40 people were killed in a crackdown on pro-democracy protests following a military coup last month.
Hamdok says he had sacked the director-general of the police, Khaled Mahdi Ibrahim al-Emam, and his deputy, Ali Ibrahim.
He appointed Anan Hamed Mohamed Omar with Abdelrahman Nasreddine Abdallah as his deputy.
Doctors have accused security forces of targeting protesters in the head, neck and torso with live ammunition, as well as with rubber-coated bullets and tear gas canisters. The police have denied reports they opened fire using live bullets.

Ethiopia’s state-run broadcaster says government forces were in control of the town of Chifra in the Afar region, their first major seizure since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said earlier this week he would head to the front lines to lead federal troops against fighters from the northern Tigray region.
The Tigrayan forces captured Chifra, on the border between the northern Afar and Amhara regions, after fighting intensified last month.
Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation says Ethiopian Defense Forces and Afar Special Forces have controlled Chifra without providing further details

The government in Rwanda has announced new measures that include the suspension of flights to and from southern African countries.
All arriving passengers must have a negative test and do a repeat test on arrival and seven days after arriving in the country.
A seven-day quarantine has also been reintroduced for travellers coming from countries recently affected by the new waves.
The national carrier Rwandair has halted services to South Africa, Zimbabwe and Zambia

The US-based pro-government ESAT TV reported that the Ethiopian army chief has denied accusations that Ethiopian forces killed Sudanese soldiers at the border between the two countries.
Gen Birhanu Jula says there was no reason to attack Sudan and that the country was not in a position to carry out such attacks as it was fighting the rebels in the north.
The army chief hopes the issues could be resolved peacefully through dialogue.
Sudanese media had claimed that Ethiopian forces killed dozens of Sudanese soldiers in a disputed border area.

The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority said that it had established a new Domestic Base Price framework and applicable gas wholesale price for the sector.
Chief Executive Officer of the organisation, Mr Farouk Ahmed stated that the new framework was in fulfilment of the relevant sections of the new Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021.
Ahmed indicated that the applicable wholesale gas price for the power sector shall be the established domestic gas price.
He hinted that the base price would be determined annually based on the criteria set in the third schedule of the Act, which are to reference base prices in Nigeria to prices of gas in countries with significant reserves and production of natural gas.