Coronavirus Information Centre in Nigeria

Facebook launches Coronavirus Information Center in Nigeria and 16 other African countries.

Facebook is expanding its Coronavirus Information Center to 17 more countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The Information Centers form part of Facebook’s effort to help the global fight against COVID-19 by providing people with the latest news and information from trusted health authorities as well as resources and tips to stay healthy and support their family and community.

Also Read: Covid-19: The world’s largest critical care unit unveiled in London.

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) Information Center is featured at the top of News Feed, that provides a central place for people to keep informed about the Coronavirus. It includes real-time updates from national health authorities and global organisations such as the World Health Organization, as well as helpful articles, videos and posts about social distancing and preventing the spread of COVID-19.

Facebook users can opt in to follow the center to get notifications and see updates in their News Feed from official government health authorities.

The center has already launched in South Africa, it will now be expanded to the following new sub – Saharan African markets:

  • Benin
  • Burkina Faso
  • Cameroon
  • Cape Verde
  • Chad
  • Côte d’Ivoire
  • Ethiopia
  • Gabon
  • Guinea
  • Kenya
  • Mali
  • Mauritania
  • Nigeria
  • Senegal
  • Seychelles
  • The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
  • Togo

Facebook’s Head of Public Policy, Africa, Kojo Boakye comments about the expansion; “We’ve built the information centers, in collaboration with national health partners, to ensure that people can get access to information from trusted health sources. The launch of the COVID-19 Information Center on Facebook in more than 17 countries across sub-Saharan Africa aligns with our commitment to making accurate, timely information about the pandemic accessible to all communities.”

Also Read: Places in the world with no case of the Covid-19.

There are now 1.5 million known coronavirus cases worldwide.  According to Africa News, In Africa, there’s Coronavirus in 52 African countries, 11,400+ cases, 574 deaths, 1,405 recoveries.

Major stats as at April 9
Confirmed cases = 11,440
Number of deaths = 574
Recoveries = 1,405
Infected countries = 52
Virus-free countries = 2

Countries in alphabetical order
Algeria – 1,572
Angola – 19
Benin – 26
Botswana – 6
Burkina Faso – 414
Burundi – 3
Cameroon – 730
Cape Verde – 7
Central African Republic – 8
Chad – 10
Comoros – 0
Congo-Brazzaville – 45
DR Congo – 180
Djibouti – 135
Egypt – 1,560
Equatorial Guinea – 18
Eritrea – 33
Eswatini – 12
Ethiopia – 55
Gabon – 34
(The) Gambia – 4
Ghana – 313
Guinea – 164
Guinea-Bissau – 33
Ivory Coast – 384
Kenya – 179
Lesotho – 0
Liberia – 31
Libya – 21
Madagascar – 93
Malawi – 8
Mali – 59
Mauritania – 6
Mauritius – 273
Morocco – 1,275
Mozambique – 17
Namibia – 16
Niger – 342
Nigeria- 276
Rwanda – 110
Sao Tome and Principe – 4
Senegal – 244
Seychelles – 11
Sierra Leone – 7
Somalia – 12
South Africa – 1,845
South Sudan – 2
Sudan – 14
Tanzania – 25
Togo – 70
Tunisia – 628
Uganda – 53
Zambia – 39
Zimbabwe – 11

Facebook opens its first office in Africa

Facebook has opened its first office in Africa. Situated at the Melrose
Arch, Johannesburg, the office was created to expand its businesses and partner with investors across the African continent.
‎Facebook’s new Head of Africa is Ogilvy veteran, Nunu Ntshingila, a graduate of the University of Swaziland and Morgan State University in the US. She’s also worked at Nike and the South African Tourism board.
Nunu Ntshingila, Facebook’s ‎Head of Africa ‎


“Africa is important to Facebook, and this office is a key part of our strategy to expand our investment and presence across EMEA. Facebook is already a central part of people’s lives in Africa, and with more than a billion people in Africa, we want to do more to help people and businesses connect.” ‎Nunu affirmed.

Ari Kesisoglu, Regional Director, MEA at Facebook added that “Our new African office will support our customers across the continent. We know that a one-size-fits-all approach won’t work when it comes to building products and solutions that address diverse needs on the continent, which is why we are committed to creating solutions tailored to people, businesses and specifically for African markets. Our priority for the next few months is to continue the work we are already doing with some clients in this region. 

We will work more closely with businesses and agencies to understand the challenges, so that we can build solutions that help grow their business. People increasingly want to be connected to the world around them and desire information about new services and products to better their lives. At the same time, businesses need stronger, more flexible and less fragmented ways of reaching people in Sub Saharan Africa. Our mission will be to connect brands and consumers in Africa, creating value for all parties in the process.”



FACEBOOK FOUNDER, MARK ZUCKERBERG GETS MARRIED

Just about 24 hours after watching his company go public, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has tied the knot with his long-time girlfriend Priscilla Chan.

The 28 year-old CEO whose profile status now reads "married" exchanged vows with his medical practitioner fiance at a small ceremony at the groom's home in Palo Alto, Calif.

Guests who were originally invited to a celebration for Chan who just graduated from medical school were surprised to learn that it was a wedding.

Facebook which was formed from Zuckerberg's Harvard dormitory room in 2004 is now worth about $16.9 billion, making it one of the largest companies in the world.

N1.2M FACEBOOK ACCOUNT: NSC RESPONDS

Few days ago, I wrote a story on how National Sports Commission opened a facebook page for N1.2m, the Commission however has debunked the rumour, here's statement

THE NSC FACEBOOK PAGE:
The attention of the National Sports Commission has been drawn to posts on the Commission's Page alleging that the Commission spent the sum of N1.2m to open a Facebook Page. Nothing can be further from the truth. The truth of the matter
is:
i) The idea to open a Facebook Page for the
National Sports Commission (NSC) was muted by the ICT Unit of the Commission. The objective of the project was to "use Facebook as an interactive forum to connect the Nigerian youth all over the world with the National Sports Commission and its mission".
ii) During the course of briefing the immediate past Hon. Minister of Sports/Chairman, National Sports Commission, Alh. Yusuf Suleiman, he directed that a more aggressive approach be adopted in projecting the Facebook Page. The Hon. Minister (HM), who has a personal Facebook Page, also directed that the Facebook crew should accompany him to visit all the athletes
and their coaches who were in various camps
across the country in preparation for the 10th All Africa Games. Furthermore, he directed that the crew should attend the 10th AAG in Maputo to update the Page on happenings during the Games.
iii) Consequent upon the Hon. Minister's
directives, a Memo dated August 2, 2011 seeking for N902,000.00 was approved for a two-man team to visit the various camps. This was to enable the crew interact directly with the athletes and their coaches and obtain firsthand information about them for Facebook Page.
iv) Following the directive of the HM to adopt a more aggressive approach in projecting the
Facebook Page, it was decided at the ICT Unit
level that the NSC Facebook Page should be
advertised in Facebook. An initial sum of $200 was committed to this. This immediately translated to a tremendous increase in the followership of the NSC Facebook within one week.
v) It is no secret that Facebook Pages can either be used as:
a) a personal social interactive forum; or
b) a commercial tool to advertise goods and
services, project a cause, draw awareness to
products, canvass for followership, etc.
The Commission's Facebook Page was deployed for the second category, which naturally attracts advertisement costs. The creators of Facebook can be contacted on this.
vi) Furthermore, following the success of the
advert, another memo dated August 26, 2011 for N300,000.00 was approved to step up and
extend the advertisement of the Page, purchase Internet Modems with a one month additional subscription.
vii) We wish to state that:
a) Opening of Facebook pages does not attract any form of payment and the NSC Facebook Page was opened at no cost.
b) The initial $200 paid for advertisement was privately funded.
c) The sums of N902,000.00 and N300,000.00
were approved for the Facebook Page crew to
accompany the HM on his visits to the various camps of athletes and their coaches and to purchase internet modems with additional one month subscription respectively. Of this amount, the sum of $1,000 (N160,000.00) was to advertise the NSC Facebook Page in Facebook and the Page was so advertised.
Ok, the facebook crew got N1.2m for welfare, subscription and modem, N160, 000 for advert, oh ok…..Hmmmmm!

WORLD'S MOST EXPENSIVE FACEBOOK PAGE

The picture above is National Sports Commission facebook profile picture, the last time we all checked, facebook was FREE, payment in any kind or form was no prerequisite in opening the social site. This morning, I came across the story (according to Tribune report) of how National Sports Commission opened a Facebook account for N1.2 million and till now, I’m still wondering what went wrong. Perhaps there are stuffs we don’t know, did they employ the services of web designers, cartoonists, graphic artists to make the commission’s facebook page look superb or are they ‘planning to furnish and install gadgets inside? Too many questions begging for answer.
My interest and that of well meaning Nigerians are piqued and we want to know how it happened.
The Director General of the National Sports Commission,  Patrick Ekeji has however been summoned by the House of Representatives over this issue as well as his commission’s expenditures, including N3.7billion for the 10th All Africa Games.

According to the report:
“He will also give appraisal of how various expenditure was handled by the Commission from 2009-2011.
“When Chief Ekeji came to the Assembly last week, he was asked to make available relevant documents relating to the expenditure to the last All Africa Games in Maputo.
“He (Chief Ekeji) is expected to defend how he transferred monies to 19 sports federation;  N1,200,000.00 (One million, two hundred thousand naira) used in opening Facebook account for the National Sport Commission; N182, 124, 179,000.00 used in rehabilitating the National Stadium in Lagos, and another N117,875,820.95 used in rehabilitating the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium (Liberty Stadium) Ibadan. Ekeji will also provide warrant of approval by President Goodluck Jonathan for him to expend the sum of N350,000,000.00 from the yet to be approved 2012 Budget for the London 2012 Olympic Game.”

Just checked through the page, it has 5, 468 likes and there’s nothing outstanding about it…..Explanation pls!!

Source: Ynaija

FACEBOOK UNVEILS 60 NEW TIMELINE APPLICATIONS

Facebook addicts can now enhance their timeline with applications that will help them tell their story in a more interesting way; whether they love to cook, eat, travel, run, or review movies and also learn others.
The applications include Foodspotting, Foodily, Ticketmaster, Pinterest, Rotten Tomatoes, Pose, Kobo, Gogobot, TripAdvisor and many more.
Each has its own function depending on the interest of the user. There are applications about cooking, eating, films, concerts, books and travelling etc.
Once you've added an application, you can begin updating your timeline with your activities as they happen. For example, if you love design, shopping or fashion, you can add the Pinterest or Pose application to make your favorite items part of your timeline. Source: dailymail

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