Author: Akanimo Sampson

Africa has so far recorded the largest shipwreck off the Libyan coast this year involving the tragic deaths of at least 45 migrants and refugees. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, are deeply saddened by the tragic incident which happened on August 17.    Some 37 survivors, mainly from Senegal, Mali, Chad and Ghana, were rescued by local fishermen and later detained upon disembarkation. They reported to IOM staff that 45 others including five children lost their lives when the vessel’s engine exploded off the coast of Zwara. The two UN organisations are calling for a review of states’ approach to the situation after this latest incident in the Mediterranean. There is an urgent need to strengthen the current search and rescue capacity there to respond to distress calls.…

Read More

The Military Writers Society of Nigeria (MWSN) is raising serious concern on alleged huge revenue loss in Nigeria’s extractive industry, particularly in the oil and gas sector. The Society which is concerned with protecting the integrity and respect of the Nigerian military, says Nigeria is losing trillions of naira annually due to inappropriate computation of crude production, taxes and royalties. ‘’This major leakage in the oil and gas sector can only be plugged with an effective metering system’’, the military writers say. The Society is, therefore, charging President Muhammadu Buhari to take concrete action in curbing the worrisome corruption in…

Read More

As part of measures to foster partnerships in agricultural transformation with governments in Nigeria, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the government of Ogun State. With agriculture being a vital source of income in Western Nigeria and the country as a whole, IITA is exploring partnerships that will out-scale the available agricultural innovations to meet Africa’s most pressing challenges of hunger, malnutrition, poverty, and natural resource degradation. Ogun State Government, based on its commitment to enhancing self-sufficiency in food production, sought to partner with IITA on innovative solutions and capacity building…

Read More

Niger is impacted by increased levels of insecurity and instability linked to violent extremist organisations. Like neighbouring Mali, Burkina Faso and Nigeria, the troubled country is also facing other obstacles such as lack of employment, scarcity of food and inter-ethnic tensions. Niger is one of Africa’s largest countries, and one of its poorest. It is an important migration transit country – as well as both a sender of migrants and a destination. This week, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in Niger launched the second phase of its Niger Community Cohesion Initiative (NCCI) in partnership with the German Federal Foreign Office supporting the…

Read More

Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has said that no progressive governor will support the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Edo State, Osagie Ize-Iyamu. While urging the Federal Government to stop APC in the state from perpetrating acts of violence, Wike said APC National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, who was unceremoniously removed from office has allegedly killed the party’s candidate with all the things he said against him before which have not been denied. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governor who was speaking on a live television programme,  said character will  determine who will be the next governor of…

Read More

The Federal Government has rescued 68 Nigerian women who were stranded in Lebanon. They returned safely to the country on a charter flight at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja. Since May, 165 stranded Nigerian migrants have returned from Lebanon, 13 of whom travelled through. International Organisation for Migration’s (IOM) assisted voluntary return and reintegration (AVRR) programme. IOM provided assistance to all those who returned with case management support as well as access to food, accommodation, hygiene kits and legal counsel prior to their departure from Lebanon. This week IOM is providing accommodation and meals to the returnees—ranging between…

Read More

For months, 73-year-old widow, Maria Roșca, has been alone. She has not left home since the COVID-19 lockdown began. She told the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), “I keep the television and the radio on to feel like I’m not alone in the house.” But her sense of isolation is not new – just exacerbated. Moldova has one of the highest emigration rates in Europe. Roșca’s daughter lives in Italy and her son in Russia. “My children can’t even come home to see me because the borders are closed due to the pandemic”, she explains. People aged 60 and older…

Read More

The Federal Government has commissioned a cassava processing factory in Korokoro, an Ogoni community in Tai Local Government Area of Rivers State. The people of the area speak the Tee and Baan dialects. Communities include Ban-Ogoi[6], Bara-Ale, Bara-Alue, Barayira, Borobara (a central community), Botem, Bunu, Deeyor Kira, Gbam, Gbene-Ue, Horo, Kebara Kira, Korokoro (the seat of the Tai monarch), Koroma, Kpite, Nonwa Tai (Kebara), Nonwa Uedume, Orkpo, Sime and Ueken. Other communities include Kporghor and Gio. Tai Local government area has two broad sections: the Tua Tua Kingdom and the Barasi Nonwa Kingdom, both under the overall Tai kingdom headed by the Gbene…

Read More

The Military Writers Society of Nigeria (MWSN) has commended the high command of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) for deploying Special Forces (SF) operatives to Southern Kaduna. The Society also notes that in furtherance of its efforts at equipping laboratory scientists with requisite skills necessary to improve the detection, identification, accurate diagnosis and reporting of malaria cases, NAF conducted a five-day capacity building workshop at the 661 NAF Hospital (661 NAFH) Ikeja, Lagos. Administrative Secretary of the military writers, Thomas Anom, in a media chat with some journalists in Abuja on Tuesday, said the Society’s President, Akanimo Sampson, was full…

Read More

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) says its Start Them Early Programme (STEP) can help the Oyo State Government reduce the number of out-of-school children in the Western Nigeria state. Coordinator of the STEP initiative, Adedayo Adefioye, said so during the official launch of the programme and the modern agribusiness training facilities at Fasola Grammar School in Oyo West Local Government Area. To promote an early interest in agriculture, IITA is introducing agribusiness training in secondary schools through STEP. Fasola Grammar School is one of three beneficiary schools selected in southwestern Nigeria. Established in 2018, STEP aims to challenge…

Read More

Livelihoods of Congolese artisanal fishers and shark fishing are currently at risk. Already, the development is attracting concerns from some key quarters. Artisanal fishers are increasingly turning to shark fishing because of increased scarcity of other stocks overfished by industrial fisheries: A new TRAFFIC report has found that urgent legislative and management improvements are needed to prevent a collapse of shark fishing and protect local livelihoods.  TRAFFIC’s work on shark fisheries in the Congo was possible thanks to funding from Arcadia—A charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin through support to the Reducing Trade Threats to Africa’s wild species and…

Read More

Oil markets are looking for demand growth to sustain any upward price movements beyond their current levels $40. Prices on Friday saw a second weekly gain with global benchmark Brent on $44.40 and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) closing at $42.01, coming at gains of 0.9 per cent and 1.9 per cent respectively. Senior Director, Market Economics, Emirates NBD, Edward Bell, says “volatility in oil markets has been trending significantly lower in recent trading sessions, moving to almost its lowest year-to-date. Most of the action for oil markets now will relate to demand conditions as the market has already priced in…

Read More

Fifty-nine Sierra Leonean migrants who were stranded in Senegal since the outbreak of COVID-19 have finally returned home safely via air charter flight. This brings to 2,800 the number of people assisted with voluntary return in the region by the United Nations migration agency with financial support from the European Union. This happened as the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) reports that 36,221 migrants and refugees successfully entered Europe by sea through August 12, with almost half of that volume coming via the Central Mediterranean route connecting North Africa to Italy and Malta. The 36,221 total compares with 41,501 arrivals…

Read More

One of the biggest gearless Maersk Line vessels has successfully berthed at the Federal Ocean Terminal (FOT), Onne Port complex in Rivers State.Maersk Line is, however, a Danish international container shipping company and the largest operating subsidiary of the Maersk Group, a Danish business conglomerate. It is the world’s largest container shipping company by both fleet size and cargo capacity, serving 374 offices in 116 countries, and employing around 31,600, of which 7,000 are shipping crew and 24,600 processing personnel. Maersk Line operates over 786 vessels and has a capacity of 4.1 million TEU. The company was founded in 1928. However, the vessel, which…

Read More

Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State does not seem to have what it takes to vigorously tackle the worrisome rising unemployment in the big oil state. With 504,000 barrels of crude oil daily, the state remains the largest oil producer in Nigeria. But a report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) ranks the state as the second-highest in rising unemployment in the country.As a former top bank executive, it was expected that Udom will rewrite the economic history of Akwa Ibom, and make mass poverty history there. Sadly, that does not seem to be happening. The poverty situation…

Read More

Latest reports indicate at least 160 fatalities and around 6,000 wounded, with 21 still missing. This figure is likely to rise as rescuers continue to search the port and surrounding areas for survivors. Preliminary data shows that the explosion impacted an estimated 13 primary health care facilities and between 6 to 10 hospitals. More comprehensive information will be available as the on-going assessments are completed. UNFPA is scaling up its efforts to meet the emerging needs of nearly 84,000 women of reproductive age, 48,000 adolescents among the 300,000 who have been displaced due to the catastrophe. An estimated 3,478 women…

Read More

Former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Timi Frank, has accused Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, desperately trying to hide something. According to the political activist, President Muhammadu Buhari’s deputy, is allegedly resorting to state apparatchik and intimidatory stunts to cover his tracks. Consequently, he has called on President Buhari, to call Osinbajo, to order over his alleged penchant for using state forces to suppress the media and free speech. In a statement in Abuja on Saturday, Frank described the antics of Osinbajo in using the judiciary and security agencies to intimidate, harass and coerce journalists and…

Read More

Anti-malaria group, Malaria Consortium, says it is on course to reach 12 million children in Burkina Faso, Chad and Nigeria as part of its current treatment cycle of the 2020 Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC) campaign. Malaria Consortium has been delivering SMC campaigns in the Sahel since 2013, working closely with national malaria programmes, as well as state, regional and district health authorities in each country to organise and coordinate the campaign. This year’s campaign began in Nigeria on July 9, in Burkina Faso on July 13 and in Chad on July 27. The programme is implemented with the support of…

Read More

An Africa-wide study of antibodies to the coronavirus has begun. Already, evidence from a smaller study is indicating that many more people have been infected than official numbers show. While this came from the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday, University of Otago researchers have learnt more about how viruses operate and can evade the immune system and are now using their discovery to help learn more about COVID-19. The recent research, led by Dr. Mihnea Bostina and PhD student Sai Velamoor from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology and Otago Micro and Nano Imaging, Electron Microscopy,…

Read More

The lives of some 40 million food-insecure Congolese is currently teetering between life and death. Their survival depends on how soon the world will rise with $172 million urgently needed to save them from the fangs of death. Already, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that millions of lives in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) could be lost unless the international community steps up with more help. According to the most recent nationwide data, 40 million of DRC’s estimated 100 million people are food insecure, with 15.6 million suffering “crisis” or “emergency” hunger.   With some 80…

Read More

Former Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Joi Nunieh, has taken the messy interventionist agency again to the cleaners. This time, the daring Ogoni woman has literally stripped the Commission’s Director of Legal Services, Peter Claver Okoro, naked in the public square. But, Okoro called for her trouble. In a letter dated July 28, 2020, he requested Nunieh to refund the sum of N1.96.billion to the NDDC, within seven days. In a damning response, Nunieh’s Press Secretary, Mrs. Waaka Lebari, says Okoro, was a deputy director in the Legal Services Directorate in the first two months…

Read More

An independent opinion research think-tank, the Africa Polling Institute (API) has unveiled four key areas it says President Muhammadu Buhari must urgently address in a bid to save Nigeria from disintegrating. In a report on their website, endorsed by its Executive Director, Dr. Bell Ihua, API says ‘’ more needs to be done to promote trust, equity, inclusion and hope.’’ API is concerned with conducting opinion polls, surveys, social research and evaluation studies at the intersection of democracy, governance, economic conditions and public life; in order to support better public policy, practice and advocacy in Africa. In its Nigeria Social…

Read More

It is now getting clearer that the economic and financial crisis the rampaging COVID-19 pandemic has ignited in Nigeria will not abate within the 2021-2023 medium-term period. The country, according to Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, is currently facing a fiscal crisis, compounded by the intense disruption of economic performance and financial projections by the pandemic. As a result, the Legislative arm of the Federal Government is coming down heavily on all federal revenue generating agencies. They can no longer remit collected revenue whenever they like. Affected by the development are: Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Department of Petroleum…

Read More

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) says trade costs will be climbing upward around the world due to COVID-19 disruptions. In a new report, the global trade organisation examines the pandemic’s impact on key components of trade costs, particularly those relating to travel and transport, trade policy, uncertainty, and identifies areas where higher costs will persist even after the pandemic is contained. COVID-19 and World Trade estimate that travel and transport costs account for as much as a third of trade costs depending on the sector. Pandemic-related travel restrictions are therefore likely to affect trade costs for as long as they…

Read More

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, is currently pushing for a more comprehensive engagement of the Nigerian youth by the government at all levels. Gbajabiamila says relegating the Nigerian youth to the background by the governments is inimical to the national development of the country being the most critical segment of any society. The call is coming as hundreds of thousands of young people are uncertain of their future career prospects, with the coronavirus crisis expected to create more obstacles in the labour market and to lengthen the transition from school to work.Some have already felt a direct…

Read More

The North East Development Commission (NEDC) says it will be executing 224 projects in the education, health and water supply sectors of the volatile Northern Nigeria region. This is coming as the House of Representatives’ Committees on, Finance, Procurement and NEDC are probing an allegation of N100 billion misappropriation at the Commission. Federal legislators took the decision while adopting a motion brought under matters of urgent national importance by the Minority Leader, Ndudi Elumelu. The call for the investigation of the NEDC came as the House concluded an investigation into alleged financial recklessness at its sister agency, the Niger Delta…

Read More

Nigeria on Wednesday logged 453 fresh COVID-19 cases, and in the process raised the national tally to 47743 positive cases. Interestingly, 33943 patients, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), have been discharged and 956 deaths have been recorded throughout the 36 states of the federation, and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Of the 453 new cases from 16 states, Lagos logged 113, Abuja 72, Plateau 59, Enugu 55, Kaduna 38, Ondo 32, Osun 26, Ebonyi 20, Ogun nine, Delta eight, Borno seven, Akwa Ibom six, Oyo five, Bauchi, Kano, and Ekiti one case each. However, not less…

Read More

The Udom administration in Akwa Ibom State, a big oil-bearing state is currently performing very poorly on rural roads in the state. Local communities and those visiting the rural areas for commercial activities are not speaking well of the administration. The glaring neglect of rural roads by the administration has compounded the hardship sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic. Governor Udom Emmanuel is blaming the poor state of the roads in the state on the rains and the poor financial resources of the state as a result of the rampaging virus. Many of the electorates are not persuaded. They are viewing…

Read More

The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Nigeria Postal Services (NIPOST) are still locked in a war of attrition over who controls the juicy stamp duty collection and invariably the money which accrues from the collection. NIPOST is insisting on a fair deal in its share of the stamp duty proceeds collected and domiciled in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from 2016 to 2020. After assuming office in December 2019, FIRS Executive Chairman, Muhammad Nami, discovered over N30 billion in the NIPOST Stamp duty Account with the apex bank, pointing out that the account was opened in 2016…

Read More

Nearly 25,000 migrants in Ethiopia are currently receiving essential aid from humanitarian agencies. They recently returned to the country due to COVID-19.More than 17,000 of the returnees came home via land crossings, mainly from Djibouti, Somalia, and Sudan. For some returnees, these are destination countries where they go to seek employment, yet for many others, these are transit countries on the perilous journey east to the Arab Peninsula, or north to Europe via North Africa. All recent returnees are being accommodated at quarantine facilities in regional towns.The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) are, however, delivering essential aid to the returnees.The migrants,…

Read More