This 2020, global Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows are forecast to decrease by up to 40%, from their 2019 value of $1.54 trillion, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) World Investment Report 2020. This will bring FDI below $1.00 trillion for the first time since 2005. In addition, FDI is projected to decrease by a further five percent to 10% in 2021 and to initiate a recovery in 2022, the report says. UNCTAD Secretary-General, Mukhisa Kituyi, says “the outlook is highly uncertain. Prospects depend on the duration of the health crisis and on the effectiveness of…
Author: Akanimo Sampson
Some forces that are opposed to the continued stay of Godswill Akpabio in office as the Niger Delta Affairs Minister, are mobilizing for a protest march across the nine oil-producing states and Abuja. The organizers have written to the Inspector general of Police, requesting him to permit them to conduct a peaceful protest at the premises of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and member states, the National Assembly, Ministry of Niger Delta, and Channels Television in Lagos. For them, the Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the development commission is “illegal”. This is coming as the Niger Delta Ijaw Development…
A new estimate by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) says more than 55 million domestic workers are at significant risk of losing their jobs and income due to lack of effective social security coverage. The vast majority – 37 million – of these domestic workers are women. An assessment made at the beginning of June shows that the most affected region was Southeast Asia and the Pacific, with 76 per cent of domestic workers at risk, followed by the Americas (74 per cent) Africa (72 per cent) and Europe (45 per cent). While domestic workers in both formal and informal…
Tens of thousands of people in South Sudan are currently at risk of contracting the rampaging COVID-19. In a seeming frantic bid to arrest the situation, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has donated $4.5 million to help the country. The funds, contributed by USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, come as confirmed new cases of COVID-19 in South Sudan are increasing daily. There are 1,830 people infected with the disease, while 32 have died since the global pandemic started. Over 1,680 others – who may have been in contact with COVID-19 sufferers – also are being monitored by…
A global Christian group, the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) says COVID-19 pandemic has sparked increased repression of religious minorities around the world. According to WEA, ‘’with the emergence of the COVID-19 crisis, a noticeable rise in authoritarianism has resulted in increased repression of religious minorities around the world.’’ Since its establishment in 1846, WEA has served as a global platform for Christian fellowship and unity. Today, it is a network of churches in 129 countries that have joined to give a worldwide identity, voice and platform to more than 600 million evangelical Christians. Continuing, it says the pandemic has seen…
Around the world, 43 members of Parliament are currently in detention. This is a matter of serious concern to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). There are such cases in Venezuela, Côte d’Ivoire and Turkey. IPU is increasingly concerned about legislators in detention during the COVID-19 pandemic due to greater risks of infection in overcrowded and confined spaces. In its first virtual sitting, the IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians paid particular attention to the issue. The committee is calling for the release of the parliamentarians from those three countries in light of concerns about greater vulnerability to the coronavirus…
The Italian oil major operating in Nigeria as Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC), is claiming that it responded within 24 hours after a pipeline blast by suspected vandals at its Taylor Creek oilfields in August 2019 and shut the facility to curtail further degradation of the environment. The claim is coming following an outcry that the oil company abdicated its responsibility of operating in an environmentally sustainable manner by leaving the site without remediation for close to one year. Its parent company, Eni, in a statement says delays in the Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) and fixing pipeline in May 2020…
Researchers at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) have come out with findings that will help Nigeria to continue in dominating the world in cassava production. Before now, weeds have been hindering sub-Saharan Africa from realising its full potentials in cassava production. IITA says smallholder farmers in the continent harvest eight to 12 tons of cassava per hectare against a potential of 25 tons or more per hectare. ‘’Weeds are the leading cause of this poor yield’’, IITA says. According to it, the most damaging effects of weeds on cassava occur during two periods: the first two-three weeks after…
Fourteen years after it was conceived, President Muhammadu Buhari has directed that the foot-dragging East-West Highway project be completed by 2021. It seems the Buhari All Progressives Congress (APC) administration is determined to address the deficient infrastructure in the Niger Delta, Nigeria’s main oil and gas region, and boast the economic life of the people. The road was conceived in 2006 by the President Olusegun Obasanjo administration (1999-2007), was to be completed in 2010. But, the Niger Delta Affairs Minister, Godswill Akpabio, says it was stalled principally due to paucity of funds. President Buhari, according to the minister, has also…
Unless substantial funding can be secured to keep the World Food Programme’s (WFP) transport fleet moving, it could grind to a halt before the end of July. This will be happening just as demand for this service is reaching its peak. Of the $965 million needed to maintain the operation through to the end of the year, only $178 million has so far been confirmed or advanced. With much of the world’s commercial transport systems, particularly airlines, grounded by COVID-19, WFP, the world’s largest humanitarian organisation fighting hunger and a global leader in logistics, stepped in to move passengers and…
The second Niger bridge project being pursued by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration has landed a construction giant, Julius Berger, in trouble. Ogbaru community in Anambra State, Eastern Nigeria, is alleging that the activities of the construction company have polluted the River Niger, the only source of their water supply with an attendant negative impact on their aquatic and domestic lives. The community is also claiming that Julius Berger has desecrated graves of people buried in the area. Piqued, the community has dragged Julius Berger, the Federal Ministry of Works, and B and Q Dredging before a Federal High Court…
Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State is facing an uphill task in Cross River North Senatorial District, his home senatorial zone as his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is being weakened by a gale of defection. Ayade is leading the PDP in a titanic race to replace the late Senator Rose Oko who was representing the district. In Obudu Local Government Area, Ayade’s home council area, thousands of PDP members in the area are said to be defecting to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in a seeming show of disapproval to their son’s leadership of the state. Governor…
The Rivers State wing of the All Progressives Congress (APC), President Muhammadu Buhari’s ruling party has rejected the former Oyo State Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi as the Acting National Chairman of the troubled party. The party has instead thrown its weight behind Victor Giadom to replace the ousted former National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, on an acting capacity. Giadom, an Ogoni, is a political associate of Transportation Minister, Chibuike Amaechi. He was Amaechi’s Works Commissioner when the minister dominated the affairs of Rivers State as governor. An Appeal Court on Tuesday upheld the suspension of Oshiomole, as the national chair of…
The advent of COVID-19 pandemic has added another dimension to the worrisome issue of undernourishment in Africa. In 2018, over 200 million people in the continent were undernourished due to food shortages. An examination of these problems has led to the World Bank and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) convening a virtual conference to put together a response plan to address these issues. A recent BBC Focus on Africa segment featured an interview with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Director of Advocacy and Country Alignment Function (ACAF), Dr. Kwesi Atta Krah during which he explained some of the…
Thirty-two vulnerable countries are lagging behind the world average by 20 percent in the United Nation’s human development index. One-third of their 440 million inhabitants live in extreme poverty, 51 percent face food insecurity daily, and 40 percent lack access to electricity. UN is currently urging governments to provide smooth transit transport for their landlocked neighbours. According to the global body, when borders around the world close, every country suffers, but those without territorial access to the sea are affected in unique ways. In a statement on Tuesday, six UN agencies warned that economic and social conditions in many Landlocked…
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) says fish and seafood exports could drop by about 33 percent this year. For international tourism, available data points to a 22 percent decline in the first quarter of 2020. And data from MarineTraffic shows port calls of all major vessel types have been down – especially for passenger ships, which saw a 29 percent fall by the first week of last May. The trade in fish and seafood products generates over $150 billion annually. And coastal tourism has become a major source of revenue and jobs for many vulnerable island…
China is offering developing countries access to its earth observation satellite system for crop monitoring, CropWatch, in partnership with the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD). CSTD is under the secretariat of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Many developing countries simply don’t have access to the required tools, either due to either technology deficits or costs. Earth observation and crop monitoring on a massive scale are, however, neither easy nor inexpensive exercises, but both are necessary for proper food security planning. CropWatch is a system that uses satellite data to monitor crop conditions and…
The spike in COVID-19 positive cases in Nigeria is becoming a major source of worry for the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). The country has so far recorded 16,658 confirmed positive cases of the rampaging virus, and 424 deaths. NCDC has expressed worries about the rising number of infections in states across 35 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Cross River is the only state in the country still standing free of the COVID-19 scourge. Disturbed by the rising figures, NCDC has appealed to Nigerians not to neglect all existing health protocols meant to ensure their safety and…
Except something very unusual happens before the middle of 2021, the Rivers State wing of the All Progressives Congress (APC) might not enter the 2023 elections in the big oil and gas state as a cohesive party. The party is still suffering from severe internal bleeding and its leaders are not helping matters with their seeming unguarded utterances. From the look of things, the party is driven more by individual interest than the collective interest of all. It is high time the principal leaders of the crisis in the party began to contain their over-bloated ego, and mend fences. Ongoing…
Merchandise trade is currently pointing to a 27 percent drop for the second quarter of this year, and a 20 percent annual decline for 2020. Already, a new data published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on Thursday show that merchandise trade fell by five percent in the first quarter of the year. International trade in goods is expected to continue its nosedive in the coming months as economies struggle to recover from lockdown measures used to slow the outbreak of the rampaging COVID-19 pandemic. UNCTAD’s Director of International Trade, Pamela Coke-Hamilton, says “there is still…
Some of the measures adopted by governments to confront the COVID-19 crisis may offer other important benefits in the longer term. The expected benefits include encouraging further investment in digitalization and advancing efforts to improve ships’ energy efficiency, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions from shipping. United Nations maritime and trade bodies said in a joint statement on Tuesday that the world’s reliance on maritime transport makes it more important than ever to keep ships moving, ports open and cross-border trade flowing, and to support ship crew changeovers. United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the International Maritime Organisation…
The homestead of a 75-year-old widow, Mary Syokau, a member of the Musilili Farmers’ Cooperative Society in Kenya is among the 55 others that have received a solar kit under the Climate Change Academy. She was born at a time when communities and families solely relied on glowing embers for lighting at night. Now in the final leg of the first implementation phase, the project which commenced in 2017 on a large scale seeks to cushion coffee farmers against the impacts of climate change through training on sustainable agricultural land management practices and income diversification. Among its key pillars is…
After two decades of progress, there are growing concerns within the United Nations that child labour will spike as a result of the raging COVID-19 crisis. This is a menace that commonly affects children in Nigeria due to the harsh economic conditions of most families. On the streets of the Niger Delta and Eastern Nigeria, it is a common sight to see children hawking to assist their parents and guardians. 362 children (6–17 years of age) from farming households in Nigeria’s oil and gas region were interviewed by researchers. The research found that children were highly involved in most of…
Nigeria’s main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says it is alarmed by the news of seeming unprofessional conduct coming out of the security forces in the country’s seat of power, the Presidential Villa. PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, said in a statement, ‘’our party is disturbed by such ugly situation in the Buhari Presidency, which has already heightened apprehensions in the public space over the apparent failure of security architecture and central command system in the presidency leading to such reckless and irresponsible breaches.’’ There were alleged shooting and security breaches within the precincts of the Presidential…
Thousands of migrant workers in Kenya have lost their jobs and source of income due to the effect of the rampaging COVID-19 pandemic. Many of the stranded migrants have been living and working in Kenya for years. Now, they have lost jobs and income due to movement restrictions and curfews and the general economic slowdown, all brought by the pandemic. Many work in the informal sector, whose nature leaves migrants vulnerable to COVID-19’s worst impacts. Moreover, many cannot access public services or any of the government’s public COVID-19 relief measures. For instance, over 300 Ethiopian migrants and their families are…
A year after the International Labour Conference adopted the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) Violence and Harassment Convention, 2019 (No. 190), Uruguay has become the first country to ratify the Convention. Uruguay’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Ricardo González Arenas, deposited the instrument of ratification with ILO Director-General, Guy Ryder, in a virtual ceremony. With only two ratifications needed for Convention No. 190 to enter into force, this first ratification represents an important step in the process. The envoy says “Uruguay considers that the cross-cutting nature of Convention No.190 makes it a very useful tool to improve the…
The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is currently giving a helping hand to some farmers’ associations in Cameroon. Like other countries in the world, Cameroon is at the moment grappling with the effect of the coronavirus, having recorded over 6,000 cases so far. Despite the ravaging effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, IITA-Cameroon Is collaboratING with the Technical Center for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) to give a helping hand to members of some farmers’ associations situated in Mbalmayo and Lendon ll within the Centre Region of Cameroon. The exercise began in Mbalmayo where the starch sedimentation structure was officially…
A global rights group, Human Rights Watch is currently pressing for an urgent action to end the mass protests rocking the United States. It wants the US government to take bold steps to end human rights violations and structural racism driving racial disparities in COVID-19 and spurring protests across the country. The rights group made the demand in a written testimony to the Ways and Means Committee of the US House of Representatives. According to Human Rights Watch, available data indicates that black and brown people in the US are more likely to suffer severe illness and die from Covid-19. It is,…
Around two million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the volatile North-East axis of Nigeria are currently facing risks to their mental health and wellbeing. In the embattled region, millions of people continue to endure the impact of a decade-long humanitarian crisis. Most recently, on Tuesday (June 9), an attack attributed to non-state armed groups claimed the lives of 81 people in the Gubio Local Government Area, 80 kilometres from Maiduguri, the Borno State capital. The Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Edward Kallon, on the attack against civilians in Gubio, Borno: I am outraged and incensed by incoming reports of violent incidents…
As protesters mobilise against racism in Europe in the wake of the killing of George Floyd in the United States, Human Rights Watch says it is important not to forget the victims of modern indifference and hate in Europe. The Acting Deputy Director, Europe and Central Asia Division of the global rights group, Judith Sunderland, says an estimated 20,000 people died on the overcrowded, brutal slave ships owned by Edward Colston, the 17th-century slave trader whose statue protesters toppled and threw into the harbour in Bristol, England, earlier this week. That tragic figure is finding a strange echo in Europe’s…
