Rivers State wing of the All Progressives Congress (APC), President Muhammadu Buhari’s party, is coming alive again after it suffered a major political setback in the 2019 elections. The inner-circle actors of the opposition party in Rivers State that is dominated by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), have started to regroup to enable them to plan better for the 2023 elections. The upbeat in APC is coming as some of its front chieftains and loyalists of Transportation Minister, Chibuike Amaechi, are currently grabbing juicy federal appointments slated for the big oil and gas state. Elated party insider and Amaechi’s political…
Author: Akanimo Sampson
Irked by the frequent dispute between some states and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on figures of positive COVID-19 cases, a socio-political group in Akwa Ibom State is demanding for the unbundling of the agency. The group, Ibom Patriots says a situation where states and NCDC ‘’unnecessarily dispute figures of positive persons cast doubts and breeds suspicion on the reality of the pandemic which is unhealthy for the nation.” They are also calling for the decentralisation of the operations of the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19 to make for a more rapid response to suspected cases. Chancellor of the…
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has named Dona Bertarelli, its Special Adviser for the Blue Economy. Ms. Bertarelli will help UNCTAD promote a sustainable blue economy, particularly in developing countries, to ensure the responsible and regenerative use of the ocean, seas and coasts for economic growth, while preserving the health of the ocean ecosystem. Interestingly, sustainable use of ocean resources can help developing countries boost employment, reduce poverty and enhance food and energy security while advancing progress towards Global Goal 14, which seeks to preserve all life below water. Over three billion people, most of them…
A molecular banana breeder with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Uganda, Brigitte Uwimana, says the use of sanitisers is not affordable for rural areas of the country. Uganda is, however, one of the few countries that have not reported any deaths from COVID-19. That notwithstanding, there are movement restrictions and stay-at-home orders in place. She was speaking in an interview with IITA’s media unit. Brigitte Uwimana, a Rwandan national, was formerly a Research Associate at Wageningen University and Research Centre in the Netherlands. Before this, she had worked as a Research Assistant at the Rwanda Agricultural Research…
With the current 10,578 COVID-19 positive cases in Nigeria and the prospects of the virus exceeding 20,000 by the end of this June, the authorities say the country is yet to reach the ‘’peak’’ of the virus infections. This then implies that the COVID-19 run in Nigeria at the moment is just a mere tip of the iceberg. It seems the authorities are expecting the scourge to infect the citizenry in hundreds of thousands, and abort lives in tens of thousands. That prospect will be happening as the Nigerian government on Monday began phase two of easing its lockdown by…
Director-General of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Dr. Nteranya Sanginga, has outlined options through which the Institute can strengthen ongoing research and ensure sustainable planning as well as strategic resource mobilisation. This is due to potential funding shortfalls arising from the global COVID-19 crisis. Sanginga has more than 21 years of experience in agricultural research and development, particularly in applied microbial ecology, plant nutrition, and integrated natural resources management in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia, having worked with the University of Zimbabwe, IITA, International Atomic Energy Agency in Austria, and Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility Institute of CIAT. …
Chief Executive Officer of Biovac Institute, Morena Makhoana, says Africa’s public health security requires ramped-up local production. Biovac Institute which is based in Cape Town, South Africa, is the only African vaccine manufacturer of the 40 in 14 countries that are part of The Developing Countries Vaccine Manufacturers Network. Biovac currently delivers over 25 million doses of vaccines each year for illness such as measles, polio and tuberculosis. According to the Biovac chief executive, if the continent fails to act quickly, its 1.2 billion people will remain vulnerable to shocks in global supply chains and foreign governments’ trade policies. Since the…
Rystad Energy’s newest forecast for oil demand now projects a decrease of 11.5% for 2020, or 11.4 million barrels per day (bpd) year-on-year. Its estimates show that total oil demand in 2019 was approximately 99.5 million bpd, which is now projected to fall to 88.1 million bpd in 2020. The forecast is coming as Reuters reports that US petroleum inventories increased sharply last week as the fleet of tankers sent from Saudi Arabia at the height of the volume war started to discharge their crude while the recovery in domestic fuel use remained sluggish. According to the news agency, total stocks of…
A new research by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has painted a seeming grim economic picture for Nigeria and other commodity-dependent developing countries. UNCTAD’s findings raise concerns for economies that rely on exports of primary goods, such as energy products, ores and grains. Some two-thirds of developing countries are commodity dependent according to the UNCTAD data. For commodity-dependent developing countries, some of the most vulnerable on the planet, the drop is projected to be between $2.9 billion and $7.9 billion, which will constitute a 9.00% loss in terms of annual growth rate. The research also says…
A new joint project of the United Nations is currently seeking to help developing countries build transport, trade and logistics resilience in the wake of the rampaging COVID-19 pandemic. The initiative is bringing together the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the five UN regional commissions for Africa (ECA), Europe (ECE), Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), and Western Asia (ESCWA), with funding managed by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs. The project puts a premium on global reach and regional presence, international cooperation, as well as the exchange of…
Former President Goodluck Jonathan is currently being linked to the $9.00 billion Process & Industrial Development (P&ID) scandal. Jonathan recently publicly declared that he was pulling back from political activities to support the work of the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation to promote peace and prosperity. But Menas Associates in its Nigeria Focus, a monthly intelligence report on the giant of Africa is linking the former president to the $9.00 billion P&ID affair. Menas has been helping multinational companies operate in the Middle East, Africa, and other emerging markets since the late 1970s. It brands itself as a strategic and political risk consultancy…
The reluctance of countries to provide save harbour from Libya is signalling a need for a change in approach to the situation in the war-torn North African country. So far, nearly 4,000 people have been intercepted or rescued at sea and returned to Libya this 2020. There have been numerous incidents involving boats in distress in the Mediterranean Sea recently. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) is arguing that while prosecuting smugglers and traffickers should remain a priority, ‘’it is equally urgent to establish an alternative safe disembarkation scheme whereby those fleeing conflict and violence are provided with a port…
COVID-19 scare is currently rocking the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), an interventionist agency that is immersed in alleged massive fraud. This is happening as the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Friday reported 387 new cases of COVID-19 with the total infections nationwide now 9,302 positive cases NCDC also announced that two deaths were recorded in the country. With the development, the total number of fatalities in Nigeria is now 261 deaths in 35 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. Of the 387 new cases, Lagos has 254, Abuja 29, Jigawa 24, Edo 22, Oyo 15,…
Weeks of torrential rain have hit Burundi affecting 45,000 people and sweeping away thousands of homes and businesses, leaving 18,000 people newly displaced. Three large displacement sites for victims have emerged around Burundi’s capital, Bujumbura, where thousands are living in temporary or makeshift accommodations. There are concerns the new displacement sites could increase their risk of contracting COVID-19, due to their overcrowded and unsanitary conditions. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) under the coordination of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and other UN agencies are moving to reduce risk of potential exposure to…
A strategic and political risk consultancy, Menas Associates, says Libya, the war-torn North African country is locked in a renewed religious crisis. In its Libya Focus, a monthly intelligence report on the African country, Menas says tensions are rising in western Libya between two competing religious currents: the Salafists on one side, and those who are of a more political Islamist bent and who support the country’s Grand Mufti, Sheikh Sadiq al-Ghariani on the other. These two ideological currents have long been at loggerheads as they have competed to control Libya’s religious space. The Salafists accuse the political Islamists — from…
The political assault boats of Transportation Minister, Chibuike Amaechi, in the Rivers State wing of the All Progressives Congress (APC) are currently attacking Governor Nyesom Wike on his administration’s claim of an underground plot to topple his government. Before 2015, Wike and Amaechi, both prominent Ikwerre sons have been locked in a worrisome political antagonism. The rift between them seems to be worsening every passing day. The previous Tuesday, the state’s Information and Communications Commissioner, Paulinus Nsirim, a church pastor, ruptured the relative peace in the troubled state with a seeming unguarded claim that the Wike administration uncovered a plot…
Kiribati, a low-lying island nation is currently giving a fresh impetus to its efforts to harness the development gains of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and e-commerce. This is coming in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. An assessment of the country’s e-trade readiness by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has recommended policy actions aimed at seizing opportunities and removing barriers to increase the country’s overall competitiveness in e-commerce and the broader digital economy. Atarake Natara, Kiribati’s minister for commerce, industry and cooperatives, citing the country’s 20-year development plan that puts a premium on promoting e-commerce…
The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is agog with joy as its research scientists are shining like stars on the international arena. Publications by IITA’s scientists were among those most downloaded in Wiley’s Plant Pathology journal. Papers published by a team of scientists from the Institute were among the top 10 percent most downloaded of all published between January 2018 and December 2019 in the journal. The IITA research scientists received the news in a congratulatory message and an online certificate from the Journal. Part of the message states: “We are excited to share that your research, published in…
Most likely, you have heard or read about all kinds of musea (museums) but certainly not an insect museum. Generally, a museum, according to Encyclopedia Britannica, is an institution dedicated to preserving and interpreting the primary tangible evidence of humankind and the environment. ‘’In its preserving of this primary evidence, the museum differs markedly from the library, with which it has often been compared, for the items housed in a museum are mainly unique and constitute the raw material of study and research. In many cases, they are removed in time, place, and circumstance from their original context, and they communicate directly…
Some dissatisfied traditional rulers in the Niger Delta, Nigeria’s polluted oil and gas region, are likely to wage a ‘’traditional war’’ with 2023 power seekers and their sponsoring political godfathers who are troubling the Niger Delta Development Commission(NDDC). There are concerns in the region that the Commission is more of a festering nest of corruption than an interventionist agency. The obviously disturbed Traditional Rulers of Oil Minerals Producing Communities in the Niger Delta, (TROMPCON) does not want the oil region’s political warlords to keep using the NDDC as their diamond field. TROMPCON’s Secretary-General, Chief Frank Okurakpor, has already warned against…
Millions of people in India and Bangladesh are bracing for devastation as Cyclone Amphan makes landfall. Most vulnerable populations and structurally vulnerable countries such as Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are particularly exposed to multiple shocks. For them, the impacts are devastating, by pushing households into deeper poverty and wiping out years of gains made in sustainable development. Director of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) Technology and Logistics Division, Shamika N. Sirimanne, and Economic Affairs Officer, Clovis Freire, are worried by the looming natural disaster. According to them, COVID-19 lockdowns hampered Cyclone Harold rescue operations. In…
The absence of timely medical treatment in developing countries is spurring a dramatic increase in obstetric fistula, a serious childbirth injury resulting from prolonged, obstructed labour. The Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Dr. Natalia Kanem, who made this known on Saturday says poor women and girls in rural areas are especially at risk. According to him, ‘’the disproportionate incidence among the poor of this debilitating and sometimes life-threatening condition is a reflection of social and economic inequities and unequal enjoyment of the right to health, including sexual and reproductive health. ‘’Even in the best of times,…
An associate fellow with the Africa Programme at Chatham House, and a nonresident fellow with the Centre for Democracy and Development in Abuja, Matthew Page, has given President Muhammadu Buhari some hard bones to crack on corruption and the judicial arm of government in Nigeria. Page is also a consultant and co-author of Nigeria: What Everyone Needs to Know (Oxford University Press, 2018) and a nonresident scholar with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Writing on The FCPA Blog, he says President Buhari should demand that anti-corruption agencies develop strategic, capacity-building spending plans and demonstrate greater transparency with regard to their budgets and…
Anambra State, the commercial nerve centre of Eastern Nigeria, is ecologically not safe as the rains begin to pour this year. Prospects are loss of lives and valuable properties are looming large because of the menace of gully erosion in the state. Already, Onitsha, the commercial hub of the East and the Niger Delta is under serious threat. Local sources say gully erosion has been ravaging the commercial city since last year. But, the menace seems to be assuming an alarming proportion this year. Works Commissioner, Marcel Ifejiofor, however, says there are more than 1,000 active erosion sites scattered across…
In far-western Nepal, 20-year old Dhana Bhatt is waiting out for the last weeks of her pregnancy. For many, it is a time that should be joyful. But, her anticipation has turned into anxiety as Nepal is grappling with the global COVID-19 pandemic. According to Ms. Bhatt, “my pregnancy check-up is due, but I don’t feel safe going out during the coronavirus lockdown.” The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country as at last week had reached 246, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The pandemic has put people of all ages and genders at risk, but pregnant…
These signposts: COVID-19, quarantine, lockdown, and shortage of medicines are affecting more than 37 million people living with HIV globally. Senior Technical Specialist, Gender Equality, Diversity and ILOAIDS, Afsar Syed Mohammad, says people living with HIV are not just being left behind they are being pushed further back. ‘’The disruption to antiretroviral treatment (ART), the loss of jobs, the lack of access to unemployment benefits and health insurance are very real fears for those living with HIV during this pandemic’’, says the ILO chief. Writing on Work in Progress, Mohammad says ‘’what I have heard from those I spoke to in…
Prospects of recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic returning to business, as usual, are currently not appearing very positive. Concerned strategic thinkers are already pushing for the advancement of a sustainable development agenda. According to them, a structural transformation of the transport sector will be needed if environmentally sustainable, green economies are to become a reality. It is being argued that the structural transformation could lead to the creation of millions of new jobs. So say the authors of a new study, Jobs in green and healthy transport: Making the green shift. The report examines the employment implications of four “green transport”…
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) says as the COVID-19 pandemic spreads around the world, the vulnerabilities and barriers faced by people with disabilities are growing. Even under normal circumstances, persons with disabilities face discrimination, high rates of gender-based violence, and exclusion from services and decision-making. The pandemic and responses to it are projected to have a significant impact on women and girls, including a higher incidence of gender-based violence and loss of access to life-saving health services. The concerns are heightened for young people with disabilities, who are nearly three times more likely to experience sexual violence than people…
Eastern Africa Director of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Victor Manyong, has warned that the agricultural research organisation is likely to lose this planting season due to the rampaging COVID-19. In an interview with Radio IITA, Manyong says, ‘’the pandemic is slowing down everything. As an agricultural research organisation, our activities rely on natural conditions like the rainy season. We cannot control this, and we may lose a whole planting season. Due to restrictions in our movements, we also cannot travel to the rural areas to collect samples and bring them to the laboratory.’’ Behold, excerpts from the…
G7 countries are currently under intense pressure to put in place measures to promote gender equality amid the COVID-19 crisis. The International Labour Organisation, UN Women and the European Union are among lobbyists campaigning for gender equality. Participants at a virtual high-level meeting on COVID-19 agreed that women’s economic empowerment should be part of the crisis response. The event brought together government ministers, CEOs, business associations, trade unions, civil society, global women’s movements and academia from G7 countries. The COVID-19 pandemic has deepened pre-existing inequalities and exposed cracks in social, political and economic systems including access to health services and…
