Author: Akanimo Sampson

The departure of the late Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Abba Kyari, who died of COVID-19, is changing the dynamics of policymaking and implementation in the Presidency. Excerpts from Nigeria Politics & Security, a weekly intelligence report on Nigeria by Menas Associates indicate that the numerous economy advisers and ministers in Abuja are working under a new order following the exit of President Buhari’s gatekeeper. Menas Associates is, however, a political risk consultancy that provides actionable intelligence for its clients. It has also been helping multinational companies operate in the Middle-East, Africa and other emerging markets since the late…

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The Anglo-Dutch oil and gas major, Shell, has denied responsibility for the dead fishes floating and littering the coastline of the Niger Delta. The oil major Nigeria’s main oil and gas region as Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC)  The massive dead fishes floating near the Atlantic coastline in the vastly polluted oil and gas region sparked off a worrisome row. The National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) had said it found no oil spills linking the dead fishes floating near the coastline in Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers and Akwa Ibom states. But, an environmentalist, Furoebi Akene, was attributing the…

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After fleeing clashes in Diebougou, a gold mining region in Burkina Faso’s south, over 1,300 Nigeriens are currently stranded in the country.  Lacking means to use public transportation due to national travel restrictions because of the rampaging COVID-19 pandemic, and with no resources to pursue their journey, the cohort left the mining zone by foot. A few on bicycles, hoping to reach Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso’s capital, before continuing on to Niamey, the Nigerien capital.   After two days, several hundred Nigeriens reached Ouagadougou, others got as far as Kokologho, a city located about 45 km from the Burkina capital.   Reached by…

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The war of attrition between Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and Transportation Minister, Chibuike Amaechi, does not appear to be in a hurry to end. The two prominent Ikwerre political leaders have been locked in a bitter politics since the electioneering campaigns of 2015, and in the process kicking dust and fueling unease in the state, the oil and gas capital of Nigeria. At a time political watchers were expecting a ceasefire following Wike’s defeat of Amaechi again in the power contest for the soul of Rivers in 2019, the COVID-19 crisis appears to provide the two political foes…

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The international narrative on the COVID-19 crisis is currently a source of worry to the Senior Cotton and Textiles Lead at Fairtrade Foundation, United Kingdom, Subindu Garkhel. Garkhel is concerned that much of the narrative to date has overlooked many of the other very significant links within the fashion supply chain, despite their role being integral to the making of a dress or a pair of jeans, beautiful or ordinary. ‘’I’m referring to the cotton farmers, the ginners and spinners who are so often forgotten in the fashion debate and continue to be so in the face of the pandemic. …

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The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is calling on African countries to give extra attention to food security. The call is coming as countries are fighting to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic. Insisting, IITA says food security in Africa, as well as in other parts of the world, needs to be given extra attention because ‘’ more than 70% of the rural population in West and Central Africa depend on subsistence farming, and this is already under threat from climate change.’’ According to the Institute, ‘’May and June are the most critical months for planting maize and other cereals in…

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A United Nation’s trade and development body has disclosed that e-Commerce sales globally hit $25.6 trillion in 2018. This is eight per cent up from 2017, according to the latest available estimates released by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), at the start of its eWeek event.  The online event explored digital solutions and policies to help the world recover from the rampaging coronavirus crisis.  It ran from April 27 to May 1 and featured dialogues among ministers, heads of international organisations, business executives and civil society representatives. According to the UNCTAD analysts, the estimated 2018 e-Commerce…

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Posers: Over the last few months, what types of food have you and your family consumed? Have you eaten a balanced and diversified diet?  Your answer may not matter. What matters is who or what influenced your food choices.  These and more are the questions that researchers from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), set to find out. The researchers from CGIAR-IITA study have carried out a study in Uganda with rural households as the sample population.  The researchers want to combat malnutrition, but before recommending policy options, they need to understand how and why people eat what they…

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Cotton farmers, mill labourers, garment workers, fashion brands and retail assistants are facing the additional impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. Life in the world’s textile supply chains has been precarious at the best of times.  A recent report from Traidcraft Exchange notes: “The garment industry is a case study of fragility… Workers are typically on low wages and have few savings. Production countries have limited to non-existent social security systems.” Co-founder of the Fairtrade certified Chetna Organic Network in Hyderabad, India, Arun Ambatipudi, says “there’s an assumption that cotton farmers have not been affected because this year’s cotton crop has already been harvested and…

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The raging COVID-19 in Nigeria has so far killed 85 citizens just as the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) confirms 220 new cases late on Saturday. With this development, the total number of infected persons in the country is 2,388. According to NCDC, a total of 16,588 samples have so far been tested across Nigeria with the 220 new cases coming from 19 states with Lagos returning to the top chart with 62 cases. Closely following is Abuja with 52 cases, Kaduna 31, Sokoto 13, Kebbi 10, Yobe nine and Borno six, Edo and Bauchi five each, Gombe, Enugu…

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A month after escaping death, 11 young migrants have now agreed that it’s a miracle they survived.  Since being rescued, the magnitude of their life-threatening experience and the dangerous journey is just now dawning.  It was a tragedy that shook the African continent when remains of 64 migrants from Ethiopia were found locked in a container at the back of a truck, discovered on March 24 near Tete, Mozambique after crossing over the Malawi-Mozambique border.  Last week, the 11 youthful survivors returned to Ethiopia, thanks to coordination by the governments of Ethiopia and Mozambique, assisted by the International Organisation for…

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Over the next six weeks, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is expecting to transport an equivalent of 37 Boeing 747 planeloads from China and Malaysia to 130 countries around the world.  Once the service is fully up and running, as many as 350 cargoes and another 350 passenger flights could fly every month.  This is because the UN agency is setting up a logistics backbone for global COVID-19 efforts.  This is happening as Nigeria’s zooming tally raced to 2,170 confirmed positive cases on Friday. Founder of DAAR Communications Plc, Raymond Dokpesi, and some of his family members contributed…

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The coronavirus pandemic is making the plight of garment workers worse. In Bangladesh alone, more than one million garment workers being laid off. Garment workers have one of the toughest jobs in the world. In Bangladesh and India, women work up to 60 hours a week and earn as little as 30 cents an hour.  According to the Fashion Revolution, more than 90 per cent of workers in the global fashion industry has no way of changing their wages or conditions.  It Is dangerous too – especially for the women who make up eight out of every 10 garment workers globally.  This week marks…

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Significant levels of lockdown-related disruption over six months could lead to a projected seven million unintended pregnancies.  It could also leave 47 million women in low- and middle-income countries unable to use modern contraceptives, and result in an additional 31 million cases of gender-based violence. These are the outcome of a new analysis by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and partners.  Going by the analysis, a clear view of the toll of the COVID-19 pandemic is only beginning to take shape. But, experts estimate the human cost could be extraordinary.  Without a doubt, the economic and physical disruptions caused…

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United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) are co-leading the COVID-19 surveillance effort and the coordination of contact tracing in Liberia. The African country on March 16, confirmed the presence of the coronavirus disease within its borders.  One week later, health authorities declared a public health emergency and requested United Nations support in stopping the transmission of the virus. It was an eerie reminder of the Ebola epidemic that gripped Liberia six years ago.  During that crisis, UNFPA worked with the government and other health partners to implement contact tracing, which systematically traces every person known…

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A top official of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is pushing for international measures to curb the intercontinental spread of pests and diseases. Head of CGIAR-IITA’s Germplasm Health and Virology Unit, Lara Kumar, says one way to prevent the human spread of plant pests and diseases is to declare plants at border checkpoints.  Kumar has been explaining how humans move plant pests from one place to another, and how this can be curtailed.  Just like the deadly COVID-19 pandemic has taught the world that diseases do not know boundaries, the IITA expert is insisting that humans are also…

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With 204 new cases of coronavirus on Thursday, Nigeria is now having a tally of 1932 confirmed positive cases of the virus. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) which made this public also pointed out that the country recorded 319 recoveries and 58 deaths. Globally, there are a total of 3,303,304 confirmed cases, 1,038,440 recoveries and 233,785deaths.  At the moment, the US is testing an antiviral drug called remdivisir for the treatment of the rampaging virus. US President, Donald Trump, says he has directed the Food and Drug Administration to fast-track the approval of remdivisir for treatment of people infected with the virus.…

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Killer cult groups in Akwa Ibom State appear to be staging a come-back with bitterness. This is happening barely seven weeks after the Governor Udom Emmanuel administration proscribed 51 cult groups and societies in primary and secondary schools across the state,  Local sources in the state said on Monday, not less than three persons were allegedly killed in a bloody cult clash between two rival cult groups in Inen, a rural community in OrukAnam Local Government Area of the state It seems the cult groups are defying the Udom administration ban order on their activities. The decision by the administration…

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To minimise the risk of COVID-19 to workers, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) wants employers to carry out risk assessments.  ILO also wants all employers to ensure that their workplaces meet strict occupational safety and health criteria. This is coming as the pressure mounts on countries to ease their lockdown restrictions. ILO on its part is urging governments to take action to prevent and control COVID-19 in the workplace, with active involvement and dialogue with employers’ and workers’ organisations. ILO says without such controls, countries face the very real risk of a resurgence of the virus. Putting in place the…

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With 196 new positive cases of coronavirus on Wednesday, Nigeria now has a total of 1728 COVID-19 patients.  The Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) says out of the 196 new confirmed cases, Lagos remains the epicentre of the disease with 87 newly infected persons, followed by kano with 24 cases.  Others are Gombe 16, Kaduna 17, Abuja 16, Katsina 10, Sokoto eight, Edo seven, Borno six, Yobe one, Adamawa one and Ebonyi one. While the spike in the number of new cases in the country is worrisome, the Federal Government said it will relax restrictions from May 4. But,…

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The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has warned that 1.6 billion workers in the informal economy are in immediate danger of having their livelihoods destroyed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to ILO, that is nearly half of the global workforce.  That is largely due to the continued sharp decline in working hours globally as a result of the pandemic. According to the third edition of ILO Monitor, the drop in working hours in the current (second) quarter of 2020 is expected to be significantly worse than previously estimated. Compared to pre-crisis levels (Q4 2019), a 10.5 per cent deterioration is now expected,…

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Grocery workers, flight attendants and autoworkers have seen their health and livelihoods threatened by the rampaging COVID-19 pandemic. This is coming to the open as the coronavirus crisis is having a devastating effect on workers and employers in all sectors.  Workers in essential services such as health and frontline emergency response are said to be at high risk of infection.  Already, in a series of briefs, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has captured the impact of the crisis on several social and economic sectors, including public emergency services (PES), health services, education, food retail, automotive, tourism, civil aviation, agriculture, maritime…

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The COVID-19 pandemic and the measures put in place to contain its diffusion are taking a heavy toll on the tourism sector, a top UN official has said. According to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), the COVID-19 pandemic will result in a contraction of the tourism sector by 20% to 30% in 2020. For the Director of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) Division on International Trade and Commodities, Pamela Coke-Hamilton, this estimate is likely to be conservative for countries relying on foreign tourists, as the recent data on daily air traffic indicate a drop of…

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The World Food Programme and UNICEF say 370 million children are missing out on school meals amid school closures due to the rampaging COVID-19. These two UN agencies are accordingly urging national governments to prevent devastating nutrition and health consequences for children. Sadly, the COVID-19 crisis is already pushing up levels of hunger among the global poor. In Nigeria, the Federal Government has said it will not endanger the lives of children by opening schools. Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba, says there is no date yet for schools in the country to resume. While clarifying that the West…

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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is supporting Nigeria’s COVID-19 fight with the sum of $3.4 billion. This is coming as Nigeria on Tuesday recorded 195 new coronavirus positive cases in the country, with Lagos and Kano states having the highest numbers.  While Lagos recorded 80 new cases, Kano had 38, Ogun and Bauchi states recorded a tally of 15 new cases each.  While Borno State has 11 new cases, the spread of the virus intensified in Gombe with 10 new cases and in Sokoto State with nine cases. Edo and Jigawa states recorded five new cases each, two new cases…

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Several brick-and-mortar businesses in Senegal are moving online to continue operating as the coronavirus pandemic rages. The government is facilitating this transition and the delivery of essential supplies by fast-tracking the implementation of e-commerce policies and reforms. The country’s trade ministry has created an e-commerce platform that provides easy access to websites of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that sell essential goods. The platform facilitates the distribution of necessary food, hygiene and health products, federates the SMEs and encourages more traditional businesses to go online. Senegalese Trade Minister, Assome Aminata Diatta, says “we want to ensure people have access to…

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No new state in Nigeria has reported a positive case of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours. Apparently impressed, President Muhamadu Buhari says he has approved a phased and gradual easing of the lockdown in the affected states and Abuja from next Monday. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) however says on April 27, 64 new confirmed cases and no deaths were recorded in the country. According to NCDC, 1337 cases have been confirmed, 255 cases have been discharged and 40 deaths have been recorded in 32 states and Abuja. NCDC reports the 64 new cases from five states-…

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The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Resilience Coordinator for West Africa, Coumba Sow, has painted a grim picture of the hunger situation in the region. In an interview with the UN agency about the COVID-19 pandemic and what it could mean for millions of people already grappling with hunger and conflict in West Africa, he said by June- August, 17 million people across the sub-region will require food assistance.  According to Sow, as of this April, ‘’over 11 million people need immediate food assistance – mostly due to conflict. This number will continue rising, potentially during the lean season (June-…

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In Iraq, a UN agency is appealing to the international community for $20,450,000 to contribute to halting further transmission of COVID-19. The fund will also assist in mitigating the impact of the outbreak, including the socio-economic impact as well as the threat to public health.   As of April 21, 1,602 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 83 deaths were reported in Iraq.   The COVID-19 crisis is not only impacting vulnerable populations in Iraq but is expected to have a severe effect on socioeconomic wellbeing across the country unless immediate response and mitigation strategies are taken.  This includes measures directed at an…

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The massive dead fishes floating near the Atlantic coastline in the Niger Delta, Nigeria’s vastly polluted oil and gas region has sparked off a worrisome row. The National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) says it found no oil spills linking the dead fishes floating near the coastline in Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers and Akwa Ibom states. But, an environmentalist, Furoebi Akene, is attributing the dead fishes littering the oil region’s coastline to discharge of toxic chemicals from the Anglo-Dutch oil and gas major, Shell’s operations at Forcados oil export terminal. NOSDRA was established by the National Assembly Act of…

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