Experts
Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan launch new Nile dam talks in DRC
A new round of African Union-mediated talks between Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan has begun aimed at resolving a years-long dispute over a massive dam built by Addis Ababa on the Blue Nile, a main tributary of the Nile river. The three-day talks that kicked off on Saturday are taking place in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the current chair of the AU. Foreign and irrigation ministers of the three nations were attending the talks over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), along with AU experts, according to Ethiopia’s Irrigation Minister Seleshi Bekele. A Sudanese diplomat was quoted as saying by The Associated Press news agency that the experts from the three countries and the AU met on Saturday, ahead of ministers who would meet on Sunday and Monday. He s...
Suez Canal reopens after stranded ship is freed
Traffic has resumed in Egypt’s Suez Canal after a stranded container ship blocking it for nearly a week was finally freed by salvage crews. Tug boats honked their horns in celebration as the 400m-long (1,300ft) Ever Given was dislodged on Monday with the help of dredgers. Hundreds of ships are waiting to pass through the canal which links the Mediterranean to the Red Sea. It is one of the world’s busiest trade routes. Peter Berdowski, CEO of Dutch salvage company Boskalis, said the Ever Given had been refloated at 15:05 (13:05 GMT) on Monday, “thereby making free passage through the Suez Canal possible again”. Egyptian officials say the backlog of ships waiting to transit through should be cleared in around three days, but experts believe the knock-on effect on global shipping could take w...
TUC opposes sale of Port Harcourt refinery
File Photo The Trade Union Congress (TUC) is opposed to the sale of the Port Harcourt Refinery as canvassed by many Nigerians, its secretary-general, Musa Lawan, has said. The Federal Executive Council last week approved $1.5 billion (about N600 billion) for the rehabilitation of the 210,000 barrels per day refinery. The FEC approved the amount at its virtual meeting presided by President Muhammadu Buhari. The approval came amidst a controversial price increase in the pump price of petrol that was later reversed. Although Nigeria has four refineries, all government-owned, it currently imports virtually all its refined petroleum products. The approval for the Port Harcourt Refinery was greeted with mixed feelings as the country in the past spent billions of dollars on refinery maintenance w...
Expert: Ten cancer facilities inadequate for 200 million Nigerians
A Radiation and Clinical Oncologist, Dr. Tessy Ahmadu, has decried inadequate facilities for cancer treatment in the country. Ahmadu, who is also the Head of the Oncology Department, Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Abuja, said this in an interview with newsmen on Friday in Abuja. She said rather than blaming the spate of cancer on inadequate expertise in the country, inadequate facilities should be held responsible. According to her, the country has trained oncologists and specialists handling cancer cases. “We have a population of over 200 million but we have less than 10 functional radiotherapy machines in the country,” the medical doctor said. Although Ahmadu said that there were enough experts in the country, she noted that they could still be more than the present number. She said that ...
Ekiti moves to reposition MSMEs for economic growth
Ekiti State Government has expressed its determination to enhance the growth of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to boost economic prosperity of the state. The government had before now reconstituted a 22-member Council to address the myriad of challenges confronting MSMEs in Ekiti , with intention to upscale industrial growth and development . The Commissioner for Investment, Trade and Industry, Mr Muyiwa Olumilua, stated this during a one-day sensitisation workshop with the theme: “Making Economy A Private Driven Economy” held in Ado Ekiti. He said the state government will partner federal government and corporate agencies to facilitate opportunities for business owners in the state. Olumilua at the event, which brought together medium and small scale business owners from acro...
NCDC: Nigeria records 13 cases of UK coronavirus variant
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said it has found six more cases of the B.1.1.7 COVID-19 variant in the country. This brings the total number of people who have tested positive to the variant in Nigeria to 13. The B.1.1.7 COVID-19 variant was first detected in the United Kingdom and has since spread to other parts of the world. The Director-General of NCDC, Chikwe Iheakwazu, while speaking at the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 briefing on Monday, said the six new cases were detected in Lagos State by scientists at the Africa Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID), at the Redeemers University in Ede, Osun State. “Last week we detected six additional samples of the B.1.1.7 variants in Lagos state,” Mr Ihekweazu said. “We already have five c...
Tokyo 2021: Japan, medical experts disagree over safe Olympics
Japanese infectious disease specialist Atsuo Hamada wants to see the Olympics happen in Tokyo this summer, but admits if they were being held anywhere else, he’d probably support a cancellation. “Even without the coronavirus pandemic, the Olympics as a mass gathering fosters all sorts of infectious diseases,” Hamada, a professor at Tokyo Medical University, told AFP. With less than six months until the pandemic-postponed Games, organisers say they’re confident the event will be safe. But some medical experts aren’t so sure, and think cancellation is safer. “I do understand the athletes’ sentiments,” said Michael Head, a senior research fellow in global health at Britain’s University of Southampton. “But I think from… the global public health point of view, there’s nothing about the Olympic...
China joins calls for IWF to publish list of election candidates
Nations from around the world have written to the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) to express their dismay at the governing body’s failure to publish the list of candidates for forthcoming elections. There have been complaints of poor governance, a lack of transparency, and giving an unfair advantage to certain candidates on the current IWF Executive Board who have the information that is denied to others. For the last elections in 2017 the list was published five days after the nominations deadline. This year, eight days have passed already and there is no sign of the IWF naming the candidates for President, first vice-president, vice-president, and a place on the Executive Board. The IWF is entitled, under current regulations, to wait until 30 days before the elections – Febr...
Coronavirus takes toll on federal roads’ construction in Lagos
The ravaging effect of Coronavirus (COVID-19) was, perhaps, the biggest challenge faced by stakeholders in the road sub sector of the construction industry in 2020. As the virus gained ground, several contractors soon abandoned work and shut their operations, consequently, many hitherto gainfully employed Nigerians were thrown into the labour market. Even when the government later introduced partial lockdown measures, the number of workers on site was scaled down by many contractors in line with COVID-19 protocols, which slowed down progress of work. Virtually all road projects in Lagos State suffered the effect of the pandemic, with every project having its own peculiar challenge. The reconstruction of 46km Agbara-Seme section of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway project awarded to CGC Nigeria...
China possibly committed ‘genocide’ against Xinjiang Muslims
The Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) said on Thursday that new evidence had emerged in the past year that “crimes against humanity – and possibly genocide – are occurring”. The CECC also accused China of harassing Uighurs in the US. China has been widely condemned for setting up complexes in Xinjiang that it describes as “vocational training centres” to stamp out “extremism” and give people new skills, but others have called them concentration camps. The United Nations says at least one million Uighurs and other Muslims have been detained in Xinjiang. Faith leaders, activist groups and others have said crimes against humanity, including genocide, are taking place there. Beijing denies abuse accusations. The CECC report called for a formal US “determination on whether atro...
Coronavirus: Concern grows over potential superspreader event during US Capitol riot
Concerns are mounting about the health of lawmakers and other people in the Capitol last week, after the first member to test positive for the Coronavirus (COVID-19) since Wednesday’s chaos, said she believed she was exposed in a crowded hiding place with hundreds of other legislators. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J., tested positive on Monday while experiencing mild symptoms, and said in a statement that she believes she caught the virus from her fellow lawmakers while hunkering down as Capitol Police struggled for hours to contain a Trump-inspired mob attack on the Capitol. Lawmakers were trapped in a room near the Capitol with hundreds of others, in some cases for hours, where at least one person who later tested positive for the coronavirus was present. The Office of the Attending P...
