Africa
Africa on cusp of the third wave of coronavirus facing a vaccine shortage
Africa is heading into a third wave of coronavirus infections as the least-inoculated continent faces a shortage of vaccines. African nations reported 94,000 new cases in the week through June 6, a 26% increase. South Africa announced the most new cases, followed by Tunisia, Africa Centres for Disease Control & Prevention Director John Nkengasong said in an online briefing Thursday. “Fourteen or so of our member states are now heading toward the third wave, and aggressively so,” he said. “It really highlights the need for us to roll out vaccines at speed and at scale.” Only 2.8% of Africa’s population is inoculated, compared with a global average of 14.5%, according to Africa CDC and Bloomberg Economics data. The program has slowed because of interruptions to supply from India, where m...
Morocco says Madrid seeks to ‘Europeanise’ its crisis with Rabat
Morocco’s foreign minister on Wednesday accused Spain of trying to turn a political crisis between the two countries into an EU problem by focusing on migration and ignoring the root causes. The row blew up in April after Spain admitted the leader of the Western Sahara independence movement, Brahim Ghali, for medical treatment without informing Rabat, which regards the disputed territory as its own. Morocco then appeared to relax border controls with Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta on May 17, leading to an influx of at least 8,000 migrants. Since then Spain and Morocco have traded accusations of violating good neighbourliness, with Spain saying Morocco used the migrants while Rabat says Spain acted in connivance with “adversaries” of its territorial integrity. “Spain tries to Europe...
UAE ratifies extradition deal with South Africa as hunt for Guptas intensifies
The United Arab Emirates has ratified a 2018 extradition treaty with South Africa, its embassy in Pretoria said on Wednesday, a move that President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government hopes will lead to the return of the Gupta brothers to face corruption charges. South Africa signed the treaty with the UAE in late 2018, part of Ramaphosa’s effort to crack down on those accused of corruption and influence peddling under his predecessor, Jacob Zuma. It was ratified in April, UAE’s embassy said in a statement. The Gupta brothers – Atul, Ajay and Rajesh Gupta – are accused of using connections with Zuma to win contracts, misappropriate state assets, inappropriately influence cabinet appointments and siphon off billions of rand in state funds. The Indian-born brothers, who have repeatedly denied wrong...
US prioritises students’ visas
US Embassy in South Africa The U.S. Mission Country Consular Coordinator, Susan Tuller, has said the Mission in Nigeria will continue to prioritise student visa appointments throughout the summer months. Tuller disclosed this during the celebration of the U.S. Consulate’s “Student Visa Day.” According to her, there are over 13,000 Nigerian students and soon a few more may join them in studying in the U.S. She added that the Mission has interviewed over 2,500 student applicants since this year. Tuller noted that student visa numbers have gone down worldwide due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. According to her, student numbers from Nigeria were up to 2.5 per cent for the 2019/2020 school year, adding that in the eighth year in a row, the percentage has increased. Tuller encouraged students ...
Nigeria orders broadcasters not to use Twitter to gather information
Nigerian television and radio stations should not use Twitter to gather information and have to de-activate their accounts, the broadcast authority said following the move to suspend the US social media giant in Africa’s most populous country. Nigeria’s government on Friday said it had suspended Twitter’s activities, two days after the platform removed a tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari that threatened to punish secessionists. Nigerian telecoms firms have since blocked access to Twitter. International diplomats responded with a joint statement in support of “free expression and access to information as a pillar of democracy in Nigeria”. Buhari, who was Nigeria’s military ruler in the 1980s, has previously been accused of cracking down on freedom of expression, though his government has ...
Senegalese navy seizes 8 tonnes of cannabis resin from boat
The Senegalese navy on Sunday intercepted a boat smuggling over 8 tonnes of cannabis resin through the waters off the West African nation’s coast, the armed forces ministry said in a statement. The vessel, which was flying a Togolese flag, was stopped 140 kilometres (87 miles) from the coastal capital of Dakar with seven crew members on board. After escorting the boat to a naval base in Dakar, the authorities discovered the 8.37 tonnes of hashish split between 279 bags. The boat was also carrying sacks of plaster, the ministry said on Monday. It did not provide a street value for the seized drugs. Earlier this year, authorities in Niger seized 17 tonnes of cannabis resin worth around 31 million euros ($37 million), the largest bust in the country’s history. According to Interpol, drug king...
Lagos governor: Twitter should have an office in Nigeria to resolve issues
Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo Olu said if Twitter had an office in Nigeria, resolving the current Twitter ban initiated by the Buhari government would have been easier. The governor made the suggestion in an interview with Arise TV on Monday. Mr Sanwo-Olu noted that he cannot categorically say if the federal government’s action against Twitter is wrong or right because he does not have the same prognosis as the President and Commander in Chief. “I cannot sit down here with all of the responsibilities that I have and fly (sic) the commander in chief of the armed forces. Even had (sic) a prognosis and security information that I do not have. I cannot begin to say that was it done is right or wrong” he asserted. He alluded that the government had only suspended Twitter operations in Nig...
WHO seeks G7 support to meet vaccination targets
The Director-General, World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus has solicited the support of G7 health ministers to meet vaccination targets by the end of the year. In his remarks at the G7 Health Ministers’ meeting in Oxford, Ghebreyesus appealed to the ministers to provide leadership for strengthening WHO on sustainable financing. “First, we seek your support for reaching our vaccination targets for September and the end of the year; sharing doses with COVAX now is essential for achieving those targets. “We need 250 million doses by September and we need 100 million doses just in June and July. “As G7 nations, you are in a unique position to pool doses and make this happen; second, we seek your leadership for strengthening WHO, including through sustainable and predictable f...
PDP tasks federal government on Dangote refinery shares
The Peoples Democratic Party has advised the Federal Government to ensure transparency in its planned acquisition of 20 per cent shares in Dangote refinery. The PDP said this in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, in Abuja. Ologbondiyan said: “The PDP has nothing against any genuine and honest incentives for private refineries, but we insist that such must not be used as avenues for siphoning funds from national treasury. “The transaction must be made completely open, in terms of conditions for crude barter trade, duration, equity sharing and signatories among other things.” Ologbondiyan urged the National Assembly to take advantage of its oversight power on the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to ensure that the deal was transparent. “The PDP insists...
NCC: Internet subscription hits 154 million in Nigeria
Fix Africa News Magazine Executive Vice Chairman, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof Umar Garba Danbatta, on Monday disclosed that the number of clusters of access gaps has been reduced to 114 from 217, in the Commission’s efforts to ensure that more Nigerians are digitally-included in the ICT ecosystem. He revealed that Nigeria’s telecoms sector had reached basic internet subscription of 154 million; over 87 million broadband subscriptions, representing 45.93 per cent broadband penetration; over 207 million voice subscriptions with teledensity standing at 108.94 per cent as at October, 2020. Danbatta made the disclosures when hosted a delegation from Autoridade Reguladora Nacional (ARN), the Telecom National Regulatory Authority of Guinea-Bissau who were in a week-long ben...
Mali coup: Ghana to host Extraordinary ECOWAS Summit in Accra
Ghana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, has stated that the country will on Sunday, May 30, host an Extraordinary ECOWAS Summit in Accra. Addressing the press, Saturday, Mrs. Ayorkor Botchwey noted that the purpose of the meeting is to enable several heads of state, led by Chairman President Akufo-Addo to address the current political tensions in Mali. “In line with the ECOWAS protocol on democracy and good governance, the President of the Republic, Nana-Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo in his capacity as chair of the ECOWAS authority of heads of state and government, following due consultations with his peers decided to convene this extraordinary summit. “The purpose of the Summit is to enable the authority to deliberate and take consequential decisions on the evolving polit...
UNILAG pro-chancellor: Evil times are behind us
File Photo Lanre Tejuoso, the newly-appointed Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Governing Council, University of Lagos, has prayed God to prevent any further crisis in the university. ”We pray that the evil witnessed in the times past, we shall witness no more; love will radiate within the council. ”It is our prayers that we will take this university, which remains one of Africa’s pride, to greater heights very soon,” Tejuoso, who represented Ogun Central in the 8th National Assembly, said in Lagos. He spoke at a church service to celebrate the 60th birthday anniversary of the institution’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Management Services), Obinnaya Chukwu, on Thursday night. Newsmen report that President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Tejuoso the university’s Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Governing ...
