ASHENEWS reports that a Nigerian fintech company, Paystack has announced the sack of 33 employees in its offices in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Europe.
Author: Editor
On January 20, 2023, the Federal Ministry of Health and other relevant health stakeholders declared a diphtheria outbreak in Nigeria, and by the end of October, no fewer than 13,204 persons are said to have died from the disease nationwide in Nigeria, affecting 114 Local Government Areas (LGAs) across 19 states, including the Federal Capital Territory.
This time last year, more than 37,000 delegates and over 150 nations gathered in Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27). That meeting concluded with a historic decision to establish and operationalise a loss and damage fund. It was a breakthrough that marked the climax of decades of pressure from climate-vulnerable developing countries, many of which are in Africa.
There are ominous signs from the 11th November Off-Cycle Elections and from Election Petition Tribunals that electoral democracy is under serious threat in the country today. The CDD Election Analysis Centre (CDD-EAC) report outlines key findings on the conduct of the elections in Bayelsa State, Imo State and Kogi States. There were extensive incidents related to the abuse of the powers of incumbency, high levels of vote buying by politicians, use of identity markers for political manipulation, orchestrated disinformation campaigns and failure of some institutions such as INEC, political parties and security agencies to perform their duties properly.
There was a rumour recently that the Dangote Refinery cannot start crude processing as scheduled because the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPCL) had no crude to supply to the huge refinery.
Uganda has established a modern bone marrow transplant (BMT) facility, that will help reduce numbers of patients seeking transplants abroad where they part with between US$40,000 to $50,000 [about Ug. Shillings 150m-200m] to treat one patient (medical procedure and accommodation during recovery) for at least one month in India, alone. The Ugandan facility, the first-of-the-kind in the nation, has been set up by the State-run Joint Clinical Research Centre (JCRC) at Lubowa, south of Kampala.
On October 24, a statement by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres caused a sharp reaction by Israel. He had condemned in the strongest terms the massacre committed by Hamas on October 7, but also reminded the world that it did not take place in a vacuum. He explained that one cannot dissociate 56 years of occupation from our engagement with the tragedy that unfolded on that day. Israeli officials demanded Guterres’s resignation, claiming that he supported Hamas and justified the massacre it carried out. The Israeli media also jumped on the bandwagon, asserting among other things that the UN chief had demonstrated a stunning degree of “moral bankruptcy”. The Israeli position has been that the definition of anti-Semitism be expanded to include criticism of the Israeli state and questioning the moral basis of Zionism.
ASHENEWS reports that the federal government has directed all River Basin Development Authorities across Nigeria to commence the 2023 Dry Season Farming through irrigation.
ASHENEWS reports that the federal government has launched the first-ever Harmonized Extension Manual in Nigeria and the National Agricultural Extension Policy.
ASHENEWS reports that the federal government says it will soon conclude arrangements to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Algeria for a direct flight route between the two countries.