Day: October 9, 2023

The Minister of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas, Diamantino Azevedo, on Monday in Luanda defended the alignment between natural diamond producing countries to improve the management and protection of this type of precious stones.

Speaking at the opening of the meeting of the Ad-hoc Committee for the Review and Reform of the Kimberley Process Certification System, he stressed the need to better organise, from an environmental and management point of view, to reduce capital and operating costs, as well as to better promote natural diamonds.

“In our specific case, we are adding value to natural diamonds by cutting and polishing them. These are the measures we have to take and, in addition, continue to protect the natural diamond itself, with the producing countries being more aligned,” the Minister said.

Regarding the meeting of the Ad-hoc Committee, he said that it was taking place at a difficult time for the natural diamond industry and also in the face of some situations aimed at promoting synthetic diamonds.

“We need to be more aligned, all the countries that produce natural diamonds, so that we can defend our cause in the face of this whole situation that is going on now,” he said.

“It’s not enough for us to just bemoan the fact that synthetic diamonds are out there. We have to take measures at all levels, both in terms of the environment, money laundering, illegal exploitation of natural diamonds and the way we carry out mining activities,” Diamantino Azevedo emphasised.

He added that it was necessary to improve the way we manage and produce diamonds and to reduce costs in order to adapt to the new situation.

Diamantino Azevedo reaffirmed the Angolan government’s commitment to the United Nations certification mechanism for conflict prevention.

The meeting of the Ad-Hoc Committee for the Review and Reform of the Kimberley Process Certification System is taking place from 9 to 10 October, with representatives from Kimberley Process member countries, industry and civil society.

At this event, the attendants are evaluating the proposals to be presented by the heads of the sub-working groups, as well as taking stock of the activities carried out by these sub-working groups during the first half of this year

Source: Angola Press News Agency

The Minister of Education, Prof.Tahir Mamman says payment for the revitalisation of the tertiary institutions in the country is underway.

Mamman also said the Federal Government had approved the payment of salary increase of 35 per cent to academic and 25 per cent to non-academic staff in further commitment to their welfare.

He said this in Abuja on Monday at an event to mark the 60 years anniversary of Committee of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (CVCNU).

The minister also challenged the committee to place Nigerian universities among global institutions that use science and technology as vehicles for solving their problems.

He also said that with regards to energy, steps had been taken to power the universities through gas-powered facilities using the PPP window provided by the government.

“The scheme is intended to start with 18 universities in the first instance and the shortlisted universities will be contacted appropriate stage of the project.

“The centrality of the power to service delivery, research and cost savings cannot be over emphasised.

” Due to the recognition of the centrality of the education sector, a committee was set up to provide a roadmap to guide policy, provide implementation plans, deliverables, key performance indicators (KPIs).

“And timeline was put in place and that the report of the committee is expected to be submitted this month,” he said.

He noted that arrangements had been concluded for a meeting with heads of key security outfits to review and enhance the security cover of the schools.

He added that the role of government is to continue to support the public sector universities with appropriate resources while encouraging the proper development of the private universities that are now in the greater numbers.

He however urged Nigerian universities to produce competent and skilled graduates as they are expected to tap, explore and exploit other sources of funding to run the system as the convention globally to support government funding.

“The government is also keenly interested in having a stable academic calendar for appropriate learning, research, collaboration and student exchange to take place,” he added.

Celebrating 60 years of existence, the minister called on the committee to do more to bridge the gap between industries and the institutions through their leadership.

Meanwhile, the President, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, said the problem of godfatherism had entered the university system causing big crisis.

Osodeke said universities should be run the way it should just like in the 60s and 70s where there was little or no interference from the government officials.

According to him, there is need to unbundle the stranglehold of the bureaucrats on Nigerian university system and let them run the way they were run in the past.

“We must take our universities to the uni-versatility of universities not to region universities,” he said.

The ASUU chairman explained that the university first generation lecturers are those with first class and second class upper who want to be lecturers even when they had opportunities to be in banks.

He said the then lecturers preferred to lecture than other jobs, saying those in second generation are those with same grade with first generation but for quest for money they left saying they don’t belong there and don’t want to be slaves.

He further said the third generation lecturers are those with third class and HND who went for post-graduate diplomas before entering into the university system through god-fatherism while the fourth are those who long to make money from the system.

“Unfortunately when the first and second generation of lecturers are retiring and leaving the country, the system is being dominated by third and fourth generation of lecturers,” he said.

He said universities no longer follow the process of advertising and letting people apply for the positions and get interviewed to get into the university but rather they come in through god-fatherism.

“Today, before a vice-chancellor can employ any lecturer, he has to go and get permission from the Head of Service (HOS) and when he employs, he has to go to the Accountant-General Office to beg for people employed to be paid salary.

“How can we run a system like that? We should be sad, there is nothing to celebrate.

“Our job as vice-chancellors are online, there is need for unbundling of the stranglehold of the bureaucrats on Nigerian university system,” he said.

Osodeke also decried the state of inadequate lecturers and funding in the system, saying, the least budget for education in Africa is 12 per cent; but in Nigeria it was 3.8 per cent in 2022.

The Chairman of CVCNU, Prof. Lilian Salami, said the event was out to discuss the gains, value which the committee had added to the system and its challenges.

Salami, while believing that the trajectory would change, promised to go to the drawing board and proffer solutions on the way forward to a promising university system.

“We are here to add value to the education system in Nigeria especially the tertiary education system in Nigeria.

“The gathering is not only to celebrate the 60 years anniversary or to receive or to be given but to reengineer the system so that we would have a better future and posterity will then judge us positively,” she said.

She said they never compromised in giving quality of education to Nigerian students as it is their commitment to continue to give in their best all in spite of the challenges in the system.

Also, the CVCNU Secretary-General, Yakubu Ochefu, said they expected value addition from the stakeholders while providing leadership to Nigeria university system.

“The Nigeria university system is 75 years old while globally the university system is over a thousand year old so if you put us in that time frame you will see that we are still taking baby steps.

” We are not where we use to be, we have made a lot of improvement in the system but there is room for improvement.

“We believed that now that we have open our doors to our stakeholders, they will look at us and support the system, it is not federal government alone, not the state government alone and not the people that have decided to invest in education alone but for all of us, ” he added. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Comptroller General of Customs(CGC), Adewale Adeniyi, has given a directive to the Portplus Ltd. consultant managing the two ocean-going vessels, Customs Pride and Group of Nine, to ensure that the vessels sail by November.

Comptroller Odaudu Salefu of the Western Marine Command of Customs said this in and interactive session with newsmen in Lagos on Monday.

Salefu was responding to a publication made by the Maritime Reporters Association of Nigeria (MARAN) regarding the state of the vessels.

He praised the association for their investigative report but added there was need to always clarify and provide accurate information.

He mentioned that in addition to addressing the issues with the two existing vessels, the CGC had acquired two ocean-going vessels from Singapore to combat smuggling at sea.

According to Salefu, after assuming his position at the Western Marine Command on Jan. 26, he corresponded with the headquarters to assess the condition of the vessels.

“I visited the vessel site to get first hand information. And also, with the coming of the current Controller General of Customs, his first visit to Zone A was the two ocean going vessels.

“I told the CG that I met the vessel stationary and it was not in good condition. Also, the managing director of Portplus explained that the vessels were stationary because the raider control, general system, fender were not operating,” he said.

The CGC inquired about the cost of repairing the vessels within 30 days, and later instructed that they should be ready to sail within 40 days.

Salefu stated that he had a meeting last week with the consultant responsible for the vessels who confirmed that the repairs had been commissioned.

“I want to state that there is nothing like the N180 billion for cost of maintenance as stated in the publication, but what we have received, as at year 2021, was N23. 7 million,” he said.

He further explained that once the vessels are in operation, they would play a crucial role in preventing drug smuggling from neighbouring countries and curbing bunkering activities in Nigerian waters.

Salefu also said there was difficulty concerning spacing at the Naval Dockyard for dry docking, but noted that there was an alternative option with the Nigerdock.

He also mentioned approaching the inland waterways management regarding berthing and searching for a suitable location with a 100-meter space.

According to him, the current space at the marina cannot accommodate four vessels, unless they can be placed side by side.

“The first two will berth, then the second will nose on it. But there is a danger of marina, incase of any disaster, there will be no escape route and this is something to save lives and rescue people in the water.

“We went to the managing director of the inland waterways and a committee will be set up to look for bulk water and we got a place close to Ladol. If customs had gotten a space, this issue will be a thing of the past,” he said.

He noted that to ensure the smooth operation of the vessels, the CGC hd sent personnel to Singapore for training to properly manage the vessels.

“As at today, I had gotten an order for training of officers. Portplus and the Navy are asked to liase with us to pick trained marine that were previously trained on floating and safety and assemble them for retraining.

“The CGC sent three personnel to Singapore in preparation for full taking over and receive the vesse and we are compiling another list of personnel for another training either to Singapore or South Korea.

“Ever since the CGC came on board, marine is receiving the highest attention in terms of training,” he said.

Salefu noted that it seems there was a communication gap during the entire period, which might explain the lack of action taken.

He added that what actually delayed the maintenance was the transition from one regime to another and the Portplus could not write about the outstanding money owed them, which they did not include it in their previous report.

“This has been lingering and the current CGC now want to intermarry the previous debt to the current reality on maintenance of the vessel and they have actually come to a compromise.

“Soon, you will see the better action of the western marine because without the vessel, we are using 40 horse power to go over 100 nautica mile inside water.

“You are all aware that recently, we caught over 120 sacks of hemp very far inside the Atlantic ocean and we have over 20 sacks arrested last week, and even tramadol seized and this were done manually through the brevity of my officers.

“If we can go to the ocean over 140 nautical mile, when we have the vessel, I can assure you we will go 300 nautical miles,” he said.

He also appreciated the effort and support of the Nigerian Navy Beecroft, pledging to complement the shortfalls.

“The naval marine engineering, safety officers, are part of the people that will oversee activities of the Portplus and the management of the vessels.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the two ocean going vessels, Customs Pride and Group of Nine was procured in 2015 and had not been used. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Federal Government is no longer paying subsidy on Petroleum Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly known as petrol, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

The Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), Malam Mele Kyari, disclosed this to State House Correspondents on Monday in Abuja.

He said that contrary to insinuations on social media, the federal government was no longer paying subsidy to any person or group for bringing petroleum products into the country.

“No subsidy whatsoever. We are recovering our full cost from the products that we import. We sell to the market.

“We understand why marketers are unable to import. We hope that they begin to do so very quickly and these are some of the interventions government is making. There is no subsidy,’’ he said.

Kyari further stated that the pockets of low queues witnessed across some states recently were due to bad roads that had made transporters to divert the product to other routes.

“We have seen in very few states pockets of very low queues. This is not unconnected with the road situation and that’s why we’re seeing some blockades on our roads.

“Moving the products from the southern depots into the northern part of the country takes them much longer time now than it used to be.

“They have to re-route their trucks around many locations for them to be able to reach their destinations and that created delays and some supply gaps. But, that has been filled and we do not see any of such problems again.

“Secondly, because of the full deregulation that we have in this sector, marketers are now competing amongst themselves,” he said.

The NNPCL group managing director also said that some of the queues were caused by the preference of customers to patronise filling stations that offered low prices.

“You must have noticed that some fuel stations will reduce their prices by N2 or N3. So customers will naturally run to the places where you have that reduction in prices and probably create panic.

“This is because those who don’t know why they are doing it will think that there’s something happening or that there’s an ominous sign of scarcity,’’ he said.

According to him, there are over 1.4 billion litres of petrol available for local consumption, both on the seas and on land, adding that there is no cause for alarm.

Kyari explained that market forces were now playing out and that marketers were competing for the product and how to satisfy their customers as well.

‘’There are few issues we’re engaging them to resolve, alongside other agencies of government, particularly critical issues around access to foreign exchange.

“And as you all know, government is doing so much to ensure supply of forex into the market.

“We know that this FX markets will stabilise the current IandE window is around 770.

“And we know that those inputs from government will crystalise and they will come to an equilibrium position in the FX market and this is the dream of this country,’’ he said.

Kyari assured marketers of a stable forex and a situation where the prices of the product would align with the prices of other commodities. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Bill Gates, Co-chair, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, says there is a new investment to advance access to mRNA research and vaccine manufacturing technology.

Gates said in a statement at the 2023 Grand Challenges Annual Meeting of the foundation held in Senegal on Monday.

According to him, the investment will support low-and middle-income countries’ (LMICs) capacity to develop high-quality, lifesaving vaccines at scale.

Gates said the move was based on lessons the foundation learned from more than 20 years of working with vaccine manufacturers in LMICs and the opportunity to leverage recent scientific advances.

This, he said, was to develop low-cost, high-quality health tools that reach more people around the world.

Gate also said that that mRNA technology was considered a potential game-changer for a range of infectious diseases, including tuberculosis, malaria, and Lassa fever, which disproportionately affect people in LMICs.

“This new technology can significantly lower the costs of mRNA research and manufacturing and enable expanded access-helping to close critical gaps,” Gates said.

Messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccines work by triggering the immune system to create antibodies. Antibodies are proteins in the body which fight bacteria and viruses that cause diseases.

Gates announced 40 million dollars in funding to advance access to Quantoom Biosciences’ low-cost, mRNA research and manufacturing platform, which was developed with an early-research Grand Challenges grant made to its parent company, Univercells.

He said that the Institut Pasteur de Dakar (IPD) and Biovac, research institutes with vaccine manufacturing experience based in Senegal and South Africa, respectively, will receive five million dollars each to acquire the technology and enable it to develop locally relevant vaccines.

To further advance the technology and lower costs for commercialisation, Gates said the foundation would also provide 20 million dollars to Quantoom Biosciences, in ensuring LMICs benefits from the next-generation mRNA health tools.

Gates said the foundation would grant another 10 million to other LMIC vaccine manufacturers to be named.

He also said that this new funding builds on the foundation’s previous 55 million dollars investment in mRNA manufacturing technology.

According to him, mRNA vaccines have simpler research and manufacturing processes than traditional vaccines.

Gates said expanding access to this next-generation technology could assist countries like Senegal and South Africa gain autonomy to discover and develop low-cost, high-quality vaccines for diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis that are consistent with their health priorities.

Dr Muhammad Ali Pate, Nigeria’s Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare and a global expert on vaccines, said putting innovative mRNA technology in the hands of researchers and manufacturers in Africa and around the world would ensure more people benefit from next-generation vaccines.

“This collaboration is an encouraging step that will increase access to critical health technologies and help African countries develop vaccines that meet the needs of their people,” Pate said.

Similarly, Dr Amadou Sall, Chief Executive Officer of IPD, said expanding the organisation’s capacity to discover and manufacture affordable mRNA vaccines in Africa was an important and necessary step towards vaccine self-reliance in the region.

“We welcome this new funding, which will promote the development of lifesaving technologies on the continent while also contributing to global health security by expanding the supply and access to vaccines—allowing us to achieve greater health equity worldwide,” Sall said.

Also, Morena Makhoana, CEO of Biovac said innovation can be transformative, but only if it reaches the people who need it most.

“This collaboration will help close critical gaps in access to promising mRNA vaccines against diseases that disproportionately affect the world’s poorest.

It will also assist us in our mission to establish end-to-end vaccine manufacturing capability at scale in Africa for global supply,” Makhoana said.

Similarly, José Castillo, CEO, Quantoom Biosciences, said the development of new vaccines was costly, resource intensive, and concentrated in high-income countries.

Castillo said that Quantoom’s modular mRNA technology addresses common bottlenecks in current mRNA research and manufacturing technologies, making it simpler and cheaper to use.

According to him, the cost to produce a vaccine could drop by more than 50 per cent with Quantoom’s platform compared to traditional mRNA technology.

He said it could also significantly reduce the need for deeply trained experts, which continues to be a barrier to vaccine production in Africa and elsewhere, while maintaining or even increasing the quality of the product.

“We’re thrilled to partner with IPD and Biovac to scale our technology in Senegal and South Africa and help increase access to novel mRNA vaccines—one of medicine’s most promising new tools.”

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the additional funding for Quantoom builds on an initial grant made in 2016 to Univercells in response to a Grand Challenges call for new interventions for vaccine manufacturing.

The Univercells proposal focused on developing modular engineering principles that would facilitate decentralised, small-footprint manufacturing of vaccines.

IPD plans to start manufacturing essential measles and rubella vaccines using Univercells’ original vaccine manufacturing technology, expanding the region’s capacity to deliver routine immunisation campaigns.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Two Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Coalition for Peace In Nigeria (COPIN) and Iconoclast Media Platform, have commended the Department of State Services (DSS) leadership over the establishment of a new directorate.

The two CSOs gave the commendation in a statement, jointly issued by the National Coordinator of COPIN, Mr Emeka Akwuobi and National Secretary of Iconoclast, Dr Mayago Mayago, on Monday in Abuja.

The CSOs commended the Director-General of DSS, Alhaji Yusuf Bichi, over approval for the establishment of the Directorate of Public Relations and Strategic Communications in the service.

According to the groups, the appointment of Dr Peter Afunanya, as the pioneer Director/Head of the new directorate was a step in the right direction and a case of “putting a round peg in a round hole”.

The groups congratulated Afunanya on his appointment and urged him to sustain his partnership and regular engagements with the media and CSOs.

They said such engagements would deepen democratic principles, enhance democratic accountability, as well as raise public trust/confidence in the agency.

The groups said the DSS boss had left no one in doubt of his capacity to engender innovative reforms in the areas of training, welfare, civil relations, inter-agency cooperation and infrastructure development.

The statement said the leadership style of the DSS boss had helped in changing the image of the service and earned it a positive public perception.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Agribank Manager of Marketing and Communication Rino Muranda said the bank significantly boosted its loan disbursements in 2023 compared to the previous year.

Muranda said during the financial year ending 31 March 2023, 564 clients benefited from the bank’s loans, up from 440 clients the prior year.

Muranda made these remarks in a statement issued on Sunday following Agribank’s Annual General Meeting held in Windhoek on 27 September 2023.

The event was a platform to showcase the bank’s accomplishments and present a strategic plan that will shape the future of the institution.

“During the above mentioned financial year, Agribank significantly boosted its loan disbursements, reaching over N.dollars 284 million compared to the previous year’s N.dollars 194 million,” he said.

Land purchases he states, continued to dominate the loan allocations, amounting to N.dollars 98.2 million and covering 134 122 hectares in the financial year 2023.

This he added is a considerable increase from N.dollars 55.1 million and 57 965 hectares in the financial year 2022.

Muranda said livestock purchases also saw a rise, reaching N.dollars 76.8 million in the financial year 2023 compared to N.dollars 52.2 million the previous year.

“Loans extended to women increased to N.dollars 55.4 million from N.dollars 30.1 million in 2022, while youth loans rose to over N.dollars 30.6 million in the financial year 2023, from N.dollars 20.5 million in the prior year,” he noted.

The bank supported full time communal farmers without collateral through its Emerging Retail Financing Product, providing over N.dollars 25.2 million, up from N.dollars N.dollars 12.6 million in the prior fiscal year, he further stated.

Additionally, the no collateral scheme backed by salaries aided employees engaging in part-time farming with N.dollars 13.5 million disbursed in the financial year 2023 compared to N.dollars 10.1 million during the financial year 2022.

Muranda applauded Agribank’s financial performance indicating the company is encouraged by the sales and collection efforts that are on an upward trajectory, despite operating in a difficult environment.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

Six members of the top management of the Zambezi Regional Council were arrested by the Anti-Corruption Commission on Monday, allegedly in connection with the embezzlement of development funds meant for the Kongola settlement.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency