Nigeria imported arms and ammunition worth N15.8 billion in the first half of 2022, representing a 60.3% decline compared to N39.8 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2021.
This is according to the breakdown of the foreign trade report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Compared to the second half of 2021, Nigeria’s ammunition import declined by 71.8% from N56.1 billion recorded between July and December 2021. On an annual basis, a total of N72.49 billion was used to import weapons in 2021 as against N29.34 billion and N12.77 billion recorded in 2020 and 2019 respectively. In 2018 only N1.95 billion was used to import weapons into the country.
The increase in the purchase of weaponry is following worsening security challenges in the country, especially with the rising incidents of Boko Haram attacks and banditry in the northern region, while gunmen attacks and kidnapping continue to ravage the southern area.
Meanwhile, weapon import has decreased significantly in the review year, despite lingering security concerns affecting the lives of the populace as well as the economy. The food-producing region of the country has suffered various attacks in the past 11 years, causing a significant setback in the agricultural sector.
According to the United Nations Development Programme report titled; “Assessing the impact of conflict on development in North-East Nigeria” the country has lost an estimated 350,000 people to the conflict in the Northeastern region, with 314,000 deaths from indirect causes as of 2020.
The multiple attacks on farmers and villagers in the northern region of the country have impacted the food supply chain in the country, resulting in significant hikes in the cost of food items despite having an agricultural sector that accounts for over 25% of the annual real GDP.
Although the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) did not give reasons for the decline in arms import, it could be as a result of a cut in the government’s expenditure or improved domestic production of weaponry.
Photographing the Queen was “an honour and a privilege”, according to the photographer who took the last public photos of her.
PA Media photographer Jane Barlow captured the Queen meeting new Prime Minister Liz Truss on Tuesday, two days before she died.
Barlow, who is from Belper in Derbyshire, has photographed the Queen on several occasions.
She said the Queen was “very smiley” as they spoke before Truss arrived.
The Queen apparently talked about the weather and how dark it was, and was “frail” but in “good spirits”.
“I was there to photograph her meeting the new prime minister but for me the best picture was the one of the Queen on her own. And it has obviously become more significant now,” said Barlow, who previously worked for the Derby Telegraph newspaper.
“I’ve had so many lovely comments about the picture.
“It’s a real privilege to be able to take that picture, an honour and a privilege. It’s like that for a lot of our job.”
Truss was then formally announced and came into the room, and Barlow said the Queen “greeted her with a big smile”.
The photo of the Queen shaking hands with Truss sparked concerns about her health, because there appeared to be bruising on her right hand.
“She certainly did look more frail than when I photographed her in the summer,” Barlow said.
“When she came up for Holyrood Week, at the time they were telling me she would do one, perhaps two engagements, but she did quite a lot that week.”
That week saw Barlow photograph the Queen as she had audiences with Nicola Sturgeon and Holyrood Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone, and as she took part in a number of official engagements.
Barlow also photographed the Queen during Holyrood Week in 2021
The National Executive Committee of the Nigeria Medical Association, says health threats are increasing in every part of Nigeria and that poor Healthcare infrastructure, insufficient and obsolete equipment, human resource shortage, poor remuneration of Health workers, medical brain drain, inadequate funding of the health sector, abuse of referral system, inter professional rivalry and insecurity, were the major threats to effective healthcare delivery in our country.
The NEC also observed with concern that the worsening insecurity in the country, has led to the inability of both patients and health workers to reach health facilities in some parts of the country.
The observations were made in a communique issued at the end of the meeting in Gombe State. It further noted with dismay, the failure of both Federal and State Governments to effectively check security lapses and the ravaging incidence of kidnappings in Nigeria.
Finally, the NEC reiterated that Section 14(2) (b) of the 1999 constitution (as amended) states that, “The security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government and the participation by the people in their government shall be ensured in accordance with the provisions of this constitution.”
NEC also observed that one of the most serious obstacles to the development of effective health services in Nigeria is inadequate supply of skilled human resource.
NMA noted the fact that Nigeria has demonstrated capacity in effectively controlling emerging and re-emerging diseases such as HIV/AIDS, Ebola, Yellow fever and the likes in the past, through the institution of public health control measures and surveillance.
NEC called on all strata of Government to protect all lives and property in Nigeria. NEC also commended the security agencies for their sacrifice and urged them to do more.
NEC admonished members of the medical profession to watch out for the three cardinal symptoms of burnout which are exhaustion, depersonalization and lack of efficacy. NEC also expressed its disappointment with the failure of Governments to address the “Push” factors propelling brain drain which has led to the mass exodus of doctors and other health worker for greener pastures. NEC reiterated that unless drastic measures were deployed by Governments to stem the tide of brain drain, the already bad National health indices may eventually spiral out of control thereby leaving Nigeria at the bottom rung among the comity of nations.
NEC charged NMA Abia state Branch to ensure that the rights and privileges of all doctors in Abia state, especially those working with Abia state Government are not trampled upon by deploying all legitimate means at their disposal. NEC resolved that NMA Abia state shall serve the Government of Abia state three weeks ultimatum and if at the end of the three weeks the outstanding issues are not resolved, NMA Abia state should embark on an indefinite strike that must involve all doctors in Federal, State and Private Hospitals.
NEC called on the Governments of Ekiti, Ondo and Imo States to hasten the process of clearing the unpaid salaries and wages of doctors and other Health workers.
NEC further resolved to continue the engagement using every lawful means to ensure the payment of the newly approved hazard allowance within next two months. NEC also insisted on universal applicability in the implementation of the new hazard allowance for all doctors working in Federal, State and Local Government establishments. NEC also commended the Government of Delta state for being the first to start paying the new Hazard Allowance.
NEC directed the NOC to engage the National Assembly and the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) on the need to make amendment to the title of the Bill on Complementary, Alternative and traditional Medicine Board to reflect only African Traditional Medicine matters.
NEC resolved to name her routine Medical Outreach after the unsung Heroine, Dr. Stella Adadevoh. The NMA Medical Outreach Program shall henceforth be known as “Dr. Stella Adadevoh Memorial Medical Outreach” – Powered by The Nigerian Medical Association. NEC also directed the National Officers Committee to recommend Dr. Stella Adadevoh to Honours and Awards Committee of NMA for a befitting Post-Humous Award.
NEC urged all members of the NMA to be part of the installation ceremony of Dr. Osahon Enabulele as President of World Medical Association (WMA) in Berlin, Germany and also called on Federal and State Governments to support this event by sending high powered delegations and also extending support to the Nigerian Medical Association to be able to sponsor many of her members to attend this epoch-making event.
Finally, NEC charges the in-coming President of the World Medical Association to be a good Ambassador of the Nigerian Medical Association and Nigeria.
The theme of the conference was, Healthcare Delivery in the Face of Insecurity. The sub-themes were, Health Manpower Planning: the Challenges of Physician Burnout and Brain drain in Nigeria and Re-emerging Health Issues: Monkey Pox Disease and Marburg Virus Disease.
King Charles III will make his first visit to Northern Ireland as monarch on Tuesday, as part of a tour of the UK.
He will meet Stormont’s party leaders and receive a message of condolence from the speaker of the assembly.
Camilla, the Queen Consort, will accompany him, and PM Liz Truss will join the royal couple at a church service in Belfast.
Charles became King following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, on Thursday.
Thousands of people have queued through the night to file past her coffin as it stands on public view for 24 hours at St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh.
Later it will be flown to London, where the Queen will lie in state ahead of her funeral on Monday.
When King Charles and Camilla arrive at Belfast City Airport on Tuesday, they will be greeted by Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris, the chief executive of the airport, the lord lieutenant of Belfast and some school children.
They will then travel to Hillsborough Castle for a number of engagements.
The crowds began to gather before dawn in Hillsborough, hoping to get a good view of the new King.
Among the earliest to arrive were Sharon Douglas from Carryduff, outside Belfast, and sisters Norma McKinney, Vanessa Patten and Rhonda Irvine, from Ballymena, County Antrim.
“We were up at 4am and here at 05:45,” said Norma.
“We wanted to be here early to let him know he’s got our support,” said Sharon. “It’s sad, we want to give him our condolences, but also tell him we’re happy for him.”
When King Charles arrives at Hillsborough, there will be a short walkabout, during which the Royal couple will meet members of the public and view the many tributes left to the late Queen.
At the official Royal residence, there will be a gun salute when the King enters Hillsborough Castle.
A total of 21 rounds, at a rate of six rounds per minute, will be fired.
The Royal Standard will also be flown during the visit to Hillsborough Castle.
Once inside, the King and Queen Consort will view photographs showing the Queen in Northern Ireland.
The King will host a private audience with Heaton-Harris before meeting local party leaders, and receiving a message of condolence from the Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly, Alex Maskey.
When the late Queen began her reign, Northern Ireland was the only part of the UK with a devolved government – made up exclusively of politicians dedicated to the authority of the crown.
The political landscape at the beginning of King Charles’s time is very different.
The principle of devolution is now based on power sharing between unionists and nationalists – though the latest deadlock means the Stormont Executive has not been fully functioning since February.
Unionism retains an overall electoral lead over nationalism.
But that advantage has narrowed, mainly because of the growth of parties which are neutral on the constitutional status of Northern Ireland.
The biggest individual party in the devolved Assembly is Sinn Féin – whose ultimate aim is taking Northern Ireland out of King Charles’s realm.
If there is a referendum on Irish unity – the King will not be able to express an opinion.
But his decision to visit Northern Ireland and the other devolved nations of the UK in his first few days as monarch will be seen as demonstrating his commitment to the union.
Naira, Nigeria’s currency, which continued its depreciation on Monday, is said to have lost 94.87 in five years according to Bismarck Rewane, managing director/chief executive officer of Financial Derivatives Company Limited.
After trading on Monday, naira weakened marginally by 0.04 percent as the dollar was quoted at N436.50/$ compared to N436.33 per dollar quoted on Friday at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) forex window, data from the FMDQ said.
Most foreign exchange dealers who participated at the FX auction on Wednesday maintained bids between N425.00 (low) and N437.00 (high) per dollar.
The daily foreign exchange market turnover increased by 51.13 percent to $99.78 million on Monday from $66.02 million recorded on Friday.
In his presentation at Lagos Business School (LBS), Rewane pointed out the causes of naira depreciation, which included market structure, restrictive policies, low oil sales and revenue, rationing of forex supply, and capital flight.
Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, on Monday, assured Nigerians that he would not make excuses for failures if elected president in 2023.
This is also as the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) rallied support for the Obi/ Datti presidency in Abuja on Monday, at a retreat organised by the LP for its national officers, candidates, and trade unions, in Abuja.
The event attracted participants from the labour hierarchy, led by Ayuba Wabba, president of the NLC president, as well as top officers of the labour party,
Speaking on day one of the two-day leadership retreat, Obi stated that the job of a leader was to solve problems and not to give excuses. He described it as disappointing for a candidate supported by organised labour to fail the people.
“I am in this retreat to listen. Even if we don’t achieve 100 percent, we must have made sacrifices,” he said.
The LP presidential hopeful decried the recurrent industrial action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), 12 years after the Federal Government signed agreement with the union.
“How much is ASUU asking for that the Nigerian government cannot pay since the last 12 years? N1.2 trillion,” Obi said, noting that the revenue which accrued to the country for the month of July alone was enough to settle the union’s demand.
According to him, next year’s election would not be based on ethnicity or religion, but on character, competence and capacity, just as he decried the lingering Nigeria’s economic challenges.
Speaking on his experience as governor of Anambra State, he declared that “I solved these challenges at the small level; I want to solve them now at the larger level.
“The major problem facing Nigeria today is food inflation. We have enough land. The Sambissa forest is three times the size of Israel.
“The more you pull people out of poverty, the more you reduce criminality. I have said it before and I will say it again that the vast land in the North is the next crude oil of Nigeria and I am ready to use the land to make Nigeria self-sufficient in food production”
Wabba, president of the NLC, said that Nigerian workers would actively participate in selecting the next leaders of the country.
Wabba stated that protests and strikes would not fix Nigeria, stressing that the NLC and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) will activate their structures in Nigeria’s 774 local government areas for the LP.
The NLC president noted that politics has become business in Nigeria, adding, “people are selling properties to contest elections only to recover them again after winning. This is not the type of politics labour is preaching.
Throughout her life, the Queen was pictured behind the wheel of a Land Rover. So special were the cars to the royals, a bespoke one even carried Prince Philip’s coffin when he died.
The couple’s enduring relationship with Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) vehicles was “part of the Royal Family’s DNA,” said motoring journalist Quentin Willson.
“These two iconic figures chose this iconic brand and the philosophical fit between the cars and the people is absolutely right.”
The company has held Royal Warrants since 1951 after it was first granted to Land Rover by King George VI, who had tried an early prototype.
“There was this really strong connection with Jaguars and Land Rovers and Rovers with the Royal Family,” said Willson.
“This workman-like, studious, reliable, unflappable piece of engineering that worked really well and sent out all the right messages.”
Almost immediately after her Coronation, the Queen and Prince Philip were spotted doing royal engagements in specially converted Land Rovers “and you could see that it was a preference for them,” Willson said.
The converted vehicles “probably had Prince Philip’s design input,” he explained. “He was always really interested and keen on them.”
A fleet of bespoke Land Rovers, designed and manufactured in the West Midlands, was used to carry the couple on their six-month tour of the Commonwealth in 1953, taking in Bermuda, Jamaica, Fiji and Australia.
One of them forms part of a display of the Queen’s cars at the British Motor Museum, at Gaydon in Warwickshire.
“Not only is it a beautiful vehicle, but this is the vehicle where a lot of people saw their Queen for the very first time,” Stephen Laing, head of collections at the museum, said.
“It was made to accommodate the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh standing up and greeting the crowds.
“My colleagues and I walk past these vehicles every day, and we know that they’re special because they’re the Queen’s cars, but over the last few days they’ve become more poignant because you have that strong association.
“They’re an extremely important part of the history of the Queen’s association with the British motor industry.”
“All through their lives you could see that these weren’t just ceremonial cars, but they were the cars that they drove themselves on the estates,” said Willson.
The Queen would regularly be pictured in the cars “and it was clear that she really, really loved them.”
“They liked the cars and they liked the West Midlands,” he explained, and they regularly visited the company’s factories on Browns Lane in Coventry and in Solihull.
The former Top Gear presenter said he had been lucky enough to test drive one of the Queen’s classic Rovers, a P5B on loan to the British Motor Museum.
“I knew the Queen had this lovely green one, it was her personal one that she drove around that had been specially made for her.
“A message was sent to the Royal household, and came back that the Queen would be delighted if you drove her old Rover,” said Willson.
“So I was allowed to take this car out on the road and film it, it was just great.”
The Duke of Edinburgh, who died at the age of 99 in April 2021, worked on creating a bespoke hearse from a modified Land Rover to carry his coffin.
He began creating it in collaboration with JLR in 2003, modifying the open top rear section where his coffin rested.
He was also famously filmed picking up Barack and Michelle Obama in his Range Rover during their visit to Windsor in 2016.
Along with Jaguar, Land Rover was the only automotive manufacturer to hold all three Royal Warrants from the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and the Prince of Wales.
The brand was “absolutely right” to reflect the Queen’s reign, Willson added.
“She made things last, she wasn’t flash, she kept them for a long time, that’s part of her character, she wasn’t wasteful.
“And I think that’s a great message, and it reflects her attitude to her country and her role as a sovereign.”
In a statement JLR said the passing of the Queen had left everybody at the company “deeply saddened”.
“Our relationship with the Queen has been a source of great pride for all.”
New Chelsea manager Graham Potter said he is impressed by chairman Todd Boehly’s vision for the club despite criticism of the American’s first few months in charge.
Potter left Brighton last week to sign a five-year deal at Stamford Bridge after Thomas Tuchel was sacked.
That decision was met with dismay by some as it came just days after a transfer window in which Chelsea spent over £250 million ($290 million).
“It’s the start of a really exciting period, I think,” Potter told the club’s website.
“New ownership, who I was really, really excited with and impressed by, firstly as people and then their vision for the club and what they wanted to do.”
Chelsea sit sixth in the Premier League after a disappointing start to the season and lost their opening Champions League game 1-0 away to Dinamo Zagreb.
Potter built up a reputation for punching above the weight of his resources at Brighton and playing an attractive brand of football in the process.
But the pressure will be on straight away when Chelsea host Salzburg in his first ever Champions League game on Wednesday.
“We like to play in an attacking way, a balanced way, and players have to feel free to make decisions and express themselves,” added Potter.
“It’s about winning, creating a team which competes, is honest and works together, it’s a combination between football and human values.
“You have to understand they are human beings first, the key thing is to understand them, what motivates them and what they are like as people.
“From that you come to some common ground and build relationships, communicate on a daily basis, build respect, trust and honesty.”
Once home to one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies, Ethiopia is struggling as the war in its Tigray region has reignited and weary citizens far from the front are pleading for peace.
Ethiopians are experiencing the highest inflation in a decade, foreign exchange restrictions and mounting debt amid reports of massive government spending on the war effort. Parliament early this year reportedly approved an additional $1.7 billion budget for defense.
On Tuesday morning, a drone strike hit a university campus in Tigray’s capital, Mekele, causing an unknown number of injuries, according to a media worker there who spoke on condition of anonymity because he didn’t have authorization to speak to other outlets.
Ethiopian officials continue to paint a rosy picture for the country of well over 110 million people. “Our economy has continued to grow amid natural and man-made problems,” the planning and development minister, Fitsum Assefa, said earlier this month.
But the Ethiopian Economic Association’s meeting this month made clear the country is hurting, while international mediators urgently seek progress on talks to end the fighting.
Because of internal conflicts, the destruction of infrastructure and uncontrolled spending are hurting the economy while ordinary Ethiopians face weakening incomes and rising poverty, economist Alemayehu Seyoum told the meeting.
The Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan has advised the Nigerian Medical Associations, NMA, to ensure that young resident doctors seeking greener pastures abroad are counseled.
Yemi-Esan gave the advice while responding to a demand by the Association for increased hazard allowances when it paid her a courtesy visit, in Abuja.
She stressed the need for them to be reminded that it is not a bed of roses out there and that the Nigerian government has done a lot for them by sponsoring their education.
Dr. Yemi-Esan noted that the rate at which resident doctors travel abroad to practice without serving the country is a cause for concern.
According to her, ”the Nigerian Medical Association is a good platform to counsel them, saying the Nigerian Doctors, abroad are underpriced when compared to their counterparts from other countries due to their large numbers.”
The Head of Service, however, enjoined them to be reasonable and considerate in their demands, having in mind the dwindling government revenue and most importantly, value addition to the polity.
The President of the Association, Dr. Uche Ojinmah, commended the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan for her reformative contributions to repositioning the Federal Civil Service for greater performance and national economic growth.
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