Emirates Set To Reduce Operations In Nigeria, Unable To Repatriate $85m

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July 30, 2022

Emirates Airlines has said it will reduce its flight operations to Nigeria due to its inability to repatriate about $85 million in revenue.

The airline made this known in a letter addressed to the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika.

The letter, dated July 22, was signed by Emirates airline’s divisional senior vice-president (DSVP), international affairs, Sheik Majid Al Mualla.

Emirates said the planned reductions in its operations in Nigeria would take effect from August 15.

It added that flights would be reduced from 11 per week to seven at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA).

“We have had no choice but to take this action, to mitigate the continued losses Emirates is experiencing as a result of funds being blocked in Nigeria,” the letter said.

“As of July 2022, Emirates has US$ 85 million of funds awaiting repatriation from Nigeria. This figure has been rising by more than $US 10 million every month, as the ongoing operational costs of our 11 weekly flights to Lagos and 5 to Abuja continue to accumulate.

“We simply cannot continue to operate at the current level in the face of mounting losses, especially in the challenging post-COVID-19 climate.

“Emirates did try to stem the losses by proposing to pay for fuel in Nigeria in Nairas, which would have at least reduced one element of our ongoing costs, however, this request was denied by the supplier.

“This means that not only are Emirates’ revenues accumulating, we also have to send hard currency into Nigeria to sustain our own operation. Meanwhile, our revenues are out of reach, and not even earning credit interest.

“Your Excellency, this is not a decision we have taken lightly. Indeed, we have made every effort to work with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to find a solution to this issue. Our Senior Vice-President met with the Deputy Governor of the CBN in May and followed up on the meeting by letter to the Governor himself the following month, however no positive response was received.

“Meetings were also held with Emirates’ own bank in Nigeria and in collaboration with IATA to discuss improving FX allocation, but with limited success. Despite our considerable efforts, the situation continues to deteriorate. We are now in the unfortunate position of having to cut flights, to mitigate against further losses going forward.”

“We are confident that your valuable involvement would make a real difference in improving this very difficult situation. Should there be any positive development in the coming days, we will, of course, re-evaluate this decision.”

INEC To Deploy 200,000 BVAS For 2023 Election ― Okoye

By

Koko Lawrence

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July 30, 2022

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The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has disclosed that it would deploy over 200,000 Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS in the 2023 general elections.

INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, disclosed this while addressing newsmen in Umuahia, Abia State capital.

Okoye, who is the INEC National Commissioner in charge of Abia, Anambra and Benue States, was in Abia to monitor the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR).

He said that the BVAS would be deployed in the 176,000 polling units across the country, adding that the surplus will be kept handy as reserve.

His words: “We will have one BVAS reserve in every Registration Area Centre (RAC) to ensure immediate intervention in case of any failure,” he said.

Okoye further said that Technical Officers would be on standby at every RAC to attend to any technical issues that could arise in the course of the polls.

He said that INEC had the capacity to conduct credible general elections in 2023, adding that the commission is poised to replicate the achievements and successes recorded in the Ekiti and Osun governorship polls.

Meanwhile, Okoye has said that the July 31 deadline for the on-going CVR remains sacrosanct.

He explained that the commission had enormous task to accomplish ahead of the 2023 polls, and “cannot afford another extension.”

Okoye noted that the CVR had lasted for over a year and that INEC “will not glorify the last-minute rush attitude” of some Nigerians.

He advised registrants not to engage in double or multiple registration as such amounts to criminal offenses that are punishable.

“At the end of the CVR, the commission will carry out a de-duplication to remove double and multiple registration,” Okoye said.

Gbajabiamila Apologises Over Harvard University Post Amidst ASUU Strike

By

Rhoda Onuzulike

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July 29, 2022

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The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila has apologised to Nigerians for announcing that he’s currently abroad for a leadership course at Harvard University, while public universities in the country had been shut down due to industrial dispute.

Gbajabiamila had on Tuesday shared photos of himself in a classroom, same day the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) commenced protests across the nation in solidarity with the striking universities’ workers.

Writing on his official Twitter handle, the Speaker while apologising to Nigerians said the post was not sensitive to the present feelings of fellow citizens, especially parents and students who are presently bearing the brunt of the ongoing closure of public universities.

He said, “it was not my intention to cause disaffection,” adding that he has made multiple interventions within the powers of the legislature to avert the ongoing strike.

The tweet reads, “Yesterday i posted a picture of myself at the @Harvard @Kennedy School, undergoing a course. That post was not sensitive to the present feelings of fellow citizens, especially parents and students who are presently bearing the brunt of the ongoing closure of public universities owing to the unresolved issues between the Academic Staff Union of Universities Sand the Federal Government of Nigeria.

“I apologise for the post at this time, and I hope you will understand that it was not my intention to cause disaffection. As Speaker of @HouseNGR, I have made multiple interventions within the powers of the legislature to avert the ongoing strike.

“I had direct engagements with ASUU and relevant government agencies. The House of Representatives is keenly involved in seeking solution to the issues.

ASUU Strike: El-Rufai Vows To Sack All KASU Lecturers

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Rhoda Onuzulike

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July 29, 2022

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Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has threatened to sack all the Kaduna State University (KASU) lecturers if they continue to observe the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike.

ASUU has been on strike since February over the failure of the federal government to meet its demands.

Many attempts by the government to make the lecturers return to the classrooms have not yielded results as of today.

Speaking on a radio programme in Kaduna on Wednesday, El-Rufai told the lecturers to return to classrooms in order to avoid having their positions declared vacant, adding that KASU lecturers had no reason to join any strike.

According to him, ASUU had a problem with the federal government, not the state government.

He said, “The Acting Vice Chancellor has assured me that they will resume, but I have asked them to find out if they actually resumed work, because I initially instructed that their salary be stopped. But I was later told they didn’t join the strike, so I asked that it should be investigated and those that collected salary and joined the strike will be asked to refund the salary.

“This is because Nigeria’s law says ‘no work, no pay’. This is the law. So whoever joined the strike will not be paid a salary. We have been telling the KASU lecturers that they have no problem with the State government. ASUU’s problem is with the Federal government. Therefore, why will our staff who have no problems with us join the strike?

“If this continues, I will wake up one day to sack them all, I swear to God. We will sack them all and declare their positions vacant on the pages of newspapers. They once did the same thing and we gave them warning, now they repeated it. I’m only waiting to receive the report from the commissioner for education. I swear to God, we will sack all those that joined the strike if they refuse to resume work.”

Hepatitis: Group urges Pregnant women to get tested

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Cleopatra Okohai

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July 29, 2022

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Doctor Vaccinating Young Pregnant Woman — Close-up Of Doctor Wearing Blue Gloves Vaccinating Young Pregnant Woman In Clinic

A non-governmental organisation, Centre for Family Health Initiative has urged Nigerians, especially pregnant women to get tested for viral hepatitis.

The group made the call on Wednesday in Abuja while commemorating the 2022 World Hepatitis Day.

The group said viral hepatitis can be caused by a number of different viruses, including hepatitis A, B, C, D, and E.

It said hepatitis can complicate pregnancy, but it is also possible for pregnancy to complicate hepatitis.

A staff at the CFHI, Mrs. Odunayo Adegbite, said the risk factors and transmission mode of the viral infections are the ingestion of contaminated food or water, unsafe contact with infected body fluids, and receipt of contaminated blood or blood products, mother-child transmission, sexual contact, among others.

Adegbite urged pregnant women to be mindful of the level of unsaturated fat they consume to prevent liver damage.

“There is a need to raise awareness about the disease,” the group said during a talk and counselling session held at the Kagini Primary Health Care Centre, Abuja and the Chief’s palace.

The group also conducted a hepatitis test for 100 residents in the community and ninety-five persons tested negative while five persons tested positive.

World Hepatitis Day is observed on July 28 annually and this year’s theme is ‘Bringing hepatitis care close to you.’

LN247 reports that the Federal Government has developed a National Strategic Framework for eliminating viral hepatitis in the country by 2030.

The Federal Government said the framework was in line with the Global Health Sector Strategy for viral hepatitis control.

Nigerians, especially pregnant women are urged to get tested for viral hepatitis, the group says.

IVF conceived Babies don’t develop differently – Study

By

Cleopatra Okohai

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July 29, 2022

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A new study has confirmed that children born via In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) do not develop differently compared to children conceived naturally.

IVF, according to experts, is a method of assisted reproduction in which a man’s sperm and a woman’s eggs are combined outside of the body in a laboratory dish.

One or more fertilised eggs could then be transferred into the woman’s uterus, where they may implant in the uterine lining and develop.

The research was carried out by fertility researchers at the University of Bristol and published in the peer-reviewed medical journal, JAMA Network Open.

Speaking on the recently published study, the lead researcher, Dr. Ahmed Elhakeem, said concerns have been raised about the risks of children conceived via IVF, but noted that “Parents and their children can be reassured that this might mean they are a little bit smaller and lighter from infancy to adolescence, but these differences are unlikely to have any health implications.”

The researchers, according to a recently published report, said the findings suggest that parents conceiving or hoping to conceive through assisted reproductive technology and their offspring should be reassured that differences in early life growth and adiposity are small and no longer apparent by late adolescence.

To conduct the study, they looked at the height, weight and BMI data of children born via natural conception or assisted reproductive technology at different ages.

It tracked more than 156,000 infants, children, adolescents, and young adults across Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Canada.

The research, which included people born between 1984 to 2018, found that “those conceived using assisted reproductive technology (in vitro fertilisation or intracytoplasmic sperm injection, plus embryo transfers) were shorter, lighter, and thinner by most estimates from infancy up to early adolescence compared with their naturally conceived peers; however, the differences were small across all ages and reduced with older age.”

In addition, statistical analysis showed children aged less than three months old were around 0.27cm shorter, on average than those born via natural conception.

But as they got older, the difference got smaller, with naturally-conceived children only 0.06cm taller by the time they were 17, on average.

As reported by Daily Mail UK, in the same way, such similarity was noted in the area of weight as babies born via artificial methods were born 0.27kg lighter than their counterparts conceived via natural birth.

Super Eagles Get Holiday Extension As CAF Postpones Nations Cup Qualifiers

By

Emenike Agu

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July 29, 2022

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Super Eagles who missed a ticket to the World cup in Qatar have been handed an elongated holiday after CAF announced postponement of the next round of Nations cup qualifiers billed for September.

The first rounds of the qualifiers were completed in June. The Continental football ruling body said the qualifiers have now been pushed to March next year to help the teams that qualified for the world cup prepare properly for the November/December event.

The decision to delay the qualifiers was eased when the finals, originally scheduled to be held in June and July next year in Ivory Coast, were postponed to January-February 2024 in a bid to avoid the rainy season.

“The postponement of the Cup of Nations offered an opportunity to reschedule the remaining qualifying matches,” a document addressed to the members of the executive committee of the CAF, which has been seen by AFP, outlined.

“It also makes it possible to open the dates in September to international friendly matches for preparation for the World Cup.”

Senegal, who won the 2022 Cup of Nations in February, Cameroon, Ghana, Morocco and Tunisia have qualified for the World Cup to be staged in Qatar from November 21-December 18.

The third and fourth rounds of qualifying for the 2024 Cup of Nations will take place in March 2023, match days five and six will be held in June with the sixth day set for September.

Gombe targets 804,000 Children for Malaria prevention

By

Cleopatra Okohai

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July 29, 2022

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The Programme Manager, Gombe State Malaria Elimination Programme, Ubayo Ali, says no fewer than 804,000 children would benefit from malaria chemoprevention.

According to findings by our correspondent, the malaria chemoprevention treatment commenced on Thursday for children between three to 59 months.

The treatment entails Adhoc personnel using Sulfadoxine Pyrimethamine Amodiaquine.

According to Ali, based on NDHS 2018 report, Gombe has a 33 per cent malaria prevalence rate.

He noted further that malaria chemoprevention treatment and the use of insecticide-treated nets would help reduce the mortality rate induced by malaria in the state.

He said that the state is one of the 21 states in Nigeria currently benefiting from the seasonal malaria chemoprevention.

Ali said, “This is the season, for the Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention activity that just started just in 2021 for us to reduce the menace of malaria most especially during raining season. This is done in about 21 states out of which Gombe is one.

“This chemoprevention is targeting children between three to 59 months. This is because the malaria menace has more burden on this age group including pregnant women.

“For this year our target is 804,000 children. They will not have to come to the facility to be attended to, instead, we will be going from house to house. This means we will have about 8,000 Adhoc personnel that we are going to use in reaching these children in their houses across the state.”

The programme manager said the malaria chemoprevention prevention treatment would be carried out four times within the space of four months.

Programme Manager, Gombe State Malaria Elimination Programme, Ubayo Ali

“Between Thursday 28th July to 31st Sunday, July, Anybody that takes SPAQ at least for one month will be protected from malaria.

“From 28th July to 31st and we will come back on the 28th August to give them another one which will protect them for another 28 days. After that 28 days, we will come back and give another, it will be done four times, within four months,” Ali added.

Ali noted that there are free malaria commodities in 352 health facilities, across the 114 wards in the state, stressing that the aim was to reduce the increasing level malaria induced death.

He said, “We have free commodities in 352 health facilities, across 114 wards in 11 local government areas in the state.

“Gombe State government is very supportive in the distribution of this SPAQ across the 11 local government areas already government paid N10 million this year as counterpart funding for the four batches.”

Commenting on the lack of awareness of the malaria vaccine for adults, Ali said, “the malaria vaccine has not reached Gombe yet but we have started discussing it. Already it has been piloted in two or three countries in the world and it is safe but it is yet to get to Gombe. It has not been officially launched.”

Transfer Update: Ferguson Undermining Ten Hag Over Ronaldo – Alan Brazil

By

Emenike Agu

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July 29, 2022

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Former Manchester United striker Alan Brazil has said that he does not think Sir Alex Ferguson is undermining Erik ten Hag in intervening in Cristiano Ronaldo’s transfer.

Following Ronaldo’s intent to leave Old Trafford this summer in search of Champions League action this season, Sir Alex Ferguson came around to try to convince the football icon to stay.

he former United boss’ intervention has since received a lot of criticism from some pundits who feel the Scot was undermining the club’s current boss, Erik ten Hag.

But Brazil believes everything Ferguson does is out of love for the club.

“He [Sir Alex Ferguson] cares greatly about Manchester United,” he told talkSPORT.

“I don’t think he is undermining Ten Hag at all, it is just his love for United.

“Ronaldo is a great player and professional, and I don’t think Fergie has done anything wrong here.”

Telecom Subscribers To Pay 5% Tax On Calls, Text, Data

By

faith Jegede

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July 29, 2022

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The Federal Government has disclosed that telecommunications subscribers would pay a five per cent tax on calls, SMS and data services.

Stakeholders in the industry have expressed dissatisfaction over the government’s resolve to implement a five per cent excise duty on all telecommunications services in Nigeria.

Speaking in Abuja yesterday at the Stakeholders Consultative Forum on Implementation of Excise Duty, the Executive Secretary, Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Ajibola Olude, said taking cognizance of the situation in Nigeria at a time like this, the government should rescind its decision to implement the five per cent excise duty on telecommunications operators.

He said the government should channel its resources to other sectors to diversify the economy.

“What I am saying is that the proposed excise duty on all telecommunications companies is badly intended by the Ministry of Finance and National Planning and Nigeria Customs. And the current state of Nigerian communication is so bad that only about 756 Internet Service Providers (ISPs) were registered but only 10 are active because of issues with forex. Since it is coming from the Ministry of Finance, I think they should understand that currently Nigeria is faced with inflationary pressure, which is 18 per cent now. If you add this increase, the level of inflationary pressure will come to 19 or 20 per cent. And this will further increase the level of poverty in the country. So, if you are going to pass this to Nigerians that are already burdened by the hardship in the country, this is not the best time to do so.

“For me, it is not something they should embark upon. It is something they should turn down and leave the country as it is. Nigerians won’t be able to pay this.

“And another direct effect is that it will lessen investment. As a matter of fact, the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) or Capital Importation will go down because this is a further leakage. It is not just good and I think the best thing the government should do is to develop other sectors.

“They have been collecting tax from the people, they should channel it to steel industry, manufacturing and so many other sectors. That is diversification of fund. It is not something they should implement now. They should consider it and change their decision,” he said.

On his part, the Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Gbenga Adebayo, insisted that the new tax burden would be passed to subscribers.

According to him, “it is a strange move, it appears a bit unusual. Excise duty is supposed to be apportioned to goods and products, but we are surprised this is on services. We will continue to support the government but ALTON won’t be able to subsidize this on behalf of subscribers in addition to the 7.5 per cent VAT, making it 12.5 per cent payable by subscribers to the Federal Government.

“We currently pay a lot of taxes, running into 39 of them, so we can’t add more to the existing burden. We won’t be able to absorb this on behalf of subscribers.”

Speaking at the event, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, urged stakeholders to support the implementation of the five per cent excise duty on telecommunications services.

Zainab, represented by the Assistant Director, Tax and Policy, Mr Musa Umar, appreciated Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) for providing the platform to increase Nigeria’s revenue generation.

She highlighted that countries in Africa like Malawi, Uganda, Tanzania and others have all keyed into this revenue generation pattern, emphasizing that this is needed to change Nigeria’s economic situation for good.

“The issue of revenue is not something we need to shy away from, our revenue can no longer take care of our needs as a country. Also, Nigeria is no longer making enough money in oil revenue, hence the attention is shifting to non-oil revenue sectors, he said”

The Minister explained that the government is committed to implementing the regulation in a seamless manner, which will not affect Nigerians.

Earlier, Executive Vice Chairman, NCC, Prof. Garba Umaru, who was represented by the Executive Commissioner, Stakeholders Management, Adeleke Adewolu, said that the meeting was to engage industry stakeholders and Federal Government agencies on the implementation of excise duty to ensure the framework address the Nigerian telecommunications sector.

“The Commission is here to ensure that the Federal Government implements this initiative, which will help the government to fund the national budget,” he said.

Also, an Assistant Director and Chief Administrative Officer in the Ministry of Budget and National Planning, Frank Oshanipin, said the move to implement the five per cent excise duty was due to dwindling oil revenue.

“We are not making as much revenue as we are supposed to make and that is why we are channeling our attention to non-oil revenue. What we are doing here today is the best thing that can happen to our country. We are trying to see how we can implement the five per cent excise duty in a way it will not affect any of us, he said”