The State Bank of India and Tata Power Solar Systems are launching a financing scheme for C&I solar projects up to 1MW.
The Surya Shakti Cell will be domiciled in the Ballard Estate in Mumbai but is aimed at loan applications for solar projects sourced from across India, for installation in households and businesses.
The scheme is set up as an end-to-end digital platform for loan applicants who want to finance solar projects.
Applicants get support and guidance to choose the right equipment, can use the platform to ask for technical help and also receive expedition approval for their loans at competitive rates.
The African Development Fund is providing a $27.39 million grant to help Ghana improve energy access and decarbonisation by developing renewable energy mini-grids and solar PV net metering.
Ghana will use the grant to develop some 35 mini-grids and solar PV systems in 400 schools, 200 units in healthcare centers and 100 units for community energy services in the Volta region.
The grant will also support the rollout of 12,000 rooftop net-metered solar PV systems for public institutions, small and medium-sized enterprises and selected households.
The Ghana Mini Grid and Solar Photovoltaic Net Metering project under which the installations will be made will use the grant to install up to 67.5MW of capacity. The project will generate 111,361MWh of capacity per annum, avoid 0.7795 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year and create 2,865 jobs of which 30% will be women and youths.
The project has leveraged co-financing from the Scaling Up Renewable Energy Programme, a funding window of the Climate Investment Funds, and the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, amounting to $28.49 million and $13.30 million.
The Oando Foundation of Nigeria, Sumitomo Chemical of Japan, with the technical support of the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF), organised a community clean-up exercise at Ijora Badia and Ishaga Mushin in Lagos State, themed: “Clearing of drainage, community sensitization & recycling awareness campaign”.
This initiative is aimed at promoting environmental education and sustainable action for pupils in target schools and host communities in Lagos State.
This year’s activity is a follow-up to the project that commenced in the year 2020 involving five primary schools and three communities in Lagos State.
The activities were carried out at Ireti Owoseni Street, Badia Ijora, on Tuesday, January 25, 2022, while that of Ishaga Mushin was held at Seriki Street on Thursday, January 27, 2022.
Some pupils and teachers of Badia Primary School, Ireti Owoseni Primary School, Olojowon Demonstration Nur/Pry School teamed up with the youths and residents of the area to clean their environment.
In the same vein, some pupils of Ishaga Close Primary School and Islamic Model Primary School joined the community members to carry out the exercise.
Sunday Fateye, Chairman of Badia Central Community, appreciated the initiative and urged his community members to imbibe the culture of cleanliness.
He said: “Maintaining a clean environment is everyone’s responsibility. So, all my people should get involved for us to have a better environment.”
Alhaji Mohammed Ndana, Zonal Chairman, Parents Forum, Mushin Chapter, commended the efforts of Oando Foundation and NCF in bringing such initiative to their community.
He stated that “this effort is a very good one and we thank the organisers.
This exercise will be a way of telling people to take their environment and health seriously.”
Mrs. Abidemi Balogun, Head of Environmental Education for NCF, added: “The focus of this project is to ensure sustainable waste management practices while improving healthy living.
We engaged the community members in clean-up exercises and sensitisation on proper waste management.
Our message is simple, adopt a better method of waste management in your environment, practice clean surroundings always, then teach the young ones the way.”
The United States Soybean Export Council (USSEC) in collaboration with stakeholders in Nigeria’s agronomy and poultry industry and the Government of Nigeria hosted a nutrition and food security forum titled “Nigeria Now” to explore partnership strategies that will help increase access to healthy and nutritional food.
The event, which held in Atlanta Georgia, saw more than 8,000 people from the international poultry industry including the Governor of Cross River State, Prof. Ben Ayade.
The forum highlighted the importance of accessibility of affordable protein to sustainable national development.
Gerald Smith, Counselor for Agricultural Affairs at the U.S. Mission to Nigeria explained that the forum enhanced collaboration while enabling Nigerian industry stakeholders to meet the country’s vision for nutrition and food security.
CEO of USSEC, Jim Sutter, underscored the need for a shared priority that will enable nutrition and food security for families, communities and countries around the world, and more specifically to improve access to healthy and nutritional food.
“We want to continue building on our growing partnerships in 2022 to help Nigerian leaders meet their food and nutrition vision for the citizens of their country,” Sutter said.
Kevin Roepke, USSEC’s Regional Director of Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa said, “We hope Nigeria will take a diversified and multi-faceted approach to achieving food and nutrition security.”
“Local food and soy production is and will remain critically important, and we invite leaders to consider complementing their local supply with high quality imports to most effectively and sustainably meet nutrition needs,” he added.
Sutter reiterated USSEC’s commitment to collaborate with varied stakeholders in Nigeria’s soy value chain.
49-year-old Zandile Christmas Mafe accused of setting South Africa’s parliament on fire has been denied bail by a court in Cape Town.
Police have said they have a video confession from Mafe as evidence they say will be presented in court when the trial begins.
But Mr Mafe has pleaded not guilty and intends to sue the state for wrongful arrest, his lawyers say.
It has been a little over a month since a portion of the National Assembly went up in flames in a suspected arson attack.
Mr Mafe, who was arrested shortly afterward, is facing a string of charges, including one of terrorism – all of which he denies.
The motive for the attack is unknown.
It may be some time before the trial begins and unless Mr Mafe wins an appeal to overturn the bail decision, he will remain in detention.
Magistrate Michelle Adams said Mr Mafe, might be a flight risk because he is known to have regularly slept on the streets of Cape Town.
She added that his defense team had failed to show that there were exceptional circumstances for Mr Mafe to be granted bail.
Earlier, state prosecutors raised questions about Mr Mafe’s mental health after a doctor told them he had paranoid schizophrenia – a diagnosis that is yet to be confirmed by an independent doctor.
His own legal team has rubbished the suggestion. The case will resume next Friday for an application to appeal against the bail decision.
Almost 3,000 athletes from 91 nations are set to compete in the 24th edition of the Winter Olympics in Beijing. The competition is officially underway after the Olympic cauldron was lit in an opening ceremony in China.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has been criticized for awarding the Games to China because of the country’s alleged human rights abuses amongst other things.
IOC president Tomas Bach said one of the missions of the Games was to “unite humankind in all our diversity”.
The Olympic torch was placed into the center of a giant snowflake, which was then illuminated to become the cauldron. The snowflake is made up of placards with the names of the 91 nations competing in the games
Speaking during the ceremony, Bach addressed “all political authorities across the globe” during his speech, asking them to “give peace a chance”.
“In our fragile world, where division, conflict and mistrust are on the rise, we show the world: yes, it is possible to be fierce rivals, while at the same time living peacefully and respectfully together,” he said.
Bach told the athletes: “You will show how the world would look like if we all respect the same rules and each other.
“Over the next two weeks, you will compete with each other for the highest prize. At the same time, you will live peacefully together under one roof in the Olympic Village.
“There, there will be no discrimination for any reason whatsoever. “
The opening ceremony was held in the iconic Bird’s Nest stadium that was built for the 2008 Games as Beijing becomes the first city to host both a summer and winter edition of the Olympic Games.
Just as in Tokyo six months ago, there were no paying spectators, friends or family present in the stands, although there were diplomats and team members applauding the athletes.
Representatives of 56 ethnic groups from across China relayed the national flag into the stadium to begin the opening ceremony. The Olympic rings themselves emerged from a frozen block of ice, with athletes entering the arena underneath them.
A number of countries declared a diplomatic boycott of the Games, including the United Kingdom, with no ministers or officials attending the opening ceremony.
The Beijing government is accused of committing atrocities against the Uyghur Muslim population in the northwest province of Xinjiang, with the World Uyghur Congress describing the Games as “a genocide Olympics”.
There have been reports that, as well as interning Uyghurs in camps, China has been forcibly mass sterilizing Uyghur women to suppress the population.
China has consistently denied allegations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang, insisting camps were not detention camps, but “vocational education and training centers”, but the IOC says it must “remain neutral on all global political issues”.
In addition, authorities across the country have removed crosses from churches, banned youth under the age of 18 from participating in religious services, and replaced images of Jesus Christ or the Virgin Mary with pictures of Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping
There has also been widespread concern over the safety of Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai after she made accusations of sexual assault against a top government official. Bach will meet face-to-face with Peng during the Games.
Also in attendance, was Russian President Vladimir Putin after meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping earlier in the day.
211 Roman Emperor Septimius Severus dies, leaving the Roman Empire in the hands of his two quarrelsome sons, Caracalla and Geta
960 Coronation of Zhao Kuangyin as Emperor Taizu of the Song, initiating three centuries of Song Dynasty dominance in southern China
1555 English reformer John Rogers is burned at the stake at Smithfield, the first of many martyrs in the reign of Mary Tudor.
1789 1st US electoral college chooses George Washington as President and John Adams as Vice President
1798 Elizabeth Fry, reared a Quaker, has a conversion experience in Norwich, England, under the preaching of William Savery, an American Friend. She will become a notable prison reformer.
1859 One of the oldest known copies of the Bible, “The Codex Sinaiticus” (Sinai Bible), is seen in Egypt by Constantin von Tischendorf who takes the manuscript home with him.
1865 Robert E. Lee is named general-in-chief of Confederate forces
1928 In South Africa, the parents of teenager Manche Masemola kill her and bury her by a granite rock. Masemola had refused to abandon Christianity, worshiping in the Anglican Church at every opportunity. Decades later, she will be honored with a statue at Westminster Abbey.
1969 The Palestine National Congress appoints Yasser Arafat chairman of the PLO
1988 Panamanian General Manuel Noriega indicted by US federal grand jury for drug trafficking and racketeering
2004 Mark Zuckerberg launches Facebook from his Harvard dormitory room
Historical Events Today
Today In Film & TV
1970 “Patton” directed by Franklin J. Schaffner and starring George C. Scott premieres in New York (Academy Awards Best Picture 1971)
Today In Music
1977 “Rumours” 11th studio album by Fleetwood Mac is released (Grammy Album of the Year)
Today In Sport
1991 NZ cricketers Martin Crowe and Andrew Jones make a world record 467 run stand, against Sri Lanka at the Basin Reserve in Wellington
Do You Know This Fact About Today?
1936 1st radioactive substance produced synthetically (radium E)
Would You Believe This Fact About Today?
1962 Russian newspaper Izvestia reports baseball is an old Russian game
Spain is gradually rolling back on Covid restrictions and will next week lift its requirement for people to wear masks outdoors as a measure against the coronavirus. As the contagion slowly recedes in the country.
Health Minister Carolina Darias, said the cabinet plans to approve an end to mandatory outdoor mask-wearing at its weekly meeting on Tuesday and make it effective two days later.
“We said it would last only while it was strictly necessary,” Darias said. As contagion rates and other indicators have fallen for several days, the government considers the COVID-19 situation to have eased, she said.
Spain joins several other European countries that have begun to roll back and those who have completely removed COVID-related restrictions. Outdoor masks are no longer compulsory in France and Italy announced on it would release a timetable for a phase-out of restrictions.
Regional authorities in Spain’s Northern Aragon and Basque Country regions as well as in the Canary Islands have also lifted some restrictions on socializing.
Aragon dropped a rule requiring a COVID vaccination or PCR test certificate to access bars and restaurants and scrapped all restrictions on opening hours and capacity. The Basque Country stopped requiring the pass and Canary Islands now permits bars and restaurants to ask for it on voluntary basis.
Catalonia, Spain’s second-largest region, scrapped the COVID pass requirement a week ago.
The country has reported a steadily decreasing contagion rate, reaching 2,421 cases per 100,000 people on Thursday, down from almost 3,400 in early January.
Despite the surge in cases between November and January as Omicron spread, hospital admissions and deaths remain well below those seen in earlier waves of the pandemic.
Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau has been described as the equivalent of a Disney prince, high on style but void of substance at his core. This has been made evident by his treatment of Canadian protests in the city of Ottawa.
The ‘freedom convoy” has it has been tagged, began in response to the federal government’s move to require that all Canadian truck drivers crossing the US border be fully vaccinated.
Prime Minister Trudeau has waded comfortably into many international affairs especially as it concerns people’s rights to protest. But his reaction to the Indian farmers’ crises, is a far cry from what the hundreds of Canadian truckers currently protesting forced vaccination in unbearable weather conditions have seen from him.
Within the first few days of the protest, Trudeau slammed the protests in the capital city, calling it “an insult to memory and truth”. The truckers are on the seventh day of their protests, against what has been described as human rights violations in the form of forced vaccines.
Contrary to rumors, the protests have been peaceful and without violence or incident, which is according to Ottawa police chief Peter Sloly.
Police have declined to end the protest, citing the risk of aggravating tensions. They say they are investigating reports of criminal offenses, including hate crimes and desecration of public property, and have made just three arrests so far as the protests continue to be peaceful.
The protesters say they have no intention of leaving until the government scraps the vaccine mandates.
Meanwhile, the prime minister and his family have been moved to an undisclosed location, on the grounds of him having contracted the corona virus. He is yet to release a statement to assuage the feelings of his people but has retweeted the countries win against America in the men’s football championship.
While many continue to wait on him, the truckers have been joined by ordinary Canadians, have raised over $6 million dollars, and are now calling for Trudeau’s resignation.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has reiterated that it would soon embark on an indefinite strike to press home their demands months after it suspended a nine-months-old strike.
Chairman of the University of Jos chapter of the Union, Dr Lazarus Maigoro, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday in Jos.
Recall that the union suspended a nine-month-old industrial action in December 2021.
ASUU embarked on an earlier strike over the failure of Federal Government to address all the issues raised in the 2009 agreement it entered with the union.
Maigoro, who described the federal government as an “unfaithful spouse”, said the union would not relent until the standard of education is uplifted in the country.
“The government’s pattern of response to issues is that of a serial promise breaker.
“Like an unfaithful spouse, they are unable to match their words with action which is affecting the education sector negatively.
“We are tired of their deceit and it is time for us to take action and so we want to inform Nigerians that we are tired of fruitless meetings with the Minister of Labour, Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, the Chief of Staff to the President, among others.
“If they ever want us to listen to them, they should first of all act on the promises they have already made,” he said.
The chairman wondered why government had continued to defend the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), a system, he said, has been thrashed by the office of the Auditor-General of the Federation.
Maigoro maintained that the demands of the union are not personal, but a conscious effort aimed at uplifting the standard of university education in the country.
He added that over the years, the union had engaged government over all the issues and it promised immediate implementation, but nothing has been done till date.
“In the light of this, we want Nigerians to know that we are no longer interested in the promises of an unfaithful philandering spouse.
“In the mean time, we are resolved to proceed on an indefinite and comprehensive strike until fidelity returns to our relationship with the government and our demands are met; We are tired of going the back and forth.
“This Brownian motion must stop! We are determined to end the dubious pronouncements by government claiming commitment to sound university education and fidelity to collective agreement.
“Trust has been destroyed by government. It is up to them to retrieve it to avert any strike. On our part, we are ready for any action and our readiness is now,” he said.
Maigoro said that the union appreciates the interest demonstrated by the Nigerian Inter-religion Council (NIREC) with a view to resolving the current impasse, but regretted that it would not yield any positive result.
He appealed to students, parents and Nigerians to understand and support the union in its bid to salvage the education system from total collapse.
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