African Development Bank Approves Desert To Power G5 Sahel Financing Facility

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February 22, 2022

The African Development Bank has approved the Desert to Power G5 Sahel Financing Facility covering Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger.

Through the facility, the Bank will commit up to $379 million in financing and technical assistance over the next seven years.

The Desert to Power G5 Financing Facility is meant to help the five countries adopt a low-emissions power generation pathway by using the region’s abundant solar potential.

Dr Kevin Kariuki, AfDB Vice President for Power, Energy, Climate Change and Green Growth said the innovative blended finance approach of the Desert to Power G5 Sahel Facility will de-risk, and therefore catalyse, private sector investment in solar power generation in the region. “This will lead to transformational energy generation and bridge the energy access deficit in some of Africa’s most fragile countries.”

The facility will encourage utility-scale solar generation through independent power producers and energy storage solutions.

The investment will be backed by a technical assistance component meant to enhance implementation capacity, strengthen the enabling environment for private sector investment and ensure gender and climate mainstreaming.

The aim is for the facility to help create 500MW of additional solar generation capacity which should facilitate electricity access to around 695,000 households.

It is expected that about 14,4 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent could be avoided over the lifespan of the project.

Desert To Power Initiative Taking Advantage Of Solar Power

The Board of the Green Climate Fund approved $150m in concessional resources in October 2021 to the facility, which is expected to leverage around $437m in additional financing from other development finance institutions, commercial banks and private sector developers.

The Global Center on Adaptation will provide technical assistance to strengthen adaptation and resilience measures undertaken in the facility as part of the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Programme in partnership with the AfDB.

Dr Daniel Schroth, AfDB Acting Director for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency: “The facility will also support the integration of larger shares of variable renewables in the region’s power systems, notably through the deployment of innovative battery storage solutions and grid investments.”

The facility will be implemented as part of the broader Desert to Power initiative, one of the AfDB’s flagship programmes.

The objective of the initiative is to light up and power the Sahel region by adding 10GW of solar generation capacity and providing electricity to around 250 million people in the 11 Sahelian countries by 2030.

Turning Niger’s Solar Potential Into Hydrogen

At the same time as the AfDB approving the G5 Financing Facility, the Government of Niger has signed an agreement with German energy solution provider Emerging Energy Corporation to explore and develop commercial green hydrogen projects in the landlocked West African country.

Emerging Energy Corporation will also invest in projects to decarbonise oil field operations and refineries in Niger through carbon capture technologies. It is envisaged that green hydrogen production in Niger will happen via electrolysis, using renewable power.

As per the agreement, both parties will investigate opportunities to enable demand for the product and also prepare Niger to become a hub for green hydrogen production in the region.

Malaysia: Power Generation Solutions Company To Build 4 Biogas Plants Fueled By Palm Oil Waste

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Angel Gimalo

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February 22, 2022

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Power generation solutions company INNIO has signed an MoU with project developer Concord Renewable Energy to build four power plants across Malaysia fueled by palm oil waste.

Each plant will operate two INNIO Jenbacher high-efficiency biogas engines, collectively delivering more than 8MW of power to the grid.

INNIO has also signed a long-term service agreement for the Jenbacher Type 4 engines.

According to INNIO, the project aligns with Malaysia’s goal to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and increase renewables in the energy mix to 31% by 2025.

As part of the project, Concord Group and INNIO will focus on sustainable fuel sourcing. Methane gas emitted by existing palm oil mills will be reappropriated to produce power.

Concord Renewable Energy Sdn Bhd CEO, Datuk Khairuddin bin Tan Sri Mohd Hussin, said: “We look forward to continuing to work with INNIO’s advanced Jenbacher technology to help us meet growing energy demand while reducing emissions.”

UAE Invests In Drones, Robots As Unmanned Warfare Takes Off

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Angel Gimalo

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February 22, 2022

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The United Arab Emirates is ploughing money into drones, robots and other unmanned weaponry as autonomous warfare becomes more and more widespread — including in attacks on the Gulf country by Yemeni rebels.

Large, black drones with the orange logo of EDGE, the UAE’s arms consortium, were on display at this week’s Unmanned Systems Exhibition (UMEX), along with remote-controlled machineguns and other “smart” weapons.

The exhibition comes at a time of growing unmanned attacks around the region, including the January 17 drone-and-missile assault by Yemen rebels that killed three oil workers in Abu Dhabi, the first in a series of similar incidents.

HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai

“Autonomous systems are becoming ever more prevalent around the world,” Miles Chambers, EDGE’s director of international business development said.

“We are really heavily investing in developing our autonomous capability… as well as in electronic warfare and in our smart munitions. These are our three pillars.”

EDGE, an Abu Dhabi-based defence consortium that groups 25 Emirati firms, was formed three years ago but reached an estimated $4.8 billion in arms sales in 2020 — nearly all of them to the UAE government.

The group was ranked 23rd among the 100 top arms-producing and military services around the globe in 2020, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

The UAE is part of the Saudi-led coalition that has been fighting Yemen’s Huthi rebels since 2015. Although it withdrew ground troops in 2019, it remains a key player in the grinding conflict.

EDGE’s most lucrative deals have included maintenance of military jets, worth almost $4 billion, as well as providing guided munitions at $880 million.

Nigeria To Focus More On Gas Exploration – Buhari

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Koko Lawrence

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February 22, 2022

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The Federal Government has declared its intention to invest and focus attention on natural gas exploration in the country.

Addressing the 6th Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) Summit in Doha, Qatar, on Tuesday, President Muhammadu Buhari said enactment of Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) was designed to enable Nigeria to derive more value from natural gas.

Buhari was represented by Chief Timipre Sylva, Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, according to a statement by Horatius Egua, Senior Adviser to the Minister on Media and Communications.

Buhari said the recent enactment of the PIA was an indication of government’s commitment to derive more value from natural gas by providing required governance, regulatory and fiscal framework to support the industry’s growth.

He said Nigeria, a gas province with some oil was committed to sustainable growth of natural gas exploitation and utilisation, both for domestic use and export via LNG and pipeline gas to sub-regional African countries.

According to the president, Nigeria is embarking on different initiatives, projects, and policies to enhance the performance of the oil and gas sector.

He listed some of the gas initiatives Nigeria is currently embarking upon to include the National Gas Expansion Program (NGEP).

“NGEP is designed to provide framework and policy support to extend gas supply and utilisation in power generation, gas-based industries and in emerging niche gas sectors.

“Such are gas in transportation, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) for cooking and remote virtual gas supply using trucks to convey LNG and Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) to industries,” he said.

The other initiatives according to the president are the Ajaokuta-Abuja-Kano gas pipeline to support five billion cubic feet per day of domestic gas utilisation in the near term and five-Gigawatt power generation.

“The expanding of the current LNG production capacity to about 30 million tons per annum at Bonny with the on-going N-LNG Train seven project and the declaration of 2021-2030 as the Decade of Gas towards a gas-powered economy.

“This would not only lower Nigeria’s Green-house Gas (GHG) emissions but also reduce the country’s import bills.”

The President noted that with natural gas projected to be the leading fossil fuel in the energy transition, the GECF, given its member countries vast experience, was well positioned to provide credible platform to promote natural gas as a sustainable fuel for an effective energy transition.

“We, therefore, need to continue to assess the gas and energy market dynamics both in the short, medium, and long-term time frame with the aim of taking market opportunities and collectively address the challenges,” he noted.

To achieve the set objectives, he stressed the need to work together as policy makers, investors, decision makers, researchers and technology developers to make modern energy sources such as natural gas available and affordable to all.

While restating Nigeria’s commitment to Conference of Parties (COP26) Glasgow declaration towards zero carbon emissions, Buhari however underscored the importance of natural gas for effective energy transition towards a low carbon future.

He equally emphasised the need for natural gas as a fuel for socio-economic development, taking into consideration its credentials such as abundant, flexible, cleanest fossil fuel, and its versatility.

Five Other Nigerian Athletes Actively Serving Bans For Doping

By

Emenike Agu

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February 22, 2022

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After months of apprehension and uncertainties, Blessing Okagbare, on Friday, became the sixth Nigerian on the active ban list of the Athletics Intergrity Unit (AIU)

Though a first-time offender, Okagbare was hit with a 10-year ban for multiple doping infractions as well as refusal to cooperate with investigators thereby denying the AIU possible leads to other erring athletes.

The GLOBAL LIST OF INELIGIBLE PERSONS showed there are five other Nigerian athletes actively serving various bans with two of them actually banned for life.

This excludes many other Nigerians including the likes of Chioma Ajunwa, Mary Onyali, and scores of others that have served out their bans at various times.

It is also pertinent to note that there are some other athletes of Nigerian descent on this active list but have since switched their nationalities and their offences were committed while representing their adopted countries.

Here are the five other Nigerians presently serving various doping bans.

NAME: ADELOYE Tosin

D.O.B: 07/02/1996

Adeloye tested positive for the anabolic steroid Methenolone at the National Sports Festival in Lagos in December 2012, at the age of 16, and was subsequently banned from sports for two years. The ban ended on 6 January 2015.

While one would think the Ekiti State-born athlete and a one-time African junior 400m champion would have learned her lessons, she was caught a second time; using Exogenous steroids.

Her second offence saw her bag an eight-year ban which started in July 2015 and would only elapse on 23/07/2023.

Adeloye represented Team Nigeria at the 11th African Games (AG) in Brazzaville, Congo, and was part of the gold-medal-winning quartet in the 4x400m Women’s relay event.

NAME: AZIKE Henry

D.O.B: 07/01/1989

The little-known sprinter bagged a life ban after testing positive a second time for NR-AAF-Methenolone.

His date of infraction was December 5.2012

CHUKWUEMEKA, Vivian [PHOTO: Complete sports] — CHUKWUEMEKA, Vivian

NAME: CHUKWUEMEKA, Vivian

D.O.B: 04/05/1975

Before her lifetime ban, Chukwuemeka was to Shot Put what Blessing Okagbare was to the Sprints. She was miles ahead of her contemporaries, especially on the home front and that explains why she holds Nigeria and African records in the event.

Her 18.43m mark set almost 20 years ago has not been matched by anyone on the continent.ⓘ

However, it appears those exceptional performances by Chukwuemeka may have been added with some performance-enhancing drugs.

Though she fought fiercely when she was banned for two years after failing a drug test at the 2009 Nigerian Championship, there was no coming back for the towering thrower when she again failed a second drugs test – for the anabolic steroid stanozolol – shortly before the Olympic Games in London. Subsequently, she was given a lifetime ban from competition

Among other ‘accomplishments’ Chukwuemeka had a combined six gold medals at both the All-African Games and African Championships.

NAME: NATHANIEL, Glory Onome

D.O.B 23/01/1996

Specialising in the 400m Hurdles event, the 26-year old represented Nigeria at different competitions; including the 2017 World Championships where she made it to the semifinals.

Additionally, she won three silver medals at the 2017 Islamic Solidarity Games.

However, Onome’s world came crashing after testing positive for the presence of stanozolol and its metabolites on 25 October 2018. On 2 April 2019, a hearing was held and a four (4) year ban was imposed on her.

The hurdler is only six months away from completing her ban as she is eligible to return to action from 29/08/2022.

ODELE Tega [PHOTO: Alchetron] — ODELE Tega

NAME: ODELE Tega

D.O.B : 06/12/1995

The 26-year burst into the limelight when he won the 200 m at the 18th Nigerian National Sports Festival as a 16-year old.

A year later at the African Junior Championships in Mauritius, he narrowly missed out on a podium finish in the 200m but was well-compensated with a gold medal in the 4x100m event.ⓘ

Though he went on to don the country’s colours at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing and thereafter at the Rio 2016 Olympics.

Odele has been under the radar since failing a drug test in 2019 and only be eligible to compete from 19/05/2023. would

Diante Singley Wins Frieze Los Angeles’s $10,000 Film Award

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Koko Lawrence

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February 22, 2022

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Diante Singley has taken this year’s Deutsche Bank Frieze Los Angeles Film Award, which recognizes an artist in the fair’s film section hosted on Frieze’s website. Facilitated in collaboration with Ghetto Film School and Endeavor Content, a division of a similarly named holding company that has a majority stake in Frieze, the award comes with $10,000.

Singley was recognized for his film Greyhound, which focuses on a young man of colour who is bidding goodbye to his community ahead of starting school at Stanford University. Singley was selected by a jury that included Christine Y. Kim; artist Kehinde Wiley; Sharese Bullock-Bailey, chief strategy and partnership officer at Ghetto Film School, which aims to cultivate young directors and writers, with a specific focus on budding filmmakers of color; and Claudio de Sanctis, head of international private banking at Deutsche Bank.

Adham Elnashai was given an audience award for his film Rahma, which centers around a young Egyptian woman in Los Angeles navigating multiple sets of cultural mores.

“I want to send my congratulations to each and every one of this year’s fellows, who produced a selection of moving and inspiring short films of which they can all be very proud,” de Sanctis said in a statement.

Frieze Los Angeles, which runs through Sunday, has booths by around 100 exhibitors, some of whom reported strong sales during the fair’s first two days. As with past editions, the fair has lured in not just international dealers and art-world elite, but also Hollywood stars, among them Leonardo DiCaprio, Gwyneth Paltrow, Owen Wilson, and more.

Amina Movie: Absence Of Historical Data, Archives Posed Challenge – Filmmaker

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Koko Lawrence

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February 22, 2022

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Amina, the long-anticipated historical movie, which took the veteran Nollywood producer and actor, Okechukwu Ogunjiofor, about 25 years to execute, mainly received poor reviews on November 4, 2021, release.

The consensus was the same from northern Nigerian historians to Nigerians on social media. However, the historical drama was also criticised because the dialogue was in English instead of the Hausa language.

Initially shot in 2015, the movie garnered so much buzz on social media because it was hailed as Ogunjiofor’s comeback movie.

Initially scheduled for release in 2017, the eponymous epic movie tells the untold story of Queen Amina of Zazzau.

The producer said it took the crew about 25 years to produce and engage the services of over 1000 cast members.

According to Ogunjiofor, the cast was engaged in pre-production training where they were first camped for three months and trained on how to ride horses and use swords to fight on horsebacks before commencing shoot properly.

Lucy Ameh (Queen Amina), Ali Nuhu (Danjuma), Yakubu Mohammed ( Barde), Victoria Nweke (Mero), Abu Chris Gbakann (Sarki), Dan Chris Ebie, (Galadima), Usman Tijani (Ibrahim), Clarion Chukwura (Zumbura), Ummi Mohammed (Zaria), Godwin Ogaga (Kabarkai) played the lead roles in the film.

As with most Nigerian historical figures, little or no documented information and data means that not much is known about Amina’s ascension and reign, which was a significant flaw in the film.

UK To Pay 210,000 Pounds In Fraud Compensation To Nigeria

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Koko Lawrence

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February 22, 2022

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The United Kingdom (UK) on Monday through its minister for Africa announced the payment of 210,610 pounds (about N120 million) as fraud compensation to the government of Nigeria.

This is following a four-year corruption investigation led by the UK’s Serious Fraud Office relating to the use of corrupt agents in the oil and gas sector by Amec Foster Wheeler Energy Limited.

The government of the UK represented by Ford and the Nigerian government represented by Benjamin Okolo, solicitor-general of the federation, signed a memorandum of understanding on the utilisation of the money.

Okolo said the signing of the MoU is a signal that the UK anti-bribery act will lead to a substantial return of illegally acquired profits, by businesses, to developing countries.

“We are grateful that you deemed it necessary to return this fund even though Nigeria did not participate in its negotiation. It shows the UK’s commitment to the global effort to tackle illicit financial flow and prohibit bribery in international business,” he added.

Ford in turn noted that the security and defence dialogue held earlier this month between both countries reaffirmed their commitment to work together to tackle illicit financial flows, bribery and corruption.

“The UK has a zero-tolerance policy to corruption and we hope that today’s signing sends a clear statement about our commitment to this,” she said.

Juliet Ibekaku-Nwagwu, special assistant to the Nigerian president on justice reforms and international relations, said the funds will be invested in the Second Niger Bridge, Lagos-Ibadan expressway and Abuja-Kaduna expressway projects.

Filmmakers To Shoot Movies On Trains For Free – Amaechi

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Koko Lawrence

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February 22, 2022

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Nigeria’s Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has advised film producers to strive for quality that would make them compete favourably internationally and boost the nation’s economy.

Amaechi gave the advice in Abuja, while receiving the Chief Executive of Native Media, Rogers Ofime and his crew members on a thank you visit.

The minister reiterated his resolve to always support movie makers when they needed train service for their shootings.

Amaechi pledged support for the shooting of ‘Conversations in Transit’, a contemporary gritty romantic comedy and other movies.

The minister said that this would promote the good image of the country.

According to him, approving train service for the shooting of the film was to show the world the exceptional infrastructural development going on under the regime of President Muhammadu Buhari.

He said, “We have to do this because what the president is doing in infrastructure should be shown to the world.

“The president has improved on infrastructure and railway is one of them. We have to grant them that approval of using the train. So that the world we know that we are delivering on our campaign promises.”

The minister said that approving the train services for movie producers to use for shooting at no cost was the government’s contribution to boost the sector.

Amaechi added, “We will continue to improve our infrastructure to make the society grow. Road and railway deal with issue of logistics, even if you manufacture you need better infrastructure.

“The film project is a beautiful idea; it will engage the people meaningfully, provide entertainment and grow the economy.

“We are happy they are doing it and that is why we will be willing to always grant them approval of the train anytime they wish to use it.

“Film makers should improve on what they are doing. The quality of anything you are doing is essential. They have continued to grow with time.

“Improving to become world best is not rocket science. They can be the best in the world with much commitment,” he said.

Speaking, Ofime, thanked Amaechi for approving free train services for the shooting of the film, Conversations in Transit.

Ofime said that the production of the film was informed by his experience of train ride from Lagos to Ibadan, which he described as fascinating.

He said, “When I came to Nigeria from Canada, what actually fascinated me was the train ride from Lagos to Ibadan and that actually informed the project I am doing.

“One is to showcase the achievement of the administration and also to let people know of another means of transportation which is very wonderful.

”People have been taking the train ride and the feedback has been really great.”

Okagbare’s Ban: Ajunwa Advises On Ways To Stem Doping

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Emenike Agu

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February 22, 2022

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Nigeria’s first female gold medallist at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Chioma Ajunwa-Opara, has called on athletes to stop cutting corners, but rather face the reality of intense competition for world titles.

Ajunwa-Opara gave this advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

She was speaking on the heels of the recent 10-year ban of Nigeria’s queen of the track, Blessing Okagbare, by World Athletics.

NAN reports that the Athletics Integrity Unit handed a 10-year ban for doping violations by Nigeria’s 2008 long jump silver medallist, Blessing Okagbare.

Okagbare was initially expelled from the women’s 100m semi-finals after testing positive for human growth hormone at an out-of-competition test in Slovakia on July 19, at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Ajunwa-Opara, the first black African woman to win an Olympic gold medal in a field event, who had suffered a similar fate, urged for more sensitisation and support from the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN).

“The ban will definitely affect her career, maybe her career in athletics is over. I believe AFN can give her the support she needs.

“For Okagbare, who lives in the U.S., she should not be caught in this web, because it is believed that she has all the information she needed, and is more exposed.

“Okagbare should have a better knowledge than those living in Nigeria; besides this, we have something to do here at home and not pass the whole blame,” she said.

Ajunwa-Opara said since her own experience on doping, she had established a foundation that gives advice and sensitisation on doping.

“Personally, I have set up a foundation campaigning against doping. The foundation is to educate the people and to believe in themselves. Our athletes should take their minds away from doping and cutting corners.

“I also believe that World Athletics is part of this problem by dumping the earlier arrangements on paying the athletes, during the Grand Prix where all the athletes are paid.

“The arrangement now is that World Athletics only pays the top three runners, instead of paying the athletes in all their categories, which are category A, B, and C.

“The competition is now keen to emerge as top three in the whole world. This is an area of concern. World Athletics should revert to the old system of paying all the participants to encourage all athletes,” she said.