Nigeria’s Gas Reserves To Hit 230TCF Despite Poor Utilisation

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September 9, 2021

The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), says Nigeria gas reserves will increase to 230 trillion cubic feet by 2030.

While still struggling to effectively utilise the current 206 trillion standard cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas reserves, standing at about 206 trillion standard cubic feet, DPR, yesterday in Abuja, disclosed plans to work with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in adding 14 billion barrels to existing 36.9 billion crude oil reserves.

Increasing the reserves have remained elusive as the country repeatedly failed targets of boosting the reserves given the elusive state of the sector but with new legislation— the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), there are indications that increasing the reserves might be feasible.

Although investment in exploration and production is shrinking drastically as the world moves from hydrocarbons, Nigeria is banking on a 30 per cent profit share from the state-owned NNPC to finance such projects.

Speaking during a courtesy visit by the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mele Kyari, Director of DPR, Sarki Auwalu said field analysis already showed that the country would prove new oil and gas finds.

In fact, under oil industry classification of P1, P2 and P3, with P1 being the most actual and recoverable, while P2 provides 50 per cent and P3 offering only 10 per cent challenges, Auwalu said most of the fields are in the region of P2 and some in P3.

“We realised that over 68 tcf are in P3 and 75 per cent of it exists in P2 area, which is the production area. So there are several possibilities that this volume will be proven and we can increase and hit 230 TCF before 2030.

Nigeria Rail Transport Generates N1.1 Bn In Three Months

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Elizabeth Williams

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September 9, 2021

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The Nigerian Railway Corporation generated N1.08 billion revenue from passengers in the second quarter of the year, the National Bureau of Statistics has said a total of 565,385 passengers travelled via the rail system in second.

The bureau disclosed this in its Rail Transportation Data Q2 2021.

According to the statistical office, the revenue generated from passengers in the second quarter of 2021 was put at N1,083,851,021 as against N892,467,526 in the first quarter of the year 2021.

It said revenue generated from goods and cargo in Q2 2021 was N71,555,762 as against N26,195,160 in Q1 2021.

Giving a breakdown of passenger traffic it said, the rail transportation data for Q2 2021 reflected that a total of 565,385 passengers travelled via the rail system in Q2 2021 as against 108,238 passengers recorded in Q2 2020 and 424,460 in Q1 2021.

It said that this represented +422.35 per cent growth year on year and +33.20 per cent quarter on quarter respectively.

It said that this represented +392.25 per cent growth year on year and 307.02B per cent quarter on quarter respectively.

The report said, data is provided by the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) and verified and validated by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Zimbabwe Trade Seeks Increased Horticulture Exports To Italy

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Elizabeth Williams

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September 9, 2021

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Zimbabwe’s trade development and promotion agency, ZimTrade, says the participation of local exporters at the ongoing Macfrut 2021 in Italy, is expected to unlock export opportunities for horticultural produces into the European country.

Running from 7-9 September, Macfrut 2021 is the largest fresh produce trade fair in Italy and three Zimbabwean exhibitors are attending the event, with more producers sending samples and other promotional materials through ZimTrade.H

ZimTrade chief executive, Allan Majuru, said the focus on Italy will argument re-engagement efforts being spearheaded by President Mnangagwa’s Second Republic in line with the market diversification drive outlined in the National Export Strategy.

“The focus on non-traditional markets such as Italy will go a long way in meeting the objective of market diversification stipulated under the National Export Strategy, launched by President Mnangagwa in 2019.

“With the current interest to import fresh produce from Zimbabwe generated at Macfrut 2021, we are confident of the positive outcome from the Government’s economic diplomacy drive,” said Majuru.

Majuru further said the participating companies — who include women and youth led enterprises in horticultural production, value addition as well as Agri-technology — are engaging buyers from Italy and the rest of Europe have expressed interest to source from Zimbabwe.

“There is an increasing appreciation across the world that Zimbabwe-grown horticultural produces are some of the leading in terms of quality when compared to other markets in Africa.

Zimbabwe’s horticultural exports into Europe have been growing over the years but exporters are yet to take full advantage of opportunities in the Italian market.

Despite the huge import bill of horticultural produce in Italy, Zimbabwe exported fresh produce worth only US$1,2 million to the country in 2020, which comprise mainly of citrus fruits, according to Trade Map.

Italian market for horticultural products was worthy US$7,7 billion in 2020 with most of its suppliers coming from Europe and South America, according to Trade Map.

Their main import products include citrus, berries, leguminous vegetables and avocadoes, products that Zimbabwe has capacity to supply.

To tap into the lucrative horticulture market in Italy, ZimTrade encouraged local exporters to take advantage of the interim Economic Partnership Agreement that gives duty and quota free access into the European Union Market.

IMF Board Approves Sh1.3 Trillion Emergency Support Fund For Tanzania

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Elizabeth Williams

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September 9, 2021

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The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a disbursement of $189.08 million under the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF) and a purchase equivalent to $378.17 million under the Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI), a total of $567.25 million.

This emergency financing will help finance Tanzania’s urgent balance of payment needs stemming from the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the statement issued on September 7, 2021 by IMF the fund aims to help Tanzania’s economic outlook as it has taken a hit due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

While presenting in parliament the budget for the fiscal year 2021/22, Finance Minister Mwigulu Nchemba said Tanzania just like any other country in the world has been affected economically and socially due to the outbreak of Covid 19 especially in key sectors including health, tourism, trade, transportation, arts and entertainment.

Nchemba said this led the government to enter the negotiations with IMF for the provision of a $571 million RCF loan as a concessional one to address the economic and social impact of Covid.

The fund was approved following the Executive Board’s discussion, whereby IMF Deputy Managing Director, Mr. Bo Li, who chaired the meeting said with the collapse in tourism in the wake of travel restrictions, the Tanzania’s economy reportedly decelerated to 4.8 percent growth in 2020, and growth is expected to remain subdued in 2021.

Referring to IMF data Tanzania faces an urgent balance of payment need of about 1.5 percent of GDP as the authorities implement a comprehensive plan to mitigate the effects of the pandemic and preserve macroeconomic stability.

ECOWAS Suspends Guinea, Announces Mediation Mission

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Elizabeth Williams

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September 9, 2021

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The Economic Community of West African States ECOWAS has decided to suspend Guinea following a recent coup in the country, Burkinabe Foreign Minister Alpha Barry said Wednesday after a virtual crisis summit.

The West Africa bloc (ECOWAS) will also send a mediation mission to Guinea on Thursday, Barry told reporters in Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou.

The move comes after Guinean special forces led by Lieutenant Colonel Mamady Doumbouya seized power on Sunday and arrested president Alpha Conde, sparking international condemnation.

Conde had come under increasing fire for perceived authoritarianism.

The 83-year-old became the first democratically elected president in 2010 and was re-elected in 2015.

But last year, he pushed through a new constitution that allowed him to run for a third term in October 2020.

The move sparked mass demonstrations in which dozens of protesters were killed. Conde won the election but the political opposition maintained that the poll was a sham.

Regional bloc ECOWAS convened an extraordinary virtual summit to discuss the turmoil in Guinea on Wednesday.

Afterwards, Burkinabe Foreign Minister Alpha Barry said that ECOWAS would also request that the Africa Union and United Nations endorse its decision to suspend Guinea.

The putsch has sparked fears of democratic backsliding across the region, where military strongman are an increasingly familiar sight. In Guinea’s neighbour Mali, strongman Colonel Assimi Goita has launched two coups since last August.

Reducing sugar in packaged foods, beverages can prevent heart attacks, stroke –Study

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Cleopatra Okohai

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September 9, 2021

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A new United States study has found that cutting 20 per cent of sugar from packaged foods and 40 percent from beverages could prevent 2.48 million cardiovascular disease events such as strokes, heart attacks and cardiac arrests annually.

A team of researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital, the Friedman School of Nutrition Science & Policy at Tufts University, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in the study published in ScienceDaily stated that reducing the sugar content of commercially prepared foods and beverages will have a large impact on health.

The researchers say consuming sugary foods and beverages is strongly linked to obesity and diseases such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

The researchers created a model to simulate and quantify the health, economic, and equity impacts of a pragmatic sugar-reduction policy proposed by the U.S. National Salt and Sugar Reduction Initiative.

The policy with the goal of encouraging industries to voluntarily commit to gradually reformulate their sugary products, the researchers said, could generate significant health and economic gains if the industry complies with the policy.

According to them, implementing a national policy, however, will require government support to monitor companies as they work toward the targets and to publicly report on their progress.

The researchers hope their model will build consensus on the need for a national-sugar reformulation policy in the US.

Product reformulation efforts, according to them have been shown to be successful in reducing other harmful nutrients, such as trans fats and sodium.

They said the US, however, lags other countries in implementing strong sugar-reduction policies, with countries such as the UK, Norway, and Singapore taking the lead on sugar-reformulation efforts.

But the researchers said that the US may yet become a leader in protecting its people from the dangers of excessive sugar consumption if the NSSRI’s proposed sugar-reduction targets are achieved.

“We hope that this study will help push the reformulation initiative forward in the next few years,” says Dr. Siyi Shangguan, lead author and attending physician at MGH.

Shangguan added, “Reducing the sugar content of commercially prepared foods and beverages will have a larger impact on the health of Americans than other initiatives to cut sugar, such as imposing a sugar tax, labeling added sugar content, or banning sugary drinks in schools.”

“The NSSRI policy is by far the most carefully designed and comprehensive, yet achievable, sugar-reformulation initiative in the world.”

Co-senior author of the study Dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, Dr.Dariush Mozaffarian says, “Sugar is one of the most obvious additives in the food supply.

“Our findings suggest it’s time to implement a national program with voluntary sugar reduction targets, which can generate major improvements in health, health disparities, and healthcare spending in less than a decade”.

Reacting to the study, a Lagos-based Registered Dietician-Nutritionist, Cynthia Onyekwere, said in recent times, added sugar has been closely linked to non-communicable diseases such as obesity, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.

Onyekwere says it is interesting to note that in this context, the type of sugar being referred to as added or refined sugar is not the sugar that is naturally occurring in the food.

“Also referred to as extrinsic sugar, refined sugar is added to processed foods such as confectionery to enhance their taste. They are extracted from sugar cane or sugar beet and are readily available for the body to use, thereby making them more harmful than their natural counterparts which digest slowly,” she explained.

Describing the study as a welcome idea, the dietician said frequent and excessive intake of refined sugar increases one’s risk of NCDs.

She noted, “Several efforts have been made to discourage their intake such as explicitly stating their amounts on their products (nutrition labelling). However, they don’t seem to be working.

“This study is a welcome idea as it will go a long in further reducing the consumption of refined sugars.

“Consequently, the physical, emotional and financial burden of NCDs on individuals, families and the government will be reduced.”

Stop Patronizing Unregistered Drug Stores, Expert Warns Nigerians

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Olasunbo Okoromi

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September 9, 2021

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An Abuja-based Neurosurgeon, Dr. Biodun Ogungbo, has advised Nigerians against patronizing unregistered patent medicine stores to avoid health complications.

He stated this in an interview with Newsmen in Abuja.

“What is needed is proper reorientation and health education of the public on the dangers associated with the patronage of such places because health is wealth.

“The eventual cost of managing the complications of diseases `bought’ from these chemists outweighs the cost of proper treatment in recognized hospitals and accredited health care facilities,” he said.

Ogungbo said injection abscesses were common from chemists and patent medicine stores.

He alleged that fake manufacturers often colluded with owners of the patent medicine stores in the sale of fake drugs.

He, however, called on the government and citizens to identify the dangers posed to the health of the nation by so-called patent medicine stores and local chemists and prevent them.

He said the shops were usually stocked with any drug and none was sacred to them, saying even though unqualified, the chemist boys or girls diagnose and treat customers.

According to him, they proclaim to know everything, every drug and are ever ready to ‘help’.

“This help offered at a price can, however, be suicidal, yet their customers range through the social and educational levels of the public,’’ he said.

He said drugs with similar names were traded off for one another, adding that such drugs in most cases had different chemical compositions and were prepared for different diseases.

He, however, advised the pharmaceutical board and local government officials to ensure that only registered pharmacists owned and managed chemists and dispensaries.

NULGE Offers Free Medical Services To Kuje Residents in Abuja

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Olasunbo Okoromi

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September 9, 2021

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The Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) in collaboration with Kuje Area Council Health Department has provided free medical services to members of the union and residents in Kuje Area Council of the FCT.

The branch Chairman of the union, Mr Nimrod Koce, said the outreach is the 2021 Maiden Health Week, with the theme: “Sustaining a Healthy Workforce for Better Productivity and Efficiency in Public Service”.

Koce explained that the union had not relented in adopting strategies engaging members, the management and the executive arm of the council on best labour practices on collective bargaining to achieve favourable working condition.

He disclosed that NULGE was offering free eye screening, hypertension, diabetes, hepatitis, just to mention a few, including free consultation and free hypertensive drugs to help cushion health challenges in the area.

He said 95 per cent of the equipment used for the exercise were purchased by the union, adding that with the continuous support of the health department, the outreach will be a monthly exercise.

The Chairman, Kuje Area Council, Alhaji Abdudullahi Sabo, commended NULGE for the initiative and promised to pay the council workers their entitlement with the available resources.

Media War: NMA, NARD blame Ngige for prolonged strike

By

Cleopatra Okohai

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September 9, 2021

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The Nigerian Medical Association and the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors on Wednesday blamed the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, for the prolonged strike by resident doctors.

The NMA’s General Secretary, Philips Ekpe; and the Vice President of NARD, Arome Adejo, made the position of their groups known in separate interviews with Newsmen in Abuja.

The NARD had on August 2 begun a nationwide strike over the alleged failure of the Federal Government to pay doctors on residency training and integrate members of the association into the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System.

On Tuesday, Ngige, in an interview with State House correspondents, claimed that the Federal Government did not owe any doctors, but the illegally employed ones.

But Arome told our correspondent that Ngige should be sacked for not telling the truth about the state of things.

He said, “NARD as a body calls for the sacking of Ngige for he is the major factor aggravating things; he is also coming out to tell lies about doctors and constantly aggravating the already tensed situation.”

He added that contrary to Ngige’s claim, the demands of the striking doctors had not been met.

He said, “The President should call us alongside Ngige; let him defend himself and let us defend ourselves, no demand has been met.

“Let Ngige come out straight, no money has been paid, and let the insurance money he said was paid be probed.

“You claimed to have paid insurance but the people who died have yet to be paid. The MRT fund that was paid, only a fraction was paid.

“On the illegal doctors; we were the ones who told them that there were some people like that. We told them last year, we wrote letters to him telling him that money has been paid wrongly to some individuals, we begged him to make sure that the money paid was returned to the right source.

“We compiled the names of those who were wrongly paid; he is misleading the President. All he came out to say are fallacies, he should stop inciting people against doctors; anytime he talks he speaks lies, we have evidence.”

Also, Ekpe told our correspondent that the minister had turned the ongoing crises into a media war.

He said, “By now, we thought things would have been resolved and the court case would have been withdrawn, but nothing has been done.

“In fact, NARD believes that Ngige has gone to the Presidency to disrupt goodwill.

“Why is he drawing issues? Every day he talks, going from one media house to another. He has turned this into a media war.

“In fact, the meeting we proposed initially for tomorrow (Thursday), which has now been postponed, was initially based on hazard allowances and not on the ongoing crises or the ultimatum but then it was postponed with no reason.”

“Now he said there are illegal doctors; first let me say this, who employed the illegal doctors? Did NARD employ the doctors themselves? If you have an illegal doctor then let the CMD be held responsible and why is Ngige bringing this up at this point in time?

“He should pay the doctors for the work they have done. He should not order doctors back to work or order them to stop the strike. NMA is not interested in media fight, we want problems solved.”

NAFDAC Seizes Truckload Of Fake Milk In Sokoto

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Olasunbo Okoromi

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September 9, 2021

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The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has seized a truckload of unregistered milk suspected to be counterfeit in Sokoto.

This was disclosed by NAFDAC Coordinator in Sokoto State, Malam Garba Adamu, in an interview with Newsmen on Wednesday.

Adamu said that the consignment of 300 cartons of 35g creamer sachet was seized on Sept. 6 at the popular Kantin Daji market while the vehicle was on transit to Kano.

He said that the items were confiscated and the persons involved fined, to serve as a deterrent to others.

The coordinator explained that the agency’s headquarters had, in July, alerted state offices of circulation of unregistered milk and other products in the country.

He enjoined members of the public to be wary of their consumables and monitor any unregistered item so as to support NAFDAC in safeguarding their health.

According to him, the agency’s officials intensified surveillance and inspection exercise in Sokoto and Kebbi states to ensure quality of products and services.