Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) and FrieslandCampina WAMCO, have renewed their Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on dairy value chain development.

Under the new pact, both parties will provide a networking environment for 30,000 cattle herders and transform dairy farming practices by introducing improved techniques and also providing farmers with extension services to enhance raw milk quality and farm productivity.

“We will introduce commercial credit to farmers and build confidence between benefiting farmers and financial institutions for viable agri-business”, says the Managing Director of FrieslandCampina WAMCO, Ben Langat.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Sabo Nanono and Langat, signed the renewed MoU on Wednesday, in Abuja.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Langat, said, “The initial MoU established a structure and model for dairy development in Nigeria. It brought to focus the urgent need to put in place the right infrastructure and expertise that will support local milk sourcing in Nigeria.

“Building on the progress made, the renewal of the MoU enables both parties to replicate the successes achieved in the past 10 years in Oyo, Ogun, Niger, Osun and Kwara states, as well as other parts of Nigeria, whilst supporting various dairy co-operatives in the country.”

Nanono, stressed that the significance of the Dairy Value Chain MoU is to strengthen the smallholder dairy farming business, which will help transform the largely nomadic cattle herders into sedentary dairy farmers.

Cyberattacks via malware intrusion have continued to increase in Africa with four countries suffering 85 million attacks in the last six months.

Kaspersky, which disclosed this, said malware has become rife across Africa with various countries exhibiting strong growth in all malware types in the first half of 2021, when compared to the same period last year.

According to it, this is a five per cent increase in the region, as cybercriminals and hackers continue to focus on African countries considering digital transformation, advancements and the increase in remote working resulting from the Pandemic.

A malware attack is a common cyberattack where malware (normally malicious software) executes unauthorised actions on the victim’s system. The malicious software (a.k.a. virus) encompasses many specific types of attacks such as ransomware, spyware, command and control.

Kaspersky, a global cybersecurity and digital privacy company, said, overall, four countries account for 85 million attacks, with South Africa being the most targeted (32 million), followed by Kenya (28.3 million), Nigeria (16.7 million) and Ethiopia (eight million).

It pointed out that all countries, but Kenya, saw the relative growth of all malware attacks. Ethiopia and Nigeria saw increase of 20 per cent and 23 per cent respectively and South Africa 14 per cent, while Kenya’s number of attacks decreased by 13 per cent.

Foreign airlines operating in and out of Nigeria have complained over difficulties in repatriating accumulated funds, now in excess of $143.8 million.

The airlines, under the aegis of International Air Transport Association (IATA), said the stuck funds have further made recovery difficult for struggling carriers.

Though not peculiar to Nigeria, the funds were from tickets sold locally but could not be repatriated due to forex liquidity crisis.

IATA noted that approximately $963 million in airline funds were being blocked from repatriation in nearly 20 countries.

Four countries: Bangladesh ($146.1 million), Lebanon ($175.5 million), Nigeria ($143.8 million), and Zimbabwe ($142.7 million), account for over 60 per cent of this total, although there has been positive progress in reducing blocked funds in Bangladesh and Zimbabwe of late.

IATA, the global clearing house for 290 international airlines, urged Nigeria and other governments to abide by international agreements and treaty obligations to enable airlines to repatriate close to nearly $1 billion in blocked funds from the sale of tickets, cargo space, and other activities.

IATA’s Director-General, Willie Walsh, said governments were preventing nearly $1 billion of airline revenues from being repatriated. “This contravenes international conventions and could slow the recovery of travel and tourism in affected markets, as the airline industry struggles to recover from the COVID-19 crisis.

Airlines will not be able to provide reliable connectivity if they cannot rely on local revenues to support operations. That is why it is critical for all governments to prioritise ensuring that funds can be repatriated efficiently. Now is not the time to score an ‘own goal’ by putting vital air connectivity at risk,” Walsh said.