First Petrochemical Company In Saudi Arabia Dispatches First Shipment Of Low-Carbon Ammonia To India

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May 4, 2023

Affirming its long-standing partnership with India, SABIC Agri-Nutrients has exported its first shipment of low-carbon ammonia to Asia’s second-largest economy.

The firm, 50.1 percent owned by Saudi Basic Industries Corp., shipped 5,000 metric tons of low-carbon ammonia to India, in line with its long-term cooperation with the Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative.

India has vowed to achieve net-zero emissions by 2070, and the country is accelerating the use of renewable energy through various initiatives and programs.

Abdulrahman Shamsaddin, CEO of SABIC Agri-Nutrients, said that the first shipment of low-carbon ammonia will catalyze India’s journey to achieve its net-zero targets.

Meanwhile, SABIC CEO Abdulrahman Al-Fageeh said that the firm has a long-standing relationship with India.

In 2022, SABIC Agri-Nutrients and Saudi Arabian Oil Co. obtained the world’s first independent certification for low-carbon ammonia and clean hydrogen production from TUV Rheinland, an independent agency in systems testing, inspection, and certification services based in Germany.

Earlier in May, SABIC Agri-Nutrients, in a bourse filing, revealed that its net profit dropped by 61 percent to SR981 million in the first quarter of 2023, from SR2.51 billion in the same period of 2022.

The company attributed the fall in net profit to a 40 percent decline in the average selling prices of its products.

UK Deploys 11,000 Policemen For King Charles’s Coronation

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Koko Lawrence

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May 4, 2023

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More than 11,000 police officers will patrol London’s streets for King Charles’ coronation on Saturday, the biggest ceremonial event staged in the British capital for 70 years, and they are well prepared to handle any incident, officials said.

Security forces have spent months preparing for the event, which about 100 heads of state will attend as well as huge crowds of spectators.

Thousands of military personnel will take part in a procession.

However, demonstrations are also planned by anti-monarchists in Trafalgar Square and along the procession route.

Security Minister Tom Tugendhat told Times Radio the event was one of the most important security operations the country has ever mounted.

“The police are, to put it mildly, all over it, and our intelligence and other security forces are extremely aware of the challenge that we face,” he said.

Readiness for the event had been shown by the swift response to an incident on Tuesday evening when a man was detained after throwing what were believed to be shotgun cartridges outside Buckingham Palace, Tugendhat said in an interview.

Police carried out a controlled explosion.

“We’re in no way complacent” Tugendhat said.

Charles, along with his wife Camilla, will be crowned at Westminster Abbey on Saturday and Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan of London’s Metropolitan Police said there was no intelligence of any specific threat to the event.

The biggest issue is likely to be protesters seeking to use the occasion to highlight their causes, although a new law passed this week gives police extra powers to deal with these.

IMF Cautions As ENaira Transactions Hit N1.4m

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Rhoda Onuzulike

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May 4, 2023

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The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, has cautioned about the unforeseeable consequences that could be brought about by the retail central bank digital currencies.

Georgieva expressed her concern about retail CBDCs in a May 1 interview at the Milken Institute’s 2023 Global Conference.

According to the IMF boss, the IMF considers retail CBDCs to have far more room for error than wholesale CBDCs.

She said, “We think that wholesale CBDCs can be put in place with fairly little space for undesirable surprises, whereas retail CBDCs completely transform the financial system in a way that we don’t quite know what consequences it could bring.”

According to a report by Cointelegraph, retail CBDCs are state-backed virtual currencies issued by central banks for use by consumers and businesses while wholesale CBDCs are similarly central bank-issued but are designed to allow financial institutions to carry reserve deposits with a central bank.

Digital Currencies: IMF Seeks to Modernise Payment Systems

The IMF MD noted that the organization was collaborating with about 50 countries to ensure best practices are adopted, which she expects to have a huge influence on banks and economies in the future.

Earlier, the IMF had announced that it would publish a CBDC handbook to help central banks with CBDC design and implementation, a decision resulting from the unprecedented levels of interest from nations around the world.

The eNaira introduction on October 25, 2021, made Nigeria one of the first countries in the world to develop a central bank digital currency, that is available to the public.

Africa’s most populous nation joined the Bahamas and the Central Bank of the Eastern Caribbean on the coveted list.

During the launch, the Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, stated that the eNaira was presented after four years of research by the apex bank. The CBN defines the eNaira as a digital currency denominated in naira that serves as a medium of exchange and a store of value.

The CBN governor claimed that 33 banks were successfully integrated into the eNaira network, with the apex bank minting N500m for the currency’s inauguration.

The regulator said N200m had been issued to financial institutions and over 2,000 customers had also been on-boarded as of the time of the launch.

The CBDC speed wallet app and merchant wallet were made available for download once eNaira became operational.

As of December 2021, the eNaira consumer wallet had over 583,000 downloads, while the merchant wallet had 83,000 downloads from over 160 countries.

On Tuesday, the CBN governor disclosed that e-Naira transactions hit about N1.4m as of March 31, 2023.

Emefiele, who was represented by the Director, of Policy, of the CBN, Dr Hassan Mahmoud, said that his team took advantage of COVID-19 and other developments in-country to drive the electronic payment channels.

He said, “The advent of the Corona Virus pandemic no doubt triggered rapid advancements in financial technology leading to speedy digitisation of money and finance.

Citizens Of Kuwait Now Allowed To Travel Visa-Free To 50 Countries

By

Angel Gimalo

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May 4, 2023

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Kuwaiti citizens can now travel to 50 countries without the need for a visa, according to the Consular Affairs Sector of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The annual bulletin for 2023 has provided detailed information on visa procedures for entry into foreign lands, whether through embassies or ports.

The bulletin lists a total of 199 countries that allow Kuwaiti citizens to enter, with some offering visa exemptions and others requiring entry visas.

Out of the 199 countries listed, 50 nations allow Kuwaiti citizens with ordinary passports to enter without a visa.

These include 10 European countries, 3 countries in Australia and its neighbouring regions, 6 Asian countries, 4 African countries, 13 from the American continent, and 14 Arab countries.

Meanwhile, 43 countries require an entry visa to be obtained at the airport or through their website, and 106 countries require obtaining an entry visa through their country’s embassy.

Two More Abducted Chibok Girls Rescued

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Rhoda Onuzulike

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May 4, 2023

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Two more girls abducted from Chibok Local Government Area, Borno State, by Boko Haram in April 2014 have been rescued by troops of Operation Hadin Kai Theater Command.

Esther Marcus and Hauwa Malta, both of them 26, were rescued by troops at Lagara, a Boko Haram enclave in Sambisa Forest, on April 21, 2023.

These bring the total number of girls now out of the terrorists’ captivity to 125, including 107 released by the terrorists themselves in 2018, three rescued by troops in 2019, two in 2021, and 11 in 2022.

Rescued Chibok Girls Plead To Return To School

“94 are still unaccounted for,” the Theater Commander, Operation Hadin Kai Theater Command, Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Sallau Ali, told newsmen, Thursday, May 4, in Maiduguri while parading the rescued Esther and Hauwa to newsmen shortly before handing them over to Borno State Ministry for Women Affairs officials.

“Esther was rescued with her one-year-old baby girl,” he announced further, explaining, “While in captivity, she was first married to one Garba, alias Garus, a terrorist, who was later killed by troops; and she was remarried to another terrorist called Abba; she was with him until her rescue.”

General Ali continued, “Hauwa Malta was rescued with an eight months and 10 days pregnancy; she delivered a baby boy at the Seven Div health facility 10 days after their rescue.”

The Theater Commander disclosed that while in Boko Haram captivity, she was first married to a terrorist called Salman who was killed in a troops-terrorists duel in Lake Chad, after which she was married to another terrorist called Malam Mohammed who was killed in a Boko Haram-ISWAP clash.

He said the troops of the joint taskforce of the Theater Command would not relent in their efforts at ensuring that all the abducted girls were rescued.

Deadly Noodles: NAFDAC takes Probe to Factories, Markets

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Cleopatra Okohai

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May 4, 2023

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The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control on says it was extending its investigation of Indomie noodles to factories and markets, following fear of the presence of ethylene oxide, a potential cancer-causing substance in the ‘Special Chicken Flavour’of Indomie instant noodles.

NAFDAC, however, noted that Indomie’s “special chicken flavour instant noodles recalled by the Malaysia and Taiwan authorities is not registered for sale in Nigeria.”

NAFDAC also said Indomie noodles are on the import prohibition list in Nigeria and not permitted for importation into the country.

The agency added that it had begun the random sampling of Indomie noodles, including the seasoning from the production facilities and the markets for the presence of ethylene oxide, as well as extending the investigation to other brands of instant noodles offered for sale to Nigerians.

Malaysia and Taiwan health officials had said they detected ethylene oxide, a potentially cancer-causing substance in Indomie’s “special chicken” flavour noodles, but the makers of the product, Indofood, said all instant noodles produced by the ICBP in Indonesia were processed in compliance with the food safety standards from the Codex Standard for Instant Noodles and standards set by the Indonesian National Agency for Drug and Food Control.

The Director General of NAFDAC, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, said in a statement on Tuesday that the Ports Inspection Directorate was on alert to guard against the importation of the implicated product into Nigeria.

“NAFDAC, as a responsible and responsive regulator, is taking swift actions to carry out random sampling and analysis of Indomie noodles, including the seasoning, for the presence of ethylene oxide, as well as extending the investigation to other brands of instant noodles offered for sale to Nigerians.

“We use this medium to assure the public that a thorough investigation of the products will be conducted both at the factory and market levels and our findings will be communicated.”

Over 90% of Teachers in South-West Unqualified– TRCN

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Rhoda Onuzulike

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May 4, 2023

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The regulatory body for the teaching profession in Nigeria, the Teachers Registration Council, Thursday claimed that over 90 per cent of private school teachers in South-west states (Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti) are unqualified.

According to the registrar of the TRCN, Professor Josiah Ajiboye, the teachers are unqualified due to their lack of qualifications to enable them to register with the council.

Speaking in Abuja on Thursday when the council signed a Memorandum of Understanding, with a South African-based educational organisation, Instill Education, to upskill in-service teachers in Nigeria.

Ajiboye, who signed the document in Abuja in the company of his management team, said a pilot phase of implementation of the MoU will soon commence with capacity building for eight weeks.

Ajiboye said the MoU has three major components- pre-service teachers, integrating pre-service with in-service teachers and their capacity-building programmes while expressing confidence that the involvement of Instill Education would bridge the gap between pre-service and in-service teachers.

“With regards to our teachers, if you look at what we have said here today, three major components actually were identified: the pre-service teachers, even integrating pre-service with the in-service.

“We have looked at pre-service teachers, the in-service teachers and their training programmes and we have been able to see that there is a gap,” he said.

The TRCN boss lamented that a large number of teachers employed in private schools in Nigeria today are not qualified, in the first instance, to be called teachers, adding that a survey carried out by the council showed that over 90 per cent of the teachers in private schools in the Southwest are not qualified and not registerable with the TRCN.

“So, these people are not registerable with TRCN because they don’t possess the requisite qualification that will allow us to register them. There’s a big gap there.

“Instill may be looking in the future on how to fill that gap. Like they are doing in South Africa; they may also, but the major component of this MoU is about the in-service teachers. How do we go about capacitating these in-service teachers, and upskilling them?

“And that’s what Instill is coming with; they are upcoming with their expertise and technology to be able to help us to do this kind of capacitation for our teachers.

“We’ve been talking over time, about mandatory continuing professional development for teachers, where teachers are going to take certain capacity development programmes and they will get points and this will count towards the renewal of their licence as well as their promotion,” he added.

On his part, the Dean of Operation at Instill Education, Tom Parry, said the training received through his organisation will always end with a practical applicable component so that teachers have an opportunity to practice and understand.

Parry said the MoU will focus on upskilling in-service teachers, adding that in the future, his organisation hopes to bring together the pre and in-service programmes into a micro-credential division so that teachers can continuously upskill themselves, gain access to relevant quality, affordable practical training that is recognised by the government, practical in their classrooms and help them to deliver better learning outcomes.

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“Beyond the simple training processes that we build into our platform, we also think about the incentive structures.

“So, this is where we’re talking more about this workforce development platform. Teachers, I mean, there are some teachers who will be incentivized simply to do training for the sake of getting better.

“But the reality is, many teachers have childcare or other care responsibilities, they have second jobs, they have other lives, they cannot always dedicate the time needed to do it just for the goodwill of it just for the love of training,” he said.

Parry lamented that 90 per cent of learners in Africa cannot read for meaning by the end of primary school while 30 per cent of primary teachers and 50 per cent of secondary teachers are unqualified.

He added that it is just the nature of the system and not an indictment of it, and without recognising these realities, we cannot start to address them.

Earlier, the TRCN Director, Planning, Research and Statistics Ugo-Ali Lawrence, said the Council first met with representatives of Instill Education on November 14, 2022, where it commenced discussions on the proposed collaboration to train Nigerian teachers.

Lawrence said since 2015, the organisation has delivered over 1.5 million hours of professional development, coaching and mentoring sessions to about 100,000 teachers and school leaders across 5 countries namely, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda and India.

Jamie Foxx Breaks Silence Three Weeks After Medical Emergency

By

Koko Lawrence

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May 4, 2023

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Popular American actor, Jamie Foxx, has broken his silence several weeks after he was hospitalised due to a medical emergency.

The actor shared a post via his social media page on Wednesday to thank fans and well-wishers for their support.

In the post, Foxx wrote, “Appreciate all the love. Feeling blessed.”

While the cause of Foxx’s health issues was not made public, his daughter, Corinne Foxx, confirmed his condition on April 12 and asked for privacy.

“Luckily due to quick action and great care he is already on his way to recovery. We know how beloved he is and appreciate your prayers. The family asks for privacy during this time,” she said in the statement.

Before his medical emergency, Foxx was shooting an action comedy titled, “Back in Action” alongside Cameron Diaz in Atlanta.

Seabed Power Grid To Connect North Sea Wind Turbines

By

Angel Gimalo

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May 4, 2023

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A vast power grid on the seabed of the central North Sea is being planned as part of a £20bn project to power oil and gas platforms with green electricity.

Cerulean Winds won the rights to develop projects aimed at reducing the use of gas by offshore installations.

It aims to link more than 400 offshore turbines with the high voltage cables.

The company says the plan will involve 10,000 jobs, many of which could be in the supply chain in Scotland.

It hopes to have the infrastructure in place by 2028.

Dan Jackson, chief executive of the developer, said Scotland was among the most investable countries in the world for floating wind farms.

His company has formed a consortium of partners with experience in the sector, including NOV, Siemens Gamesa, Siemens Energy, DEME and Worley.

Hundreds of turbines are due to be installed in the next ten years in 20 sea areas included in the ScotWind round of developments, some of them fixed to the seabed and some anchored to it with cables.

ScotWind will link to the onshore National Grid. Energy firms have paid £755m to Crown Estates Scotland, which duly passes the funds to the Scottish government, for the rights to develop.

The Cerulean Winds project for an offshore subsea grid is part of another round called Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (Intog), which covers an element of innovation in technology but mostly provides renewable power to oil and gas installations to reduce their use of gas to power their operations.

Anambra Library Board, NLA Donate Books, Writing Materials to Inmates in Awka

By

Nzubechukwu Anodo

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May 4, 2023

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Anambra State Library Board in collaboration with Nigeria Library Association (NLA), Anambra State Chapter has donated textbooks and writing materials worth over N150,000 to inmates of the Nigerian Correctional Service, Awka Custodial Centre.

NLA also donated toiletries to inmates in commemoration of the 2023 World Book and Copyright Day.

Addressing the inmates, the acting director, Anambra State Library Board, Obioma Obalum said that the gesture was aimed at helping the inmates to build their intellectual capacity.

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She said the World Book and Copyright Day, which is celebrated yearly, was set aside by UNESCO to discuss about authors, books, copyright and reading as well as to encourage the inmates to improve on their reading culture by reading two to three books a day so as to widen their knowledge.

The state chairman of NLA, Ngozi Osuchukwu, who spoke on the theme of this year’s celebration, Indigenous Language, urged the inmates to always promote their mother tongue, especially the Igbo language to save it from extinction.

The assistant comptroller in charge of Awka Custodial Center, Solomon Mbah commended the team for celebrating the day with them noting that reading is very essential to life.