U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would add more countries to his travel ban list. While he gave no details, a source familiar with the proposal said the tentative list included seven nations - Nigeria, Belarus, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Sudan and Tanzania. [nL1N29R224]
An announcement was imminent, said Mohammed, adding that while Abuja had reached out to the U.S. administration since learning about the plan, his government did not get any warning and had not been told any possible reason.
“We are doing everything we can,” Mohammed told Reuters in an interview. “A travel ban is going to send the wrong signal to investors, it is going to stifle the good of the country and vulnerable people who need medication and schools will be the most affected.”
Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy and most populous country, is a U.S. anti-terrorism partner and has a large diaspora residing in the United States.
It is not clear what sort of restrictions Nigeria might face if added to the list and the U.S. administration has so far not commented. Under the current version of the U.S. travel ban on foreign countries, citizens of Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria and Yemen, and some Venezuelan officials and their relatives are blocked from obtaining a large range of U.S. immigrant and non-immigrant visas.
“Nigeria has done very well in the area of fighting terrorism,” Mohammed said, adding that Washington help drive militant groups such as Islamic State out of Nigeria.
DEAF EARS
Asked about Nigeria’s move to close its land borders last August with neighbours such as Benin and Niger to fight smuggling, Mohammed said the move had been a success and boosted food production inside the country.
“Every attempt in the last 16 years to persuade our neighbours, especially Niger, to adhere to the ECOWAS protocol of transit has fallen on deaf ears,” he said, referring to the trade protocol governing the exchange of goods between the Economic Community of West African States to which Nigeria belongs. “No country can allow that it can become a dumping ground for goods from elsewhere.”
In 2015, the central bank banned the use of its foreign exchange to pay for rice imports and has backed loans of at least 40 billion naira ($131 million) to help smallholders boost output, before moving to a full border closure last summer.
Mohammed said his government was happy with how the move had spurred local production. Yet the border closure also worsened price pressures, with inflation at 11.98% in December, rising for the fourth straight month and well outside the central bank’s band of 6%-9%.
“We see this only as temporary,” he said, adding he expected inflation to fall into the single digits by 2023.
Reuters
Tuesday, January 28, 2020
Monday, January 27, 2020
Lassa fever outbreak kills dozens in Nigeria
Nigerian authorities have announced increased emergency measures to contain the latest outbreak of Lassa fever in the West African country, following the death of 29 people this month from the viral disease.
"As at 24th of January 2020, 195 confirmed cases and 29 deaths had been reported in 11 states," the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said in a statement on Saturday.
A national emergency operations centre had been activated to coordinate the response "to the increasing number of Lassa fever cases" across the country.
What is Lassa fever?
Lassa fever is a viral haemorrhagic fever. It belongs to the same family as the Ebola and Marburg viruses but is much less deadly.
The disease is endemic to the West African country and its name comes from the town of Lassa in northern Nigeria where it was first identified in 1969.
Previously, cases of the disease have been reported in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Togo and Benin - where it killed at least 9 people in 2016.
How is it spread?
The virus is transmitted to humans from contact with food or household items contaminated with rodent faeces or urine. The disease is endemic in the rodent population in parts of West Africa.
The virus, which has an incubation period of between six to 21 days, can also be transmitted through contact with an infected person via bodily fluids and excretions: blood, urine, saliva, sperm, vomit, faeces.
Symptoms and treatment
Lassa fever is asymptomatic in 80 percent of cases but for some, it can cause fever, physical fatigue, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, headaches, abdominal pains or sore throat. Swelling of the neck or face can sometimes be observed.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the antiviral drug ribavirin appears to be an effective treatment for Lassa fever "if given early on in the course of the clinical illness".
Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation with some 200 million people, has five laboratories with the capability to diagnose Lassa fever.
Previous outbreaks
The number of Lassa fever infections across West Africa every year is between 100,000 to 300,000, with about 5,000 deaths, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Last year, the disease claimed more than 160 lives in Nigeria.
In some areas of Sierra Leone and Liberia, 10 to 16 percent of the people admitted to hospitals annually have Lassa fever, according to the US CDC, demonstrating the serious impact the disease has on the region.
The number of cases usually climbs in January due to weather conditions during the dry season.
Al Jazeera
"As at 24th of January 2020, 195 confirmed cases and 29 deaths had been reported in 11 states," the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said in a statement on Saturday.
A national emergency operations centre had been activated to coordinate the response "to the increasing number of Lassa fever cases" across the country.
What is Lassa fever?
Lassa fever is a viral haemorrhagic fever. It belongs to the same family as the Ebola and Marburg viruses but is much less deadly.
The disease is endemic to the West African country and its name comes from the town of Lassa in northern Nigeria where it was first identified in 1969.
Previously, cases of the disease have been reported in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Togo and Benin - where it killed at least 9 people in 2016.
How is it spread?
The virus is transmitted to humans from contact with food or household items contaminated with rodent faeces or urine. The disease is endemic in the rodent population in parts of West Africa.
The virus, which has an incubation period of between six to 21 days, can also be transmitted through contact with an infected person via bodily fluids and excretions: blood, urine, saliva, sperm, vomit, faeces.
Symptoms and treatment
Lassa fever is asymptomatic in 80 percent of cases but for some, it can cause fever, physical fatigue, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, headaches, abdominal pains or sore throat. Swelling of the neck or face can sometimes be observed.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the antiviral drug ribavirin appears to be an effective treatment for Lassa fever "if given early on in the course of the clinical illness".
Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation with some 200 million people, has five laboratories with the capability to diagnose Lassa fever.
Previous outbreaks
The number of Lassa fever infections across West Africa every year is between 100,000 to 300,000, with about 5,000 deaths, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Last year, the disease claimed more than 160 lives in Nigeria.
In some areas of Sierra Leone and Liberia, 10 to 16 percent of the people admitted to hospitals annually have Lassa fever, according to the US CDC, demonstrating the serious impact the disease has on the region.
The number of cases usually climbs in January due to weather conditions during the dry season.
Al Jazeera
Friday, January 24, 2020
Nigeria charges ex-attorney general in court over $1.3 billion oil deal
Nigeria’s financial crime watchdog charged former attorney general Mohammed Adoke in court on Thursday for allegedly receiving bribes to facilitate a $1.3 billion oil deal, the agency said in a statement.
It is the latest development in one of the oil industry’s biggest corruption scandals, over the 2011 sale of the offshore oilfield known as OPL 245 by Malabu Oil and Gas.
A resulting investigation has entangled two of the sectors biggest players, Shell and Eni, as well as an array of powerful figures from the previous Nigerian government.
“Adoke is accused of using public office for gratification,” said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission statement, adding there were 42 charges against the former official.
Adoke was charged with receiving the U.S. dollar equivalent of 300 million naira ($980,550) in 2013 to facilitate the OPL 245 deal and help waive taxes for Shell and Eni, according to a charge sheet filed in an Abuja high court last week.
The former attorney general pleaded not guilty to all charges, according to the commission’s statement. Reuters was unable to reach Adoke or his lawyer for immediate comment.
The next hearing, for bail applications, will be Jan. 27, the statement said.
Shell’s and Eni’s local subsidiaries have also been charged with illegally assisting Adoke in waiving the taxes, according to last week’s charge sheet.
Malabu was owned by former petroleum minister Dan Etete.
Shell and Eni, and their executives, have denied any wrongdoing. Etete has also denied wrongdoing.
Reuters
It is the latest development in one of the oil industry’s biggest corruption scandals, over the 2011 sale of the offshore oilfield known as OPL 245 by Malabu Oil and Gas.
A resulting investigation has entangled two of the sectors biggest players, Shell and Eni, as well as an array of powerful figures from the previous Nigerian government.
“Adoke is accused of using public office for gratification,” said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission statement, adding there were 42 charges against the former official.
Adoke was charged with receiving the U.S. dollar equivalent of 300 million naira ($980,550) in 2013 to facilitate the OPL 245 deal and help waive taxes for Shell and Eni, according to a charge sheet filed in an Abuja high court last week.
The former attorney general pleaded not guilty to all charges, according to the commission’s statement. Reuters was unable to reach Adoke or his lawyer for immediate comment.
The next hearing, for bail applications, will be Jan. 27, the statement said.
Shell’s and Eni’s local subsidiaries have also been charged with illegally assisting Adoke in waiving the taxes, according to last week’s charge sheet.
Malabu was owned by former petroleum minister Dan Etete.
Shell and Eni, and their executives, have denied any wrongdoing. Etete has also denied wrongdoing.
Reuters
Thursday, January 23, 2020
Video - Nigeria's Odunayo Adekuoroye eyes wrestling medal in Japan
The Tokyo 2020 Olympics flame is burning within African sportsmen and women as they spend hours getting ready for the action. Nigeria's wrestling champion Odunayo Adeku-oroye is one of those determined to make it to Japan. CGTN's Kelechi Emekalam now reports on the former sprinter's Olympics mission.
Kanu Nwankwo loses daughter
Former Super Eagles player, Kanu Nwankwo Wednesday announced the death of one of the first beneficiaries of his heart foundation turned daughter, Enitan.
“Why why why one of Kanu heart foundation gone,” Kanu said on Twitter.
“My daughter gone gone gone I can’t believe this R I P Eniton God knows all.”
Kanu’s wife Amara Kanu on Instagram said the 21-year-old died of complications from malaria.
Enitan who was 2-year-old when she benefitted from the former Arsenal player’s foundation just completed her university education before moving to Nigeria.
Amara said she moved back to Lagos to work for the Kanuprior to her death.
“Enitan was just 2 years old when she had her open surgery done in London courtesy of the Kanu Heart Foundation,” Amara said on Instagram on Wednesday.
“She then became part of my family and 19 years later after completing her university studies, she came back to work with us in our Lagos office until she passed yesterday from some complications with malaria.”
Kanu started the Heart Foundation in 2000 after he survived a heart condition.
The foundation has “successfully helped 538 children” get open-heart surgeries in hospitals across the world and spent about $4.2 million.
The Guardian
Related story: Kanu to build cardiovascular hospital in Nigeria
“Why why why one of Kanu heart foundation gone,” Kanu said on Twitter.
“My daughter gone gone gone I can’t believe this R I P Eniton God knows all.”
Kanu’s wife Amara Kanu on Instagram said the 21-year-old died of complications from malaria.
Enitan who was 2-year-old when she benefitted from the former Arsenal player’s foundation just completed her university education before moving to Nigeria.
Amara said she moved back to Lagos to work for the Kanuprior to her death.
“Enitan was just 2 years old when she had her open surgery done in London courtesy of the Kanu Heart Foundation,” Amara said on Instagram on Wednesday.
“She then became part of my family and 19 years later after completing her university studies, she came back to work with us in our Lagos office until she passed yesterday from some complications with malaria.”
Kanu started the Heart Foundation in 2000 after he survived a heart condition.
The foundation has “successfully helped 538 children” get open-heart surgeries in hospitals across the world and spent about $4.2 million.
The Guardian
Related story: Kanu to build cardiovascular hospital in Nigeria
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