ANTHONY JOSHUA has yet again shown his class by sending much-needed basics to Nigeria - while also paying tribute to the NHS heroes fighting coronavirus.
The world heavyweight boxing champion, 30, has sent boxes of much-needed supplies to Nigeria having been prevented from visiting in person, as planned, due to coronavirus.Joshua has also teamed-up with Under Armour to send 2,000 products to NHS workers at Watford General Hospital
And he has also sent Under Armour clothing to Watford General, where he was born, to help hospital workers through this tough time.
In a clip posted on social media, Joshua could be heard narrating over a video of people in Nigeria collecting their "free gift" packages from the British boxing star.
Joshua said: "It's 2019 and I'm visiting Nigeria. I was planning on teaming up with some of the local community leaders to contribute to some of their events.
"But due to the global pandemic these plans have come to a halt.
"During this crisis, we thought it would be best to put some basic necessities together for some of the people who may need it.
"So here's to Nigeria. One love, people. And I'll see you soon."
In the clip, the locals piled praise on Joshua - who recently revealed how his time in Nigeria changed him for the better - for his selfless deed.
WAT A MAN
And Joshua has also revealed he has teamed up with sporting goods giants Under Armour to send 2,000 of their products to Watford General, the hospital in which he was born.
Items include HeatGear T-shirts which feel cool, dry and light, as well as its Recovery sleepwear and tracksuits to help make staff feel more comfortable after working long shifts.
In a video on Instagram, Joshua said: "I was born in Watford General and those that know me, know that Watford will forever run through my veins.
"I saw that Under Armour have been doing some great things globally supporting key workers during this pandemic.
"So I teamed up with Under Armour to support something near and dear to my heart.
By Dave Fraser
The Sun
Thursday, April 30, 2020
Wednesday, April 29, 2020
Video - Nigeria to gradually ease lockdown restrictions
Nigeria’s president said the country will begin a gradual easing of lockdown restrictions to curtail the spread of the coronavirus in the capital, Lagos, Abuja and Ogun States May 4. In a national broadcast late Monday, Muhammadu Buhari said he made the decision after reviewing the more than a four-week lockdown to allow the country's economy to operate and still keep a steady response in containing the virus.
Tuesday, April 28, 2020
What is behind Nigeria's unexplained deaths in Kano?
The Nigerian president has expressed deep concern over a high number of unexplained deaths in the northern state of Kano, amid fears they could be caused by Covid-19.
President Muhammadu Buhari said a lockdown would be imposed in Kano for an additional two weeks, and that he was sending a government team to investigate.
Nigeria's Health Minister Dr Osagie Ehanire says the situation is being "monitored closely".
But following preliminary investigations the state authorities have dismissed a connection with coronavirus.
Hundreds of people are rumoured to have died in the community but no official death records are kept.
Grave diggers initially raised concerns that they were burying a higher than usual number of bodies.
Ali, a grave digger at the Abattoir Graveyard, told the BBC: "We have never seen this, since the major cholera outbreak that our parents tell us about. That was about 60 years ago."
This week, the state governor issued a statement saying the "mysterious deaths" were unrelated to coronavirus.
But after ordering a "thorough investigation into the immediate and remote causes of the deaths", announced that their preliminary findings "indicated that the deaths are not connected to the Covid-19 pandemic".
The state government said "reports from the state ministry of health has shown that most of the deaths were caused by complications arising from hypertension, diabetes, meningitis and acute malaria".
"Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje is earnestly waiting for the final report from the state ministry of health so as to take the necessary action."
The commercial and industrial centre of the north, Kano has become the epicentre of coronavirus in northern Nigeria. Its highly dense population is still in lockdown in an effort to contain the spread of the virus.
Don't tests show the cause of death?
State officials started testing for Covid-19 two weeks ago and one lab has had to close due to contamination. Samples are being sent to the capital, Abuja, which authorities say is causing a delay in announcing how many positive cases have been detected in the state.
Dr Sani Aliyu, who is the national co-ordinator for the presidential task force on Covid-19, says a team of five medical experts were deployed to Kano to facilitate in reopening the testing centre this week after it was fumigated.
Officials also plan to open a second lab, at Bayero University, for testing for Covid-19 from next week.
How many people have died?
It is unclear how many people have died, as the deaths causing concern are happening in the community. Deaths in many parts of Nigeria are not registered, and so for those who died outside of hospital, no records are kept.
This makes it difficult to understand how many people have died in recent weeks.
Sabitu Shaibu, the deputy head of the state task force on Covid-19, is hoping to release preliminary findings of the investigation by next week but believes that most of the rumoured 640 deaths are from natural causes and says the figure is below the average death rate for Kano.
Hospital records which provide the only death register available are thought to provide lower numbers than the real picture across the state.
Those on the investigating taskforce say they will conduct "verbal autopsies" with family members to help establish why people are dying.
If not coronavirus, what else could be going on?
Private hospitals which provide for a significant part of health provision in the region have been closed due to coronavirus fears. This could mean a lack of support for those with existing conditions who may have died as a result.
Dr Nagoma Sadiq who works at the Aminu Kano Hospital, thinks this could be behind the additional deaths, but he is also not ruling out coronavirus.
"It's shocking to most of us that the count of the dead is alarming. But it's likely due to the reduction in the number of health institutions available in the state.
"Because there are a lot of hypertensive patients, diabetic patients, asthmatic patients, cancer patients, and they don't have much access to the hospitals. The lockdown is affecting everybody.
"Our poor majority don't even have a vehicle to take them to the hospitals."
Grave digger Ali agrees, adding "some say the current situation is due to the epidemic, others say it's difficulties of life. People have so many problems in their lives and a lack of peace of mind."
However Covid-19 is known to be more dangerous for those with underlying health conditions, so it could be that the deaths are related to coronavirus. The only way to know for sure is to test for coronavirus.
Dr Sadiq also said that there was still a concern about an ongoing Lassa fever infection amongst communities. The state has had five confirmed cases and one death, according to the most recent report from the Nigerian Centre For Disease Control.
Kano currently has 77 positive cases of coronavirus with three deaths.
Authorities are urging the public not to panic.
By Chi Chi Izundu
BBC
President Muhammadu Buhari said a lockdown would be imposed in Kano for an additional two weeks, and that he was sending a government team to investigate.
Nigeria's Health Minister Dr Osagie Ehanire says the situation is being "monitored closely".
But following preliminary investigations the state authorities have dismissed a connection with coronavirus.
Hundreds of people are rumoured to have died in the community but no official death records are kept.
Grave diggers initially raised concerns that they were burying a higher than usual number of bodies.
Ali, a grave digger at the Abattoir Graveyard, told the BBC: "We have never seen this, since the major cholera outbreak that our parents tell us about. That was about 60 years ago."
This week, the state governor issued a statement saying the "mysterious deaths" were unrelated to coronavirus.
But after ordering a "thorough investigation into the immediate and remote causes of the deaths", announced that their preliminary findings "indicated that the deaths are not connected to the Covid-19 pandemic".
The state government said "reports from the state ministry of health has shown that most of the deaths were caused by complications arising from hypertension, diabetes, meningitis and acute malaria".
"Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje is earnestly waiting for the final report from the state ministry of health so as to take the necessary action."
The commercial and industrial centre of the north, Kano has become the epicentre of coronavirus in northern Nigeria. Its highly dense population is still in lockdown in an effort to contain the spread of the virus.
Don't tests show the cause of death?
State officials started testing for Covid-19 two weeks ago and one lab has had to close due to contamination. Samples are being sent to the capital, Abuja, which authorities say is causing a delay in announcing how many positive cases have been detected in the state.
Dr Sani Aliyu, who is the national co-ordinator for the presidential task force on Covid-19, says a team of five medical experts were deployed to Kano to facilitate in reopening the testing centre this week after it was fumigated.
Officials also plan to open a second lab, at Bayero University, for testing for Covid-19 from next week.
How many people have died?
It is unclear how many people have died, as the deaths causing concern are happening in the community. Deaths in many parts of Nigeria are not registered, and so for those who died outside of hospital, no records are kept.
This makes it difficult to understand how many people have died in recent weeks.
Sabitu Shaibu, the deputy head of the state task force on Covid-19, is hoping to release preliminary findings of the investigation by next week but believes that most of the rumoured 640 deaths are from natural causes and says the figure is below the average death rate for Kano.
Hospital records which provide the only death register available are thought to provide lower numbers than the real picture across the state.
Those on the investigating taskforce say they will conduct "verbal autopsies" with family members to help establish why people are dying.
If not coronavirus, what else could be going on?
Private hospitals which provide for a significant part of health provision in the region have been closed due to coronavirus fears. This could mean a lack of support for those with existing conditions who may have died as a result.
Dr Nagoma Sadiq who works at the Aminu Kano Hospital, thinks this could be behind the additional deaths, but he is also not ruling out coronavirus.
"It's shocking to most of us that the count of the dead is alarming. But it's likely due to the reduction in the number of health institutions available in the state.
"Because there are a lot of hypertensive patients, diabetic patients, asthmatic patients, cancer patients, and they don't have much access to the hospitals. The lockdown is affecting everybody.
"Our poor majority don't even have a vehicle to take them to the hospitals."
Grave digger Ali agrees, adding "some say the current situation is due to the epidemic, others say it's difficulties of life. People have so many problems in their lives and a lack of peace of mind."
However Covid-19 is known to be more dangerous for those with underlying health conditions, so it could be that the deaths are related to coronavirus. The only way to know for sure is to test for coronavirus.
Dr Sadiq also said that there was still a concern about an ongoing Lassa fever infection amongst communities. The state has had five confirmed cases and one death, according to the most recent report from the Nigerian Centre For Disease Control.
Kano currently has 77 positive cases of coronavirus with three deaths.
Authorities are urging the public not to panic.
By Chi Chi Izundu
BBC
Nigeria to ease Abuja and Lagos lockdowns on May 4th
Nigeria will begin a "gradual easing" of coronavirus-related lockdowns for millions of people in its largest city Lagos and the capital, Abuja.
President Muhammadu Buhari said the lockdowns, which had been due to end on Monday, needed to continue until 4 May.
He also ordered new nationwide measures against Covid-19, including a night-time curfew and mandatory face masks.
The moves would ensure the economy functioned "while still maintaining our aggressive response", Mr Buhari said.
The easing will apply to Abuja, Lagos and neighbouring Ogun state, where collectively more than 25 million people have been under lockdown since 30 March. Other states have introduced their own measures.
Before the announcement, workers at a construction site in Lagos rioted in protest at the lockdown.
A police spokesman said the workers at the Lekki Free Trade zone - including those at the oil refinery of billionaire Aliko Dangote - injured several officers in the area. Fifty-one people were arrested, he added.
There are reports that the protesters were angry that some foreign nationals were allowed to go to work at the site.
Nigeria, Africa's most-populous nation and largest economy, has reported 1,273 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 40 deaths.
In a televised address on Monday night, Mr Buhari acknowledged that the lockdowns in Abuja, Lagos and Ogun had "come at a very heavy economic cost" since they began on 30 March.
"Many of our citizens have lost their means of livelihood. Many businesses have shut down," he said.
He added: "No country can afford the full impact of a sustained lockdown while awaiting the development of vaccines."
The president said there would therefore be a "phased and gradual easing" of these lockdowns next Monday to allow some economic activities to resume.
But to limit the spread of Covid-19, he announced that the government would impose a curfew across the country between 20:00 and 06:00, require everyone to wear face masks in public, and stop "non-essential inter-state passenger travel".
Bans on social and religious gatherings will also remain in place.
Mr Buhari also expressed deep concern over the unexplained deaths of a number of people in the northern state of Kano.
He said a lockdown would be imposed there for two weeks with immediate effect and that he was sending a government team to investigate.
BBC
President Muhammadu Buhari said the lockdowns, which had been due to end on Monday, needed to continue until 4 May.
He also ordered new nationwide measures against Covid-19, including a night-time curfew and mandatory face masks.
The moves would ensure the economy functioned "while still maintaining our aggressive response", Mr Buhari said.
The easing will apply to Abuja, Lagos and neighbouring Ogun state, where collectively more than 25 million people have been under lockdown since 30 March. Other states have introduced their own measures.
Before the announcement, workers at a construction site in Lagos rioted in protest at the lockdown.
A police spokesman said the workers at the Lekki Free Trade zone - including those at the oil refinery of billionaire Aliko Dangote - injured several officers in the area. Fifty-one people were arrested, he added.
There are reports that the protesters were angry that some foreign nationals were allowed to go to work at the site.
Nigeria, Africa's most-populous nation and largest economy, has reported 1,273 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 40 deaths.
In a televised address on Monday night, Mr Buhari acknowledged that the lockdowns in Abuja, Lagos and Ogun had "come at a very heavy economic cost" since they began on 30 March.
"Many of our citizens have lost their means of livelihood. Many businesses have shut down," he said.
He added: "No country can afford the full impact of a sustained lockdown while awaiting the development of vaccines."
The president said there would therefore be a "phased and gradual easing" of these lockdowns next Monday to allow some economic activities to resume.
But to limit the spread of Covid-19, he announced that the government would impose a curfew across the country between 20:00 and 06:00, require everyone to wear face masks in public, and stop "non-essential inter-state passenger travel".
Bans on social and religious gatherings will also remain in place.
Mr Buhari also expressed deep concern over the unexplained deaths of a number of people in the northern state of Kano.
He said a lockdown would be imposed there for two weeks with immediate effect and that he was sending a government team to investigate.
BBC
Monday, April 27, 2020
Nigeria's Okraraises $1M from TLcom connecting bank accounts to apps
A new Nigerian fintech venture, Okra, has racked up a unique mix of accomplishments in less than a year.
The Lagos based API developer created a product that generates revenues from both payment startups and established financial institutions.
Okra has raised $1 million in pre-seed funding from TLcom Capital — a $71 million Africa focused VC firm that rarely invests in early-stage companies or fintech.
The startup is also poised to enter new markets and it’s hiring.
Founded in June 2019 by Nigerians Fara Ashiru Jituboh and David Peterside, Okra casts itself as a motherboard for the continent’s 21st century financial system.
“We’re building a super-connector API that…allows individuals to connect their bank accounts directly to third party applications. And that’s their African bank accounts starting in the largest market in Africa, Nigeria,” said Ashiru Jituboh.
As a sector, fintech has become the continent’s highest funded tech space, receiving the bulk of an estimated $2 billion in VC that went to African startups in 2019. Those ventures, and a number of the continent’s established banks, are in a race to build market share through financial inclusion.
By several estimates — including The Global Findex Database — the continent is home to the largest percentage of the world’s unbanked population, with a sizable number of underbanked consumers and SMEs.
With 54 countries, 1.2 billion people and thousands of relatively young startups, there are a lot of moving parts in Africa’s fintech space. Similar to U.S. company Plaid, Okra is shaping a platform that connects accounts and financial data to banking apps into a revenue generating product.
With Africa’s largest population of 200 million people, Nigeria serves as a major financial hub — but there’s still a disconnect between fintech apps and banks, according to Okra’s Ashiru Jituboh.
“Here in this market there’s no way to directly connect your bank account through an API or directly to an application,” she said.
Okra offers several paid packages for those types of integrations and opens up the code to its five product categories — authorization, balance, transactions, identity and accounts — to developers.
Okra has already created a diverse client list that includes mobile payments startup PalmPay, insurer Axa Mansard and Nigerian digital lender Renmoney.
The startup generates revenues through product fees and earns each time a user connects a bank account to a customer, according to Ashiru Jituboh.
On how the Okra differs from other well-funded fintech companies in Nigeria, such as Flutterwave or Interswitch, “The answer is we’re not doing payments, but what we’re doing is making processes with [payment providers] even smoother,” she said.
Ashiru Jituboh comes to her CEO position with a software engineering background and a strong connection to the U.S. Born in Nigeria, she grew up in and studied computer science in North Carolina.
She did stints in finance — JP Morgan Chase and Fidelity Investments — and then in tech companies before making the leap to founder. “I went to work in startups, but I was always employee number two or three,” said Ashiru Jituboh.
She decided to go all in on Okra after returning to Nigeria and noting the need for linking together the country’s emerging digital financial infrastructure.
“When we knew that it was a big addressable market is when we realized that all these fintech CEOs and CTOs were struggling with this use case,” she said.
Shortly after its launch, Okra attracted the attention of TLcom Capital in second quarter 2019, according to VC Andreata Muforo.
With offices in London, Lagos, and Nairobi, the group closed its $71 million Tide Africa fund this year. TLcom has focused primarily on Series A and later investments, including backing Kenyan agtech startup Twiga Foods and Nigerian trucking logistics company Kobo360.
In an interview last year, the fund’s managing partner, Maurizio Caio, explained that TLcom was steering more toward investments in infrastructure oriented tech companies and away from Africa’s more commoditized payments and lending startups.
The VC firm was attracted to Okra for its ability to serve the continent’s broader financial sector. “It’s a service that other fintechs can plug into and utilize, so it’s accelerating the growth of fintech across the continent…That to us was a big hook,” TLcom’s Andreata Muforo told TechCrunch on a call.
Founder Fara Ashiru Jituboh was also a factor in the fund making a $1 million pre-seed investment in Okra. “We found her to be very strong and also liked the fact that she’s a technical founder,” said Muforo. As part of the investments, she and TLcom Capital partner Ido Sum will join Okra’s board.
In addition to hiring fresh engineering talent, the startup aims to take its product offerings that connect bank accounts to apps to new African countries — though it would not disclose where or when.
“We’re looking at three target markets that our clients are already in,” said Ashiru Jituboh. Okra investor Andreata Muforo named Kenya — with one of the highest mobile money penetration rates in the world — as a likely candidate for the startup’s product services.
By Jake Bright
TechCrunch
Related stories: Video - Nigerian returns bitcoins worth $80,000
Bitcoin used in Nigeria to hedge against national currency
The Lagos based API developer created a product that generates revenues from both payment startups and established financial institutions.
Okra has raised $1 million in pre-seed funding from TLcom Capital — a $71 million Africa focused VC firm that rarely invests in early-stage companies or fintech.
The startup is also poised to enter new markets and it’s hiring.
Founded in June 2019 by Nigerians Fara Ashiru Jituboh and David Peterside, Okra casts itself as a motherboard for the continent’s 21st century financial system.
“We’re building a super-connector API that…allows individuals to connect their bank accounts directly to third party applications. And that’s their African bank accounts starting in the largest market in Africa, Nigeria,” said Ashiru Jituboh.
As a sector, fintech has become the continent’s highest funded tech space, receiving the bulk of an estimated $2 billion in VC that went to African startups in 2019. Those ventures, and a number of the continent’s established banks, are in a race to build market share through financial inclusion.
By several estimates — including The Global Findex Database — the continent is home to the largest percentage of the world’s unbanked population, with a sizable number of underbanked consumers and SMEs.
With 54 countries, 1.2 billion people and thousands of relatively young startups, there are a lot of moving parts in Africa’s fintech space. Similar to U.S. company Plaid, Okra is shaping a platform that connects accounts and financial data to banking apps into a revenue generating product.
With Africa’s largest population of 200 million people, Nigeria serves as a major financial hub — but there’s still a disconnect between fintech apps and banks, according to Okra’s Ashiru Jituboh.
“Here in this market there’s no way to directly connect your bank account through an API or directly to an application,” she said.
Okra offers several paid packages for those types of integrations and opens up the code to its five product categories — authorization, balance, transactions, identity and accounts — to developers.
Okra has already created a diverse client list that includes mobile payments startup PalmPay, insurer Axa Mansard and Nigerian digital lender Renmoney.
The startup generates revenues through product fees and earns each time a user connects a bank account to a customer, according to Ashiru Jituboh.
On how the Okra differs from other well-funded fintech companies in Nigeria, such as Flutterwave or Interswitch, “The answer is we’re not doing payments, but what we’re doing is making processes with [payment providers] even smoother,” she said.
Ashiru Jituboh comes to her CEO position with a software engineering background and a strong connection to the U.S. Born in Nigeria, she grew up in and studied computer science in North Carolina.
She did stints in finance — JP Morgan Chase and Fidelity Investments — and then in tech companies before making the leap to founder. “I went to work in startups, but I was always employee number two or three,” said Ashiru Jituboh.
She decided to go all in on Okra after returning to Nigeria and noting the need for linking together the country’s emerging digital financial infrastructure.
“When we knew that it was a big addressable market is when we realized that all these fintech CEOs and CTOs were struggling with this use case,” she said.
Shortly after its launch, Okra attracted the attention of TLcom Capital in second quarter 2019, according to VC Andreata Muforo.
With offices in London, Lagos, and Nairobi, the group closed its $71 million Tide Africa fund this year. TLcom has focused primarily on Series A and later investments, including backing Kenyan agtech startup Twiga Foods and Nigerian trucking logistics company Kobo360.
In an interview last year, the fund’s managing partner, Maurizio Caio, explained that TLcom was steering more toward investments in infrastructure oriented tech companies and away from Africa’s more commoditized payments and lending startups.
The VC firm was attracted to Okra for its ability to serve the continent’s broader financial sector. “It’s a service that other fintechs can plug into and utilize, so it’s accelerating the growth of fintech across the continent…That to us was a big hook,” TLcom’s Andreata Muforo told TechCrunch on a call.
Founder Fara Ashiru Jituboh was also a factor in the fund making a $1 million pre-seed investment in Okra. “We found her to be very strong and also liked the fact that she’s a technical founder,” said Muforo. As part of the investments, she and TLcom Capital partner Ido Sum will join Okra’s board.
In addition to hiring fresh engineering talent, the startup aims to take its product offerings that connect bank accounts to apps to new African countries — though it would not disclose where or when.
“We’re looking at three target markets that our clients are already in,” said Ashiru Jituboh. Okra investor Andreata Muforo named Kenya — with one of the highest mobile money penetration rates in the world — as a likely candidate for the startup’s product services.
By Jake Bright
TechCrunch
Related stories: Video - Nigerian returns bitcoins worth $80,000
Bitcoin used in Nigeria to hedge against national currency
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