Video - International airlines struggle to repatriate $800 million from Nigeria

The International Air Transport Association says the amount of trapped funds belonging to foreign airlines operating in Nigeria to repatriate is close to 800 million U.S. dollars. Nigeria is facing a severe shortage of foreign currency, and the issue makes it difficult for airlines to convert local currency to repatriate revenues earned from ticket sales.

CGTN

Direct flights from Italy to Nigeria in the works

The Italian government will soon launch direct flights from Italy to Nigeria, its Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Stefano De Leo, has said.

“We plan to open an Italian trade agency in Lagos and, hopefully, soon launch direct flights between Italy and Nigeria,” De Leo said.

The Italian envoy said this moments after signing a working agreement with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on behalf of the Italian news agency, Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata (ANSA) in Abuja.

The ambassador said the direct flights from Italy to Nigeria would boost the economic ties between the two countries.

De Leo added that the flights would lay the conditions for opening up other opportunities that would be mutually beneficial to both Italy and Nigeria in the near future.

“We are working closely with my colleague, the Ambassador of Nigeria to Italy, Mr Mfawa Abam. Today is a positive day because it signifies an important step towards improving the already excellent relations between both countries,” the envoy said.

The envoy said that the working agreement signed between NAN and ANSA would see the two news agencies sharing information and knowledge.

According to him, the agreement will also see ANSA providing training to NAN’s newsroom manpower.

He described the agreement as a major development, especially in view of the fact that it involves “a partner such as Nigeria, the giant of Africa”.

Responding, the Managing Director of NAN, Buki Ponle, described the agreement as a step in the right direction as it would unveil great possibilities for news exchange between both agencies.

Ponle added that NAN is the country’s largest content provider and national purveyor of information, with 36 state offices and 26 district offices.

He said that the news agency’s focus was Nigeria, with Africa as the centerpiece of its reportage.

“The signing of the news exchange agreement with ANSA marks another defining phase in our continued engagements with like-minded institutions.

“It is my hope and belief that this landmark event will signal the beginning of a sustainable and mutually beneficial relationship.

“To leverage its octopoidal reach, NAN has news exchange partnerships with leading international wire agencies such as Reuters (UK); Deutsch Presse-Agentur (Germany); Xinhua (China); and Sputnik (Russia).

“Others are Yonhap (South Korea); Asian News International (India); Anadolu (Turkey); and Bulgaria News Agency (Bulgaria).

“This is just a chip of the global experiences we are bringing into the partnership agreement with ANSA aimed at fostering a new and positive order in global reportage,” he said.

NAN reports that the managing director of NAN signed the agreement for NAN while the Italian ambassador signed on behalf of ANSA at the NAN headquarters in Abuja.

Vanguard

Video - At least 33 people killed in Nigeria’s Kaduna state

Authorities in Nigeria’s Kaduna state are under pressure from locals to clamp down on rising insecurity following the killings of at least 33 people in Runji village. Investigations by military authorities are underway to establish the motive behind the incident.

Regulators in Nigeria Grant Approval to Oxford's Malaria Vaccine

Nigeria has granted provisional approval to Oxford University's R21 malaria vaccine, its medicines regulator said Monday, making it the second country to do so after Ghana last week.

The approvals are unusual as they have come before the publication of final-stage trial data for the vaccine.

"A provisional approval of the R21 Malaria Vaccine was recommended, and this shall be done in line with the WHO's Malaria Vaccine Implementation Guideline," Nigeria's National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) said.

Malaria, a mosquito-borne disease, kills more than 600,000 people each year, most of them African babies and children.

Nigeria, the continent's most populous nation, is the world's worst-affected country with 27% of global cases and 32% of global deaths, according to a 2021 World Health Organization (WHO) report.

It was unclear when the R21 vaccine may be rolled out in Nigeria or Ghana as other regulatory bodies, including the WHO, are still assessing its safety and effectiveness.

Childhood vaccines in the poorest parts of Africa are typically co-funded by international organizations such as Gavi, the vaccine alliance, only after getting WHO approval.

"While granting the approval, the Agency has also communicated the need for expansion of the clinical trial conducted to include a phase 4 clinical trial/Pharmacovigilance study to be carried out in Nigeria," NAFDAC's director-general, Mojisola Christianah Adeyeye, said in a statement.

Mid-stage data from the R21 trial involving more than 400 young children were published in September, showing vaccine efficacy of 70% to 80% at 12 months following the fourth dose.

Data from an ongoing phase 3 clinical trial involving 4,800 children in Burkina Faso, Kenya, Mali and Tanzania are due to be published in the coming months.

Oxford has a deal with the Serum Institute of India to produce up to 200 million doses of R21 annually.

The first malaria vaccine, Mosquirix from British drugmaker GSK GSK.L, was endorsed by the WHO last year, but a lack of funding is thwarting GSK's capacity to produce enough doses.

By MacDonald Dzirutwe, Reuters

Related story: FG taking steps to end Nigeria’s reign as top malaria hob

 

Flights disrupted in Nigeria due to strike by aviation workers strike over pay

Domestic flights in Nigeria were being disrupted on Monday, local airlines said, as aviation employees in Lagos blocked roads to the country's busiest local airport to begin a two-day strike in protest over working conditions and wages.

The strike is likely to add to problems in a sector that regularly faces jet fuel shortages, which often ground local flights and where international carriers struggle to repatriate revenue from ticket sales due to dollar shortages.

Air Peace, which also flies international and regional routes and has the largest fleet, told passengers that "flights across our network will consequently be disrupted" due to the strike. It did not say how many flights were delayed or cancelled.

United Nigeria said passengers in and out of the commercial capital of Lagos would be disrupted but hoped for a quick resolution to the impasse.

In Lagos, chanting workers blocked roads to the domestic terminal, creating a traffic jam and forcing passengers to finish their journey on foot. International flights were not affected.

Police and army personnel watched from a distance.

Lagos handles dozens of local flights daily.

"It is time for us to release aviation workers from the bondage of this imperialist aviation management that we have been having for years," Abdulrasaq Saidu, secretary general of the Association of Nigerian Aviation Professionals, said.

The Ministry of Aviation said it was trying to meet the workers' demands and urged them to return to work, adding the strike would "affect flight schedules, lead to economic losses and negatively impact on our rating globally."

Unions for pilots, engineers, control tower operators and other airport workers say they are protesting against unpaid wages, government failure to implement an industry minimum wage and plans to demolish the Lagos offices of some aviation agencies to allow for expansion of the airport.

The workers have threatened an indefinite strike later this month if their grievances are not addressed. 

By Seun Sanni and MacDonald Dzirutwe, Reuters

Related story: Nigeria To Fine Airlines That Don't Sell Tickets In Local Currency