In this week's edition of Disruptors, a group of Nigerian students are deploying new innovations to tackle environmental degradation. They collect waste, recycle it into cooking fuel briquettes, and sell the product to local communities. Not only is the solution keeping the environment clean but it's also improving the economic status of the innovators and their community.
Tuesday, July 11, 2023
Video - Smart bins to tackling environmental degradation in Nigeria
Vessel with stolen crude intercepted in Nigeria
Nigeria's state-owned oil firm NNPC Ltd said on Monday an 800,000-litre (211,338-U.S. gallon) vessel carrying stolen crude had been intercepted offshore while heading to Cameroon and would be destroyed as a deterrent to oil theft.
Crude theft from pipelines and wells in the Niger Delta has hobbled the country's output in recent years and is one of the biggest challenges to confront new President Bola Tinubu.
NNPC said the oil was stolen from a well in south western Ondo state. The MT Tura II vessel was owned by locally registered Holab Maritime Services Limited and had no valid documentation for the oil, the company said.
Holab could not be reached for comment on numbers listed on its website.
"Destroying vessels involved in transporting stolen crude oil is of paramount importance as a strong deterrent," NNPC said.
NNPC circulated a video showing the vessel surrounded by armed Nigerian security agents.
Reporting By MacDonald Dzirutwe, Reuters
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Monday, July 10, 2023
Video - Forex reserves drop by $2.9 billion in first half of 2023 in Nigeria
Experts say the decline in Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserve levels was expected as Nigeria’s import consumption far outweighs its production and exports.
Video - Nigeria confirms diphtheria outbreak
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) confirmed 798 cases of diphtheria in Nigeria since December 2022.
President Bola Tinubu elected chairman of ECOWAS
Speaking at a summit in Bissau after being named chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Tinubu said democracy was "the best form of government", despite being "very tough to manage".
"We need it, to be an example to the rest of Africa and the world," he said. "We will not allow coup after coup in West Africa."
Three ECOWAS members – Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso – have undergone five putsches since 2020.
Omar Alieu Touray, president of the ECOWAS commission, urged those countries' ruling juntas to respect agreed-upon deadlines to hand power to civilian leaders.
"In the event of a failure to meet the transition deadlines, major sanctions could be imposed," he said.
The West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) on Saturday agreed to lift a suspension of Mali imposed in January 2022 over the military's timeline for returning to civilian rule.
ECOWAS had also imposed a range of measures against the Sahel state, but lifted them in July 2022 after the junta agreed to a March 2024 transition.
On Sunday, Touray said ECOWAS had set up a commission to examine security options in Mali as the UN winds down its decade-long peacekeeping mission there.
"This commission has 90 days to reflect and make proposals," he said.
Mali has since 2012 been battling a jihadist insurgency that has since spread to Burkina Faso and Niger.
Tinubu – who was in May sworn in as president of Africa's largest economy – said ECOWAS members would pursue "inclusive" economic integration in the year ahead.
"We should serve a warning to exploiters that our people have suffered enough," he said on Sunday.
"I am with you – and Nigeria, we are back."
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