Nigeria pledges to meet 30 gigawatts energy target by 2030
As a means to achieving economic growth, Nigeria has pledged its determination to achieving the vision of 30 gigawatts of energy by the year 2030.
President Muhammadu Buhari made the pledge on Tuesday at a discussion panel on just energy transition at the ongoing U.S.-Africa Leaders’ Summit in Washington, USA.
Buhari took advantage of the opportunity to lay out his administration’s comprehensive Energy Transition Plan in response to climate change concerns.
According to him, as part of the National Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Policy, Nigeria set the vision 30:30:30, which aims at achieving 30 GW of electricity by 2030 with renewable energy contributing 30 percent of the energy mix.
“In 2021, Nigeria became the first African country to develop a detailed energy transition plan to tackle both energy poverty and climate change and deliver Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 7 by 2030 and net-zero by 2060.
“Our Federal Executive Council approved the plan earlier this year and adopted it as a national policy.” This is according to NAN.
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Osinbajo, wife grace 2022 Christmas concert at Aso Villa
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and his wife, Dolapo, attended the 2022 Christmas concert at the State House Banquet Hall in Abuja on Tuesday.
The yearly event, hosted by the vice president, had the theme “Messiah.”
Boss Mustapha, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, was in attendance, along with some members of the Federal Executive Council, members of the National Assembly, members of the judiciary, and traditional rulers.
The concert featured praise and worship, Bible readings, special prayers, congressional hymns, ministrations, and musical renditions, among others.
Pastor Seyi Malomo, chaplain at Aso Villa Chapel, offered a special prayer for Nigeria at the concert.
Malomo, among other supplications, asked God to forgive the sins of Nigerians and heal the nation socially, economically, and security-wise.
U.S. commits more than $55bn on health, climate change adaptation in Africa
Jake Sullivan, the White House national security adviser, said on Tuesday that the U.S. would commit more than $55 billion to support health and climate change adaptation in Africa.
Sullivan made this known on the sidelines of the U.S.-Africa summit in Washington, D.C.
According to him, the U.S. is genuinely committed, with no strings attached, to the progress of the continent.
The money will go to “a wide range of sectors to tackle the core challenges of our time” and is being distributed in close partnership with Congress, Sullivan said.
According to him, the bulk of the money will be spent on health and climate change adaptation, noting that the Biden-Harris administration will be providing nearly $20 billion in health programmes in the Africa region.
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried charged with fraud, denied bail
U.S. prosecutors accused Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of crypto currency exchange FTX, of fraud and violating campaign finance laws on Tuesday, and a judge in the Bahamas denied him bail, sending him to a local correctional facility instead.
The former FTX CEO, who was arrested in the Bahamas on Monday, lowered his head and hugged his parents after the magistrate judge refused bail, citing a “great” risk of flight.
He was ordered remanded to a correctional facility in the island nation until Feb. 8, where he will initially be held in the medical department, according to a local official.
The day’s events capped a stunning fall from grace in recent weeks for the 30-year-old, who amassed a fortune valued at over $20 billion as he rode a cryptocurrency boom to build FTX into one of the world’s largest exchanges before it abruptly collapsed this year. The company’s collapse pushed bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to lose more than 50 percent of their value.
In the wake of the FTX collapse, bitcoin crashed from $20,500 to trade at around $16,000. This is according to Reuters.
UK PM Rishi Sunak vows crackdown on illegal immigration
“Enough is enough,” were the words of Rishi Sunak, the British Prime Minister, over the troubling issue of illegal immigration in the United Kingdom.
Sunak said that the situation had signaled the need to introduce new legislation to prevent migrants who cross the English Channel from remaining in the country, as the government tries to control a surge in people arriving in small boats on its southern coast.
On Tuesday, the Prime Minister unveiled a new five-point plan to combat illegal immigration, a plan that includes the fast-tracking of the deportation of Albanian asylum seekers and clearing the initial backlog of almost 150,000 asylum cases by the end of next year by doubling the number of caseworkers.
“If you enter the UK illegally, you should not be able to remain here,” Sunak told parliament. “Instead, you will be detained and swiftly returned either to your home country or to a safe country where your asylum claim will be considered.”
“It is not cruel or unkind to want to break the stranglehold of criminal gangs that trade in human misery,” he said.
