News Roundup: What methanol is and how it affects fuel, cars, Afrobeats finally gets its groove on…

Nigerian children are no longer dying from lead poisoning – MSF
Almost 12 years after environmental contamination began causing the death of hundreds of children in Zamfara in northern Nigeria, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has handed over its lead poisoning project to state authorities, as children are no longer dying of lead poisoning in the area. In March 2010, MSF received an alert about a high number of child fatalities in Zamfara State, where more than 400 children died within just six months in several villages. Laboratory tests later confirmed high levels of lead in the blood of survivors. The root cause of the poisoning was environmental contamination through unsafe, artisanal mining activities in the area, where gold deposits contain an unusually high concentration of lead. Lead can cause severe brain damage and death in children.

What methanol is and how it affects fuel, cars
Nigerian fuel retailer, MRS Oil Nigeria, announced on Wednesday that the petrol it received from Litasco, the Swiss trading arm of Russia’s Lukoil, was substandard. MRS said it received the oil through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) at the end of January and 37,000 tonnes were delivered to multiple retailers in the country.
The company explained that after delivery into the tank, it was observed that the product appeared hazy and dark. Analysis of the petroleum product revealed that the PMS discharged by MT Nord Gainer had 20 percent methanol. Like all transportation fuels, methanol is toxic and should not be ingested. Car engines can actually be destroyed if the ethanol content in the fuel used is too high.

CBN introduces new scheme to improve dollar supply
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Thursday announced a new scheme to improve dollar supply, known as Bankers’ Committee “RT200 FX Programme”, which stands for the “Race to $200 billion in FX Repatriation.” “The RT200 FX Programme is a set of policies, plans and programmes for non-oil exports that will enable us attain our lofty yet attainable goal of US$200 billion in FX repatriation, exclusively from non-oil exports, over the next 3-5 years,” he said.

Read also: NNPC, marketers trade blames over dirty petrol

Insecurity leaves more than a million cut off from aid in Nigeria
The United Nations in Nigeria said more than $1 billion is needed to help millions of people in the country’s troubled northeast. The U.N. said a million of those people are living in areas that are cut off due to insecurity. Nigeria has been closing northeastern camps for internally displaced people and urging them to return home, despite ongoing threats from Islamist militants. U.N. Nigeria humanitarian coordinator Matthias Schmale said $1.1 billion is needed to reach some five and a half million people who are in need of aid in the northeast this year. The U.N. official said over 2.2 million people remain displaced due to recurring attacks in the region and that one million are in areas designated as “hard to reach” or inaccessible to aid workers.

Afrobeats finally gets its groove on
Nigerian singer Tems croons on Afrobeats star Wizkid’s 2021 summer hit, “Essence” was viewed over 67 million times on YouTube, and millions more times when counting remixes on TikTok and Instagram but not long ago, this kind of global success for an Afrobeats song would have raised eyebrows. Analysts have sought to correlate the increased interest in Afrobeats with growing, upwardly mobile West African diaspora populations in major music markets. The advent of social media and streaming was a game-changer for Nigerian artists. With local and foreign streaming services, including Spotify and Apple Music, recently expanding operations in Africa, artists and DJs can tap into other markets.

Africa on track to control Covid-19 pandemic in 2022 – WHO
Almost two years after Africa identified its first case of Covid-19, the continent is on track to end the disruption and destruction caused by the pandemic in 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said. Since the start of the pandemic, Africa’s capacity to manage Covid-19 cases has gradually improved, with the increased availability of trained health workers, oxygen and other medical supplies. However, despite the improvements, oxygen availability remains a concern, and a large majority of patients who require oxygen as part of their clinical treatment plan are unable to access it, according to the WHO. As of February 10, 2022, confirmed cases of Covid-19 from 55 African countries reached 11,028,833 while over 220,617,343 vaccinations have been administered across the continent.