Adesina urges support for Africa Pharmaceutical Foundation
Akinwunmi Adesina, African Development Bank (AfDB) Group President, has called on critical stakeholders on the continent to support the bank’s Africa Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation (APTF).
Adesina made the call during a side event of the bank’s 2023 Annual Meetings in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, on Monday.
He said the foundation was an initiative of the bank to provide the needed support to the pharmaceutical sector on the continent to develop local capacity in the production of medicines and vaccines, especially during pandemics.
According to him, the lack of capacity to manufacture basic pharmaceutical drugs and vaccines puts the health security of the continent at risk.
Read also: Global warming: AfDB to help private investors increase contribution to climate finance
Nigeria gets 30% of Africa’s foreign direct investment – NITDA
Kashifu Inuwa, Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), said on Monday that Nigeria gets almost 30 percent of Africa’s Foreign Direct Investment.
Inuwa gave this revelation at the Leaders Without Borders Annual Business Summit and International Honours 2023 in London with the theme “Business Beyond Borders, Global Partnerships, and Sustainable Investments”, a global event that brings together business leaders, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders from around the world to promote collaboration and innovation in the business world.
He also said that the ICT ecosphere contributed about 18 percent to the country’s GDP, attracting more than $4 billion in investment in a three-year period spanning 2015, 2019, and 2020, respectively.
Gas, petroleum, diesel operators get shutdown notice
Farouk Ahmed, Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), said that the agency has given operators of gas, petroleum, and diesel nine days within which to obtain their operating licences or face the shutdown of their operations.
Ahmed said this in Abuja on Monday at a stakeholder engagement on gas utilisation in Nigeria.
He said that the government was forced to take this step in order to enforce a compliance culture that would guarantee a safer and more sustainable environment for operations.
“It is in this regard that the Federal Government has put in place various initiatives and policy frameworks, including the National Gas Expansion Programme (NGEP) and the Decade of Gas Programme (DOGP).
“It is, therefore, our hope that this engagement will create the necessary arrangement and make the compelling case for industry operators to foster a compliance culture that guarantees safer and more sustainable facilities,” he said.
Stakeholders criticise NAMA MD’s removal
Aviation stakeholders and operators under the auspices of the Aviation Round Table condemned Hadi Sirika, the aviation minister, on Monday for the last-minute changes in the aviation sector. One of the changes includes the dismissal of the Acting Managing Director of Nigerian Airspace Management (NAMA), Matthew Pwajok, as a last-minute shake-up in the sector.
The minister has reportedly appointed Tayib Odunowo, the Director of Airspace and Aerodrome at the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, as Pwajok’s replacement, according to people familiar with the matter.
His dismissal comes barely a week after the minister replaced Captain Rabiu Yadudu, the Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, whose tenure expired last weekend.
The Aviation Round Table had criticised the minister for not confirming the dismissed NAMA MD, Pwajok, insisting that the last-minute change was condemnable and unwarranted.
Biden, McCarthy meeting ends with no deal on debt ceiling
President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy could not reach an agreement Monday on how to raise the U.S. government’s $31.4 trillion debt ceiling with just 10 days before a possible default that could sink the U.S. economy, but vowed to keep talking.
The Democratic president and the top congressional Republican have struggled to make a deal, as McCarthy pressures the White House to agree to spending cuts in the federal budget that Biden considers “extreme,” and the president pushes new taxes that Republicans have rejected.
“We reiterated once again that default is off the table and the only way to move forward is in good faith toward a bipartisan agreement,” Biden said in a statement after the meeting, which he called “productive.”
McCarthy told reporters after over an hour of talks with Biden that negotiators are “going to get together, work through the night” to try to find common ground.
“I felt we had a productive discussion. We don’t have an agreement yet,” McCarthy said. “I believe we can still get there.” (Reuters)
