The call by a panel of experts for a stronger collaboration between the United Kingdom and Africa on mass access to electricity and infrastructure-led recovery from the catastrophic impact of the COVID-19 is one of the leading stories in Nigerian newspapers on Friday.
ThisDay reports that a panel of experts has called for a stronger collaboration between the United Kingdom and Africa on mass access to electricity and infrastructure-led recovery from the catastrophic impact of the COVID-19.
The panel stated that renewable energy would be a critical driver of Africa’s post COVID-19 recovery and economic prosperity, and called for a stronger partnership between the United Kingdom and Africa.
A statement issued by the Communication and External Relations Department of the African Development Bank (AfDB) and signed by Mr. Emeka Anuforo, stated that the panelists, who brainstormed during the 2021 UK-Africa Investment Summit with the theme, “UK & Africa: Partnering in Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure Development,” declared that investment in large-scale electrification projects would be key to African economies’ recovery.
They also added that Africa needed Britain’s innovation and experience to advance its economic development.
The summit was hosted by the UK Department of International Trade to bring together the UK and African businesses to explore the opportunities for partnership and investment.
The newspaper says that the Nigerian government has stated that the National Oil and Gas Excellence Centre (NOGEC) Lagos would enable the country to reduce by half its annual cost of operations in both offshore and remote locations.
The Minister of State for Petroleum, Mr. Timipre Sylva, stated this yesterday in Lagos at the launch of the NOGEC and added that the projected 50 percent reduction would lead to the realisation of the $10 per barrel oil production cost target.
The centre, which is sited at the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR)’s annex in Lagos, was launched virtually in Abuja by President Muhammadu Buhari, who said that the centre would enhance oil and gas contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and strengthen Nigeria’s position as Africa’s leader in oil and gas industry.
The NOGEC is structured to drive three-prong objectives of safety, value and cost efficiency in the Nigeria oil and gas industry, under five flagship centres, including Search, Rescue and Surveillance (SeRAS) Command and Control Centre.
Others are the National Improved Oil Recovery Centre (NIORC), the Oil and Gas Dispute Resolution Centre (DRC), the Oil and Gas Competence Development Centre (CDC), and the Integrated Data Mining and Analytics Centre (IDMAC).
The Vanguard reports that Coronavirus (COVID-19) infections in Nigeria have continued to surge as the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) recorded 1,964 new cases, bringing the total number of infections to 116,655.
The NCDC disclosed this on its official website on Thursday. Recall that the country on Jan. 21 marked a new single-day increase in COVID-19 cases and has so far tested 1,203,113 people since the first index case was announced on Feb. 27, 2020.
The NCDC said that additional seven people died from coronavirus-related complications in the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 1,485.
It said that with 1,310 people discharged from various isolation centres across the country, after testing negative to the virus, the number of recoveries had increased to 93,646 as many states struggled with mounting infections and hospitalisation.
“Our discharges today include 798 community recoveries in Lagos State and 191 community recoveries in Ondo State managed in line with guidelines,” the website stated.
The Punch says that the number of active telephone subscribers across the country has risen to 208 million, the Nigerian Communications Commission said on Thursday.
It also stated that third generation (3G) and fourth generation (4G) base transceiver stations deployment in Nigeria had increased from 30,000 to 53,460.
The commission further revealed that fibre optic transmission cables expanded from 47,000km to 54,725km in the last five years, resulting in improved broadband/telecoms service delivery to Nigerians.
NCC’s Executive Vice Chairman, Umar Danbatta, said these at a briefing for the new Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, Festus Daudu, on the functions and regulatory activities of the commission.
He was quoted in a statement issued by the commission as saying, “The BTS, fibre optic cables and other related infrastructure are central to the provision of improved service experience for Nigerians by their respective telecoms service providers.”
The Sun reports that Nigeria recorded Foreign Direct Investment totalling $90m in October according to figures obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria on Wednesday.
The CBN disclosed in its monthly economic report that in the review period, capital inflow declined by 71.4 percent due to tight global financial conditions, as countries, particularly, the developed economies struggled with the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Part of the report stated, “Capital importation data showed that inflow declined to $0.19bn in the review period, below $0.67bn in September 2020.
“A disaggregation of inflow in the review period showed that foreign direct investment at $0.09bn accounted for 45.8 per cent of total inflow, foreign portfolio investment at $0.01bn accounted for 5.6 per cent of total inflow, while other investments, largely in form of loans, were $0.09bn or 48.6 per cent of the total inflow.
The Nation says that the National Economic Council (NEC) on Thursday endorsed efforts being made to produce COVID-19 vaccines locally.
It also said Nigeria was open to partnership and outsourcing arrangements with foreign producers of the vaccines for the production of the anti-COVID-19 drugs.
Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) whose members constitute the majority of NEC members, had earlier in the day distanced itself from Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello’s “ill-fated pronouncement” on Sunday that COVID-19 vaccines were meant to kill people and reduce population.
A major drug manufacturer, May & Baker and a Federal Government team headed by Prof Oyewale Tomori, are spearheading the drive for either local production or partnership arrangement for the manufacturing of the vaccines outside the country.
COVID-19 has killed over 1,478 in Nigeria out of the 2,090,731 across the globe. There are over 114,691 active COVID-19 cases in the country out the 97,616,924 worldwide.
Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, briefed State House correspondents on efforts between the Federal and state governments to contain the virus after the first NEC virtual meeting in the year.
Okowa said: “Nigeria and May and Baker are already in partnership for quite some time now, in trying to ensure that we are able to produce vaccines locally.
GIK/APA