Press zooms in on efforts to rescue 5,500 Nigerians in Sudan, others

APA – Lagos (Nigeria)
The report that the Federal Government is making preparations to evacuate about 5,500 stranded Nigerians out of Sudan through the Egyptian town of Luxor is one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Monday.
The Punch reports that the Federal Government is making preparations to evacuate about 5,500 stranded Nigerians out of Sudan through the Egyptian town of Luxor, The PUNCH gathered on Sunday.
It was gathered that the Federal Government was seeking Egypt’s support so that the stranded Nigerians could be moved to Luxor.
The Director of Special Duties of the National Emergency Management Agency, who doubles as Chairman of NEMA’s Committee for the Evacuation of the Stranded Nigerians from Sudan, Dr Onimode Bandele, said the Federal Government was meeting with government officials in Egypt on how to move Nigerians out of Sudan through Egypt.
Bandele said this as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, in an interview with Channels Television on Sunday, said the government had concluded arrangements to evacuate 5,500 Nigerians in Sudan by road.
According to him, Nigeria, for security reasons, will get authorisation from the Sudanese government before the evacuation.
The conflict between the Sudanese armed forces and the paramilitary group, Rapid Support Force, has claimed over 400 lives with thousands of others injured and millions displaced.
The clashes broke out between erstwhile allies, General Abdel al-Burhan who heads the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF paramilitary group, led by General Mohamed Dagalo.
Several ceasefires that had seemingly been agreed upon by both sides were ignored, including a three-day pause to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which started on Friday.
The newspaper says that given his campaign promises in 2014 and 2018, President Muhammadu Buhari, has reneged on several fronts in the eight years he served, leaving Nigerians with many unfulfilled expectations.
On Friday, May 29, 2015, thousands of Nigerians gathered at Eagles Square, Abuja, as millions more followed on television to watch their new President take the oath of office.
Supporters chanted, “Mai gaskiya! (meaning Man of truth) Sai Baba! Sai Buhari!” The sheer fanfare and jubilation on the streets nationwide showed how much confidence and trust Nigerians had in the 72-year-old, tall, slender former Head of State from Daura, Northwest Nigeria.
Having contested the Presidency and failed thrice, Buhari was now inheriting a fragile economy, a heavily polarized state and would fight to reclaim swaths of ungoverned territory from Boko Haram’s grip. The terrorists did not seize lands alone. Many of the 276 schoolgirls abducted from their school in Chibok a few years earlier were still held captive. Buhari promised to set them free.
On inauguration day, he stood as tall as his reputation; a no-nonsense leader poised to uproot deep-seated corruption, crush the Boko Haram insurgency, restore security and revamp Africa’s largest economy.
These expectations were neither arbitrary nor thrust upon him. They were only a result of his promises; promises of change, hope and opportunity for citizens whom, he said, have endured 16 years of bad governance under the Peoples Democratic Party.
After emerging as the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress that Thursday night of December 11, 2014, Buhari pledged to “govern Nigeria honestly under the constitution, strive to secure the country and efficiently manage the economy, attack poverty through shared economic growth, attack corruption through the impartial application of the law, tolerate no religious, regional, economic or gender bias in government, return Nigeria into a position of international respect through patriotic foreign policy and to choose the best Nigerians for the right jobs.”
The Guardian reports that there has been disquiet over a recent report alleging that Nigeria has defaulted on Chinese loan repayment and stands the risk of paying a penalty amounting to N41.31 billion.
The report quoted the Debt Management Office (DMO, which said Nigeria has failed to fully service its debt to China, which has accumulated to N110.31 billion in the last two years.
According to the report, the China debt stock included the principal and repayment charges. It puts the principal fee from January 2021 to December 2022 at N69 billion ($153.85 million) and interest charges at N41.3 billion ($92.1 million).
DMO, according to the report, said the debts were incurred following the completion of the Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project (Idu-Kaduna Section), Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project (Lagos-Ibadan Section) and the Nigeria Abuja Light Rail Project.
A breakdown of the data showed that in 2021, Idu-Kaduna Section’s principal fee was $38.46 million (N17.25 billion) while interest earmarked was $9.5 million (N4.26 billion). The Lagos-Ibadan section’s principal was not noted, although its interest stood at $ 24.07 million (N10.80 billion).
During the period, the Abuja Light Rail Project recorded a principal amounting to $38.46 million (N17.25 billion), while the interest rate accumulated to $11.45 million (N5.14 billion).
As at 2022, according to the report, the principal on Idu-Kaduna Section was $38.46 million (N17.25 billion), while the interest fee was $8.52 million (N3.82 billion). The Lagos-Ibadan Section interest fee stood the highest at $ 28.06 million (N12.59 billion) with the principal amount not indicated.
The Abuja Light Rail Project’s principal was $38.46 million (N17.25 billion), with accumulated interest charges of $10.48 million (N4.70 billion).
But the DMO in a rebuttal posted on its website urged the general public to ignore the publication describing it as false.
The newspaper says that despite a fascinating chart that highlights how the world is in the midst of a reproduction crisis — as developed countries fall out of love with having children, African countries top chart of most fertile nations in the world with Nigeria ranking eighth.
According to the report published yesterday by DailyMailUK, in 2020, the global average fertility rate – the average number of children born to each woman – was 2.3, compared to 4.7 in 1970 — a staggering 51 per cent drop over a half-century. Swathes of Europe and North America are recording fewer than a two births per woman average.
The study is entitled, “The New Economics of Fertility”, suggests that as fertility rates shrink in much of the world, they continue to grow in Africa. Thirty-one of the top 32 countries with the highest fertility rates are on the continent, with Niger in the first spot with a rate of 6.9 children per woman.
All of the world’s leaders in fertility rate are in Africa. Somalia (6.4), Chad (6.4), The Democratic Republic of the Congo (6.2), Mali (6.0), the Central African Republic (6.0), Angola (5.4), Nigeria (5.3), Burundi (5.2) and Benin (5.1) make up the top ten countries in terms of fertility rates, all of which have rates of over 6.0.
Meanwhile, in 2020, the total fertility rate in Nigeria remained nearly unchanged at around 5.31 children per woman. But still, the fertility rate reached its lowest value of the observation period in 2020.
A study, titled: “Fertility and Population Explosion in Nigeria: Does Income Actually Count?” concluded that rising population without adequate policies and programmes to tackle its attendant socio-economic and political vices could spell doom to a nation.
The study was published by researchers led by Ubong Edem Effiong, Ubong Ekerete Udonwa and John Polycarp Ekpe are from the Department of Economics, University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State; and Department of Economics, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State.
The researchers concluded: “The teeming population in Nigeria has been under-utilised given the rising unemployment which has created a diverse socio-economic and political crisis in the country.
GIK/APA