ARIWO !

Cholera And A Country At Risk

THE official report of 352 deaths in eight weeks, resulting from the 6,437 cases of cholera attacks in 11 states of the country, mostly in the North-west and North-east zones, cuts a grim picture of helpless masses deprived a basic need (potable water) by insensitive leadership at all levels. Given the epidemic nature the disease has assumed in the past few weeks, the Federal Ministry of Health’s admission that epidemiological evidence indicates the entire country is at risk is frightening. This warning should therefore rally the hitherto unaffected states to act fast against any possible spread that might likely increase the country’s health woes.

Although the authorities, with the aid of agencies like Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders,  rushed technical and material support to the affected states of Jigawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Yobe, Borno, Adamawa, Taraba, FCT, Kaduna, Cross River and Rivers to ameliorate the incidence, the yearly recurrence of cholera attack across the country underscores the failure of the primary health care system generally, coupled with the low standard of hygiene as well as widespread ignorance among sections of the populace. The trend is disturbing. (In the last quarter of 2009 alone,  260 deaths in four northern states were attributed to cholera)….

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AFRICA/BENIN - Archbishop of Cotonou resigns, successor appointed

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – Pope Benedict XVI on August 21, 2010 accepted the renunciation of the pastoral government of the Archdiocese of Cotonou (Benin), presented by Archbishop Marcel Honorat Leon Agboton in accordance with canon 401 § 2 of the Code of Canon Law. The Holy Father appointed as Archbishop of Cotonou, Bishop Antoine Ganyé, until now Bishop of the Diocese of Dassa-Zoume (Benin).(SL) (Agenzia Fides 08/27/2010)

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Ghana: Frequent Power Outages to Be Saved By the Bui Hydropower Dam Project

Helena Selby

25 August 2010

 

The Akosombo dam has been of service to the people of Ghana, and some of its neighbouring countries for some decades now, but just as anything which wears out in its productivity as times go by, or if it is subject too much pressure, so has the Akosombo dam reduced its productiveness to the people of Ghana and neighbouring countries.

It is the hope of the nation that history does not repeat itself, where the water level of the Akosombo dam fell, due to inadequate rainfall, compelling the electricity company to ration power for the whole nation, and the other neighbouring countries.

The Bui hydropower dam project is one of the hydropower dams meant to complement the supply of electricity to the people of Ghana. The project is expected to be completed and commissioned in mid 2013. Until then, however, other milestones anticipated include the commencement of river impoundment in the first half of 2011. The completion of installation of the first generation unit, to enable production of the first unit of electricity, is expected in the fourth quarter of 2012.

BUI HYDROELECTRIC PROJECT

According to the National Energy Policy, the energy sector vision is to develop an "Energy Economy" to secure reliable supply of high quality energy services for all sectors of the Ghanaian economy. The goal is to increase installed power generation capacity quickly, from about 2,000 megawatts (MW) today, to 5,000MW by 2015, and increase electricity access, from the current level of 66%, to universal access by 2020.

Hydroelectricity is the primary source of Ghana's electrical energy. The Akosombo and Kpong plants have installed capacities of 1,020MW and 160MW respectively. Currently, the two VRA hydro plants produce 4,800gigawatts hour per year (GWh/yr).

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Opposition Lawmakers Want Benin's President Prosecuted Over Financial Scam

Scott Stearns | Dakar 26 August 2010

Photo: AFP

 

• Benin Silences RFI After Report on Presidential Scandal
• US Congratulates Benin on 50 Years of Independence

Opposition lawmakers in Benin want the president to stand trial for what they say is his role in a financial scam that has swindled thousands of people.
Nearly two-thirds of parliamentarians in Benin have signed a letter calling for President Thomas Yayi Boni to stand trial for treason and perjury because they say he is part of a massive, well-organized financial fraud that duped thousands of small investors.
Opposition lawmaker Augustin Ahouanvoebla says Mr. Boni has so far escaped justice, but he is confident the president will ultimately have to answer for what he says are crimes associated with the firm Investment Consultancy and Computing Services.
Court appearance
Ahouanvoebla says the opposition wants President Boni to appear before Benin's High Court.  He says the president has used what he calls ploys and back doors to find a way out of responsibility for the scam.  The labor will be painful and the process will be slow, he says, but he is confident lawmakers will get the president to court in the end…

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Nigeria : Cholera claims 352

 

***6497 cases reported as govt raises fresh alarm
By Chioma Obinna
LAGOS—CHOLERA epidemic, assuming the status of a devastating hurricane sweeping through the North West, North East and South Eastern parts of the country has now recorded 6,497 cases with 352 deaths while the Federal Government, yesterday, alerted the nation that the entire country was at risk of the epidemic.

A statement issued yesterday on the update of the out break of Cholera and Measles from January to 23 August, 2010, said the government, through the Ministry of Health warned that although most outbreaks occurred in the Northwest and Northeast zones the epidemiological evidence from the diseases indicates that the entire country is at risk.

Children collect stagnant water for use at home in Harare Photo: AP

The statement signed by the Special Assistant to the Minister of Health on Communication, Mrs. Rakiya Zubairu said the nation recorded 6,497 cases with 352 deaths from cholera between January to August 23.

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Benin to host 2010 championships

Cotonou - Benin will host the 18th edition of the African athletics championships in June 2012, the country's athletics federation president, Theophile Montcho, announced on Wednesday.
Montcho added that although the Charles de Gaulle stadium in Porto-Novo, 30km east of the capital Cotonou was ready to host the championships, a definitive choice of venue had not yet been taken.

…

source

Nigeria : FG decries slow implementation of MDG projects by states

By Vincent Ujumadu

AWKA—THE Federal government said yesterday that slow implementation of the Millennium Development Goal, MDG, projects by many states may mar the country’s hope of achieving the objectives of the programme by the targeted year of 2015.

Senior Special Assistant to the President on MDGs, Hajiya Amina Az-zubair, who expressed the fear in Awka at the 11th monthly review meeting of the conditional grants scheme focal persons, wondered why many states were experiencing difficulties and delays in project implementation, despite the fact that they had received the conditional grants.

The meeting is being attended by the MDG focal persons from the 36 states of the federation and Abuja…

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NPA to ensure leading status for Nigerian ports in Africa

THE Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, Malam Abdul Salam Mohammed ,has said that the Authority was committed to achieving  its vision of making the Nigerian ports the leading facilities in Africa.
Mohammed made the statement in Lagos at a parley between the top Management of NPA and Transport Minister, Yusuf Sulaiman, who visited the Lagos Channel Management Operations (LCM) and the Continental Shipyard Limited (CSL) in Lagos. The two organisations are helping to manage some of the NPA facilities in Lagos.
The minister, however, told the workers that the growth of the port industry was a collective responsibility of management of the organisation and other maritime stakeholders in general.
Recalling the outcome of the meeting he held with concessionaires the minister said that as landlord and custodian of the nation’s economy, NPA has the huge responsibility of ensuring that the ports are competitive and able to attract foreign investment.

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Nigeria : Our Vanishing Coastlines

 

 THE challenge of halting the erosion of our coastlines has moved from a mere media campaign to a group protesting the neglect to government.

A resolution is still pending.

Erosion threats the coastal areas are facing are treated with the same disinterest as erosion that that have left gullies in many villages in the South East. Coast erosion has the additional challenge of the management of wrecked and abandoned vessels.

Lekki seems to be the focus of the protest, but the problem is more wide spread.

Silence from other quarters could be partially from ignorance or occupation with the daily travails of survival.

Lagos State Government once responded in two days to a protest from the indigenes of Lekki, calling for removal of abandoned ships and saving the coastal communities and businesses in that axis from the imminent invasion of the Atlantic Ocean.

An indigene of Lekki led some government officials to inspect the affected area. He pledged the state government would intervene though the matter was the responsibility of the Federal Government….

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Annan Calls for Faster Green Revolution

Dar Es Salaam — Tanzanian President, Jakaya Kikwete, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and African Union Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, Rhoda Peace Tumusiime, will be among key speakers at the forthcoming African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) in Accra, Ghana.

African heads of state, industry representatives, the donor community and farmers will meet in Ghana to deliberate at the AGRF scheduled to take place from September 2 to 4.

Delegates to the forum hosted by Ghanaian President, John Atta Mills, are expected to create an action plan on the acceleration of a Green Revolution in Africa.

Chaired by Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary-General and chair of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), this will be the first time the forum will be held in Africa.

It is expected to be one of the continent's major gatherings of public and private players to focus solely on agriculture development.

"We will be looking to governments for leadership to create an environment that will enable agriculture to prosper and grow and we will be looking to the private sector to drive and sustain that growth," says Kofi Annan in a statement sent to East African Business Week (EABW) on last week . "Working together we can achieve a food secure and prosperous Africa."

The AGRF promotes investments and policy initiatives that will drive income growth for African farmers in an environmentally sustainable way.

The AGRF will also show progress in unlocking Africa's agricultural potential and facilitating sustainable economic growth thanks to new investment and public-private partnerships.

"As Secretary General of the United Nations, I called for a uniquely green revolution in Africa to meet the Millennium Development Goal of halving hunger by 2015. And six years later, I am encouraged to see that the Green Revolution has taken hold and is gaining momentum….

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Copyright, Blaise APLOGAN, 2010,© Bienvenu sur Babilown

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