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COVID-19: Afreximbank, Standard Chartered Commit $200m to Acquire Vaccines for AU Countries
Tony Obiechina, Abuja
African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and Standard Chartered to provide USD 200m of not-for-profit funding towards Afreximbank’s structured framework to help finance the acquisition of COVID-19 vaccines for African nations.
Afreximbank said in a statement on Thursday that the collaboration between the two banks will help ensure that 55 countries across Africa have access to COVID-19 vaccines.
This facility is also part of the Advance Procurement Commitment (APC) framework structured by Afreximbank in collaboration with the African Vaccines Acquisition Task Team (AVATT), under which Afreximbank provided a guarantee of USD 2bn to vaccine manufacturers to secure access to COVID-19 vaccines for African countries.
Over the last year, Afreximbank has also launched a number of facilities to support its Member Countries. These include the Pandemic Trade Impact Mitigation facility (PATIMFA), under which the Bank has disbursed over USD 6.5bn to mitigate and manage the financial, economic and health impacts of the pandemic.
In addition, Afreximbank put in place a USD 1.5bn Collaborative Covid-19 Pandemic Response Facility (COPREFA), working with partners to support African economies during the pandemic.
The funding is part of the Standard Chartered’s USD 1bn financing commitment that was launched in March 2020 (https://www.sc.com/en/media/press-release/were-committing-usd1-billion-to-finance-companies-helping-to-tackle-covid-19/), which aims to tackle the pandemic by financing vital equipment such as personal protective equipment, ventilators and now vaccines. To date, USD 900m of this have been allocated and over USD 700m disbursed to clients.
Prof. Benedict Oramah, President of Afreximbank, said: “We are delighted that Standard Chartered has committed USD 200m to support the ongoing work of Afreximbank and AVATT in helping African countries secure access to COVID-19 vaccines. Having an effective financing solution for vaccine procurement in place for Africa is of paramount importance to ensure we are not left further behind in the ongoing race. This agreement demonstrates the unwavering commitment of Afreximbank and Standard Chartered to helping Africa overcome the challenges of the pandemic.”
Simon Cooper, Chief Executive, Corporate, Commercial, and Institutional Banking at Standard Chartered, said: “The speed of vaccine rollout is not only a healthcare issue but is increasingly a differentiator of near-term, post pandemic economic recovery for African nations. We are acutely aware that Africa accounts for under 2 per cent of vaccines administered worldwide; we welcome Afreximbank’s efforts to tackle this and we want to use our USD 1bn facility to help.”
Using financing provided by Standard Chartered, Afreximbank is helping to ensure Africa’s access to COVID-19 vaccines by ensuring payment to identified vaccine manufacturers that have vaccine orders placed by African nations through the African Medical Supplies Platform
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Bandits Invade Niger Local Market, Village Head, 20 Others Killed
From Dan Amasingha, Minna
After relative peace since the start of the Ramadan fast,daredevil Bandits invaded a Niger local market and killed the Village head and 20 traders in Madaka, Rijau local government areas of Niger State.Rijau Local Government which borders neighbouring Kebbi State, has experienced consistent banditry attacks in the past one year.
Eye witnesses inform our Correspondent that the suspected bandits riding on motorcycles stormed the market on Thursday afternoon around 3. 30- 4pm when activities at the market were at its peak.According to the source, the invading bandits who shot sporadically into the air to scare away traders later started ransacking big time traders by carting away food stuffs and Cash.Villagers who had the pandemonium at the market square fled into nearby bushes to take cover and the Village head who attempted to find out what was happening was shot dead at close range.”At the end of the confusion, we discovered that twenty one persons including our Village head were wasted,The Source maintained that, the bandits before leaving later set about 50 houses including commercial shops on fire, and a number of cars and motorcycles were burnt down during the incident.”After killing innocent victims and burning down the market they also went away with an unspecified number of the villagers to an unidentified destination”Confirming the incident, Madaka District Head, Alhaji Isah Bawale said it was a black Thursday evening in a telephone interview on Friday morning.He further recounted that the Community had come under similar attack some times ago when his predecessor was killed without any resistance from security agencies.When contacted, Niger State Command of Police Public Relations Officer PPRO SP Wasiu Abiodun assured to verify and get back but he couldn’t revert at the time of filing in the report.Meanwhile, the Niger state government, especially the commissioner for security, General Bello Abdullahi Mohammed (retired) is yet to speak on the incident.Uncategorized
Women Are Nation Builders, Bayelsa NAWOJ
From Mike Tayese, Yenagoa
The Nigerian Association of Women Journalists, NAWOJ, Bayelsa State chapter has described women as society builders hence they should be empowered to harness their potentials for nation building.
Chairperson of NAWOJ Bayelsa, Mrs Grace Orumieyefa handed down this during a one day program to commemorate the 2024 International Women Day held at the Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ Press Centre in Yenagoa, the state capital.
Mrs Orumieyefa noted that NAWOJ has over the years been at the forefront of advocacy for women rights as the empowerment of women brings empowerment for everyone around her which makes a better society.
Also speaking, Chief Executive Officer, Eunice Nnachi Women Advocacy Foundation, ENWAF, Lady Eunice Nnachi urged women to take advantage of technological advancement to improve their learning and training in order to empower themselves.
“You can learn almost anything using the internet, through YouTube, women should use this medium to learn many things and train themselves.”
While responding to questions, she said, women should not be desperate to get life partners but should ensure that they have partners who can help them to achieve their dreams.
The Keynote Speaker, Mrs Ebi Kakandar who delivered a lecture on “Harnessing the Prospects and Potentials of Women” called on women to shun all forms of laziness, be determined and courageous to pursue their life ambitions.
Mrs Kakandar pointed out that factors such as building a growth mindset, improving your emotional mindset, developing willpower, cultivating strong social support, aspiring for greatness and setting achievable goals are some of the keys to achieving success as a woman.
She encouraged women to seek more knowledge and inspire themselves to be self-reliant.
Various organizations such as NUJ, FIDA, NLC, MWAN, Starzz Initiative, DO Foundation, POWA and other women organizations as well as NGOS delivered Goodwill messages for women advising to aspire for higher achievement.
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Students Loan: FG Explains Delay in Take-off, Sets New Date
The Federal Government has set the month of March for a definite opening of the Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NELFund) portal for eligible students.
Dr Akintunde Sawyerr, Execute Secretary NELFund, who disclosed this in an interview with newsmen on Thursday in Abuja urged eligible students to register to access the fund.
President Bola Tinubu on June 12, 2023, signed the Access to Higher Education Bill into law to enable indigent student access interest-free loan to pursue their education in any Nigerian tertiary institutions.
The scheme was slated to commence between September and October 2023, but because of unforeseen circumstances, there was a revised timeline to January.
Giving reasons for the delay in starting the scheme as earlier scheduled, Sawyerr explained that the process is technically driven and necessary measures needed to be put in place for proper execution.
“The take-off date is this month (March) and the reason for the delay is that we are trying to get it right.
“This is not a political programme where we say, oh! we are just going to do it, it doesn’t matter how it works.
“This is a programme that will, probably run beyond me as a human being, not even as a Secretary. This is something that we want to run adequately, so we have to get it right,’’ he said.
Sawyerr, reiterated President Tinubu’s commitment to ensure that lack of finance should not be a reason for any student in Nigeria to halt education at a tertiary level.
According to him, the scheme was designed for indigent Nigerian students in tertiary institutions and applications would be done online.
“We have decided that, all applicants should be able to access this scheme regardless of where they are, who they are and who they know.
“We want this to be a process that is fair to all and we will advertise the portal widely so that applicants will be able to go to the website to fill series of forms and answer certain questions.
“Base on the data they input and their answers to the questions, the system will be able to determine appropriately, whether they are eligible to apply or not,’’ Sawyerr explained. (NAN)