Day: May 19, 2023

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OPEC-China energy dialogue, avenue for global oil market stability – Administrator

Mr Zhang Jianhua, Administrator, National Energy Administration, the People’s Republic of China, has lauded the high-level energy dialogue between China and Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Member Countries.

Jianhua said the dialogues had jointly maintained global oil market stability.

Jianhua made this known at the Sixth High-level Meeting of the OPEC-China Energy Dialogue, held in Beijing, P.R. China, which he co-chaired with OPEC Secretary-General, Mr Haitham Al Ghais.

In a statement by OPEC, Zhang said the dialogues helped jointly in consolidating and expanding oil trade between China and OPEC Member Countries, which were both of common interest.

He described China and OPEC as important strategic partners.

“Since the establishment of the dialogue mechanism between the two parties in 2005, communication on policy has been maintained through round-table meetings and high-level dialogues,” he said.

OPEC Secretary-General, emphasised that OPEC attached tremendous importance to its dialogue partnership with China and was determined to reinforce and strengthen it.

He noted that the parties had established a balanced, pragmatic framework for cooperation, and developed an ongoing exchange of views at all levels on energy issues of common interest.

The secretary-general provided an overview of OPEC’s ongoing activities, together with 10 non-OPEC producing countries, under the ‘Declaration of Cooperation’ to support sustainable oil market stability, which benefits producers and consuming nations.

In an address, the Permanent Representative of the China to the UN and other International Organisations in Vienna, Amb. Li Song, appreciated the stable cooperation and long-term communication between OPEC and China.

Li said this contributed positively to the global economy and energy security.

The envoy envisaged that China’s new phase of development would open up opportunities for OPEC and its Member Countries in terms of market access, energy transition and shared prosperity.

Experts from both sides exchanged perspectives on the oil market outlook in the short-, medium- and longer-term, and the ongoing “Declaration of Cooperation” process, addressing sustainable development, prospects for the energy transition and other topics of mutual interest.

Both parties are committed to strengthening cooperation going forward, particularly within the realm of information and data sharing, technological exchange and addressing issues related to the energy transition.

The Seventh High-level Meeting of the OPEC-China Energy Dialogue is scheduled to take place at a convenient time in 2024.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

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Government not rushing for more loans – Ken Ofori-Atta

Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, Finance Minister, says the government is not in a rush to enter the international capital market.

Mr Ofori-Atta said the goal of getting back to the international capital market, which Ghana has been locked out for more than a year, was to give the country a positive ratings and outlook to attract more Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

‘There’s no rush to go back to the international capital markets. Our expectation is that in managing our expenditure and increasing our revenue, we’ll have the resources to it,’ Mr Ofori-Atta said.

He, however, noted that ‘Working towards the capital market is important because we then get our ratings up and make the country more attractive for foreign investors, especially [getting] FDI.’

He gave the assurance at a joint press conference on Thursday, which was held in Washington and online by the IMF and the Government of Ghana the IMF approval of the implementation of Ghana’s homegrown policy under an Extended Credit Facility (EFC) arrangement.

The loan facility would ensure macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability and lay a solid foundation for inclusive and sustainable growth and job creation, while protecting the most vulnerable of Ghana’s population.

Mr Ofori-Atta explained that the programme would aim at bringing Ghana’s debt to Gross Domestic Product (GPD) ratio down to 55 per cent, which in addition to the revenue measures in the 2023 budget provide the needed resources to move the country forward.

‘Going forward, we’ll find ways of ensuring that we’re efficient in our deployment [of the $3bn funds] …and ensure efficiency in providing services to the people,’ Mr Ofori-Atta said.

‘We will also try to reduce importation to its barest minimum …by ensuring that the importation of rice, poultry and tomato are brought down and we produce those ourselves. That way our economy can be resilient enough,’ the Minister added.

Mr Stephane Roudet, IMF Mission Chief for Ghana, was confident that the loan-support programme would help address the country’s economic crisis, build the foundation for a better and more inclusive future for all Ghanaians.

‘It will also help ease financing constraints including, by unlocking more funding from the rest of the international community,’ Mr Roudet said.

This is the 17th time that Ghana is getting an IMF loan-support programme to address its economic challenges.

The current economic crisis, which has necessitated the IMF’s $3bn loan-support programme was induced by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia-Ukraine war and internal structural problems.

The Government is hopeful that by the end of the three-year programme, Ghana’s economy would be resilient, have a strong footing to support sustainable economic growth and enhance the livelihood of citizens.

Source: Ghana News Agency

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UN, FG seek more funds for malnourished, vulnerable in North East

The United Nations (UN), and the Federal Government, have appealed to international donors for more funds to urgently rescue vulnerable people in the North East from hunger and malnutrition.

The UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Nigeria, Matthias Schmale, made the appeal at the launch of Lean Season Food Security and Nutrition Crisis, Multi-sector Plan 2023, on Thursday in Abuja.

Schmale said efforts were urgently required to avert food and nutrition crisis in the northeast, as years of protracted conflict and insecurity continued to prevent people from producing food.

The UN official noted that hunger and malnutrition had eaten deep into the region, hence the need for victims to get a survival strategy and the means to also earn income for food purchase.

Trond Jensen, Head of UN Office of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said the March 2023 Cadre Harmonise (CH), projected that 4.3 million people in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, known as the BAY states, were at risk of severe hunger.

According to Jensen, the situation will worsen at the peak of the lean season between June and August.

“`More than half a million of these people will face emergency levels of food insecurity with extremely high acute malnutrition and cases of mortality predicted, unless a rapid and significant scale up of humanitarian assistance is undertaken.

“Approximately, two million children under five years of age, across the three states, will be acutely malnourished in 2023, and this will put them at a greater risk of dying from common infections, causing developmental stagnation,’’ he said.

He said the 2023 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP), was seeking 1.3 billion dollars to support six million people, and 396.1 million dollars was urgently needed to deliver lifesaving food security and nutrition assistance to 2.8 million persons in the region.

Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Country Representative, Fred Kafeero, said the number of food insecure people in the northeast had remained constant since 2020.

Kafeero therefore, called for more assistance towards scaling up interventions, aimed at boosting local food production and income generation for the affected populations.

According to him, about 40 million dollars is required during the 2023 lean season to enable the organisation reach 2.3 million people in BAY, and give them access to critical production inputs.

He listed the production inputs to include; fast maturing seed varieties, fertiliser and livestock feeds, among others.

“`Timeliness is a critical factor in food production as it is dictated by seasons, this is the time to invest before it gets too late,” he said.

Mrs sugra Mahamood, Director, Irrigation Agriculture and Crop Development, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), said food security analysis provided valuable insights on the need for immediate and coordinated action.

Mahamood said the people of Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states, had endured immense hardships due to various factors, including conflicts, displacement and climate-related challenges.

“It is our collective responsibility to ensure that they have access to adequate and nutritious food to meet their basic needs.

“Our commitment is to mobilise funding and resources, in order to urgently scale up our responses to the challenges at hand,” she said.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

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Assemblies tasked to provide functional toilets, water facilities at workplaces

Dr Hafiz Bin Salih, the Upper West Regional Minister has tasked municipal and district assemblies to provide functional toilets and water facilities for use at workplaces.

He said many of the facilities had broken down, a situation he described as not conducive to workers , as it inconvenienced them to lose working hours thereby contributing to low productivity.

Dr Bin Salih made the statement when he interacted with heads of departments in Tumu, as part of series of visits embarked on to the assemblies to acquaint himself with challenges at hand.

The Regional Minister expressed disappointment at the abysmal performance of the assemblies in the 2021 Evaluation Assessment of the assemblies in the region.

Dr. Bin Salih noted ‘office atmosphere and Environment, are some of the issues of concern by the assessors as it was found out that there were no decent toilet and running water facilities.

‘I find that to be strange. I don’t expect your offices not have toilets and urinals without running water. But you should have for yourselves and visitors that come to the offices’, he lamented.

He said in 2021, there was an assessment of all the 260 assemblies in the country and the performance of the assemblies in the region was nothing to write home about.

Six out of the 11 assemblies, scored beyond 50 per cent and that did not speak well of ‘an endowed region like ours’.

The Regional Minister also identified documentation as one of the problems in the assemblies and the reason for the Abysmal performance of the assemblies.

‘For example, when meetings are convened and when you ask for minutes of a meeting, you are found wanting, while Attendance records are not also available. This ought to be changed moving forward’, he pointed out.

‘Another issue of concern that brought the assemblies down was absenteeism. When the assessors come and they asked to see certain officers, they are nowhere to be found and this is not good for us because the assessment comes with incentives and the ones that faulted do not benefit’, he added.

Dr. Bin Salih appealed to government workers to be more committed and dedicated to work and duty and ‘bring Light to the work that we do’

He gave the assurance of his commitment to provide equal attention for the development needs of all assemblies in the region and tasked the municipal and district chief executives, and coordinating directors to be alive with their duties to help improve performance.

‘Any official who is found dabbling in partisan politics is advised to resign, as the regional coordinating council will not look on unconcerned’, he warned.

Mr. Yakubu Fuseini Batong, Sissala East Municipal Chief Executive, commended government for posting 28 police officers to the municipality to help maintain law and order.

He however raised concern about the slow work on the Tumu – Navrongo road and the Tumu-Han stretch of the highway Which may be cut off with the setting of the rains.

Source: Ghana News Agency

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John Mahama leads a delegation to campaign in Kumawu

The Presidential Candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, is leading a delegation to the Kumawu Constituency to campaign for the party’s parliamentary candidate in the upcoming by-election.

Slated for May 23, 2023, the by-election follows the death of the MP for the constituency who will be buried on Saturday.

A statement signed by Joyce Bawah Mogtari and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra said the leadership of the NDC has been in the constituency supporting the candidate, Akwasi Amankwa, and his executives in the campaign.

‘President Mahama is joining the national chairman and others already on the ground to lend his support to the campaign’.

The statement said Mr. Mahama was expected to call on the chief of Kumawu, before meeting various groupings to campaign.

Source: Ghana News Agency

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GIZ graduates 26 SMEs in Upper West under ‘The SMEs Loop’ programme

Some 26 Small and Medium scale Enterprises (SMEs) in the Upper West Region have been equipped with essential entrepreneurial skills and knowledge for the development and sustainability of their businesses.

That was under the SMEs Loop programme, an initiative under the Market Oriented Agricultural Programme in North West (MOAP-NW) project, implemented by the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ).

It was funded by the European Union (EU) under the EU-Ghana Agricultural Programme (EU-GAP) and the French government through the Agence Française de Développement (AFD).

The 26 MSMEs drawn from across the region, comprising 16 small-scale agri-processors and 10 agro-input dealers, went through about six months of training, mentorship, and coaching in effective business management.

Speaking at a ceremony in Wa to graduate the participants, Mr Pieter Smidt Van Gelder, the Deputy Head of Mission, EU Delegation to Ghana, expressed hope that the participants had acquired the entrepreneurial skills and knowledge that would enable them access financial services to develop and sustain their businesses.

‘As we celebrate your graduation today, we look forward to hearing about your own business expansions in the future.

Your success stories will serve as an inspiration to others, paving the way for a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem in this region’, he explained.

Mr Gelder thanked the GIZ for their support and commitment to enhancing the business management skills of SMEs and said the SME Loop programme had the potential to boost the local economy, foster inclusive structural change, and create economic fortunes, particularly for young people.

He explained that the SME Loop programme was just one element of the broader pound 132 million EU-GAP that sought to foster sustainable agriculture and create opportunities for socio-economic development in northern Ghana and to ensure sustainable livelihood of agriculture communities.

Mr Christophe Cottet, the Country Director of the AFD, said the SME Loop was first launched in Sierra Leone in 2014 and its success led to its rollout to other countries including Ghana.

He said there were other trainings running across the country with about 300 enterprises currently in the Loop, and were expected to complete their training and coaching by September.

Mr Cottet explained that their assessment of the impact of the programme on the participants revealed that ‘168 new jobs have been created by the participating enterprises in the last year.’

Mr Karim Dakurah, the Backstoper for the SME Loop programme in the Upper West Region, said issues of access to capital for SMEs remained a challenge and appealed to financial institutions to have confidence in the Loop beneficiaries as they had been trained in prudent financial management.

He also urged the trainees to use the knowledge they had gained through the training to help spur the growth of their businesses.

The beneficiaries said the training had, among other things, served as an eye opener for them as well as shaped their skills and knowledge in managing the businesses.

‘They have taught us how to fish and the ponds and rivers are there, that is, the financial institutions and we have been trained to get the funding and to manage them properly’, Mr Yanbepone Perey, a beneficiary from Lawra, said.

Madam Portia Gban, another beneficiary from Wa, gave the assurance that they would implement the experience, knowledge, and skills they had acquired through the programme for their benefit and the benefit of society.

Source: Ghana News Agency

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Team Ministry of Education retains 2023 FEDUGAM with 33 medals

Team Federal Ministry of Education has emerged champion of the 2023 Federal Education Sector Games (FEDUGAM) hosted by the Nasarawa State University, Keffi on Thursday.

The team emerged champion to push Team National Examinations Council (NECO) to second place after winning 14 gold, 15 silver and four bronze to top the medals tables.

NECO finished the games with seven gold, eight silver and 10 bronze medals, while National Universities Commission (NUC) garnered four gold, three silver and three bronze to cement their third place finish.

Minister of State for Education, Goodluck Opiah, while declaring the games closed urged losers to prepare stronger for next year’s edition.

Opiah who was represented by Dr Uche Ubah, Director, Colleges of Education Department, Federal Ministry of Education, said efforts were on to ensure more agencies and parastatals participate in the fourth edition.

“Like I mentioned during the opening, the joy of the games is far beyond the attempt to win at all cost.

“Once again, the winner should be humble in victory while others who could not win, have another opportunity in the next edition.

“Measures are being put in place by the Permanent Secretary and the management of the ministry to ensure the participation of more agencies through their chief executives.

“In this note, I congratulate all the winners in this third edition while encouraging other participants to put more effort in the next edition and I hereby declare the games closed,” he said.

Consultant of the Games, Matthew Okeyinka, said they had already started planning on the fourth edition to surpass the achievements of the third edition.

“We are seeking to have more partners to boost our performance for next year’s event and we can only do that through sponsorship.

“It is our belief that every edition will be better than the previous,” he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that defending champions, Tertiary Education Fund (TETFund) defeated National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) 3-0 to retain the football event trophy of the games.

TETFund had won the trophy three times since the commencement of the games.

NAN reports that only eight out of 24 agencies and parastatals including the supervising ministry participated in the three-day event which started on May 15 and ended on May 17 at the Nasarawa State University, Keffi.

No fewer than 500 sports men and women participated in football, scrabble, badminton, table tennis, volleyball and handball.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

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More Than 1 Billion Birr Secured in Nine Months to Support Construction of GERD

More than 1 billion birr has been secured to support the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) from various segments of society in nine months of current fiscal year, Office of National Council for the Coordination of Public Participation on the Construction of GERD disclosed.

Deputy Director of the Office, Fikrte Tamir told ENA that more than 1 billion birr secured from the planned 1.5 billion birr during the nine months of current fiscal year.

Ethiopians residing abroad and at home have contributed more than 1.1 billion birr through bond sale, 8100A short message among others during the stated period.

Stating that the construction of the dam is well underway, she stressed the participation of the general public has to be intensified to realize the dam.

Ethiopians at home and abroad have raised more than 18 billion birr for the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) since the nation laid the cornerstone of the construction of the dam.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency