Somalia News Gazette

Somali National Army on Wednesday repulsed terrorist militants who attacked army bases in Hiiraan and Lower Jubba regions in central and southern parts of the country. SNA and local forces, Macawisley fought and pushed back terrorist militant fighters of Al-Shabaab who crossed the Shabelle river from Bardhere area south of Beledweyne town in Hiiraan region early in the morning according to military sources. Sources also said that SNA and Jubaland State forces reacted swiftly after Al-Shabaab militants shelled mortar rounds around Sanguni area about 45 Km south of Kismayo, the administrative capital of Jubaland State in the country. Al-Shabaab militants claimed to have inflicted casualties on SNA soldiers after attacking army bases in those two regions, but their claims were said to be baseless propaganda against the reality on the ground according to military sources. On the other side, Somali National Army’s elite forces, Danab and Gor-gor units took control of Ceel Cali Heele in Galgudud region under Galmudug State after conducting special operation there today.

Source: Somali National News Agency

The U.S. ambassador to Somalia said the Somali government’s military operations against al-Shabab have cost the militants one third of their territory.

“Somali-led offensives have restored Somalia’s sovereignty to 1/3 of the territory formerly misruled by al-Shabaab,” Larry André told VOA Somali in an email. “Ending al-Shabab’s oppression is one step further toward Somalia’s full revival.”

Since January, the United States donated weapons to the Somali national forces to support operations against al-Shabab. The U.S. also trains an elite Somali army unit known as Danab, which means “lightning” and has been leading the offensive against al-Shabab.

The Somali government this week reported that the military operations have inflicted heavy losses on the militant group during the past six months.

In a statement on March 25, Ministry of Information said that 3,000 al-Shabab militants were killed and 3,700 more were injured in the first phase of military operations between August of last year and January. The government also said 70 towns and villages have been liberated from al-Shabab.

Meanwhile, the militant group has claimed that the first phase of military operations by the Somali government and local fighters has failed.

In an interview with al-Shabab-affiliated radio, the militant group’s spokesman, Ali Mohamoud Rage, who is also known as Ali Dhere, accused the U.S. of mobilizing forces against the group.

He said the original plan was to eliminate al-Shabab within six months.

“The first phase of the operation concocted by the infidels has turned futile,” he said.

Contacted by VOA about the remarks by the al-Shabab spokesman, a senior Somali security official dismissed Ali Dhere’s claims.

The “definition of failure has to be revisited if liberating Middle Shabelle, Hiran, South Mudug and parts of Galgadud is a failure,” said Kamal Dahir Hassan Gutale, national security adviser to Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre.

The “Somali people and their government made possible all those successes reached by our security forces in a very short time,” he said.

Gutale said Ali Dhere’s claim that the U.S. mobilized the Somali military offensive is baseless.

“He is facing young Somali soldiers who are well-trained, battle-hardened, who took the battle towards the front lines,” he said. “Let him face them — they have liberated over 500 KMs from al-Shabab, and still they are after him.”

Criticism

Government officials said the second phase of military operations will start during Ramadan. But preparations for the second phase have faced criticism before it officially launches.

Abdullahi Mohamed Ali Sanbalolshe, the former director of the National Intelligence and Security Agency, says preparations for the second offensive focus more on the role of the government and less on the participation of local fighters who have been integral to the relative success of the first phase.

Sanbalolshe told VOA the local fighters have a low awareness about the new offensive. He alleges that the government is lowering the importance of the clans, locals and states.

“All Somalis were interested and were part of the first one [offensive] – the members of the parliament, clan elders, business community, the civil society, the diaspora,” he said.

“The participation of the clans [in the 2nd offensive] is low; it appears it’s confined to the government,” he said.

Defense Minister Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur has rejected the criticism that the government is not valuing the role of the locals.

“This fight belongs to the Somali people, and it is true that the successes were achieved with the collaboration of the people,” he said.

“Every area that is going to be liberated, its people will be consulted with and informed.”

Nur said most of the locals do not need the government to inform them about military offensives because they approach and ask for support.

Source: Voice of America

Years of civil war, foreign involvement and interference – most of it American – has left Somalia one of the poorest countries in the world. Almost three in four people live below the poverty line of 1.9 US dollars a day. Last year less than 100 people visited the country – AFRICA NOW is one of very few foreign media crews to be granted permission to do so. We bring you the story of a country battling terror and famine while trying to rebuild itself from a tragic past.

Source: Russia Today

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Dr Ibrahim Kana, has called for the sustenance of the Mathematics Olympiad as an annual event for Armed Forces Schools.

Kana made the call on Monday in Abuja, at the grand finale of the maiden edition of the Armed Forces Schools Mathematics Olympiad.

He said that mathematics was the foundation of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), and was critical to the nation’s security and prosperity.

He noted that mathematics was a vital subject that permeates all human endeavor from engineering to economics, medicine computer science among others.

” Mathematics play a critical role in every field. It’s application is not only limited to the sciences, but in everyday life situation.

“Therefore, it is with great importance that we encourage and promote mathematics as a key area of study,” he said

The permanent secretary also said that the initiative for the event received the approval of the ministry because it was an opportunity for students to showcase their problem-solving skills and creation in mathematics.

“It is an event that challenge the brightest minds to solve problems and think outside the box.”

He said he was proud of the role the Armed Forces Schools have played in fostering academic excellence among the students.

According to him, the schools have been in the forefront of nurturing and developing students mathematics abilities .

“We have made concerted effort to provide an enabling environment and access to quality returns that make learning mathematics an enjoyable experience.

“It has borne fruits with the outstanding performance we have today.

“Our future as a nation depends on the quality of education our children receive.

“I am confident that with the right support and environment, our students will go on to excell in their various fields of studies and contribute to the development of our great nation.

“It is believed that the Mathematics Olympiad, more than a competition, is a platform for students to learn, grow and develop their skills.

“It is also hoped that this event will inspire students to pursue their passion for mathematics and continue to excel in the field,” Kana said. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) is partnering with the Federal College of Fisheries and Marine Technology (FCFMT) to sanitise the profession against quackery.

A Senior Engineer and COREN Representative in Lagos, Mr Tomide Akinnawo, made this known during a courtesy visit to the FCFMT, Victoria Island, on Monday in Lagos.

He said that the partnership would give them the opportunity to help the institute ensure that all its engineers were certified members of COREN and not quacks.

“We need to ensure that all the engineers are registered professionals; that way we are sure the students are in safe hands.

“Engineering is the backbone of development in any nation. Therefore, it has to be taken seriously,” he said.

Akinnawo said as members of COREN, it was essential to ensure that quackery and fraudulent practices which had been hindering engineering practice in the society were curbed.

The Provost of the FCFMT, Dr Chuks Onuoha, said that the institute was ready to collaborate with any sister agency and COREN would not be an exception.

Onuoha said that such collaboration would lead to the development of the nation.

”Just as pointed out by COREN that technology or engineering is the bedrock of any development.

”We look forward to a friendly relationship with your agency and also no advice from you regarding how to make our institution better would be disregarded, ” he said.

He also urged the council to assist in registering their students as members of COREN at a subsidised fee.

The Chairman of Nigerian Association of Technologists in Engineering (NATE), Lagos chapter, Mr Kayode Ibidapo, said that the council was willing to expose the students to more beneficial workshops and trainings about the engineering profession.

“We believe that the technicians and craftsmen in your institution should also not be excluded. They need to attend trainings and workshops to upgrade themselves, ” Ibidapo said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that COREN is the regulatory body that governs the practice of engineering in Nigeria, while the FCFMT is a monotechnic approved by the National Board for Technical Education.

The College was originally known as the Federal School of Fisheries, established in 1969 as a vocational training institute for Nigeria’s in-shore fishing fleet.

It was upgraded to a technological institution in 1992.

The college offers courses in Fisheries Technology, General Science, Marine Engineering, Nautical Science and Maritime Transport. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Prof. Abdullahi Mustapha, Director-General of National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), says Nigeria is ready for genome editing technology with the biosafety laws in place.

Nigeria officially signed the Biosafety Bill into law in 2015, making it eligible to join the League of Nations already using genetic engineering (GE) to boost food production.

The law is to regulate the practice of modern biotechnology, handling and use of its products (genetically modified organisms) that may have adverse effects on conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

Mustapha, who stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja, said that this would enhance agricultural productivity in the country.

He said genome editing technology was a scientific innovation that helps in precision agriculture, where genetic impairment of a crop was targeted and fixed, enabling the crop to actualise its optimal yield.

He explained that the technology came with numerous benefits including reduction in time frame between planting and harvesting, mitigating climate change and less application of pesticides among others.

The D-G said the technology does not endanger nor harm the crop, adding that it only repairs what was responsible for the crop’s impaired growth through its DNA.

Mustapha said that as a target specific science, Nigeria has put in place regulations that would ensure the use of genome editing in the country.

“When used in agriculture, all the diseases bedevilling crops in the country, most especially crops of interest used as food and industrial raw materials are the ones being targeted.

“When this has been achieved, the country is going to gain quite a lot in terms of food supply and agricultural raw materials for industrial development.

“With that, there would be wealth creation as employment opportunities shall be available for our teeming population of youths,’’ the NABDA boss said.

He stressed that Nigeria’s agricultural focus was to be self-sufficient with enough food for all, with ample supply of industrial raw materials by industries to agricultural companies in the country.

“So, this technology is going to help in the area of providing the huge amount of crops that are going to be sufficient for these two purposes,’’ Mustapha said.

He said that the technology was an initiative of the African Union Development Agency-New Partnership for Africa’s Development (AUDA-NEPAD) Centre of Excellence in Science, Technology and Innovation (STI).

He said the mission of the Centre was to make use of modern technology to foster development across the African continent with focus on agricultural productivity.

Mustapha said about seven selected African countries including Nigeria were involved in the AUDA-NEPAD initiative, whereby collaboration would be formed to actualise this initiative within a specified timeframe.

He said this collaboration would enable exchange of ideas and strengths in order to foster scientific development and bring political will to bear on facilitating STI through the use of genome editing technology.

He explained that on the recent visit of the AUDA-NEPAD team, led by NABDA, the host agency and custodian of the technology, they had visited the Ministers of STI, Agriculture and Rural Development to solicit for support.

Mustapha said the genome editing initiative of the AUDA-NEPAD was a policy issue, and both ministers had pledged to enlighten the presidency on the prospects of using the technology to fast- track development.

“Presently, policy and working documents are being drafted for the technology to be applied on the African continent,’’ he said.

The NABDA D-G added that on the AUDA-NEPAD team’s return to Nigeria, part of their consortium would see about how some of the laboratories would be upgraded in order to achieve the aim.

“The goal of Africa that can feed itself in terms of agricultural produce is why the genome editing technology was conceived and why they came here,’’ Mustapha said.(NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

A leading Zimbabwean property company, WestProp Holdings has announced its official listing on the Victoria falls stock exchange.

Dr Michael Louis, Chairman of the board announced at a press conference held in Zimbabwe, on Monday that the company would formally be listed on April 29.

He said the company had received approval to list two categories of share capital namely its ordinary shares and preference shares.

“It is my privilege to formally announce that on the 7th of March, the Registrar of Companies approved West Property Company Pvt Ltd., to become a public company and West Prop Holdings Ltd. was birthed and issued with its certificate of name change,” he said.

Louis said the shares would accordingly be opening an offer for public subscription for the securities from March 27 to April 21, 2023.

He said the decision was in line with the National Development Strategy of ZImbabwe to achieve an empowered upper-middle income society by 2030 to chart a new transformative and inclusive development agenda.

“The board thought of creative ideas to have a participatory inclusive economic model that really can help the poor and give everybody a secure future.

“We are further elated to announce that we have decided to list on the victoria fall stock exchange because of the numerous benefits it holds for shareholders, including but not limited to shares trading in US Dollars, no capital gains and minimum transaction costs.

“If you buy preference shares the company underwrites a minimum return of 7.5 per cent per annum on investments,” he said.

Louis added that WestProp’s IPO is to raise 30 million dollars in capital to accelerate the development of the company’s existing projects such as Pokugara Residential Estate, Millennium Heights, Pomona City, The Mall of Zimbabwe, Millennium Heights Office Park and the Hills Golf Estate.

This, he said, was in line with the company’s 2050 vision of one billion bricks resulting in thousands of jobs and a total value of five billion dollars.

“As we have now gone public, the board is convinced the time is now for individuals to be part of a bigger family to start investing in their long-term future and especially encourage the youth to start participating.

“To this end, the board will be investing in educational literacy programmes to transform and educate the public and especially the youth regarding their responsibility of securing a generational future,” he said.

Louis, the new chairman of the board acknowledged the achievements of Kenneth Sharpe, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and his team that have led the company to receive several international and national awards.

The awards included Company of the Year 2023 ( Zim land Developments and construction Awards); Property Development Company of the Year 2021. ( Property Magazine); Company of the Year National Awards 2021 (Zimbabwe Business Awards).

Others were Best Real Estate Innovative company of the year 2021 (Zim Infrastructure Investment summit);

Outstanding Property Development company 2022. (Zim CEO Network).

In his remarks, Sharpe announced that the company was offering one million ordinary shares at 10 dollars each and 5.4 million preferential redeemable convertible shares at 5 dollars each.

According to him, the preferential shares allow investors five years to decide to become ordinary shareholders during which time they will benefit from a minimum guaranteed return of 7.5 per cent per year as well as dividends from the company’s profits.

“This is likely to result in over 10 per cent per year being paid out which is an amount that no other listed company or bank in Zimbabwe is currently offering investors.

“We have a goal of taking our company from the current annual sales of 40 million dollars to over 100 million dollars within seven years and to create a balance sheet that will exceed one billion dollars in value which is more than five times the one today.

“All the shareholders will benefit from this growth. We know It is achievable and within our grasp,” he said

He said the company’s corporate strategy statement was to pioneer world-class, vertically-integrated, premium lifestyle communities in Zimbabwe by 2025.

“It is not a coincidence that we have targeted one billion bricks if you look at our projected construction for the projects we have designed, it will take one billion bricks and five billion dollars to complete them.

“Every day we are putting bricks into the ground working towards the vision where we know that within the next 27 years, we will have laid one billion bricks.

“As of today, we have laid 5,298,975 bricks and we have 55, 626,972 committed bricks from our existing sales,” he said.

“This ensures we have smart cities encompass the live, work, shop and play model which means we provide social amenities like shopping malls, sporting facilities, creches, churches and many other recreational facilities in a safe 24 hour secure gated community,” he said.

He also assured the public that the benefits of investing in the company were multi-dimensional.

According to him, the company guarantees a secure investment where someone who’s investing 50 dollars will know that their money will still be there in one month, in one year and five years.

“It’s an alternative to the banks. There’s no cost we deduct for holding that value on behalf of the investor, and they are guaranteed that their investment is safe with us.

“Once they have invested with us, the investment doesn’t just stay at the 50 dollars that they invested. We give a solid return. The reason why we’re able to give them an expected return of over 10 per cent a year in USD is that we are highly profitable.

“We are saying that together with the public, we can join hands and build Zimbabwe because the opportunity to invest with us will allow us and the public to come together, hold hands and build our country brick by brick.

“We are doing this today through IPO and the listing, benefiting yourself in becoming a shareholder with us, you are joining hands in owning the assets that we own,” he said. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Bangladeshi High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr Masudur Rahman has expressed the desire of his country to deepen cooperation with Nigeria in the areas of agriculture, textile and Information and Communications Technology (ICT).

Rahman said this on Sunday evening in Abuja at a reception to mark the 52nd Independence and National Day celebration of Bangladesh.

He said considering the peculiarity between both countries in terms of demography and diplomatic pursuits, Nigeria and Bangladesh needed to further strengthen cooperation from all fronts.

“Today Bangladesh and Nigeria, having tremendous synergies in demography, colonial legacy, democratic and secular traditions and diplomatic pursuits under the ambit of the UN and it’s specialised bodies, the OIC, the D-8 and the Commonwealth are poised to deepen further our existing bilateral cooperation.

“Both countries are eyeing to expand cooperation in agriculture, education, communications and digital economy, export-led sectors like garments/textiles, SMEs including defense training and exchanges,” he said.

Rahman also stressed the need to explore other areas of untapped potential and mutual interest.

“I am hopeful that Bangladesh and Nigeria will strive further to tap the unexplored huge potential existing in the two countries and people, to elevate the bilateral cooperation to the next level of incentivized trading and business,” he added.

The envoy paid homage to the visionary leadership of the ‘father of the nation’ Sheikh Mujibur Rahman for his struggle for independence and bequeathing an independent and prosperous nation to its people.

He noted that the Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina had gradually moved the country into a digital middle-income developing country from where it was at independence.

He said the country was on the road to achieving all SDGs and transforming the country into a higher middle-income country before 2030.

The high commissioner therefore called on the international community to continue to partner with Bangladesh in its quest for rapid development.

NAN reports that the occasion was graced by diplomats, captains of industries, the academia, defence attaches among other dignitaries.

The Independence Day of Bangladesh is celebrated on March 26 as a national day.

It commemorates the country’s declaration of independence from Pakistan in 1971. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Source: News Agency of Nigeria