The World Health Organization on Wednesday declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years, following an outbreak of the viral infection in Democratic Republic of Congo that has spread to neighbouring countries.

An emergency committee met earlier on Wednesday to advise WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on whether the disease outbreak constitutes a "public health emergency of international concern," or PHEIC.

PHEIC status is WHO's highest level of alert and aims to accelerate research, funding and international public health measures and cooperation to contain a disease.

"It's clear that a coordinated international response is essential to stop these outbreaks and save lives," said Tedros.

Mpox can spread through close contact. Usually mild, it is fatal in rare cases. It causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions on the body.

The outbreak in Congo began with the spread of an endemic strain, known as clade I. But a new variant, clade Ib, appears to spread more easily through routine close contact, including sexual contact.

It has spread from Congo to neighbouring countries, including Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, triggering the action from the WHO.

"The detection and rapid spread of a new clade of mpox in eastern DRC, its detection in neighbouring countries that had not previously reported mpox, and the potential for further spread within Africa and beyond is very worrying," Tedros added.

Tedros said on Wednesday that WHO had released $1.5 million in contingency funds and plans to release more in the coming days. WHO's response plan would require an initial $15 million, and the agency plans to appeal to donors for funding.

Earlier this week, Africa's top public health body declared an mpox emergency for the continent after warning that the viral infection was spreading at an alarming rate, with more than 17,000 suspected cases and more than 500 deaths this year, mainly among children in Congo.

Professor Dimie Ogoina, chair of WHO's mpox emergency committee, said all members unanimously agreed that the current upsurge of cases is an "extraordinary event," with a record number of cases in Congo.

Vaccines and behaviour change helped stop the spread when a different strain of mpox spread globally, primarily among men who have sex with men, and WHO declared an emergency in 2022.

In Congo, the transmission routes need further study, WHO said. No vaccines are yet available, although efforts are underway to change that and work out who best to target. The agency also appealed to countries with stockpiles to donate shots.

Reuters

PRESS RELEASE

Afenifere is deeply concerned by President Bola Tinubu's response to the visit from the Patriots group, where he indicated a preference to focus on his economic reforms and the resulting economic hardships before addressing Restructuring.

This approach, which prioritizes fiscal and monetary policies that lack coherence and synergy, neglects the fact that Restructuring is the very foundation needed for economic growth, recovery, and the resolution of other multifaceted challenges in our polity. We urge the President to reconsider his strategy. What is required is a holistic approach that addresses these issues at their roots, simultaneously. This means implementing not just economic and political reforms and palliatives but complete economic and political restructuring for the following reasons:

1. Interconnectedness of Politics and Economics:

Politics determines how we organize to achieve our objectives, while economics provides the means to do so. These are inseparable at the root of societal functions. Nigeria’s current economic problems stem from political foundations that were designed not for economic prosperity but for political control and economic dependency centered on an exploitative system. A constitution represents a social contract between the government and the governed. With the Nigerian government overly centralized, unjustly skewed towards a particular region, and abdicating its social responsibilities to free market forces, both the government and the governed are under-optimized. Restructuring is essential to re-establish a new social contract with balanced political and economic responsibilities.

2. Historical Precedent and Current Economic Collapse:

The 1929 Great Depression, which led to US President Roosevelt's New Deal and British Keynesianism, was not as severe or prolonged as Nigeria's ten-year economic collapse. The Naira has lost 80 percent of its value, real wages have more than halved, unemployment and inflation have skyrocketed, and Gross Domestic Product has halved since 2014. A responsible Nigerian leadership must respond with far-reaching, fundamental economic and political restructuring rather than superficial reforms that merely address economic indicators.

3. Necessity of Devolution of Power:

Restructuring and devolution of power to federating units, even at a minimum level as recommended in the President’s own party’s El-Rufai Committee report, are necessary for peace, harmony, and the country’s continued corporate existence. Without these, there can be no economic prosperity. Devolution of power is crucial to enable polycentric political authorities and responsibilities, which are necessary for a polycentric, bottom-up economy. For instance, agriculture, Nigeria’s largest contributor to GDP, is threatened by the over-centralization of the police, which hampers effective local policing. Additionally, states are constitutionally dependent on federal allocations from crude oil proceeds, while vast resources go untapped due to constitutional restrictions preventing states from exploiting their own resources.

4. Comprehensive Infrastructure Development:

Like Roosevelt's New Deal, which included massive public works programmes to provide employment and essential infrastructure, Tinubu must institute an emergency, comprehensive infrastructural development programme. This should involve building at least 5,000 kilometers of railway (e.g., Lagos-Calabar, Ilorin-Yola, and Sokoto-Maiduguri), massive low-cost housing, and solar energy panels within three years. Simultaneously, constitutional amendments should be pursued to devolve power and empower federating units, and private production concerns, with a social contract that optimizes and sustains the new economic infrastructure.

5. Rethinking Economic Prioritization:

The belief that economic problems must be resolved first, guided by neo-liberal economic perspectives, is flawed. This approach focuses on balancing budgets and then providing palliatives to future restructured federating units without a social contract, leaving them to the whims of the free market. This is a wrong approach. Instead, the government should identify and address necessary infrastructural and constitutional gaps to resolve current issues and ensure long-term sustainability.

6. Ideological Shift from Neo-Liberal Policies: Tinubu must move away from the 45-year-old neo-liberal economic policies that advocate subsidy removals and devaluation in pursuit of balanced budgets. These policies have abdicated the government’s social contract to improve citizens' lives, instead driving them into poverty, unemployment, and de-industrialization. Contrary to advice from foreign free-market advisors, Nigeria must engage in deficit budgeting and other means to tackle the massive tasks ahead. It was the deficit budgeting through military Keynesianism during World War II that finally ended the Great Depression. If necessary, Nigeria should negotiate debt rescheduling, debt-equity swaps, or enforce a debt moratorium to ensure our continued corporate existence.

7. Restructuring the Police for Local Security and Economic Growth:

Restructuring the police to address local security concerns would free up the army, which, through its Engineering Corps and the Defence Industries Corporation, could employ millions of unemployed Nigerians to build infrastructure at a lower cost. This partnership between the federal government and the army would yield significant returns on investment, potentially over $50 billion annually. The government could then sell shares to private enterprises to repay debts. This would also create a structurally and emotionally attached army protective of the country’s growing economic complex, thereby reducing the risk of coups.

8. Empowering Federating Units Through Economic Development:

Restructured federating units would gain new sources of income by building state-owned railways connected to the federal grid. This would develop the iron/steel, chemical, and electrical subsectors, significantly increasing their collective GDP contributions, currently at just about 1.5%. Devolution of power and economic control would incentivize federating units to develop a new railway complex and real estate, with significant income and employment multiplier effects in agriculture, agro-allied industries, and mining for industrial use locally and in other markets. With real estate being a major source of wealth, the cost savings from the massive low-cost housing program would be passed on to the masses, spurring the growth of various consumer markets.

Ultimately, for a fair, productive, and prosperous corporate existence as a nation, political and economic solutions must be designed and implemented simultaneously. Our political structures should be based on a new social contract dictated by economic and sociopolitical demands.

Signed:

Ayo Adebanjo, Leader, Afenifere

Justice Faloye, Afenifere National Publicity Secretary

Top Hamas official says the group is losing faith in the US as a mediator in Gaza cease-fire talks

A top Hamas official said the Palestinian militant group is losing faith in the United States’ ability to mediate a cease-fire in Gaza ahead of a new round of talks scheduled for this week amid mounting pressure to bring an end to the 10-month-old war with Israel.

Osama Hamdan told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday that Hamas will only participate if the talks focus on implementing a proposal detailed by U.S. President Joe Biden in May and endorsed internationally.

The U.S. referred to it as an Israeli proposal and Hamas agreed to it in principle, but Israel said Biden’s speech was not entirely consistent with the proposal itself. Both sides later proposed changes, leading each to accuse the other of obstructing a deal.

Hamas is especially resistant to Israel’s demand that it maintain a lasting military presence in two strategic areas of Gaza after any cease-fire, conditions only made public in recent weeks.

“We have informed the mediators that … any meeting should be based on talking about implementation mechanisms and setting deadlines rather than negotiating something new,” said Hamdan, who is a member of Hamas’ Political Bureau, which includes the group’s top political leaders and sets its policies. “Otherwise, Hamas finds no reason to participate.”

It was not clear late Wednesday if Hamas would attend the talks beginning Thursday.

Hamdan spoke amid a new push for an end to the war, sparked by the Oct. 7 attack on Israel in which Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people and dragged about 250 hostages into Gaza. Israel responded with a devastating bombardment and ground invasion that has killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians and decimated wide swaths of the territory.

There are now fears the conflict could ignite a wider conflagration.

In an hourlong interview, Hamdan accused Israel of not engaging in good faith and said the group does not believe the U.S. can or will apply pressure on Israel to seal a deal.

Hamdan claimed Israel has “either sent a non-voting delegation (to the negotiations) or changed delegations from one round to another, so we would start again, or it has imposed new conditions.”

Israeli officials had no immediate comment on the claim, but Israel has denied sabotaging talks and accuses Hamas of doing so.

During the interview, Hamdan provided copies of several iterations of the cease-fire proposal and the group’s written responses. A regional official familiar with the talks verified the documents were genuine. The official offered the assessment on condition of anonymity in order to share information not made public.

The documents show that at several points Hamas attempted to add additional guarantors — including Russia, Turkey and the United Nations — but Israel’s responses always included only the existing mediators, the U.S., Egypt and Qatar.

In a statement Tuesday, the Israeli prime minister’s office said some changes it has asked for were merely “clarifications” adding details, such as to clauses dealing with how Palestinians will return to northern Gaza, how many hostages will be released during specific phases and whether Israel can veto which Palestinian prisoners will be released in exchange for Israeli hostages. It accused Hamas of asking for 29 changes to the proposal.

“The fact is that it is Hamas which is preventing the release of our hostages, and which continues to oppose the outline,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier this month.

Hamdan, however, claimed that more than once Hamas accepted in whole or in large part a proposal put to them by the mediators only to have Israel reject it out of hand, ignore it, or launch major new military operations in the days that followed.

On one occasion, one day after Hamas accepted a cease-fire proposal, Israel launched a new operationin Rafah in southern Gaza. Israel said the proposal remained far from its demands.

Hamdan said that CIA Director William Burns told Hamas via mediators at the time that Israel would agree to the deal.

But, he said, “the Americans were unable to convince the Israelis. I think they did not pressure the Israelis.”

Asked about Hamas’ concern about the U.S. role, State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said: “Well, the United States does not think that Hamas is an honest broker.”

As to whether Hamas will attend the talks, Patel said representatives of Qatar had assured them they would.

“We fully expect these talks to move forward as they should. Our point of view is that all negotiators should return to the table,” Patel said.

Negotiations have taken on new urgency as the war has threatened to ignite a regional conflict.

Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah are mulling retaliatory strikes against Israel after the killings of Hamas’ political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran and of top Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukur in Beirut. Israel claimed the latter strike, but has neither confirmed nor denied its role in the blast that killed Haniyeh.

After a brief truce in November that saw the release of more than 100 Israeli hostages, multiple rounds of cease-fire talks have fallen apart. Around 110 people taken captive remain in Gaza, about a third of them believed to be dead.

Hamdan accused Israel of stepping up its attacks on Hamas leaders after the group agreed in principle to the latest proposal put forward by mediators.

Israel said a July 13 operation in Gaza killed Mohammed Deif, the shadowy leader of Hamas’ military wing. More than 90 other people also died, local health officials said.

Hamdan insisted Deif is alive.

Two weeks later, Haniyeh was killed, with Hamas and Iran blaming Israel. Hamas then named Yahya Sinwar, its Gaza chief seen as responsible for the Oct. 7 attack, to replace Haniyeh — who had been considered a more moderate figure.

Hamdan acknowledged there are “some difficulties” and delays in communicating with Sinwar, who is believed to be hiding deep in the network of tunnels in the Gaza Strip. But Hamdan insisted this does not pose a major barrier to the negotiations.

The most intractable sticking point in the talks remains whether and how a temporary cease-fire would become permanent.

Israel has been wary of proposals that the initial truce would be extended as long as negotiations continue over a permanent deal. Israel seems concerned Hamas would drag on endlessly with fruitless negotiations.

Hamas has said it is concerned Israel will resume the war once its most vulnerable hostages are returned, a scenario reflected in some of Netanyahu’s recent comments.

All versions of the cease-fire proposal shared by Hamdan stipulated that Israeli forces withdraw completely from Gaza in the deal’s second phase.

Recently, however, officials with knowledge of the negotiations told the AP that Israel had introduced new demands to maintain a presence in a strip of land on the Gaza-Egypt border known as the Philadelphi corridor, as well as along a highway running across the breadth of the strip, separating Gaza’s south and north. Hamas has insisted on a full withdrawal of Israeli forces.

Hamdan said the group had not yet received in writing the new conditions.

Hamdan acknowledged Palestinians have suffered immensely in the war and are yearning for a cease-fire, but insisted the group couldn’t simply give up its demands.

“A cease-fire is one thing,” he said, “and surrender is something else.”

AP

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine says advance into Russia 'going well', creates strategic buffer

Ukraine's forces advanced further into Russia's Kursk region on Wednesday as Kyiv said its gains would provide a strategic buffer zone to protect its border areas from Russian attacks.

Kyiv's surge into Russian territory last week caught Moscow by surprise. Russian forces that began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 had been grinding out steady gains all year.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he met top officials to discuss the humanitarian situation and establishing a military commandant's offices “if needed” in an occupied area that Kyiv says exceeds 1,000 sq km (390 sq miles).

"We continue to advance further in Kursk," Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram, "from one to two km in various areas since the start of the day".

Later, in his nightly address, Zelenskiy referred to the growing number of Russian prisoners of war taken in Kursk who could be exchanged for Ukrainian fighters.

"Our advance in Kursk is going well today – we are reaching our strategic goal. The 'exchange fund' for our state has also been significantly replenished."

Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said creation of a "buffer zone" was "designed to protect our border communities from daily enemy attacks".

Russia has been pummelling Ukraine with strikes launched from adjacent border territories, including Kursk.

Ukraine complains its defence against such attacks has been hamstrung by the need to respect Western countries' compunction about using their weapons against Russia's hinterland rather than against its forces in occupied Ukraine. Zelenskiy once more urged Western allies to permit long-range missile strikes into Russia.

RUSSIA SAYS IT DOWNS UKRAINIAN DRONES

Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed to expel the Ukrainian troops. He says they aim, with Western backing, to give Kyiv a stronger hand in possible future ceasefire talks. But more than a week of intense battles have so far failed to oust them.

"The situation remains difficult," said Yuri Podolyaka, an influential Ukrainian-born, pro-Russian military blogger.

Ukraine's General Staff said Kyiv hit four Russian military airfields overnight in the Russian regions of Voronezh, Kursk and Nizhniy Novgorod, targeting fuel stores and aerial weapons. Zelenskiy called the attack "timely" and "accurate".

The aim of the long-range drone strike was to undermine Russia's ability to attack Ukraine with glide bombs, a Ukrainian security source told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Ukraine's military said it had destroyed a Russian Su-34.

Moscow said it shot down 117 of the Ukrainian drones as well as four missiles. The Russian Defence Ministry posted a video on Telegram that it said showed Sukhoi Su-34 bombers striking Ukrainian positions in Kursk region.

Later, Russia's defence ministry said its forces had repelled a series of Ukrainian attacks inside Kursk, including at Russkoye Porechnoye, 18 km (11 miles) from the border. Some pro-Russian war bloggers said the front had been stabilised, while state television said Moscow's forces were turning the tide.

Russia's National Guard said it was beefing up security at the Kursk nuclear power plant, just 35 km (22 miles) from the fighting.

In the Russian border region of Belgorod, governor Vyacheslav Gladkov declared a state of emergency.

Russia says it has already evacuated around 200,000 people from the border zone. The acting governor of the Kursk region late on Wednesday said on Telegram that residents of the border settlement of Glushkovo were ordered to evacuate.

UKRAINE PLANS CIVILIAN EVACUATION CORRIDORS

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Kyiv would open humanitarian corridors for evacuating civilians toward both Russia and Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials said Kyiv would also arrange access for international humanitarian organisations, likely to include the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations.

The unprecedented incursion carries major risks for Russia, Ukraine and the West, which is keen to avoid a direct confrontation between Russia and the U.S.-led NATO military alliance that has helped arm Ukraine.

U.S. President Joe Biden said U.S. officials were in constant touch with Kyiv over the incursion, although the White House said Washington had not received advance notice and had no involvement.

Russian officials say Ukraine's Western backers must have known of the attack. "Of course they are involved," lawmaker Maria Butina told Reuters.

The offensive could leave Ukrainian forces more exposed on other parts of the front, where Russia has been slowly adding to the 18% of Ukrainian territory it now controls.

The heaviest fighting is still in the Donetsk region, and Zelenskiy said his forces there would receive more weapons than planned from the next Western support package.

Ukraine's top commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said the Russian town of Sudzha, a transhipment hub for Russian natural gas flowing to Europe via Ukraine, was fully under Ukrainian control. Natural gas was still flowing on Wednesday.

"Sudzha is under Ukrainian control. However, Ukraine has no intention of claiming someone else’s land," the Kyiv foreign ministry said on X.

The Russian rouble fell further against the dollar on Wednesday, for a loss of over 8% since the incursion began.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

The Ukrainian armed forces' losses in the Kursk Region over the past day amounted to 270 military personnel and 16 armored vehicles, including two tanks, while 18 servicemen have surrendered, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.

According to the agency, the enemy has lost upwards of 2,300 military personnel since fighting began in the Kursk Region.

According to Major General Apti Alaudinov, deputy head of the Main Military and Political Department of the Russian Armed Forces and commander of the Akhmat special forces, Russia has stabilized the situation in the region. The blockade of the Ukrainian forces that have entered the country is now being finalized.

TASS has gathered the key facts about the situation.

Situation in the region

- The Russian army foiled Ukraine’s attempts to break through near Skrylevka, Levshinka, Semyonovka, Alekseyevskoye, and Kamyshnoye in the Kursk Region.

- Six Ukrainian attacks were repelled near the settlements of Korenevo, Olgovka, Pogrebki, Russkoe Porechnoye and Cherkesskoe Porechnoye.

- Russian troops took out Ukrainian units and equipment in the areas of Loknya, Kremiany, Oleshnya, Sverdlikova and Daryino.

- The Russian military detected and destroyed two enemy groups in pickup trucks near Martynovka.

- Russian aircraft struck Ukrainian reserves near Yunakovka, Sadki, Miropolye, Hrapovshchyna, Mogritsa and Krovnoye in the Sumy Region.

Ukraine's losses

- Ukraine lost up to 270 servicemen and 16 armored vehicles, including two tanks, a Stryker armored personnel carrier, 13 armored combat vehicles, as well as 10 vehicles and a 122-mm D-30 howitzer, during the past day. Eighteen Ukrainian servicemen were captured.

- During the entire period of fighting in the region, Ukraine lost up to 2,300 servicemen, 37 tanks, 32 armored personnel carriers, 18 infantry fighting vehicles, 192 armored combat vehicles, 88 vehicles, four anti-aircraft missile systems, two multiple rocket launchers and 15 field artillery guns.

Alaudinov's statements

- The situation in the Kursk Region is under the Russian troops' control. The blocking of those Ukrainian formations that have entered the territory is now being completed.

- According to him, the enemy is no longer taking offensive actions in the Kursk direction and has begun to gradually fortify the border areas to avoid being annihilated.

- Russian forces will soon launch a widespread offensive to completely destroy the Ukrainian armed forces in the area.

- The Ukrainian raid was aimed at capturing the Kursk nuclear power plant by August 11. This task was not accomplished.

- Most of the enemy’s equipment has already been destroyed.

- The Ukrainian armed forces do not control Sudzha, despite some reports. Russian Defense Ministry units are in the city; intense clashes with the enemy are underway.

Statements by local authorities

- The authorities and the Russian Armed Forces control the situation in the Belovsky District of the Kursk Region, the head of the district, Nikolay Volobuev, told TASS.

- A temporary lull from the Ukrainian shelling is going on in the Sujansky District. The authorities continue to evacuate citizens whenever possible, its head Alexander Bogachev told TASS.

- The operational situation in the Lgovsky District is stable, with no shelling taking place, the head of the municipality, Sergey Korostelev, told TASS.

Reuters/Tass

Ambitious workers get a lot of advice early in their career about how to get ahead. One common tip is: Be among the first to arrive at the office and the last to leave to show your boss you’re committed to the job.

Brianna Doe used to feel that way. When the marketing professional began her career about a decade ago, she’d often clock into the office early and work long hours “to show that I have the drive and the motivation, and that I want to grow within the company.”

Doe was eager to show her manager and people outside her department that she could “go above and beyond,” and she felt “a great way to do that is by being the first one to show up and the last one to leave,” Doe tells CNBC Make It.

That being said, “I also experienced such intense cycles of burnout by doing that.”

Looking back, Doe recognizes that the well-intentioned advice often comes with the caveat that working long hours shows your dedication to your work at the expense of your personal time and life.

“I didn’t have any sort of work-life harmony in my life,” says Doe, who now runs her own marketing agency, Verbatim. These days, she says, “I do believe that’s an outdated take, especially now that we’ve ushered in this new era of setting boundaries and prioritizing your mental health.”

Stacie Haller, chief career advisor at ResumeBuilder with over 30 years of recruiting experience, agrees.

“I think people are savvy these days enough to know that just because you sit in the office eight hours a day doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a productive employee,” she says.

A better way to get ahead

Instead, there are plenty of other ways to use your time to show you’re excited about your job and want to grow.

“Establish relationships, find a mentor, get to know a team,” Haller says. “Observe the successful people, see how they work and operate, and ask for advice.”

Gen Z workers, in particular, are in a good position to prioritize building work relationships that can help them years down the line, Haller says: “That’s what you should be doing in the office. Don’t focus on getting there early and staying late just to make believe you’re a hard worker. That is not going to cut it.”

That message also has to come from the top. Doe believes bosses should re-assess their expectations if they’re focused on an employee’s time spent at their desk rather than what they’re completing or how they’re expressing their ambition.

“If your new employee is doing great work, and they ask you for more opportunities and want to be on different projects, that should speak more volumes than somebody who just stays later than you,” she says.

All of this being said, Haller adds that it’s important to follow your team’s lead in terms of when to show up and when to leave the workplace.

Adhere to the culture: Be on time, don’t be late, don’t miss meetings and “don’t have lame excuses,” Haller says.

Ultimately, she says, “If everybody’s there 8:30 to 6, be there 8:30 to 6. But if you’re showing up at 7 just to make some point to nobody but yourself, that’s a little crazy.”

CNBC

The Port Harcourt Refining Company, a refinery under the management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited in Rivers State, has again failed to commence operations after about six postponements.

It was observed that promises made to Nigerians by the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources and NNPC about the refinery have continued to witness multiple failures.

Since December 2023, NNPC, which is in charge of all the government refineries, has given Nigerians different dates, assuring citizens that the refinery would begin the sale of refined products soon.

In July, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPC, Mele Kyari, stated categorically that the refinery would come into operation in early August.

The same Kyari said in 2019 that the NNPC would deliver all the country’s four refineries before the end of former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

While appearing before the senate recently in July, Kyari boasted, “I can confirm to you, Mr Chairman, that by the end of the year, this country will be a net exporter of petroleum products.

“Specific to NNPC refineries, we have spoken to a number of your committees, and it is impossible to have the Kaduna refinery come into operation before December, it will get to December, both Warri and Kaduna, but that of Port Harcourt will commence production early August this year.”

However, as August nears midpoint, the refinery has yet to commence operations, creating concerns that this might be another failed promise from NNPC.

Replying to inquiries from our correspondent on Tuesday, the NNPC said it was on course, even when the early August promise has expired.

In a chat with our correspondent, the NNPC spokesperson, Olufemi Soneye, tersely replied, “We are on course.”

Soneye did not reply to further questions, asking if he meant the refinery would still operate this month.

It would be recalled that the 210,000 barrels per day refinery was said to have reached what the NNPC called mechanical completion of rehabilitation work in December.

It stated that the facility would start refining 60,000 barrels of crude oil daily after last year’s Christmas break.

Later in January, Kyari said the refinery was being tested and would be ready by the end of January.

During the second month of the year, the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited completed the supply of 475,000 barrels of crude oil to the Port Harcourt refinery, raising the expectations of marketers that production was set to commence.

This came a few weeks after NNPC said in January it was seeking to engage reputable and credible operations and maintenance companies to run the Port Harcourt refinery. NNPC did not disclose whether or not it had secured bidders to run the refinery.

In mid-March, Kyari said the Port Harcourt refinery would commence operations in two weeks, April.

“We are serving this country with honour and dignity. And we will make sure that the promises we make on the rehabilitation of these refineries will take place,” Kyari stated after he appeared before the Senate Ad-hoc Committee investigating the various turnaround maintenance projects of the country’s refineries.

As the April deadline elapsed, independent petroleum marketers said that the facility would begin production by the end of July.

Commenting on this, NNPC’s Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Soneye, said regulatory approvals from international bodies were the only impediment stalling the operational commencement of the refinery.

“We have said that the mechanical completion has been done and every other thing is done. There is crude oil and all the pipes are working; we are only waiting for regulatory approvals. As I said, some of our materials and the things we use have to do with nuclear, and we need the nuclear authorities to give us approval to use all those things at the site.

“And some of these approvals come from bodies outside of Nigeria. Until they give us those approvals, we can’t begin operations. We are ready to go but if something happens without it, which would be another issue. Everything has been completed in terms of our work, and once we get those approvals, it will start operations,” Soneye revealed in May.

Some Nigerians have expressed disappointment that the nation’s refineries have remained moribund for years. The country has since depended on imported fuel as it lacks refining capacity, spending up to N2tn monthly.

The President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, said $4bn had been spent by the Federal Government in an attempt to revive the nation’s refineries.

Obasanjo talks tough

While addressing some House of Representatives members who visited him in Abeokuta on Friday, former President Olusegun Obasanjo recalled how Shell refused his pleas to help run the refineries when he invited them during his days as the President, blaming corruption and poor management.

According to Obasanjo, some Nigerians later paid $750m to take over the refineries, however, his successor turned it back.

“I ran to him, I said, ‘You know this is not right’. He said, ‘Well, NNPC said they can do it’. I said ‘NNPC cannot do it’. I told my successor that ‘the refineries, from what I heard and know, will not work and when you want to sell them, you will not get anybody to buy them at $200m as scrap’. And that is the situation we are in.

“So, why do we do this kind of thing to ourselves? NNPC knew that they could not do it, but they knew they could eat and carry on with the corruption that was going on in NNPC. When people were there to do it, they put pressure. In a civilized society, those people should be in jail,” Obasanjo posited.

He told the lawmakers that he was aware they were investigating the $1.5bn the NNPC has spent on the Port Harcourt refinery.

The refinery, situated in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta region, has been in operation since 1965, but later became moribund for several years. The Alesa Eleme refinery complex is approximately 25km east of Port Harcourt.

In March 2021, the Nigerian government acquired a $1.5bn loan for the renovation and modernisation of the refinery; a move that was criticised by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who advocated the sale of all government refineries.

While reacting to the plan to hand the refinery over to private managers, Atiku tackled former President Muhammadu Buhari and the incumbent President Bola Tinubu for failing to heed his advice that the refinery and others owned by the government should be sold to private individuals.

Earlier, NNPC disclosed that it signed an agreement with the African Refinery Port Harcourt Limited for the subscription of 15 per cent equity by ARPHL in the Port Harcourt Refining Company.

Parties in the deal said the agreement would lead to an increase in the refining capacity of the Port Harcourt refinery from 210,000 barrels per day to 310,000bpd.

PHRC is one of the three national refineries under the management of NNPC.

Meanwhile, the Senate has raised questions over the $1.5bn approved in 2021 for the renovation of the refinery.

The upper chamber lamented that it is “unfair and wrong to treat government businesses or public companies as an orphan while private businesses were flourishing and thriving.”

The Senate Leader and Chairman of the Senate ad-hoc Committee to investigate the alleged economic sabotage in the Nigerian Petroleum Industry, Opeyemi Bamidele, raised the questions at a session with stakeholders in the industry in Abuja.

At the session, Bamidele expressed concerns over the dysfunctionality of the government-owned refineries despite investments to carry out turn-around maintenance.

Nigerians are hopeful that the refinery will stop fuel importation and crash the pump price of petrol when completed.

Punch

Bello Galadanchi, a skitmaker popularly known as Dan Bello, has said that Nigerians are dying of hunger because of President Bola Tinubu economic policies.

Dan Bello stated this during an interview on Trust TV’s Daily Politics on Tuesday.

He challenged the government to sue him if it was not happy with his works.

The skitmaker said that he was not affiliated to any political party in the country, saying he was not working for anybody.

Bello said, “If what I am doing is not good for them, that means that it is automatically good for the people. If what they are doing is good, then no one will feel that the content is creating significant chances. That automatically is saying what they are doing is not enough. What they are doing is causing all these issues we are facing.

“The ruling party has enacted policies that are making people hungry. People are dying. People are eating grass right now. People drinking contaminated water. People go about knocking doors and saying we have not eaten for three days.

“This is not a natural disaster, rainfall or a tsunami. These are from policies that are avoidable. These leaders just put out those policies and closed their ears.

“And now they are unhappy because we are calling them out because of the policies. They just want us to keep quiet while people are dying. Really? Where is our humanity? What is the point of studying and seeing how things are done outside and people don’t go hungry in other countries? And we just keep quiet.

“Now they are unhappy because they are getting themselves billions of naira and doing all kinds of bogus projects. Yes, I want them to be unhappy. I want them to go to court. I want them to sue and do anything they can so that we can keep quiet. That means our work is getting better and better.”

Daily Trust

The recent study revealing that babies in Nigeria are being born with antibiotic-resistant bacteria is a alarming wake-up call that demands immediate and decisive action from the Nigerian government. This crisis not only threatens the lives of Nigeria’s most vulnerable citizens but also poses a significant risk to public health and the future of medical treatment in the country.

To address this critical issue, the government must take the following steps:

1. Ban agricultural use of critical antibiotics: The government must immediately prohibit the use of colistin and other critically important antibiotics in livestock farming. This ban should be strictly enforced with severe penalties for violations.

2. Regulate antibiotic imports: Implement stringent controls on the importation of livestock feed containing antibiotics, particularly those banned in other countries. This will help prevent Nigeria from becoming a dumping ground for harmful agricultural practices.

3. Improve agricultural practices: Invest in programmes to educate farmers on alternative methods of disease prevention in livestock, such as improved hygiene, vaccination, and better animal husbandry practices. Provide financial incentives for farmers to transition to antibiotic-free farming.

4. Enhance healthcare infrastructure: Significantly increase funding for hospital infection control programmes, water sanitation, and hygiene facilities. This will help reduce the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in healthcare settings and communities.

5. Strengthen antibiotic stewardship: Implement and enforce strict guidelines for the prescription and use of antibiotics in both human medicine and veterinary practice. This should include educating healthcare providers and the public about the dangers of antibiotic misuse.

6. Invest in research and surveillance: Allocate resources to conduct ongoing research into antibiotic resistance patterns in Nigeria and establish a robust national surveillance system to monitor and respond to emerging threats.

7. Collaborate internationally: Actively engage with global initiatives to combat antimicrobial resistance, including participating in the upcoming UN High-Level meeting on antimicrobial resistance in September 2024.

8. Public awareness campaigns: Launch nationwide educational programmes to inform citizens about the dangers of antibiotic resistance and the importance of proper antibiotic use.

The government must recognize that this is not just a health issue, but a national security concern that threatens the country's future. The economic cost of inaction will far outweigh the investment required to address this crisis.

As we approach the UN High-Level meeting on antimicrobial resistance, Nigeria has the opportunity to demonstrate leadership on this critical global issue. By taking swift and comprehensive action now, the country can protect its newborns, preserve the efficacy of life-saving antibiotics, and set an example for other nations facing similar challenges.

The time for half-measures and delayed responses has passed. The government must act decisively to safeguard the health of its citizens and their future.

Gaza ceasefire: Hamas says again it wants implementation, not more talks

Hamas fired two rockets at Israel's commercial hub Tel Aviv on Tuesday for the first time in months and Israeli airstrikes killed at least 19 Palestinians in Gaza, as mediators aimed to resume ceasefire talks later in the week.

There were no reports of casualties in Israel. Two rockets had been fired from Gaza, the Israeli military said, one of which fell in the sea and the other had not reached Israeli territory.

Hamas' military wing said in a statement: "We have bombed the city of Tel Aviv and its suburbs with two 'M90' missiles in response to the Zionist massacres against civilians and the deliberate displacement of our people."

Israeli airstrikes killed 19 Palestinians in the central and southern Gaza Stripon Tuesday, medics said. Hamas last claimed firing rockets at Tel Aviv in May.

One strike killed six people in Deir Al-Balah, including a mother and her twin four-day-old babies, while seven other Palestinians were killed in a strike on a house in the nearby Al-Bureij camp.

Four people were killed in two separate strikes on the Al-Maghazi camp in the central Gaza Strip and Rafah in the south, and two were killed in a strike on a house in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood of Gaza City in the north, medics said.

The Israeli military and Islamic Jihad and Hamas said they were fighting in several areas of Gaza.

The Israeli military said it had killed Palestinian gunmen and dismantled military structures in Khan Younis, located weapons and explosives in Rafah, and struck rocket launchers and sniper posts in central Gaza.

CEASEFIRE TALKS

The U.S. said on Monday that it expected Gaza ceasefire talks slated for Thursday to go ahead as planned, and that an agreement was still possible. Axios reported that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken planned to set off on Tuesday for discussions in Qatar, Egypt and Israel.

The Israeli government said it would send a delegation to Thursday's talks to finalise the details of the agreement proposal.

But Hamas is demanding a workable plan to implement the proposal, presented by U.S. President Joe Biden in May - rather than more talks.

A Hamas official told Reuters that a CNN report saying the group planned to attend on Thursday was wrong.

"Our statement the other day was clear: what is needed is the implementation, not more negotiation," said the official, who declined to be named owing to the sensitivity of the issue.

The war was triggered when Hamas-led fighters stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostage back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

Almost 40,000 Palestinians have since been killed in the Israeli offensive in Gaza, with much of the enclave laid to waste and most the population displaced.

A ceasefire deal would aim to end fighting in Gaza and ensure the release of Israeli hostages held in the enclave in return for Palestinians jailed in Israel.

In Deir Al-Balah, one of the most overcrowded places in Gaza with hundreds of thousands of displaced, many were desperate for a truce.

"Enough, we are no longer able to tolerate the war, the starvation and the frequent displacement," said Ghada, a mother of six who two days ago had to leave her tent in Khan Younis under new Israeli evacuation orders.

"I hope this time they will reach a ceasefire. If they don't, I don't know how much longer we can survive," she told Reuters via a chat app.

Reuters

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Putin says Kiev regime attacks civilians, sees no point in talks

Ukraine’s armed provocation on the Russian border aims to bolster Kiev’s position in future talks, but talks with a government that attacks civilians make no sense, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

He made the statement when opening a meeting about the situation on the Russian border.

"It is now clear why the Kiev regime refused our proposals to return to the plan for peaceful settlement," Putin said. "The enemy, with the help of its Western masters - it is doing their bidding, and the West is waging war against us using Ukrainians - <...> seeks to improve its negotiating position in the future."

"But what kind of negotiations can we even talk about with people who indiscriminately strike civilians, civilian infrastructure or try to create threats to nuclear power facilities," the president went on to say. "What can we even talk about with them?"

The adviser to the chief of staff of the Ukrainian presidential office, Mikhail Podolyak, said Ukraine could improve its negotiating position with the help of an operation on Russian territory. The European edition of Politico said the attack in Russia’s Kursk Region took place with the approval of the West.

Ukrainian forces started a major attack on the Kursk Region on August 6. Missile attack alerts have been issued repeatedly in the region since then. According to the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry, more than 8,000 people have been evacuated from border areas over the past day due to Ukrainian attacks, and more than 6,000 people have been placed in temporary accommodation centers.

Hospitals have admitted 69 people that were injured in Ukrainian shelling of the Kursk Region, Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said. Of them, 17 are in serious condition. According to the latest data from the Russian Defense Ministry, Ukraine has lost up to 1,350 troops, 29 tanks and 23 armored personnel carriers since the start of hostilities in the Kursk Region.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russia strikes back at Ukrainian forces in Kursk region

Summary

Ukraine strikes Russia with drones

Intense battles underway in Russia's Kursk region

Nearly 200,000 Russians evacuated

One of the biggest incursions into Russia in decades

Russian forces on Tuesday struck back at Ukrainian troops with missiles, drones and airstrikes in actions that one senior commander said had halted Ukraine's advance after the biggest attack on sovereign Russian territory since the war began.

Thousands of Ukrainian soldiers smashed through the Russian border a week ago in a surprise attack that Russian President Vladimir Putin said was aimed at improving Kyiv's negotiating position ahead of possible talks and slowing the advance of Russian forces along the front.

The Ukrainian forces carved out a slice of Russian territory, prompting Moscow to evacuate almost 200,000 people while it rushed in reserves.

Russian war bloggers reported intense battles across the Kursk front as the Ukrainians tried to expand their control, though they said Russia was bringing in soldiers and heavy weaponry and had repelled many Ukrainian attacks.

Russia's defence ministry published images of Sukhoi Su-34 bombers striking at what it said were Ukrainian troops in the Kursk border region and said it had repelled attacks at villages about 26-28 km (16-17 miles) from the border.

Russian forces had destroyed a total of 35 Ukrainian tanks, 31 armoured personnel carriers, 18 infantry fighting vehicles, and 179 other armoured vehicles during in the week-long battle, it said.

"The uncontrolled ride of the enemy has already been halted," said Major General Apti Alaudinov, the commander of the Chechen Akhmat special forces unit. "The enemy is already aware that the blitzkrieg that it planned did not work out."

It was not clear which side was in control of the Russian town of Sudzha, through which Russia delivers gas from Western Siberia through Ukraineand on to Slovakia and other European Union countries. Gazprom said Tuesday it was still pumping gas to Ukraine through Sudzha.

Kursk's acting governor, Alexei Smirnov, said on Monday that Ukraine controlled 28 settlements in the region, and the incursion was about 12 km deep and 40 km wide. Ukraine claimed it controlled 1,000 square km (386 square miles) of Russian, more than double what the Russian figures indicate.

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Western leaders said they would help Ukraine defeat Russian troops on the battlefield and drive them out.

Ukraine recaptured large swathes of territory in 2022. But its counteroffensive in 2023 failed to pierce heavily dug-in Russian lines, and Russian forces have been advancing this year deeper into Ukrainian territory. Russia controls just under one fifth of territory internationally recognised as Ukraine.

PUTIN PLEDGE

At his Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Putin told officials that Russia would force out the Ukrainian troops, saying Russian forces were speeding up their advance along other parts of the front.

Still, the foreign occupation of Russian land was an embarrassment for the army and for Putin. The Ukrainian incursion is the most serious into Russia since the June 1941 invasion by Nazi Germany, which turned on the 1943 Battle of Kursk.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told Ukrainians in his nightly address that the operation in Russia was a matter of Ukrainian security and the Kursk region had been used by Russia to launch many strikes against Ukraine.

But by dedicating forces to Kursk, Ukraine may leave other parts of the front exposed just as Russia has been advancing. Russia which has a far larger army, could try to encircle Ukrainian forces.

Ukraine's Western backers, which have been keen to avoid an escalation of the war into a direct confrontation between Russia and the U.S.-led NATO, said they had no prior warning of the Ukrainian offensive.

Putin said the West was using Ukraine to fight a proxy war with Russia and the border incursion was an attempt to undermine Russian domestic stability.

Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) said Zelenskiy was taking crazy steps that risked an escalation far beyond Ukraine's borders.

In Kursk, 121,000 people had already left or have been evacuated and another 59,000 were in the process of being evacuated, local officials said. In Russia's Belgorod region, which borders Kursk, 11,000 civilians were also evacuated, the region's governor said.

Tass/Reuters