Oil marketers have outlined the conditions that will make them patronise the newly rehabilitated Port Harcourt Refinery Company in Rivers State.

PHRC, under the management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, must dispense its refined petroleum products below the prices of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, the dealers stated.

But the NNPCL, in reaction to claims on Wednesday that its petrol price was about N1,045/litre, stated that the refinery had yet to release its prices, as products from the plant were currently dispensed to only NNPCL stations.

The oil firm’s spokesperson, Olufemi Soneye, revealed that the company was still reviewing its prices and had yet to commence bulk sales, as its purchasing portal remained closed.

Meanwhile, it was also gathered on Wednesday that oil marketers imported 105.67 million litres of petrol into the country in five days.

Marketers confirmed that NNPC was selling petrol at N1,045/litre, stressing that they may be compelled to opt for petrol importation as a means of meeting local demands.

A total sum of 78,800 metric tonnes representing 105.67 million litres of petrol was imported into the country in the last five days spanning November 23 and November 28.

On Tuesday, the 60,000-capacity Port-Harcourt refinery resumed operations after years of inactivity, drawing initial praise from Nigerians and industry stakeholders.

The NNPC said the newly rehabilitated complex of the old Port Harcourt refinery, which had been revamped and upgraded with modern equipment, is operating at a refining capacity of 70 per cent of its installed capacity.

NNPC added that diesel and Pour Fuel Oil would be the highest output from the refinery, with a daily capacity of 1.5 million litres and 2.1 million litres, respectively.

This is followed by a daily output of Straight-Run Gasoline (Naphtha) blended into 1.4 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol), 900,000 litres of kerosene, and low-pour fuel oil of 2.1 million litres.

It was stated that about 200 trucks of petrol would be released into the Nigerian market daily.

However, claims that the national oil firm’s PMS price was higher than that of Dangote triggered diverse reactions from marketers.

The National Publicity Secretary of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Chinedu Ukadike, told one of our correspondents that though NNPC had yet to release any price for the products from the refurbished Port Harcourt refinery, a high price would discourage marketers.

Dangote currently sells his petrol at N970/litre, while imported petrol is around that price.

Ukadike, however, noted that there was the possibility that the NNPC would review its prices downward when the Port Harcourt refinery comes fully on stream.

He confirmed that the state-owned oil company sells a litre of PMS at N1,040 or N1,045 while the Dangote refinery just reviewed its price from N990 to N970 for marketers buying a minimum of two million litres.

Ukadike did not mince words when he said independent marketers would only buy from the NNPC if its price is cheaper than that of Dangote or vice versa.

“With the Port Harcourt refinery now working, we are anticipating that any moment from now, NNPC will give us its price. Once NNPC releases its price, we will start loading from NNPC. That is subject to if it is cheaper than that of Dangote.

“The last NNPC price was N1,040 and N1,045 per litre. But I know there will be a review of prices because there has been a crash in prices globally. So, we are expecting a review. Once that review is done, I will be able to give you the actual price. I know they are reviewing it. They are on top of the matter,” the IPMAN spokesman said.

The latest development also indicates that oil marketers may commence the importation of fuel if the prices set by both domestic refineries surpass their profit margins, thereby making it more financially viable for them to rely on imported fuel rather than locally produced stock.

The National Public Relations Officer of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria, Joseph Obele, had earlier said NNPC petrol was N75 higher than the N970/litre offered by Dangote refinery.

However, PETROAN’s President, Billy Gillis-Harry, in a statement denied the claim, stressing that no price has been released by the national oil firm.

He explained that members of the association bought PMS based on the old pricing structure and are still waiting for the updated prices.

The statement read, “The National Headquarters of Petroleum Products Retail Outlet Owners Association of Nigeria, PETROAN Abuja would Like to Inform the media and the general public that no new price for PMS has been released by the NNPC port Harcourt refinery.

“Members of PETROAN only bought PMS with the old pricing template awaiting

new prices. We are excited that the production and loading of refined petroleum products have commenced at the Port Harcourt Refinery and we are expectant that soon the price of PMS will be stated by NNPC to the benefit of Nigerians.”

NNPC reacts

But in a message sent to journalists on Wednesday night, the NNPC spokesperson said the national oil firm had not started selling its products from the Port Harcourt refinery to other oil marketers.

He was reacting to an earlier claim by the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria that the newly rehabilitated Port-Harcourt refinery was selling at N1,045/litre to oil marketers.

He noted that only NNPCL retail stations are receiving products from the refinery.

He said, “We have not yet commenced bulk sales, and we have not yet opened the purchase portal as we are still finalizing the necessary processes.”

He further stated its current stock was procured from the Dangote Refinery and includes fees and levies.

“At present, the products we are selling are what we bought from the Dangote Refinery, which includes NMDPRA fees. The product from PH is currently for our retail stores. Our prices are regularly reviewed and adjusted as required.”

PMS imports

Meanwhile, fresh findings by The PUNCH have revealed that a total sum of 78,800 metric tonnes representing 105.67m litres of petrol have been imported into the country in the last five days spanning November 23 and November 28.

The product was conveyed in four vessels with the latest to be received today (Thursday, November 28, 2024), according to documents obtained from the Nigerian Ports Authority on Wednesday.

An analysis of the document showed that 38,500 metric tonnes of petrol imported on Monday, November 25 berthed at the Lagos Apapa port (Bulk Oil Plant).

Similarly, a Bedford ship conveying 10,000mt of PMS will berth at the Ebughu jetty, Calabar port in Cross Rivers on Thursday, November 28.

Two vessels that arrived on Saturday, November 23 is still waiting to berth. The ships are carrying 30,300mt of fuel.

It also revealed that 11,000 metric tonnes of base oil was imported while the 20bn Dangote refinery received crude oil worth 133,986 metric tonnes on Monday, November 27, 2024.

Last week, oil marketers and the NNPCL had stated plans to stop the import of fuel to focus on off-taking from domestic sources.

This was a fallout from a high-level meeting organised by the NNPC Group CEO Mele Kyari, and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority. In attendance were representatives of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria, and key stakeholders from companies such as 11 Plc, Matrix, and AA Rano, among other stakeholders at the NNPCL towers in Abuja.

The meeting was in growing confidence in Dangote Refinery’s ability to meet the nation’s domestic fuel demand and the need to cut fuel imports.

Punch

On a quiet July night in 2020, Moshood Lawal woke up feeling pain in his abdomen. It was sharp, relentless, and spreading from the right side. As a long-time ulcer patient, this was not like the pain he was used to.

As the pain intensified, the 64-year-old pharmacist knew something was wrong. Before dawn, Lawal was already admitted to the National Hospital in Abuja, where doctors revealed the source of his pain to be kidney stones.

“After the diagnosis, I was given two options; either go for surgery or try an advanced technology to break the stones into particles I could urinate out,” Lawal told PREMIUM TIMES.

Although he initially chose the non-invasive procedure at a private facility in Abuja, he eventually underwent the surgical procedure on 15 August 2020, after which he was placed on antibiotics as part of post-surgery prophylaxis. However, complications set in when the kidney stones led to fluid retention in his kidney.

“They had to put a stent between my kidney and bladder to drain the liquid that had gathered. About three and half months later – on 21 November 2020 — the stent was removed following an X-ray that showed no more water in the kidney,” he narrated.

At this point, Lawal thought he was done with all medications, he had no idea he was beginning a long battle with antibiotic resistance – a type of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) that has become one of the top global public health and development threats.

Public health threats

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said AMR occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites no longer respond to antimicrobial medicines.

As a result of drug resistance, antibiotics and other antimicrobial medicines become ineffective and infections become difficult or impossible to treat, increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness, disability, and death.

According to WHO, the emergence and spread of AMR is accelerated by human activity, mainly the misuse and overuse of antimicrobials, including antibiotics, to treat, prevent or control infections in humans, animals and plants.

Over the last two decades, the health body has repeatedly flagged AMR as a global health priority and one of the leading public health threats of the 21st century.

In 2019, estimates for 204 countries and territories, published in the Lancet, show that AMR is now a leading cause of death worldwide, higher than HIV/AIDS or malaria, with the worst impacts in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC).

It is estimated that bacterial AMR was directly responsible for 1.27 million deaths in 2019 and contributed to 4.95 million deaths. If unchecked, this number could rise to 10 million global deaths annually by 2050, 4.1 million of them in Africa.

Nigeria ranked 19th highest in AMR-related mortality out of 204 countries surveyed. In 2019 alone, there were 64,500 deaths attributable to AMR and 263,400 deaths associated with AMR in the country.

Also, a new report by Africa CDC warns that AMR is becoming a more significant threat to Africa than HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), and malaria, with children and vulnerable groups most at risk.

According to the report, these three diseases combined now account for fewer deaths than AMR, which has a mortality rate of 27.3 deaths per 100,000 people, making it the highest in the world.

“AMR is a silent threat disproportionately affecting the continent’s most vulnerable population,” Jean Kaseya, director-general of Africa CDC, said in reaction to the report.

A case of resistance

Lawal’s ordeal with kidney stones and subsequent complications marked the beginning of microorganisms in his body developing resistance to medications.

Barely 48 hours after the stent removal, he developed a cold and a high fever. Suspecting malaria, he took anti-malaria medication, which provided temporary relief, but the symptoms returned within days.

A laboratory test later confirmed he had both malaria and typhoid, requiring a minimum of 10 days antibiotic course.

“I started an antibiotic for typhoid and also changed my ACT to another combination for malaria. Sadly, around the eighth day of taking the drugs, the symptoms came back even stronger,” he recounted.

His doctor switched him to a different antibiotic, but the problem persisted. Further tests of his urine revealed a heavy growth of Escherichia coli (E. coli), a bacterial infection that is commonly found in the gut of humans and warm-blooded animals.

“The infection was sensitive to a particular antibiotic of which I bought the best brand and used as prescribed. However, even this treatment offered only short-term relief as my symptoms returned while I was on the second pack,” he said.

In December 2020, his condition took another turn when he tested positive for Covid-19. He was taken to the Covid-19 isolation centre at Asokoro, Abuja, Nigeria’s capital territory. However, his case could not be handled so he was transferred to the National Hospital, where he spent seven days on oxygen and was given a mix of medications, including antibiotics.

“By this time I was on over 22 different drugs, morning and evening,” Lawal said, reflecting on the physical and emotional toll of his condition.

While in isolation, he continued to test positive for E. coli, indicating that the bacteria had developed resistance to yet another antibiotic. After his Covid-19 symptoms improved, he was discharged, only to find the E. coli infection still lingering.

Lawal’s case shows that the bacterial infection he attempted to treat many times failed to respond to various antibiotics medications prescribed.

More survivors

After multiple abdominal surgeries for bowel perforation due to ruptured diverticulitis at a private hospital in Lagos, 77-year-old Blessing Sunday was transferred to Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) after developing an infection.

As of 14 November, Mrs Sunday had been admitted to the hospital’s Critical Care Unit (CCU) for about four months. The hospital said she initially did not respond well to treatments due to multiple resistance to medications.

The hospital’s Director of Clinical Services and Training, Bamidele Ayodele, gave PREMIUM TIMES approval to conduct interviews.

Ibrahim Dada, a doctor at LASUTH, provided details about the case. “The patient presented with a significantly elevated white blood cell count. Despite initial treatment, she developed multi-resistance. We have had to adjust her antibiotic regimen repeatedly to address her susceptibility to various infections.”

According to Mr Dada, the hospital often encounters patients with antibiotic-resistant infections, particularly those with sepsis, septic shock, or post-surgical complications.

“Some patients develop resistance after prolonged bed rest or multiple surgeries,” he said. “In such cases, we employ alternative antibiotics like Cilastin or Colistin, sometimes combining them to achieve desired results.”

“When faced with complex cases, we consult clinical microbiologists for guidance on effective treatment strategies. Their expertise helps us navigate the complexities of AMR. Unfortunately, we have lost several patients to AMR due to underlying comorbidities and critical conditions,” he added.

Speaking with PREMIUM TIMES, Mrs Sunday’s son, Emmanuel Sunday, acknowledged the hospital’s efforts but expressed limited awareness about his mother’s condition.

“I told them to do everything in their power to make my mom get better, and they are doing that. So I don’t think they are giving me information on all the antibiotics they are using, the ones she’s resistant to, or the ones she’s responding to,” Mr Sunday said.

Similarly, a young woman identified simply as Ruth was diagnosed with TB in 2021 at the age of 17. Her symptoms started with a persistent cough that lasted for weeks, accompanied by weakness and weight loss.

Despite being placed on medication, Ruth’s condition showed no significant improvement. She described the period as challenging for her and her family. “The treatment I was receiving at the early stage of diagnosis was not working well. I was very ill and almost unrecognisable.”

After several months without progress, Ruth was referred to Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH) in Bauchi State. There, she was diagnosed with Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis (DR-TB), a more severe and complex form of the disease.

Although the diagnosis was devastating, Ruth’s doctor assured her that recovery was possible with proper medication. “The doctor and other persons there at the time mentioned that I was the first patient to be placed on a particular type of TB treatment, and they assured me of recovering fully,” she said.

Investment case for AMR

Data from the study on the economic case for AMR investment requested by the Global Leaders Group (GLG) on AMR shows that the already staggering human toll of AMR will be compounded by a catastrophic hit to the global economy unless bolder and more urgent action is taken. 

The study shows that without a stronger response, there would be an average loss of 1.8 years of life expectancy globally by 2035. It also estimates that AMR would cost the world $412 billion a year in additional healthcare costs and $443 billion per year in lost workforce productivity.

The GLG in a report titled “Towards Specific Commitments and Action in the Response to AMR” said some low- and low-middle-income countries would see life expectancy fall by 2.5 years within the same period.

The report indicates that committed financing from domestic and external sources, particularly for the LMICs that bear the highest burden of drug-resistant infections and deaths, would also help the implementation of National Action Plans on AMR.

The report notes that while 90 per cent of countries have developed National Action Plans, only 25 per cent have funded them.

“We have the tools to mitigate the AMR crisis and this data point to a devastating future if we do not take bolder action now,” GLG on AMR Chair Mia Mottley, who is the Prime Minister of Barbados, said.

Speaking at a recent event, Laxmikant Chavan, the coordinator for One Health, WHO, explained that AMR is already common in Nigeria, and is similar to the outbreaks of diphtheria and fungal infections resistant to multiple treatments.

Mr Chavan explained that AMR could push an estimated 28 million people into extreme poverty globally and exacerbate existing socio-economic challenges.

“The economic toll of AMR for Nigeria and other LMICs could lead to a reduction in GDP of up to four per cent by 2030,” he said.

“LMICs like Nigeria stand to suffer the most, where healthcare costs could skyrocket and millions of people could be pushed into extreme poverty.”

Drivers of AMR, need for One Health approach

According to Ifeyinwa George, AMR programme manager at Dr Ameyo Stella Adadevoh (DRASA) Health Trust, an organisation founded in honour of Nigerian Ebola heroine, the major drivers of AMR in Nigeria are the “overuse and misuse of antimicrobials in human, animal, and food sectors.”

Ms George noted that environmental contamination from hospital, pharmaceutical, and agricultural effluents, as well as limited access to essential antimicrobials and diagnostics, also contribute to AMR.

She emphasised the importance of adopting a One Health Approach to tackling AMR, citing its ability to spotlight the interdependence of human, animal, plant, and environmental health.

“It highlights the benefits of proactive cross-sectoral collaboration and partnerships,” she said.

“Basically, adopting a one health approach is a faster route to achieving sustainable AMR containment as it addresses the full spectrum of disease control.”

The AMR programme manager at the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Ridwan Yahaya, said the major drivers of AMR are behavioural issues. He said irrational drug prescription without diagnostic tests makes those organisms resistant, especially to antibiotics.

He said Nigeria is adopting the one health approach in addressing AMR.

“As a country, we have identified AMR as a priority and in 2017, Nigeria joined the global community and agreed to develop a National Action Plan for a five-year period to address AMR,” Mr Yahaya said.

“The action plan, which was developed with other stakeholders, encompasses animal health, environment and human health. For the five years, we achieved an implementation rate of 44 per cent across the five strategic areas and across the three sectors.”

He said the government has also developed National Action Plan 2.0 with almost the same strategic objective but now to include “how to strengthen governance, leadership and coordination to ensure that all multi-sectoral stakeholders are carried along.”

Antibiotic misuse, abuse

Rashidat Salawu, 35, was drenched in sweat as she laid on the floor inside her shop located in Kubwa, a suburb of Nigeria’s capital city, Abuja.

Mrs Salawu, a mother of one, disclosed that she had been grappling with illness for about a week.

When questioned by PREMIUM TIMES about the nature of her ailment, she said it was “fever and maybe infection”. She said her husband had already purchased some medicines from a local patent store, commonly known as ‘chemist’ located just around the corner of their home.

“My husband explained my symptoms to Baba, the store owner, and he gave me these drugs to take,” she said.

Mrs Salawu is one of many Nigerians who rely on patent stores to get quick remedies to tackle their symptoms, a habit health experts describe as ‘dangerous’ to human health.

According to experts, this habit is one of the major factors fuelling antibiotic resistance.

Many other Nigerians have the habit of not completing their full course of treatment, a trend that has proven to be dangerous to human health and also leads to AMR.

Ngozi, residing in Mararaba, Nasarawa State, said she could not remember ever completing her antibiotics doses. “I don’t think anybody ever completes their doses. Once you feel better, you just move on,” she said.

Health experts said this is rampant because many people are unaware of the danger of microorganisms’ resistance to medications.

Knowledge gap

Despite being a critical public health concern, AMR awareness lags behind other health issues, various studies suggest.

A 2020 study conducted across six Nigerian states – Lagos, Ebonyi, Delta, Plateau, Borno, and Jigawa – illustrates this knowledge gap.

The study analysed responses from 482 individuals (242 females, 240 males) and revealed concerning trends. Nearly 67 per cent (322 respondents) had taken antibiotics in the preceding six months, with 31.3 per cent obtaining them without a prescription. 26.1 per cent believed completing the full dosage was unnecessary once symptoms subsided.

Although 56.5 per cent recognised the term “antibiotic resistance,” only 8.3 per cent demonstrated a comprehensive understanding of AMR.

Notably, a majority (76.6 per cent) believed that they were powerless to stop the spread of AMR.

The study concluded that respondents have a poor overall understanding of AMR and proper use of antibiotics.

Mr Yahaya, the AMR programme manager at NCDC, said everybody has a role to play in combating AMR, “at the individual level, community, organisational and societal level.”

He said there are strategic objective areas in the National Action Plan 2.0 that emphasise more awareness.

“What it means is that when people are aware of the dangers of AMR, they make informed decisions. In doing that, we piloted the community AMR stewardship programme where we engaged Patent Medicine Vendors, school children, and individual adults on the dangers of misusing Antibiotics.”

Promoting awareness

Mr Chavan, the WHO technical officer on AMR, said it is important to carry out more holistic public enlightenment programmes to increase awareness of AMR and promote responsible use of antibiotics.

He said the theme for the 2024 World AMR Awareness Week (WAAW) “Educate. Advocate. Act now.” emphasises the importance of increased awareness in the fight against AMR.

WAAW is a global campaign to raise awareness and understanding of AMR and promote best practices among the public, One Health stakeholders, and policymakers to reduce the emergence and spread of drug-resistant infections.

The week is celebrated annually from 18-24 November.

Mr Lawal was initially unaware of the cause of failed antibiotic medications against bacteria infections, emphasising the need for increased awareness of AMR.

After months of ineffective treatments against E. coli, Mr Lawal turned to research to get answers on his path to recovery.

“As a pharmacist, I brought out my books and started reading. I googled a specific antibiotic, which became my saving grace. I discovered it was targeted for multi-drug-resistant E.coli,” he said.

“I contacted a pharmacy to confirm the availability of the drugs and my consultant also gave me the go-ahead. There was improvement after the first day of taking the drug, more improvement on the second day, and by the third day, I was completely free.”

Mr Lawal carried out a culture test of his urine, which confirmed that not a single bacterium was present. “That was how I survived both COVID-19 and antibiotic resistance,” he said.

PT

Still counting its dead, Hezbollah faces long road to recover from war

With the bodies of its fighters still strewn on the battlefield, Hezbollah must bury its dead and provide succour to its supporters who bore the brunt of Israel's offensive, as the first steps on a long and costly road to recovery, four senior officials said.

Hezbollah believes the number of its fighters killed during 14 months of hostilities could reach several thousand, with the vast majority killed since Israel went on the offensive in September, three sources familiar with its operations say, citing previously unreported internal estimates.

One source said the Iran-backed group may have lost up to 4,000 people - well over 10 times the number killed in its month-long 2006 war with Israel. So far, Lebanese authorities have said some 3,800 people were killed in the current hostilities, without distinguishing fighters from civilians.

Hezbollah emerges shaken from top to bottom, its leadership still reeling from the killing of its former leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and its supporters made homeless en masse by the carpet bombing of Beirut's southern suburbs and the destruction of entire villages in the south.

With a ceasefire taking hold on Wednesday, Hezbollah's agenda includes working to re-establish its organisational structure fully, probing security breaches that helped Israel land so many painful blows, and a full review of the last year including its mistakes in underestimating Israel's technological capabilities, three other sources familiar with the group's thinking said.

For this story Reuters spoke to a dozen people who together provided details of some of the challenges facing Hezbollah as it seeks to pick itself up after the war. Most asked not to be named to speak about sensitive matters.

Hassan Fadallah, a senior Hezbollah politician, told Reuters the priority will be "the people."

"To shelter them, to remove the rubble, to bid farewell to the martyrs and, in the next phase, to rebuild," he said.

Israel's campaign has focused largely on Hezbollah's Shi'ite Muslim heartlands, where its supporters were badly hit. They include people still nursing casualties from Israel's attack on its mobile communications devices in September.

"I have a brother who was martyred, a brother-in-law who was wounded in the pager attacks, and my neighbours and relatives are all either martyrs, wounded or missing," said Hawraa, a woman from south Lebanon with family members who fight for Hezbollah.

"We want to collect our martyrs and bury them ... we want to rebuild our homes," said Hawraa, who stayed in her village until she was forced to flee by the Israeli assault in September. She declined to use her full name, citing safety fears.

The Israeli offensive displaced more than 1 million people, the bulk of them from areas where Hezbollah has sway.

A senior Lebanese official familiar with Hezbollah thinking said the group's focus would be squarely on securing their return and rebuilding their homes: "Hezbollah is like a wounded man. Does a wounded man get up and fight? A wounded man needs to tend to his wounds."

The official expected Hezbollah to carry out a wide-ranging policy review after the war, dealing with all major issues: Israel, its weapons, and the internal politics of Lebanon, where its weapons have long been a point of conflict.

Iran, which established Hezbollah in 1982, has promised to help with reconstruction. The costs are immense: The World Bank estimates $2.8 billion in damage to housing alone in Lebanon, with 99,000 homes partially or fully destroyed.

The senior Lebanese official said Tehran has a variety of ways to get funds to Hezbollah, without giving details.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a close Hezbollah ally, is urging wealthy Lebanese Shi'ites in the diaspora to send funds to help the displaced, two Lebanese officials said.

The officials also expected significant donations to come from Shi'ite religious foundations across the region.

Hezbollah did not immediately respond to a detailed request for comment for this story. Iran's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

'THE RESISTANCE' WILL CONTINUE

Hezbollah has indicated it intends to keep its arms, dashing hopes of Lebanese adversaries who predicted the pressures generated by the war would finally lead it to hand them to the state. Hezbollah officials have said the resistance - widely understood to mean its armed status - will continue.

Hezbollah opened fire in support of Palestinian ally Hamas on Oct. 8, 2023. Israel went on the offensive against the group in September, declaring the aim of securing the return home of 60,000 people evacuated from homes in the north.

Despite the resulting devastation, Hezbollah's Fadlallah said the resistance put up by its fighters in south Lebanon and the group's intensified rocket salvoes towards the end of the conflict showed Israel had failed.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says its campaign has set back Hezbollah decades, eliminated its top leaders, destroyed most of its rockets, neutralised thousands of fighters, and obliterated its infrastructure near the border.

A senior U.S. official said Hezbollah was "extremely weak" at this moment, both militarily and politically. A Western diplomat echoed that assessment, saying Israel had the upper hand and had almost dictated the terms of its withdrawal.

The ceasefire terms agreed by Israel and Lebanon require Hezbollah to have no military presence in an area between the Israeli border and the Litani River, which meets the Mediterranean Sea some 30 km (20 miles) from the frontier.

Hezbollah, which approved the deal, has not declared how it intends to help implement those terms, including whether it actively hands its arms to Lebanese troops who are deploying into the south, or leaves the weapons for soldiers to find.

Israel complains Hezbollah, which is deeply rooted in south Lebanon, never implemented the same terms when they were agreed to end a previous war in 2006 war. Israel says the group was preparing for a large-scale assault into northern Israel, pointing to its military build-up at the frontier.

Andreas Krieg of King's College in London said Hezbollah had retained considerable capability.

The performance of its "core infantry fighters in southern Lebanon and rocket attacks deep into Israeli territory in recent days showed the group was still very, very capable," he said.

"But Hezbollah will be very much bogged down in the effort of rebuilding the infrastructure and also, most importantly, securing the funds to do so,” he said.

'REPAYING THE DEBT'

Hezbollah has been handing out cash to people affected by the hostilities since they began, paying $200 a month to civilians who stayed in frontline villages, and offering more as people were forced to flee the areas, according to recipients.

Since the start of the escalation in September, Hezbollah has been paying around $300 a month to help displaced families.

The group has made no secret of the military and financial support it gets from Iran, which shipped huge sums of cash to in 2006 to aid the homeless and help rebuild.

Hezbollah supporters say more will be on the way. One, citing conversations with a local Hezbollah official, said the group would cover a year of rent for the homeless in addition to furniture costs.

Addressing the Lebanese people in an October sermon, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said "the destruction will be replaced... repaying the debt to the wounded, bleeding Lebanon is our duty...".

The World Bank, in a preliminary estimate, put the cost in damage and losses to Lebanon at $8.5 billion, a bill that cannot be footed by the government, still suffering the consequences of a catastrophic financial collapse five years ago.

Gulf states Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia helped pay the $5 billion reconstruction bill in 2006, the last time Hezbollah and Israel went to war. But there has been no sign that these Sunni-led Arab states are ready to do so again.

Hezbollah conducted a lot of reconstruction work after the 2006 war, financed by Iran and using its construction wing. The project was directed by Sayyed Hashem Safieddine, a Hezbollah leader killed by Israel 11 days after Nasrallah, in a sign of the bigger challenges it will face this time round.

"For Hezbollah the priority is to guarantee the loyalty of the Shi’ite community. The destruction has been enormous and it will impact the organization," said Mohanand Hage Ali of the Carnegie Middle East Center.

Reuters

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Nuclear attack unlikely despite Putin's warnings, US intelligence says

The U.S. decision to allow Ukraine to fire American weapons deeper into Russia has not increased the risk of a nuclear attack, which is unlikely, despite Russian President Vladimir Putin's increasingly bellicose statements, five sources familiar with U.S. intelligence told Reuters.

But Russia is likely to expand a campaign of sabotage against European targets to increase pressure on the West over its support for Kyiv, said two senior officials, a lawmaker and two congressional aides briefed on the matter.

A series of intelligence assessments over the past seven months have concluded nuclear escalation was unlikely to result from a decision to loosen restrictions on Ukraine's use of U.S. weapons. That view has not changed following President Joe Biden's changed U.S. stance this month on weapons, said the sources, who were granted anonymity to speak freely about sensitive intelligence.

"The assessments were consistent: The ATACMs weren’t going to change Russia’s nuclear calculus," said one congressional aide briefed on the intelligence, referring to American missiles with a range of up to 190 miles (306 km).

Russia's launch of a new ballistic missile last week, which analysts say was meant as a warning to Washington and its European allies, has not changed that conclusion.

One of the five U.S. officials said while Washington assessed that Russia would not seek to escalate with its nuclear forces, it would try to match what it views as U.S. escalation. The official said fielding the new missile was part of that effort.

U.S. officials said the intelligence has helped guide an often divisive debate over recent months inside Biden's administration about whether Washington loosening restrictions on Ukraine’s use of American weapons was worth the risk of angering Putin.

Officials initially resisted such a move, citing escalation concerns and uncertainty over how Putin would respond. Some of those officials, including in the White House, the Pentagon and the State Department, feared lethal retaliation on U.S. military and diplomatic personnel and attacks on NATO allies.

Others were specifically worried about nuclear escalation. Biden changed his mind because of North Korea's entry into the war before the U.S. presidential election, U.S. officials have said.

Some officials now believe the escalation concerns, including the nuclear fears, were overblown but stress that the overall situation in Ukraineremains dangerous and that nuclear escalation is not out of the question. Russia's ability to find other covert ways of retaliating against the West remains a worry.

“Russia's hybrid response is a concern,” said Angela Stent, director of Eurasian, Russian and East European studies at Georgetown University, referring to Russia’s sabotage in Europe.

“The chance of escalation was never not there. The concern now is greater.”

The White House and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment.

The Kremlin did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the intelligence assessments.

REACTION AND COUNTER-REACTION

Since August, when Ukraine launched a surprise incursion into Russia's Kursk region, Moscow and Kyiv have been locked in a cycle of escalating moves and counter-moves.

Russia has enlisted help from North Korea, which sent between 11,000 and 12,000 soldiers to help its war effort, according to the United States.

The same day as Ukraine's first strike under the relaxed U.S. policy, Russia changed its nuclear doctrine, lowering the threshold for a nuclear strike.

Fear of nuclear escalation has been a factor in U.S. officials' thinking since Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022. CIA Director William Burns has said there was a real risk in late 2022 that Russia could use nuclear weapons against Ukraine.

Even so, the White House moved forward with Ukraine aid, sending billions of dollars' worth of military assistance.

The concerns faded for some officials as Putin did not act on his threats but remained central to how many in the administration weighed decisions on how the U.S. should support Kyiv.

In May, the White House allowed Ukraine to use American missiles in limited circumstances to strike across the border but not deep inside Russia, citing risk of escalation by Moscow, marginal tactical benefit and a limited supply of ATACMs.

One of the intelligence assessments from early summer, drawn up at the White House's request, explained that strikes across the border from the Ukrainian city Kharkiv would have limited impact because 90% of Russian aircraft had been moved back from the border – out of distance of the short-range missiles.

But the assessments also noted while Putin often threatens to use nuclear weapons, Moscow is unlikely to take such a step in part because they do not provide a clear military benefit. Intelligence officials described the nuclear option as a last resort for Russia and that Putin would resort to other means of reprisal first, noting Russia was already engaged in sabotage and cyberattacks.

Still, some officials inside the White House and Pentagon argued that allowing Kyiv to use the missiles to strike inside Russia would put Kyiv, the U.S. and American allies in unprecedented danger, provoking Putin to retaliate either through nuclear force or other deadly tactics outside the war zone.

Pentagon officials worried about attacks on U.S. military bases.

THE NORTH KOREA FACTOR

The introduction of North Korean troops convinced the administration, particularly a group of officials at the White House and the Pentagon concerned about escalation, to allow the long-range strikes, said a senior U.S. official.

Russia was making battlefield gains and the North Korean troops were viewed internally as escalation by Moscow necessitating a response from Washington, the official said.

Given the early intelligence assessments downplaying the risk of nuclear escalation, the nuclear fears were overstated and the decision to allow wider use of ATACMs came too late, said a senior U.S. official and a lawmaker, citing Russia's recent advances.

Intelligence sources say Moscow's most robust and successful reprisal operations are likely to come through sabotage. Russian intelligence services have launched a massive international effort in Europe to intimidate countries who support Ukraine, one European diplomat said.

A U.S. official added Moscow was actively looking to advance its "gray-zone" warfare against the West and that Russia has an extensive network of agents and it exploring options for using them.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine has lost almost 500,000 troops – Economist

Up to half a million Ukrainian troops have been killed or wounded in the ongoing conflict with Russia, according to new estimates provided by The Economist, which cited leaked intelligence reports, official statements and open sources.

In an article published on Tuesday, the outlet noted that it is difficult to calculate Kiev’s actual losses, given that Ukrainian officials and their allies are “reluctant to provide estimates.”

Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky claimed in February that only 31,000 troops had been killed since the conflict with Russia escalated in 2022. He refused to reveal how many had been wounded, arguing it would let Moscow know “how many people are left on the battlefield.”

However, The Economist noted that according to US officials, Kiev’s total casualty figure currently stands at more than 308,000 soldiers. According to the outlet’s analysis of other sources, the figure could be closer to half a million troops, of which “at least” 60,000-100,000 are believed to have been killed.

“Perhaps a further 400,000 are too injured to fight on,”the magazine wrote.

The Economist also cited the UALosses website, which tracks and catalogues the names and ages of the dead. According to its data, Ukraine has lost at least 60,435 troops, or more than 0.5% of its pre-war population of men of fighting age.

While the data from UALosses is not comprehensive and not all soldiers’ ages are known, The Economist suggested that the actual number of those killed in the fighting is higher and the amount of servicemen who are too injured to fight is even greater.

“Assuming that six to eight Ukrainian soldiers are severely wounded for every one who is killed in battle, nearly one in 20 men of fighting age is dead or too wounded to fight on,” the outlet estimated.

Earlier this year, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed that Ukraine’s military losses since February 2022 had reached almost 500,000, without specifying how many had been killed or injured.

According to the latest information from the ministry, Kiev has also lost over 35,000 servicemen since August in its incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region.

In June, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that his country’s personnel losses in the conflict were a fraction of those on the Ukrainian side, suggesting that the ratio of casualties was approximately one to five.

Reuters/RT

Education is at a pivotal crossroads. As generative AI platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and NotebookLM continue to advance, their potential impact on education is undeniable. Expertsforecast that by 2025 universities are projected to invest up to $20 million over the next five years in AI-driven curricula, a clear sign of the growing commitment to integrating AI into higher education. They also predict that AI could boost graduation rates by 43%.

AI tools are not just supplementary; they are transformative, capable of generating information, providing feedback, and suggesting creative solutions, among countless other functions. The question for educators is no longer whether to use AI but how to redefine teaching and learning in an AI-driven era.

The recent conference of the International Association of University Presidents (IAUP) focused on educational innovation through AI, while keeping education human-centered. Presenters emphasized balancing AI's role in enhancing learning without diminishing intellectual effort. However, one conference reportfailed to report the need to advocate for a true educational paradigm shift—one where human-AI partnerships drive deeper learning, innovation, and holistic development, as discussed below.

The Role of AI In Modern Pedagogy: Harnessing The Power of Technology

Our pedagogy must evolve beyond traditional methods to a model that fully integrates AI's strengths while protecting the distinctly human skills that AI cannot replace—critical thinking, ethical reasoning, and creativity, as highlighted in the AACSB report Building Future-Ready Business Schools with Generative AI. AI should augment human intelligence, not replace it. Our role as educators is to redesign curricula that leverage AI while cultivating the irreplaceable human qualities of judgment, empathy, and collaboration, ensuring that students remain the leaders and innovators in an increasingly AI-driven world.

For instance, AI can help with business strategy formulation, financial analysis, marketing campaign development, and supply chain analytics. However, the human ability to interpret, critique, and adapt AI's insights to real-world scenarios ultimately drives value. The future of education lies not in competing with AI, but in learning to partner with it effectively.

Emphasizing Critical Thinking And Problem-Solving: The Human Edge

To prepare students for an AI-driven future, we must foster their ability to evaluate AI-generated outputs. While AI can suggest strategies, only humans can assess their feasibility, relevance, and ethical implications. Education must shift from rote learning to active, critical engagement, encouraging students to question and refine AI suggestions rather than accepting them at face value but shaping them through thoughtful questioning.

In business strategy courses, for example, students might use AI to generate market entry strategies. AI can provide data-driven options, but real learning occurs when students refine these suggestions, asking questions that align with long-term goals or account for cultural and regulatory nuances. Such an iterative process underscores the critical role of human judgment: AI provides ideas, but students adapt and enrich them for complex contexts.

Ethan Mollick, Associate Professor at Wharton, advocates using AI in assignments to boost creativity and problem-solving skills. By incorporating tools like ChatGPT into projects, students see how AI aids ideation, prototyping, and productivity—practical skills they can carry into their careers.

Project-Based And Inquiry-Based Learning: Real-World Application

Integrating AI through project-based and inquiry-based learning is essential in the generative AI era. AI can assist with data analysis and information gathering, but humans must interpret and apply these insights meaningfully.

In a digital transformation class, for example, students act as consultants for a real business, using AI tools like Tableau to derive insights. AI might generate reports on market trends, but students must contextualize these insights—considering company culture, customer behavior, and financial constraints to craft a coherent strategy. This hands-on approach, where AI manages data while students focus on strategic decisions, deepens understanding of technology and its limitations.

Partnering with companies for real-world projects further bridges theory and practice. Students tackle actual business challenges, gain exposure to how AI tools are used beyond academia, and develop practical, applicable skills.

Building Collaboration And Communication Skills: Beyond Automation

While AI can generate content, it lacks empathy, brand voice, and the ability to engage consumers meaningfully. Developing strong collaboration and communication skills are crucial in an AI-enhanced world.

In marketing classes, students might use AI to draft ad copy or social media posts. AI-generated content can be a starting point, but students must refine it to reflect brand identity and resonate with audiences. Adjusting tone, language, and messaging shows how human input adds value beyond AI's capabilities. Through careful prompt engineering, students work in teams to incorporate cultural, emotional, and contextual nuances, making AI output more effective.

Cross-disciplinary projects also enhance teamwork and communication. For example, supply chain students can collaborate with finance students to refine AI-generated content related to operational decisions, blending operational insights with financial analysis. This approach provides a holistic view of business challenges, underscoring the importance of collaboration in optimizing business outcomes.

Teaching Ethics And AI Literacy: Responsible Use Of Technology

With AI's growing influence, a strong foundation in ethical literacy is crucial. AI presents risks like bias, privacy concerns, and lack of transparency. Teaching students to use AI responsibly is essential.

In business ethics courses, students might analyze AI in hiring decisions. AI can screen resumes, but students must recognize potential biases. Using frameworks like "fairness, accountability, transparency, and ethics (FATE)," they can assess AI systems and create ethical guidelines. Ensuring AI fairness and accountability is ultimately a human responsibility.

Real-world examples of AI bias in hiring, lending, or healthcare help students grasp the consequences of biased algorithms. Practical exercises where students audit AI tools for bias, by creating test cases representing different demographic groups and running AI models against them, develop their skills in identifying and mitigating ethical pitfalls. Such activities empower students to propose actionable solutions for ethical AI use.

Integrating AI-Enhanced Creativity: Fueling Human Innovation

AI can assist in idea generation, but true creativity requires human refinement, emotional intelligence, and innovation. As students have noted, using AI extends their thinking beyond their current abilities, illustrating AI's role as an enhancer, not a replacement, or another learning tool.

In entrepreneurship classes, AI might suggest business models or identify market gaps, but students must infuse these ideas with creativity to make them viable and innovative. Human ingenuity turns AI’s raw ideas into original solutions. Contrasting successful projects where AI provided suggestions but human creativity brought them to life can be enlightening. Student activities that involve refining AI outputs into unique, impactful solutions highlight the irreplaceable value of human creativity.

Leveraging Generative AI: Personalizing The Journey

Generative AI can also transform education through personalized learning. The World Economic Forum projects such learning will improve learning outcomes. AI-generated content can provide customized exercises, interactive tutorials, and targeted practice with immediate feedback, tailored to students’ unique learning needs. Personalization enables students to concentrate on areas that require more attention, enhancing their engagement and mastery of complex topics.

For example, generative AI can generate practice problems in an accounting course based on a student's understanding of financial ratios, adjusting the difficulty as proficiency grows. It can also offer varied examples and explanations, making the content more accessible and tailored to different learning styles. However, maximizing these benefits requires active engagement, where students question the material, apply concepts, and explore the generated content deeply.

New Forms of Assessment: Measuring Process, Insight, And Adaptability

The shift in pedagogy requires new forms of assessment. Traditional tests that require rote memorization fall short in evaluating AI-era skills. Instead, assessments should focus on learning processes, insight, adaptability, and effective AI use.

Process-oriented assessments should value how students reach conclusions, emphasizing critical analysis, refinement, and adapting AI outputs. Reflective journals can document this journey, making the learning process as important as the result.

Assignments with AI tools should reward creativity, critical thinking, teamwork, and effective AI use. Portfolios showcasing AI-enhanced work can demonstrate student growth, while peer reviews encourage collaboration. Self-assessment fosters metacognition, helping students reflect and adapt. These assessment methods highlight what students know, how they think, how they engage with AI, and how they apply knowledge to real challenges.

Fostering Metacognition And Lifelong Learning: Nurturing Reflective Thinkers

The final shift should be toward fostering metacognition, encouraging students to think about their thinking. While AI can assist in developing metacognitive skills, reflection, self-assessment, and adaptability are uniquely human and essential for lifelong learning.

In leadership courses, students might use AI to draft personal development plans with insights on leadership styles or growth areas. However, students must evaluate these suggestions within the context of their values and experiences. Reflective practices like journaling, aided by AI, help students grow, but the deep insights come from human introspection.

To cultivate lifelong learners, educators should encourage students to use AI tools that support continuous learning, such as online platforms. Introducing resources like online certifications, AI literacy courses, and webinars helps students understand that learning extends beyond formal education.

Access And Ethics: Navigating AI's Role In Modern Classrooms

AI brings great promise to education but also challenges. Equitable access is a major concern as schools with limited funding may struggle to implement AI tools, worsening gaps between well-resourced and underserved institutions. Students without reliable internet or devices are also at risk of falling behind, deepening existing inequities. Ensuring universal access is crucial to bridge these gaps.

Bias is another challenge. AI algorithms often reflect biases from their training data, which can reinforce stereotypes or disadvantage marginalized groups. Privacy is also a key concern as AI increasingly relies on student data. Ethical, secure handling of this data is essential to building trust in AI-driven education.

AI also raises academic integrity concerns. Generative AI tools make it easy for students to take shortcuts, undermining authentic learning and assessments. Educators must design assessments that foster critical thinking and position AI as a supportive tool rather than a shortcut. Addressing these ethical challenges is vital to maximize AI's benefits while minimizing risks.

Adapt Or Fall Behind: Educators In An AI-Driven Era

Educators must evolve by continually learning about AI and new pedagogical approaches. Professional development, AI literacy training, and collaboration are key to staying effective. Institutions can offer various professional growth opportunities, including online courses, certifications, peer mentoring, hands-on workshops, conferences, and industry partnerships. Darling-Hammond et al. highlight that hands-on workshops and peer mentoring are especially effective for direct engagement and skill application.

Participation in learning communities, interdisciplinary projects, and industry collaborations keeps educators current, exposing them to real-world AI applications and fostering a culture of shared best practices. By embracing lifelong learning, educators can transform into dynamic facilitators, capable of preparing students for an AI-enhanced world.

Institutional Commitment: Empowering Faculty Development

Institutions are crucial in helping faculty adapt to the evolving educational landscape. Leadership should focus on fostering innovation, aligning AI with institutional goals, and promoting sustainable, ethical technology use.

A proactive approach to professional development includes structured support and incentives. Financial support could involve grants for AI workshops, funds for new tools, reduced teaching loads, or dedicated learning time. Beyond logistics, fostering a culture that values learning is essential. Recognizing achievements and establishing mentorship programs can motivate faculty.

By genuinely supporting continuous faculty development, institutions ensure educators integrate AI effectively and inspire them to lead in a technology-driven educational world.

The Human-AI Partnership: Education For An Evolving World

A pedagogical paradigm shift in education is inevitable: generative AI must be a powerful partner but never a substitute for human ingenuity, ethical reasoning, or emotional intelligence. Educators should teach students to harness generative AI’s capabilities and enhance, not replace, human skills.

The future demands adaptable students who can learn, unlearn, and relearn as AI evolves. By fostering critical thinking, ethical literacy, collaboration, and creativity, we prepare students to use AI tools effectively and lead in a tech-driven world. The most powerful learning happens at the intersection of human insight and AI capability: a partnership that can transform education and society for the better.

Forbes

A lesson many business owners learn the hard way is that chasing growth too early can compromise the quality of a product or service. It can also overwhelm a young company’s operations, with potentially disastrous results. So how do you scale a successful business that’s inherently difficult to scale?

To answer this question, we turned to three founders whose business models don’t readily lend themselves to fast growth: Sarah LaFleur, founder of womenswear brand M.M.LaFleur; Ariela Safira, founder of mental health care company Zeera; and Christina Tosi, founder of bakery chain Milk Bar. All three of these founder-CEOs have faced unique challenges while trying to expand, from struggling with delegation to managing excess inventory to launching during the early days of Covid. Working through these issues has made them better leaders, they say.

Among the takeaways that came out of their conversation are that hiring early helps, and pivoting can unlock growth. But the founders started with questions of scaling: How founders should think about scalability, and whether they factored that into their own business plans when they were just getting started.

Tosi: I went to culinary school in New York City and worked my way up to fine dining restaurants, but I really missed that feeling of handing someone a plate of cookies or brownies from your home kitchen, which is why I founded Milk Bar. I’ve joked that the worst business plan imaginable is to open a bakery and try to figure out how to scale it. Baked goods are delicate—they’re meant to be eaten fresh and they’re not very resilient.

Safira: Zeera was set to launch as a brick-and-mortar business in April 2020, which obviously did not happen. We pivoted to a digital model and learned that a lot of people wanted group therapy, so we spent the next two and a half years researching and developing that model. We found that digital group therapy can drive clinical outcomes. Plus, it’s more affordable and more scalable. Last year, we expanded commercially into the employer space, which is now our model. The goal in scaling is to get to a place of pattern recognition so you can repeat what’s working. We’re growing, but we’re not there yet. Instead, we’re making the most of this day or this month, and then we’ll talk at the end about what our next steps will be based on how we did.

LaFleur: We have a program called Bento where customers come to our website and fill out a brief survey, and then our stylists put together a lookbook of items we think will work for them. This was what really allowed our business to scale dramatically in 2014. But the way we arrived at Bento was because we were sitting on a lot of inventory and we didn’t know how to move it. We decided to go out to our existing customer base and tell them we would send them a box of dresses, and they could keep whatever they liked and return whatever they didn’t. We came up with this method out of desperation, because otherwise the business was going to go under. That was a big unlock moment, when we tried something different and suddenly it clicked. As a company, we made more in the month we sent out that survey than in any previous month. I’ve had a few moments like that since, but a lot that didn’t work out, too.

Tosi: At Milk Bar, we spend a lot of time thinking about how we can go from making 50 pies a day to 5,000 while making sure every slice is delicious and consistent. How do we source the ingredients? How are we baking it? As a control freak, I would prefer to bake in one kitchen, but we can’t do that. So how do I get the same exact ingredients into multiple kitchens across the country and make sure the product shows up at our customer’s door exactly how we want it to? You have to establish trust with your partners and get them on board so they know they’re part of the Milk Bar universe. That often means that I or one of the other team members is flying across the country to be in the room. Or going to the printer to make sure the Milk Bar pink on the wrapper is just right. Getting all these little textural pieces to line up is vital to scaling a business. Otherwise, it’s not a business, it’s an art project.

LaFleur: That’s so true. And if I think about what has really gotten in the way of scaling, sometimes it is, ironically, my grit. I tend to stay in things too long and think that if I just work a little bit harder or faster, then it will scale. I have been taught a couple of times now that if it’s not working, then it’s probably not going to scale, and I need to take my foot off the gas and go back to the drawing board. Mentally coaching myself to do that has been the hardest thing.

Safira: For us, the pain point in scaling mental health care is that there are only half a million therapists in America, which means we have only enough therapists in this entire country to offer weekly therapy to 7 percent of Americans. But even if we wanted to offer one-on-one therapy to all our customers, we would have to 10x to 15x our therapist population. This far exceeds any realistic venture capital investment, and I don’t think it would be a good use of time. My point of view in starting this company isn’t to re-create what exists in person, put it online, and slap some cute branding on it. First, we took 10 steps back and asked, what are we trying to get the mental health care system to do? How do we get patients to a better place more efficiently? Second, and this is where scaling presents a different hurdle, how do we effectively story-tell this to a world that compares mental health care to one-on-one therapy?

Tosi: Yes! Telling the story is more of a challenge now than before because there’s so much noise. How do you say to people, “Shh, just give me your time and attention and I’ll make your life so much better”? Because, to your point, Ariela, you could make something incredible and it just never reaches people because you can’t get their time and attention.

Safira: A beautiful marketing lesson is “say less.” But you’re always speaking to very different stakeholders, so the ability to remain succinct while delivering a message to people who care about very different things is a real challenge.

LaFleur: When you’re a founder growing a business, every year feels like its own unique startup.

Tosi: I have a question for you both. What’s been your biggest scaling mistake?

Inc

Professor Benedicta Madunagu, a pioneering feminist, revolutionary socialist, human rights activist, and distinguished botanist, passed away on November 26, 2024, in Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria, at the age of 77.

A lifelong committed revolutionary and scholar, Comrade Bene (as she was fondly called) was a prominent figure in the Nigerian Left, dedicated to social justice, gender empowerment, and progressive political transformation. She was a professor of Botany at the University of Calabar and co-founder of the influential Girls' Power Initiative (GPI), an organization committed to girls' and young women's empowerment.

Born in Afaha-Essang, Akwa Ibom State, Professor Madunagu's academic journey began at the University of Lagos, where she pursued graduate studies in Botany. Together with her husband, Edwin Madunagu, she was a key member of several revolutionary organizations, including the Calabar Group of Socialists and the Anti-Poverty Movement of Nigeria (APMON).

Bene was renowned for her exceptional contributions to academic research, feminist activism, and socialist revolutionary movements. She was particularly celebrated for her work with GPI, where she transformed the lives of countless young women from disadvantaged backgrounds, providing them with material supports, critical knowledge and insights about their place in the world.

A stalwart in the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), she was widely respected for her principled leadership, intellectual rigor, and unwavering commitment to social change. Her inaugural lecture on Plant-Human Relationships in 2012 was a testament to her scholarly brilliance.

She is survived by her husband, Edwin Madunagu, three children (Unoma, Ikenna and Michael), and numerous comrades, colleagues, students, and friends who were inspired by her lifelong dedication to social justice and human rights.

A celebration of her remarkable life will be announced by the immediate family in due course.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed alarming food price increases in October 2024, with brown beans experiencing the most dramatic surge of 254.23% compared to the previous year.

According to the NBS Selected Food Prices Watch report, key food items saw significant price hikes:

- Brown beans: Increased from N790.01 to N2,798.50 per kg

- Eggs: Rose from N1,112.22 to N2,671.60 for 12 medium-sized agricultural eggs

- Sliced bread: Jumped from N760.82 to N1,550.24

- Local rice: Climbed from N819.42 to N1,944.64 per kg

- Boneless beef: Escalated from N2,948.03 to N5,858.58 per kg

Regional variations were notable, with Bauchi recording the highest brown beans price at N3,750.00 per kg, while Yobe had the lowest at N1,749.52. Niger state saw the highest egg prices at N3,450.00 for 12 pieces, and Rivers state had the most expensive sliced bread at N1,867.14.

In July, the federal government attempted to address rising food prices by implementing a 150-day duty-free import window for food commodities like maize, cowpeas, wheat, and brown rice.

Experts continue to recommend more sustainable solutions, including addressing insecurity, managing foreign exchange rates, and reducing transportation costs to stabilize food prices and ensure food security.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has reported that the rehabilitated old Port Harcourt refinery is now operating at 70% of its installed capacity, with plans to increase production to 90% in the near future.

The refinery, which has a capacity of 60,000 barrels per stream day, has resumed operations after years of challenges and underwent significant repair work. NNPC began truck loading of petroleum products on Tuesday, 26 November, and is currently producing a range of daily outputs including:

- 1.4 million litres of blended petrol

- 900,000 litres of kerosene

- 1.5 million litres of diesel

- 2.1 million litres of low-pour fuel oil

- Additional volumes of liquefied petroleum gas

NNPC emphasized that the refinery uses a standard global blending practice, incorporating crack C5 from Indorama Petrochemicals to ensure the gasoline meets required specifications. The company also hinted at substantial progress on the new Port Harcourt refinery, which is expected to begin operations soon.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has raised the monetary policy rate (MPR) from 27.25% to 27.50%, marking a key decision by the bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC). The MPR serves as the benchmark interest rate for the country.

CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, announced that the MPC maintained the asymmetric corridor around the MPR at +500 and -100 basis points. Additionally, the committee retained the cash reserve ratio (CRR) at 50% and the liquidity ratio at 30%.

Cardoso explained that the hike in the MPR is aimed at addressing rising prices and stabilizing inflation. He highlighted the committee’s focus on managing price pressures, which continue to affect the income and welfare of Nigerians.

“The committee noted that inflationary pressures remain persistent, with a month-on-month increase across key indicators,” Cardoso said. “This underscores the need for policy measures to stabilize prices, anchor inflation expectations, and maintain exchange rate stability.”

While food prices remain a significant driver of inflation, the MPC acknowledged the federal government’s efforts to improve security in the northeast, which is expected to boost agricultural productivity. However, rising energy costs, particularly the recent increase in the price of premium motor spirit (PMS), have continued to elevate production and distribution costs across various sectors.

Despite these challenges, Cardoso expressed optimism that the full deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector will eventually stabilize fuel prices and reduce scarcity, positively impacting the broader economy in the medium term.

The MPC also emphasized the importance of collaboration between monetary and fiscal authorities to achieve sustainable growth and price stability.

In addition, Cardoso highlighted improvements in Nigeria’s external sector, including a rise in the current account surplus, increased remittances, and higher capital inflows, all of which have bolstered the country’s external reserves.

“The committee is pleased with the progress being made as key policy measures by both monetary and fiscal authorities begin to deliver positive results,” he added.