Category: Special Report

The 2021 Gates and Melinda Gates Foundation Report, which is known as the Gatekeepers Report, shows that there are growing gaps in education, millions more people are living in extreme poverty, and more children are missing vaccines. Excerpts:

Over the past year, it has been impossible to ignore stark disparities not only in who has gotten sick and who has died—but also in who had to go to work, who could work from home, and who lost their jobs entirely. Health inequities are as old as the health systems themselves, but it took a global pandemic to forcefully remind the world of their consequences.

Millions more in extreme poverty

For many, the economic impacts of the pandemic continue to be severe and enduring. We know we may seem like unlikely messengers on this topic—we’re two of the most fortunate people on the planet. And the pandemic has made that even more clear. People like us have weathered the pandemic in good shape, while those who are most vulnerable have been hit the hardest and will likely be the slowest to recover. An additional 31 million people around the world have been pushed into extreme poverty as a result of COVID-19. Although men are 70% more likely to die from COVID-19, women continue to be disproportionately affected by the economic and social impacts of the pandemic: This year, women’s employment globally is expected to remain 13 million jobs below the 2019 level—while men’s employment is largely expected to recover to pre-pandemic rates.

Although variants threaten to undermine the progress we’ve made, some economies are beginning to recover, bringing with them business reopenings and job creation. But recovery is uneven between—and even within—countries. By next year, for example, 90% of advanced economies are expected to regain pre-pandemic per capita income levels, while only a third of low- and middle-income economies are expected to do the same. Poverty reduction efforts are stagnating—and that means nearly 700 million people, the vast majority in low- and middle-income countries, are projected to remain mired in extreme poverty in 2030.

Growing gaps in education

We’re seeing a similar story when it comes to education. Before the pandemic, nine out of 10 children in low-income countries were already unable to read and understand a basic text, compared to one in 10 children in high-income countries.

Early evidence suggests that learning losses will be greatest among marginalized groups. Growing educational disparities were found in wealthy countries, too. In the United States, for example, learning loss among Black and Latino third grade students was, on average, double that of white and Asian American students. And learning loss among third graders from high-poverty schools was triple those of their peers in low-poverty schools.

More children missing vaccines

Meanwhile, global routine childhood vaccination rates fell to levels last seen in 2005. Between the start of the pandemic and when health services began to recover in the second half of 2020, more than 30 million children around the world missed their vaccinations—that’s 10 million more because of the pandemic. It’s possible that many of these children will never catch up on doses.

But here, the data surprised us: A year ago, we had reported that the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation was estimating that vaccine coverage would drop 14 percentage points globally in 2020, which would have amounted to 25 years of progress down the drain. But based on more recent data, it looks like the actual drop in vaccine coverage—devastating though it was—was only half that.

As we continued to sift through the data, it became evident that this was not a fluke: On many key development indicators, the world stepped up over the past year to avert some of the worst-case scenarios.

Take malaria, for example, which has long been one of the world’s most deeply inequitable diseases: 90% of malaria cases are found in Africa. Last year, the World Health Organization forecasted severe disruptions to essential malaria prevention efforts that could have set progress back 10 years—and result in an additional 200,000 deaths from a preventable disease. That projection spurred many countries to action to ensure that bed nets were distributed and testing and antimalarial drugs remained available. Benin, where malaria is the leading cause of death, even found a way to innovate in the midst of the pandemic: They created a new, digitized distribution system for insecticide-treated bed nets, getting 7.6 million nets into homes across the country in just 20 days.

They deserve the world’s gratitude.

Of course, the full extent of the pandemic’s impact on the SDGs will take years to fully understand, as more and better data becomes available. And this data doesn’t diminish the very real suffering the pandemic has caused for people everywhere—far from it. But the fact that we can point to positive signs amid a once-in-a-generation global pandemic is extraordinary. With one hand tied behind their backs, countless individuals, organizations, and countries went above and beyond to innovate, adapt, and build resilient systems, and for that, they deserve the world’s gratitude.

What the so-called miracle of vaccines shows us

New vaccines usually take about 10 to 15 years to make. So, the development of multiple high-quality COVID-19 vaccines in less than a year is unprecedented.

And it’s easy to see why that might seem like a miracle. But in fact, the COVID-19 vaccines are the result of decades of careful investment, policies, and partnerships that established the infrastructure, talent, and enabling ecosystem needed to deploy them so quickly.

We have scientists around the world to thank for their years of foundational research. One researcher, Hungary’s Dr. Katalin Karikó, dedicated her career to studying messenger RNA, also known as mRNA. For years, her unorthodox ideas failed to gain broad support and funding, and many dismissed the idea that mRNA could be used to make vaccines and therapeutics. But Dr. Karikó persevered. Her story is emblematic of the many scientists whose discoveries—often years in the making—have made it possible for two highly effective mRNA vaccines to be developed in less than one year.

It’s a gift that will keep on giving: There are already mRNA vaccine candidates in the development pipeline that could finally tackle some of the world’s deadliest diseases, from malaria to cancer.

Of course, mRNA vaccines aren’t the only R&D success story to come out of this approach.

The long-term promise of genomic sequencing

By now, the whole world is keenly aware that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, has mutated into increasingly infectious and deadly variants, like delta, as it spreads around the world. Thanks to genomic sequencing—identifying the unique genetic makeup of a virus—scientists have been able to identify and track emerging variants.

Historically, the majority of the genomic sequencing in the world has taken place in the United States and Europe. Countries without sequencing technology would send viral samples to labs in places like New York and London for genetic analysis—and they’d only get results months later.

But for the past four years, organizations have been investing in building a genomic surveillance network in Africa, so countries on the continent could sequence viruses like Ebola and yellow fever. The Africa CDC established the Africa Pathogen Genomics Initiative, and when the pandemic hit, the nascent network turned its attention to SARS-CoV-2. The only reason the world knew that the more infectious and deadly beta variant had emerged in South Africa was because the country had invested heavily in R&D—in this case, pairing genomic sequencing capabilities with clinical trials and immunology studies. South Africa’s own Dr. Penny Moore was one of the first scientists to discover that a coronavirus variant identified in South Africa could circumvent the immune system.

With this information, public health officials around the world could plan accordingly. And South Africa, which has also invested deeply in infrastructure to rapidly and effectively conduct clinical trials, could quickly adjust its vaccine trials. They began working to determine whether COVID-19 vaccines provided sufficient protection against the new variant that would soon spread everywhere.

It’s insufficient for rich countries to be the only ones with the equipment and resources to sequence viruses.

It seems obvious that in a globalized world, where people and goods move constantly across borders, it’s insufficient for rich countries to be the only ones with the equipment and resources to sequence viruses. But it took a pandemic to reinforce how important it is to support the ability of low- and middle-income countries to collect and analyze their own data—because it benefits everyone.

And what’s particularly exciting about Africa’s genomic sequencing network is that the technology works for any pathogen: If the continent is able to keep building the network, it will soon be doing its own disease tracking for long-standing viruses like flu, measles, and polio.

Scientific innovation, even at a record-breaking pace, isn’t enough on its own. The COVID-19 vaccines are an amazing feat of R&D, but they are most effective when everyone has access to them. The inequities of the past year remind us that this is far easier said than done.

It’s up to people—from the halls of power to grassroots organizations and neighbourhood groups—to step up to fill the gaps. And this year, it was these dynamic human interventions, when met with previous investments in systems, in communities, and in people, that allowed the world to avoid some of those initial, worst-case predictions.

Investing in systems

As we write this, more than 80% of all COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in high- and upper-middle-income countries. Some have secured two to three times the number of doses needed to cover their populations, in case boosters are needed for increasingly infectious variants. Meanwhile, less than 1% of doses have been administered in low-income countries. These inequities are a profound moral outrage—and raise the very real risk that high-income countries and communities will begin to treat COVID-19 as another epidemic of poverty: Not our problem.

The infrastructure needed to quickly manufacture an additional 15 billion vaccine doses cannot be set up overnight, or even in a year. But India provides an example of what happens when that infrastructure is built up over the long term.

India has been investing in its health care manufacturing infrastructure for decades—since the country’s independence. The Indian government helped Pune, a city near Mumbai, become a major global manufacturing hub by investing in R&D capacity and local infrastructure, like electricity, water, and transportation. They worked with the World Health Organization to build a regulatory system for vaccines that upheld the strictest international standards for quality, safety, and efficacy. And they partnered with vaccine manufacturers in Pune and other hubs like Hyderabad and our foundation to develop, produce, and export vaccines that tackle the deadliest childhood illnesses, from meningitis to pneumonia to diarrheal diseases.

Of course, simply having manufacturing capacity wasn’t sufficient to negate the crisis of COVID-19 in India—it’s just one piece of the puzzle—but it is a remarkable feat of progress that today more than 60% of all vaccines sold globally are manufactured on the subcontinent.

We’ve also seen that countries that have strong government investment in health infrastructure are far better able to proactively track, and in many cases, contain the spread of COVID-19. Long-term investments in eradicating wild polio in lower-income countries have helped countries like Nigeria and Pakistan build one of the largest operational workforces in modern global health. Investing in polio eradication created infrastructure for outbreak response and vaccine administration—which made a critical difference in disease outbreaks from Ebola to COVID-19.

That’s why long-term investments in health systems are so worthwhile: They are the foundation for emergency disease response. We might not have known which specific pathogen would lead to a once-in-a-generation global pandemic, but the tools to end the pandemic are largely the same as for polio or malaria or other infectious diseases: widespread testing and, when possible, fast and effective treatment and life-saving immunisation.

Investing in communities

Some of the most effective interventions we’ve been tracking have happened at a hyperlocal level, headed by leaders who have worked long and hard to earn the trust of their communities—something that cannot be built overnight or in the midst of a crisis.

Women’s “self-help groups” are common across India as well as other parts of South and South-East Asia. For years, the Indian government and global partners have been investing in these small collectives of women who pool money and work to improve health, education, and other services in their villages.

When COVID-19 arrived in Bihar, India, home to more than 100 million people, one local self-help group established trust with their neighbours by delivering meals and home-based health care to those who had fallen ill from COVID-19. When vaccines were ready for distribution in their community, these women became a source of information and guidance for those same neighbours who had concerns about vaccine safety. The Bihar government took notice of the work being done at the community level and declared March 8—International Women’s Day—a day to vaccinate women across the state. Nearly 175,000 women took the first dose of the vaccine that week. Building on that success, the government of Bihar is replicating the program, guided by the women of the self-help group.

And in Senegal, community-based outreach has been key to delivering other vaccines, too.

Senegal has been one of the success stories of routine immunisation coverage: Before the pandemic, children were immunised against diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis at similar rates as children in the United States and other high-income countries. But when COVID-19 arrived, fear of infection and misinformation reduced the demand for these vaccines dramatically.

Social distancing and school closures forced health workers to adapt their outreach strategies. Senegal trained health workers on how to resume immunization safely, while letting local officials adapt outreach strategies to meet local needs. Clinic staff now use immunisation records to identify children who are missing vaccinations and send text message reminders to their families. And they’ve made it easier for those families to respond: The country’s extensive and trusted cadre of community health workers are going home to home to deliver vaccines, and reopened clinics are providing greater flexibility for the location and timing for scheduling catch-up doses.

In both these examples, solutions for the community came from within. The communities themselves led the way in developing innovative strategies to slow the spread of COVID-19 in ways that worked for their particular localities, and foundations and government partners lent their support. These investments in community building will be worth nurturing long after the pandemic is behind us.

Investing in women and girls

We’re seeing new innovations when it comes to how governments address crises, too. Of course, major policies often take years, decades even, to take root and make an impact. But once enacted and implemented, those policies can have far-reaching and long-lasting effects. In many ways, effective policymaking is the ultimate long-term investment.

Consider the pandemic’s economic gender divide: Even though each country has its own unique story to tell, we’re seeing that in high- and low-income countries alike, women have been harder hit than men by the global recession that was triggered by the pandemic. But—importantly—data also show that the negative effect on women has been smaller in countries that had gender-intentional policies in place prior to the pandemic.

That’s why we’re so encouraged to see governments around the world putting women at the centre of their economic recovery planning and policymaking. Pakistan expanded its Ehsaas Emergency Cash program to get money to poor households, with women making up two-thirds of the program’s intended recipients. Ehsaas provided emergency cash assistance during the pandemic to nearly 15 million low-income households—42% of the country’s population. And the effects will have a lasting impact: more than 10 million women being brought into the formal financial system for the first time.

Argentina recently published its first budget with a gender perspective, directing more than 15% of public spending toward programs that target gender inequality. With guidance from a newly appointed director of economy, equality, and gender in the Ministry of Economy, they’ve adopted policies that support women and families, such as establishing 300 new public childcare centers in the country’s poorest neighbourhoods.

And in the United States, the Hawaiian state government is putting women and girls—as well as Native Hawaiians, immigrants, transgender and nonbinary people, and people living in poverty—at the centre of its economic recovery efforts. The first gender-oriented economic recovery plan in the United States includes proven policies that support women’s long-term economic empowerment, such as paid sick days and family leave, universal childcare, and raising the hourly minimum wage for single mothers.

We’re eager to see the long-term outcomes from these innovative approaches toward women’s economic empowerment. But even in this early phase, these are encouraging new models of policymaking. These policies won’t just make a difference in the short term; they’ll help ensure greater economic stability the next time a crisis comes around.

The International Forum for Peace and Security in Africa held at Abdou Diouf International Conference Centre, Dakar, Senegal explored ways to get Africa out of the grip of wars and COVID-19. ADEOLA OGUNLADE reports.

The two-day event at the International Forum for Peace and Security in Africa held at the Abdou Diouf International Conference Centre, Dakar, Senegal had in attendance prominent African leaders, diplomats, development experts, civilians, military experts, journalists and other delegates around the world. Tagged: Challenges of Africa’s stability and emergence in a post-COVID world, the forum focused on peace and security. The 7th edition buttressed the impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on peace and security and post-COVID recovery.

Among the participants are Senegalese President Macky Sall, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum and Guinea Bissau President Umaro Sissoco Embalo. Also at the conference are the President of the European Council, Mr Charles Michel, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Mr Moussa Faki Mahamat and the Minister of the Armed Forces of the French Republic, Florence Parley.

Sall said Africa must be resilient to combat the adverse effects of a dual health and economic crisis, climate change, the intensification of terrorist attacks and the resurgence of coups d’état.

He noted that since 2014, the Dakar Forum has been held to diagnose the situation in Africa in order to contribute to the search for solutions to the ills affecting it.

“This is why African leaders, senior officials, civilian and military experts are participating in this forum today, as safeguarding the continent’s peace and security is our mutual primary responsibility.

“Security has no price. But it does have a cost. Faced with the rise of the terrorist threat, we need greater budgetary flexibility to enable our countries to provide themselves with the means to ensure a minimum of national defence, with well-trained and well-equipped armies.

“We must also question the doctrine of peace operations in Africa. There are seven of them on the continent today: six deployed by the United Nations and one by the African Union in Somalia (AMISOM), which alone has more than 21,000 troops; the seven operations total more than 75,000 soldiers,” he said.

Sall added that national responsibility, international solidarity and collective security mean that peace and security in Africa are integral to world peace and security.

“We must, therefore, continue to identify the internal and external causes of conflicts on the continent and assess the effectiveness of national responses, peace operations and other mechanisms for the peaceful resolution of disputes,” he said.

He called for a rethink of global economic governance to favour the conditions for financing Africa’s emergence.

He called for reforms which should focus on relaxing rules for export credit loans, and lengthen maturity dates for financing development infrastructure projects.

According to Ramaphosa, when the scientists in South Africa discovered the new COVID-19 variants- Omicron, immediately alerted the world but the punishment it got was a travel ban.

He called for the review of the intellectual right by world power for African countries to be able to manufacture vaccines.

He noted that the greed displayed by world powers is disappointing.

 Insecurity in the Sahel

Bazoum said terrorism at work in the Sahel today is characterised by forms of organisation that are very similar to those observed in the guerrilla movements in Latin America in the 1960s and 1970s.

“When I read the intelligence files on the organisation of these movements, I find a description of reality that reminds me of my reading of Régis Debray and Che Guevara. The terrorist bases are indeed organised on the model of the focos, as described by Régis Debray. This model, as you will recall, was not used in the wars of the national liberation movements in Africa, nor in the guerrilla wars attempted in Cameroon, the DRC and Niger in the early 1960s. It is surprising, to say the least, that this pattern of warfare should reappear more than 50 years later,” he said.

He posited that the Sahelian terrorist movements benefit from conditions of access to financial resources unheard of for a rebellion. For almost two decades, northern Mali has been a lawless area where a criminal economy has developed around trans-Saharan drug trafficking to Europe and Asia. Local terrorist organisations, branches of ALQAIDA and DAESH, are linked to this traffic, which provides them with money.

“The presence of numerous gold deposits in the area has encouraged gold panning activities under their control, which also allows them to increase their financial capacities.

“But at the moment, much of their money comes from extortion, large-scale cattle rustling and the taxes they systematically impose on all the people in the vast areas they travel through on their motorbikes. Since the widespread use of these taxes and cattle rustling, vocations have increased and the number of young pastoralists joining the terrorist groups is growing,” he said.

He called on the Sahelian states to set up a military strategy adapted to the challenges, consisting of the use of techniques and means to make war the least asymmetric possible. This is what Niger is trying to do, he said.

“They also need more appropriate support from their partners, focusing on intelligence, air support and capacity building for their armies. On the subject of intelligence, the major mistake of the partners is their weak involvement in the fight against arms trafficking from Libya, which is the most important parameter in the prevalence of this terrorism,” Bazoum said.

He stressed that the Sahelian countries need exceptional financial resources, access to which requires a deviation from the traditional financing rules established by the international financial institutions, without which their action will always be very inadequate.

Role of the international communities

The European Union Special Representative for the Sahel, Emanuela Del Re, said: “The growing insecurity is the core of the problem of the Sahel of which I am responsible somehow because I am representing 27 countries of the European Union (EU). This means that I represent the EU in cooperation with the Sahel Countries. We try to move the step forward for peace and above all stability within the Sahel countries.”

Del Re said the EU has developed its latest strategy for the Sahel which was defined in April last year and it was mainly on the issues of how to solve the problem of security and development together because the two must go together.

Re said: “The key issue here is governance. We have a lot of experience in this region because we are the main partners with the Sahel countries. We are aware of the problems and as well the opportunities that come from focusing on governance.

“Governance is important because we have come to the conclusion that unless we have a solid welfare state and institutions that can resist attack and solve problems in remote areas, especially when small communities are victims of attacks. Unless we put in place governance and a welfare state, we cannot in any way succeed. This is the real solution for stable society, resilient society and the promotion of peace intending as a way of creating stability within the countries.

“The Sahel is most important on the table of the EU. We believe that whatever happens in the Sahel has an impact on our society as well as the rest of Africa. In terms of military response to the problem of security, we have a training mission in Mali where Soldiers are being trained. We are investing a lot in military equipment, providing technical assistance, and training of the Police Force. There is a huge intense activity to fight terrorism under different point of view because we have integrated approach which is multi-dimensional and therefore, we don’t leave anything out. That is why we focus on civil society groups and research. Unless we start thinking of how to solve the problem of terrorism by acting on different front, we might win the battle but what we want to win is the war and obtains peace.”

The State Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, Suzuki Takako, said Japan has been supporting Africa’s positive efforts to maintain and strengthen its peace and stability through TICAD, which is an inclusive platform that advances African ownership and international partnership.

“NAPSA, a New Approach for Peace and Stability in Africa that we introduced in the last forum, is one example.

“Japan has been promoting some specific projects under NAPSA, such as human resource development in the field of criminal justice for West African countries including the G5 Sahel, border control capacity enhancement to strengthen counterterrorist measures, and capacity building for PKO personnel in African countries through assistance for PKO training centres and the UN Triangular Partnership Project,” he said.

Takako added:  “In response to the spread of the COVID-19, we will continue to implement measures to support African health systems in the medium and long term. The COVID-19 epidemic has had a tremendous impact on African economies and societies, and has highlighted a variety of development challenges. In order for Africa to build back better and enjoy prosperity, it is important to ensure regional peace and stability as a prerequisite. To achieve 2 this, employment and educational opportunities are also necessary to prevent young people from being inclined toward violent extremism. Japan is promoting NAPSA, which addresses such root causes of conflicts and terrorism.

ECOWAS commitment toward the fight against insecurity

Minister of Foreign Affairs Geoffrey Onyeama said the Economic Community of West Africa State (ECOWAS) has set up a $1billion Peace and Security Fund.

“This fund was set up because we realise there is so much reliance on our international partners and their intervention is not sufficient enough to address some of the security challenges facing our sub-region and Nigeria is one of the first countries to contribute to the fund. We also put forward one of the ECOWAS committees, the idea of the ECOWAS force. Nigeria believes strongly in that idea of collective security. It is very much our policy. We are aware Nigeria is very active and present in a number of ECOWAS member’s states over the years in the area of security and we always believe that it should be done collectively,” Onyeama said.

The Director of Policy at the Nigerian Defence Headquarters, Maj.-Gen. Usman Abdulmumuni Yusuf, said the Armed Forces of Nigeria in collaboration with some West African countries were doing so much to contain insurgency.

He lauded their efforts so far, stating that the dynamics keep changing because of the ability of the insurgents to recruit from outside the borders and with different sources of financing which has kept them afloat.

Gen. Yusuf noted that Federal Government was doing a lot to curb the major financial sources of the terrorist groups, while the Armed Forces in collaboration with other security agencies were working along the borders to militate against the importation of other fighters from other countries into Nigeria.

By Kelvin Osa Okunbor, Oyebola Owolabi, Vincent Ikuomola, Frank Ikpefan, Moses Emorinken, Abuja

Minister of Health Dr. Osagie Ehanire yesterday explained why one million doses of the donated COVID-19 vaccines given to Nigeria by some international donors expired and were eventual withdrawn from circulation.

He assured Nigerians that there were no expired COVID-19 vaccines in circulation, stating that vaccines expiration was not limited to Nigeria.

Ehanire stated these in Abuja while reacting to an online publication that nearly one million doses of COVID-19 vaccine had expired last month.

The minister stressed that the best way to end such occurrences would be for the country to begin the production of its own vaccines.

According to data from the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), as of December 6, about 7,244,620 of total eligible persons had received their first dose. The data added that 3,811,693 had received their second dose – fully vaccinated.

Ehanire said: “The attention of the Federal Ministry of Health has been drawn to reports circulating in the media to the effect that some Covid-19 vaccines had expired in Nigeria.

“Nigeria has, of late, enjoyed the generosity of several, mainly European countries, who have offered us doses of COVID-19 vaccines out of their stockpiles, free of charge, through COVAX or AVAT facility. These donations are always acknowledged and thankfully received. However, some of them had residual shelf lives of only a few months that left us very short time, some just weeks, to use them, after deduction of time to transport, clear, distribute and deliver to users. If such vaccines arrive back-to-back or are many, logistic bottlenecks occasionally arise.

“We appreciate the kind gesture of donors, but also communicated the challenge of short shelf lives, whereupon some manufacturers offered to extend the vaccine shelf life after the fact, by 3 months, a practice that, though accepted by experts, is declined by the Federal Ministry of Health, because it is not accommodated in our standards. Nigeria does not dispense vaccines with a validity extended beyond labelled expiry date. We continue to adhere to our rigorous standards.

“Donation of surplus Covid-19 vaccines with expiring shelf lives to developing countries has been a matter of international discussion. Developing countries like Nigeria accept them because they close our critical vaccine supply gaps and, being free, save us scarce foreign exchange procurement costs. This dilemma is not typical to Nigeria, but a situation in which many low- and medium-income countries find themselves.”

Ehanire added: “Nigeria has utilised most of the over 10 million short-shelf-life doses of COVID-19 vaccines so far supplied to us, in good time, and saved N16.4 billion or more than $40m in foreign exchange. The vaccines that expired had been withdrawn before then, and will be destroyed accordingly, by NAFDAC.

“The Ministry of Health shares its experience with partners regularly and now politely declines all vaccine donations with short shelf life or those that cannot be delivered in time.”

Pfizer, BioNTech vaccine neutralises Omicron with three shots

BioNTech and Pfizer (PFE.N) said yesterday that a three-shot course of their COVID-19 vaccine was able to neutralise the new Omicron variant in a laboratory test and they could deliver an upgraded vaccine in March 2022, if needed.

The German and U.S. companies said two doses of their vaccine resulted in significantly lower neutralising antibodies, but a third dose boosted those antibodies by a factor of 25.

“The first line of defence, with two doses of vaccination, might be compromised and three doses of vaccination are required to restore protection,” BioNTech Chief Medical Officer Ozlem Tuereci said at a news conference.

World’s biggest vaccine maker slashes jab production by half

The world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, India-based Serum Institute, plans to reduce production of the AstraZeneca jab against COVID-19 by at least half, its chief executive said in a television interview.

Serum Institute head, Adar Poonawalla, said the failure of the Indian government to place any new orders was the reason for plans to slash production.

According to Poonawalla, the orders from the UN vaccine initiative were coming in very slowly.

“I am going to be reducing the production by at least 50 per cent to begin with, going forward on a monthly basis, until the orders again pick up in India and the world,” he said.

The company currently makes 250 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine every month.

The shot is sold in India under the name Covishield.

Saudi Arabia bans flights from Nigeria

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has also shut its doors against Nigeria, following the report of the Coronavirus variant, Omicron, in the country.

The Saudi Arabian ban is coming three days after the United Kingdom, Canada and other countries imposed ban on flights from Nigeria.

The General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) in Saudi Arabia allegedly confirmed the development in a circular issued yesterday.

The circular was signed by Assistant President for Economic Policy and Air Transport, Dr. Faisal Al Sugair, titled: ‘’Suspension of flights from and to the Federal Republic of Nigeria’’ and directed to airlines operating in the airports of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The circular instructed the suspension of all incoming flights and entry to the Kingdom for non-nationals coming directly or indirectly from Nigeria, except for those who have spent a period of no less than 14 days in another country from which they are allowed to come.

It was gathered that the Holy Land also issued a new travel protocol.

According to the circular, home quarantine will be applied for a period of five days to Saudi Arabia citizens coming from Nigeria, provided PCR examination on the first day and the fifth day regardless of immunisation status.

AU, IATA urge end to travel curbs on African nations

The African Union (AU) has called for an urgent end to travel restrictions imposed on some of its member states, saying the measures effectively penalise governments for timely data sharing in line with international health regulations.

The measures act “as a disincentive for information sharing in the future, potentially posing a threat to health security on the continent and globally,” the AU said in a statement.

Also, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) yesterday called on governments to follow World Health Organisation (WHO) advice and immediately rescind travel bans that were introduced in response to the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

Lagos sets condition for social events

Lagos State has clarified safety protocols to be adhered to before holding a party, especially in the wake of the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A statement by the Commissioner for Information, Gbenga Omotoso, said it was necessary to clarify perceived ambiguities in the government’s stance on social events and gatherings during the yuletide, and spell out what is expected of event organisers and attendees.

The statement reads: “All social events must be duly registered to obtain Event Safety Clearance from the Lagos State Safety Commission, website: www.lasgsafetyreg.com, prior to holding; and the guidelines set out below must be strictly adhered to.

“Where possible events should be held in an outdoor space; occupancy limit at any event must not exceed 60 per cent of maximum design capacity of the event centre; all attendees of a social gathering are expected to present their vaccination cards or digital bar code page, showing at least first dose, but preferably double dose full vaccination. In unvaccinated people, a negative PCR test within 72 hours will be an exemption; and guests and service providers with high temperature (above 37.5) are to be politely turned back and referred to paramedics or the emergency response team on ground.”

It added: “All guests and service providers at the event must wear a nose mask or face shield before entry; all guests and service providers must endeavor to wash their hands before entering the venue or use hand sanitisers after which temperature checks should be carried out; and hand sanitisers to be positioned at the entry point and different spots within the venue.

“Notwithstanding the foregoing, it is also appropriate, at this moment, to request that we should all exercise a high degree of care and responsibility towards ourselves and loved ones during the festive season. Let us, as much as possible, endeavor to avoid huge gatherings and events during this period, as experience has shown that these events have the tendency to be super spreading events.

“We wish you all a very festive and blessed holiday season ahead.”

With the successful spectrum bid round for 5G deployment concluded, the race for deployment has started. With foreign exchange crunch which is the currency denominator in the telecoms sector, LUCAS AJANAKU writes on the long road to a 5G economy.

Imagine a world of internet connection at a speed faster than that of lightening; speed 10 times faster than what is obtained in the fourth generation (4G) network; a world of interconnectedness where the Tv set, door, refrigerator, cars, and other home appliances are being controlled remotely from the mobile phone; virtual surgical operation and telemedicine being executed with clinical precision.

These and many more are the endless promises of the world of 5G network, which is an advancement on the current 4G network being used largely in major cities of Nigeria. Experts say the 5G network is no longer a future technology, as it is being perceived in some quarters, but rather, a technology that will be accessible in the first quarter (Q1) next year ceteris paribus to drive efficiency in virtually every facet of the nation’s endeavours.

The 5G stands for the 5th generation mobile network. It is a new global wireless standard after 1G, 2G, 3G and 4G networks. 5G enables a new kind of network that is designed to connect virtually everyone and everything together including machines, objects, and devices.

Emerging 5G networks feature lower latency, higher capacity, and increased bandwidth compared to 4G. These network improvements will have far-reaching impacts on how people live, work, and play across the world. The emerging 5G networks feature higher capacity, and increased bandwidth compared to 4G.

Benefits

The Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Prof Isa Pantami said 5G will be approximately 20 times faster than 4G. He said it will open many opportunities for businesses because of the quality of the service and at the same time, it will allow many devices to get connected meaning everything will be interconnected.

In the area of security, he said it will promote remote surveillance whereby so many facilities such as robots get attached to the internet of things (IoT) and many more. “Operatives will be able to deploy it to have real-time communication including in remote areas where they cannot be physically present. It will help major companies, especially those that require very strong broadband to participate in the remote operation and many more including oil and gas, from discovery to production to refining. When it comes to individuals, it will help in telemedicine, telesurgery.

The Chairman, Association of Licensed Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ALTON), Gbenga Adebayo, agreed no less with Pantami. He said every layer of improvement in telecommunication has brought a difference in user experience and significant improvement in the quality of services delivered to the end-user. “The major advantage of 5G is that you have a high volume of data transfer between person to person and person to machine and the world today is talking about virtual reality, all these applications will ride on 5G. Electronic gaming, electronic sports, and e-commerce will be better with 5G. Big data, high data transfer, high speed of communication, high-quality communication will be guaranteed,” Adebayo said.

He said connectivity will be enhanced by connecting the home to the office and the office to the devices such that one can open the window of the home from the office, operate the car remotely.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said Nigerians should expect gigabytes per second for smart cities, self-driving cars, robust telemedicine, and others with the deployment of 5G in the country.

The Executive Vice Chairman of the commission, Prof. Umar Danbatta, gave the assurance during a webinar entitled: “Unlocking 5G potential in Africa” held on StreamYard.

Danbatta emphasised Nigeria’s readiness to deploy 5G and highlighted some of the steps taken by the Commission towards deploying the technology in the country.

He said Nigeria has continued to receive visitations by countries that wished to benchmark their operations, just as Nigeria has also visited other countries to explore how 5G and associated technologies can be deployed effectively because 5G technologies are not just valuable, they are so significant due to their derivable social and economic benefits.

He said 5G will lead to gigabytes in a second, robust voice and real-time digital social mediation, massive IoT such as smart city and smart homes (connectedness of appliances and home security), pervasive 3D videos and Ultra High Definition screens, augmented reality, self-driving cars, industrial automation, high-speed trains, lifeline and ultra-reliable communications in telemedicine and natural disasters that will deliver successful services using critical applications.

Executive Director, Centre for Cyberspace Studies (CCS) at Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Nigeria, Dr. Uche Mbanaso said Nigeria cannot be left out of the global transition of technology. Rolling out the 5G technology will enhance our digital economy stride and challenge the industry to key into the opportunity and harness the huge potential therein.

An official of one of the major carriers in the country has however warned subscribers to be ready to pay premium charges for services. “You can see the excitement about 5G. Subscribers are complaining about fast data depletion with 3G, 4G. When 5G is eventually rolled out, its speed will deplete data and there will be more complaints,” he said on the sideline of the last 5G stakeholder forum organised in Lagos.

Infrastructure

While there’s generally a dearth of infrastructure in the telecoms sector in the country, Adebayo said the infrastructure that the telcos have to be deployed is good and ready to go and start up on 5G. “So we are very pleased about the trial that has been done, we are pleased about the approval of the policy. Today we are talking about the digital economy, mobile banking, all these services will run better on 5G more affordable, and have more latency.

“What makes 5G better is the ubiquity and proximity of BTS to the user. “Many towers will come to the streets which will make it easier for people to connect and connect to other devices. That is the vitality of the 5G network cos it is a much higher frequency and has wavelength because of this wavelength, the BTS has to be very close. So you can see thousands of these BTS on the street, that is what enhances the speed and other benefits,” Adebayo said.

Adebayo said the existing infrastructure will support 5G. “We are building backbone infrastructure across the country. A number of sites that were connected to microwave are now being connected to the network. Thankfully, the cost of RoW that used to be astronomically high in times past has now been significantly reduced.

“The work to be done will be in the last mile that will connect homes to 5G, devices to 5G. In terms of the readiness of our national infrastructure, we are good to go. A number of the sites will be upgraded, in some cases, we will just put a new set of antennas by the street side to power community,” he said.

But research has shown that the telecom sector, in its present state, will require a whopping N1.04trillion investment to bridge the existing deficit in infrastructure, especially, base transceiver stations (BTS) across the country.

According to statistics released by the regulator of the telecoms industry, the NCC, BTS deployment in the country has risen from 30,000 to 54,460.

This figure shows a deficit of 26,540 from the 80,000 BTS required for effective coverage of the country’s huge landmass.

The BTS consists of 3G and 4G while fibre optic transmission cables expanded from 47,000km to 54,725km in the last five years, resulting in improved broadband/telecoms service delivery in the country.

According to the former President, Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Olusola Teniola, depending on whether it is 2G or 3G being offered by the BTS, the usual prices for an installed one is between $7,000 and $95,000. Therefore, at about $95,000 per BTS, this will amount to $2.52billion (N1.04trillion).

The Chief Executive Officer of IHS, one of the leading tower services firms in the country, Sam Darwish, in 2012 had said more than $12.5 billion was required to build more BTS across the country while Adebayo had, in 2019, said it costs about N24, 750,000 to install a single BTS together with its tower, special antennas and two generators to power the station. He equated BTS with the artery in the human body system, responsible for pumping blood into the system as it allows subscribers to make and receive calls seamlessly.

Prof Dambatta said infrastructure would be needed to support emerging technologies such as IoT as the country forges ahead with its digital economy drive.

“3G, 4G going to 5G networks are going to usher this country into smart applications, the IoTs or the smart world and cities we are talking about. And of course, because of the additional burden on infrastructure, the present capacity of telecom infrastructure is grossly inadequate to cater to these additional platforms or services we talk about.

“Therefore we will need between 70,000 and 80,000 base transceiver masts to be able to provide the effective capacity that is needed to deploy 4G going to 5G,” he said.

He urged other approving agencies at all levels of government in the country to partner with NCC to bridge the digital divide. The United Kingdom (UK), with a population of 60 million people and about 250 land square meters already has close to 60,000 BTS.

As of October 2021, mobile telephony subscribers stood at 229,582,206 million with teledensity standing at 100.5 per cent while active internet subscriptions of 198090 million and broadband penetration of 45.07 per cent.

Quality of service (QoS) has remained a major issue in the telecoms sector over two decades after liberalisation while most of the major highways across the country remain blind to telecoms services because of the shortage of BTS, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) says “provides the connection between mobile phones and the wider telephone network”.

IHS Towers, arguably the largest mobile telecoms infrastructure provider in Africa, controls over 16,000 BTS belonging to carriers in the country including the 9,151 BTS it acquired from MTN and another 2,136 towers acquired from 9mobile. It is not clear if the parent company of Airtel Nigeria, Airtel Africa has finally sold its 4,500 towers across five countries of its operation as proposed by its CEO last year.

Security implications

The use of robots to perform telesurgery for instance has security implications. Looking at the country’s national security architecture, security is vital in the 5G rollout without security, safety and trust, there are going to be huge problems, Mbanaso said.

“We should be worried about security, safety and trust cos we are going to be seeing more cybercrime because 5G opens our homes to be more connected cos it is only phones that are now connected and there’s this high level of cybercrimes. When everything at home is interconnected, we are going to have increased cybercrimes,” he said.

He sought a cybersecurity framework dedicated to the 5G rollout cos it has enormous security issues. For instance, a counterfeit equipment replacement could cause colossal damage. Cyber-attacks do not discriminate.

Panatami assured of the activation of sectoral computer emergency response and readiness unit under NCC which will be charged with the responsibility of monitoring potential attacks on the networks even before they take place.

Working his talks, the Nigerian Computer Emergency Response Team (ngCERT), has since been inaugurated by the minister and has since swung into action.

Just last month, ngCERT warned of the existence of Iranian cyber rogues known as Lyceum (also known as Hexane, Siamesekitten, or Spirlin) orchestrating cyberespionage in the African telecoms space.

The group, it said, has been reported to be targeting telecoms, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and Ministries of Foreign Affairs (MFA) in Africa with upgraded malware in politically motivated attacks oriented in cyberespionage.

Adebayo however assured of the security of the network against any form of breaches. He said the most secured infrastructure in the country today is the telecoms infrastructure, no fears and concern over any attacks from cyberspace should be entertained.

More BTS, health palava

5G trial was done on Nov 26, 2019, in six locations with Abuja being the first. After the successful trial, the floodgate of concern was flung open over the health hazards of 5G deployment. The outbreak of COVID-19 and its linkage with 5G in 2020 made the government put everything on hold for engagement with the citizens and stakeholders such as the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) came out with a verdict that there was no adverse effect of 5G technology to human health.

Adebayo said the radiation that will be emitted by 5G BTS will not be as high as the one emitted by the Tv sets at home.

He said yes, 5G will be on a higher frequency and lower wavelength, there would require many more antennae but the size of the antenna will not be as massive as what we currently have. “So we will not find telecom antennas on the streets cos of 5G a number of antennas are a medium size that will sit on light poles, some will sit on rooftops. You will still see a lot of 4G sites that will support as off-sites,”he said.

Will technology shake hands?

According to Adebayo, all devices released by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the last year or so are 5G-compliant. A lot of the Android phones in circulation are now ready to go on 5G technology. He said for individuals who might want to use 5G, they may need to change their devices but this might not happen for those who do not have a need for 5G. He said its machine2machine protocol, just programme the device to 5G. “As long as we have many countries roll out 5G when the volume increases, the price will drop. So I will not be surprised that in another year, we get a device that is as cheap as N10,000 that is 5G compliant,” he explained.

Mbanaso said the devices will have backend compatibility meaning 5G could work with 4G in its environment. Adebayo agrees with him. He said a lot of the devices will still work but said the reality is that at some point, it will fade because we cannot be in 7G and still be talking about 2G. “We must accept that technology must have end of life and when end of life is here, it is a reality that will be. Culturally, therefore, we must start detaching ourselves from emotional attachment to phones,” he advised.

He said Nigeria should step up domestic production of ICT software and hardware and stop being an import-dependent consuming country. To achieve this, he said tech hubs should be established for youths to produce locally. He said local production is not coordinated and urged an emphasis on research and development (R&D). He carpeted some of the players in the sector for preferring to sponsor vain pursuits such as BBNaija investing in R&D for brand visibility. He called for the commercialisation and valuing of what is produced locally

5G spectrum bid

The approval of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) of the National Policy on 5G Networks for Nigeria’s Digital Economy cleared the coast for 5G in the country.

“The implementation of the National Policy is with immediate effect,” Pantami’s Technical Adviser, Dr. Femi Adeluyi said. “The National Policy has been developed over a period of two years, due to the need for extensive stakeholder engagement and the need to ensure adequate public awareness and sensitization.

“The stakeholder engagement was thorough and multi-sectoral in nature.  It also took into account the report of the three-month 5G trials that commenced on the 25th of November 2019.

“The report critically reviewed and studied the health and security implications of deploying 5G in Nigeria.

“Leading international organisations such as the WHO and the ITU, an organ of the United Nations, has confirmed that the deployment of 5G networks leave no adverse health effect and are safe.

“5G networks offer significant advantages over the current technologies. Some of its advantages include much lower latency, higher bandwidth, greater device density, longer battery life for nodes and greater network flexibility.

“Several countries have already commenced the deployment of 5G and are enjoying its benefits.  These countries include the United States, United Kingdom, Republic of Korea, South Africa and Lesotho, to mention but a few.

“The National Frequency Management Council (NFMC), chaired by Minister Pantami, will soon release spectrum to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) that meet all the required conditions.

“The NCC, as the regulator of the telecommunications sector, will continue engaging stakeholders with a view to developing the regulatory instruments required for the successful deployment of the technology in Nigeria.”

Subsequently, the 3.5gighertz (GHz) frequency was identified for early deployment of 5G in the country with a reserve price of N75billion  which was considered too high by the operators in view of the debilitating business operating environment prevalent in the country. While the operators had their say, the regulator had its way.

After 11 rounds of bidding that lasted eight hours, Mafab Communications Ltd and MTN Nigeria Plc emerged as the two successful winners of the 3.5GHz spectrum auction for the deployment of 5G.

The two winners emerged after a keenly contested auction conducted by the NCC, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy and it took place at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja on December 13, 2021.

Three companies, namely MTN, Airtel and Mafab Communications Limited, had qualified for the auction, having met the requirements stipulated in the Information Memorandum (IM) for the spectrum auction. The three companies had also participated in a mock auction held on December 10, 2021, which served as a precursor to the Main Auction conducted on Monday, December 13, 2021.

In an exercise that clearly demonstrated demand outstripping supply, with Ascending Clock Auction System adopted by the Commission, the three bidders participated in the intensely competitive auction bid.

In the first round of the auction, the bid price was fixed at $199,374,000.00; $201,367,740.00 at second Round; $204,388,356.10 at third Round; $209,407,962.50 at fourth Round and $215,782,901.30 at the fifth Round.

The auction prices increased progressively to $224,414,217.43 at the Sixth Round; $231,146,643.96 at the seventh Round; $240, 392,509.71 at the eighth Round; $251, 210,172.65 at the ninth Round; and $263,700,050.00 at the Round 10 of the auction exercise.

The auction process reached its peak at Round 11 when the bid price graduated to $275,904,886.25 with all three bidders still actively participating. The Main Stage of the Auction, however, ended at the conclusion of the 11th Round, with Airtel listing an exit bid of $270,000,000, while MTN posted an exit bid of $273,000,000, giving way to the Assignment Stage. At this point, Airtel had dropped off from the race having posted a lower exit bid, thus leaving Mafab and MTN as winners of the two available lots.

Prof. Danbatta recalled the processes and activities leading to the successful conduct of the auction. He said that the NCC published a public notice on its decision to award two lots of 100 megahertz (MHz) Time Division Duplex (TDD) available in the 3.5 GHz band through an auction process to support the delivery of ubiquitous broadband services for the deployment of 5G network in Nigeria.

“Subsequently, an Information Memorandum was issued on November 10, 2021, in which Bid applications for the available spectrum lots were invited. By the deadline for receipt of applications on November 29, 2021, the Commission received applications from three licensed telecoms companies, viz: Airtel Networks Limited, Mafab Communications Limited and MTN Communications Nigeria Limited,” he said.

“The auction held successfully today, Monday, December 13, 2021 at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja with the three bidders competing for the available two slots. The Commission adopted the Ascending Clock Auction format which ended after Round 11 and proceeded to the Assignment Stage. It is my pleasure to announce that at the end of the auction, Mafab Communications Limited and MTN Communications Nigeria Limited emerged as provisional licence winners,” he said.

Danbatta said the winning bid price for the auction is $273,600,000 for each lot of 100 MHz TDD and the provisional winners are expected to pay the Winning Bid price, less the Intention-to-Bid Deposit, by February 24, 2022.

He expressed satisfaction that the auction process was efficient, fair, credible, well-organised and transparent and was designed to deliver the ideal outcome. Accordingly, Danbatta said the strongest bidders emerged provisional winners, raising substantial cash for the Federal Government.

He congratulated the winners and thanked the Federal Government for its support and commitment to the deployment of 5G technology in Nigeria, which, he said, will bring substantial network improvements, including higher connection speed, mobility and capacity as well as low-latency capabilities to communications services in Nigeria.

Enters Mafab Communications Ltd

In the telecoms space, Mafab Communications Limited is not the first dark horse. In 2014, Bitflux Communications, a relatively unknown operator, defeated Globacom to emerge winner in the auction conducted to sell one spectrum slot in the 2.3GHz by the NCC.

Again in December same year, after several failed attempts to sell off the government-owned Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) and its mobile arm, M-TEL, the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), y announced an unknown consortium, NATCOM, as the winner.

NATCOM, a consortium of seven Nigerian companies offered to pay $252 million.

Mafab is said to be bankrolled by Alhaji Musbahu Mohammad Bashir, a very quiet Kano billionaire.

Mafab gave MTN and Airtel a good run for their money. Mafab’s relentlessness to go the extra mile in the auction made Airtel Nigeria apply for the Exit Bid at $270 million and drop out of the race.

Sources say Mafab meant business and it is already in high-level discussions with international equipment vendors such as Huawei and ZTE about its 5G business plan.

The company with its head office at No 8a Ibiyinka Olorunibe close, off Amodu Ojikutu Street, Victoria-Island, Lagos was incorporated on July 8, 2020 and licensed by the NCC to provide and operate local interconnect and international carrier services. According to the NCC, it operates under three licences: Interconnect Data Exchange (IDE); International Data Access (IDA), and Value Added Service (VAS).

Mafab’s founder and chairman, Alhaji Bashir, is an engineer and a shrewd businessman. He is the chairman of Althani Group of Companies with diverse interests across the oil and gas, banking, insurance, real estate and telecom industries with head office at 12A Yalinga Street, Wuse II, Abuja, FCT.

Alhaji Bashir is the chairman, Board of Directors of Salam Takaful Insurance as well as Cobalt International Services Limited, a pre-shipment Inspection Agent for dry goods and bulk liquid cargoes for oil and gas exports in the country.

He is also a director on the Board of Jaiz Bank Plc, Bento Drill Nigeria Limited, Offshore Technologies International Limited, and Resource Capital Group. Alhaji Bashir worked with Hammad Development Facilities and Jadai Diversified Services.

He has vast experience of more than two decades in general management, leadership, and engineering. He has attained several certifications from high-profile institutions such as American University, London, Harvard Business School, USA.

Challenges

The President of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Ikechukwu Nnamani, said Nigeria should not be left behind as far as emerging technologies are concerned.

Acknowledging that 5G deployment is far more capital intensive than 4G and other lower technologies, he said the Senate had during a recent public hearing on the technology, expressed concern that the operators might pass the cost to subscribers.

“There is no doubt that the operators are going to spend a lot of money to deploy 5G and they will need to recoup their investments from the service. The only way the cost can be lowered for the subscriber is for the telecoms regulator to make the 5G spectrum cost as low as possible,” he said.

He, however, noted that subscribers, who may not be able to afford 5G service, would be able to continue using the current 4G and 3G services.

According to him, just as the arrival of 4G did not end 3G and 2G, the launch of 5G in Nigeria will also not end other technologies. “The consumer will have the freedom to choose any technology they want as all will be running side-by-side,” he said.

The Director, Technical Standards and Network Integrity (DTSNI) at NCC, Bako Wakil, had made Nnamani’s point clearer by explaining that the Commission had chosen the 3.5GHz spectrum band for 5G deployment because it allows other technologies to run concurrently.

“We are not going to have a complete 5G network in Nigeria; the technology will work alongside 4G, 3G, and 2G,” he said.

Operators within the broadband industry have urged governments across Africa to provide policy on infrastructure sharing in order to support the growth of internet connectivity amid ongoing 5G deployments.

Speaking at the Africa Law Tech Festival 2021, Head of Innovation & ICT Strategy at Huawei Southern Africa, Dr. Bello Moussa, said infrastructure sharing can lower the costs of technology deployment for the 5G coverage in Africa, as well as the time it takes to complete deployments.

“We have seen a lot of challenges in site acquisition and site deployment in 2G, 3G, and 4G era. This has hindered the development of mobile telecommunication and coverage. With the 5G we will need more sites, maybe three times the number of 2G and 3G.

“There should be a tight collaboration between municipalities and telecom service operators. This will not only save time but also the cost of deployment. The savings will be transferred to the consumer enabling digital access,” Moussa said.

Head of Legal and Regulatory at ATC Kenya, Lorna Nyandat added: “The government can help extend connectivity is by encouraging infrastructure sharing. It is something that is across most markets in Africa but it’s not as prevalent as it is in the west. In Kenya, we have guidelines on infrastructure sharing in particular the interconnection guidelines which encourages infrastructure sharing with both passive (not in use) and active infrastructure (in use).”

Nyandat noted that active infrastructure sharing is not prevalent in Africa and urged governments to provide favourable policies.

By far, the greatest challenge 5G deployment has now is how to source the cash to pay for licence fees in US dollars eraly next year and purchase equipment. MTN Nigeria may have to fall back on the cash it raised from the sell down to retail investors of over a 500million shares held by the Group in the local arm of the telecoms company. From every indication, it is still a long road to travel before getting to the Promised Land.

“The Central Bank of Nigeria may have to wade in to bail yje operators out because the forex challenge is real and excruciating,” a financial analyst said.

Despite the deadly nature of the disease, Nigeria is not paying enough attention to pneumonia. Because of lack of adequate attention to the killer disease, Nigeria may not achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 3.2 by 2030, which commits countries globally to end preventable deaths of newborns and children under five years of age, writes FRANK IKPEFAN.

Nathan (surname withheld) had just celebrated his first birthday in July with other children in an orphanage home in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, with a glow. A month later, he fell ill and started coughing ferociously. For days, the coughing refused to stop.

The mother, Christiana (surname withheld) in those few days battled to stabilise Nathan’s health. He would keep everyone up through the night. From coughing, the cold crept in, followed by vomiting. The child was restless. Nothing the young Nathan took stayed in his system.

The mother applied different drugs as recommended by a pharmacist, the cough and cold wouldn’t go away. Running out of ideas on how to return the boy to good health, she phoned her mother who asked that the child be brought to her place.

Off she went and with the help of her mother, they battled the fever together. “At some point, we wanted to rush him to the hospital in the estate when he started rolling his eyes in the morning. The cold had entered his system,” she told this reporter.

After about a week, Nathan finally bounced back to his feet, running around the house again. “I was so scared of losing him to a cold that entered his body,” she said.

Nigeria losing more children to pneumonia than other diseases

Like Nathan, not all children in Nigeria survive child pneumonia after their first birthday.

Globally, pneumonia remains the biggest infectious killer of children 935, 000. According to the World Health Organisation Global Health Observatory, more than half of all deaths from pneumonia are in five countries.

The countries include India, Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and Nigeria.

According to the United Nations Children Funds (UNICEF), Nigeria loses over 120, 000 under-five children to child pneumonia annually.

The organisation said Nigeria accounted for 17 – 19 per cent (with over 120, 000 deaths) of under-five deaths resulting from child pneumonia.

Speaking at a two-day media workshop on child pneumonia, a public health expert, Dr Adamu Isah said that child pneumonia remained a silent killer of children globally.

Dr Isah, who is the Chief of Party, Integrated Sustainable childhood Pneumonia and Infectious disease Reduction In Nigeria (INSPIRING) Project for Save the Children International, said: “Pneumonia is a leading killer of Nigerian children under five, with annual deaths estimated to be 127, 500.

“The disease is killing more people, especially children, than other popular diseases like diarrhoea, sepsis, malaria and measles.

Pneumonia: A silent killer with no advocates

According to him, despite the deadly nature of the disease, Nigeria is not paying enough attention to pneumonia.

Because of lack of adequate attention to the killer disease, Nigeria may not achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 3.2 by 2030, which commits countries globally to end preventable deaths of newborns and children under five years of age.

Going by the goal, all countries are expected to reduce neonatal mortality to at least as low as 12 per 1, 000 live births and under-five – mortality to at least as low as 25 per 1, 000 live births.

“Today, child pneumonia deaths are not falling fast enough to achieve SDGs 3.2 by 2030. To reach SDGs 3.2, Nigeria needs to prevent the deaths of -70, 000 children by 2030. Improving pneumonia outcomes is very critical to do so.

“Pneumonia is a silent killer of children under the age of five but it doesn’t get the attention it deserves. 20 per cent of deaths coming from children under age five are coming from pneumonia.

“If we don’t address pneumonia we are really going to have a dent in under-five mortality. It is an issue which we need to highlight. Those under one year seem to be more at risk of death. And they die at home as well. We have to drastically reduce the death of children especially in their first year of life if we are to reduce under-five deaths.

“Today we are having 20 per cent of deaths due to pneumonia and we have to reduce it drastically. We should be reducing more than 70, 000 deaths if we are to achieve the target. We are not catching up. A lot of people don’t know much about pneumonia, including religious leaders.”

How lack of oxygen, awareness are leading to more deaths of children from pneumonia

Like Nathan’s mother, many parents don’t know the symptoms associated with child pneumonia.

Speaking at the two-media workshop, a public health expert, Dr Abdullahi Namadi noted that there is a gap in knowledge about symptoms, prevention and treatment of the disease, especially by parents and some physicians.

Namadi, who is the Director of Public Health at the Jigawa State Ministry of Health, said: “People usually refer to this kind of illness as a spiritual attack so they run to the traditionalists for treatment.”

Namadi identified fever, restlessness and cough as the most common symptoms associated with child pneumonia.

He added: “Lack of awareness is a serious challenge because it is key because people need to have the knowledge and understand the problem so they can take action.

“One of the key things is that once a child is having fever, restlessness and cough – most likely the child has pneumonia and one thing with pneumonia is that the symptoms are not so specific because children with fever can also have malaria and causes of other illnesses.

“In this case, it requires early presentation at a health facility so that the health workers can look clearly to know actually what the problem is. Sometimes, some children are being treated for malaria not pneumonia but at the end of the day, it is pneumonia that will end the life of the child.

“Also, we need to train our health workers also to be able to detect when a child has pneumonia and treat the child accordingly.

“But of course, the starting point is the community. People have to be informed about the signs and symptoms of pneumonia and what they should do and at what time because the people need to make a decision at the right time.

“Sometimes we have a lot of delay at home where the parents start giving the child local medication until the condition deteriorates or sometimes the child is even gasping for air that is when the parents rush the child to a healthcare facility. In most cases, it is too late.”

Many health facilities don’t have oxygen available

Continuing, he said: “What compounds the problem in the treatment of pneumonia is that many of our health facilities don’t have oxygen facilities available and that is one thing that Save the Children is trying to address.

“Once the child starts gasping for air, the key drug that the child needs is oxygen to save the life. Oxygen is a lifesaving drug and when we don’t have it in our healthcare facilities then it becomes a challenge.

“In Jigawa State what we are trying to do is to have an oxygen policy. We already started the process and we have gone a long way in developing the policy. We are also using the national policy on oxygen as a guide. By the time our policy is available, we will have the opportunity to have a lot of oxygen in our healthcare facilities.”

Fed Govt to scale-up services on pneumonia, childhood diseases treatment

Despite a national pneumonia control strategy and implementation plan as part of renewed efforts to ensure the survival and well-being of Nigerian children, the disease still remains rampant, killing children annually.

However, Minister of Health Dr Osagie Ehanire has assured of efforts by the Federal Government to scale – up critical services, interventions to protect children from pneumonia and other childhood diseases.

He said through the Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Pneumonia (GAPP) initiative, the Nigerian Integrated Pneumonia Control Strategy and Implementation Plan, critical intervention and services will be brought together to protect children from diseases.

The minister, while expressing appreciation to development partners, urged them to continue to support the government, especially in setting-up human resources, staff accommodation, electricity and water supply in Primary Health Care (PHCs) to cater to the health needs and universal health coverage.

According to the minister, the report shows that about 808,920 paediatric pneumonia associated deaths and more than 100 million childhood pneumonia globally, on an annual basis majorly from low and middle-income countries.

Ehanire, while speaking recently at an event to mark the 2021 World Pneumonia Day in Abuja, added that three-quarters of global mortalities happen in 14 countries, including Nigeria, which has 162,000 under-five deaths annually.

“If the current trend in pneumonia-related childhood mortality continues, especially with the advent of Delta variant of the coronavirus, the SDG under-five mortality reduction target of having less than 25 deaths per 1000 live birth will not be achieved.

“Therefore, Nigeria needs to accelerate efforts towards reducing the burden of pneumonia and other childhood killer disease,’’ he said.

According to Ehanire, the WHO report showed that malnutrition, indoor and outdoor air pollution, inadequate breastfeeding and lack of immunisation, rank highest among predisposing factors for childhood pneumonia.

Also, Nigeria’s Country Representative at WHO, Walter Mulombo, stressed the need to highlight the causes of pneumonia and air pollution, appropriate treatment which will significantly reduce the number of deaths recorded due to its complication.

Mulombo, represented by Technical Officer, Child and Adolescent Health in the organisation, Dr Joy Ufere-Isikima, stressed the need for the government to increase access to vaccines and scale up some of its programmes.

He listed exclusive breastfeeding, nutrition, and access to vaccines as factors that will help prevent, protect and treat children from pneumonia and air pollution complications, as well as achieve universal health coverage.

Save the Children International (SCI)’s Chief of Party for inspiring project, Dr Isah stressed the need for the dissemination and implementation of the National Pneumonia Strategy to reduce the rates of deaths connected to pneumonia and air pollution.

Isah added that the organisation had so far supported over 64 PHCs in some states with pneumonia and air pollution intervention to reduce the risk and consequences of the diseases.

Like a dammed river suddenly losing its fetters, a gale of domestic gas accidents has rocked the country, leaving in its wake avoidable fatalities. LUCAS AJANAKU writes.

She sat down under a canopy barley large enough to provide shelter for her and her protruding stomach. She gazed straight into the sky and hot tears dropped from her swollen eyes. Amarachi, a dealer in plastic chairs, buckets and other household utensils, along Apapa Oshodi Expressway, picked her phone and placed a call to Gbagada General Hospital Burns Unit where her childhood friend, Blessing (not real name), mother of three, was receiving treatment from the burns she suffered during a domestic accident in her kitchen.

“Mama Ejima, please be strong. Don’t lose hope. God will heal you. You will not die in Jesus’ name. Cling to your creator,” Amarachi was heard encouraging her.

According to her, the rumour mill had gone berserk that she too had passed on. Since visiting time for visitors at the hospital was still far, she had to call her husband and insisted she spoke with her directly.

“She is my very close friend. She entered her kitchen and lit a stick of matches only for her and her friend to be enveloped in a huge flame. There must have been a leakage in her cooking gas called Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG). While her friend died before help could come, she was rushed to Gbagada General Hospital. I am so sad because the family is struggling to make ends meet. The lady has a set of twins that are less than two years old. They had a child already before the twins came,” Amarachi said.

As Nigerians were bracing for Christmas, residents of Ojekunle Street of Ladipo Market, arguably the largest in the country, were thrown into mourning, no thanks to a gas explosion that rocked a shop used by mechanics.

“Four adults, comprising three males and one female, were recovered dead,” Southwest Coordinator, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Ibrahim Farinloye said, adding that a 10-year-old boy who was rescued alive died on his way to the hospital.

The fire broke out after a cylinder exploded at a gas shop in the densely populated Mushin area of Lagos.

It was put out in about one hour and “we were able to rescue 10 people alive and they have been treated and discharged on the spot,” Director-General, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, said.

The cause of the explosion is not known yet but authorities are suspecting one of the gas cylinders exploded as a result of a fire close to the gas shop and work being done on one of the cylinders.

“Out of the four bodies (one was) a woman who was said to be frying (food items) while Sodiq (another victim) was operating on a cylinder,” Farinloye said.

At the scene of the explosion, a crowd lined behind a barricade as rescue workers and some residents carried away the gas cylinders left within the premises while remains of the vehicles destroyed were packed at one corner.

Balogun Mubaraq, a resident in the area, said many people with various degrees of burns were rushed to a local hospital.

Johnson Omitola, a mechanic in the area, said one of those killed is a motorcyclist whose head was rudely chopped off as he rode past the scene. “It is sad that people died but the casualty figure would have been more than 50 had people fully opened their shops. Only the woman that sells akara was identified with her full body. There were shredded human parts littering the adjoining streets,” Omitola said, calling for strict regulation of gas retailing in the country.

The fire destroyed three shops, six shanties and about 12 vehicles, said Olajide Ogabi of the Lagos State Fire Service. He faulted the location of the gas shop within a residential area and along a power line and said the shop was once closed by the state government because of its location.

Sometime on June 17, 2021, there was another gas tragedy. At about 10:32 pm precisely when people were returning home from work, an LPG tanker exploded at OPIC Plaza on Mobolaji Bank Anthony Way, beside the popular Lagos Sheraton Hotels and Towers, Ikeja.

This unfortunate incident saw no fewer than 13 persons sustaining various degrees of injuries and about 25 cars destroyed.

Farinloye said the explosion resulted in a fire outbreak that engulfed the premises of Ogun State Property Investment Company (OPIC) Plaza beside Sheraton Hotels, which houses different commercial outfits including a supermarket and a Chinese Restaurant. The fire was put out at about 12.30 am, through the efforts of five fire trucks from the Lagos State Fire Service and two trucks from the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency Response Unit. When the dust settled, the fire had considerably damaged both lives and livelihoods in the vicinity.

Between 2016 and 2020 similar incidents happened in Abule-Egba, Ijegun, Ile-Epo, Oke-Odo, Baruwa, and Abule Ado, all in Lagos.

In Baruwa, an LPG plant located along densely populated Candos Road, Baruwa, Ipaja-Ayobo, in Ipaja/Ayobo LCDA, suddenly exploded and engulfed the entire area, killing at least 13 persons. Several other persons were injured, while properties worth millions of naira were destroyed.

There were, however, conflicting figures of casualties as government officials claimed that eight persons died, but an eyewitness claimed he saw about 13 charred bodies recovered from the scene of the fire.

The casualties included women and children. One of the women, identified simply as Mrs. Adebowale, 55, died on the cenotaph of her late husband in front of their house.

She was said to have died while trying to retrieve from the house the money she borrowed as loan from one of the microfinance banks.

Other victims were 39-year old Olushola  Adeleke and his two-year-old son, Martial. An official of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Adeleke had escaped the inferno but remembered promising Martial was still in the building. His bold attempt to rescue his beloved son proved futile as both were consumed by a huge pall of fire from the gas accident.

Among survivors were a mother and two children who were taken to Gbagada General Hospital Burns Unit for medical attention.

It was gathered that an LPG tanker was in the process of discharging its content at the Best Roof Gas Plant Station but unfortunately, the station’s generating set was running and in the process sparked which exploded and threw the discharging tanker across the road.

Director-General, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, blamed the incident on negligence on the part of the operators.

Giving the post disaster assessment of the explosion, he said a total number of eight bodies were recovered at the scene while 15 victims suffered major burns and have been transferred to Gbagada General Hospital Burns Unit.

Similarly, he said 25 buildings were damaged during the explosion out of which 10 were severely affected.

Also, 16 shops, a private school building and a hotel were razed while a Pentecostal Church, Folem was mildly affected.

He urged residents to report dangerous practices within their neighborhoods to the  relevant agencies.

Again, on Christmas Eve, there was pandemonium at the Ayobo Ipaja area of the state over a gas explosion that occurred in the area on Friday.

The explosion, it was gathered, happened around 1 am.

Details of the explosion were sketchy. Unconfirmed report stated that the Chairman of Ayobo-Ipaja Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Mrs Bola Shobowale, confirmed the development.

Residents of the area took to social media. One of them, @IamHorlapo, posted, “A year ago, we woke up to a gas explosion in Baruwa. Today, it’s another Pipeline explosion in the same Local Government which has claimed life and property. God has mercy upon us in this community.

@iamoliver_may22 added, “Guys, please. My street in Baruwa is burning. Guys, please send help to Baruwa… There is a gas explosion and there is a power line in that area.”

These explosions and tragic deaths are coming at a time the Federal Government is stepping up campaigns on the need for Nigerians to drop kerosene and charcoal for gas as a cheaper and cleaner cooking fuel.

Domestic LPG consumption

 Nigeria’s per capita consumption of LPG is still low when compared with the population.

It is estimated that the country will be saving about $10billion yearly if 50 per cent of the populace embrace the use of LPG implying that there is correlation between its usage and poverty reduction.

The World Bank Group’s Oil, Gas, and Mining Unit, Sustainable Energy Department, in its study on: The Role of Liquefied Petroleum Gas in Reducing Energy Poverty, said increasing household use of LPG is one of several pathways to meet the goal of universal access to clean cooking and heating solutions by 2030, as stated in the United Nations’ Sustainable Energy for All Initiative.

The UN’ Sustainable Energy for All Initiative, launched in 2011, sets as one of its three objectives universal access to modern energy services—electricity and clean cooking and heating systems by 2030.

The group said about three billion people rely on solid biomass or coal for cooking and heating, and smoke from such fuel use is estimated to cause four deaths every minute. Universal access will require a multi-pronged approach: advanced cook stoves for biomass and other solid fuels, natural gas for urban households in countries that have or are developing an extensive gas pipeline network, biogas, and LPG. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that more than 40 per cent of households newly gaining access to modern household energy by 2030 in the universal-access scenario will do so by switching to LPG.

The Federal Government’s priority objective is to attain five million metric tons (Mt) of LPG consumption next year, which puts the national consumption target at 83.33,000 MT monthly from 2018 to 2022 estimates.

The defunct Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) said Nigerians consumed 89,910Mt, of LPG in January 2020, 7.9 per cent above the national consumption target of 83,330Mt.

It said over the past two years, domestic LPG consumption has steadily been on the upward swing.

 

Punitive cost

 The World Bank group noted that global LPG prices have more than doubled in real terms in the last decade, increasing at an annual average rate of nine per cent since 2001. This rate of increase is much higher than that for household income in most developing countries. Prices are now sharply higher.

“Even in an efficient market with light tax on LPG, cooking and heating water with LPG would require upwards of $15 every month at today’s LPG prices. As such, LPG is unlikely to be the fuel of the poor,” it said.

The Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers (NALPGAM) blamed the international cost of LPG and the interplay of foreign exchange (forex) for hike in cost and sought full domestication of the product’s market to guard against its volatility like oil prices.

Its Executive Secretary, Mr Bassey Essien, in a statement, said the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) produces four million metric tons of gas yearly, but allocates 350,000Mt for domestic consumption.

He said: “We, as marketers, are saying that NLNG and others producing LPG should domesticate it by dedicating sufficient quantity that will cover our domestic consumption.

“We have watched the continuous spike in the price of cooking gas, moving from N4 million to N5 million for a 20MT truck to the current price of N5.3 million within a month interval.

“The current high price of cooking gas is not traceable to marketers (plant owners) or terminal owners but rather to the vagaries of the international price of the commodity and interplay of foreign exchange rates.

“Nigeria consumes about one million Mt of LPG yearly and 65 per cent of the products are imported by marketers.

 

 LPG retailers explain Ladipo fire

  The Liquefied Petroleum Gas Retailers (LPGAR) branch of National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) said the explosion at Ladipo Spare Part Market, Lagos was caused by acetylene gas.

Its National Secretary, Olukayode Solomon, in a statement, commiserated with the families of the victims of the explosion.

He said the incident was not in any way related to LPG which is popularly called cooking gas.

He said: “It is important to state clearly that the outlet in which the explosion occurred was specifically an acetylene gas outlet.

“It is important to state clearly that the outlet in which the explosion occurred was specifically an acetylene gas outlet.

“The explosions of these industrial gasses often cause wide scale destruction similar to military bombs unlike LPG explosion which often causes inferno.”

According to him, damage arising from LPG explosions usually comes as a result of spread of its inferno based on the level of gas leakage and spread.

“On the contrary, industrial gasses such as acetylene and oxygen usually pull down structures around the scene of the explosion because of the high pressure of the industrial gasses as well as the very heavy weight of the industrial gas cylinders.

“Also, acetylene and oxygen gasses do not use the same cylinders used for LPG as exemplified by the type of cylinders that littered around the scene of the explosion yesterday.

“It is equally important to note that acetylene and oxygen gasses are not derived from the same sources as LPG,” he said.

He explained that acetylene was also not regulated by the same agency that regulates LPG.

Mr Solomon noted that LPG was derived from petroleum and natural gas and regulated by the former Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) now replaced with Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).

“The regulation of acetylene gas, oxygen gas and the other related gasses is presently located within the federal ministry in charge of industry.

“These clarifications have become necessary to forestall further misrepresentation of facts whenever an explosion relating to gas occurs.

“We equally use this opportunity to implore the media as a whole to always seek clarifications before publication.

“This is because this particular misrepresentation has been a regular occurrence in the recent time,” he said.

 

LPG marketers react

 Reacting to the spate of gas tragedies sweeping across the country, NALPGAM has called for improvement in the handling and distribution of LPG to ensure safety.

Essien said there’s need to improve safety in handling and distribution of LPG.

According to him, the frequency of explosions and fatalities was becoming worrisome, which is not good for the image of Nigeria and the gas business itself.

“As an association, we have always tried our best to heighten the awareness on the safe handling of LPG at homes, at retail shops and in transit.

“We have a training centre where we undertake training in collaboration with consultants to the Department of Petroleum Resources on the safe handling and trucking of LPG,” he said.

He said the group was awaiting a comprehensive report of what led to the incident from the relevant authorities and would utilise its recommendations to enhance safety.

Essien said while the Federal Government was working on encouraging more Nigerians to switch to gas as energy of choice, such incidents were capable of thwarting the efforts of the government.

There was, therefore, a need for every operator to adhere to the safety measures put in place to safeguard the usage and distribution of LPG at all times.

Essien said strict regulation and monitoring should be extended to inflammable products such as acetylene and other industrial gases. He warned that filling and retailing of industrial gases have to be strictly monitored.

“Regulators should pay attention to the activities of practitioners dealing in acetylene and other industrial gases so as to check these recurrent incidences. Failure to do this and the frequent misrepresentation in the media attributing acetylene explosions to cooking gas will erode consumers’ confidence in the use of LPG and heighten the fear factor that cooking gas usage is unsafe,” he warned.

Causes of LPG explosion

 An expert said an LPG explosion is almost always caused by the accumulation of gas leak in an enclosed space combined with an ignition source, not a propane-LPG tank explosion (gas cylinder explosion). The leak can be from the gas appliance or other source not involving the bottle.

Medswift, a leading First Aid, Fire Safety & Occupational Safety and Health Trainers in Kenya, said gas leakage is fuel in its final stage of ignition and can cause a fire explosion if left unattended.

 

Detecting gas leak

 Medswift said gas cannot be seen, but it can be smelt. However, there are other ways where a gas leak could be detected.

“If your flame is orange or yellow instead of blue and leaves soot on your cooking appliances; listen to identify a hissing sound from your gas connection or the banner.

“If you detect or suspect that there is a gas leak in your home. Take the following measures to mitigate the threat.

“Turn off the gas supply to ensure there are no more leaks; open all doors windows and any ventilation to ensure fresh air circulation in the house.

“Do not use electric devices such as laptops and phones. These things cause a spark which can cause the already leaked gas to ignite.

“Do not smoke, or use any open flames such as a candle because it can cause the leaked gas to explode, hence causing a fire,” the group said.

 

Averting gas leaks

 Prevention, it said, is better and easier than cure. So, conscious action must be taken to prevent gas leaks in homes.

Medswift gives some tips that can be used to ensure that there is no gas leak in homes. Some of them are: ensure your burner is tightly secured; check your appliances for wear and tear and ensure that they are serviced regularly; and inspect the LPG pipes after every refill before using.

 

Preventing cylinder explosion

 Domestic gas cylinder if not well handled can lead to fatal accidents such as explosions. Therefore learning how to prevent gas cylinder explosion is important. The following are safety tips that you can apply when handling gas cylinders.

“Keep the gas knob out of reach for children when not using,; make sure that the kitchen or cooking area is well ventilated for a good flow of air in case of a gas leak; educate people around you on gas cylinder safety measures and how to use and handle gas cylinders; do not use Meko for long hours while cooking; LPG cylinders should be bought from authorized dealers only.

“It’s vital to follow the guidelines and educate the elders and kids about the handling of LPG cylinders, preventive measures and do’s and don’ts in case of an emergency. However, there’s no need to be fearful of LPG cylinders as they are of high tenacity. It is by proper maintenance of gas appliances that LPG explosions can be averted,” Medswift said, warning that on arrival at an incident involving fire, stop, observe, think: do not enter the area. A minor fire can escalate in minutes to a serious blaze. Call for emergency help and wait for it to arrive.

 

Official response

 The Lagos State government had set up a team to monitor outlets where gas is stored in commercial quantities and carry out a safety audit in the state. So far, 1,850 places were surveyed out of which 15 were closed for not complying with safety standards, according to Director-General, Lagos State Safety Commission, Lanre Mojola.

In July this year, exasperated by the spate of gas explosions, particularly in Lagos, the Senate directed its Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream and Gas) to conduct an investigation into the remote and immediate causes of the explosion at the Ladipo Spare Parts Market, Mushin, Lagos. The Senate urged authorities to design a strategy to regulate the use of old gas cylinders, arguing that “the continued use of old cylinders can cause explosions especially in poorly controlled environments”.

A committee was set up to investigate the incident and look at “what led to this,” Oke-Osanyintolu of the LASEMA had also said.

 

NMDPRA

 Efforts to get the reaction of Nigerian Downstream and Midstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) were unsuccessful as calls put to Mr Elvis Duruji, one of its officials weren’t picked.

The implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) may have put spanners in the wheels of policing the industry.

According to the Act, two regulatory agencies are to perform the duties of the defunct Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), PPPRA and Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF). The new agencies are the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission (NURC) and the NMDPRA.

NMDPRA was created in August 2021 in line with the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 which provides legal, governance, regulatory and fiscal framework for the Nigerian Petroleum Industry as well as development of host communities.

Even before the creation of NMDPRA, policing the industry by the DPR was such a Herculean task as the agency was hampered in the discharge of its duties by manpower shortage. Under the old dispensation, the Lagos office of DPR had the mandate to police Ogun State too.  So it was hardly any surprise sharp practices continued to flourish in the downstream oil sector.

A visit to the website of NMDPRA said it “is responsible for the regulation of the midstream and downstream petroleum operations in Nigeria which includes technical, operational, and commercial activities.

Unfortunately, there was no information on subjects such as LPG Plant Licence; LPG Retailer (CAT D) Licence, Stock and Product Sufficiency Report, AQUILA Marketers’ Portal, Retail Outlet monitoring System (ROMS), LPG Depot License, Depot License, Downstream Remote Monitoring System (DRMS)/E-Station, Lube Oil Blending Plant (LOBP)m and Refining Plant License (RPL), which were all created.

Others are Lube Storage and Sales License (LSSL), Petroleum Product Import and Export Permit system (IMPEX), Crude Oil Terminal Export Permit (COTEX), CNG Compression License, IMPEX Gas Permit, Gas Terminal Export Portal (GATEX), Network Code Electronic Licensing and Administrative System NCELAS. A click to any of these items led to nowhere.

“Our site is undergoing a major upgrade,” offered elixir to the frustrations.

Experts say to avert these gas tragedies, it is important to educate households on the need to gradually replace their metal gas cylinders with fibre cylinders, which is said to be fire- resistant. Also, the promise to phase out and replace the gas cylinders in circulation with more advanced ones should be hastened. According to findings, some households have been using the same cylinders for upwards of two decades. That is surely a disaster waiting to happen. Besides, the relevant authorities need to constantly sensitise operators of all gas retail outlets on how to operate their business with minimal risks to health, safety and environment (HSE).