Tag:

Ethiopia

Exposing Waste and Corruption in Lagos State Blue Line Railway Project

by Folarin Kehinde August 5, 2022

written by Folarin Kehinde

In 2009, during the tenure of Governor Babatunde Fashola, the Lagos state government commenced the Blue Line railway project. On paper, the railway line is supposed to run from Okokomiko to inner Marina (CMS), a distance of 27 Kilometre, with 13 stations and an end-end journey time of 35 minutes. The project is costing the Lagos government 1.5 billion dollars

The reality however, is that the railway line runs from Miles 2 to CMS, a distance of 14.2 Kilometre. Also, it is light weight, having the ability to carry only passengers not cargo. Even with this lowered distance and quality, the railway line is yet to be completed till this very day.

The reason this rail line is yet to be complete for over 13 years is mainly due to corruption and waste by the Lagos government through successive governors from 2009 till date.

To put it in context, in 2011 the government of Ethiopia began the construction of a heavy railway line capable of carrying cargo and passengers from Addis Ababa to Djibouti, the capital of the republic of Djibouti.

That railway line is 759 Kilometres in distance and its main of objective was to connect Ethiopia to the sea ports of Djibouti. The cost for executing the project was 4.5 billion dollars.

That 759 Kilometres railway line was largely completed in 2016 when testing began. It was commissioned for operations by the President of Ethiopia in 2018.

When you divide the 4.5 billion dollars which the railway line cost Ethiopia by 759 Kilometre, it amounts to 5.2 million dollars per kilometre.

The government of Lagos on the other hand is spending over 54 million dollars per kilometre in constructing their railway line, yet till now it is still to be completed.

This goes to show how far inefficiency, corruption and waste can go in stalling a project whose completion otherwise would have been beneficial to the citizens of Lagos state.

August 5, 2022 0 comments

Headlines

Nigeria’s Military Strength Under PMB Government

by Leading Reporters March 4, 2022

written by Leading Reporters

Nigeria’s military is ranked the fourth in Africa and thirty-fifth in the world with respect to strength.

This is according to data from Global Firepower. According to the data, Nigeria has had constant military growth since the beginning of the Buhari administration.

According to the Global Firepower ranking, the lower the power index of a country, the higher the military capability of such a country. 0.000 is considered a perfect power index.

The country’s military strength index currently stands at 0.5745, which is a slight improvement compared to 2021 when the power index was 0.62.

The power index is determined by several factors which are grouped under 8 indicators. They include manpower, land system, airpower, naval power, resources, logistical, financial, and geographic.

In the last 7 years, Nigeria has maintained fourth and fifth position in Africa in terms of military strength out of the 54 countries. Egypt on the other hand has maintained the first position, making it the country with the strongest military strength in the period under review.

Other countries that rank high on the list are Algeria, Ethiopia, South Africa, Kenya, Libya, and Morocco.

**Ranking of Military Strength of selected African Countries**

Egypt ranks 12th globally in the 2022 ranking of military strength, while South Africa, Algeria, and Ethiopia, rank 26th, 31st, and 65th respectively.

Nigeria’s Military Strength Power Index Under the Buhari Administration

Global Firepower data shows that in 2015, Nigeria’s power index stood at 1.526, the worst in the period under review. However, in 2016, it reduced by a great deal when 0.786 was recorded. 0.575 is the latest power index recorded for Nigeria.

Current data also reveals that Nigeria has a total military personnel of 215,000 out of which 135,000 are active and 80,000 make up the paramilitary.

So far under the Buhari Administration, the Nigerian Air force has acquired a total of 38 aircraft, the Nigerian navy acquired close to 400 new platforms since 2015 which includes 14 houseboats, 4 helicopters, 4 capital ships, 12 manta class/inshore patrol craft, and 22 fast attack boats among others.

The president also gave a directive to the Nigerian Navy to establish a naval base in Baga, Borno State, an area prone to criminal activities near the nation’s coast.

The President also mobilised international support for the fight against Boko Haram from countries like the United States of America, United Kingdom, France, Germany, ECOWAS, UN, and AU, which led to the United States agreeing to sell 12 Super Tucano aircrafts to Nigeria in 2017

March 4, 2022 0 comments

Headlines

WHO Move Against E-Cigarettes, Vows to take action

by Leading Reporters July 28, 2021

written by Leading Reporters

The World Health Organisation, on Tuesday, urged governments to regulate the use of electronic cigarettes as they pose great dangers to human health.

The WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said nicotine was highly addictive and must be regulated to curb the tobacco industry’s “criminal” tactics to get young people hooked on the substance.

Ghebreyesus made the appeal in a WHO report titled ‘Global Tobacco Epidemic 2021”.

He warned that electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) are harmful and should be regulated for maximum public health protection.

The report also showed that tobacco leads to eight million deaths annually, adding that over one million die from second-hand smoking.

“Where they are not banned, governments should adopt appropriate policies to protect their populations from the harms of ENDS, and to prevent their uptake by children, adolescents and other vulnerable groups,” it said.

According to the report, the manufacturers of these products often target youths with thousands of tantalising flavours and reassuring statements.

‘It’s The Most Criminal Act…We Can’t Let That Happen’

Leader of WHO Tobacco Free Initiative, Vinayak Prasad, also noted that targeting children with toxic and poisonous products is a criminal action.

“It’s the most criminal act. And it’s a human rights violation. They run the risk of being addicted for the rest of their lives,” he said.

He further noted that following the huge drop in the sales of cigarette, tobacco companies have developed new products like e-cigarettes and heated-tobacco products while lobbying governments to limit their regulation.

“Their goal is simple: to hook another generation on nicotine. We can’t let that happen.

“Distinguishing the nicotine-containing products from the non-nicotine, or even from some tobacco-containing products, can be almost impossible. This is just one way the industry subverts and undermines tobacco control measures,” he said.

According to the report, the sales of ENDS have been banned in 32 countries including Argentina, Brazil, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Iran, Iraq, Mexico, North Korea and Singapore.

It also stated that 79 countries have adopted measures to either prohibit the use of such products in public places, prohibit their advertising, promotion and sponsorship or require the display of health warnings on packaging.

“This still leaves 84 countries where they are not regulated or restricted in any way,” the WHO said.

The report noted that there were still over billion active smokers around the world.

July 28, 2021 0 comments

Africa & World

Tensions Rise With the GERD Water

by Leading Reporters May 4, 2021

written by Leading Reporters

Tensions are once again rising among Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan, along with the water in the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). The annual rainy season is fast approaching. Ethiopia will almost certainly undertake a second filling of the 74 billion cubic metre capacity reservoir if there is no prior agreement otherwise among the three disputants.

A deal seems remote, as there are no signs of even an imminent resumption of negotiations. The last round of African Union-led negotiations ended in Kinshasa on 5 April, without any glimpse of an accord on how to manage the huge dam Ethiopia is building on the Blue Nile, upstream of Egypt and Sudan, to generate 6.45 gigawatts of hydro-electric power.

Last week Egyptian Foreign Affairs Minister Sameh Shoukry travelled to six African countries – South Africa, Tunisia, Kenya, Senegal, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Comoros – to present Egypt’s case. Cairo is almost wholly dependent on the Nile for its fresh water and fears the GERD will significantly reduce its supply.

Egypt indicated before Shoukry’s tour that it might refer the dispute to the United Nations Security Council as it tried to do last July before South African President Cyril Ramaphosa intervened. As African Union (AU) chair at the time, he persuaded the parties to accept the AU as mediator. But Ramaphosa failed to clinch a deal in some six months of negotiations – and now his successor as AU chair, DRC President Félix Tshisekedi, has also failed.

The hints of Egypt’s intentions to try to go back to the Security Council included some sabre-rattling from President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi, who warned Ethiopia not to ‘touch a drop of Egypt’s water, because all options are open.’ Another clue was a letter Shoukry wrote to the Security Council, urging it to persuade Ethiopia not to take any action on the dam before reaching a legally binding agreement with Egypt and Sudan.

He warned that failure to reach consensus would harm Egypt and Sudan’s water interests and security, increase tensions throughout East Africa and the Horn, and ‘constitute a serious threat to international peace and security.’ It is precisely the mandate of the Security Council to address such threats, so Shoukry appeared to be setting the stage to seek council intervention.

Sudan’s irrigation minister Yasser Abbas also mentioned referring the dispute to the Security Council if Ethiopia started a second filling of the dam without agreement among the three countries.

However at their meeting last week, Shoukry didn’t lobby Ramaphosa to support a Security Council referral. Instead he said Egypt would ask Tshisekedi to convene a special meeting of the AU Bureau to plot a path forward. There are no signs that such a meeting is imminent, despite the second filling’s looming deadline. Presumably, though, Egypt could still use the AU Bureau meeting to raise a request for the Security Council intervention.

Maybe that would provide the catalyst to kickstart the stalled negotiations. Or perhaps the parties should consider a different configuration. There seems little point in including the US and EU in a formal mediation role, but it might make sense to bring in the UN as co-chair with the AU. That could address Egypt’s apparent suspicion that the AU favours Ethiopia – while also addressing Ethiopia’s anxieties by keeping an AU hand in the process.

It’s hard to say where the standoff might end if no agreement is reached. El-Sisi’s sabre-rattling has been echoed by some Egyptian military analysts. They also point to recent joint military exercises between Egypt and Sudan as a warning that the two countries could resort to force if Ethiopia proceeds with the second filling.

Clearly the dispute is souring relations among three important African countries, and there is a danger of a flashpoint. This suggests the GERD dispute is a legitimate subject for Security Council attention, and that this option may be needed if negotiations don’t succeed soon.

Peter Fabricius, ISS Consultant

Read the original article on ISS.

May 4, 2021 0 comments