Africa
UN cutting refugee rations in Africa’s Sahel amid ‘alarming’ food insecurity
Nigeria is a major oil producer but most of this is sent abroad while it has to import the refined fuel used in vehicles and elsewhere.
As a result the country often faces chronic fuel shortages.
This is the problem that the $19bn (£15.2bn) refinery, owned by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, is intended to tackle.
“This is a game-changer for the Nigerian people,” said President Muhammadu Buhari.
The plant, which is not yet operational, has the capacity to produce about 650,000 barrels of petroleum products a day – more than enough to supply the country’s needs. It also includes a power station, deep seaport and fertiliser plant.
Nigeria’s existing refineries have been completely shut down for over three years owing to oil theft, pipeline vandalism and structural neglect.
If it works as planned, the plant could make a real change to the lives of Nigerians: “Every time there is fuel scarcity, I don’t open my shop because there’s no light [electricity] to work and I can’t buy fuel for my generator,” a young hairdresser from Lagos told the BBC.
At Monday’s launch, Mr Dangote outlined his hopes for the refinery: “Our first goal is to ramp up production of the various products to ensure that within this year, we are able to fully satisfy the nation’s demand for quality products.”
However, it is not clear what impact the plant will have on the price of fuel in a country where retail prices are subsidised. The government says these subsidies will soon be removed – last year they took up at least a quarter of the national budget.
Mr Dangote’s plant in Lagos, which took nearly seven years to build, is said to be the world’s largest single-train refinery, meaning the plant has one integrated distillery system which can produce a variety of products and petrochemicals, instead of having different units for each type of product.
It is one of the last major projects to be inaugurated by President Buhari, who steps down next week after serving two terms in office.
President Buhari will hand power to Bola Tinubu, who won disputed presidential elections in February.
Oil and gas expert Henry Adigun told the BBC that Monday’s launch was “more political than technical”.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The United Nations food relief agency has suspended aid deliveries to Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region amid an internal investigation into the theft of food meant for hungry people, according to four humanitarian workers.
The World Food Program is responsible for delivering food from the U.N. and other partners to Tigray, the center of a devastating two-year civil war that ended with a ceasefire in November.
More than 5 million of the region’s 6 million people rely on aid.
WFP informed its humanitarian partners on April 20 that it was temporarily suspending deliveries of food to Tigray amid reports of food misappropriation, one of the four humanitarian workers told AP. Three other aid workers confirmed this information. They all insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to a journalist on this matter.
Last month, AP reported that the WFP was investigating cases of food misappropriation and diversion in Ethiopia, where a total of 20 million people need humanitarian help due to drought and conflict.
A letter sent by the WFP’s Ethiopia director on April 5 asked humanitarian partners to share “any information or cases of food misuse, misappropriation or diversion that you are aware of or that are brought to your attention by your staff, beneficiaries or local authorities.”
At the time, two aid workers told AP that the stolen supplies included enough food to feed 100,000 people. The food was discovered missing from a warehouse in the Tigray city of Sheraro. It was not clear who was responsible for the theft.
Tigray’s new interim president, Getachew Reda, said last month he discussed “the growing challenge of diversion & sale of food aid meant for the needy” with senior WFP officials during a visit by the agency to Mekele, the regional capital.
A spokesperson for the WFP in Ethiopia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Pretty Yende will soon go down in history as the first African to be invited to perform a solo at the coronation of a British monarch.
The South African soprano will be one of three soloists to perform at the coronation of King Charles III on May 6 at Westminster Abbey, in London, according to CNN.
“I feel very, very honored because it is something that has never happened before,” the 38-year-old told AFP.
“Generations from now they will read about the British monarchs… and they’ll see the name of a girl from the tip of Africa written in there – that she was actually invited by the king himself to sing at Westminster Abbey.”
Yende was born at the height of apartheid in the small town of Piet Retief to a religious family. Her closest musical reference was spiritual hymns, and she never intended a career in music until she heard opera for the first time at the age of 16.
“Hearing this music and the power of it, sounded like something supernatural. I did not believe human beings could do it,” she recalled to CNN.
“I remember recording it and imitating it,” she said. “I would play the recording the whole day. My gosh, my family were in trouble, because I wouldn’t stop practicing and shouting.”
Yende started her meteoric rise in the opera world while still a student at the University of Cape Town. In 2011, she graduated from the Young Artists program at the Accademia at the Teatro alla Scala, in Milan, Italy, and, since then, she has been in demand at opera houses throughout the world.
The past decade has not always been lined with roses, however. Yende said she has had to battle opera’s Eurocentric homogeneity and hopes to use her talent and success to break stereotypes.
“The biggest challenge has always been being the different one in the room. When I was the first Black in the Accademia of La Scala it was a bit uncomfortable,” she remembered.
“Sometimes I would enter the rehearsal room, and I could see in the room looks like, ‘Why are you here?’ And I would just smile. But once I start making music, all of us in that room agreed that I’m not there by mistake.”
Charles III, an avid patron of the arts, saw Yende perform at Windsor Castle a year ago during the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’s 75th anniversary gala.
And now, the South African soprano will perform “Sacred Fire,” a new piece by British composer Sarah Class, before a worldwide audience of millions.
“It’s a dream come true, because when I found out that I have this incredible gift I wanted to share it with as many people as possible,” Yende said. She added, ““I know that my life will no longer be the same.”
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