Nigeria started mpox vaccinations on Monday, administering shots to health workers and people with weak immune systems at hospitals in Abuja, more than a month after the programme was scheduled to start. Nigeria received its first batch of 10,000 doses of the mpox vaccine from the United States in August after the World Health Organisation declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years. Nigeria has recorded 94 confirmed cases and no deaths since the start of this year, the WHO said in a report last month. “It is not a mass vaccination but target-ringed vaccination for health care workers and immuno-compromised persons,” Hafsat Abdullazeez from the Institute of Human Virology in Abuja said. Hardley Ikwe of the U.S. Centre for Disease Control said the initial vaccination programme would last 10 days, focusing on Abuja and seven states, including Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa and Rivers, where several cases have been recorded.
Nuhu Ribadu, National Security Adviser (NSA) paid a visit to Idriss Déby, Chad’s president. The NSA said the trip was aimed at strengthening collaboration and addressing escalating security challenges in the Lake Chad basin. Zagazola Makama, a publication focused on counter-insurgency in the region, reported that Ribadu led a high-ranking delegation to N’Djamena, Chad’s capital. The delegation included Christopher Musa, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS); Emmanuel Undiandeye, Chief of Defence Intelligence (CDI); and Ali Salau, force commander of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF). Makama stated that Ribadu presented a written message from President Bola Tinubu to Déby. The report added that discussions centred on enhancing security cooperation, with both nations agreeing to strengthen joint operations against jihadist groups in the Lake Chad basin. Makama quoted Ribadu as describing the engagement as “fruitful” while reaffirming Nigeria’s commitment to working closely with Chad to combat shared security challenges.
Ratings agency, Fitch, would move Ghana out of sovereign default by July 2025. This follows its anticipation of the country completing the external debt restructuring by the end of June 2025. It is optimistic Ghana will also complete the non-bond debt treatment by the end of 2024. Ghana had an agreement with the Official Creditor Committee (OCC) on the parameters of official debt treatment in January 2024. The Eurobond exchange also took place in October 2024. About $14.2 billion of Eurobonds have been restructured so far. The haircut represented 6.2% of the Gross Domestic Product. Interest payments have also reduced by 8% of Fitch’s projected revenue in 2024, 5% in 2025 and 4% in 2026.
The Senegalese government has claimed victory in the parliamentary elections with most of the votes already counted. It said the ruling party, Pastef, had won with a “large majority”. A victory for Pastef would give President Bassirou Diomaye Faye a strong mandate to implement the radical agenda of economic and social reform on which he was elected in March. Former President Macky Sall, Prime Minister Amadou Ba and Dakar’s mayor Barthelemy Dias, who were heading different opposition coalitions, have all accepted defeat. The vote was conducted peacefully across the country on Sunday, although there were sporadic clashes between supporters of different parties in the run-up to the elections. “We are proud of the Senegalese people and we would like to thank them for the large victory that it has given to Pastef,” government spokesman Amadou Moustapha Ndieck Sarre told the BBC.
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