U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt M. Campbell and Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar co-chaired the sixth round of the U.S.-Nigeria Binational Commission (BNC) in Abuja on April 29-30, 2024.  Established in 2010, the BNC is the premier platform of official engagement between the Governments of the United States and Nigeria to expand cooperation and advance shared goals and democratic values. This year’s BNC built on the strong foundation agreed during the January 23, 2024, meeting between President Bola Tinubu and Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken in Abuja, as well as the momentum from the last BNC held in Washington, D.C. in February 2020.

This year’s BNC featured five working groups covering a range of issues to advance our mutual interests, reaffirming the robust bilateral cooperation enjoyed by the United States and Nigeria. The groups focused on the U.S.-Nigeria partnership in shared prosperity; security cooperation; democracy, governance and accountability; health; and movement of people.

Additionally, the BNC included four discussions on expanding our cooperation to identify solutions to improve outcomes in the areas of: cybercrime, the African Growth and Opportunity Act, food security, and growth in the digital economy and emerging technologies.

The U.S. delegation welcomed Foreign Minister Tuggar’s vision for the future of Nigeria’s foreign policy as laid out in his 4D doctrine of Democracy, Development, Demography, and Diaspora. The two sides discussed how U.S. assistance could augment Nigeria’s efforts in these areas.  The U.S. delegation announced a visit of the President’s Advisory Council on African Diaspora Engagement to Nigeria in July. The U.S. delegation also announced a major symposium in Washington, D.C. in October to bring together American and Nigerian technology leaders.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of U.S. Embassy and Consulate in Nigeria.

The Embassy of the United States of America and São Tomé and Príncipe is pleased to announce that the American musical quartet, Eleanor Dubinsky, will be visiting Angola from April 27 to May 5 this year. The quartet is coming to Angola as part of the United States’ cultural diplomacy with Angola.

This is yet another US initiative aimed at strengthening ties and mutual understanding between our two peoples. In addition, we intend to show how music serves as a tool to strengthen democratic values and advance Angola’s economic prosperity. During their stay in Luanda, the Eleanor Dubinsky Quartet will exchange experiences through workshops with students on composition, recording and economic sustainability for artists. They will also perform concerts to promote cultural exchange with renowned Angolan musicians.

Led by Eleanor, a multilingual jazz composer, guitarist, vocalist and cellist, the world-class quartet invites audiences to travel the world while discovering underground tributaries that connect us in our shared human experience. The quartet is also made up of three other members, a guitarist, a drummer and a bassist.

During their stay, the quartet will hold educational and cultural programs with different schools, such as CEARTE, Casa da Cultura do Rangel “Njinga Mbande”, CERMA, with the main public event taking place at the Art and Culture Foundation on May 4 at 18h00.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of U.S. Embassy to Angola and Sao Tome and Principe.

Parliament has approved a supplementary expenditure budget worth Shs1.106 trillion for settling the offtake arrangement between government and DEI Pharmaceuticals, wage and pension and gratuity shortfalls.

During plenary on Tuesday, 30 April 2023, the Deputy Chairperson of the Budget Committee, Hon. Achia Remigio presented the committee’s report approving the supplementary.

Achia said the government has initiated the process of acquiring equity in DEI BioPharma Ltd as a strategic intervention to increase the local production of pharmaceutical drugs.

DEI Pharma Limited is being allocated Shs578.4 billion to enable it complete business production and ensure it comfortably meets its debt obligations and operational requirements.

“It should be noted that the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation provided a written commitment to the committee, stating that ‘no funds would be disbursed to the company until the valuation process is completed and the government’s stake in the Company is formally established’,” the report reads in part.

Kira Municipality MP who is also the Shadow Minister of Finance, on. Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda  presented a minority report opposing the request stating that it did not comply with the law.

“We oppose donating Shs578 billion to Mr Mathias Magola (DEI Pharma Ltd). All the activities and items the government is seeking to finance through the second supplementary do not meet the requirements of the Public Finance Management Act,” he said adding that, ’money for Magola is being diverted from debt service; the government has diverted Shs666 billion from our debt servicing vote’. 

Hon. Simon Peter Okwalinga (NRM, Kachumbala County) said he supported the majority report but objected to funding Magola’s DEI Pharma Limited.

“I would like the government to come clean on this issue and tell us where this money is heading,” he said.

The Minister of State, Office of the Prime Minister (Northern Uganda), Dr Kenneth Omona supported the report of the committee indicating that the government is supporting local manufacturers as a measure to enhance import substitution.

“Uganda is already beginning to export pharmaceutical products which is good for our country,” Omona said.

He however, said that the government must be very serious and ensure that there is value for money in the investment.

Kampala Central MP, Hon. Muhammad Nsereko criticised the prioritisation of funding of a private investor DEI Pharma Limited amidst challenges in the health. He also said in order to seek a supplementary, it should be unforeseeable and unavoidable.

Hon. Muwanga Kivumbi (NUP, Butambala County) added that the government has an investment vehicle in Uganda Development Corporation (UDC) that they should use instead of Parliament directly giving money to Magola.

The Minister of State for Finance (General Duties), Hon. Henry Musasizi told the House that when the valuation has been completed, they will now come to equity. He said the company as it stands is “sick” and they do not want the company to “die”.

The Speaker Anita Among said that much as there is a commitment on valuation, the government must do the valuation. She instructed the Budget Committee to monitor and ensure that the valuation is done. She demanded a full valuation report of the assets and finances.

“No disbursement of this money before the valuation is done. Upon the valuation and this money is paid, the security must be kept with the treasury and not with the owner,” she ordered.

In the other allocations, Shs166 billion goes to the Ministry of Lands, Housing, and Urban Development for Uganda Support to Municipal Infrastructure Development – additional Support (USMID) and external financing for competitiveness and Enterprise Development project- Additional Funding (CEDP-AF), and an additional Shs66 Billion for compensation among others.

The Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development was allocated Shs3 billion for the Anglican, Catholic and Muslim martyrs shrines in Namugongo and Shs1 billion will go to Nebbi Diocese who will host this year’s 03 June Martyrs day celebrations. 

Shs 13.6 billion will be given to cater for wage shortfalls of Kampala Capital City Authority cleaning casual workforce among others.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Parliament of the Republic of Uganda.

It was an enormous relief to mother Jabumkhaliphi Sifundza when her ten-year-old daughter, Nozweno, was vaccinated against human papillomavirus (HPV). She’d heard about the vaccine on social media and wanted to do everything possible to protect Nozweno from cervical cancer.

Alongside Eswatini’s efforts to vaccinate girls like Nozweno during immunization drives in schools, the government is leveraging the opportunity to simultaneously vaccinate the boys against COVID-19 in an innovative advance towards integrating these vaccines into routine immunization.

High HPV rates in the country are fuelled by high HIV rates, driving up cervical cancer case numbers and deaths. As of 18 April, Eswatini has, with the support of partners including World Health Organization (WHO), vaccinated over 50 000 girls in schools, with a national coverage of 64.3%.

Meanwhile, although the emergency phase of COVID-19 is over, the virus continues to spread and endanger people’s lives. In Eswatini, integration of COVID-19 vaccination into other health programmes, including HPV immunization, chronic diseases and HIV, is high on its health agenda after the recent release of the country’s COVID-19 Vaccine Post-Introduction Evaluation by the Ministry of Health.

“Expanding access to preventative vaccines is vital to improve health and survival, as well as to lay the foundation for countries to reach every person with the basic health services they need to thrive. This dual immunization effort in our schools is an excellent example of optimizing our resources to boost overall vaccine coverage,” says Hon Mduduzi Matsebula, Eswatini’s Minister of Health.

The report says that while Eswatini did well to achieve COVID-19 vaccine coverage of above 70% among people 40 years and older, overall coverage as a proportion of the general population remained low, at 36.9%, at the end of June 2023. For younger people, aged between 12 and 39, coverage remained low at below 50%, negatively impacting the country’s efforts to meet WHO’s global 70% target.

Going forward, integration of vaccines is key to sustainable delivery, the report adds, explaining that the “one-stop-shop” approach to delivering a package of vaccines has the capacity to make the best use of health system interventions.

“In resource-poor settings such as Eswatini, it makes sense to optimize delivery of vaccines in every way possible. If teams are visiting schools to administer HPV vaccines to the schoolgirls, the idea of simultaneously vaccinating the boys against COVID-19 is a perfect example of doing just that,” says Dr Lonkululeko Khumalo, an immunization and surveillance officer in WHO’s Eswatini country office.

WHO supported the Ministry of Health to ensure that WHO guidelines were used to develop national guidelines. The Organization also supported the development of a health workers field guide, training of health workers on HPV introduction and conducting a readiness assessment, including providing supportive supervision during vaccine roll out nationwide. To increase awareness of the vaccine rollout to the population, WHO supported Eswatini in the development of key messages and also sensitized the media to ensure accurate reporting. 

“As WHO, we are proud to be supporting these innovative efforts by the government of Eswatini towards integrated vaccine programmes which, together with strengthening primary health care, is fundamental to our mutual goal of universal health coverage for all,” says Dr Susan Tembo Zimba, WHO Representative in Eswatini.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of World Health Organization (WHO) – Eswatini.