White House announces $4 billion in funding for Covax, the global vaccine effort that Trump spurned

 

The White House is throwing its support behind a global push to distribute coronavirus vaccines equitably, pledging $4 billion to a multilateral effort the Trump administration spurned.

At a Group of Seven meeting of leaders of the world’s largest economies Friday, President Biden will announce an initial $2 billion in funding for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to be used by the Covax Facility, senior administration officials said in a briefing.

The United States will release an additional $2 billion over two years once other donors have made good on their pledges and will use this week’s G-7 summit to rally other countries to do more.

The money, which was appropriated by a bipartisan congressional vote last year, will give a much needed boost to a program jointly led by Gavi, the World Health Organization and the Center for Preparedness Innovations.

Thomas Bollyky, director of the global health program at the Council on Foreign Relations, said that the money would be significant for Covax, which has struggled to raise enough funding since it was announced last year.

“Certainly earlier funds would have been helpful to Covax,” said Bollyky. “But there’s not much point in going back to that point. The question is, what can we do now? And this is a signal at least that the U.S. intends to invest in and bolster Covax as a mechanism to meet the world’s vaccine needs.”

Covax aims to get coronavirus vaccines to low- and middle-income countries that have been cut out of a vaccine race that’s seen rich countries snap up the majority of doses, leaving everyone else to wait.

Although more than 190 countries have agreed to participate, the Trump administration opted out, in part because of the former president’s feud with the WHO.

But so far the initiative has not begun deliveries, and it has struggled not just with funding but also competition from wealthy nations who pursued bilateral deals.

“These kinds of political commitments do matter and make a difference,” said Sema Sgaier, an assistant professor of public health at Harvard and co-founder of nonprofit Surgo Ventures, adding that confirmed funding would allow Covax to pursue new deals.

Covax plans to start distributing vaccines in the first half of this year. On Thursday, Gavi announced a memorandum of understanding with Novavax for 1.1 billion doses of their vaccine, adding to earlier deals with Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Sanofi and Johnson and Johnson.

The White House announcement comes amid growing concern from global health experts that the inequitable distribution of vaccines could prolong the pandemic, not only leaving vulnerable people in developing countries at risk but also raising the possibility of new variants.

U.N. Secretary General António Guterres slammed the distribution of vaccines as “wildly uneven and unfair” at a Security Council meeting Wednesday, saying that 10 countries accounted for 75 percent of all vaccinations to date.

Global vaccine distribution is among the planned topics of discussion for Friday’s G-7 meeting, which is being hosted by Britain and will be held remotely. A number of world leaders have made proposals ahead of the closed-door meeting.

In remarks published Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron said the United States and Europe should provide coronavirus vaccines to developing countries by donating up to 5 percent of the doses they have ordered.

“We are allowing the idea to take hold that hundreds of millions of vaccines are being given in rich countries and that we are not starting in poor countries,” Macron said in an interview with the Financial Times.

While Western-made vaccines are being sold to African nations at “astronomical prices,” he said, those same countries are being offered cheaper Chinese and Russian shots “of uncertain efficacy against new variants of the virus.”

Macron suggested allocating 4 to 5 percent of current vaccine supplies in Europe and the United States and transferring it quickly to developing nations “so that people on the ground see it happening.”

High-income countries have so far secured over 4.6 billion doses among them — far more than all middle-income and lower-income countries combined, which had secured 2.5 billion, according to Duke University.

Macron said that German Chancellor Angela Merkel supported his plan to donate doses and that he hoped it would find backing from the United States and European allies. It is not clear if other nations would back donations of doses to other countries before the majority of their country has been vaccinated.

In a separate announcement, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he would call on world leaders to back efforts to speed up the development of vaccines to just 100 days to better fight future outbreaks.

While coronavirus vaccines were developed and put to market in as little as 300 days, easily a historical record, Johnson said that in the future this needed to happen quicker.

“By harnessing our collective ingenuity, we can ensure we have the vaccines, treatments and tests to be battle-ready for future health threats, as we beat Covid-19 and build back better together,” the British prime minister said in a statement released Thursday.

The British prime minister also said the country would donate surplus vaccine supply through Covax, in addition to over $760 million in funding already allocated, but did not give a time frame.

Why we couldn’t defeat Boko Haram – Ex-Service Chiefs

 

All the immediate past Service Chiefs who appeared on Thursday for screening as non-career ambassadorial nominees were united in their lamentations for insecurity in the country which got worsened under their watch from November 2015 to January 2021.

This is even as the former Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt – General Yusuf Tukur Buratai (rtd), declared that it may take Nigeria 20 years for total elimination of Boko Haram insurgency.

They were all screened by the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs.

First to lament the worsening security situation in the country was the immediate past Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Gabriel Olonisakin (rtd), who attributed the problem to the over 1,000 forest reserves in the country not well managed and secured by respective state governments.

He added that the problem at hand requires a well galvanized national approach for it to be surmounted since it is more of an asymmetric cum hybrid warfare as against the conventional ones that can easily be confronted and defeated.

He said: “I want to say that the solution to insecurity is multi-pronged. We talk about conventional warfare and asymmetric warfare. We are talking about hybrid warfare where everyone is involved.

“It is not about kinetics. Kinetics gives only 35 per cent success rate in any war we are fighting. It is a national approach that must be properly galvanized for us to actually surmount the insecurity.

“I will say three years ago, I conducted a research on the forests in the country. I realized we have over 1,000 forest reserves. I sent the team to Kenya. They went to Kenya and brought out a paper and I said then, three years ago that our next crisis will be in the forest.

“Some governors were invited and we told them because most of the forests are the prerogative of states. The states took over all the forest reserves. I told them that we have to protect the forests. We have to send troops to protect the forests.

“We did the research in 2018 for six months. I said that the next problem we are going to have is in the forests. But again, it is with us right now. It requires a multifaceted approach.

“Everyone has to come on board for us to be able to address the insecurity situation. You can never have enough weapons, personnel and so on but there are issues we must address and then it has to be all about the nation”.

Also giving reasons for the unabated problem of insecurity in the country, particularly, the Boko Haram Insurgency in the North East, Buratai while facing the committee reiterated that it may take the country 20 years to eliminate Boko Haram Insurgency.

He disclosed that through indoctrination, the Boko Haram insurgents are winning more and more communities to their side, aside the problem of ungovernable spaces in the area and in fact, across the country.

He said: “My state (Borno), is an epicentre, where this indoctrination has penetrated so deep. They (insurgents) have won the communities to their side. That is why they (communities) keep Boko Haram. So it is complex, it requires a whole of government approach to solve this, military action or activity is just one aspect.

“One mistake that we have been making is that only the military can solve this. It is not. There are political, social, economic aspects that need to be addressed.

“Development should be progressive, there should be roads everywhere, there should be employment, schools and hospitals all over.

“Yesterday, I counted five local government areas in Borno State that do not have good access roads.

“In northwest, north central, there are so many ungovernable spaces, which the insurgents are penetrating. The places don’t have schools, hospitals and so on and education is very fundamental.

“Unless these things are done, this insecurity will continue because the truth must be told. It may take another 20 years for the country to surmount the problem of Insurgency and that is the truth.”

The story was not different when the former Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Abubakar Sadique, former Chief of Naval Staff , Vice Admiral Ibok – Ete Ibas and former Chief of Defence Intelligence , Air Vice Marshal Mohammed Sani Usman , appeared before the Committee.

Specifically, the former Intelligence Chief lamented over lack of synergy among the various security agencies, as one of the reasons for the lingering security challenges the country is facing.

However, after the separate screening carried out on the five nominees, the chairman of the Committee , Senator Adamu Muhammad Bulkachuwa (APC Bauchi North), said the committee will submit on the exercise to the Senate next week.

Rise of Regional and Ethnic Warlords, By Zainab Suleiman Okino

 

If we can manage our diversities well, the fault lines of region, religion or ethnicity will be blurred such that ethnic warlords will become irrelevant. The things that bind us are more genuine and germane than the crises, crimes and controversies that continually divide us.

For the right thinking Nigerian burning with patriotic fervour, there are genuine reasons to be apprehensive about the widened rift among the regions of the country. Achieving true nationhood and a united Nigeria requires a lot of hard work on the part of state actors, especially political leaders, but our politicians are only adept at pulling us apart with their bad behaviours and deeds, after making symbolic fine speeches at rallies and gatherings. It is, therefore, not a surprise that at every crisis point in the nation’s history, a new ethnic warlord emerges, and quite unfortunately, he becomes an instant celebrity or hero to his people.

The latest of such overnight hero is Sunday Adeniyi Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho. A quick Google search about him brought about many results ranging from his exploits, net worth, houses, cars and more. Sunday Igboho became a news item when he gave a seven-day deadline to killer herdsmen to leave a district in Oyo State over allegations of rape, kidnap, arson and the killing of farmers.

For a man who emerged on the scene only about two months ago, it is amazing how much of him is already out there, due to the disillusionment of citizens with government and their desire for proactive leadership, alongside the skewed media reporting of events, which treats outlaws as celebrities, activists, heroes or liberators.

Described as a business magnate, human rights activist, politician and philanthropist by Wikipedia, the 48 year-old has spoken vehemently of the Yoruba defending themselves against killer herdsmen, referring to those who don’t support his cause as bastards, as if the Yoruba is an entity outside the Nigerian context. Igboho has challenged the establishment of government and traditional institutions, and has continuously been spurred on to do more. In one of his interviews, he challenged the government thus:

“How did we get to where we find ourselves now? If the government at various levels had taken proactive steps, they would have nipped the crisis in the bud before it snowballed into this. We can’t continue to live in fear of the unknown in Yoruba land. Enough is enough. Where was the government when the killer herdsmen were killing innocent people in Yoruba land? How many of the killer herdsmen have been brought to book?”

No one can fault his logic on the government’s inaction and that is precisely the point. A non-state ethnic actor like Igboho rose to the occasion where/when government failed to act and that is indeed tragic. As long as government remains apathetic, more Igbohos will emerge from the ashes of leadership inaction.

Because our laws are often breached and there are no consequences for these, criminals roam freely without prosecution, crimes are viewed through ethnic prisms and impunity holds sway, killer herdsmen are shielded…ethnic bigots like Ighoho will always emerge from the ruins of a nation run to its knees.

In the course of “defending their people”, questions may arise, impunity may take the centre stage, and crimes can be committed; it still boils down to one thing — the failure of leadership and bad governance. Hear Igboho: “I’ll not wait till foreigners kill my people before I do the right thing, I will continue to fight for the cause of justice till I die. I can’t be intimidated by anybody…South-west people must rise with one voice to resist killer herdsmen. We are fighting for the cause of the Yoruba race, not about sentiment. Anybody is free to leave…we can’t accommodate you in Yoruba land and you begin to kill our people on their property…any Yoruba who is against this noble cause is a bastard”.

Because our laws are often breached and there are no consequences for these, criminals roam freely without prosecution, crimes are viewed through ethnic prisms and impunity holds sway, killer herdsmen are shielded, there is no equity in the distribution of the nation’s resources and appointments, and corruption is treated with kids gloves, ethnic bigots like Ighoho will always emerge from the ruins of a nation run to its knees. And this has always been part of our historical development.

In 1999 up to 2007, Gani Adams emerged as a factional leader of O’odua People’s Congress, which in itself came about from the injustice of the annulment of the June 12 election that would have propped up Abiola as president. Gani Adams, barely educated, was indulged by even the Yoruba intelligentsia and commoners alike. During his reign as OPC factional leader, people were killed and maimed, non-Yoruba communities were sacked and or given orders to leave Yoruba land, until then President Olusegun Obasanjo pronounced him an outlaw and called him to order. The man went into hibernation and was still a media sensation anyway. In October 2017, the Aalafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi conferred on Adams the title of a warrior and defender of the Yoruba race, the Are Ona Kakanfo. The acceptance of the erstwhile OPC leader as the new Are-Ona Kakanfo showed that the Yoruba were in agreement, despite the past atrocities committed under Adams’s leadership in OPC. The rest as they say, is history, even as I hold the view that right-thinking Yoruba people did not support those violent attacks unleashed by the factional OPC under Gani Adams’s leadership.

Enter Nnamdi Kanu, who could be described as a nobody holed up somewhere in the United Kingdom eking out a difficult living. He amplified the Igbo’s secessionist streak and before we knew it, he had become a Biafra activist and leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), using his UK Radio Biafra to propagate hate and bigotry in Nigeria. I do not know why the Nigerian government showed so much interest in Kanu to the extent of prosecuting him. Personally, I’d say he is just a rabble rouser of no consequence, who should never have been taken seriously by the Nigerian government because he is in no position to speak for the Igbo.

However, the more the Nigerian government engaged him, the more his support base grew, and the more clear-headed Igbo were made to feel guilty by association. Now he has a place in the history books.

It is time to replace indigeneship with citizenship and substitute place of birth with state of origin in the demographic description of Nigerians every where in the country. These will make everywhere home for every Nigerian.

When in 2019, the issue of Rural Grazing Area (RUGA) settlements policy was heating up the polity, a northern pressure group by the name, Coalition of Northern Group, emerged, speaking for herders and supporting the creation of RUGA settlements across the country. In a press statement, the group’s spokesman, Abdulaziz Suleiman, reminded the nation that, “so long as the Fulani will not be allowed to enjoy their citizens’ right of living and flourishing in any part of this country, including the South, no one should expect us to allow any Southerner to enjoy the same in Nigeria”. Well, I know Abdulaziz Suleiman very well as a colleague in Trust newspapers back then and did not know him to be lethal. I just knew he was bluffing, but the rest of the country panicked. By the time some abracadabra had gone on in the background, the group rescinded their so called one-month quit notice to Southerners.

Neither Igboho, Abdulaziz nor their groups would have been an issue if we are not in an era when criminals, gang leaders, thugs, cultists and streetwise people wield so much power at the expense and detriment of the people. Ultimately these people are seen as defenders of their people and are glorified.

These so-called liberators, freedom fighters or warlords are succeeding in the absence of national cohesion and unifying leadership. It is not too late to work towards national integration and true national unity.

At the heart of the current phase of the internal conflicts in Nigeria is the settler/indigene distinction that has fueled most of the ethno-religious crisis in many parts of the country.

It is time to replace indigeneship with citizenship and substitute place of birth with state of origin in the demographic description of Nigerians every where in the country. These will make everywhere home for every Nigerian.

A Well-Qualified New Leader for the WTO

 

When Robert Azevedo stepped down last year from the post of director general of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the trade body’s top leadership position, former Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala quickly became the universal favorite to land the job—except for among members of the Trump administration. 

Because the WTO operates on the basis of consensus, the Trump administration's opposition effectively vetoed her in favor of the current South Korean Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee. In an interview with the Financial Times, U.S. 

Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer outlined the Trump administration’s objection, claiming that Okonjo-Iweala is “somebody from the World Bank who does development” with no “real trade experience.”

 (Okonjo-Iweala previously held the number-two position at the Bank.) However, Lighthizer’s comments are not altogether credible, given Okonjo-Iweala’s experience with trade issues as finance minister.

Nevertheless, the WTO and its membership could read a calendar as well as anyone else, and so the debate over the next director general remained frozen until after the U.S. presidential elections. After consulting with U.S. officials earlier this month, Myung-hee withdrew her candidacy. The Biden administration then formally expressed its support for Okonjo-Iweala.   Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is, among other things, board chair of Gavi, a global alliance to ensure low-income countries can access life-saving vaccines. She has already signaled that high on her agenda at the WTO will be to promote and facilitate the enhanced distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and protective equipment.   In traditional and social media, the focus on Okonjo-Iweala has been that she is the first woman and the first African to head the WTO. As such she is a symbol, and symbols are important: many Africans see her as validating the competency and leadership skills of African women. 

With the popular focus on Okonjo-Iweala’s gender, race, and country of origin, overlooked could be her competency and expertise, regularly demonstrated during her career at the World Bank and twice as Nigeria's finance minister. Demonstrated competency accounts, at least in part, for her strong support from the beginning within the WTO. 

Okonjo-Iweala self-identifies as foremost a Nigerian, and in public always wears Igbo dress. She worked as a cook for rebels on the frontlines in the 1967–70 civil war between Nigeria and Igbo-dominated Biafra. That said, her higher education was at Harvard and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She worked in Washington, D.C. for twenty-five years. Her husband is a physician practicing in Washington, D.C. She became an American citizen in 2019.

Enyeama names PSG’s Mbappe as favourite to win Ballon d’Or award

 

Former Super Eagles goalkeeper, Vincent Enyeama, has said Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappe is favourite to win the Ballon d’Or in future.

Mbappe put up an outstanding display, scoring a hat-trick as PSG defeated Barcelona 4-1 in the Champions League on Tuesday night.

“Mbappe is such a great player, future Ballon d’Or. Players like him make goalkeeping – such a beautiful job – a matchday dream,” Enyeama tweeted after the game.

Mbappe, 22, has now become only the third player to score a Champions League hat-trick against the Blaugrana.

Faustino Asprilla did so for Newcastle and Andriy Shevchenko for Dynamo Kyiv (both in 1997).

In addition, Mbappe became just the second player to net at least twice at Camp Nou in European Cup/Champions League action after Ferenc Puskas did so more than 50 years ago.

Troops in pursuit of abductors of Niger students – Army

 

The Nigerian Army says its troops have been mobilised in pursuit of abductors of kidnapped members of staff and students of Government Science School, Kagara, Niger State.

About 27 students, three staff and 12 family members were abducted by the gunmen from the school.

The Director, Army Public Relations, Brig.-Gen. Mohammed Yerima, in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja, said that the Nigerian Army had renewed efforts to ensure swift response to the unfortunate incident.

He said it had been reported that the bandits gained entry into the school in the early hours of Wednesday and abducted unspecified number of members of staff and students of the school.

“The Nigerian Army in line with its constitutional mandate wishes to reassure the public that troops in operational synergy with sister security agencies are in hot pursuit of the criminal elements to ensure safe return of the kidnapped victims.

“Furthermore, the Nigerian Army also urges the public to provide actionable information to security agencies that will lead to the arrest of these criminal elements,” he said.

President Muhammadu Buhari had since directed the Armed Forces and police, to ensure immediate and safe return of all the captives.

Buhari also dispatched a team of security chiefs to coordinate the rescue operation and meet with state officials, community leaders as well as parents and staff of the college.

BIAFRA : Terrorists attack Marte, Gubio in Borno

 

Boko Haram insurgents on Tuesday night attacked Marte and Gubio Local Government Areas of Borno State.

Although the report by residents of the area could not reach Maiduguri on time due to lack of telecommunication network in the area, residents said they could not ascertain the number of casualties as most people were yet to return to their homes.

However, in Gubio, residents said the insurgents stormed one of the vigilante/hunters checkpoints and opened fire on them, leaving one of the hunters dead with others sustaining gunshot wounds before they were repelled by military troops.

While in Marte, residents said the armed insurgents dislodged a military base before invading New Marte community, brandishing weapons and shooting sporadically as residents scampered for safety.

Sources also said the insurgents have taken over the town since yesterday (Tuesday) up to Wednesday noon before troops were reinforced to repel them.

Member of the Borno State House of Assembly, Marte constituency, Hon. Engineer Mohammed Gambomi, confirmed the attack on Marte town.

He told newsmen that he received a distress call that Boko Haram sect invaded Marte, but did not have details on the number of casualties, only that some few residential houses were torched during the encounter.

His words; ” Yes, there was an attack by suspected members of Boko Haram on Marte community yesterday. But from the reports I got, civilians are safe,” Gambomi said.