EIU according to its recent publication, ranked Lagos 171 out of 172 countries in the list of its global liveable cities in the world.

The latest 2022 Global Liveability Index published by the EIU revealed that Vienna regained its customary position as the number one. Canadian and European cities dominated the top ten

Following the report, it can be deduced that Nigerian best city is the worst in Africa as Damascus (Syria) and Tripoli (Libya) continue to languish at the bottom of the list along with Lagos (Nigeria) as they face social unrest, terrorism and conflict.

“The EIU further highlighted the top five most liveable cities in the world as Vienna, with Austria, scoring 99. 1; Copenhagen, Denmark, 98.0; Zurich, Switzerland at 96.3; Calgary, Canada had 96.3 and Vancouver, Canada with 96.1

“However, most of the cities in the bottom ten have improved their scores compared with last year, as COVID-19 pandemic induced pressures,” EIU stated.

A variety of factors, including crime rate, health care, political stability, infrastructure and access to green space were used for the ranking.
Lagos State remains the most populated city in the country with at least 14 million people.

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The 23-year-old who has been one of the most controversial housemates in this year’s season was disqualified on Friday evening after she and fellow housemate, Mercy got involved in a fight.

Their disagreement started when the Head Of House, Seyi, called everyone to the lounge so they could read their task for the day from Biggie’s scroll.

Tacha took to her Instagram (IG) page to apologise to fans and thank everyone who supported her in private and publicly.

The Statement reads,”Dear Titans, words cannot readily express how much your love and acceptance means to me at this point. Even my imperfection could not sway your support.

THANK YOU!

“Coming out of the Big Brother House disqualified was never my intention. Unfortunately, my weakness played against my strength and cut short what should have been a grand ending, with or without the prize.

“I sincerely apologize for every action on my part that led to this point and I take full responsibility for it all.

“I am an adult and ought to be in control of my emotions, but I’m human and I failed time and again. Please forgive me. I sincerely wanted to make it, at least to the 99th day.

“The fight to be seen and heard takes its toll on every one of us irrespective of where, when or how it comes. What counts is what we make out of a seemingly ugly situation.

“I know I need to work on my emotional health… That’s a fact as I have become conscious of it now. Being on this show has shown me that, I am not just a work in progress but I have the chance to become a better me on all fronts if I give myself the chance to heal.

“And this I promise to give due diligence.

“So for what you have been to me, I heard some of you even cried and held vigil for me. I cannot thank you enough. You all became my mother, friends and family and this means so much to me right now.

“Your prayers, time and resources spent to push me through to this point cannot be quantified in any form, but I sincerely thank you from the depth of my heart.

“Against the odds, you all are the reason why I stand and remain hopeful that everything will fall into place, that I can make it through this storm and come out on the sunny side in time.

My social media official handles are open and I can be reached there for now.

“Thank you, Titans, Thank you to everyone who supported me privately and openly, Thank you, Africa, Thank you Nigeria, THANK YOU WORLD!

“I saved the best for last. Thank you to the organizers of Big Brother Nigeria for this platform, it may not have ended as I hoped and wanted, but it gave me the opportunity to rise. It was worth it and for this reason, I am grateful”, the statement concluded.

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The post #BBNaija: Tacha apologizes to fans, says ‘I know I need to work on my emotional health’ appeared first on MegaIcon Magazine.

WITH over 800 million people worldwide suffering from hunger and more than two billion affected by malnutrition, food insecurity remains a real threat to global development.

Adesina, who is making a global pitch for renewed visionary leadership and strategic alliances, “the future of food in the world will depend on what Africa does with Agriculture.”

The African Development Bank, which he leads, envisions a food secure continent which uses advanced technologies, creatively adapts to climate change, and develops a whole new generation of what he describes as ‘agripreneurs’ – empowered youth and women who he expects to take agriculture to the next level.

By 2050, an additional 38 million African will be hungry. The paradox of lack in the midst of plenty, and Africa’s growing youth bulge are some of the reasons why Adesina’s sense of urgency is resonating with numerous government, private sector, and multilateral leaders during recent European and Asian trips. The banker and 2017 World Food Prize Laureate will be the first to admit that he considers himself the ‘evangelist-in-chief’ for a food secure Africa.

Africa continues to import what it should be producing, spending $35 billion on food imports each year, a figure that is expected to rise to $110 billion in 2025 if present trends continue.

A few days later, Adesina joined Rockefeller Foundation President Raj Shah, Unilever CEO Paul Polman, and 2018 World Food Prize nominees Lawrence Haddad and David Navarro, among other prominent global academic, development, and agriculture experts at Wageningen University and Research, in the Netherlands, to make the case for urgent collective action by State and non-State players to accelerate Africa’s agricultural growth and transformation.

https://iso.keq.mybluehost.me/african-development-bank-launches-coding-for-employment-program/

Africa receives only 2 percent of the $100 billion annual revenues from chocolates globally. Adesina tells his audience that “adding value to what nations produce, is the secret to their wealth. Producing chocolate instead of simply exporting cocoa beans does not require rocket science.”

To expand opportunities for youth, women, and private sector players, Adesina is on a global mission to promote and seek support for the bank’s  Affirmative Finance for Women in Africa (AFAWA) program which aims to mobilize $3 billion to support women entrepreneurs who historically lack access to finance, land, and land titles; a $300 million ENABLE Youth program to develop the next generation of agribusiness and commercial farmers for Africa; and a new global investment marketplace, the African Investment Forum, which will be held in Johannesburg November 7-9.

In separate meetings with Sigrid A.M. Kaag, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, in the Hague; Peter van Mierlo, CEO of the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank (FMO), key private sector players, and members of the Dutch Foreign Affairs Advisory Council, Adesina said Africa and its partners must seize unprecedented opportunities for innovative partnerships and increased development impact.

Mierlo believes, “a huge benefit for Africa is that it can skip development cycles that often almost all developed countries had to go through, by deploying new technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics in agriculture”.

In a continent where more than 640 million are without electricity, Adesina says the private sector is key to Africa’s development in Africa’s energy and agriculture sectors.

“If Africa is going to turn the tide of irregular migration, this is critical. There are three ways in which we can collaborate: either through the NEPAD Infrastructure Project Preparation Facility, Africa 50 – a private equity institution which has raised more than US$ 850 million from 22 countries, and the new Africa Investment Forum.”

Adesina, recognizes that the lack of electricity is Africa’s biggest development impediment. The Bank’s new and ambitious Desert-to-Power initiative which aims to generate 10,000MW of power across Africa’s Sahel region will be critical to reducing migration and climate change impacts. We will do this through a blended finance mechanism with guarantees”, Mr. Adesina said.

https://iso.keq.mybluehost.me/korea-announces-5-billion-financial-package-for-africa-at-afdb-annual-meetings/

Speaking to a High-level Roundtable of Dutch Business Leaders at the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), informed key private sector leaders that “governance structures and business regulatory environments are changing in Africa. Indeed, several African countries have already made significant progress in improving their general business and investment environments. Africa is doing better than some of the Asian countries,” he reminded his audience. “In the energy sector, the African Development Bank is investing $12 billion over the next 5 years, with the goal of leveraging $40-50 billion; and an additional $US 24 billion, over ten years, in agriculture to implement its Feed Africa Strategy.”

Agriculture steadily taking center-stage

The strategy is already bearing fruit with the establishment of Staple Crop Processing Zones in several African countries, including Ethiopia, Togo, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Mozambique, with a plan to reach 15 countries in a few years.

Strategically located in and around rural farming communities Adesina says “these agriculture zones will form the nucleus of a new wave of agro-industries and greenfield ventures, attracting agripreneurs, biotechnology firms, intellectual and capital investments. They will also ensure that foods are processed and packaged right where they are produced, rather than in urban centers far removed from centers of production.”

Described as a visionary optimist by many colleagues, Adesina believes the bank’s policies and investments will help turn rural areas from zones of economic misery into zones of economic prosperity.

The post Africa spends $35 billion on food imports each year, AfDB boss reveals first appeared on MegaIcon Magazine.

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Louise you have called us into a discussion to talk about what is extremely critical to our world. Let us just all be clear that there are certain things we should never get used to. The abnormal should never become normal. Not having food is abnormal.

https://iso.keq.mybluehost.me/nigeria-zero-hunger-forum-proffer-steps-to-end-hunger/

In the world today, the number of hungry people has increased from 777 million in 2015 to 815 million people in 2016. In the case of Africa, climate change will add an additional 38 million people that are hungry by 2050, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute. Let’s also be clear, we are not yet winning the war against global hunger and malnutrition.

We have a moral responsibility to tackle this problem. It’s one that we can collectively address. In the case of Africa, there is absolutely no reason for food insecurity on the continent.

Africa has 65 percent of all uncultivated arable land in the world to feed 9 billion people by 2050.

Therefore, what Africa does with agriculture will determine the future of food in the world. The greatest agenda we have is how to unlock Africa’s agricultural potential. As my late mentor, Dr. Norman Borlaug used to say, “you cannot eat potential.’

Let’s talk about the opportunities in agriculture.

First and foremost is the size of food and agribusiness in Africa, which will be a one trillion-dollar industry by 2030. Quite naturally, this is a money-making sector to help not only to feed Africa, but also to create an enormous amount of wealth for Africa. The irony is that Africa is spending US$35 billion on food imports each year, which if nothing is done will rise to 110 billion dollars by 2020.

Just think of the Savannas of Africa. There are 400 million hectares of Savannah, of which only 10% is cultivated. That is, a mere 40 million hectares.

https://iso.keq.mybluehost.me/unleashing-the-great-potential-of-africas-youth-to-achieve-sustainable-development/

If Africa can get the right tech to raise productivity, transform its savannahs, turn agriculture into a business and address the issue of nutrition – Africa can feed itself in 10 years and contribute to feeding the world in the years to come.

What is the African Development Bank doing to unlock that potential?

• The Bank has launched the Feed Africa strategy, investing US$24 billion in agriculture over the next 10 years. Our focus is scaling up technology to reach millions of farmers.
• As part of this plan, the Bank is building and developing agricultural value chains that will allow Africa to process and add value to everything it produces.
• Third, we support the production, distribution and availability of nutritious food  to address malnutrition and stunting and finally,
• Turn agriculture into a wealth creating sector and not one for managing poverty.

Key programs we have rolled out.

1. Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT). This is a billion-dollar initiative the Bank is working on with several partners, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIR), the private sector, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). TAAT is focused on making sure that existing technologies that can transform agriculture are taken off the shelves; We seek to impact 40 million farmers with different commodities. TAAT is about technology without borders, and we have rolled out the program in 15 countries.
2. The second key program is Enable Youth. This is an innovative strategy for getting younger people interested in agriculture. Better still, investing in a new generation of young commercial farmers, agribusiness entrepreneurs to make agriculture cool and attractive and we are investing a US300 million in 5 countries.
3. The third area of our investment is the African Leaders for Nutrition program, which is endorsed by African Union with a goal of developing an African nutrition index to rate and rank countries in terms of their progress on nutrition. The point here is to have political accountability on nutrition, because we know the solution to it and we want it to be scaled up. And to eliminate the scourge that has afflicted 54 million children today.
4. I would like to say something about the savannahs. We have launched an initiative to transform Africa’s savannahs using the best technology available and we have started in five countries already including 10,000 ha in northern Ghana.
5. And finally, we are investing in the idea of Staple Crop Processing Zones that will impact rural economies, enabling investments in infrastructure like power, water, and roads that will support private agribusiness and agro allied industries to be located in and around the rural areas. This will add value to agricultural products and turn rural economies from zones of economic misery to zones of economic posterity via agricultural industrialization.
6. In conclusion, I believe these initiatives will help us significantly raise agricultural productivity and change the perspective on agriculture. They will get young people into agriculture, help to focus on the cultivation of nutritious foods and structurally transform agriculture into a dominant sector for food and nutrition security. The productive base of African economies will also be diversified even as they become competitive in the global markets through value addition to everything that they produce.
7. At the end of the day, it is all about having partners on board, and involving  stakeholders in the private sector, the CGIR, national governments, civil society, universities and research institutions, financial institutions,   multilateral and bilateral donors.

I just want to say that what the Bank does is in alignment with the development policy of the Netherlands.  I am delighted to be here in the Netherlands with a great partner in agriculture.

We will build a bigger alliance to ensure zero hunger in Africa.

The post AfDB boss,Adesina reveals how to make agriculture work for Africa and the world first appeared on MegaIcon Magazine.

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They are: Benin, Guinea, Liberia, Mozambique, Namibia, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Botswana, Cape Verde and Lesotho are the other countries.

Instead they opted for a joint bid of the United States of America (USA), Mexico and Canada, which eventually won the hosting rights.

Morocco would have been the second African nation to host the tournament, after South Africa did in 2010.

The result was determined by more than 200 national soccer federations, who cast their ballots to cap FIFA’s annual Congress.

The 2026 tournament will feature an expanded field of 48 teams, an increase from the current 32.

It will also mark the first time in FIFA’s history, that a three-nation bid has been awarded the showpiece event.

The post 2026 World Cup: African countries that did not vote for Morocco revealed first appeared on MegaIcon Magazine.

The post 2026 World Cup: African countries that did not vote for Morocco revealed appeared first on MegaIcon Magazine.

Bolt’s London finale ended in disappointment as he suffered a muscle cramp before the end of the 4x100m relay final, which Great Britain won.

Yohan Blake, who ran the third leg, said: “The race was 10 minutes late, we were kept 40 minutes. It was crazy.

“They were holding us too long.”

Bolt had hoped to bring an end to his career with another two gold medals in London but leaves with only a bronze from last weekend’s 100m.

And, seconds after taking the baton for Jamaica’s anchor leg, he pulled up and tumbled to the floor with Dr Kevin Jones, Jamaica’s team doctor, confirming Bolt had cramp in his left hamstring.

“It was 40 minutes and two medal presentations before our run,” added 2011 world 100m champion Blake.

“We keep warming up and waiting, then warming up and waiting. I think it got the better of us.

“It hurts to see a true legend, a true champion go out there and struggle like that.”

Omar McLeod, the 110m hurdle champion who led out the Jamaican team, echoed the criticism of delays at the start of the final.

Mo Farah’s lap of honour after his second place in the 5, 000m final seemed to delay the schedule, with the event’s medal ceremony also taking place before the relay final.

“It’s heart-wrenching,” he said. “I gave it my all and I really wanted Usain to leave golden, or even if it was just a medal.

“It was ridiculous, man. We waited a really long time. I drank two bottles of water.

“But Usain Bolt’s name will always live on.”

Justin Gatlin, the 100m champion, called Bolt “still the best in the world” after taking silver with the United States, and also felt that the weather may have played a part in Bolt’s injury.

“I think it was the elements,” he said. “I’m sorry he got this injury.

“This is farewell time, I am sentimental about it already now. In the warm-up area, we give ourselves respect and greeted each other. Usain Bolt is a great athlete.”

The post Usain Bolt Injury Caused By Needless Delays At World Championships -Team Mate first appeared on MegaIcon Magazine.

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