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Air Peace to open flow as Israel agrees non-stop flights from Nigeria

Published

2 months ago

March 27, 2023

The ministry of transport in Israel has agreed on a deal that will allow Nigerian airlines non-stop flights between the countries to begin.

The deal, which is the first time of such will kick off next month according to Israel’s transport minister

Subject to parliament approval, the agreement will let carriers from the two countries operate flights between Tel Aviv and cities in Nigeria, like Lagos and Abuja.

According to the ministry said, It will facilitate a smoother pilgrimage for Christians to the Holy Land. The trip currently requires a stopover, usually in Turkey or Ethiopia.

Israeli Transport Minister Miri Regev said that Nigeria “maintains close ties with Israel in a wide variety of fields, alongside heavy traffic of pilgrims coming to Israel to visit the holy places in Christianity.”

Launching direct flights, she said, “will contribute to the strengthening of the business and cultural ties between the nations and between the governments.”

As a highly religious country, Nigerians are big on pilgrimage. In 2022, the Nigeria Christian Pilgrims Commission (NCPC) said at least 10,000 faithful travelled to Israel for religious purposes.

Nigeria’s Air Peace will be the first airline to fly directly, operating twice weekly flights beginning April 20, the ministry said.

Relations between Israel and Nigeria first established diplomatic, cultural, and economic ties officially in 1960 after Nigerian independence.

Israel contributed significantly to the development of Nigeria as well as other Sub-Saharan African countries in the 1960’s and 1970’s by sending Israeli experts and volunteers to modernize Africa’s agriculture and teach African farmers sustainable farming techniques.

Related Topics:Air Peace Featured Israel Nigeria

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Court stops Facebook’s dismissal of content moderators in Kenya

Published

9 hours ago

June 4, 2023

Ifeoluwa Dada

The mass retrenchment by a subcontractor for Facebook’s parent company, Meta has been stopped by a court in Kenya.

The court obliged the prayer of 184 content moderators employed in Nairobi by Sama, an outsourcing firm for Meta, who claimed their dismissal was “unlawful”.

Judge Byram Ongaya said Meta and Sama were “restrained from terminating the contracts” pending the determination of the lawsuit challenging the legality of the dismissal.

“An interim order is hereby issued that any contracts that were to lapse before the determination of the petition be extended” until the case is settled, the judge added.

The court also ordered to “provide proper medical, psychiatric and psychological care for the petitioners and other Facebook content moderators”.

Mercy Mutemi, the petitioners’ lawyer, while commending the ruling, said it was “critical that the court found Facebook to be the true employer of its moderators,” adding that they were “very pleased” with the orders.

“This ruling is significant not only for the petitioners but for the entire social media and artificial intelligence industry,” Mutemi said in a statement.

Another local NGO and two Ethiopian citizens have also accused the tech giant of failing to act against online hate speech in Africa. The complainants claimed that this inaction resulted in the murder of an Ethiopian university professor and demanded the establishment of a $1.6 billion fund to compensate the victims.

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South Africa: Power rotation suspended ‘until further notice’ —Eskom

Published

1 day ago

June 3, 2023

Ifeoluwa Dada

South Africa’s state utility firm, Eskom has announced that its power rotation has been suspended “until further notice”.

The situation with the country’s electricity has been critical in recent months and load shedding exercises have gone as high as twelve hours a day.

Eskom spokeswoman, Daphne Mokwena told journalists “Load shedding was suspended today at 11:40 am (09:40 GMT) and until further notice, thanks to improved generation capacity and lower demand.”

“It is not possible to predict at this stage how long the suspension will last. We encourage the public to monitor their consumption, especially during peak hours,” stressed Ms. Mokwena, adding that load shedding could otherwise resume “at any time”.

The firm said it would immediately communicate any significant changes in the new development which South Africans would be hoping lasts long.

President Cyril Ramaphosa in February declared the situation a disaster and appointed a Minister of Electricity, in an attempt to get out of the crisis.

South Africa still draws 80% of its electricity from coal. A $98 billion investment plan was approved by rich countries last year at COP27 as part of an agreement for a “just transition” to clean energy.

Being one of Africa’s most industrialized economies, the power outages have threatened businesses and the general economy of the country. One of its leading companies, Tiger Brands had during the week revealed that its revenues were expected to drop due to the prolonged power challenges.