The World Bank has announced the appointment of 2 Vice Presidents for the newly created divisions in the Sub-Saharan African Regional portfolio, which was announced earlier in the year 2020.

This was disclosed by the Bretton Woods Institution in a press statement released on Wednesday July 1, 2020.

The newly created divisions – Western/Central Africa and the Eastern/Southern Africa – are a sign of the strong commitment of the World Bank to Africa.

The Sub-Saharan region had been led since 2018 by Hafez Ghanem, who now takes on the role of Vice President for Eastern and Southern Africa, while Ousmane Diagana becomes Vice President for Western and Central Africa today.

According to Hafez Ghanem, “Our commitment to Africa gets stronger every day and I am thrilled to work alongside Ousmane Diagana to deliver more resources to the people who need them the most. We are two Vice Presidents, but we see Africa as one, and will continue sharing lessons, expertise, and ideas across the continent.”

The creation of an additional Vice Presidency Unit is part of the World Bank Group’s continuous efforts to align resources with priorities. This will help drive the reforms and policies needed to achieve sustained and broad-based growth, alleviate poverty and raise living standards for people on the continent.

In his statement Ousmane Diagana said, “I am honored to lead the Bank’s efforts in West and Central Africa, with a strong focus on innovation, impact, and transformation. Working together with Hafez, I know we can and will do more to put countries and people first and find ways to confront today’s development challenges using all of the tools at our disposal.”

Diagana’s appointment comes as the Bank looks to strengthen the delivery of its Africa program and further improve its operational focus on regional portfolios to better support the transformational improvements that are possible in Africa.

The World Bank is expected to lend about $50 billion to 48 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, which is significantly more than what will be spent in any other region. This also makes up to one-third of the World Bank’s entire portfolio, which includes projects and programmes in areas like agriculture, energy, trade and transport, education, health, water and sanitation.

Ousmane Diagana is a Mauritanian national with more than 25 years of development experience, Diagana joined the Bank in 1992. As the Vice President of Western and Central Africa, Diagana will lead the World Bank’s strategic, analytical, operational and knowledge work in Western and Central Africa.

Since joining the Bank, Diagana has held several technical and managerial positions including Country Director for Mali, Niger, Chad, Guinea, and Country Director for Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Benin and Togo. Diagana has worked extensively in Fragile, Conflict and Violence (FCV) affected countries.

Prior to this appointment, Diagana was the World Bank Group Vice President for Human Resources. He also served as Vice President for Ethics and Business Conduct and World Bank Group Chief Ethics Officer. As World Bank Group Vice President for Human Resources, he has been central to many initiatives to bring staff closer to clients, particularly in FCV client countries.

Hafez Ghanem, an Egyptian and French national, is the Regional Vice President for Eastern and Southern Africa. A development expert with over 30 years of experience, Dr. Ghanem leads relations with 26 countries, and oversees over 280 projects totaling more than $49 billion.

Prior to his appointment, Dr. Ghanem served as the Vice President for Africa. Under his leadership, the World Bank supported inclusive growth and poverty reduction by financing projects that boost human capital, support private sector development, raise agricultural productivity, improve access to infrastructure, build resilience to climate change, and promote regional integration.

Intensifying assistance for fragile and conflict-affected states, promoting gender equality, and providing economic opportunities for youth were core to his vision for the Africa Region.

The spread of novel Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) in Nigeria touched a new milestone as the latest statistics provided by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control reveal Nigeria now has 26,484 confirmed cases.

On the 1st of July 2020, 790 new confirmed cases and 13 deaths were recorded in Nigeria, having carried out a total daily test of 4,205 samples across the country.

To date, 26,484 cases have been confirmed, 10,152 cases have been discharged and 603 deaths have been recorded in 35 states and the Federal Capital Territory. A total of 138,462 tests have been carried out as of July 1st, 2020 compared to 134,257 tests a day earlier.

COVID-19 Case Updates- 1st July 2020

• Total Number of Cases – 26,484
• Total Number Discharged – 10,152
• Total Deaths – 603
• Total Tests Carried out – 138,462

According to the NCDC, the 790 new cases were reported from 21 states- Delta (166), Lagos (120), Enugu (66), FCT (65), Edo (60), Ogun (43), Kano (41), Kaduna (39), Ondo (33), Rivers (32), Bayelsa (29), Katsina (21), Imo (20), Kwara (18), Oyo (11), Abia (10), Benue (6), Gombe (4), Yobe (2), Bauchi (2), Kebbi (2).

Meanwhile, the latest numbers bring Lagos state total confirmed cases to 10,630, followed by Abuja (1,935), Oyo (1,391), Kano (1,257), Edo (1,165), Delta (1,131) Rivers (1,088), Ogun (869),  Kaduna (805), Katsina (578), Gombe (507). Bauchi (505), Borno (493), Ebonyi (438), Plateau (382), Imo (352), Enugu (327), Ondo (325), Abia (320), Jigawa (318).

Kwara state has recorded 235 cases, Bayelsa (234), Nasarawa (213), Sokoto (151), Osun (127), Niger (116), Akwa Ibom (86), Adamawa (84), Kebbi (81), Zamfara (76), Anambra (73), Benue (65), Yobe (61), Ekiti (43), Taraba (19), while Kogi state has recorded 4 cases.

READ ALSO: COVID-19: Western diplomats warn of disease explosion, poor handling by government

Lock Down and Curfew

In a move to combat the spread of the pandemic disease, President Muhammadu Buhari directed the cessation of all movements in Lagos and the FCT for an initial period of 14 days, which took effect from 11 pm on Monday, 30th March 2020.

The movement restriction, which was extended by another two-weeks period, has been partially put on hold with some businesses commencing operations from May 4. On April 27th, 2020, Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari declared an overnight curfew from 8 pm to 6 am across the country, as part of new measures to contain the spread of the COVID-19. This comes along with the phased and gradual easing of lockdown measures in FCT, Lagos, and Ogun States, which took effect from Saturday, 2nd May 2020, at 9 am.

On Monday, 29th June 2020 the federal government extended the second phase of the eased lockdown by 4 weeks and approved interstate movement outside curfew hours with effect from July 1, 2020.

READ ALSO: Bill Gates says Trump’s WHO funding suspension is dangerous

The Federal Government has announced the resumption schedule for domestic flight operations in our airports.

In the schedule that was announced by the Minister for Aviation, Hadi Sirika, domestic flight operations will resume in Abuja and Lagos airports on July 8, 2020. The airports in Kano, Port Harcourt, Owerri and Maiduguri will resume on July 11 and the domestic flight operations in the other airports will resume on July 15.

Sirika, also stated that passengers who want to travel outside the country would have to wait a bit longer as no date has been fixed yet for the resumption of international flight operations.

This was disclosed in a tweet post by the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, on his official Twitter handle on Wednesday, July 1, 2020.

I am glad to announce that Abuja & Lagos airports will resume domestic operations on the 8th of July, 2020. Kano, Port Harcourt, Owerri & Maiduguri to resume on the 11th. Other airports on the 15th. Date for international to be announced in due course. Bear with us, please 🇳🇬🙏🏽🇳🇬

— Hadi Sirika (@hadisirika) July 1, 2020

He also said, ‘’I thank stakeholders in the aviation industry and indeed the Nigerian public who have had to cope with the adverse effects of the flight suspension for their perseverance and cooperation in ensuring a successful return of operations at the nation’s airport.’’

The Minister, while assuring that government will do all within its powers to ensure a rapid recovery of the aviation industry, advised passengers to follow all the safety guidelines and protocols put in place to ensure that the airports don’t become channels of infection for the dreaded coronavirus.

Nairametrics had reported a few days, that the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the aviation ministry, conducted a dry test run of domestic flight operation for the Lagos and Abuja airports a few days ago. This was in preparation for the resumption of flight operation.

The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) had also introduced some new measures for both passengers and non-passengers in preparation for the resumption of flight operations at the airports.

@hadisirika thanks stakeholders in the aviation industry and indeed the Nigerian public who have had to cope with the adverse effects of the flight suspension for their perseverance and cooperation in ensuring a successful return of operations at the nation’s airports.

— Federal Ministry of Aviation, Nigeria (@fmaviationng) July 1, 2020