President Muhammadu Buhari has signed the instrument of accession agreement for Nigeria for the establishment of the African Trade Insurance Agency. This was announced by the Federal Government on Monday night.

President @MBuhari has signed the instrument of accession of the agreement for the establishment of the African Trade Insurance Agency; sequel to the directive of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), that the instrument be prepared and forwarded for execution.

— Presidency Nigeria (@NGRPresident) August 10, 2020

The agreement is coming after the Federal Executive Council ordered that an instrument be prepared and forwarded for execution.

The African Trade Insurance Agency was launched in 2001, to provide risk solutions for investors, after the East African economic Union (COMESA) executed a World bank funded study to discover why Africa does not attract more Foreign Direct Investments.

The organization said it added credit insurance to its portfolio in 2006 after its members identified global trade as a major pillar of growth in the continent which has seen it grow as a market leader for risk mitigation in Africa.  The ATI also attracts funding from the African Development Bank and World Bank

Nigeria joining the agreement would provide Nigeria with the necessary insurance financing to increase investment inflows into the country and improve economic productivity.

Russia has announced the registration of its first COVID-19 vaccine in what can be described as a step ahead of other vaccine development.

The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, who made the disclosure, called it effective protection against the deadly pathogen and revealed that one of his own daughters had already received it.

Putin in a televised government meeting said, “As far as I know, this morning the first vaccine against the novel coronavirus infection in the world was registered,”

The announcement is seen as a propaganda coup for the Russian government against the west amid a global race to develop vaccines against the coronavirus pandemic that has killed nearly 750,000 people, infected more than 20 million and crippled major global economies.

Pharmaceutical firms like AstraZeneca Plc and Moderna Inc. are still conducting final-stage trials of their vaccines in studies that are expected to soon yield results

Nairametrics had about 2 weeks ago reported that Russia had concluded plans to register a coronavirus vaccine between August 10 and August 12 in what would be regarded as the world’s first official approval of a vaccine against the coronavirus pandemic.

It also announced plans for a mass vaccination campaign against the coronavirus disease from October after disclosing that it had completed trials for the vaccine.

This vaccine which is being developed by Russia’s Gamaleya Institute in collaboration with the Russian Direct Investment Fund started phase 3 trials last week. The Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Tatyana Golikova, who was at the meeting, disclosed that medics could start receiving the vaccine by the end of the month.

Russia, which is reported to be the fourth most affected country globally, has recorded almost 900,000 COVID-19 cases with over 27,000 coronavirus-related deaths

A new report that was published on Sunday, August 10, 2020, has shown that a record number of people are giving up their United States citizenship. The report suggests that Americans are continuing to renounce their citizenship at the highest levels on record.

This information is contained in a research report that was conducted by Bambridge Accountants, a New York-based firm that specializes in US expatriate tax, UK expats, actors, and other creatives in the US and the UK.

According to the report, more than 5,800 American citizens gave up their citizenship in the first six months of 2020, compared to the 2,072 Americans who renounced their citizenship throughout 2019. The report also noted that the Coronavirus pandemic had motivated US expats to cut ties and avoid the current political climate and onerous tax reporting.

A partner at Bambridge Accountants, Alistair Bambridge, in his conversation with CNN, said, “These are mainly people who already left the US and just decided they’ve had enough of everything. What we’ve seen is people are over everything happening with President Donald Trump, how the coronavirus pandemic is being handled, and the political policies in the US at the moment.”

Bambridge, in its report, also stated that while many people who renounced their citizenship complain of being unhappy with today’s current political climate in the US, others attributed their decision to taxes.

He disclosed that US citizens living abroad are still required to file tax returns every year, report their foreign bank accounts, investments, and pensions. Although these citizens benefited from the $1,200 stimulus checks and $500 for each child, many of them felt that the annual US tax reporting is just too much.

The report also stated that Americans who want to relinquish their citizenship are required to pay $2,350 and appear in person at the US embassy in their resident country if they are not in America.

There are currently about 9 million US expats across the world, even as trends have shown a sharp decline over the last few years of US citizens expatriating.

Despite the risks that come with giving up US citizenship, Bambridge predicts that the trend will only continue going up.

He said, “A lot of people are waiting for the November election to see what’s going to happen. If President Trump is reelected, we believe there will be another wave of people who will decide to renounce their citizenship.”