World Bank Group officials who made the announcement during a virtual engagement with power reporters in Abuja on the Power Sector Recovery Programme (PSRP), said Nigeria has 25 per cent of people without access to electricity.

The international financial agency’s officials revealed that while electrification in the country has been growing at 1.1% yearly since 2010, it has not kept pace with the population growth of 3% yearly. This has increased the deficit by 3 million people to 85m which is 57% of the population.

WBG Practice Manager, West and Central Africa Energy, Ashish Khanna who made the presentation said “Nigeria now has the largest number of unelectrified people globally and the trend is worsening; of the electrified, the supply is very unreliable with widespread blackouts. Nigeria now has 25% more unelectrified people than the 2nd most unelectrified country (DRC – in absolute terms). The power sector is operationally inefficient with unreliable supply exacerbated by high losses and lack of payment discipline. Businesses in Nigeria lose about $29 billion annually because of unreliable electricity while Nigerian utilities get paid for only a half of electricity they receive.”

The World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Office for Africa in Brazzaville, Congo, confirmed this in an update on its official Twitter page @WHOAFRO on Tuesday.

The health agency also confirmed that the region has discharged more than 305,000 patients and also recorded 13,000 deaths since that outbreak of the pandemic.

“There are over 609,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases on the African continent – with more than 305,000 recoveries and 13,000 deaths,” the tweet read.

According to WHO, South Africa had the highest confirmed cases of 287,796 infections and 4,172 deaths, followed by Nigeria with 33,153 confirmed cases and 744 deaths.

Also, Ghana, which is on the top list is currently at 24,988 confirmed cases and 139 deaths, while Gambia, Seychelles, and Eritrea were countries currently with the lowest confirmed cases in the region.

The 23-month long battle against the outbreak of Ebola in Democratic Republic of Congo resulted in the death of 2,280 people and also drew on 16,000 front-line workers, technological innovation and a new vaccine.

The regional director of WHO, Dr Matshidiso Moeti said the outbreak is overdue to the collaboration by various arms of government and the community.

Moeti said “This is a sign of hope that with solidarity and science epidemics can be controlled. At times it seemed like a mission impossible. Ending this Ebola outbreak is a sign of hope for the region and the world, that with solidarity and science and courage and commitment, even the most challenging epidemics can be controlled.”

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an organization of 189 countries, that helps foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and reduce poverty around the world.

The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ms. Kristalina Georgieva, in a statement in Washington last night, announced debt service relief for 25 poor countries saying the debt relief was to enable the affected countries to better tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.

The countries that were relieved of the debt include Afghanistan, Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, D.R., The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Tajikistan, Togo and Yemen.

She said, ” Today, I am pleased to say that our Executive Board approved immediate debt service relief to 25 of the IMF’s member countries under the IMF’s revamped Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT) as part of the Fund’s response to help address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. This provides grants to our poorest and most vulnerable members to cover their IMF debt obligations for an initial phase over the next six months and will help them channel more of their scarce financial resources towards vital emergency medical and other relief efforts. The CCRT can currently provide about US$500 million in grant-based debt service relief, including the recent US$185 million pledge by the UK and US$100 million provided by Japan as immediately available resources. Others, including China and the Netherlands, are also stepping forward with important contributions. I urge other donors to help us replenish the Trust’s resources and boost further our ability to provide additional debt service relief for a full two years to our poorest member countries.”