The sighing ceremony was held at the headquarters of the Ministry of Defence in Abuja on Wednesday.

The Permanent Secretary Ministry of Defence, Dr Ibrahim Abubakar Kana signed for Nigeria while the Assistant Minister of Defence of Egypt, Major General Walid Hamouda signed for the north African country.

The signing of the MoU is aimed at promoting deeper bilateral and defence cooperation in accordance with the prevailing laws and regulations of the two countries.

Kana expressed optimism that the long history of robust relationship between Nigeria and Egypt would create lasting cooperation between both countries, adding that Nigeria has benefited a lot from Egypt in areas of intelligence sharing and training.

Earlier the leader of the Egyptian delegation, the Assistant Minister of Defence of Egypt, Major General Walid Hamouda, expressed appreciation for the platform provided to sign the MoU.

He assured Nigeria of his country’s total commitment to abide by the articles contained in the signed document. He also appreciated the existing cordial relationship between Egypt and Nigeria.

No fatalities were immediately reported but the building was fully staffed with policemen when the fire broke out before dawn.

By the time the first rescue services arrived, the blaze had engulfed the entire building of the Ismailia Security Directorate.

Flames raged through the multi-storey building that was completely obscured by a massive cloud of smoke before the blaze was brought under control.

By dawn, all that remained of the headquarters was a charred shell as emergency services carried out cooling procedures to prevent another fire from breaking out.

On social media, users shared footage of the fire which showed individuals trapped inside, calling for help from the windows.

The cause of the blaze is not yet known and security forces have sealed off the area, where AFP correspondents saw rescuers attempting to evacuate those trapped inside, assisted by a crane.

Authorities have not made statements on how many policemen and detainees were inside the building overnight.

Of 26 wounded who were transferred to a local hospital, 24 had suffered from “asphyxiation” and two from burns, the health ministry reported.

Twelve more were treated at the scene.

The health ministry deployed 50 ambulances to the scene, which were joined by military emergency services including two planes, according to local media.

Deadly blazes are a common hazard in Egypt, where fire codes are rarely enforced and emergency services are often slow to arrive.

In August 2022, a fire caused by a short circuit killed 41 worshippers in a Cairo church, prompting calls to improve the country’s infrastructure and the response time of the fire brigade.

Most suffocated while trying to escape the building. Others jumped out of windows to escape the blaze, as firefighters took over an hour to arrive.

The disaster was blamed on the dilapidated building which housed the church, and the maze of alleyways in the neighbourhood where it was located, which slowed down arriving firefighters.

Monday’s fire took place in one of dozens of new police stations built or renovated across the country in the past decade.

In March 2021, at least 20 people died in a fire at a textile factory in the capital, while in 2020, two hospital fires killed 14 people.

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama and his counterpart, Minister of State Zubairu Dada, confirmed it on Wednesday while briefing State House Correspondents on unfolding developments regarding the crisis.

Onyeama revealed that 40 luxury buses were already on ground in Sudan to pick up Nigerian nationals in the country to Egypt where they would be airlifted back home.

He said the evacuation efforts are being coordinated by the Nigerian embassy in Sudan as well as authorities of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FERMA).

According to the Ministers, the buses conveying our citizens were hired at $1.2 million, noting that it also included the cost of providing security while conveying them to the Egyptian territory.

Both ministers also noted that women and children will be given priority, including diplomats who are equally involved in the evacuation logistics.

They noted that the Nigerian government was leveraging on the 72-hour ceasefire deal to evacuate as many Nigerians as possible.

Ambassador Dada noted that the Saudi Arabia government had already evacuated some Nigerians through the sea to safety and that once the situation calms down arrangements will be made to move them back to Nigeria.

The Egyptian Football Association had sacked Hossam El Badry following the Pharaohs’ 1-1 draw with Gabon in the 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifying match, on Sunday, September 5.

The 68-year-old Queiroz has been named as the Pharaoh’s new handler following the sack of Hossam El Badry

A statement read from the Egypt FA.”The Egyptian Football Association, headed by Ahmed Megahed, decided in its extended meeting to appoint the technical staff of the first national team as follows: Carlos Queiroz as technical director (and head coach), Diaa El-Sayed (general coach) Mohamed Shawky (assistant coach) and Essam El-Hadary as goalkeeper coach,”

The Portuguese have also previously coached Real Madrid (2003-04), Iran (2011-19), Colombia (2019-20), and his native Portugal in two different stints (1991-93 and 2008-10).

Chairman of the Coptic Christian General Authority, Sherif Doss, announced the death of the Egyptian billionaire, who was the father of three tycoons Naguib, Nassef, and Samih.

Mr Sawiris received an engineering degree from Cairo University and started his construction firm in 1950. In 1976, he established the Orascom General Contracting and Trade Company, which later became Orascom Construction Industries.

His conglomerate is one of the country’s largest contractors for building roads and waterways. It was expanded in the 1980s and 1990s by working in tourism, hotels, computer and mobile phone services.

Onsi Sawiris is the father of famous Egyptian businessmen Naguib, Nassef, and Samih. According to Forbes, Onsi Sawiris’s net wealth is estimated at 993.8 million U.S. dollars while his son Nassef is Egypt’s richest person with a 7.1 billion U.S. dollars fortune.

The post Egyptian Billionaire, Onsi Sawiris dies at 90 first appeared on InsideOjodu.]]> https://www.insideojodu.com/egyptian-billionaire-onsi-sawiris-dies-at-90/feed/ 0 https://www.insideojodu.com/breaking-moon-sighted-ramadan-starts-tuesday/ https://www.insideojodu.com/breaking-moon-sighted-ramadan-starts-tuesday/#respond Mon, 12 Apr 2021 19:28:00 +0000 https://www.insideojodu.com/?p=21362 Saudi Arabia has announced that the holy fasting month of Ramadan will start on…

Africa CDC gave the update on its official Twitter account on Friday morning.

According to the tweet, “COVID-19 had killed 2,074 people, while 18,636 patients have recovered.’’

Further breakdown on the Africa CDC COVID-19 dashboard also showed that South Africa, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, and Nigeria top the list of countries with the highest reported Coronavirus cases and deaths on the continent.

It s aid, “#COVID19 update in Africa (As of 8 May, 2020, 9 am East Africa Time).

“53 @_AfricanUnion Member States reporting 54,027 cases, 2,074 deaths, and 18,636 recoveries.’’

InsideOjodu reported that the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) confirmed 381 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, bringing to 3526 the number of confirmed cases in the country as of Thursday night.

In a statement shared on the Facebook page of Egypt’s health ministry, it was gathered that the foreigner who tested positive for the new coronavirus strain was taken to an isolation hospital and is currently receiving necessary medical care.

The North African country is also taking strict preventive measures regarding those who were in contact with the person.

Algeria on the other hand announced its first coronavirus case, an Italian national who arrived in the country on February 17. He was later flown home to Italy which has almost 1,700 cases.
Tunisia’s health Minister, Abdelatif el-Maki in a press conference on Monday March 2 announced the country’s first case of coronavirus. The Tunisian man who came in from Italy, tested positive for the flu-like virus.

Senegal’s Minister of Health, Abdoulaye Diouf Sarr who confirmed the country’s first coronavirus case, said the French national arrived the country last week. He further disclosed that he is under observation at an Institute in Dakar.

The patient has however been in contact with his wife and two children, the minister said. It was not clear how many other people had also been in contact with him. Authorities are in the process of tracing the other passengers on the Air Senegal flight.

As of Monday, there have been over 89,000 cases of the virus globally, the majority in China. Outside of China, the deadly disease has been confirmed in 66 countries, with more than 8,800 cases and 130 deaths. Globally, the illness has killed over 3,000 people.

The announcement was made by the Egyptian Health Ministry and the World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday February 19.

This is coming 48 hours after the foreigner was admitted to a specially designated hospital for isolation after being announced as Egypt’s first confirmed case of coronavirus on February 14.

Egypt’s Health Ministry spokesperson, Khaled Megahed explained that a medical team has been conducting periodic checks and analysis on the Chinese national. The PCR analysis was conducted six times over three consecutive days under the supervision of the Health Ministry and the WHO, and it came back negative in all the tests.

Megahed further disclosed the Chinese national will remain under quarantine for the next 14 days.