The Vice President of Oil and Gas, Dangote Industries Limited, Devakumar Edwin, disclosed this while playing host to a delegation from the Japanese Business Community in Nigeria, led by Japan’s Ambassador-designate to Nigeria, Suzuki Hideo.

In a statement on Sunday, the company’s spokesman, Anthony Chiejina, quoted Edwin as confirming that products from the refinery meet international standards and are already being exported globally.

“In recent weeks, we’ve exported petrol to Cameroon, Ghana, Angola, and South Africa, among others. Diesel has gone all over the world, and jet fuel is being heavily exported to European markets. Our products are already making their mark internationally,” Edwin said.

Edwin explained that the facility is the vision of a Nigerian investor – Aliko Dangote, designed and built by Nigerians, and intended to serve the global market.

He said it is a point of pride that a Nigerian company not only designed but also built the world’s largest single-train refinery complex.

According to him, Dangote Industries Limited acted as the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction contractor for the refinery, saying cutting-edge technologies from around the world were incorporated to ensure that the facility meets the highest standards.

Edwin assured the ambassador-designate and the delegation that the company is open to collaboration, always striving to maintain the best possible standards.

“Even now, we have a lot of Japanese equipment inside both the refinery and the fertiliser plant. There are significant opportunities for collaboration, as we always seek the latest technology in any business we engage in. For instance, our cement plant laboratory is managed by robots, and we always embrace advanced technology. With Japan’s focus on technological innovation, there is ample scope for cooperation and for supplying various types of technology,” he said.

Edwin also stated that the Dangote Petrochemical project will significantly boost investment in downstream industries, creating substantial value, generating employment, increasing tax revenues, reducing foreign exchange outflows, and contributing to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product.

He added that by leveraging Africa’s vast crude oil resources to produce refined products locally, the Dangote Group aims to create a virtuous cycle of industrial development, job creation, and economic prosperity.

He reiterated that the refinery’s petroleum products are in demand worldwide, as it expands its polypropylene section to reduce Nigeria’s reliance on imported polypropylene, a crucial material used in packaging, textiles, and the automotive manufacturing industries.

The statement disclosed that the Japanese delegation hailed the refinery and the petrochemicals complex, describing it as an astonishing masterpiece, showcasing Nigeria’s technological advancements on the global stage.

The Japanese delegation, which toured the facilities housing both the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals as well as Dangote Fertilisers, commended the technology, noting that it reinforces Nigeria’s role as the gateway to Africa.

Managing Director of the Japan External Trade Organisation, Takashi Oku, was said to have remarked that while Nigeria remains the gateway to Africa, the refinery stands as a remarkable project that showcases the country’s technological progress.

Oku added that the facility, as the world’s largest single-train refinery, is a point of immense pride for Nigeria.

“We had heard about the excellence of the Dangote Refinery through the media but seeing it in person has left us truly amazed by its vastness and grandeur. It demonstrates that Nigeria’s population is not only growing but also advancing in technology. We are keen to collaborate with Nigerian companies, especially Dangote Refinery,” he said.

Emphasising that the refinery has bolstered Nigeria’s leading position in Africa, he further noted that the facility serves as an ideal introduction to the country for the global community.

The Managing Director of Itochu Nigeria Limited, Masahiro Tsuno, was said to have also praised the sheer size and automation of the Dangote refinery, calling it a miracle and one of the wonders of the world.

“I’ve seen many standalone refineries across the globe, including in Vietnam and the Middle East. However, the size of a refinery built by one single investor is probably a miracle in the world. And I’m just actually witnessing a miracle,” he said.

Ramaphosa gave the promise at the official launch of South Africa’s presidency of the G20 in Cape Town, a few minutes before he received President Tinubu at Tuynhuys to co-chair the 11th Bi-National Commission between Nigeria and South Africa in Cape Town on Tuesday.

Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, revealed this in a statement he signed Wednesday titled ‘South Africa eyes Nigeria’s Lithium for electric vehicle revolution, backs Nigeria’s bid to join G20.’

The South African leader reiterated this stance during his tete-a-tete with President Tinubu and the expanded meeting with officials of both countries at the BNC.

The G20 is a premier international forum for economic cooperation, bringing together the world’s major advanced and emerging economies.

Established in 1999, it comprises 19 individual countries and the European Union, representing about 85 per cent of global GDP, 75 per cent of international trade, and two-thirds of the global population.

In 2023, the African Union was granted permanent membership. South Africa and the AU are Africa’s only representatives in the G20.

The group addresses critical global issues, including economic growth, financial stability, climate change, sustainable development, and trade.

G20 summits are attended by heads of state, finance ministers, and central bank governors, fostering dialogue and coordinated action.

The presidency rotates annually among its members, with the host country setting the agenda and priorities for that year. South Africa currently holds the Presidency of the G20.

Consequently, its support for Nigeria’s membership in the bloc is crucial.

Ramaphosa said other key African countries should also be admitted to the club “so that we can raise the voice from Africa, the neglected continent for the longest time.”

He noted that South Africa had been the lone voice for Africa in the G20 before the admission of the African Union last year after his country had lobbied for it to become a member.

“We have a voice, we have a presence, and we will be the biggest growth story in years to come. “Our population is going to grow by leaps and bounds, and therefore, as a continent, we are going to be a big noise, and we want that big noise to be recognised in the form of countries that will be part of the G20 right now,” he said at the official launch of the G20 presidency.

The requests were made by Amb. Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, during the closing remarks of the 11th Nigeria-South Africa Bi-National Commission (BNC) held in Cape Town, South Africa and comes after South Africa officially assumed the presidency of the Group of 20 (G20) on December 1, a platform comprising the world’s largest economies.

South Africa is also a key member of the expanded BRICS bloc, which includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the UAE. BRICS nations currently account for approximately 37% of global GDP and are recognized as a significant engine of global economic growth.

Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu emphasized Nigeria’s interest in assuming leadership roles in serious discussions under South Africa’s G20 presidency while affirming Nigeria’s commitment to advancing peace and stability in the African region, particularly in Sudan“We are strongly committed to seeking a resolution of the crisis in Sudan. In this guise, we seek South Africa’s support to accelerate the peace process and ensure that conflicts within our region are de-escalated,” she said.

She added that President Bola Tinubu, a member of the African Union’s ad-hoc mediation committee on Sudan, has prioritized resolving the crisis to foster regional peace and stability.

Ojukwu praised officials from both nations for their collaborative efforts in drafting a communiqué that reflects the outcomes of the ministerial session.

This draft document will be presented to Presidents Bola Tinubu and Cyril Ramaphosa during the presidential session of the BNC.

Dr. Roland Lamola, South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation said“We will count on Nigeria’s wise counsel as we assume this major responsibility,” Lamola stated.

Lamola also reiterated the mutual commitment of both nations to strengthen bilateral relations, highlighting their shared responsibility to improve the quality of life for their citizens“Our people expect South Africa and Nigeria, given our common roots, to work more closely together to improve their conditions and prospects,” he added.

In October 2024, Nigeria joined BRICS as a partner country, alongside 12 other nations, further strengthening its economic ties with the intergovernmental bloc.

This announcement was made at the 2024 BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, held from October 22 to 24, 2024.

The six top seeds include Morocco, who created history at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar by becoming the first semi-finalists from Africa.

Nigeria is among the second seeds while South Africa has had to settle for a place among the third seeds for the draw in Abidjan, the Ivorian economic capital.

Add surprise 2021 Cup of Nations quarter-finalists Gambia from the fourth seeds and it would be a striking “group of death,” the term given to particularly tough sections.

Nigeria, three-time winners of the premier African football competition, and former champions South Africa were unlucky not to be seeded higher.

The Super Eagles lie sixth in the continental rankings and, ordinarily, would have been a top seed, avoiding Morocco, title-holders Senegal, Tunisia, Algeria, and Egypt in the group stage.

But host countries not only automatically qualify for the two-year tournament, they are also always among the first seeds.

To accommodate the ninth-ranked Ivory Coast, sixth-placed Nigeria had to give way and now share second-seed status with Cameroon, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

South Africa had been ranked above DR Congo for some time but, in the rankings that decided the seedings, they were placed one place below the Congolese.

It was an ironic change of positions as South Africa defeated DR Congo in a friendly match just a couple of days before the rankings were released.

Magistrate Aubrey Mashigo found Matodlana guilty in the Motherwell regional court of raping a 22-year-old man in 2013.

Matodlana was taken into custody after being convicted on Friday, May 20, but will appear in court for sentencing on Monday, May 23.

In her judgment, Mashigo said the National Prosecuting Authority’s team had proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the former Mpuma Kapa TV resident pastor was guilty.

Matodlana’s victim who was 22 at the time of the incident, told the court shortly after meeting the pastor they spoke on Mxit in January 2013.

He said the pastor invited him to his Motherwell home between February and March. After sitting in the lounge for a brief period Matodlana invited him to his bedroom.

Once in the bedroom, both men sat on the bed and had a brief conversation before Matodlana attempted to kiss him.

The victim testified that Matodlana told him to undress and his refusal outraged the pastor. He said he had been fearful of Matodlana, who made him undress, pulled him onto the bed, forced him to lie face down and then raped him.

Matodlana denied throughout the trial that he had raped the man.

During the trial, Matodlana accused his victim of being a gay sex worker who had attempted to extort money from him.

However, Mashigo rejected the pastor’s allegations against his victim saying they could not be accepted and were false.

The pastor’s victim took to Facebook to share the details of his sexual assault.

Not long after the post was shared Matodlana threatened to file defamation and extortion complaints with the police, saying his accuser had slandered him and demanded he pays him to keep quiet about the incident.

The man says a day or two after posting about his ordeal a police officer asked him to come to the police station to file a complaint of rape.

A meeting later took place between the man, the police and Matodlana, and the pastor’s accuser had agreed to remove the post.

The pastor’s victim lodged a rape complaint against Matodlana on 23 June 2020 after being advised to do so by concerned friends.

Matodlana was arrested on 1 October 2020 and released on bail the same day. He was formally charged in court on 29 October where he pleaded not guilty.

Nigeria, South Africa, Botswana, Angola, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe are countries placed on the list in late November after the emergence of the Omicron variant.

However, UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the Omicron variant had spread so widely that the rules no longer make much effect.

He told parliament today, Dec. 14: “Now that there is community transmission of Omicron in the UK and Omicron has spread so widely across the world, the travel red list is now less effective in slowing the incursion of Omicron from abroad. Whilst we will maintain our temporary testing measures for international travel we will be removing all 11 countries from the travel red list effective from 4 am tomorrow morning.”

Currently, all UK arrivals from red list countries must pay for and self-isolate in a pre-booked, government-approved hotel for 10 days. They must also take Covid tests within 48 hours of setting off for the UK and PCR tests within two days of their arrival.

“The first people who will qualify for the booster dose in South Africa will be people over the age of 60 years,” Dr Nicolas Crisp, director general at the health ministry, told a weekly news conference.

Experts are working to determine whether current Covid vaccines will work against the new highly-mutated variant, which was discovered by South African scientists last month.

The daily number of new Covid infections surged to a high of 22,391 on Thursday, when nearly 30 per cent of tests were positive.

The highest daily tally so far was in early July, when the country hit more than 26,000 new infections.

Health practitioners last month had already started being offered Johnson & Johnson shots as boosters.

South Africa is the worst-hit country in the continent for coronavirus, recording a cumulative 3.09 million cases, of which over 90,000 have been fatal.

A small study this week by the country’s African Health Research Institute, not yet peer-reviewed, suggested that Omicron may be able to evade some of the antibody immunity from the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

But, its authors said, there was no reason to believe that vaccination would not protect against severe disease caused by the variant.

Slightly more than a quarter of South Africa’s population is fully vaccinated, with the figure among adults being 43 per cent.

Omicron accounts for around 70 per cent of new infections being detected in South Africa, Health Minister Joe Phaahla has said.

However, hospitalised patients are so far showing mild symptoms, he said.

Britain introduced the measures in response to the emergence of the Omicron variant of Covid in South Africa this week.

Scientists have so far only detected the new Omicron variant in relatively small numbers, mainly in South Africa but also in Botswana, Hong Kong, and Israel. But they are concerned by its high number of mutations which raised concerns that it could be more vaccine-resistant and transmissible.

South African officials are furious over the British ban on flights from southern African countries. Several other countries including Israel have followed suit.

Many South Africans feel they are being punished for their transparency and hard work in keeping tabs on the way the virus is mutating.

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa said authorities would not be considering economic lockdown restrictions for the time being. He also slams rich Western countries for their knee-jerk imposition of travel bans after hearing about the new variant.

Ramaphosa said: ‘This is a clear and completely unjustified departure from the commitment that many of these countries made at the meeting of G20 countries in Rome last month’. The prohibition of travel is not informed by science, nor will it be effective in preventing the spread of this variant. The only thing [it] will do is to further damage the economies of the affected countries and undermine their ability to respond to the pandemic. ‘If cases continue to climb, we can expect to enter the fourth wave of infections within the next few weeks, if not sooner.’

The Omicron variant is thought to be more transmissible than the currently-dominant Delta variant. It was first identified in South Africa but has been found in Hong Kong, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

Details of the incident are still sketchy at the time of this report but according to a Johannesburg based Nigerian man, Saintpat Nnamdi, the deceased was shot dead by yet to be identified gunmen in the early hours of Tuesday, September 21.

He shared videos from the scene and also revealed that the deceased is from Umudioka in Awka, Anambra State.

Zuma has been serving a 15-month prison sentence since July 2021 for contempt of court after refusing to appear at an inquiry into corruption during his time as president.

Last month, Zuma was admitted to an outside hospital where he underwent surgeries for an undisclosed ailment, according to prison authorities.

Back in July, deadly violence erupted in South Africa after Zuma handed himself into custody, triggering widespread protests and looting as soldiers and police struggled to restore order.

Zuma is accused of corruption involving three businessmen brothers close to him Atul, Ajay and Rajesh Gupta- and allowing them to influence government policy, including the hiring and firing of ministers to align with the family’s business interests.

“Medical parole placement for Mr Zuma means that he will complete the remainder of the sentence in the system of community corrections, whereby he must comply with a specific set of conditions and will be subjected to supervision until his sentence expires,” South Africa’s Department of Correctional Services (DCS) said in a statement on Sunday, September 5.

The DCS said it was “impelled” to grant Zuma medical parole after receiving a medical report.

“Apart from being terminally ill and physically incapacitated, inmates suffering from an illness that severely limits their daily activity or self-care can also be considered for medical parole,” the statement said.

The DCS appealed to South Africans “to afford Mr Zuma dignity as he continues to receive medical treatment.”

Zuma served as president from 2009 to 2018 and was once widely celebrated as a key figure in the country’s liberation movement as he spent 10 years in prison with former President Nelson Mandela