West Africa News

[Plan International] "Since Ebola passed through our communities, we have been aware of the importance of handwashing with soap, especially after using the toilet. We have also discovered that most of our children's diseases are related to hygiene," says Pauline, 30, who is president of a women's saving's group in her community in Guinea's Guéckedou prefecture.

[Plan International] People with disabilities face many obstacles in their daily personal and professional life. These obstacles and constraints are largely fuelled by a general lack of knowledge about disabilities and the benefits offered by an inclusive society.

[Plan International] Ibrahima, 24, first started to question the traditional gender norms after seeing that his cousin, who was a girl, was not allowed to go to school because she had to stay home and do the chores. "We used to say, 'school is for boys, girls have to do household chores', and this shocked me. It's since then I've been committed to defending the rights of girls."

[The Point] Authorities have launched a mega manhunt for 21 inmates, who escaped at the remand wing of the Jeswang Prison on Thursday in what is believed to be yet another mega prison get away.

[The Point] Deputies at the National Assembly on Monday adjourned the motion for the extension of the State of Public Emergency in accordance with Section 34(2) of the 1997 Constitution of the Republic of The Gambia.

[The Point] Office of the governor of West Coast Region (WCR), last Friday sensitised nine district chiefs in the region on COVID-19 pandemic prevention at his office in Brikama.

[The Point] Sulayman Trawally, a native of Garawol Kuta village in the Kantora District of the Upper River Region, who was reportedly shot and kidnapped by the Senegalese gendarmerie, yesterday appeared in a court in Tamba Counda, south Senegal, The Point has been reliably informed.

[Cameroon Tribune] Already examined by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Assembly, the bill envisages improving the social security coverage of employees.

[Cameroon Tribune] Public health officials sterilised the House Chamber and other Commission Rooms as well as office spaces on April 2, 2020.

[Cameroon Tribune] The President of the Constitutional Council, Clément Atangana in the ruling on the 12 petitions declared them admissible but dismissed the petitions for being unfounded.

[Cameroon Tribune] The Regional Governor was in the streets of Buea Wednesday accompanied by the Mayor of Buea to announce new measures against the Covid-19 pandemic.

[Cameroon Tribune] The album titled "Mwaye" was presented to the public on Sunday March 22 in Douala.

[Premium Times] Six passengers travelling in two buses along the Maiduguri - Kano highway were on Saturday hacked to death by suspected Boko Haram insurgents in an ambush on the outskirts of Maiduguri, witnesses said.

[Vanguard] A commercial driver who tested positive to coronavirus in Niger State has escaped from the isolation centre in Bida where he was being managed.

[The Point] Washington, April 2, 2020 -The World Bank Board approved today a $10 million grant from the International Development Association (IDA) for The Gambia to provide emergency assistance in the face of the global COVID-19 pandemic.The COVID-19 Response and Preparedness Project will enhance case detection, tracing, and reporting, as well as provide equipment to isolation and treatment centers, and improve disease surveillance and diagnostic capacity. It will also focus on risk communications and community engag

[The Point] Businessmen and women around the Banjul beach especially fishermen have expressed their dissatisfaction in the way their businesses are been affected amid covid-19 outbreak in the country.

[MSF] After more than a decade of armed conflict, outbreaks of severe malnutrition, malaria, measles and cholera, approximately 1.5 million internally displaced people (IDPs) in Borno state now face the spectre of COVID-19. Many live in vastly overcrowded camps with poor water and sanitation facilities, limited supplies of hygiene essentials such as soap and water, and often no individual space at all. Functioning health infrastructure in Borno is scarce, and the capacity to refer patients is extremely limited.

[Vanguard] The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, has updated the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Nigeria to 190 following six confirmed cases in Osun State on Thursday.

[FrontPageAfrica] Monrovia -President George Manneh Weah has heeded the advice of FrontPageAfrica and has written Senate Protemp Albert Chea informing the Senate that he (Weah) is withdrawing the nomination of the National Elections Commission (NEC) Chair-designate, Cllr. A. Ndubusi Nwabudike.

[VOA] A new United Nations food assessment of 17 West African countries finds more than 19 million people in the region will go hungry during the upcoming lean season between June and September, when food stocks are depleted.  This is a 77 percent increase over last year's number, and it's being complicated further by the coronavirus pandemic.

[DW] Countries like South African and Nigeria have announced wide-ranging relief measures to help cushion the blow of the coronavirus pandemic. But it's still unclear when funds will be available and who can access it.

[UN News] Food insecurity levels in the Sahel region are "spiralling out of control", the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Thursday, as it expressed concerns about the potential impact on humanitarian supply chains because of restrictions imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

[This Day] The Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning has deleted a tweet in which it pleaded with American billionaire, Elon Musk, for ventilators to treat the COVID-19 pandemic.

[This Day] Governors of the 36 states of the federation have called on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to suspend all funds' deductions from states and restructure their debt repayments.

[Premium Times] The death toll from the ongoing Lassa fever outbreak in Nigeria has risen to 185, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said on Thursday.

[allAfrica] The turnout for Mali's parliamentary elections this week was just 36 percent, officials said on Thursday.

[Daily Trust] Fitch Ratings, an international credit rating agency based out of New York City and London, yesterday reported that Nigerian banks' credit profiles face severe risks from the oil price slump and operating environment disruption due to the coronavirus pandemic.

[Daily Trust] The Presidency says the daughter of President Muhammadu Buhari, who had been on 14-day self-isolation following her return from London, a hotbed of the coronavirus pandemic, joined the family yesterday.

[allAfrica] Cape Town -Guinean President Alpha Conde's party has won more than two-thirds of the seats in legislative elections held in March, AFP reports.

[The Conversation Africa] Lagos State can expect to experience 270 days of rainfall in 2020. Many Lagosians who suffered from the 2012 and 2017 devastating flooding are wondering whether this is usual or not. Nelson Odume unpacks the issues.