While 85 per cent of Nigeria is in darkness, Tanzania, an African country has shut down five hydroelectric stations in a bid to reduce excess electricity in the national grid.

Kassim Majaliwa, prime minister, Tanzania, has said the main plant, Mwalimu Nyerere Hydroelectric Station, alone generated enough electricity to power major cities, including Dar es Salaam, the country’s commercial hub.

It is the first time Tanzania, which suffers chronic power shortages, has closed hydroelectric stations due to excess production.

“We have turned off all these stations because the demand is low and the electricity production is too much, we have no allocation now,” an official from state-run power company, Tanesco, said.

The 2,115MW Julius Nyerere Hydropower Dam is said to be almost filled with water following heavy rains that started early this year.

Meanwhile, while the country has an installed capacity of 1,938MW and the grid installed capacity of 1,899MW, Nigeria which has an installed capacity of 13,000MW is struggling to electrify 85 per cent of its electricity consumers.

President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of Jim Ovia, renowned banker and businessman, as the Chairman, Board of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund.

Jim Ovia

Ovia’s appointment is contained in a State House statement titled, ‘President Tinubu appoints Jim Ovia as Chairman of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund,’ and issued on Friday by Ajuri Ngelale, special adviser to the President, Media & Publicity.

The statement noted that “Ovia is the founder of one of Nigeria’s leading banks and a respected business leader, with a surfeit of efforts and benefaction towards nurturing and empowering young Nigerians.

“He is an alumnus of Harvard Business School and holds a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Louisiana.”

The National Student Loan Programme is a pivotal intervention that seeks to guarantee sustainable higher education and functional skill development for all Nigerian students and youths.

The Nigerian Education Loan Fund, the implementing institution of this innovation, demands excellence and Nigerians of the finest professional ilk to guide and manage.

“The President believes Mr. Ovia will bring his immense wealth of experience and professional stature to this role to advance the all-important vision of ensuring that no Nigerian student suffers a capricious end to their pursuit of higher education over a lack of funds,” the statement partly read.

Ovia’s appointment will also ensure “that Nigerian youths, irrespective of who they are, have access to higher education and skills that will make them productive members of society and core contributors to the knowledge-based global economy of this century.”

The UK has pledged £1 billion to Nigeria’s fight against malaria and other diseases from 2024 to 2026.

Ebere Anyachukwu, health adviser at the British High Commission, announced this on World Malaria Day in an interview with NAN.

This contribution supplements existing funds from other donors and will primarily support the procurement of insecticides, treated bed nets, malaria diagnostics, and chemoprevention efforts.

“There are some states in Nigeria where malaria is seasonal. Those are states where chemoprevention is used to prevent children from coming down with malaria,“ he said.

“In those states, malaria spreads in a few months within a year, and during that period, there is a high level of malaria transmission in children, resulting in lots of deaths.”

The health adviser said children in such states are usually given malaria drugs, whether or not they have the infection.

He said the UK is a big contributor to the global fund, currently supporting about 13 states in Nigeria.

He listed the states to include Adamawa, Delta, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kwara, Niger, Ogun, Osun, Yobe and Taraba.

“With the global funding support, there has been a significant reduction of malaria-related deaths in children in Nigeria,“ Anyachukwu said.