Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare has dismissed reports regarding the presence of the COVID-19 variant XEC in Nigeria, urging citizens to ignore misinformation circulating on social media.

In a press statement signed by Mr. Alaba Balogun, deputy director of information and public relations at the FMOH, the ministry reassured the public that there is no evidence supporting the detection of the XEC variant in the country.

The statement, titled “Letter of Conveyance in Respect of the Newly Detected COVID Variant XEC,” was issued over the weekend to address growing concerns over false claims.

The XEC variant, first identified in Australia, has reportedly spread to 29 countries and is noted for its increased virulence. However, the ministry clarified that Nigeria remains unaffected.

“We urge the public to stay calm and maintain universal health precautions, including regular handwashing,” the statement read.

To strengthen preparedness, the ministry outlined several measures being implemented to safeguard public health:

– Enhanced Surveillance: Monitoring efforts have been intensified, especially at entry points into the country.

– Improved Healthcare Facilities: Federal tertiary hospitals are equipped with molecular laboratories, isolation centres, and ventilators to manage any potential outbreaks.

– Public Reassurance: Nigerians are encouraged to carry on with their daily activities without fear, as there is no credible threat from the XEC variant.

The ministry also addressed a letter with reference number DHS/INSPDIV/017/VOL.1/46, dated December 5, 2024, which has been widely shared online. They described the letter as fake and urged the public to disregard its content.

“As part of our responsibility to coordinate, monitor, and evaluate response activities, the Federal Ministry of Health remains committed to ensuring uninterrupted healthcare services in the event of any outbreak,” the statement added.

The ministry emphasised its proactive approach to monitoring emerging infectious diseases and reaffirmed its dedication to protecting public health. Regular updates will be provided to keep Nigerians informed of any developments.

The XEC variant of COVID-19 is a recombinant strain, meaning it results from the combination of genetic material from two or more existing variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Recombinant variants can emerge when different strains infect the same individual and exchange genetic material during replication.

This process may lead to new variants with unique properties, such as increased transmissibility, virulence, or resistance to immunity.

Although the XEC variant has spread to 29 countries, there is no evidence of its presence in Nigeria, as confirmed by the Federal Ministry of Health.

Authorities globally are monitoring the variant closely to assess its impact and ensure that public health measures remain effective.

As countries worldwide commemorate International Human Rights Day, Paradigm Initiative (PIN) is calling for the enactment of robust legal frameworks that uphold human rights online.

The organisation underscores the importance of respecting rights and supporting the development and enforcement of laws in a human-rights-respecting manner in the Global South. These include strong data protection laws that safeguard the right to privacy and legislation governing automated decision-making systems to mitigate potential biases. This, PIN adds, would ensure human rights are realised as the future remains secure.

“Governments should address systemic issues that hinder the enjoyment of human rights and take the necessary steps to support an independent judiciary to ensure the impartial administration of justice and upholding the rule of law,” said Bridgette Ndlovu, the organisation’s Partnerships and Engagements Officer.

This year, International Human Rights Day is commemorated under the theme “Our rights, our future, right now.” The theme focuses on how human rights are a pathway to solutions, playing a critical role as a preventative, protective and transformative force for good. Paradigm Initiative (PIN) also highlighted the crucial role of digital rights in safeguarding human dignity and promoting social justice.

In securing a rights-respecting digital future, the organisation applauded the positive developments throughout 2024 and supported efforts to safeguard human rights online. Countries in the Global South, such as Malawi, Ethiopia, and Syria, made notable strides in advancing digital rights by enacting data protection legislation establishing guidelines for processing, storing, and sharing personal data. Botswana repealed its archaic data protection law and adopted a new Data Protection Act.

Equally, enforcement of data protection legislation gained momentum as countries such as Tanzania, in the case of Safari Automotive Limited vs. Godwin Danda, awarded compensation to the data subject after the automobile company published a video clip of the data subject on social media without consent.

In Kenya, taxi hailers Bolt Operations OU and Bolt Support Kenya were fined for failing to properly handle an incident and escalate it according to established protocols. The incident happened when unauthorised parties accessed a data subject’s Bolt driver account, performed fraudulent trips and altered the data subject’s account details, violating the data subject’s right to access personal data and correct false or misleading data.

In Kenya, data subjects were awarded compensation after offenders were found liable for commercial use of data subjects’ personal data without consent. Angola fined offenders who failed to protect data subjects’ personal data from cyber-attacks. Benin published decisions and resolutions that specify the certification of DPOs, and Brazil published two resolutions that define the activities of DPOs and regulate international data transfers.

In Nigeria, in the case of Folashade Moleshin vs United Bank of Africa, a Paradigm Initiative-supported case, the judiciary handed a judgement in favour of the complainant after a data breach reported on PIN’s Ripoti platform, promoting privacy.

PIN acknowledged the judiciary’s role in adjudicating cases brought before the courts and parliamentary oversight in innovations within the justice system, in particular, in Zimbabwe, where parliament produced an adverse report on the Integrated Electronic Case Management system, citing negative consequences for public participation due to limited access to the internet.

The organisation asserted that human rights online are crucial and legislation should be people-centred and provide robust safeguards for personal data, including measures to prevent unauthorised access and surveillance. Countries such as South Africa, Mauritania, Nigeria, and Zambia published National AI Strategies to safeguard human rights from risks that may arise from automated decision-making.

The African Union Executive Council endorsed the Continental AI Strategy and African Digital Compact at the regional level to set the pace and provide a framework for harmonising laws. At the international level, nations adopted the United Nations Global Digital Compact and countries such as Cote d’Ivoire acceded to the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime. Kenya is also planning to accede to the Convention.

Despite the outlined positive developments, significant challenges remain in the Global South with PIN condemning the actions of countries such as Mozambique, Mauritius, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Comoros, and Kenya, which shut down the internet this year.

These negative actions undermined human rights, suppressed dissent and had a chilling effect on freedom of expression. Going forward, governments ought to halt the practice of internet shutdowns and uphold the right to free expression so that individuals can freely impart information and engage in political discourse in line with the ideals set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948.

Festus Keyamo, minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, has strongly condemned the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) for its recent statement regarding Air Peace’s airfares, describing the remarks as “very careless.”

The criticism comes after the FCCPC, on December 1, announced its intention to probe Air Peace over significant price hikes on advance bookings for certain domestic routes.

During an appearance on Arise News’ This Morning show on Sunday, Keyamo expressed his concerns about the FCCPC’s handling of the situation, asserting that the commission should have consulted the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the primary regulatory body responsible for overseeing the airline sector, before making such a public statement.

“I think it was a very careless statement — I say that with all apologies — by the agency, without even consulting the core agency involved in regulation, which is the NCAA,” Keyamo remarked.

“The powers to regulate for the airline to inform about their price increase and all that is domiciled in NCAA, that is the core agency. We cannot have an agency of government floating all over the place, having all the powers; that means if there’s a problem with yam pricing, they will go and call the agricultural minister. I don’t think their powers are stretched to that point, but I say that with apologies because also I’m a minister of government.”

Keyamo emphasised that the FCCPC should have reached out to the NCAA for a proper review of the situation.

“They should have contacted the NCAA for them to look at the figures and the books which we have been doing, so we would have given them facts,” he continued.

“But to single out a few airlines while we are struggling to expose them to the world for them to get more enhanced capacity was a bit careless.”

The minister also pointed to the larger challenges plaguing Nigeria’s aviation industry, specifically the limited capacity of airlines to acquire aircraft and service domestic routes effectively.

Keyamo noted that the real issue facing Nigerian airlines goes beyond the maintenance of existing aircraft and lies in the complexities of leasing new ones, a situation compounded by the volatility of the foreign exchange market.

“Nigeria’s own is even in a more precarious position because it is not about maintaining the aircraft alone, but in terms of renting the aircraft itself, which is what they call ACMI (Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance, and Insurance),” Keyamo explained.

“An ACMI contract, also known as wet or damp leasing, is an agreement between two airlines, where the lessor provides an aircraft, crew, maintenance, and insurance to the lessee in return for payment based on the number of block hours operated.”

According to Keyamo, most Nigerian airlines operate on ACMI contracts, which are priced in foreign currencies, making them susceptible to fluctuations in exchange rates.

“When you take them on lease, you take them with the aircraft, the crew, insurance, and everything, all of these are in foreign exchange,” the minister said.

“With the fluctuating nature of our Naira against the dollar, you expect that it will affect their cost of operation.”

To address these financial pressures, Keyamo explained that the government is actively working to improve the conditions for Nigerian airlines, particularly by exposing them to international markets where they can access better terms for leasing aircraft.

“What we are therefore doing is ensuring that we expose them to the market across the world, where they can now assess aircraft on very good terms. This will impact the prices of tickets and their cost of operation,” he noted.

The minister further clarified that these efforts are aligned with broader initiatives to address the sector’s challenges, particularly the application of the Cape Town Convention.

“That is what led us to addressing the issue of the practice direction pursuant to the Cape Town Convention,” he stated. “That is the core of the problem of the aviation industry, and this president and the vice president graciously supported us to get to.”

Keyamo’s remarks, stakeholders note, highlights the complexities facing the Nigerian aviation industry and the importance of a coordinated and informed approach to regulation and policy-making.

Before Keyamo’s comments, the FCCPC had expressed deep concern over recent comments by Air Peace, which it believed were part of a strategy to obscure the ongoing investigation into potential consumer rights violations, including exploitative ticket pricing.

Last Thursday, the Commission refuted a misleading media report that misrepresented a meeting between FCCPC officials and the Air Peace team on December 3, at the Commission’s Abuja headquarters.

The meeting, which was part of a larger investigation following numerous passenger complaints, was intended to address these concerns in a confidential manner.