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Port-Harcourt Brought To Standstill For Hi-Life Fest Quarterfinals

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The Garden City of Port-Harcourt on Sunday, July 21, played host to the quarterfinals of Nigeria’s foremost indigenous Igbo music talent show, Hi-Life Fest, as 8 contestants continued their quest to become the next Hi-Life Fest King.

 

Following the completion of the regional auditions which began in June, two contestants had emerged from each of the regions which included Asaba, Awka, Enugu, and Aba.

 

The contestants were resuming for the crucial stage of the competition after returning from Lagos where they had undergone a week-long mentorship session.

Within the period, they were under the tutelage of veterans in the music industry including Sunny Nneji, Life Beer Ambassador Phyno, KCee, and music producer Selebobo.

They also got a chance to thrill excited audiences with pop up performances in Ladipo market and Okota, as part of the activities during the mentorship programme.

 

The Carnival Ground, Elekahia, Port-Harcourt was filled with guests and lovers of highlife music who have followed the competition from the regionals and were delighted to have the contestants in their city. The ambience was also perfect as they enjoyed the refreshing taste of ice-cold Life Continental Lager.

 

The contest for the night soon began as the contestants brought their A-game on stage, giving Chief Bright Chimezie and his panel of Judges a hard time figuring out whom to drop and who progresses.

 

The dance category was also highly competitive as the troupes lit up the stage with their breathtaking routines which had the crowd roaring in excitement.

 

After compilation of results, Ofu Obi, Akamarama and Megastar dance crew progressed to the Semi-Finals while Umeze cultural dance group was eliminated. In the music category, Okafor Chukwudi and Kingsley Otuya were eliminated, while the remaining six contestants proceeded to the quarter-final.

 

Life Beer Ambassador Flavour and 2017 Hi-Life Fest King Chibest David were also on ground to thrill the guests who savoured every moment of their performances.  Flavour who is fresh off the release off his new single “Mercy” featuring Semah, relished his time on stage and delivered a performance that will live long in the memories of all in attendance.

 

The Semi-Finals of the competition returns to Enugu in a fortnight at Shoprite, in the state capital. Weekly episodes of the competition are currently being aired on SoundCity TV every Sunday at 8 p.m.

 

This year, the overall winner of Hi-Life Fest will get a whopping sum of 5 million Naira cash prize, while the first and second runner-ups will go home with N2 million and N1 million Naira respectively, courtesy of Life Continental Lager.

 

The Hi-Life Fest talent hunt show now in its third consecutive year is a proud initiative of Life Continental Lager, the beer expertly brewed from the finest choice of grains, hob extracts and the purest of waters.

 


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Ugo Onwuaso is an ICT enthusiast. He believes technology should be used for general good. He holds a Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree from the Lagos state University. Dear Reader, Your support matters. But we believe that technology makes life more exciting and helps improve the lives of people around Nigeria and indeed the world. That is why, we have devoted our energy to independent reportage of technology and finance and how they affect lives. Our incisive and analytical view of how technology news affects the daily life help individuals and organizations make up their minds. Quality journalism costs money. Today, we're asking that you support us to do more. Kindly support our effort to deliver technology and finance journalism to everyone in the world. Donate as little as N1,000. Bank transfers can be made to: UBA Plc 1017156876 Communication Week Media Ltd

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GSK to Slash Cost of Malaria Jab to Less than $5

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The manufacturers of the world’s first malaria vaccine are set to slash the price by more than half by 2028 to less than$5 per dose.

GSK to Slash Cost of Malaria Jab to Less than $5

The manufacturers of the shot, known as RTS,S, said a phased reduction in cost would begin immediately, with an ultimate aim to reduce the price to less than $5.

The announcement could hardly come at a more critical moment.

Gavi, a major vaccination initiative which funds immunisations in the world’s poorest countries, is facing a major budget crunch.

In Brussels on Wednesday, Gavi’s replenishment event raised $9 billion to fund immunisation programmes over the next five years. While this sounds like a huge sum, it’s significantly less than the $11.9bn the group had been aiming for.

Governments around the world are cutting development spending dramatically.

The UK, for instance, cut its contribution to Gavi by 40 per cent in real terms, telling The Telegraph it was prioritising defence, while the US has pledged nothing at all.

Though America previously gave Gavi roughly $300m a year, the country’s new health secretary claimed without evidence that the organisation was ignoring vaccine safety.

The announcement from the British pharmaceutical giant GSK and Indian drugmaker Bharat Biotech will therefore be a relief to those trying to balance the books.

In a statement the companies said the price reduction demonstrated their “commitment to Gavi”, and was “driven by process improvements, expanded production capacity, cost-effective manufacturing, and minimal profit margins”.

By the time the price has fallen to below $5 per dose, a technology transfer agreement means Bharat will have taken over production, though GSK will continue to supply the adjuvant piece of the shot.

“For us, this is more than a cooperation, it’s a promise,” said Dr Krishna Ella, executive chairman of Bharat Biotech International Limited.

“By joining forces with GSK, and working closely with Gavi, and the WHO [World Health Organization], we are taking a real step toward closing the gap between vaccine supply and the urgent needs of children at risk of malaria.”

Each year, malaria still kills 500,000 people – the vast majority of them children aged five and under in sub-Saharan Africa.

According to WHO estimates, cases and deaths fell significantly between 2000 and 2015, but progress has since stalled.

Some have high hopes that RTS,S, as well as another vaccine called R21 developed by Oxford University, could prove critical in efforts to turn the tide.

In clinical trials, RTS,S reduced hospitalisations for severe malaria by 30 per cent.

But critics say the shot is too expensive and not as effective as existing tools, such as bed nets and antimalarials.

The reduction in price will bring it more in line with the cost of R21, which is priced at around $4 per dose.

Yet the cost will still add up, as both jabs require multiple shots. For RTS,S, this means four doses – the first three doses are given monthly, starting around five months of age, while the fourth dose is administered 15-18 months later.

Both jabs “provide reasonable short term efficacy – over about a year – so are a useful addition to other measures,” said Professor Nick White, a professor at the Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit who specialises in malaria.

“In the past GSK had limited production capacity – one of the reasons the R21 was developed. So reducing the price will be good and the two comparable vaccines can fight it out in the market place.”

A spokesperson for Gavi said the alliance’s goal is to “create sustainable demand backed by predictable financing so that companies – like GSK and Bharat – can continue investing in technology transfer and other efficiencies that bring down costs, thus making critical vaccines more available and affordable.

GSK’s decision to lower its prices, the spokesperson added, is “an important step for the global malaria vaccination programme, and our ability to make this lifesaving tool more widely available to those who need it the most”.

Gavi plans to help fund RTS,S in 12 African countries by the end of this year.

Previously, GSK has said it will supply up to 18 million vaccine doses between 2023 and the end of this year.

The company plans to supply 15 million doses annually from 2026-2028, a spokesperson told Reuters.


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Rack Centre Signs Collocation Deal with TelCables Nigeria

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Rack Centre, West Africa’s Tier III carrier- and cloud-neutral data centre, has struck a collocation agreement with TelCables Nigeria, an Angola Cables subsidiary.

TelCables Nigeria is delivering its high-capacity network and cloud infrastructure, as well as four international subsea cable systems (SACS, MONET, SEBRAS, and EllaLink), directly into Rack Centre’s regional carrier ecosystem as part of the agreement.

According to Angola Cables, the move provides reliable, low-latency south-bound routes to Europe, the Americas, and Latin America, reducing the danger of future cable disruptions along West Africa’s coast and enabling next-generation cloud services across the continent.

“Our unique Africa – to – Latin America route via SACS, combined with MONET, SEBRAS and EllaLink, gives customers the lowest – latency paths to the Americas and Europe,” said Fernando Fernandes, CEO of TelCables Nigeria.

“Businesses in latency sensitive sectors: financial services, content delivery and real-time communications will experience faster transactions, reduced lag and an enhanced user experience.

“By hosting at Rack Centre we also localise Clouds2Africa resources, price them in naira, and remove expensive ingress/egress charges or FX exposure.”

Rack Centre said its 13.5MW data centre campus designed with its recently launched LGS2 facility that delivers a design PUE of 1.35 and powered from sustainable energy sources, already hosts 70+ carriers, ISPs and network operators.

Lars Johannisson, CEO of Rack Centre, commented: “Adding a global operator of Angola Cables’ calibre through TelCables Nigeria dramatically deepens our connectivity fabric.

“We can now offer 99.95 % SLA routes to more destinations, enabling enterprises, governments and cloud providers to meet performance and data-residency requirements while keeping traffic local.”

 


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Lagos Plastic Ban: MAN Warns of Job Losses, Closure of Businesses

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Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has expressed concerns over the impending ban on Single-Use Plastics (SUPs) by the Lagos State Ministry of Environment.

Lagos Plastic Ban:  MAN Warns of Job Losses, Closure of Businesses

It warned that it could lead to job losses and  and lead to economic, operational, and social consequences for manufacturers, traders, recyclers, and end users.

Segun Ajayi-Kadir, director general, MAN, in a statement called on the Lagos State government to reconsider the ban, citing a lack of credible data and stakeholder engagement.

According to Ajayi-Kadir, a recent study revealed that 100% of manufacturers surveyed expressed fears of job losses and workforce restructuring if the ban is implemented.

He said, “A recent MAN-supported study evaluating the possible impacts of the Lagos State SUPs ban revealed significant adverse economic, operational, and social implications across the value chain, from manufacturers to wholesalers, traders, and end users. It has been noted that only poor and developing countries often tilt towards plastic ban as a strategy to combat environmental problems.

“A hundred percent of the manufacturers consulted expressed concern over a ban-induced workforce restructuring. Thus, several jobs will be lost in the industry if this ban were to be implemented.

“It is noteworthy to mention that there is no form of arrangement for social protection for the employees who will lose their livelihoods as a result of this ban.

“Also, there has been no form of social dialogue on the part of the government with these workers or the industry on the potential job losses.”

According to him, findings showed that 89% of operators in the plastic value chain rely on SUPs as their primary source of income with no alternative source of livelihoods, over 75% of end users, including SMEs, depend on plastic packaging with no affordable or practical alternatives, and  93% of dealers, many of whom are women, reported no prior information or social support mechanisms to cushion the impact.

Ajayi-Kadir emphasised that banning SUPs would not resolve pollution issues but merely substitute one problem for another, especially without scalable alternatives or infrastructure to support the transition.

He urged the government to focus on improving waste management infrastructure and promoting recycling, rather than imposing bans.

 

 


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