According to the President, the annual growth in demand for electricity is estimated at 10%, which means that for every 7 years, investment in electricity infrastructure has to be doubled in most West African countries.

“The availability and use of electricity will greatly influence how rapidly West African countries are able to increase their agricultural and industrial productivity, provide safe drinking water, achieve rapid economic development, and use information and communications technology to become increasingly integrated into the global marketplace,” he said.

President Akufo-Addo was speaking at the opening of the 12^th General Assembly of the West African Power Pool (WAPP), in Accra on Friday, 3^rd November, 2017.

The President noted that, investment in the energy sector ensures the delivery of financial and social returns that have the potential to address important challenges, such as reduction of poverty and improvement of the lives of people.

In West Africa, he added that, through the ECOWAS Energy Protocol, efforts have been made to resolve the regulatory and political barriers constraining investment in electricity supply, and inadequate infrastructure along the electricity value chain.

It is for this reason that Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS, through the Supplementary Act A/SA4/01/08, decided that most of the regional power generation facilities should be developed by WAPP, through special purpose vehicles under the PPP framework.

The 450 MW WAPP Regional Thermal Generation Plants at Aboadze in Ghana, and Maria Gleta in Benin, are being developed within this framework, with the successes of these projects going a long way to boost investor confidence and attract more private sector capital into other WAPP Projects.

President Akufo-Addo noted that Ghana has been able, through the right regulatory, legal and commercial framework, to attract a lot of private sector players into the generation end of the business, and in the near future should be able to export its excess generation through the WAPP network to other countries.

“We are fully aware that, if we are to see West Africa prosper, a Region that is able to turn its natural endowments into resources that will offer her people access to better education, improved health care, safe water and electricity, we should call on our experts, technical and financial partners gathered here this week, to come up with concrete proposals that will make regional integration, through a Regional Electricity Market, a reality,” the President said.

He was confident that the 12^th WAPP General Assembly will be able to seize the opportunity to reflect on the progress made towards the establishment of a Regional Electricity Market, and, in general, identify gaps and challenges, as we map a clear way forward.

With discussions at the WAPP General Assembly focusing on Regional Electricity Market, President Akufo-Addo urged the participants to recall that, whilst the challenges are immense, the Region must fundamentally realign its energy systems to achieve a unified system.

“WAPP has what it takes, in terms of capacity and capability, to create the Regional Electricity Market.  This is the surest way to harness the abundant energy resources in the Region to accelerate the socio-economic development of the Region, and improve the living standards of our people.  We must travel down this road. Alongside the risks, this is a moment of great opportunity for WAPP and West Africa,” he added.

President was convinced that the agreement amongst West African countries to integrate their electricity network for the region’s development and economic take-off will engender strong synergies and significant complementarities.

“The outcome of the integration should be an electricity system in which uninterrupted supply is the expectation, rather than the exception,” he added.

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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Her appointment comes after her predecessor, Ebi Atawodi, was made Product Manager, Global Payments Growth for Uber worldwide.

She worked at McKinsey and Company for three and a half years, before joining Uber. She also worked as a governance adviser with the Liberian Presidency through the Africa Governance Initiative.

“I am immensely pleased to be joining Uber at a pivotal point in the company’s growth and expansion curve. My vision for West Africa, in particular, is to ensure that we are aligned with Uber’s overall objective of creating sustainable, alternative modes of mobility. In addition to creating value for driver-partners and riders, I will also be focused on ensuring that we continue to engage with our key stakeholders and relevant partners with a view to continuing positive impact across West Africa,” Lola said after she was appointed.

“As a company that is deeply committed to diversity and inclusiveness, we are excited to have Lola join the team of other incredible women at Uber who are pushing the envelope towards achieving the global vision of creating value for riders and driver-partners alike. In West Africa, Lola will be supported by a highly skilled and enthusiastic team covering Operations, Communications and Legal and Policy,” said Along Lits, General Manager, Sub-Saharan Africa.

Lola Kassim holds a Bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and an MSc from the London School of Economics where she was a Chevening Scholar.

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By: Jeffrey Owuraku Sarpong/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @ojsarpong

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Organised by the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), the training programme is also meant to expose health practitioners to the modern technique of improving healthcare delivery and addressing challenges affecting the health sector in the continent.

The programme, dubbed Management of Development Institute (MDI), has participants from Ghana, Cameroon, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.

[contextly_sidebar id=”0aZ6PoxoL5peyV2rOrLlw3MhtyIPDN2L”]It is being sponsored by Johnson and Johnson, a global manufacturer of healthcare products.

Speaking at the opening ceremony in Accra, the West Africa Regional Director of MDI, Professor Sallah, said since the programme commenced, more than 900 participants from 32 African countries had benefited.

He said the programme had been designed to enhance the leadership and management skills of programme managers to implement their stated national health priorities.

Professor Sallah, who is also a Senior Lecturer, said GIMPA, over the past years, had championed the campaign for the improvement of the healthcare sector on the continent.

The institution, he said, had developed to become one of the best institutions that trained people in various fields.

Need for collaboration
A member of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) Board of Directors, Mr Atta Paidoo, who opened the ceremony, said although more resources had gone into the health sector, little had been achieved so far.

He said there was the need for various health managers in the sub-region to team up and work together in addressing challenges that hindered the growth of the health sector.

Mr Paidoo attributed the slow pace of growth in the health sector in the continent to the lack of collaboration among the various healthcare institutions in the country.

He said the only way for Africans to improve the healthcare delivery sector was for countries to collaborate on how to find solutions to issues affecting the growth of the health sector.

Considering the huge investment in the sector, Mr Paidoo stressed on need for health managers to adopt modern methods of improving healthcare delivery.

He, therefore, commended GIMPA and Johnson and Johnson for the efforts to enhance healthcare delivery in the sub-region.

Mr Paidoo also called on the participants to take advantage of the programme to upgrade their skills and use their knowledge to contribute towards the growth of the continent.

Fact sheet
More than 900 health managers in the sub-region have benefited from the Management of Development Institute (MDI) programme since 2012.

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By: Franklin Badu Jnr/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post GIMPA holds seminar for West African healthcare managers appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Francis made similar comments when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires but his remarks to reporters on a plane returning from a Middle East trip were the first he has made since becoming pope.

“Celibacy is not a dogma,” he said in answer to a question about whether the Catholic Church could some day allow priests to marry as they can in some other Christian Churches.

“It is a rule of life that I appreciate very much and I think it is a gift for the Church but since it is not a dogma, the door is always open,” he said.

The Church teaches that a priest should dedicate himself totally to his vocation, essentially taking the Church as his spouse, in order to help fulfill its mission.

However while priestly celibacy is a tradition going back around 1,000 years, it is not considered dogma, or an unchangeable piece of Church teaching.

There has been pressure for change, particularly in the wake of recent sexual abuse scandals with proponents of optional celibacy in the Church arguing that sexual frustrations could drive some priests to sexually abuse children.

But the Church has rejected this argument, saying that paedophilia, whether in the Church or outside of it, is carried out by people with psychological problems.

Priests are allowed to marry in the Anglican and other Protestant churches as well as in the Orthodox Church.

Source: Reuters

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