The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control NAFDAC, has banned the sale of Sniper and other brands of agricultural formulations of Dichlorvos following rampant suicide cases and misuse of the products. Sniper which originally is an agricultural formulation for pest control, has been the choice of tool in committing suicide in recent times.

A statement released by the Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof. Moji Adeyeye, yesterday Wednesday July 11th, says Sniper and other related products would not be sold in supermarkets and in the open markets from September 1st 2019.

“NAFDAC is giving a two-month (up to August 31, 2019) notice to brand owners/distributors to recall and withdraw their products from open markets and supermarkets that do not have garden corner/shelves to the agro dealer outlets.

“The sale of Sniper insecticide and other Dichlorvos brands in open markets and supermarkets nationwide is prohibited with effect from September 1, 2019. NAFDAC is giving a six-month moratorium up to January 1, 2020 for brand owners to exhaust the products that are in various accredited agro-input dealers (distributors/marketers/retailers) outlets.” the statement read

The statement added that dealers, distributors, marketers and retailers of agrochemicals are to immediately register with the agency to ensure strict monitoring of the supply and use of the agrochemical.

Algeria defeated the Ivory Coast 4-3 on penalties in Suez Thursday to set up a semi-final showdown with Nigeria.

The quarter-final finished 1-1 after extra time with Sofiane Feghouli giving Algeria a 20th-minute lead that was cancelled by Jonathan Kodjia on 62 minutes.

In the shootout, Youcef Belaili struck the woodwork when he had a chance to clinch victory for Algeria, then Ivory Coast captain Serey Die hit the same post and his team were eliminated.

Forward Bounedjah missed a penalty in the second half of regular time and was visibly upset by his failure, fearing it would cost Algeria a first last-four place since 2010.

Algeria retained the team that started a last-16 demolition of Guinea, a result which confirmed the belief of many rival coaches that the Desert Foxes are the team to beat.

Ivory Coast coach Ibrahim Kamara changed two of the side that began an unimpressive 1-0 win over Mali in the first knockout round.

Midfielder Ibrahim Sangare and forward Max-Alain Gradel were selected to start in place of Jean-Philippe Gbamin and off-form Nicolas Pepe.

This was the eighth Cup of Nations meeting between the countries with Ivory Coast holding a 3-2 lead and two matches drawn.

Ivory Coast were more impressive in the early exchanges before a modest crowd in a stadium overlooking the Suez canal, a major shipping link between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean.

Algeria goalkeeper Rais Mbolhi finger-tipped a Gradel shot on to a post and Kodjia wasted a chance from close range after a cutback in 38 celsius (100 fahrenheit) heat.

Serge Kanon was the next Ivorian to squander an opportunity to put the two-time champions in front, stabbing the ball wide from inside the six-yard area.

Against the run of play, Algeria went ahead when Feghouli connected with a Ramy Bensebaini cross and his snapshot flew past Sylvain Gbohouo.

Algeria had a great chance to go further ahead early in the second half when Bounedjah was fouled by Gbohouo, but he blazed the penalty against the crossbar and over.

The Ivorian Elephants were playing much better than in previous matches and equalised just past the hour mark, ending a 422-minute run by Mbolhi without conceding a goal in Egypt.

Crystal Palace flier Wilfried Zaha created the goal with a surging run down the middle from the centre circle before passing to Kodjia, who scored with a shot from just inside the box.

Ghana is the latest country to be granted a visa-free status by the South African government.

South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs has added Ghana to a list of seven countries whose nationals will be permitted to enter South Africa visa-free.

Nigeria was not included despite the large volume of trade between the two countries. South Africa announced in September 2018, that it was finalising a number of visa waiver agreements with other countries including Ghana to allow travellers to enter the country without a visa.

According to the Minister of Home Affairs, Aaron Motsoaledi, citizens of the seven countries are able to enter South Africa without a visa.

“Tourism will soar if we relax visa requirements for entry into South Africa. We know that Tourism is very important for job creation,” he said today at a briefing in South Africa.

“Out of the 193 countries who are member states of the United Nations, the Department has granted visa-free status to 75 countries.

Of these 16 are in our continent and are SADC members and 59 are from all over the world.”

Over 50% of Nigerians are now poorer, as revealed in a report released on Thursday by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI).

The report further disclosed that the number of people who are multidimensionally poor, increased from 86 million to 98 million in the last decade. Pedro Conceição, Director of the Human Development Report Office at UNDP, said in the report;

“Also, important to note from the report is that when compared to the national poverty line which measures income/consumption, a larger proportion on Nigerians (51%) are multidimensionally poor than those that are income poor (46%).

“Even though the national average shows that around 50% of Nigeria an multidimensionally poor, state and local government levels will reveal a completely different scenario.

“We need—even amongst those living in poverty—to understand people’s different experiences of deprivation. Are they malnourished? Can they go to school? Only then will poverty reduction policies be both efficient and effective.“

Sabina Alkire, OPHI Director also said;

“We looked at data for a group of ten middle- and low-income countries and we found encouraging news that the bottom 40 percent were moving faster than the rest. A pro-poor pattern that reduces inequalities in several Sustainable Development Goals.”

The report also had Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator, saying;

“To fight poverty, one needs to know where poor people live. They are not evenly spread across a country, not even within a household.

“The 2019 global Multidimensional Poverty Index provides the detailed information policy makers need to more effectively target their policies.”