Day: May 5, 2023

The efforts carried out over the past three years to ensure food security, import substitution and job creation by expediting the development of agricultural sector is encouraging, Minister of Agriculture, Girma Amante said.

The Minister made the remark at the 2nd Oromia Agricultural Transformation Council meeting held today in the presence of Oromia Regional State Chief Administrator Shimelis Abdissa, Minister of Agriculture, Girma Amante, university presidents and researchers among others.

During the occasion, the minister said the success registered in various agriculture sectors in Oromia regional state need to be further strengthened and expended in all parts of the country.

He added that the success we have achieved so far is due to the strong leadership and feasible systems developed at the federal and regional levels.

He noted that recently ministers of four African countries visited Ethiopia to see the progress made in agriculture sector and share best experience.

This success should continue well, he said, adding that the work done in the past three years to ensure mass production, food security, imports substitution and job creation for youth in the agricultural sector is encouraging.

“If we work together with our strength and knowledge, we can make our agricultural work successful, Girma added.

Shimilis Abdissa on his part said although positive results have been obtained in agriculture sectors over the past years, agricultural mechanization, rural finance, supply of inputs and commercialization among others are need due attention.

To bring about the desired results in the sector, scientific research must also be consistent with the farmer’s knowledge, he said.

He further explained that if we cannot bring the scientific research that our agriculture needs, it is impossible to get out of the trap of poverty with the usual way of farming.

This will require us to coordinate the knowledge and experience of higher educational institutions and agricultural research centers to achieve greater success in the future, he added.

Shimelis stressed that all concerned bodies should exert maximum efforts to strengthen the achievement obtained so far and work on issues that need attention for agricultural transition.

The Oromia Agricultural Transformation Council was established last year with a view to promoting productivity by modernizing the sector through cluster farming.

Among the initiatives thus far carried out by council includes the production of wheat malt barley, dairy, rice ,tea, coffee, banana, and avocado as well as cattle breeding and poultry through cluster farming system.

The meeting examined the performance of the transformation council and put direction for the implementation of agricultural initiatives and implement new initiatives.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

The opening of the Ethiopian Skylight Hotel phase two is a testament of the “success of Ethiopian Airlines and its continued growth not just in Africa but globally,” Fairfax Africa Fund Global Chairperson Zemedeneh Negatu said.

The second phase of the Ethiopian Skylight Hotel, built at a cost of over 155 million USD, was inaugurated today by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

With the completion of the second phase, Ethiopian Skylight Hotel has a total of 1,024 rooms.

Fairfax Africa Fund Global Chairman Zemedeneh Negatu told ENA that hotel has a world class facility, the kind of hotels you normally see someplace like in Dubai, Singapore, and China. “It is really world class five star quality place.”

“Not only is the hotel big, but it also has the capacity to attract and accommodate large number of visitors,” he added.

Noting that Addis Ababa lacked big hotel quality facility in the past, Zemedeneh said that this is a reflection of the fact that Addis Ababa and Ethiopia can now accommodate a very large group of visitors with high quality.”

According to the chairperson, Ethiopia’s economy is going forward for the next 10 years and one of the priorities for growth is tourism that needs the development of infrastructure.

“For tourism to grow, you need infrastructures like hotels, places to stay, and of course Ethiopian Airlines that is connecting the domestic to the global. This hotel, I think is a reflection of that strategy. Hotel and tourism growth strategy coming together. It’s a real testament.”

He further noted that there are a few countries, certainly not in Africa, that have such a hotel. “I think this is (therefore) a big celebration for Ethiopian Airlines and Ethiopians as well as for the tourism sector in this country.”

Although this hotel has multiple purposes, one is providing service for transit passengers. And Ethiopian Airlines will transport about 14 million passengers around the world this year.

Zemedeneh pointed out that Ethiopian is the biggest airline in Africa and also one of the biggest in the world. So, of those 14 million who fly with Ethiopian Airlines, imagine that 20 percent transit through Addis Ababa. In this scenario, Addis will end up with over two million passengers.

He believes that the country “actually needs a lot more of these hotels. There are hotels being built, but Addis actually needs a lot more hotels like this, because if we look at the growth of Ethiopian Airlines vision 2035 it could double the number of aircrafts.”

For that to really be accommodated efficiently you need facilities, infrastructures, airports, of course, the chairperson stated, adding that the Bole International Airport was expanded to accommodate 22 million passengers last year.

“There is also a decision to build a new 100 million passengers airport just outside of Addis. All these things need to be looked at in an integrated way. It’s not just the hotel, it is also the airline, the hotels or the service. When you start dealing with this business like this, the service providers or the ecosystem or service providers from catering to drinks and other things will grow as well together.”

Zemedeneh stated that such hotels will have a multiplier effect on the economy and will certainly help strengthen Ethiopia’s desire to become a major tourist destination.

The world-class five Ethiopian Skylight Hotel, is owned by Ethiopian Airlines, Africa’s largest and one of the most profitable in the world.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

President Sahlework Zewde said “Patriotism is our value to shape generation”.

Ethiopia today marked the 82nd Patriots Victory Day under the theme “Togetherness for Perseverance and Victory”.

The Ethiopian Patriots’ Victory Day is a national holiday in Ethiopia celebrating on 5 May in commemoration of the Ethiopian resistance movement over Italian five year occupation of Ethiopia.

An event was underway in connection with the day in Addis Ababa around the Victory Monument in the presence President Sahlework, other senior government officials, Patriots and representatives of different countries.

During the occasion, President Sahlework paid tribute to all the patriots who safeguarded the nation’s sovereignty through their scarification.

Sahlework stressed that patriotism is the value that Ethiopia will shape its next generation.

Furthermore, the President stressed that the Patriots Victory Day is an exemplary that the current generation can bring change if united.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed stressed in his statement on the 82nd Patriots Victory Day, the need for creating national wealth and getting rid of poverty in Ethiopia.

Patriots Victory Day is a national public holiday that marks the end of the Italian occupation and commemorates those who died during the occupation by honoring veterans of the resistance movement.

Ethiopians have celebrated the 82nd Patriots Victory Day today around the Victory Monument at Arat Kilo vicinity, in the capital in the presence of President Sahle-Work, patriots and various segments of the community.

Accordingly, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in his statement in connection with 82nd Patriots Victory Day underscored that Ethiopians should work hard to create national wealth and end poverty.

Abiy believed the freedom that has been secured by the forefathers must be supported by enhanced national wealth, unity and hardworking.

“In the economic sector, if we do not create national wealth and get rid of subsidies, freedom alone will not take us farther. … Unless we are able to defeat division and disintegration by creating wealth, freedom alone cannot serve us as strength.”

Noting that Ethiopia is a country that has its own victory day but not Independence Day, the prime minister said that it is because of our mothers and fathers who refused to compromise their freedom for anything and paid the ultimate price for it.

However, the premier argued that if Ethiopians don’t decide to serve their country and the people with sincerity and hard work, freedom alone will not bring progress.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

A workshop organized by the Defyhatenow Civic Watch in Douala on May 4 2023 served as an opportunity to tell online content creators to consider the effects of their content first before publication.

Facilitators speaking during the workshop said many media professionals have found themselves propagating hate speech, at times without knowing because they didn’t take time to fact-check or reflect on the effects.

Kinang Derick Fai, Conflict Research and Administrative Coordinator for Defyhatenow, said the session in Douala was meant to bring media professionals together so that they could talk about responsible use of the social media. “We wanted to look at ourselves eyeball to eyeball and critically examine some of our publications,” he said.

“We wanted to see among ourselves if there was a better way we could produce some of this content in a responsible way without violating the community standards of the different platforms we use,” the coordinator added.

He noted that the Defyhatenow project is organized in collaboration with Meta, which is why they decided to do a study of online platforms like Facebook and Instagram, as well as Twitter and Tik Tok among others. “We wanted to see how these platforms are being used by these different content creators and influencers,” the facilitator indicated.

Participants were encouraged to avoid making publications because they want to please followers or simply because they want to put food on their table. “You must not do it the wrong way,” the media experts were told.

The content creators were urged to be peace builders and persons who use the digital space to build a better society.

Source: Cameroon News Agency

For some time now, users of the MTN mobile telephone network have been expressing dissatisfaction and disappointment as they share their personal experiences as far as money transfers are concerned.

Some of these users say money has “disappeared” many times from their accounts and at others, the amounts sent were not the amounts received and the mobile network’s customer service has been useless as far as solving the problem is concerned.

“I stood there and watched 225,000frs being sent to my phone then later on checking my balance, I saw only 222,000 frs. I was confused. The entire money was sent because I recieved the message. How then and why 3,000frs was deducted by MTN, I cannot understand. I called customer service they picked up and said it must be a problem from the optic fiber they will fix. Till date nothing. It’s been a week now,” Aurel Tsafack, a disappointed MTN user explains.

Users say call credit and data activation is worst. Helen Ngwafor a business woman in Buea says she activates data atleast 3 times a day even after having activated for a month:

“I have the 10,000frs 1GB each day subscription but before 2pm, MTN tells me I exhausted my data for the day so I end up activating another data plan. In less than an hour, a message pops up saying I have consumed 50% of my data already when I’m not even online. The expense is too much. To calculate how much I use a day for data not to talk of a month is a total fraud.”

Aside the grievances shared above, some users express the insecurity around the mobile banking service where consumers have lost hundreds of thousands to scammers who have some how managed to have access to their accounts.

“I was deceived by a short message from MTN to activate a free data bundle offered to me. Once I approved, I realised the next morning that I had been robbed,” Mercy Linjap another user explains.

From horrible network to countless interrupted calls, users say it is invasion of privacy and are irritated.

Users say they expect to recieve their money back as MTN remains the most used network service in Cameroon.

Source: Cameroon News Agency