Foreign

Egypt rakes in $15m daily from Suez canal vessel traffic

The artificial channel of Suez canal

—-generates $5.61 billion in 2020, $6.3 billion in 2221

Egypt is making bountiful harvests of revenue from its man-made Suez canal with daily earnings of $15millon from the maritime traffic.

Mr. Gorge Safwat, Spokesman for the Suez Canal Authority (SCA), made the disclosure on Thursday while hosting 27 top journalists from sub-Saharan Africa at the headquarters of the company in Ismailia District, northeast of Cairo.

Suez Canal stretches from Port Said on the Mediterranean Sea to the city of Suez on the northeastern shores of the Gulf of Suez, separating Egypt from the Sinai Peninsula.

Safwat explained that up to one billion tons of maritime cargo passed through the canal every year and that up to 20,000 ships had passed through the canal in the first quarter of 2022, carrying goods to various countries around the globe.

He said that the canal, the longest man-made in the world, had recorded increased revenue, generating about $5.61 billion in 2020, due to the determination and doggedness of Egyptians.

Safwat announced that the company made about $6.3 billion from its activities last year, saying that the construction of the canal 152 years ago, demonstrated the willpower and can-do spirit of the citizens of the Arab nation.

Tracing the history of the canal, the spokesman said it took the labour of about one million Egyptians and 120,000 deaths to put the canal in place in 1859.

Safwat noted that the number of ships using the canal daily had also increased from 45 per day in 2015 to 60 per day at present, describing the route as one of the safest in the world.

In March 2021, a huge container ship, known as Ever Given, belonging to Evergreen Shipping Lines, got wedged and blocked the Suez Canal, disrupting global maritime trade for weeks.

However, the ship, which the Egyptian Government impounded, was later released after agreeing to a deal on compensation with the government.

The 193-km Suez Canal connects the Mediterranean Sea at the canal’s northern end to the Red Sea in the south and it provides the shortest link between Asia and Europe.

The authorities of the SCA took the visiting journalists on a boat cruise on the old and new canals built by the government.

The journalists noticed the intense maritime activity taking place round the hour on the canal, helping to boost the prosperity of the North African country.

Egypt, which is currently one of Africa’s biggest economies, has embarked on various developmental projects, to sustain its position as a pacesetter in both the Arab world and sub-Saharan Africa.

The rich North African country has a population of about 106 million people, making it the third-largest country in Africa.

Foreign

David Nwamini, Ekweremadu accuser, seeks asylum in UK

” they will kill me if I come to Nigeria” — he pleads to court

The eyewitness reporter

David Nwamini, the accuser of Senator Ike Ekweremadu who sent the lawmaker to 10 years jail term in the United Kingdom over an organ trafficking case, has raised an alarm that he may be killed in Nigeria if he comes back.

Consequently, he has asked the court to allow him to stay back in the UK for safety reasons.

“They would arrest me and kill me in Nigeria” he reportedly told the court.

His impact statement was read in court, at the sentencing that saw Ekweremadu, his wife, Beatrice, 56, and the doctor-middleman, Obinna Obeta, 51, jailed, for 10 years and 8 months, 4 years and six months, and 10 years, respectively.

The three were found guilty at the Old Bailey of conspiring to arrange the travel of a young man with a view to exploiting him for his body part.

The Ekweremadus’ 25-year-old daughter, Sonia, has a severe kidney disease. It was for her the donor was sourced and brought to the UK.

According to David, he was approached with an opportunity to work in the UK, which he had always dreamed of but never thought would happen.

“He (Dr Obina Obeta) did not tell me he brought me here for this reason. He did not tell me anything about this.

“I would have not agreed to any of this. My body is not for sale.

“I worry for my safety in Nigeria. Those people can do anything. I think they could arrest me or kill me in Nigeria.

“My plan now is to work and to get an education and to play football,” David said, adding that he does not want to claim compensation from the “bad people” as it would be “cursed and bad luck”.

He also said someone visited his father in Nigeria and asked the father to get him to drop the case.

Although it is lawful to donate a kidney, it becomes criminal if there is a reward.

The Ekweremadus were arrested on June 21 last year as they arrived at Heathrow Airport.

Foreign

UK court shuns Nigeria, ECOWAS pleas as it sentences Ekweremadu to 10 years imprisonment for organ trafficking

The eyewitness reporter

The United Kingdom court on Friday sentenced former Deputy Senate President of Nigeria, Ike Ekweremadu, to nine years and eight months in prison for organ trafficking plot.

This was despite the plea for clemency made by the Nigerian government and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) that the court should temper justice with mercy.

The court also sentenced his wife, Beatrice, to four years six months while the medical doctor, who act as a ‘middleman’ in the plot, Dr Obinna Obeta, was sentenced to 10 years and his medical licence was also suspended.

The Ekweremadus’ daughter Sonia, who has a serious kidney condition, wept as she was cleared of the same charge.

Mr Justice Johnson told the defendants: “In each of your cases the offence you committed is so serious that neither a fine nor a community sentence can be justified.”

It was alleged that the 21-year-old street trader was to be rewarded for donating the organ to Sonia Ekweremadu, in an £80,000 private procedure at London’s Royal Free Hospital.

The case marked the first-time defendants have been convicted under the Modern Slavery Act of an organ harvesting conspiracy.

While it is lawful to donate a kidney, it becomes criminal if money or another material advantage is rewarded.

The prosecution claimed the donor was offered up to £7,000 along with the promise of a better life in the UK.

The donor did not understand until his first appointment with a consultant at the hospital that he was there for a kidney transplant, the Old Bailey was told

On March 23, the jury pronounced a guilty verdict on the senator, his wife, Beatrice, and Obinna Obeta, a doctor who acted as the middleman.

The jury held that they conspired to bring the 21-year-old at the centre of the matter to London to exploit him for his kidney.

Foreign

Nigeria missing as UNCTAD lists top African countries in service exports.

The Eyewitness reporter

Nigeria was not listed among the top five countries in Africa in service exports in 2021 as Egypt tops the list as announced by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in December.

According to the report, Egypt topped African countries regarding services exports in 2021 by around $20 billion

Egypt has also come second in maritime routes in Africa in the third quarter (Q3) of 2022.

According to the report, Egypt has achieved a considerable growth in services exports by 45.5 percent year-on-year in 2021.

Morocco followed Egypt in services exports then Ghana, South Africa, and Ethiopia.

Egypt also came third on the list of the top five countries regarding goods exports in Africa in 2021 by around $40 billion, achieving growth of around 60 percent year-on-year.

In maritime routes, Egypt was preceded by Morocco, South Africa, then Ghana, and Togo.

Earlier this month, Egypt announced a plan to develop Egyptian commodity exports to African countries to reach $15 billion during the coming few years.

Egypt’s exports to Africa have increased by 25.4 percent during Q1 2022 compared to Q1 2021, the Cabinet said in a statement in mid-December.

According to Egypt’s Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), Egypt’s exports to the African Union countries have reached more than $5.4 billion in 2021 compared to around $3.9 billion in 2020.

Libya, Sudan, Morocco, Algeria, and Kenya received more than 60 percent of Egyptian exports, according to CAPMAS.