Health Minister Jean-Jacques Mbungani says the latest Ebola outbreak in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has been declared over after 42 days without any new infections,
The World Health Organization's regional director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, says that targeted vaccination and rapid response has made Ebola control more effective.
Only five days after the detection of the first case in Beni region, a vaccination campaign was launched and more than 1,800 were jabbed.
The WHO says It was also the first time the Everbo Ebola vaccine was used in the country.

The World Bank announced its approval of a $700 million credit from its International Development Association for the Nigeria Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes Project.
The institution says the productivity of major crops in Nigeria had been steadily declining over the past two decades, in part due to climate change, forcing an expansion of the area under agriculture and increased imports to meet the food needs of Nigeria’s growing population.
It noted that persistent water shortages continue to exacerbate land degradation, desertification, and habitat loss.
World Bank’s Country Director for Nigeria, Shubham Chaudhuri noted that Nigeria was faced with water scarcity and droughts which occur every five years, on average, with the potential to increase in frequency due to climate change.

President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the Federal Ministry of Finance to release withheld salaries of resident doctors for the month of September and October 2021.
The Minister of Labour, Dr Chris Ngige, explained that the wages have been approved by the President to be released to the health workers on compassionate grounds.
He further explained that payments were made following a nine-month industrial action embarked upon by the body. He insisted that the persisting altercation is the lack of knowledge by members of the payments and a renegotiation of the 2009 agreement involving conditions of service.

AFCON officials announced that Supporters attending matches at next month’s Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon will be required to show proof of vaccination and present a negative Covid-19 test result.
A joint statement signed by Cameroon’s ministers for sport and health as well as the Confederation of African Football (CAF) general secretary says despite the additional challenges posed by the pandemic, the Cup of Nations must take place.
The opening ceremony for the 24-team competition is due to be held at the Olembe Stadium in Yaounde on January 9 ahead of the first game between hosts Cameroon and Burkina Faso

The federal government will next month make public the real owners of oil, gas and mining assets in the country through a National Beneficial Ownership register.
The data to be jointly launched by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and the Corporate Affairs Commission is expected to further push the country’s preparedness to shine the light on the opacity in the extractive industry.
A statement by the Deputy Director/Head Communications and Advocacy of the initiative, Obiageli Onuorah, noted that when ready, the register would be merged with the CAC register of companies in the country.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says that democracy remains the best system of establishing governments because it guarantees respect for the fundamental rights of individuals to choose their leaders.
The VP noted that democracy as a system of government guarantees the accountability of the elected to the electorate. As the electorate determines in every electoral cycle by their free choice whether the mandate given was properly utilized.”
Prof. Osinbajo says that man has not yet developed a fairer and more just system of establishing governments than that the government be a government of the people by the people for the people.

Statistics from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control revealed that the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Nigeria increased to 220,020 with 1,424 additional cases confirmed on Wednesday.
The NCDC says that the new infections were recorded from 15 states in the country.
The number of confirmed cases of the virus in the country currently stands at 220, 020 cases while 211,292 cases have been discharged and 2,983 deaths have been recorded in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory

Ecuador declared force majeure on all oil contracts, including exports and imports, as the threat of soil erosion forced the shutdown of the country’s two pipelines that transport crude across the Andes.
A statement by state-owned oil producer Petroecuador says the clause, which is invoked to remove liability from failing to honour contracts in the event of disasters, went into effect on Sunday.
It added that the country’s Trans-Ecuadorian Pipeline System and Heavy Crude Pipeline, as well as the Shushufindi-Quito petroleum products pipeline, had to be shut.
Ecuador’s third force majeure on oil contracts aims to overcome years of stagnant production in the former OPEC member and more than double output to near 1 million barrels a day.

The Asian Development Bank has cut its economic growth forecast for developing Asia for this year and next due to the emergence of the Omicron coronavirus variant.
The Manila-based development bank forecast the region’s emerging economies would grow 7 per cent in 2021 and 5.3 per cent in 2022, down 0.1 per cent from its previous estimate.
The bank cited a resurgence of COVID-19 cases due to the Omicron variant as the biggest risk to the region’s recovery, with other dangers including a prolonged slowdown in China’s housing market, rising inflation and global supply chain disruptions.
The bank cut India’s growth estimate to 9.7 per cent for 2021, compared with 10 per cent in September, with its 2022 estimate of 7.5 per cent growth remaining unchanged.

Tesla Inc chief Elon Musk says the electric carmaker will accept dogecoin as payment for merchandise on a test basis, sending the meme-based cryptocurrency up over 20%.
Dogecoin, popular among retail investors, raced up to $0.20 after the tweet. Chris Kline, co-founder of Bitcoin IRA says Elon Musk has been an advocate for the crypto community for many years.
His latest announcement will usher in a new era of commerce and trailblaze a path for altcoins to expand their use case.
Musk did not specify what merchandise, whose prices start from $50 and go as high as $1,900, could be bought with dogecoin.