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The World Bank has approved a $2.25 billion loan for Nigeria to shore up revenue and support economic reforms that have contributed to the worst cost-of-living crisis in the country.

The bank said in a statement late Thursday that the bulk of the $1.5 billion loan will help protect millions who have faced growing poverty since a year ago when President Bola Tinubu came to power and took drastic steps to fix the country’s ailing economy.

The remaining $750 million, the bank said, will support tax reforms and revenue and safeguard oil revenues threatened with limited production caused by chronic theft.

President Tinubu’s economic reforms — including ending decadeslong but costly fuel subsidies and unifying the multiple exchange rates — have resulted in surging inflation that is at a 28-year high.

Under growing pressure from citizens and workers protesting the hardship, Tinubu’s government said in May that it was seeking the loan to support its long-term economic plans.

The government said it was also taking steps to boost foreign investment inflows which fell by 26.7% from US$5.3 billion in 2022 to US$3.9 billion in 2023, according to the Nigerian Economic Summit Group think tank.

Nigeria already has a high debt burden that has limited how much money the government can spend from its earnings. Its reliance on borrowings for public infrastructure and social welfare programs saw public debt surge by nearly 1,000% in the past decade.

The World Bank, however, said it was “critical to sustain the reform momentum” under Tinubu. The government’s economic policies have placed the country “on a new path which can stabilize its economy and lift its people out of poverty,” according to Ousmane Diagana, the World Bank vice president for Western and Central Africa.

Niger’s highest court lifted the immunity of the country’s democratically elected president, Mohamed Bazoum, nearly a year after he was overthrown by mutinous soldiers, his lawyer said Friday, opening the door for the army junta to prosecute him for alleged high treason.

Bazoum and his family have been under house arrest since a military coup that overthrew his rule last summer. The junta authorities said they planned to prosecute him for “high treason” and for undermining national security, and earlier this year initiated legal proceedings to lift his immunity in a newly created State Court, which became the country’s highest judicial authority.

Before Bazoum was forcibly removed from power, Niger was the West’s last major security partner in the Sahel, the vast region south of the Sahara Desert that has become a hot spot for violent extremism.

But the military junta ordered the withdrawal of Western troops from the country and turned to Russia for security assistance. U.S. forces are poised to leave by the middle of September, the Pentagon said earlier this month.

The proceedings before the State Court have been marred by serious irregularities, including violations of Bazoum’s rights to present evidence in his defense, to communicate with his legal counsel, and to be heard before an independent court, according to Human Rights Watch, a leading rights group.

Bazoum’s lawyer, Reed Brody, criticized the ruling as a “mockery” of the rule of law in Niger. “We never even got to speak to our client,” Brody said. “This is a travesty of justice.”

Bazoum’s lawyers have been unable to communicate with him since last October and have had restricted access to case material, according to HRW.

Late last year, the highest court of West African regional bloc ECOWAS ruled that Bazoum and his family were arbitrarily detained and called for him to be reinstated as President.

Cyril Ramaphosa pledged to work with politicians across the political spectrum after being reelected as President of South Africa by lawmakers on Friday.

“I will serve all and work with even those who did not support me,” Ramaphosa told the National Assembly in Cape Town.

His reelection comes after his African National Congress party struck a dramatic late coalition deal with the main opposition party and others to allow him to clinch a second term in office.

Ramaphosa won convincingly in a Parliamentary vote against a surprise candidate – Julius Malema, the leader of the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters.

Ramaphosa won 283 votes to Malema’s 44 in the 400-member house.

The 71-year-old Ramaphosa secured his second term with the help of lawmakers from the second biggest Democratic Alliance (DA) party and others after the ANC lost its 30-year parliamentary majority in a landmark election two weeks ago.

The ANC signed an agreement with the DA — once its fiercest political foe — just hours before the vote for president, ensuring Ramaphosa returned as leader of Africa’s most industrialized economy.

The parties will now co-govern South Africa in its first national coalition where no party has a majority.

If you’ve been sick with COVID-19, you may have some protection against certain versions of the common cold.

A new study suggests previous COVID-19 infections lower the risk of getting colds caused by milder coronavirus cousins, which could provide a key to broader COVID-19 vaccines.

“What is it about that infection that helps you protect against a related, but not identical coronavirus? And can we replicate that with a vaccine?” said Dr. Manish Sagar, senior author of the study published Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

The study looked at COVID-19 PCR tests from more than 4,900 people who sought medical care between November 2020 and October 2021.

After controlling for things like age, gender and preexisting conditions, Sagar said he and his colleagues found people previously infected with COVID-19 had about a 50% lower chance of having a symptomatic coronavirus-caused common cold compared with people who were, at the time, fully vaccinated and hadn’t yet gotten COVID-19.

Several viruses cause colds; coronaviruses are thought to be responsible for about 1 in 5 colds.

Researchers linked the protection against coronavirus-caused colds to virus-killing cell responses for two specific viral proteins. These proteins aren’t used in most vaccines now, but researchers propose adding them in the future.

“The idea would be that, the future coronavirus vaccines would already we already have universal or, broader coverage against, coronaviruses that may emerge in the future,” said Sagar of Boston Medical Center.

The G7 summit opened Thursday (Jun. 13) in Italy. A session focused on investments and infrastructures projects in Africa.

The Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGI) program was high on the agenda.

Projects include a rail corridor that will connect southern and central Africa.

The project will also bring telecommunication cables and other infrastructure to the region.

The infrastructure investments are meant to serve as an alternative to China’s development efforts, which the U.S. and its allies seek to contain.

Canada, Germany and EU, as well as representatives from Italian and American private companies such as ENI and Microsoft that are participating in the investment program.

The president of the European Commission hailed a “different” program.

“We wanted to create an alternative, an alternative for this infrastructure investment and it is not only the financial firepower that is impressive but PGI (Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment) is sustainable, it’s good for the planet, but it’s also good for the countries’ finances if I may say so. This combination makes our offer different to others. Important is that we want to bring long-lasting benefits to the local economy of our partners.”

The G7 summit is hosted by Italy which holds the rotating presidency.

One of its priorities is developing ties with Africa where other powers have long been present.

African leaders including the president of Algeria and South Africa have been invited to the summit.

One year after he came to power, Nigeria’s president Bola Tinubu on Wednesday said his economic reforms will continue despite increasing hardships.

During his televised Democracy Day speech, he acknowledged the economic difficulties facing the nation, but said the economy had been in desperate need of reform for decades.

With the country facing its worst cost-of-living crisis in years, Nigerians are angry about changes made by his administration.

These include the removing of a petrol subsidy that kept prices artificially low, and the devaluation of the currency which sent inflation soaring to over 33 per cent in April.

Tinubu said the reforms were intended to create a stronger, better foundation for future growth in Nigeria, and offer everyone access to economic opportunity and fair pay.

As part of this, he announced plans to set a new  minimum wage, saying that as his administration continues to reform the economy, he will always listen to the people.