Day: April 18, 2021

Meet Aziz Kountche, African man who turned dreams into drones

ADEOLA YUSUF

  From the outside, the house is a typical upmarket residence in Niamey, but inside it looks like no other. Three drones straddle large tables with their albatross wings, amid improvised building materials and tools. Aziz Kountche (pictured), a grandson of Nigerien general and former president Seyni Kountche (1931-87), is an obsessive aeronautical entrepreneur who launched his civilian drone company, Drone Africa Service, in 2016, pledging aircraft that are ‘100 percent Nigerien’. ‘We import products that are not found here such as fibreglass, carbon, but everything else — design, modelling,…

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Oil firms file for bankruptcy as recovery battle turns tough

Efe Wellington

    Record numbers of oil and gas companies are filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. According to Energy and restructuring law firm Haynes and Boone, bankruptcies by the oil firms, especially the North American oil producers, climbed to the highest first-quarter level since 2016 as energy firms continue to struggle to recover from the carnage of the oil price crash in 2020. Haynes and Boone has reported there were eight bankruptcies by North American oil and gas producers in Q1 2021, the second-highest figure for a first-quarter ever since 17 were…

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Nigeria’s top Pastor, Adeboye, reacts as authority grounds Private Jet

Precious Ibekwe

  “…somebody wanted a bribe. And you know if you are expecting a bribe from me, you have to wait forever,” Pastor Adeboye   Popular pastor in Nigeria, the General Overseer, Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Enoch Adeboye, has reacted as his private jet was prevented from flying. The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority has suspended the private jet, AgustaWestland AW139 with registration number 5N-EAA, over two weeks ago, following the expiration of some of its papers and spare parts. Adeboye who reacted during a special meeting with all ordained…

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