An inter-ministerial Dialogue has launched discussions on domestic climate finance needs for El Salvador’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), and it’s National Climate Change Plan. Both plans aim at decarbonising El Salvador’s energy supply by increasing the use of renewable energy, while improving energy efficiency, land management, urban planning and transportation.
Solar panels. Both plans aim at decarbonising El Salvador’s energy supply by increasing the use of renewable energy
The dialogue took place recently as part of El Salvador’s larger effort to assess domestic funding sources for national climate targets through the Green Climate Fund (GCF) Readiness Programme, bringing together El Salvador’s Technical and Planning Secretariat of the Presidency, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Vice-Ministry of Cooperation for Development.
Following the inter-ministerial Dialogue, UNDP led a three-day technical training on the investment and financial flows (I&FF) assessment, involving a team of more than 27 national and three regional experts from the target sectors and disciplines in public finance, private sector, economics and statistics, and NGOs and academia. The training allowed experts to systematically assess financial allocations for the NDC implementation by learning on how to break NDC targets down into specific action points, identify how financial flows can be structured more efficiently and determine the required level of financing for mitigation and adaptation measures. Over the coming months the national experts will carry out the assessments with assistance from regional experts and UNDP.
An I&FF assessment will help the Government of El Salvador determine domestic finance allocation and gaps for activities related to climate change. Carlos Gómez, GCF Readiness Programme Coordinator, stressed the importance of capacity building through the assessment of investment and financial flows, identifying what shifts in domestic investments may be necessary, what additional investments will be required, and what policies and incentives will be needed to achieve the national climate change goals.
In preparation for the assessment, the national Climate Finance Committee has been carrying out consultations with a range of ministries and institutions over the past months to select the five target sectors based on the INDC: Energy, Agriculture, Water, Infrastructure and Health. Participants agreed on the key parameters for the financial assessments, which are being rolled out both on the political and technical levels over the coming months.
The assessment is carried out under UNDP’s Green Climate Fund Readiness Programme, which aims to strengthen institutional and technical capacities to access climate finance, and runs in conjunction with El Salvador’s activities under the UNDP Low Emission Capacity Building Programme.
Biogaran, a French pharmaceutical company specialised in generic and biosimilar medicines, on Friday, March 24, 2017 announced the takeover of all the activities of Swipha, a Nigerian company that manufactures and distributes pharmaceutical products. The firm sees the development as an important step forward in its internationalisation, as well as the development of new markets.
Pascal Brière, President of Biogaran
The Biogaran portfolio is said to be mainly focused on three families of products: anti-anxiety and tranquillisers, antimalarial drugs and antibiotics, which treat Nigeria’s most widespread infections and health issues.
Swipha was the first Nigerian pharmaceutical company to obtain ISO 9001 certification in 2007. Approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2014, Swipha employs 300 people locally and generated record sales of N4 billion (approximately € 20 million) in 2012. Beyond its production unit, the company also has a wide distribution network covering most parts of Nigeria, with more than 184 million inhabitants in 2016, according to the IMF.
Health issues are particularly important in Africa. Beyond significant needs for good quality, affordable and efficient medicines, the problem of counterfeits is also becoming of concern. The WHO estimates that 100,000 deaths are due to fake medicines in Africa every year. In this context, supplying Nigeria’s population with reliable medicines that are produced locally is a strong commitment made by Biogaran.
“Biogaran’s international expansion strategy is to create synergies by bringing its expertise and investment capacity in production tools to existing structures,” commented Pascal Brière, President of Biogaran. “Swipha’s know-how, network and reputation have immediately convinced us that it was the right partner for us. Likewise, Nigeria quickly came out as the best entry point on the African continent with its strong population and solid economic fundamentals, including a very dynamic market economy.”
Agreement announced on World Tuberculosis Day revitalises efforts to develop sutezolid as effective response to infectious disease killer
Greg Perry, Executive Director of the Medicines Patent Pool. He says Sutezolid is the first tuberculosis drug in the group’s portfolio
On Friday, March 24 2017, the World Tuberculosis Day, TB Alliance and the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) announced a licensing agreement for the clinical development of sutezolid, an antibiotic drug candidate which demonstrated encouraging results in early studies. The sublicense pertains to the development of sutezolid in combination with other TB drugs and follows the MPP’s license for the treatment signed with patent holder The Johns Hopkins University in January.
“There are precious few novel drugs available for TB therapy and therefore every promising new candidate is greeted with much enthusiasm,” said Dr. Mel Spigelman, President and CEO of TB Alliance. “With the additional positive results from our current clinical trials we can thoroughly vet sutezolid in a variety of potentially transformative new TB regimens.”
Sutezolid is in the same class of drugs as linezolid (oxazolidinones), which is used in some countries as a treatment option for drug-resistant TB (DR-TB). Tests conducted over the past decade have indicated that sutezolid may have a better therapeutic potential than linezolid.
“Sutezolid is the first TB drug in the Medicines Patent Pool’s portfolio, and we are pleased with TB Alliance’s swiftness in sublicensing the candidate,” said Greg Perry, Executive Director of the Medicines Patent Pool. “We are grateful to the civil society coalition that pushed for the clinical development of sutezolid. If further studies are successful, this product could be a game-changer in improving options for patients.”
MPP’s license with The Johns Hopkins University grants the MPP the rights to sublicense sutezolid to product developers interested in further developing the treatment for both drug-susceptible and drug-resistant TB, and to combine sutezolid with a wide variety of other drugs.
TB is the world’s top infectious disease killer. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 10.4 million people fell ill with TB and 1.8 million died from the disease in 2015. An estimated 580,000 patients were deemed eligible for MDR-TB treatment in 2015. According to the latest available data, the MDR-TB treatment success rate is only 52 percent.
“UNITAID strongly supports the TB Alliance-Medicines Patent Pool collaboration to jump-start the clinical development of the new tuberculosis treatment sutezolid,” said Lelio Marmora, Executive Director of UNITAID, the MPP’s funder. “This World Tuberculosis Day, we must re-double efforts to find better, faster-acting treatment solutions, especially for resistant forms of the disease.”
Leicester City forward, Ahmed Musa, has stepped down as Super Eagles Assistant Captain.
Ahmed Musa plays for English Premiership side, Leicester City
He addressed the squad immediately after the team meeting to announce his decision, saying he wanted to focus on his game.
Reports on Thursday night say the captainship is affecting his game both at national team and at club levels.
This may not be unconnected with a decision made by Super Eagles manager Gernot Rohr that he wanted the team to be led by “a player who plays regularly”.
Musa, who is the first of two deputy captains along Ogenyi Onazi, has been overlooked by Rohr, who told the forward that Onazi would captain the team against Senegal, while left-back Elderson Echiejile would lead the team out against Burkina Faso.
But the move would have been humiliating to Musa, who was named substitute captain, after Vincent Enyeama retired, but was then diplomatically deposed by Samson Siasia, who handed the armband to John Obi Mikel.
Kelechi Iheanacho struck a late penalty as Nigeria drew 1-1 with Senegal in Bernet, London on Thursday night.
The Terranga Lions had taken the lead through Moussa Sow in the 54th minute and appeared destined for victory before Iheanacho fired home from the spot in the 81st minute after being brought down by Pape Ndiaye.
Nigeria’s next friendly match is against Burkina Faso on Monday in Barnet.
On the eve of this year’s Earth hour (March 25), researchers are proposing a solution in the Friday, March 24, 2017 edition of the journal Science for the global economy to rapidly reduce carbon emissions. The authors argue that a carbon roadmap, driven by a simple rule of thumb or “carbon law” of halving emissions every decade, could catalyse disruptive innovation.
Lead author and director of the Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Johan Rockström. The authors say fossil-fuel emissions should peak by 2020 at the latest and fall to around zero by 2050
Such a “carbon law”, based on Moore’s Law in the computer industry, applies to cities, nations and industrial sectors.
The authors say fossil-fuel emissions should peak by 2020 at the latest and fall to around zero by 2050 to meet the UN’s Paris Agreement’s climate goal of limiting the global temperature rise to “well below 2°C” from preindustrial times.
A “carbon law” approach, say the international team of scientists, ensures that the greatest efforts to reduce emissions happens sooner not later and reduces the risk of blowing the remaining global carbon budget to stay below 2°C.
The researchers say halving emissions every decade should be complemented by equally ambitious, exponential roll-out of renewables. For example, this entails doubling renewables in the energy sector every five to seven years, ramping up technologies to remove carbon from the atmosphere, and rapidly reducing emissions from agriculture and deforestation.
“We are already at the start of this trajectory. In the last decade, the share of renewables in the energy sector has doubled every 5.5 years. If doubling continues at this pace fossil fuels will exit the energy sector well before 2050,” says lead author Johan Rockström, who is director of the Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University.
The authors pinpoint the end of coal in 2030-2035 and oil between 2040 and 2045, according to their “carbon law”. They propose that, to remain on this trajectory, all sectors of the economy need decadal carbon roadmaps that follow this rule of thumb, modeled on Moore’s Law.
Moore’s Law states that computer processors double in power about every two years. While it is neither a natural nor legal law, this simple rule of thumb or heuristic has been described as a “golden rule” which has held for 50 years and still drives disruptive innovation.
The paper notes that a “carbon law” offers a flexible way to think about reducing carbon emissions. It can be applied across borders and economic sectors, as well as both regional and global scales.
Co-author Owen Gaffney, from Future Earth and Stockholm Resilience Centre, said, “The WMO climate report out this week provides stark evidence that the rate of change of Earth’s life support system is accelerating. We need unprecedented action and innovation to attempt to a halt this rapid change or risk catastrophe. The Carbon Law is not only a pathway for combating rising temperatures. It’s also a blueprint for unprecedented human creativity.”
Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, says, “Our civilisation needs to reach a socio-economic tipping point soon, and this roadmap shows just how this can happen. In particular, we identify concrete steps towards full decarbonisation by 2050. Businesses who try to avoid those steps and keep on tiptoeing will miss the next industrial revolution and thereby their best opportunity for a profitable future.”
Co-author Nebojsa Nakicenovic, deputy director general of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) and member of the Earth League, said: “Humanity must embark on a decisive transformation towards complete decarbonisation. The ‘Carbon law’ is a powerful strategy and roadmap for ramping down emissions to zero so as to stay within the global carbon budget for stabilising climate to less than 2°C above preindustrial levels.”
Joeri Rogelj, also at IIASA, said, “The carbon law outlines a global path towards achieving climate and sustainability goals in broad yet quantitative terms. It sketches a general vision of rapid emission reductions in conjunction with the development of sustainable carbon dioxide removal options. It clearly communicates that no single solution will do the job, and that this deep uncertainty thus implies starting today pursuing multiple options simultaneously.”
Malte Meinshausen, director of the Climate & Energy College at the University of Melbourne, said: “Regions that make way for future-proof renewable energy and storage investments will turn a zero-emissions future into an economic opportunity. While for years, we’ve seen the ramp-down of incumbent fossil technologies only as burden, the other side of the coin is now finally visible: lower costs, more jobs and cleaner air.”
Following a “carbon law”, which is based on published energy scenarios, would give the world a 75% chance of keeping Earth below 2°C above pre-industrial temperatures, the target agreed by nations in Paris in 2015.
A coalition of civil society operatives has frowned at reasons given by the Lagos State Government for demolishing Otodo Gbame, an ancestral fishing settlement in Lekki, on Friday, March 17, 2017 despite a subsisting order of court prohibiting the eviction of Otodo Gbame and other Lagos waterfronts.
A bulldozer in action during the demolition of Otodo Gbame
The groups said in a joint statement made available to EnviroNews on Thursday, March 23 2017: “We condemn such impunity and brazen disregard for the rule of law, which is incongruous with a democratic society and Lagos’s aspiration to be a center of excellence and a world-class megacity. Lagos is a megacity by virtue of its population and it will only be a world-class megacity if it refocuses its energies on serving the needs of the people, especially the poor and vulnerable.”
Describing the Otodo Gbame community as “illegal shanties and unwholesome habitation”, the government in a statement said its action was carried out in order to forestall an environmental disaster and another round of deadly skirmishes that led to the razing of the Otodo Gbame community in November 2016.
In a statement signed by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Steve Ayorinde, the government said the action was informed by the overriding public interest to ensure that the waterfront area is free from environmentally injurious and unsanitary habitation few months after it was consumed by fire and rendered uninhabitable.
The government denied flouting any court judgment as alleged, insisting that it owes a duty to the larger population of the state to ensure that public health and safety is maintained.
But, the coalition, comprising the Justice & Empowerment Initiatives; Nigerian Slum/Informal Settlement Federation; Network on Police Reform in Nigeria; Enough Is Enough; Centre for Children’s Health, Education, and Orientation and Protection; Centre for Defense of Human Rights Democracy in Africa; Community Life Project; and Legal Defense and Assistance Project, declared: “We are shocked by the state government’s attempts to justify the forced eviction of nearly 4,700 people based on protection of the environment and to deny that it was violating a court order. The purpose of preserving the environment is for the wellbeing of mankind and, therefore, environmental protection measures must also respect and protect fundamental human rights.
“An order that parties should maintain the status quo, indeed, refers to the status quo ante bellum. Under the circumstances, the status quo ante bellum refers to the situation before the conflict began, i.e. when all the communities that fell under the Governor’s 9 October 2016 attack were still intact since this is the situation the communities sought to preserve by approaching the court.
“Further, there can be no question but that the forced eviction of nearly 4,700 people from their homes without any notice and without any alternative shelter constitutes yet another unconstitutional violation of the right to dignity, among others, already condemned by the court.”
The day that President Trump’s climate science-slashing budget landed last week, his government held a public meeting to prepare the nation’s Southeast region for rising seas, wildfires, extreme downpours and other impacts of climate change.
Floodwaters surround several houses in Rocky Mount, N.C., near the Tar River in October 2016. Photo credit:Thomas Babb/News & Observer via AP
Despite White House budget director Mick Mulvaney’s assertion on Friday that studying climate change is a “waste of your money,” federal scientists are required, by a 1990 law, to do just that – and are carrying on for now, even under the cloud of budgetary uncertainty created by the Trump administration.
It’s no easy task. Trump’s “skinny” budget proposes to slash many climate-related programmes at agencies like NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration but often doesn’t go into specifics – raising doubts about the implications for climate science programmes across 13 government agencies and the production of an exhaustive report about the impact of climate change in the U.S. that is required by law.
“For each of these programmes, real people live on the other side of the budget line item,” said Ali Zaidi, a Stanford energy researcher who previously served in a key role in Obama’s Office of Management and Budget overseeing funding for climate and environmental programmes. “Students, small business, and sources of economic growth for communities count on this data. Now you’ve got folks waiting by the phone to learn whether they’ll be going to work tomorrow or whether the data that informs their livelihoods will still be available.”
“For agencies, this means they will be less creative and more conservative,” Zaidi continued. “They will plan to the lowest possible funding level. And that will hurt both the programs and the supply chains.”
Regarding the future of the $ 2.6 billion U.S. Global Change Research Programme, a White House Office of Management and Budget official said it would be “premature to speak to final funding levels prior to the full budget in mid-May.” Requests for comment to the federal climate programme were not returned.
The programme produces a sweeping report on how climate change is wracking different regions of the U.S. that is mandated every four years under the Global Change Research Act, signed into existence in 1990 by Republican president George H.W. Bush. The last installment of the report, released in 2014, ran over 800 pages. The next is due in 2018.
Last week’s event at North Carolina State University, aimed at drafting just one of the document’s many chapters, brought together around 50 federal researchers, university scientists, local activists, and students, among others – all working on different pieces of the climate problem in the U.S. Southeast.
U.S. regions are already preparing for climate change. The Southeast in particular faces severe threats from rising seas.
The town of Nags Head, on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, has had to grapple with the question of how and whether to close a beachside road, Seagull Drive, that has been damaged by several coastal storms.
Some residents still want to use the road and are looking at ways to protect the community from future sea level rise, said Jessica Whitehead, a geographer who works for the North Carolina Sea Grant programme at North Carolina State University and is working with Nags Head on adaptation.
But the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Sea Grant programme would lose its funding under the proposed Trump budget. “From my point of view, we keep going until we’re told to stop,” Whitehead said.
Another threat to the U.S. Southeast was underscored in tragic fashion last fall in Gatlinburg, Tenn., when the resort town was engulfed by a deadly wildfire driven by a combination of strong winds and drought conditions.
“Without a doubt, the managers I talk to, say more and more, they’re seeing fire behavior that they’ve never seen before in their careers,” Kevin Hiers, a former Air Force wildfire manager turned fire researcher with the Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy in Tallahassee, said. “And that change in fire behavior definitely corresponds with weather parameters that we have not typically had on average here in the Southeast.”
Hiers, who is drafting the climate assessment’s section on Southeastern fires, acknowledged concern about climate policy and budget cuts among federal scientists.
“I think that there is a general unease in government about the future of global change research,” Hiers said. But communities in the Southeast are going to have to prepare themselves for change. “There’s such a commitment across such a broad range of public and private entities to simply prepare for contingencies. That’s all just part of strategic planning.”
The scientists at the Raleigh meeting don’t just write their reports behind closed doors. They hold public meetings around the country, bare the guts of their drafting process, hear feedback about what’s happening in communities and go back to the drawing board to make it better.
They ask communities to provide them with particular case studies of places that are being harmed by climate change or places that are innovating in their way of adapting to it.
“They’re trying to be really constructive at a time when you’ve got the administration saying it’s a waste of money, literally,” says Anthony Janetos, a climate scientist at Boston University who served on advisory committees for the last three national assessments.
There’s a protracted process for releasing such a massive and influential document – raising fears that, if it so desires, a hostile Trump administration could derail or slow things down at many steps along the way.
First, there’s a review process in which scientists must answer not only critiques from the National Academy of Sciences, which vets the document, but also comments submitted by the public. “We are required to respond to every single comment,” explained Lynn Carter, a researcher at Louisiana State University who co-chaired the event in Raleigh and will be one of the chapter’s lead authors.
To be formally adopted as a government report, the 2014 version of the document also had to go through a review process at the White House’s Office of Management and Budget – currently leading the blueprint for slashing the federal government – which sent it out to all 13 federal agencies in the Global Change Research Program for critical review and further changes.
Any of those agencies or the White House could, presumably, balk at the report’s content and delay its formal release to Congress.
“Does that clearance process become one more fact check, or does that become a process that is more problematic?” Janetos asked. “And I just think we don’t know.”
The first test of how the thinly staffed Trump administration will handle the ongoing national assessment process could come later this year – when it will have to make decisions about the publication of a separate, more than 500 page report designed to serve as the National Climate Assessment’s scientific foundation. That fundamental climate science document recently received a largely positive peer review from the U.S. National Academies of Sciences and, if it stays on schedule, would come out in the fall of 2017, with the broader regionally focused report to follow a year later.
National Assessments have been delayed extensively in the past. After the Clinton administration produced the first one in 2000, it took until 2009 to publish the second – the very early Obama years.
So as the process continues, university scientists and communities and activists around the country will be watching closely – just as they were at the meeting in Raleigh.
“With the current administration, is [the report] really going to be reviewed and are they going to have the staff to review it?” asked Karen Bearden, a volunteer with the Research Triangle branch of the climate advocacy group 350.org, during a question-and-answer session at the meeting.
“What I can tell you, this report, and the actions that are being taken to write it are being required by law,” answered Chris Avery, a contractor with the Global Change Research Programme. “This is an obligatory thing.”
“Understanding Clouds” is the theme of World Meteorological Day 2017 to highlight the enormous importance of clouds for weather climate and water. According to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), clouds are central to weather observations and forecasts, adding that clouds are one of the key uncertainties in the study of climate change.
Clouds. Understanding clouds could mean understanding climate
“We need to better understand how clouds affect the climate and how a changing climate will affect clouds,” the UN body adds, pointing out that clouds play a critical role in the water cycle and shaping the global distribution of water resources.
On the lighter side, the World Meteorological Day provides an opportunity to celebrate the inherent beauty and aesthetic appeal of clouds, which has inspired artists, poets, musicians, photographers and countless other enthusiasts throughout history.
Also, the World Meteorological Day marked the launch of a new edition of the International Cloud Atlas after what is considered the most thorough and far-reaching revision in its long and distinguished history. The new WMO Atlas is regarded as a treasure trove of hundreds of images of clouds, including a few newly classified cloud types. It also features other meteorological phenomena such as rainbows, halos, snow devils and hailstones. For the first time ever, the Atlas has been produced in a digital format and is accessible via both computers and mobile devices.
The International Cloud Atlas is said to be the single authoritative and most comprehensive reference for identifying clouds. It is considered to be an essential training tool for professionals in the meteorological community and those working in aviation and shipping. Its reputation is legendary among cloud enthusiasts.
The WMO says: “The International Cloud Atlas has its roots in the late 19th century. It was revised on several occasions in the 20th century, most recently in 1987, as a hard copy book, before the advent of the Internet.
“Advances in science, technology and photography prompted WMO to undertake the ambitious and exhaustive task of revising and updating the Atlas with images contributed by meteorologists, cloud watchers and photographers from around the world.”
Secretary General of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), Patteri Taalas, in a message to observe the World Meteorological Day on Thursday, March 23 2017, lists the roles clouds play in regulating the Earth’s energy balance
Secretary General of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), Patteri Taalas, says clouds help to drive the water cycle and the entire climate system
Throughout the centuries, few natural phenomena have inspired as much scientific thought and artistic reflection as clouds.
More than two millennia ago, Aristotle studied clouds and wrote a treatise addressing their role in the hydrological cycle. But it was Luke Howard, an amateur meteorologist living in England in the early 19th century, who produced the first classification of clouds.
Drawing on his comprehensive records of weather in the London area from 1801 to 1841, Howard identified three main genera, or categories, of cloud: cumulus, stratus and cirrus. Identifying, describing and naming clouds remains critical to the study of weather and climate.
Today scientists understand that clouds play a vital role in regulating the Earth’s energy balance, climate and weather. They help to drive the water cycle and the entire climate system. Understanding clouds is essential for forecasting weather conditions, modelling the impacts of future climate change and predicting the availability of water resources.
Music, art and poetry
The evocative symbolism of clouds has inspired many artists around the world, including poets, musicians, photographers and other enthusiasts. To take just one example, the first orchestral Nocturne by Debussy, entitled Nuages (clouds), is one of the masterpieces of musical impressionism. Photographers are particularly fascinated by clouds, including those who enthusiastically contributed to the WMO 2017 calendar illustrating this year’s World Meteorological Day Theme of “Understanding clouds.”
Clouds are also embedded in cultural symbols and habits of thought. In China, “auspicious clouds” represent the heavens and good luck. In some languages people say “she has her head in the clouds” to indicate somebody who is immersed in fantastic dreams or ideas. In the modern world, “the cloud” now refers to that amorphous space that holds, not rain, but Internet resources and digitised data.
Going digital: an Atlas for the Internet Age
The International Cloud Atlas is the single most authoritative and comprehensive reference for identifying clouds. Its reputation is legendary among cloud enthusiasts. The existing Atlas was first published in the late 19th century. It contains a detailed manual of standards and numerous plates of photographs of clouds and certain other weather phenomena.
After the last revision 30 years ago, a fully updated and revised edition will now be launched for World Meteorological Day on 23 March 2017.
For the first time, the 2017 edition will primarily be an on-line digital product. It offers a treasure trove of hundreds of images of clouds, including a few cloud classifications, such as the volutus, a roll cloud, the contrail, a vapor trail sometimes produced by airplanes, and the asperitas, an undulated cloud. In addition, the Atlas contains important information on other meteorological phenomena such as rainbows, halos, snow devils and hailstones.
Advances in science, technology and photography prompted WMO to undertake the ambitious and exhaustive task of revising and updating the Atlas with images contributed by meteorologists, cloud watchers and photographers.
The Atlas also serves as an essential training tool for professionals working in meteorological services and companies and in sectors such as aviation and shipping.
Understanding weather and climate phenomena to protect life and property and assist communities to become more resilient is the core mission of WMO. We will continue to assist governments to provide the best possible weather, climate, hydrology, marine and environmental services to protect life and property and to support decision-making.
The arrival of two Super Eagles goalkeepers appeared to remove a huge burden from Coach Gernot Rohr and other players in time for the Thursday, March 23, 2017 friendly against Senegal.
Super Eagles goalkeeper, Daniel Akpeyi
Goalkeepers Ikechukwu Ezenwa and Daniel Akpeyi finally joined the rest of the Eagles squad on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning respectively.
Both goalkeepers had been delayed by visa hiccups in Nigeria and South Africa respectively, and with first choice goalkeeper Carl Ikeme doubtful.
This led Rohr to call up the unknown Tope Okeowo from Peckham All Stars as insurance.
Team doctor Ibrahim Gyaran revealed that Ikeme has been having hamstring and Achilles tendon issues.
“We are still awaiting the result of a scan we did on him Wednesday.
“We are glad that the other goalkeepers have arrived. Their delay had put toll on Rohr,” he explained.
Ezenwa eventually got his visa on Tuesday evening and flew out of Lagos to London on Wednesday along side Coach Salisu Yusuf, while South Africa-based Akpeyi’s visa was delayed by a public holiday in South Africa.
He did the 11-hour haul from Johannesburg to London overnight and arrived at Crowne Plaza London Ealing, after breakfast on Thursday.
