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Faustin-Archange Touadéra was sworn in as the president of Central Africa Republic on the 30th of March 2016. He has now been in office for four years and announced his intentions to run for a second term in office. With elections in Central Africa Republic (CAR) due to start on the 27th of December 2020. Faustin-Archange Touadéra four years in office has seen: A peace deal signed which is still being implemented, Increase in inflation rates, which means an increase in prices and wages; Decrease in debt from 69.2% of the country's GDP in 2014 to 48.5% in 2018; GDP per capita also increased between 2016 and 2019. GDP per capita is the economic output per person in term of their production. It is also a measure of the country's wealth and prosperity. In 2012 Central Africa Republic had a GDP per Capita of $565.801 per person as shown by the World Bank's graph below. By 2016 the GDP per Capital had dropped to $402.191 but it should be noted that this was an improvement to the previous year which was $377.433. This means that by the time Faustin-Archange Touadéra took office as president, the GDP per Capital was already on an upward trend. By 2019 the GDP per Capita had risen to $467.907 but was on a downward trend as shown in the graph below. The Central Africa Republic still has issues with poverty and security but it does seem that things are improving since Faustin-Archange Touadéra became president. The change CAR need is not one that will happen overnight. It will take time and it might even take three or more presidents to get the CAR economy to where it needs to be.

I think its best to start this article with some key stats on Nigeria's air quality and carbon emissions from different sources. It's important because it paints a picture of how Africa's largest growing economy is also one of Africa's largest air polluters. According to Iqair.com, Nigeria is ranked 39 out the top 98 countries with the worst air quality. The International Association for Medical Assistance to Travellers (IAMAT) quotes the WHO as stating that the quality of air in Nigeria is unsafe. While air quality is poor in Nigeria Worldometers.info reported that as of 2016 Nigeria produced 82,634,214 tons of CO2 emissions, which amounts to only 0.23% of global CO2 emission. This is nothing compared to China and US which account for 28% and 15% global CO2 emissions respectively as shown in Investopedia’s CO2 emission pie chart below. So why is Nigeria’s air quality so poor when their carbon emissions aren’t as high as China, US or India? The answer probably lies in size of these countries in relation to their population. Nigeria has a population of approximately 200 million people while the US has a population of approximately 328 million. The problem is the size of Nigeria is 924,000 km2 compare to US which is 9.8 million km2. To describe it another way, imagine 9 people sleeping in one room compared to 15 people sleeping in 9 rooms. One room housing nine people is more congested than nine rooms housing 15 people. Some of the key sources of CO2 emissions are: A lack of waste recycling capability. Nigeria doesn’t recycle waste they burn it. Reliance fossil fuel. Due do inconsistent supply of electricity in Nigeria, Nigerians are heavily reliant on energy generation that requires combustion of fossil fuel. Examples are the use of Kerosene lanterns, Stoves, gas cookers and generators (Fuel and Diesel). All of these burn fuel which generates CO2 and other pollutants as a byproduct of combustion. Carbon emissions from used cars. Transportation is one of the largest contributors to CO2 emissions in Nigeria as shown in Investopedia's bar chart below. A large portion of this is attributed the use of used cars. These cars are usually imported from western countries where they either failed emission test or were deemed not road worthy. According to a UN report, a lack of strong regulation on imported vehicles is largely to blame for this. Crude oil exploration and extraction. This is another big source of CO2 emissions has recent studies have shown. Conclusion It’s essential to understand that CO2 isn’t the only type of emission causing air pollution in Nigeria. The Guardian reported that vehicle emissions from imported cars are a significant source of the fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) that are leading causes of urban air pollution. A report from the Guardian showed that international dealers export to Nigeria around 900,000 tonnes a year of low-grade, “dirty” fuel, made in Dutch, Belgian and other European refineries. They also found that hundreds of small-scale artisanal refineries produce large quantities of illegal fuel from oil stolen from the network of oil pipelines that criss-cross the Niger delta. What's worst is that the international resource watchdog group Stakeholder Democracy Network (SDN) undertook a laboratory analysis which showed that the black market fuel in Nigeria was highly polluting but of a higher quality than the imported diesel and gasoline from Europe. The average “unofficial” diesel tested exceeded the level of EU sulphur standards 152 times, and 40 times the level for gasoline. Nigeria needs to start moving away from fossil fuel and adopt renewable energy to protect the future generations and environment. Statistics already show that temperatures in Nigeria are rising gradually and in some areas rainfall has reduced significantly due to climate change. We advise the Nigerian governement adopt recommendation from the Stakeholder Democracy Network (SDN) report, which are: At a minimum, the Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) should be vested with the powers and partners required to implement the planned Nigerian fuel sulphur standards across official supply channels to mitigate particulate emissions; 50 ppm (diesel), 150 ppm (petrol) and 150 ppm (kerosene). This level for sulphur would still undermine emission reduction technologies, and so further reductions in these limits to align with EU or similar standards should be considered. Commission a formal joint investigation by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), Federal Ministries of Petroleum Resources and Environment, and the Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) to identify the levels of sulphur within official fuel supplies across the Niger Delta, and the rest of Nigeria. Should unacceptable levels be found, hold the relevant international and/or national companies, importers, and institutions to account. Commission a study into other sources of particulate emissions in the Port Harcourt area. This should be a collaboration between experts from the University of Port Harcourt, state Commissioner for Environment, Federal Ministry of Environment, international oil and gas companies, and civil society organisations. The study would need to gather data on air quality levels in different locations, and model sources and other important factors that can help policy-makers to mitigate the notorious soot. Request that all available data on air pollution in Port Harcourt is publicly released by international oil companies (and any others that are collecting data), and monitored to assess potential health impacts and the impact of any changes due to measures taken to improve fuel quality, the prevalence of artisanal refineries, and other sources of particulate emissions. Support the Rural Electrification Agency to work with private partners to develop renewable energy infrastructure across the Niger Delta to reduce demand for unofficial and official fuel, and pollutant emissions. The Ministry of Petroleum Resources and Petroleum Technology Development Fund should consider engaging artisanal oil refiners in plans for domestic refining, given they are often producing fuels with better characteristics than official fuel supplied to Nigeria. In addition to these policy recommendations by SDN, Changeinafrica.com recommend that Nigeria implement stronger regulation around importation of cars. These cars need to pass emission test and ideally should not be more than 10 years of age. There should also be significant investment into recycling waste. This is not only good for the environment, it will also create jobs and open up a whole new sector.

Tagged as the “The Lekki Toll Gate Massacre”, on the 20/10/20, it was alleged that the Nigerian Army opened fires on unarmed protesters leading to reports of multiple deaths. On the 19/11/20, CNN, one of the world’s most reputable news network, published a report titled “They pointed their gun at us and started shooting”. The report contained a video outlining various evidence that drew out the conclusion that the Nigerian army did shoot unarmed protester. This evidence included various eye witness testimonies, geo tagged photos and various video footage. On the same day Nigeria’s Minister for Information and Culture Lai Mohammed dismissed CNN’s investigation as "fake news" and "misinformation," and repeatedly denied that the military used live rounds against protesters. Lai Mohammed stated and I quote “Like everyone else, I watched the CNN report. I must tell you that it reinforces the disinformation that is going around, and it is blatantly irresponsible and a poor piece of journalistic work by a reputable international news organization,". The Minister also refuted claims that the military shot at unarmed protesters even though there seems to be videos circulating online that showed them open fire at unarmed protester. Prior to CNN publishing their report, CNN claimed they tried multiple times to elicit comments from the Nigerian army and police. They also claim a Lagos State police spokesman declined to comment because of an ongoing investigation and the Lagos State government said that there would be no comments while a judicial tribunal was underway. So what is the problem? The answer is simple, CNN's report would have had a stronger impact if they had waited for the judicial tribunal to conclude their investigation. If the evidence is has solid has CNN have claimed, which it seems to be, waiting for a month, two months or a year for the Nigerian government to conclude their internal investigation would have been in the best interest of everyone. What CNN did can be considered disrespectful to Nigeria as a country. While their intentions are good, the fact that they were unwilling to wait for Nigeria to conclude its due process before responding to international media, shows how little they respect the country’s government. Nigerian government are no saints but they represent the people of that country, good or bad, and should at least be given the benefit of a doubt by the international media. Similar instances seems to show a trend of how African countries are portrayed compared to their western counterparts when it comes to human rights and war crimes. For example, On the 19/11/20 the Australian Defence Force announced that their investigation into war crimes committed by Austrialian solidiers in the Afghan war showed credible evidence that Australian elite soldiers unlawfully killed 39 people. These incidents occurred between 2009 and 2013, yet Australia only announced the findings of a investigation 7 years later. Why didn’t CNN investigate this incident and issue a similar report in 2013, 2015 or 2017? They waited till Australia concluded its investigation before reporting on it. The trend doesn’t stop there. UK opened a similar inquiry into alleged unlawful killings by British troops in Afghanistan, in what was called Operation Northmoor. It was shut down in 2017 without any charges being brought against the soldiers involved. Meanwhile, a 2016 report from the ICC said there was reasonable basis to believe that the US military had committed torture at secret detention sites operated by the CIA. In all these cases I don’t see the international media jumping the gun to declare what really happened before the country finishes its internal investigation. CNN‘s report may be factual, in fact I am inclined to believe that some part of it is true, if not all. But in releasing their report and declaring that Nigerian soldiers did kill unarmed protesters before the Nigerian government completed their investigation, they made themselves judge and jury. It is bad enough that the western media mostly portray Africa as a continent of poverty, violence, war and corruption. What I don’t understand is why the US, UK, Australia and other western countries aren’t portrayed as human rights violators and war criminals when they commit similar crimes. Instead the perpetrator is punished not the country, although both parties should be held to account. In Africa it is the reverse, western media portray the whole country as violent animals shooting unarmed protesters instead of targeting those accountable. The US, UK and Australia are not better than Nigeria and if the western media can afford to wait for these countries to investigate human rights violations then they should afford African countries such as Nigeria the same respect.