Day: May 22, 2023

The dust is yet to settle as a Nigerian chef, Hilda Bassey broke World cooking records previously held by an Indian Lata Tondon.

In 2019, Lata cooked for 87 hours 45 minutes to hold the highest record ever attempted by a woman. But on Monday, May 15, 2023, Hilda Effiong Bassey cooked for 100 hours, beating her Indian counterpart in the Guinness World Record of longest cooking hours.

Nigerians trooped to her cooking site in Lekki, Lagos, to give their support to the sensational cook, who had become the star of the moment.

The meals from her kitchen fed thousands who took turns to have a taste of her cuisine.

Short;y after the feat, the Guinness Book of Records, said they were still verifying claims of her records. Days later, Hilda informed her fans that before she is officially proclaimed the record holder, she will need to upload proofs “and they are heavy to do so” she said, while asking fuming Nigerians to be calm.

But this is not all, a Liberian Chef, made things worst when he announced that he will be challenging Hilda to break her records. This is just a day after she hit 100 hours of non-stop cooking.

I find this appalling that some Africans who are supposed to support their own and celebrate the grace of Hilda, are instead throwing themselves into unhealthy competition.

When Indian-born, Lata Tondon, broke the records, there was no Indian, nor Asian who came up to brake the records. They all supported her, in her newfound fame.

The same Chef, Wonyean Aloycious, never came up to challenge the Indian but was quick to jump up and challenge Hilda.

When rumors broke out that he was about to make a challenge even before Hilda’s certification, I thought it was a joke until I made some research and found him confirming.

He said he was doing it for the culture.

In his own words, “GWR doesn’t have a time duration for one to break another person’s record! In so doing I don’t need anybody’s approval to make attempts in breaking a week-old record ????It’s not a hate or jealousy as you’ll see it”

I see a lazy chef who lacks initiative and can only get such when his fellow African Chef attempts a feat.

The Liberian Chef, Aloysius said, “I’m officially expressing my interest in sitting 120hrs new record for me and my country, breaking previous records holders.”

But this will have to wait until the GWR approves his challenge to start.

My question is why did he wait until Hilda breaks the record? I she out for publicity and clout chasing?

One thing is certain, the Liberian people and their media, have been pouring unflinching support and Aloysius is bent on seeing this happen.

Source: Cameroon News Agency

Aquaculture in Seychelles is on the path to becoming a strong sector in the island state’s Blue Economy, according to a fisheries official.

Over the past year, several research has been undertaken to highlight constraints, challenges as well as opportunities in the sector.

In 2019, the opening of a broodstock, acclimation and quarantine facility at the Providence Fishing Port on the main island of Mahe marked the official opening of aquaculture as an industry and became the central research facility.

The head of the Aquaculture Department at the Seychelles Fishing Authority, (SFA), Aubrey Lesperance, said research in the aquaculture sector plays a vital role in ensuring that all necessary research work is conducted and reported on to be able to provide insight for investors with necessary information based on their interest in the aquaculture sector.

“We have conducted research on different marine species, mainly the pompano, the mangrove snapper, as well as the spanner and mud crabs. We also undertook several analyses on nutrient and algae cultivation,” explained Lesperance.

He added that a very successful trial for the grow-out of mangrove snapper has been conducted and that “the information for this trial has been collated as a journal article. To ensure that the results can easily be applied in a commercial aquaculture setting, a Windows-based application was developed.”

According to the research, one of the key species that has been identified as a good candidate for commercial aquaculture in Seychelles is the Golden pompano. In the last year, the aquaculture team captured numerous specimens mainly in the southern part of Mahe.

“A similar growth experiment is being conducted on these to the mangrove snapper trail. The largest batch now weighs an average of 500 g and has grown quickly. The only problem has been that there have been a couple of mortalities, mostly due to fish jumping out of the tanks. This experiment is near completion, and information will be used to produce a model and app that can be distributed to investors to aid in commercialising this species,” explained Lesperance.

The research department of the broodstock, acclimation, and quarantine facility has also experimented and started raising sea urchin larvae. But this has led to some challenges with spawning, fertilisation, and feeding. “Water quality seems to be a problem, and during the next experiment, a lower stocking density and water exchanges will be implemented to attempt to grow the larvae for longer.”

Lesperance added that one of the developmental areas for aquaculture in Seychelles – 115 islands in the western Indian Ocean – is the production of aquarium fish. “An interesting species in this regard is the Seychelles anemone fish. We collected two pairs of anemone fish, which are currently being conditioned at the facility,” he said.

One private investor who has ventured into aquaculture is Christopher Lespoir of Harmony Investments. The company is currently experimenting with the farming of sea cucumbers.

“As a start-up company within the Blue Economy sector, it is commendable the amount of work input by the Seychelles Fishing Authority to prepare for the launch of the industry. Though there is more work ahead to be done, enough has been done to welcome new players like us in Harmony Investment,” Lespoir told SNA.

Lespoir believes that is essential to ensure that structures are in place to “prevent external economic sharks to now come in, poach local ideas, local resources and drive the local industry with local companies to a state of assured failure. We remain confident that Seychelles Fishing Authority is aware of such threats and will mitigate accordingly.”

Source: Seychelles News Agency

Two additional suspects in the fraud case involving cryptocurrency at Nouvobanq remain in police detention granted by the Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

The two suspects joined 12 others who were arrested and appeared in court last week.

The court has granted the police permission to detain the two suspects until May 30 while they continue their investigation.

The Magistrates’ Court said it had granted the police’s request since it believes a prima facie case has been made against the two suspects.

Mid last week, Nouvobanq said in a press communique that an investigation is ongoing by Seychelles’ authorities into what appears to be a fraudulent case. The case involved cryptocurrency between several parties based internationally and locally, in which Nouvobanq was the targeted bank.

Nouvobanq said that the ongoing investigation is being conducted by the bank, the Financial Crime Investigation Unit within the Seychelles Police Force and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).

The bank had reiterated its commitment to delivering a good service to its customers and continues to adhere to governance structures, which include the detection and prevention of fraudulent activities.

Nouvobanq is one of several commercial banks in Seychelles, founded in 1991, in a joint venture between the Seychelles government and Standard Chartered Bank.

As such it falls under the regulatory purview of the Central Bank of Seychelles (CBS).

CBS told SNA that “the particular incident reported by Nouvobanq relates to cryptocurrency, which is not treated as a currency and is therefore not legal tender in Seychelles. Albeit not a means of payment currently offered by financial institutions licensed or regulated by CBS under the Financial Institutions Act or the National Payment Systems Act, CBS and other relevant authorities are cognisant of its increasing popularity globally and rising interest locally.”

It added that given this reality and mindful of the associated impacts and risks, a National Risk Assessment (NRA) has been conducted, which has identified cryptocurrency or virtual currency/asset activities as an important risk to the domestic financial system.

“The regulatory and law enforcement authorities are currently working to address the identified gaps and put in place a robust regulatory framework to help mitigate the country’s exposure to the potential risks that can arise from such activities, which include money laundering and terrorism financing risks,” said CBS.

Source: Seychelles News Agency