Air Tanzania on Monday resumed flights to Entebbe International Airport after six months of closure due to Covid-19, a move the airline MD says will help promote investment in the region.

The Managing Director Air Tanzania, Mr Ladislaus Matindi, in a statement, said: “We continue to extend the wings of Kilimanjaro over Africa and beyond so that the investment, trade and tourism opportunities presented by the resumption of these flights and the expansion of the network will certainly add value to our destination countries as we strive to offer affordable and improved connections.”

Mr Matindi made the remarks in a statement read by the airlines country station manager at Entebbe International Airport on Sunday during the airlines first flight in the country following the reopening of the airport for passenger travel.

“Air Tanzania will be providing two frequencies per week to Entebbe on Wednesday and Sunday connecting passengers from Dar es Salaam Kilimanjaro and Arusha. Air Tanzania will also make two frequencies per week to Lusaka zambia via Harare on Tuesday and Friday connecting passengers from other places at Dar es Salaam hub” he said.

Mr Matindi said Air Tanzania has taken all precautions regarding Covid-19 to take care of both the passengers and crew’s health during operations to all destinations.

“Soon Air Tanzania Company Limited will connect to Mumbai India, Bangkok Thailand and Quanzhou China via dare s Salaam” he said.

The station manager of Air Tanzania Ms Amanda Nyambona said the airline that normally operates four flights a week but had to schedule to two flights due to the Covid 19 pandemic was half board on the first flight on Bombardier Q400 which is a 76 seater.

“People are still scared of travelling, we know there is Covid but we are safe, our flights are disinfected upon arrival and departure, we observe a two-meter sitting distance between passengers who are required to wear masks,” she said.

MTN Nigeria has announced the appointment of Mr. Karl Toriola as the CEO designate.

MTN Group also announced it appointed Ferdi Moolman as MTN Group chief risk officer, a new group executive committee (exco) position.

Both are effective from 1 March 2021, providing enough time for an orderly handover.

In a statement on its website, MTN Group said Toriola is the current vice president for MTN Group’s West and Central Africa (WECA) region. He will succeed Moolman, who has served MTN Nigeria in the role for the past five years.

Moolman will return to South Africa, where he will assume the new role of group chief risk officer.

Toriola has a BSc Hons in Electronic and Electrical Engineering and MSc in Communication Systems. In his five years as VP of MTN’s WECA region, he oversaw the steady progress of the operating companies in the region, notably the turnaround of MTN Ivory Coast and MTN Cameroon over the past two years.

In addition, the WECA markets have made significant commercial and strategic strides, including the improvement of market share and the development of mobile financial services. The latter in particular is an important driver of the group’s medium- to long-term growth strategy.

Since joining the group in 2006, 48-year-old Toriola has also held a number of senior operational roles at MTN, including chief technical officer of MTN Nigeria and CEO of MTN Cameroon. He is also a board member on a number of companies within the group, including MTN Nigeria. Karl’s successor as VP for WECA will be announced after the group strategy review is completed by the end of November 2020.

“Karl brings extensive technical and commercial experience, as well as a deep understanding of the Nigeria market to the role,” commented MTN Group President and CEO Ralph Mupita.

“Karl started his MTN career in his home country at MTN Nigeria 14 years’ ago and has all the attributes necessary to lead this very important business into the future.”

Transactions on the Nigerian Stock Exchange opened for the week on Monday still on an upward trend with the market capitalisation crossing N15 trillion mark.

Specifically, the market capitalisation which opened at N14.999 trillion inched higher by N42 billion or 0.28 per cent to close at N15.041 trillion.

Also, the All-Share Index increased by 80.90 points or 0.28 per cent to close at 28,777.96 compared with 28,697.06 achieved on Friday.

The upturn was impacted by gains recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which were; Flour Mills, Dangote Cement, Custodian Investment, Ecobank Transnational and Glaxo Smithkline.

This week, analysts at United Capital Plc said “We expect more earnings to come in and investors will continue to cheery picks on stocks’’.

Also, analysts at Afrinvest Ltd., expected the performance of the equities market to be dictated by the earnings’ result.

Market breadth was positive with 27 gainers against 15 losers.

Custodian Investment led the gainers’ chart in percentage terms, gaining 10 per cent to close at N5.50 per share.

NPF Microfinance Bank trailed with 9.70 per cent to close at N1.47, while eTranzact rose by 7.73 per cent to close at N1.95 per share.

ETI and Lasaco Assurance improved by 7.69 per cent each to close at N4.90 and 28k per share, respectively.

On the other hand, Morison Industries led the losers’ chart in percentage terms, losing 10 per cent to close at 54k per share.

Consolidated Hallmark Insurance lost 8.82 per cent to close at 31k, while NASCON shed 8.39 per cent to close at N13.10 per share.

Wapic Insurance dropped 7.50 per cent to close at 37k, while Livestock Feeds depreciated by 7.46 per cent to close at 62k per share.

In the same vein, the total volume of shares traded increased by 20.44 per cent as investors bought and sold 340.80 million shares worth N5.56 billion in 4,235 deals.

This was in contrast to 282.97 million shares valued at N4.43 billion exchanged in 2,942 deals on Friday.

Transactions in the shares of Guaranty Trust Bank topped the activity chart with 56.79 million shares valued at N1.74 billion.

Zenith Bank followed with 47.79 million shares worth N1.01 billion, while Wapic Insurance traded 40.05 million shares valued at N14.76 million.

FBN Holdings sold 26.14 million shares worth N160.09 million, while United Bank for Africa accounted for 21.76 million shares worth N155.39 million.