Cultural sector to get £21m support

AUTHORITIES in Nigeria have destroyed more than one million expired doses of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, even as the West African country’s vaccination rate has almost doubled in the last week amid a surge in confirmed infections.

The expired doses – a total of 1,066,214 – were destroyed yesterday

THE Scottish Government has announced £21 million of support for cultural and events organisations and freelancers.

The additional funds have been allocated to support those who have been impacted by cancellations due to the spread of the Omicron variant.

The government has advised that the funding is to help manage the impact of new guidelines on social distancing and crowd limits.

Culture Secretary Angus Robertson said: “Culture and events continue to be among the sectors hardest hit by Covid as the emergence of a new variant is once again causing disruption and uncertainty.

“The steps we’re asking the public to take to minimise the spread of the virus are having a severe in the capital, Abuja, a week after Nigeria said it would no longer accept donated Covid-19 vaccines with a short shelf-life.

Faisal Shuaib, head of Nigeria’s National Primary Health Care Development Agency, said Nigeria was put in a difficult situation by developed countries that had “procured these vaccines and hoarded them in their financial impact on the sector at a time when they were just beginning to recover from previous waves of the coronavirus.

“In the past few weeks, both myself and Culture Minister Jenny Gilruth have been speaking to freelancers and representatives from culture and events organisations to ensure they get immediate support to meet their needs.

“This £21m in additional funding is vital to support culture and events organisations and protect the livelihoods of the people who work in the sector.”

Last week, a £100m package was announced by the government to compensate businesses affected by cancellations. The culture and events funding is a part of this package and includes an additional £1m from existing events sector funds. stores (and) at the point they were about to expire, they offered them for donation.”

Vaccination is also rapidly picking up in the most populous country in Africa, which has set an ambitious goal of fully vaccinating 55 million of its 206 million citizens before February, although only 2% have received their two doses.

The government has announced £10.2m for cultural organisations and venues to be administered by Creative Scotland, which will also be responsible for the £8m cancellation fund for creative freelancers.

Those eligible can apply for grants from the cancellation fund of between £500 and £2,000. Applications will open at 2pm on Thursday January 6.

Iain Munro, the CEO of Creative Scotland, said: “Applications will be followed by further details of how and when to apply for the emergency support for organisations.”

A total of £2.8m will go towards the wider events supply chain and be allocated by EventScotland.

Businesses in the hospitality sector which have been faced with increased cancellations may be eligible for a Business Support Top-Up Grant of £4,500 or £6,800.