Africa Business News

The federal government says it stands by its decision to void over 22,700 degree certificates obtained by Nigerians in some “fake” universities in neighbouring Togo and Benin Republic. Education Minister Tahir Mamman, says Nigerians who obtained degree certificates from such “illegal” tertiary institutions are denting Nigeria’s image. He says the measure to invalidate degree certificates from illegal universities in the Benin Republic and Togo was not a harsh one as the authorities in the neighbouring Francophone West African countries also adjudged the concerned schools as fake. The Federal Government subsequently suspended the accreditation of certificates from the two francophone West African nations and launched a probe.

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The Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission earlier said that electricity consumption was not a fundamental right that could be challenged. The country’s Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu,says that electricity will now be treated as a fundamental human right. He says Although access to electricity is not exactly specified as a fundamental human right by the United Nations, it is implied within human rights frameworks in countries like India and China. He says making electricity a basic human right means that the country will offer respite to Nigerians who use generators to meet their electricity needs. He however did not explain how the government will outline a clear plan to address the country’s longstanding power supply challenges and deliver on this ambitious promise.

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The Director General of the World Trade Organisation, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has advocated policy consistency in Nigeria regardless of change from one administration to another. She says maintaining good economic and social policies; maintaining policy consistency and adding more reforms will lead along the path of good progress. The former Nigerian finance minister decried a phenomenon she labelled as the “not-in-my-administration syndrome” in governance which she said has been responsible for the not-so-good economic performance of Nigeria.

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The World Health Organization has declared the mpox outbreak in parts of Africa a public health emergency of international concern. The highly contagious disease - formerly known as monkeypox - has killed at least 450 people during an initial outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It has now spread across parts of central and east Africa, and scientists are concerned about how fast a new variant of the disease is spreading and its high fatality rate. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says the potential for further spread within Africa and beyond is very worrying. He says a co-ordinated international response is essential to stop this outbreak and save lives.

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The Federal Government has given subscribers of the National Housing Programme a 90-day deadline to complete their payments, with an additional eight-week grace period. The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, Dr Marcus Ogunbiyi, says the validity period for the completion of all payments was 90 days.” However, he added that a grace period of eight weeks was given to them, within which they were advised to complete all their payments. He explained that it meant that subscribers who had not yet completed their payments had 26 weeks to do so. The ministry has urged subscribers to take advantage of the grace period to complete their payments and avoid having their offers revoked.

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The Federal Government has been implored to simplify the process of land documentation as a measure to enhance housing construction and home ownership across the country. The Managing Director of Gestpoint Nigeria Limited, Dr Ebenezer Akinrinade, says the current reality in the sector is that the process of getting land documented is cumbersome and time-consuming across the country, adding that the development impedes investors from Nigeria’s real estate sector. He posited that if the government could give every other sector grants to do one or two projects, the real estate sector would equally need some funds.

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Stakeholders in the judiciary sector of the country have called for speedy implementation of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act across the country. They said the act was passed into law and domesticated in 2015 by at least 34 states including Katsina is yet to be implemented, The Programme Manager of CLEEN Foundation, Chigozirim Okoro, described policing as a collective responsibility from parents to guardians, to school teachers, to community heads, to religious leaders, to security and law enforcement agencies to ensure violence-free Nigeria.

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The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has debunked a report claiming that it owes international oil traders $6.8 billion. Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Olufemi Soneye, also refuted claims that the NNPCL has not remitted funds into the federation account since January. Soneye, however, acknowledged that it is normal to owe at one point or the other since the oil trading business, transactions are carried out on credit. He says on the issue of quality/quantity fiscalization of imported petroleum products, the NNPCL has no role whatsoever as it is not a regulator. He added that the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority is an independent body and does not report to the NNPCL.

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Hamas says that any resumption of ceasefire talks about the conflict in Gaza should be based on previous plans rather than holding new rounds of negotiations. International mediators from Qatar, Egypt and the US urged Israel and Hamas to attend negotiations on a ceasefire and hostage release deal on 15 August. Israel responded saying it would send a team of negotiators to take part in the meeting. Negotiations faltered last month, after new terms were introduced to the framework presented by US President Joe Biden in May. The leaders of the UK, France and Germany issued a joint call for talks to resume, saying there can be no further delay. UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz echoed the mediators' call for ceasefire talks to resume in a joint statement.

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A US court has convicted a Mozambican former finance minister over a 10-year-old conspiracy that triggered the worst economic crisis in his home country since independence. Manuel Chang was found guilty of accepting pay-offs through US banks for approving secret loans which were intended to pay for a fleet of tuna fishing ships and other projects, leading to the affair being dubbed the "tuna bond" scandal. But the loans were plundered, leaving Mozambique $2bn (£1.5bn) in debt. Chang was arrested in South Africa in 2018, and extradited to the US the following year to face fraud and money-laundering charges. Ten other people have been imprisoned in Mozambique over the scandal, including the son of then-President Armando Guebuza.

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