Africa Business News

A lawmaker has accused some of the medical professionals of coming into the system illegally.
Mr Yusuf Sununu, the House of Representatives, says some of the unpaid resident doctors flouted the rules as a result of their illegal employment.
He highlighted some of the issues that led to the industrial action by medical practitioners.
He expects a favourable outcome at the end of the meeting in order to ensure the striking doctors return to work following a week of paralysed activities in most of the government-owned facilities in the country.
Yusuf was also critical of the present condition of the nation’s healthcare system, as well as the exodus of young and brilliant doctors from the country.

People in France will need to show a health pass from Monday to enjoy usually routine activities Learn more about manual excerpts such as sipping a coffee in a café or intercity travel, despite large scale protests against the plan.
President Emmanuel Macron has championed the so-called COVID-19 pass, which is now being extended to cafés, restaurants and air and train travel, as a way to curb a fourth wave of the coronavirus and encourage people to get vaccinated.
The plan however has led to four weekends of angry protests with almost a quarter of a million people taking to the streets across the country on Saturday.
Health Minister Olivier Veran told Le Parisien daily that the pass and the vaccination drive should help us avoid new curfews and lockdowns.

The Tokyo 2020 Games were declared closed by IOC chief Thomas Bach on Sunday, ending the Olympic journey after a year’s pandemic delay and threats of cancellation.
Bach called them unprecedented Olympic Games as he addressed the 68,000-seat Olympic Stadium.
He says in these difficult times they are all living through, athletes give the world the most precious of gifts: hope.
It marked a low-key end to an extraordinary Olympics that have mostly played out in empty venues with only athletes, team officials and media present.

Human rights campaign group Amnesty International says an Egyptian army propaganda video appears to show troops carrying out extrajudicial killings.
The army posted the images on social media earlier this week in an update on its war against militants in the Sinai peninsula.
Amnesty says it has analysed the footage, and it includes a scene in which a soldier shoots a person who is asleep in a makeshift tent.
The video also shows an unarmed man being shot from above as he runs in the desert.
Amnesty describes these as cold-blooded killings of people who posed no threat adding that the footage offered a glimpse of shocking crimes that are committed in the name of counter-terrorism in Egypt.

A Sudanese court has sentenced six members of a paramilitary group to death for killing protesters during the 2019 demonstrations over fuel and food shortages.
The shooting of the six protesters, who included four schoolchildren, sparked days over violent protests across Sudan.
Judge Ahmed Hassan al-Rahma says the six members of the Rapid Support Forces used unnecessary and excessive force during the July 2019 protests.
The six are sentenced to be hanged, but under Sudanese law, they can appeal.
Another RSF member was referred to a juvenile court as he was below 18 at the time of the demonstrations.

The Arewa Consultative Forum, Middle Belt Forum and Afenifere have reacted to the comment by a former military President, General Ibrahim Babangida that the next President of Nigeria should be less than 70 years and that the country’s corruption index is worse now than what it was when he was Nigeria’s military ruler.
The pan Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, has also backed the former military president’s position on the age of the next president, citing the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo; and Chief Ladoke Akintola, who were in their 50s and 40s when they became premiers of the Western Region.
The socio-political group, however, argued that a president’s performance does not depend on his age but his vision and the country’s political structure.

The Former Director of the Department of State Service, Mr Dennis Amachree, has called on the federal government to do everything possible to stop ransom payment to kidnappers, saying the decision would be the solution to the nefarious activities of making money through kidnapping by bandits and others.
Amachree, says that bandits and others have found kidnapping very lucrative because they are paid the ransom, but this would stop if the federal government discouraged ransom payment and stopped negotiating with bandits when they kidnap persons.
He said that many bandits and terrorists had engaged in the illicit business because firm actions had not been taken to stop the kidnapping. When decisive actions are taken by stopping ransom payment, kidnapping would end in Nigeria.
He said that bandits and others who engage in kidnapping are largely located in the northwest and North-central, but insurgents like Boko Haram, who also engaged in kidnapping, stay in the northeast, noting that those are guided by different directions ideologies, including the condemnation of education.

The Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19 has announced the postponement of the second batch of COVID-19 Moderna vaccines doses donated by the American government to intensify the battle against the virus.
The Director Press, PSC, on COVID-19 Mr Willie Bassey, says the PSC announced the second phase of vaccination against the virus having received four million doses of Moderna vaccines donated by the United States government through COVAX.
The News Agency of Nigeria reported that the exercise was earlier scheduled to commence tomorrow August 10, 2021, at the Federal Medical Centre, Jabi, Abuja.
Bassey says the exercise was postponed due to some unforeseen circumstances.

The Senate has denied reports that the lawmakers have proposed the creation of 20 more states, saying the upper chamber was grossly misrepresented.
Senate spokesman Ajibola Basiru in a statement says the report is a misunderstanding of the decision reached by the Senate Committee on the Review of the 1999 constitution.
The statement says the report is a gross misrepresentation of the decision of the committee on the request for the creation of more states.
He says Section 8 of the Nigerian Constitution clearly stipulates the procedures for the creation of additional states adding that the Senate Committee is not in a position to propose the creation of any state as reported.

The Coalition of Northern Groups has kicked against the suspension of the embattled Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mr Abba Kyari following his indictment by a US Court.
Spokesman of the Coalition, Abdulazeez Sulaiman, noted that the Nigerian police authorities and the FBI breached Kyari ‘s fundamental rights by not allowing him to be heard before taking hasty actions against him.
They have, therefore, demanded an immediate review of the suspension and have also asked that the ongoing investigation with the FBI be transferred to the Nigerian Intelligence Agency.