Africa Business News

Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka has asked the Federal Government to apologise to Sunday Igboho after the Department of State Services officials invaded his home and killed two of his associates.
In an interview with BBC Pidgin, Soyinka says the government’s actions and rationale for invading Igboho’s home stinks.
He advises the government to stop pursuing Igboho as a criminal because they have begun acting criminally against him.

Southern governors have jointly agreed that Nigeria’s next president should emerge from the southern region.
The governors also set September 1, 2021, as the deadline for the promulgation of anti-open grazing law among its member states.
Chairman of the Southern Governors’ Forum, Rotimi Akeredolu, says the Forum reiterates its commitment to the politics of equity, fairness and unanimously agrees that the presidency of Nigeria be rotated between Southern and Northern Nigeria and resolved that the next president of Nigeria should emerge from the Southern Region.
The governors affirmed their commitment to the unity of Nigeria on the pillars of equity, fairness, justice, progress, and peaceful co-existence between and amongst its people.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to announce a further relaxation in coronavirus restrictions in England later on Monday, saying people must learn to live with the virus and exercise judgement as they go about their daily lives.
Johnson is expected to move ahead with the final stage of the four-step plan out of lockdown and restore people’s freedoms when he speaks at a news conference on Monday.
Step four, which is scheduled to come into effect on July 19, will mean the removal of mask-wearing rules, the end of social distancing and the return of large-scale events.
He says that the pandemic is not over and that cases will continue to rise over the coming weeks.
The British Medical Association has expressed concern about removing all measures to curb the spread of the virus given the surge in the Delta variant.

The United Arab Emirates has rejected a plan by the OPEC oil cartel and allied producing countries to extend the global pact to cut oil production beyond April 2022, a rare statement revealing the country’s frustration with the group.
The UAE is seeking to increase its output setting up a contest with ally and OPEC heavyweight Saudi Arabia, which has led a push to keep a tight lid on production.
The UAE says it supported plans for output increases over the summer, believing the market to be in dire need of higher production.
The country suggested deferring the whole discussion of the agreement’s extension to a later meeting and appealed for an updated production quota that reflects our current production capacity.

Britain has announced it will seek harsher sentences for migrants caught entering the country without permission amid a record-breaking surge in arrivals over the English Channel.
The legislation announced that it will make it a criminal offence to arrive in the UK without permission, with a maximum sentence for those entering the country unlawfully increasing from six months to four years.
Patel says the plans were fair but firm adding that the UK would welcome people through safe and legal routes whilst preventing abuse of the system, cracking down on illegal entry and the criminality associated with it.
The Home Office says it was very likely that those travelling to the UK via small boat will have come from a safe European Union country in which they could have claimed asylum.

Saudi Arabia has suspended flights to three countries, including the neighbouring United Arab Emirates, to protect against a coronavirus variant.
The UAE, and especially Dubai, is a key leisure destination for Saudis.
An interior ministry official says Flights to and from the UAE, alongside those to Ethiopia and Vietnam, will be suspended from Sunday.
It added that Saudi citizens and residents returning from these countries will be required to quarantine for 14 days.
Citizens would be banned from travelling directly or indirectly, without obtaining prior permission from authorities.

Kenya has denied any involvement in the arrest and extradition of Biafra separatist leader, Nnamdi Kanu.
The Kenyan High Commissioner to Nigeria, Wilfred Gisuka Machage, told journalists in Abuja the allegation that his country was involved was fictional, imaginary and concocted.
He challenged those accusing Kenya to provide evidence. He was responding to speculation that Mr Kanu was arrested in the East African country.
The high commissioner says Kenya has no intention of interfering in Nigeria’s internal affairs.
The Nigerian government says Mr Kanu was arrested on Sunday but declined to disclose where and how he was picked up.

South Sudan’s Minister of Petroleum, Puot Kang Chol says that the country’s local refinery is now operational and will soon supply the 10 regional states and countries in the region with refined oil products.
The minister says the refined products will be enough for domestic consumption and for supply to the neighbouring countries.
He says the refinery is operational and they only have issues to do with evacuation.
He says South Sudan has the biggest oil reserves in the region and should be the hub and the biggest supplier of oil products.

The World Health Organization says that new and faster-spreading variants are fuelling the continent’s surging third wave, infections reaching an all-time peak compared to past waves.
The Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, says that the speed and scale of the third wave are like nothing they have seen before, pushing the threat to Africa up to a whole new level.
The latest data, the Delta variant has been detected in 97%of samples in Uganda and 79% in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The head of DR Congo coronavirus response Jean-Jacques Muyembe says that the rate at which the Delta variant is spreading is worrying.
He says that hospitals are already overwhelmed and the morgues are full to capacity.

The 17 governors of the Southern states will meet in Lagos to continue their search for the solution to the problems confronting the country.
The governors had earlier issued a 12-point resolution, which included the ban on open grazing in all the states and the call for restructuring, among others.
The present meeting in Lagos will examine the progress made regarding the Asaba Declaration, examine opposition to some of the demands and come up with a better strategy for actualising the demands.
The governors were demanding inclusive government at the federal level, state police, and a review of the revenue allocation formula in favour of the sub-national governments.
They also wanted the creation of some other institutions, which will legitimately advance commitment to the practice of federalism.