Africa Business News

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Professor Itse Sagay has advised the government to scrap the Constitution and adopt the 1963 Republican Constitution.He believes the 1963 Republican Constitution addresses everything that is being agitated for in the country and can help halt the turmoil that has rocked the nation.Sagay, who is also the Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption, noted the report of the Nasir El-Rufai led All Progressives Congress Committee on Restructuring.He stated that the committee came up with an excellent report, stressing the need to look at the content of the documents and implement them.

The House of Representatives Special Committee on Constitution Review has fixed Tuesday and Wednesday next week for its zonal public hearing scheduled to take place across the six geopolitical zones of the country.The Deputy Speaker of the House and Chairman of the committee, Ahmed Wase, called Nigerians, including members of the executive and judicial bodies, traditional institutions, political parties, civil society organisations, and professional bodies, among other stakeholders to attend the hearing in their respective zones.He noted that the members of the committee would be posted outside their zones to have a feeling of what was obtainable in other regions.The Deputy Speaker says they have an opportunity to write their names in gold.

President Muhammadu Buhari has lamented the Friday crash that led to the loss of the former Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Ibrahim Attahiru and 10 other military personnel, saying the incident has compounded the nation’s woes.President Buhari told the delegation that he is hoping that God would provide the enablement for the nation to deal with challenges.He says to lose choice officers has increased the problem of the country but they will continue to work hard and pray hard so that God will give them the power to appreciate and apply themselves to the problem.

The Presidency has faulted the recent resolutions of the Southern Governors, including the ban on open grazing in the entire southern part of the country.The President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, believes the Governors have failed to provide any solution to the lingering crisis between farmers and herders in the country.He says the citizens of the Southern States have a right to expect their elected leaders and representatives to find answers to challenges of governance and rights, and not to wash their hands off hard choices by, instead, issuing bans.Shehu explained that the President has expressed a strong resolve to address the conflicts of herders and farmers in a sustained and lasting manner.

A study by Public Health England shows that the Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines have been found to be highly effective against the coronavirus variant that was first identified in India.The Pfizer vaccine was 88-per cent effective and the AstraZeneca jab was 60-per cent effective against the B1617.2 strain after the second dose.Health Secretary Matt Hancock described the outcome as groundbreaking, while PHE says it expects to see even higher levels of effectiveness against hospital admission and death.

The speaker of Iran’s parliament says a three-month monitoring deal between Tehran and the UN nuclear watchdog has expired and that its access to images from inside some Iranian nuclear sites would cease.The International Atomic Energy Agency and Tehran struck the three-month monitoring agreement in February to cushion the blow of Iran reducing its cooperation with the agency, and it allowed monitoring of some activities that would otherwise have been axed to continue.IAEA chief Rafael Grossi is in talks with Iran about extending the agreement.European diplomats say that a failure to agree upon an extension would plunge the wider, indirect talks between Washington and Tehran on reviving the 2015 deal into crisis. Those talks are due to resume in Vienna this week.

In Gaza, a UN official called for a genuine political process to avert further bloodshed after the military conflict between Israel and Islamist group Hamas that ravaged the Palestinian enclave.Head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency, Philippe Lazzarini, says the reconstruction needed to go hand in hand with efforts to create a different political environment.He says they need to have a genuine focus on human development on proper access to education, jobs and livelihoods.

Top European Union officials warned Belarus on Sunday that it would be held responsible for the fate of a flight diverted to Minsk and demanded all passengers be released.EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell tweeted that they hold the government of Belarus responsible for the security of all passengers and the aircraft.The president of the European Council Charles Michel, who will host a summit of the 27 EU national leaders on Monday, also spoke out.He says an ICAO investigation of the incident will be essential referring to the International Civil Aviation Organisation, a UN agency.

Interior minister Priti Patel says Britain is to announce plans for a fully digital border, including US-style electronic travel authorisation to pre-check travellers to the UK.The minister will announce the plans in parliament on Monday as part of a wider overhaul of the country’s immigration system, including introducing a points-based migration system.Patel says the new fully digital border will provide the ability to count people in and out of the country, giving us control over who comes to the UKPatel unveiled elements of her New Plan for Immigration in March, calling it the most significant overhaul of our asylum system in decades.

The United States is imposing wide-ranging restrictions on economic and security assistance to Ethiopia over the conflict in the Tigray region.The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, also announced visa restrictions on Ethiopian and Eritrean officials and others who are accused of atrocities.Mr Blinken stressed that international action was needed to help resolve the crisis and said those involved had taken no meaningful steps to end hostilities.The Ethiopian government dismissed allegations that civilians in the war-hit Tigray region were targeted with chemical weapons by the Ethiopian or Eritrean armies.