Africa Business News

The European Commission is looking to launch legal action against AstraZeneca for underdelivering COVID-19 vaccine doses to the EU, hobbling the bloc’s early rollout of jabsThe EU executive says any lawsuit against AstraZeneca would begin in a Belgian court — the jurisdiction agreed under the commission’s contract with the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company.A Commission spokesman, Stefan De Keersmaecker says AstraZeneca is not delivering the number of doses that have been agreed upon in the contract. He says this is one of the reasons why they keep their options open together with member states to take any further steps.

The World Health Organization has urged African countries not to destroy Covid-19 vaccines that may have passed their expiry date.Countries have been told to keep hold of them and wait for further guidance.The appeal comes after Malawi and South Sudan said they would destroy more than 70,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab because they expired in mid-April.The Africa Centres for Disease Control says it had been assured the doses were safe to use.Many vaccines can be used up to 36 months after manufacture, but because Covid-19 jabs are so new there is not enough data to prove their effectiveness over longer periods.The final decision on whether to use expired jabs rests with national drug regulators, the BBC's health reporter in Nairobi, Rhoda Odhiambo, notes.The roll-out of coronavirus vaccines across Africa has been slow, partly because of supply issues and wider scepticism about the jab.

Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Ibrahim Muhammad says that the strike embarked on by the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria is legal since it is aimed at realizing their constitutionally guaranteed rights.JUSUN had asked its members to proceed on indefinite strike pending when state governments obey the constitutional provisions of financial autonomy of the Judiciary.The Union had in March gave a 21-day ultimatum but was not heeded by the government.The CJN had held a meeting with JUSUN leaders asking them to call off the strike in view of its adverse effect on the justice system in the country.Muhammad noted that it had become difficult to fault the idea of the strike since the rights of the union and its members which were clearly defined in the Constitution were being denied, especially at the state level.

Nigerian lawmakers directed the Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire to put together a policy to compel all government hospitals to procure locally manufactured syringes.The Senate Committee on Health gave the Minister a six-week ultimatum to carry out the directive.The committee is investigating the failure of government agencies to implement the Backward Integration Policy, on local production of syringes five years after it was validated.Members of the committee say it is alarming that despite the capacity of local manufacturers to meet the market demands, an estimated 1 billion units of syringes and needles are imported into the country per annum.

The House of Representatives is set to investigate the incessant jailbreaks in the country.The House is worried that the jailbreaks will only continue to fuel the insecurity in the country.Hon. Chudy Momah raised the motion during the plenary. His statement follows the most recent attack on April 5, where gunmen attacked the Nigerian Correctional Services and the Police Headquarters in Imo State, freeing an unspecified number of prison inmates.IPOB has been blamed for the recent attacks on prisons and police stations in the South-East but the group has denied these claims, noting they are agitators, not gunmen.

The Muhammadu Buhari administration has declared its support for the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami, amid calls for his resignation or removal.Mr Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity in a statement says the administration stands behind Minister Pantami and all Nigerian citizens to ensure they receive fair treatment, fair prices, and fair protection in ICT services.Pantami was widely criticised recently for the comments he made in the past in support of extremist groups.The remarks he was said to have made many years ago sparked debate and controversy just recently, with many calling for his resignation while others called on President Muhammadu Buhari to relieve him of his duties.Shehu claimed that Pantami was being subjected to a cancel campaign instigated by those who seek his removal.

United States President Joe Biden has signed an executive order that imposes a slate of new sanctions against Russia, as well as expelling 10 diplomats from the US, in response to a massive Russian hacking campaign that breached vital federal agencies, as well as for election interference.President Biden says he warned Russian President Vladimir Putin about the sanctions when they spoke by telephone in a candid, respectful conversation on April 13.Biden in a remark at the White House says the United States is not looking to kick-off a cycle of escalation and conflict with Russia but a stable, predictable relationship.The White House says the order sends a signal that the United States will impose costs in a strategic and economically impactful manner on Russia if it continues or escalates its destabilizing international actions.

The Covax scheme launched a push for an extra $2 billion in donations on Thursday, saying it needed the money in advance to reserve Covid-19 vaccine doses.The Covax facility ensures the 92 poorest participating economies can access coronavirus jabs, with the cost covered by donors.The United States co-hosted Thursday’s donor event at which the first $400 million was raised.US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says People everywhere should have access to rigorously tested, safe, and effective Covid-19 vaccines.Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga will host a Covax funding summit focused on the 92 countries in June.

The Somali government says it stands by the decision to extend the term of the president and criticised the international community for seeking to undermine the country's democratic processes.The foreign affairs ministry says it was dismayed by statements from some of its international partners.It says they had misconstrued Somalia's laws passed to uphold the democratic rights of the people to choose their leadership, and instead paint them as unlawful term extensions.The ministry added that inflammatory statements laden with threats, which undermine the political independence and sovereign rights of national institutions, will only serve to embolden terrorist organisations and anti-peace elements in Somalia.

Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok has called for an urgent summit of leaders of Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan to try and resolve the dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.The talks are seen as last-ditch attempts to revive tripartite talks that collapsed last week in Kinshasa.Ethiopia has vowed to go on with a second filling of the dam during the rainy season beginning June. But Egypt and Sudan want a binding agreement in place before the filling continues.MP Tarek Redwan told a human rights conference in Cairo that Ethiopia’s PM and parliament had twice refused invitations to Egypt to listen to the plight of millions of farmers who were fearful of the impact of the dam on downstream countries.