The Central Bank of Nigeria says that effective February 1, 2022, all import and export operations would require the submission of an electronic invoice authenticated by Authorised Dealer Banks on the Nigeria Single Window Price Portal – Trade Monitoring System.
The apex bank explained that the introduction of the e-valuator and e-Invoice would replace hard copy final invoice as part of the documentation required for all import and export transactions going forward.
The CBN Director, Trade and Exchange Department, Dr Ozoemena Nnaji pointed out that the new regulation aims to achieve accurate value from import and export items in and out of the country.

Chairman of the council, Samuel Nwanosike says that at least 112 illegal refineries have been discovered in Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State.
He says that 99% of the discoveries were made in a particular community located along the OML 17 trunk lines.
Governor Nyesom Wike had pledged N460 million to the 23 local government area chairmen to fight oil bunkering in the state.
Each chairman will receive N20 million to destroy illegal refinery sites that have been identified in their respective domains.

Russia’s central bank proposed a blanket ban on the use and creation of all cryptocurrencies within one of the world’s biggest crypto-mining nations, citing the dangers posed to the country’s financial system and environment.
The central bank also took aim at mining, which it said hurts the country’s green agenda, jeopardizes Russia’s energy supply and amplifies the negative effects of the spread of cryptocurrencies, creating incentives for circumventing attempts at regulation.
The Central Bank called for individuals and businesses that flaunt the rules to be held to account, citing estimates that put Russia’s crypto trading turnover at about $5 billion a year.

South Korea unveiled a 14 trillion won supplementary budget on Friday to support the self-employed and small businesses that have taken a heavy hit from extended COVID-19 curbs.
The finance ministry says some 11.5 trillion won will be used to help small business owners and compensate their losses caused by the extension of virus-related measures.
Another 1.5 trillion won is earmarked to secure COVID-19 treatment pills for 400,000 people and 25,000 hospital beds.
The other 1 trillion won will be used as contingency reserves should the Omicron coronavirus variant spread further and require more support.

China and Russia blocked a US push to impose United Nations sanctions on five North Koreans in response to recent missile launches by Pyongyang.
China’s block came before a new closed-door council meeting on North Korea, also requested by Washington, and was followed by Russia’s decision to similarly oppose the American proposal.
The US Treasury Department says one of the North Koreans being sanctioned, Choe Myong Hyon, was based in Russia and had provided support to North Korea’s Second Academy of Natural Sciences which is already subject to sanctions.

The US Embassy in Khartoum says that Washington would not resume its paused economic assistance to Sudan until violence there comes to an end and a civilian-led government is restored.
The US halted $700 million in emergency assistance since the military coup in October.
The US Embassy in Khartoum says the US officials strongly condemned the use of disproportionate force against protesters, especially the use of live ammunition sexual violence and the practice of arbitrary detention.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres says there is a demonstrable effort to make peace in Ethiopia after more than a year of civil war.
Mr Guterres spoke to the African Union (AU) chief envoy to the Horn of Africa Olusegun Obasanjo who briefed him on the peace efforts.
The UN chief says the AU envoy expressed optimism that there is now a real opportunity for political and diplomatic resolution of the conflict.
Federal troops have been fighting rebels in the north of the country for more than a year now, in a war that has ended thousands of lives.

The authorities in Burkina Faso say they disrupted access to Facebook due to security fears.
Government spokesperson Alkassoum Maiga says the authorities did not have to explain themselves on the shutdown first reported on 10 January and which appears to have continued.
The government announced on 11 January that eight soldiers were arrested over a plan to destabilise the institutions of the republic, a development that local media said was a coup plot.

Sudan's military chief, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has appointed 15 ministers to a new government.
The move comes almost three months after he seized power in a military coup that derailed a planned transition to elections.
Correspondents say the naming of a new government is unlikely to appease the protesters who want the military to quit the political scene entirely.
The United States has reiterated that it will not resume economic assistance to Sudan unless there is an end to violence and a civilian-led government is restored

A United Nations-backed agency, Medicines Patent Pool, has struck a deal for nearly 30 generic drug makers to manufacture low-cost versions of Merck & Co’s COVID-19 pill, molnupiravir for poorer nations.
A Reuters report stated that the deal, negotiated by the UN-backed organisation with Merck, would expand output by increasing the number of companies that would produce the drug.
The new agreement allows 27 generic drug makers from India, China and other countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East to produce ingredients and the finished drug.
The MPP stated that the deal stipulated that the pill would be distributed to 105 less-developed nations.