The Katsina State Governor, Aminu Masari has banned all commercial phone charging points in the state as part of measures to tackle the scourge of banditry.
He issued the ban on Monday at the Katsina Government House while inaugurating the committee charged with monitoring and enforcing the recently introduced executive order in the state.
Governor Masari believes that the latest measure, coupled with further collaborations with the Federal Ministry of Communications will drastically reduce the menace of banditry in the north-western state.

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the setting up of a Health Sector Reform Committee to commence the development and implementation of a Health Sector Reform Programme for Nigeria in collaboration with the State Governments and the FCT administration.
A statement issued by presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, says the setting up of the Committee is a sequel to a Health Sector Diagnostic Review Report developed by a consultant, Vesta Healthcare Partners and the Federal Ministry of Health.
The committee will undertake a review of all healthcare reforms adopted in the past two decades and lessons learnt and factor them into the development of the new Health Sector Reform Programme.

Dozens of women took to the streets of the capital to demand their right to work, a role in any future government, and a seat at the table in discussions with the Taliban.
The protest began with 50 women marching towards the presidential palace.
Razia Barakzai, a protester told Al Jazeera that the women were stopped near the entrance to the finance ministry, where the Taliban surrounded them and kept them from continuing on their march towards the palace entrance.
Barakzai says the Taliban had employed both pepper spray and tear gas to try and disburse the crowd.
Barakzai says the Taliban which tried to encircle the protesters were wearing red banners and carrying guns.

Officials have said nearly half a million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine have arrived in Australia overnight.
Australia is under pressure to ramp up its vaccination programme and last week agreed deals with the United Kingdom and Singapore for a total of about 4.5 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, double this month’s supply.
Lieutenant General John Frewen, head of the vaccination task force, told broadcaster ABC that there will be another set of flights in a couple of days, but they will be getting a million of the four million every week over the next four weeks.
Frewen says one million doses of Moderna will also reach Australia in a week or so expanding a vaccine rollout, which also includes AstraZeneca.

The UAE announced a new visa allowing foreigners to work in the country without being sponsored by an employer, loosening residency requirements in an attempt to boost economic growth.
Foreigners in the oil-rich United Arab Emirates are generally only given limited visas tied to their employment, and long-term residency is difficult to obtain.
officials say those holding the new green visa will be able to work without company sponsorship, and can sponsor their parents and children up to 25 years old.
Minister of State for Foreign Trade Thani al-Zeyoudi says It targets highly skilled individuals, investors, business people, entrepreneurs, as well exceptional students and postgraduates.

South Africa’s former president Jacob Zuma was placed on medical parole just two months into his term.
The Department of Correctional Services in a statement says that Zuma’s medical parole took effect on Sunday and he will serve the rest of the 15-month prison sentence outside the jail.
The statement says Zuma will complete the remainder of the sentence in the system of community corrections, whereby he must comply with a specific set of conditions and will be subjected to supervision until his sentence expires.
It added that the decision was motivated by a medical report the department received.

Western diplomats in South Sudan have said the government should respect freedom of expression, including the right to peaceful protest.
Their joint statement follows the arrest of a number of activists in the wake of a call by a group calling itself People’s Coalition for Civil Action, which is allegedly planning an anti-government protest on Sunday.
The diplomats said freedom of expression was needed in parliament and in society at large, adding that freedom of assembly must also be protected.
They pointed out that these were universal rights enshrined in South Sudan's transitional constitution.

Soldiers who seized power in Guinea have ordered government ministers and national figures to attend a meeting later on Monday.
The special force's officers warned that anybody who failed to appear would be regarded as a rebel.
They said regional governors have been replaced by military commanders, and the ousted president, Alpha Condé, was safe but in detention.
An indefinite nationwide curfew is in force.
The head of Special Forces, Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, said his soldiers had seized power because they want to end rampant corruption and mismanagement.

Zamfara Government has shut down internet and mobile phone services in the state as security forces fight to contain armed gangs who have been carrying out killings and kidnappings for ransom.
The shutdown comes just days after gunmen abducted more than 70 schoolchildren in the town of Kaya-Maradun.
The authorities believe it will help security forces track down gunmen behind the rising violence in the region.
The kidnappers are believed to coordinate their activities and negotiate ransom payments for the release of their victims through mobile phones.

Managing Director, Financial Derivatives Company Limited and a member of President Muhammadu Buhari’s Economic Advisory Council, Mr. Bismarck Rewane has stated that Nigeria has maintained the infamous position as the poverty capital of the world, with 93.9 people in Africa’s most populous country currently living below the poverty line
Rewane stated that seven million Nigerians fell into extreme poverty in 2020.
The report had then stated that the number of Nigerians in extreme poverty increases by six people every minute.
Rewane pointed out in the latest report that the Petroleum Industry Act, which is in the process of being implemented, would have minimal impact on new investments in the downstream sector of the Nigerian oil and gas industry.