Newscast - Africa

The International Air Transport Association says Nigeria is holding back about $450 million in revenue earned by foreign airlines operating in the country.
Vice President for Africa and the Middle East, IATA, Kamil Al Awadhi says a financially viable air transport sector supports jobs and must be a driving force for Africa and the Middle East's economic recovery from COVID-19.
Al Awadhi says the consequences of reduced air connectivity include the erosion of that country’s competitiveness, diminished investor confidence and reputational harm caused by a perception that it is a high-risk place to do business.

President Muhammadu Buhari has asked the nation’s western allies to proscribe the Indigenous People of Biafra as a terrorist organisation.
Buhari says the country is safer than he met in 2015 and proscribing IPOB, a group seeking secession of parts of Southern Nigeria, will improve the situation.
The President urged the international partners to take additional steps costing them nothing, by proscribing another group – IPOB – as a terrorist organization.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg warned that the war in Ukraine could last for years while reiterating calls for Western countries to provide long-term support to Kyiv.
He told Bild that the food and fuel costs are nothing compared to the one paid daily by Ukrainians on the frontline, warning they would have to pay an even greater price if Russian President Vladimir Putin were to achieve Moscow’s goals in Ukraine.
Stoltenberg says the hardware support could increase the likelihood of Ukraine being able to push Putin’s troops out of the Donbas region.

The United States has imposed sanctions on Chinese and Emirati companies, as well as a network of Iranian petrochemical producers, accusing them of helping to evade sanctions by supporting the sale of Iran’s petrochemical products abroad.
The US Department of the Treasury says it had imposed penalties on two companies based in Hong Kong, three in Iran, and four in the United Arab Emirates.
Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E Nelson says the United States is pursuing the path of meaningful diplomacy to achieve a mutual return to compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

Qatar Airways announced its profits during the past fiscal year topped $1.5bn, marking the highest-ever earnings for the state-owned company as it prepares to see a record surge in travellers for the upcoming FIFA World Cup football games.
The airline says revenue reached $14.4bn, up 78 per cent compared with last year.
Qatar Airways CEO Akbar al-Baker says they have pursued every business opportunity and left no stone unturned as we aimed to meet our targets.

Elon Musk was sued for $258bn by a Dogecoin investor who accused him of running a pyramid scheme to support the cryptocurrency.
Plaintiff Keith Johnson accused Musk, electric car company Tesla Inc and space tourism company SpaceX of racketeering for touting Dogecoin and driving up its price, only to then let the price tumble.
The complaint also aggregates comments from Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and others questioning the value of cryptocurrency.
Johnson is seeking damages worth triple the $86bn decline in Dogecoin’s market value since May 2021.

The World Trade Organization agreed on an unprecedented package of trade deals touching on health, reform and food security after a disagreement between countries on key issues forced the trade body to extend negotiations by two days.
WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala says the package of agreements you have reached will make a difference in the lives of people around the world.
The negotiations involving more than 100 trade ministers have been seen as a crucial test of the trade body’s ability to strike multilateral trade deals at a time when rising geopolitical tensions are increasing protectionism and economic decoupling.

The President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, says that the Proposed Court of Appeal (Federal Inland Revenue Service) Practice Directions 2022 will enhance the speedy dispensation of justice in tax-related matters at the appellate court.
She described the collaboration as a testament to the willingness of the appellate court under her leadership, to ensure efficient dispensation of justice.
She says the Practice Direction will also govern matters brought before the court based on the application of enacted tax legislation in effect in Nigeria, as well as their applications to parties in any appeals brought before the appellate court.

Global remittances, the hard-earned money sent by migrant workers to their family members in low- and middle-income countries also grew by 8.6 per cent in 2021.
The President of IFAD, Gilbert F. Houngbo says the digitalisation of remittances, particularly through mobile channels was a great opportunity to boost rural development as over half of these funds go to rural areas.
He says digitalisation reduces fees and other transactions costs like travel time, making the process more convenient and safer while promoting digital and financial inclusion.

The federal government announced that it had reviewed upwards the freight rate paid to petroleum products transporters under the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners but was surprisingly silent on the newly approved figure.
The Nigerian Midstream Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority noted that the new deal as a result of several consultations with industry stakeholders.
The Authority says President Muhammadu Buhari considered and approved the upward review in freight rate for transporters to alleviate the challenges associated with the distribution of petrol.