Newscast - Africa

Nigeria’s Drug Law Enforcement Agency intercepted about 649,300 capsules of Tramadol 225mg and 809,850 Euros in cash among the consignments from Pakistan, Austria and Italy at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.
The Spokesman of the NDLEA, Mr Femi Babafemi, says that on the same day, a female passenger, Miss Ayeki Happy, who arrived at the airport from Italy on a Turkish Airlines flight was arrested with 69,850 Euros in cash concealed in her luggage.
He noted that both cash seizures are currently under investigation to establish if they were proceeds of the drug business.

The Presidency has described as unfortunate, the reports of Ukrainian police and security personnel refusing to allow Nigerians to board buses and trains heading towards the Ukraine-Poland border.
Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari, Garba Shehu says there were also separate reports of Polish officials simply refusing Nigerian citizens’ entry into Poland from Ukraine.
Shehu said that the Federal Government is concerned about the safety and human rights of all Nigerians and also understands the pain and fear that is confronting them as well as others in Ukraine who are trying to escape the crisis.
He, however, noted that it is paramount that everyone is treated with dignity and without favour.

The Federal Government says that Hungary and Romania have approved visa-free access to all Nigerians coming from Ukraine.
The Ministry of Foreign affairs advised Nigerians fleeing Ukraine to move to the Hungarian or Romanian borders for easy access.
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Gabriel Aduda, noted that the government is fully aware of all the challenges being faced by Nigerians in Ukraine and is doing all it can to ease their pain.
Aduda says the Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs is working on alleviating the suffering of Nigerians including deploying the International Organisation for Migration to the border to ensure easier access to all Nigerians and other nationals.

Taiwan Premier Su Tseng-chang says the island will join democratic countries to impose sanctions on Russia over the invasion of Ukraine, although he did not give details.
Taiwan Economy Minister Wang Mei-Hua told reporters that the island will harshly scrutinise exports to Russia and coordinate with unspecified allies for further actions. She did not elaborate.
The foreign ministry says that the island, which is key in the global semiconductor supply chain, will coordinate closely with the United States and other like-minded countries to adopt appropriate measures in order to free Ukraine from the horrors of war.

European football’s governing body says UEFA will hold an emergency meeting with this season’s Champions League final in Saint Petersburg set to be at the top of the agenda as it strongly condemns Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine.
UEFA says an extraordinary meeting of its executive committee would be held on Friday at 0900 GMT and a decision is likely to be made on this season’s Champions League final.
The showpiece game of European club football’s premier competition is scheduled to be played on May 28 at the Gazprom Arena in Saint Petersburg, which already hosted several matches at last year’s European Championship and at the 2018 World Cup held in Russia.

The leaders of the World Bank and IMF say they were ready to help Ukraine while warning that Russia’s invasion will have repercussions for the global economic recovery.
IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva says that the conflict adds significant economic risk for the region & the world.
The Washington-based crisis lender is in the process of deploying $2.2 billion in assistance to Ukraine under a loan program set to end in June.
Georgieva has said the fund could provide aid to other countries impacted by any spillover effects of the conflict if needed.

China’s embassy in Ukraine has announced the organisation of charter flights to evacuate those Chinese nationals who wish to leave the country under attack from Russia, even as Beijing says it understands Moscow’s reasonable security concerns.
Beijing launched a process to collect the information of those wanting to leave, saying that the registration window would close on Sunday. No timetable was given for when the flights would begin.
China says about 6,000 of its citizens are in Ukraine.

FIFA suspended the Kenyan and Zimbabwean football federations due to government interference.
The world governing body says without prejudice to investigations by national authorities or other judiciary bodies.
The FIFA Council has decided to suspend the Kenya Football Federation and the Zimbabwe Football Federation with immediate effect for undue influence by a third party.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino later gave more details on the reasons for the suspensions, referring at a press conference to government interference in the activities of the football federation.

The Russian ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo says Moscow is ready to help the central African nation end the armed violence in the east of the country.
State Media, RTNC reports that Alexey Sentebov met the governor of the restive North Kivu province, Constant Ndima Kongba, and told him that Russia was ready to support DR Congo in the eradication of armed groups.
A UN peacekeeping mission is helping the army to fight the rebels, who include Islamist militants affiliated with the Islamic State group.
Russia has intervened in various conflicts in Africa, including in Mali, the Central African Republic, Mozambique, Sudan and Libya.

A London high court began hearings of a lawsuit filed by the Nigerian government against U.S. bank JP Morgan Chase in the controversial Malabu oil scandal.
In the suit, Nigeria is claiming more than U.S.$1.7 billion for the bank's role in the controversial deal.
Reuters reports that Nigeria alleges that JP Morgan was grossly negligent in its decision to transfer funds paid by oil giants Shell and ENI into a third party account controlled by the former oil minister, who also faces charges in the Italian courts.
Shell and Eni have, however, consistently denied being aware that the money would be used for bribes, but a report alleged that senior Shell executives were briefed on how the money would be used.