Newscast - Africa

The House of Representatives called on the Independent National Electoral Commission to urgently deploy physical enumerators and other assistance to conduct new voter registration across all federal constituencies.
They are worried that the online registration process will not cover all constituencies and lead to the disenfranchisement of Nigerians and voter apathy.
The House also wants the electoral umpire to situate voting points in safe areas only.
The House is urging the Federal Government to provide body cameras for all security operatives on duty across the country.

The United States says it is relocating its embassy in Kyiv to the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, citing a dramatic acceleration in the buildup of Russian forces at the country’s border.
Blinken says the embassy will remain engaged with the Ukrainian government, coordinating diplomatic engagement in Ukraine.
Blinken strongly urged any remaining US citizens in Ukraine to leave the country immediately.

Elon Musk gifted almost $6 billion worth of Tesla Inc. stock to charity late last year in one of the largest philanthropic donations in history.
The world’s richest man donated more than 5 million shares in the electric-car maker from Nov. 19 to Nov. 29, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The donation occurred as Musk, Tesla’s chief executive officer, sparred with politicians including Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren over inequality and a proposed wealth tax.

The Iranian interior minister says Iran and Pakistan will form a joint working group to look after border management, including security, trade and travel issues between the two countries.
Iran’s Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi told Iranian state-run IRNA that both sides were also seeking to increase engagement on economic relations.
Vahidi met his Pakistani counterpart Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and the country’s army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

Donald Trump’s longtime accountants have ditched the former US president as a client, saying a decade’s worth of financial statements could not be relied upon,
Mazars informed the Trump Organization in a letter that it would no longer work for the company, which is being probed by New York prosecutors for alleged fraud.
The letter was revealed in court by New York state attorney general Letitia James as she asked a judge to force Trump to comply with subpoenas seeking testimony in her investigation.
The accounting firm added that an investigation of its own and information received from internal and external sources had also played a part in it reaching that conclusion.

Germany says it was up to Russia to de-escalate the conflict around Ukraine, calling for Moscow to withdraw its troops, as Chancellor Olaf Scholz readied to meet President Vladimir Putin over the crisis.
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock says the situation is particularly dangerous and can escalate at any moment ahead of the talks in Moscow between the two leaders.
Western leaders consider the Russian troop build-up on its border with Ukraine to be the worst threat to the continent’s security since the Cold War and have prepared a crippling package of economic sanctions in response to any attack on its neighbour.

Tanzania is looking to set up its own vaccine manufacturing plant as part of its wider plan to tackle Covid and other diseases in the country.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan says the country was also aiming to export vaccines to east and southern African countries, according to a statement from the state house.
She says Tanzania was likely to spend nearly $100m by 2030 to import vaccines, hence the need to set up its own local capacity.
The president says she was submitting a proposal for support to make the project a success.

Ethiopia’s lower house of parliament has approved with a majority vote a resolution to lift a state of emergency ahead of its expiry date.
It follows the proposal by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s cabinet last month to end the emergency period.
The emergency decree was passed in November last year for six months as an alliance of rebel forces - including the Tigray People’s Liberation Front advanced towards the capital Addis Ababa.
The government has cited an improved security situation and the economic costs of the decree as the reasons for its decision.

Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum and Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, says governors do not object to financial autonomy for the judicial and legislative arms of government.
The Supreme Court struck out the N66 billion suit filed by the state governors against the Federal Government.
The apex court, however, declared as unlawful and unconstitutional, Executive Order 10 on the funding of State Judiciary and Legislature.
Governor Fayemi says although state governments are duty-bound to pay the allowances of judges, they are not duty-bound to pay their salaries as it is the responsibility of the National Judicial Council.

President Muhammadu Buhari has submitted the 2022 Appropriation Act amendment proposal to the National Assembly.
President Buhari is asking the National Assembly to approve the sum of N2.557 trillion supplementary budget for petrol subsidy from July to December 2022. President Muhammadu Buhari says the amendment is necessary to accommodate some issues in the country including Petroleum Subsidy which must be considered.
President Muhammadu Buhari says it was imperative to remove all capital projects that were replicated on the 2022 Appropriation Act.