Newscast - Africa

The Academic Staff Union of Universities has declared a one-month warning strike.
President of the union, Emmanuel Osodeke, says the industrial action, which begins immediately, is comprehensive and total.
Some of the lecturer’s demands include the revitalisation of public universities, earned allowance, improved funding of state universities, and promotion arrears.
Others are the replacement of the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System with its own University Transparency and Accountability Solution in the payment of emoluments to its member.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has declared suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari, wanted over alleged links with drug trafficking.
NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi says he is wanted over his involvement in a 25 kilograms Cocaine deal.
The Agency says it declared Mr Kyari wanted after all efforts to get him to honour formal invitations for his interrogation failed.
It bemoaned a situation where those who are supposed to support current efforts to stem the tide of illicit drug trafficking and abuse are themselves neck-deep in the menace.

A United States House of Representatives committee has launched an investigation into former President Donald Trump’s handling of White House records after 15 boxes of official documents were retrieved from his private Florida property.
Maloney says she was deeply concerned” that 15 boxes of records were not promptly turned over to the National Archives when Trump’s term ended in January 2021.
Maloney says the documents appear to have been removed from the White House in violation of the Presidential Records Act which requires presidential administrations to preserve records.

A top US general says the United States will help replenish the United Arab Emirates’s missile interceptors after a slew of attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels targeting the Gulf country.
Frank McKenzie, head of the US Central Command says they will help with the replenishment of interceptors. And we’ll do everything we can to assist the UAE in defending themselves.
Mckenzie’s remarks come after the Pentagon announced deploying a guided-missile destroyer and advanced fighter jets to the UAE in what it called a clear signal of support for Abu Dhabi.

The UN says it continues to back Abdul Hamid Dbeibah's administration despite Libyan lawmakers' decision to replace him with former Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha.
The UN says it would continue to support Libya's unity government chief Abdulhamid Dbeibah despite lawmakers in the country choosing a replacement of him.
Libya's parliament unanimously elected Fathi Bashagha, a former interior minister, to replace Dbeibah as head of the country's interim government

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus will join Belgium's Minister of Development Cooperation, Ms Meryame Kitir, on a high-level visit to Cape Town on February 11 and 12.
They will visit the mRNA vaccine technology transfer hub and other facilities involved in the response to COVID-19 and the protection of public health.
WHO's chief scientist, Dr Soumya Swaminathan, explained the choice of mRNA as the first technology transfer hub after earlier welcoming the rapid development of vaccines against the pandemic.
Swaminathan says Chronic vaccine inequity resulted to a large extent because of the lack of manufacturing capacity and facilities and getting medicines to where they are needed.

Burkina Faso’s new military strongman, Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, has been declared president by the country’s top constitutional body after a coup last month, legal sources said Thursday.
They say the Constitutional Council on Wednesday determined that “Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, lieutenant-colonel in the national armed forces, president of the Patriotic Movement for Preservation and Restoration is the president” of Burkina Faso.
The Constitutional Council say that Damiba’s formal swearing-in would take place on February 16 in the capital Ouagadougou.

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen unveiled plans to muster investment of more than 150 billion euros for Africa, proclaiming Europe to be the continent’s biggest and most reliable partner.
The EU has set a target date of 2030 for the African funds under the plan, according to a document from the European Commission.
The document says the money will go towards renewable energy, reducing the risk of natural disasters, internet access, transport, vaccine production and education in Africa.
Von der Leyen told reporters she was proud to announce plans for Africa, where the aim was to amass at least 150 billion euros in investment.

Nigeria's parliament has declared ritual killings a national emergency.
Minority leader Toby Okechukwu blamed the vice on Nollywood films with storylines that feature juju.
The film licencing board has been directed to ban all productions that have ritual killings as part of the plot.
The move follows the murder earlier this month of a 20-year-old woman in a suspected ritual killing case that has shocked the country.

The Central Bank of Nigeria has revealed that it would stop the sale of foreign exchange to banks by the end of the year.
CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, says the banks must begin to source their forex from export proceeds.
Emefiele says the decision is in line with the CBN’s new commitment to boost the country’s foreign reserves through proceeds from non-oil exports.
He says Nigeria cannot continue to depend on FX earnings to fund its import obligations from revenue coming from earnings from products where we cannot determine both price and quantity.