Newscast - Africa

The presidency says that President Muhammadu Buhari is desirous to assent to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2021.
The Senior Special Assistant National Assembly Matters (Senate), Babajide Omoworare, stated this on Thursday at a dialogue on the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, organized by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies in Abuja.
Omoworare says his principal is still consulting with critical stakeholders on whether to sign the electoral act amendment bill or not.
He explained that Section 58 of the Constitution has given the president a 30-day time frame to sign the document.

Members of the House of Representatives have called on the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited to suspend the four companies which recently imported adulterated fuel into the country.
The lawmakers also mandated its committee on petroleum downstream to investigate the release and sale of the off-spec Premium Motor Spirit by petrol stations across the country and to bring the culprits to book.
The NNPC GMD explained how adulterated Premium Motor Spirit from Belgium and listed the companies.
He said NNPC investigation revealed the presence of Methanol in PMS cargoes of the companies.

The United States has approved a $100m support contract with Taiwan aimed at boosting the island’s missile defence systems amid heightened tensions with China.
The Pentagon says the funds would be used to sustain, maintain, and improve the self-ruled island’s Patriot missile defence system.
A statement from the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency says it had delivered the required certification notifying Congress following State Department approval for the sale, which was requested by Taiwan’s de facto embassy in Washington.
Taiwan’s foreign ministry says it highly welcomed the US decision.

Meta says it plans to gradually wind down the free internet programme by the end of 2022.
The social media giant worked with partners including ISPs and mobile network operators to connect people, through Wi-Fi hotspots, in public places like markets and facilities such as schools, in rural and urban regions.
The African e-Connectivity Index 2021 released in November 2021 by GSMA shows that only 28 per cent of the population of sub-Saharan Africa had mobile internet connectivity in 2020 compared to 49 per cent of people globally.
The data further revealed that around 300 million people in sub-Saharan Africa had connectivity to the internet via their mobile phones in 2020, up from 120 million people or 13 per cent of the population in 2014.

Ethiopia’s statistics office says the country’s year-on-year inflation edged down to 34.5% in January from 35.1% in the previous month.
Inflation in the Horn of Africa nation has soared since the second half of last year, partly due to fighting in the north between federal troops and Tigrayan forces.
The Central Statistics Agency says on a monthly basis, inflation fell to 1.2% in January from 1.4% a month earlier.
The World Food Programme estimated in early December that 13.6 million people were food insecure in Ethiopia because of the extended impacts of conflict, drought, flooding, desert locust invasions, market disruptions, high food prices and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The European Union says it is lifting its financial sanctions against Burundi
It cited a peaceful political environment and progress by the Burundian government in several areas, including human rights and the voluntary return of refugees into the country.
It however noted that persistent challenges remained in the areas of human rights, good governance, reconciliation and the rule of law.
The lifting of sanctions by the EU follows a similar decision by the United States last year.
President Évariste Ndayishimiye welcomed the decision and said the country was ready to cooperate with all partners.

Europe Minister Clement Beaune says France will soon drop its requirement of a negative Covid test for vaccinated travellers from outside the European Union, as daily infection numbers continue to fall.
Beaune says in the coming days we will announce that tests are no longer needed for vaccinated people.
He added that this week there will probably be a new European protocol for vaccinated people arriving from outside the EU, with eased measures.

French President Emmanuel Macron says he had convinced Russia’s Vladimir Putin not to escalate the crisis around Ukraine, ahead of talks in Kyiv aimed at defusing fears Moscow could invade.
Macron says he offered Putin concrete security guarantees as the West scrambles to deal with Russia’s massive troop build-up on Ukraine’s border.
He says several proposals put forward by Macron could form a basis for further steps on easing the crisis over Ukraine but did not give any details.
The French presidency says Macron’s counter-proposals include an engagement from both sides not to take any new military action, the launching of strategic dialogue and efforts to revive the peace process in Kyiv’s conflict with Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

The UN rights chief called on Tunisian President Kais Saied to restore the High Judicial Council, warning that its dissolution would seriously undermine the rule of law.
Saied dissolved the body on Sunday, months after sacking the government and seizing wide-reaching powers in Tunisia.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet in a statement says much remains to be done to bring justice sector legislation, procedures and practices in line with applicable international standards but this has been a big step in the wrong direction.
She says the dissolution of the High Judicial Council is in clear violation of Tunisia’s obligations under international human rights law

The Nigerian government is locked in a court battle with Britain’s National Crime Agency over control of €180 million that was stashed abroad by Nigeria’s former Head of State, late Gen. Sani Abacha.
The United Kingdom’s The Telegraph reported that the case was again poised to spark fresh questions about dirty money flowing through the City of London.
The report stated that Nigeria wanted the crime-fighting agency, NCA, to release funds that it froze at the request of US authorities.
Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami noted that the government had committed that the asset would support and assist in expediting the construction of three major infrastructure projects across Nigeria, namely, Lagos – Ibadan Expressway, Abuja – Kano Road, and Second Niger Bridge.