Newscast - Africa

Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera has reduced the size of his cabinet in a reshuffle that also saw the appointment of seven new faces including an opposition lawmaker.
The list of ministers and deputy ministers has been reduced from 33 to 27, but critics say it is still too large.
The reshuffle was expected following reports that a number of ministers were implicated in a corruption investigation being carried out by Malawi's Anti-Corruption Bureau and the UK's National Crimes Agency.

The House of Representatives has approved the requested restructuring of N1 trillion additional Ways and Means advances for implementation of the 2022 Supplementary Appropriation Act passed by the National Assembly.
President Muhammadu Buhari had requested approval of N23.7 trillion, but the House is seeking further engagement with the executive to allow for thorough and detailed work and submissions on the larger part of the advances which amounts to N22.72 trillion.
The House says it will consider the N22.72 trillion after properly engaging the executive.

The Federal Government has opened a new passport office in the Alimosho area of Lagos State.
Interior Minister Raul Aregbesola explained that it is part of a move to address the shortage gap” in passport processing.
He says Applications have been increasing every year at an unprecedented rate, due to the tendency of many Nigerians wanting to travel outside the country & those who want to use it as means of identification.

The Independent National Electoral Commission says that the current fuel scarcity in the country might affect logistic arrangements for the February 25 and March 11 general elections.
INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, shares his concern about the fuel situation in the country and its impact on transportation on election day.
He says the commission will meet the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited to look into ways to ameliorate this situation.
The electoral chief also urged the transporters to be neutral and non-partisan as they commute INEC staff to and from polling units.
He said inter-state trips won’t be allowed, saying all INEC and ad-hoc staffers must not be moved beyond their local government areas.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has signaled that Ankara could accept Finland into NATO before taking any action on the membership of its Nordic neighbor Sweden.
Erdogan says they may deliver Finland a different message on their NATO application and Sweden would be shocked when they see the message.
Sweden and Finland applied last year to join NATO after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, dropping their longstanding military nonalignment.
Erdogan’s main complaint has been with Sweden’s refusal to extradite dozens of people that Ankara has linked to the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party and a failed 2016 coup attempt.

Mining giant Rio Tinto says it is working with authorities to try to find a radioactive capsule that went missing in Western Australia this month.
The casing contains a small quantity of radioactive Caesium-137, which could cause serious illness if touched.
Rio Tinto's Iron Ore chief executive Simon Trott says as well as fully supporting the relevant authorities, we have launched our own investigation to understand how the capsule was lost in transit.
He says as part of this investigation they are working closely with the contractor to better understand what went wrong in this instance.

Key Libyan political figures have rejected an $8bn gas production deal overseen by the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity and the Italian government.
The GNU's outspoken oil and gas minister Mohammed Aoun after the gas deal was signed, calling it illegal and saying it lacks equality between the Libyan and Italian sides.
He says his ministry was bypassed on the deal which he reiterated was illegal and pledged to rectify.
The ministry released an official statement reiterating Mr Aoun's points, further criticising the deal for increasing the Italian side's shares from 30% to 37%.

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami has urged the Nigerian Data Protection Bureau to investigate banks and data-processing firms on data privacy and protection compliance.
The minister says Banks have been sanctioned, Operators in the sector have been sanctioned and many more operators are being investigated.
Pantami also asked Nigerians to report any data breach to the NDPB so that a proper investigation can be done.
He also noted that the bureau has a portal to receive any complaints about a data privacy breach.

Economic Commission for Africa says intra-African trade in agri-food, industry, and services sectors will increase by nearly 35 percent by 2045 through the African Continental Free Trade Agreement.
The Director of Regional Integration and Trade at ECA, Stephen Karingi says Africa’s private sector accounts for 80 percent of total production, two-thirds of investment, and three-quarters of credit, and employs 90 percent of the working-age population,”
The commission urged governments at all levels to fully and effectively implement the agreement for the projections to come to fruition.
He noted that Africa’s weak productive capacity and consequent excessive reliance on imports for essential products exposed it to external shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war.

The Economic Community of West African States Regional Electricity Regulatory Authority has approved critical policies for the development of the sub-regions power market.
It also announced its commitment to protecting the interests of investors and participants in the regional power market, stressing that the body would ensure that there were conducive investments in the industry.
The Chairman, ECOWAS Regional Electricity Regulatory Authority, Kokou Tossou, noted that electricity production is vital to the viability of the market, and ERERA has approved critical documents for the development of the regional power market, adding that they will also be conducive to investments in the energy sector.