Newscast - Africa

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control has stopped the registration of alcohol in sachet and small volume and glass bottles below 200 mitres amidst other stringent regulatory measures.
The Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, says the registration of new alcoholic drinks in a sachet, small volume and glass bottles above 30 per cent alcohol by volume has been banned by NAFDAC.
Adeyeye however said that the Agency will ensure that the validity of renewal of the already registered alcoholic products in the affected category will not exceed 2024.
The NAFDAC DG explained that manufacturers of low volume alcohol beverages with satisfactory laboratory reports have been directed to reformulate their products to stipulated standards free of charge.

The Federal Government is considering autogas as an alternative to the Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol.
The Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, explained that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, in his capacity as the Chairman of the National Economic Council, is also leading an effort in collaboration with state governors to discuss the government’s plans to unveil palliatives to the people.
The Minister says the Federal Government had in December 2021 rolled out an autogas programme called the National Gas Expansion Programme.
Justice Derefaka, Technical Adviser on Gas Business and Policy Implementation to Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, had explained that vehicle owners will have different payment plans to covert their cars to autogas.

The federal government, represented by the Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, has held a follow-up meeting with Egyptian authorities in an effort to boost electricity supply, including renewable energy in Nigeria.
Aliyu affirmed the commitment of the federal government to see that Nigerians have an efficient power supply in the nearest future.
Aliyu stated that the anticipated area of cooperation between Egypt’s ministry of electricity and renewable energy and Nigeria’s federal ministry of power may include the areas of provision of technical support in transmission and distribution networks, promotion as well as in renewable energy systems in the electricity sector.

The Minister of Finance, Budget and Economic Planning, Zainab Ahmed, says that the Federal Government had postponed the planned removal of subsidies on petroleum products till further notice.
The finance minister says the Federal Government initially had plans to remove subsidies on petroleum products from July this year.
She says that was the reason adequate provision was made in the 2022 national budget for subsidy payment till June.
She says the provision was made sequel to the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act which indicated that all petroleum products would be deregulated.

Seoul says Iran is expected to regain its vote in the UN General Assembly after South Korea paid Tehran’s delinquent dues to the world body with Iranian funds frozen in the country.
Iran however announced that US sanctions had impeded its ability to make the payment on its arrears for the second year in a row.
The finance ministry says Seoul completed the payment of Iran’s UN dues of about $18 million through the Iranian frozen funds in South Korea, in active cooperation with related agencies such as US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and the United Nations Secretariat.

The head of the German navy has resigned after coming under fire at home and abroad for saying that Ukraine would never regain the Crimean Peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.
Vice Admiral Kay-Achim Schoenbach also said it was important to have Russia on the side against China, and suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin deserved respect.
The comments came at a sensitive time as Russia has amassed tens of thousands of troops on Ukraine’s borders. Russia denies it is planning to invade Ukraine.

Armenian President Armen Sarkisian announced that he was resigning his largely ceremonial position, citing the inability of his office to influence policy during times of national crisis.
The announcement comes on the back of a period of instability in the ex-Soviet Caucasus nation in the wake of a war with its long-standing rival Azerbaijan.
Armenia’s humiliating defeat and loss of disputed territory in late 2020 ultimately sparked massive street rallies and a domestic crisis that pitted Sarkisian against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
He says the president does not have the necessary tools to influence the important processes of foreign and domestic policy in difficult times for the people and the country.

The United Arab Emirates says it intercepted and destroyed two Houthi ballistic missiles that were targeting the country, and there were no casualties.
The defence ministry says the remnants of the intercepted ballistic missiles fell in separate areas around Abu Dhabi.
Houthi-run Al Masirah television channel says the group would announce within hours the details of a wide military operation against Saudi Arabia and the UAE amid concern over a further escalation in tensions in the region amid Yemen’s years-long civil war.

The United States has ordered the families of all American staff at the US Embassy in Ukraine to leave the country amid heightened concern that Russia, which has massed troops on the border, is about to invade.
The State Department also said that non-essential embassy staff could leave Ukraine at government expense and that all Americans should consider departing immediately.
The US Embassy in Kyiv warned that military action by Russia could come at any time and the United States government will not be in a position to evacuate American citizens in such a contingency, so US citizens currently present in Ukraine should plan accordingly.

A Civil Society Organisations grouping has demanded the urgent introduction of wealth tax to facilitate the trickledown effect of financial resources to the country in a bid to reduce the alarming poverty levels.
The Zimbabwe Fight Inequality Alliance's spokesperson, Janet Zhou declared a week of action, piling pressure on the government to introduce a tax for the country's wealthiest.
Zhou says the abolishment of unjust and harmful tax incentives to multinational corporations is a long overdue outcome of a stakeholder consultative process.
Zhou stressed that it is time the government introduced a Covid19 Windfall Tax for corporates and individuals who have made phenomenal profits since 2020 to fund a just and equitable response to Covid19 induced poverty and suffering.