Newscast - Africa

The Gates Foundation is the latest international donor offering to address the looming shortage of syringes for Covid-19 vaccination in Africa.
This comes amid warnings from the World Health Organization (WHO) that the shortage of crucial commodities such as syringes was slowing the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccination campaign in the continent.
Kenyan company Revital Healthcare is licensed to manufacture the syringes and will now benefit from the $4m grant from the Gates Foundation.
The WHO and Unicef have predicted a shortfall of up to 2.2 billion syringes needed to administer the Covid-19 vaccines as well as other routine immunisations in 2022.

The president of Seychelles says that the world must take the needs of island nations seriously when it comes to the impact of climate change and rising sea levels.
Wavel Ramkalawan told the BBC that they are already seeing some of the islands changing shape and some of the islands are losing so much landmass.
He added that the wealthier nations need to step up their game. He says there should be a pause in oil exploration in the Pacific Ocean.
He added that they have rather got to look at wind energy, solar energy - at what is natural and what is renewable.

Somalia has asked the African Union Commission representative in the country to leave within a week after declaring him persona non grata.
Somalia’s foreign ministry says Simon Mulongo, the AUC’s deputy special representative in Mogadishu, was no longer welcome in the country due to his engagement in activities that are incompatible with African Union Mission in Somalia’s mandate and Somalia’s security strategy.
Foreign Minister Mohamed Abdirizak says the Somali government will hold accountable AMISOM person[n]el, particularly those at the leadership level, who are expected to be beyond reproach in their integrity as they discharge their duty under the UN/AU mandate.

Sudan's military chief, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has agreed to accelerate the return to a transitional government following talks with the United States and the United Nations.
The UN special envoy for Sudan, Volker Perthes, says the discussions had yielded the outline of a potential deal to reverse last month's coup, including the reinstatement of the deposed prime minister, Abdalla Hamdok.
He, however, remains under house arrest, though four of his ministers are being released.

The Ethiopian government says it will continue its fight against Tigrayan rebel forces, despite growing international calls for a ceasefire.
A statement on social media says Ethiopia was fighting an existential war and would not crumble under foreign propaganda.
African nations, the European Union and the United States have reiterated calls for a truce and talks to end the conflict.
The government says it's on the brink of victory, but Tigrayan forces have been advancing towards the capital and seizing key towns in recent days.

The House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts has called for both administrative and financial autonomy for the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation to ensure optimal performance and transparency in its operations.
The Chairman of the committee, Oluwole Oke, says he had sponsored a bill to grant the autonomy which had already passed the second reading at the House.
Oke stated that caging the operations of the all-important office through financial and administrative control limits transparency and accountability

MTN Nigeria Communications Plc says it is set to proceed with a public offer for the sale of 575 million shares.
The company says Its parent company, MTN Group, is set to proceed with this sale by means of a bookbuild to institutional investors and fixed price to retail investors.
The company says the Offer is anticipated to open in November 2021 with a bookbuild to institutional investors, after which a fixed price is expected to be announced for retail investors also in November 2021.
MTN says that it successfully completed the issuance of its N89.99bn series II 10-year 12.75 per cent fixed-rate bonds due 2031 under the N200bn bond issuance programme.

Operators in the telecommunication space say the minimum price set for the planned 5G spectrum is too expensive and higher than what obtains in most other countries.
The Nigerian Communications Commission says the telcos expressed their concerns directly to them in a comment and recommendation format sent to the regulator.
MTN and Airtel say the reserve price of about N75bn is too high and above what obtains in other world climes.
The GSMA- an umbrella body for all the operators in the sector- raised concerns over the spectrum price, saying it might affect the plan to achieve affordable Internet access for a large portion of the populace.
The GSMA added that they should consider the licence tenor of about 15 years if the spectrum price is sustained.

The House of Representatives ad hoc committee set up to investigate the current state and use of the Federal Government’s property and assets has asked the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and its subsidiaries to provide a list of Federal Government’s assets under their control.
The committee says oil depots, pipelines, rigs and other facilities, which could have generated revenues for the government and reduced borrowing and budget deficit, had been abandoned in various parts of the country.
The Chairman of the committee, Ademorin Kuye, says all assets in the custody of MDAs; assets that are being trespassed and encroached; assets that are just wasting away could be converted to revenue for the Federal Government for the development of the country.

Elon Musk challenged a United Nations official’s claim that just a small percentage of his wealth could help solve world hunger.
Musk was responding to comments by David Beasley, director of the UN’s World Food Programme, who made a call asking billionaires like Musk to step up now, on a one-time basis.
Beasley specifically called for action from Musk and Amazon.com Inc. co-founder Jeff Bezos, the two men atop the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Beasley says just $6 billion could keep 42 million people from dying.
Musk says If the World Food Programme, using transparent and open accounting, can describe on this Twitter thread exactly how $6B will solve world hunger, he will sell Tesla stock and do it.