Newscast - Africa

The United Nations launched a funding programme aimed at preventing the Afghan economy from collapsing during the winter by getting cash flowing through the local economy again.
The UN Development Programme has set up a trust fund through which governments can channel finance via the UN to specific programmes on the ground, rather than sending money government-to-government, with Afghanistan now controlled by the Taliban.
UNDP chief Achim Steiner says they are not only witnessing a nation and a country in the midst of political turmoil but also witnessing an economic implosion.

Ethiopia’s military launched two airstrikes on what a government official said were rebel-held facilities in Tigray, capping a week of near-daily attacks in the war-torn northern region.
The strikes signalled the military was potentially widening its campaign of aerial bombardments which has drawn international rebukes and disrupted UN flights to the famine-threatened territory.
Government spokeswoman Selamawit Kassa says the same mission destroyed a separate facility in the northern town of Adwa used to manufacture military equipment as well as fake military uniforms used by TPLF combatants.
TPLF spokesman Getachew Reda says that the target in Mai Tsebri was a hospital and that the target in Adwa was a textiles factory that was looted in an earlier stage of the conflict by Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers.

The WHO says that 80,000 to 180,000 health care workers may have been killed by Covid-19 up to May this year, insisting they must be prioritised for vaccination.
The World Health Organisation says the fact that millions of health workers remain unvaccinated is an indictment on the countries and companies controlling the global supply of doses.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says health care workers needed to be among the first immunised against the disease.
He says data from 119 countries suggest that on average, two in five health and care workers globally are fully vaccinated.

The World Bank has warned that the rapid rise in energy prices seen in Europe and parts of Asia won't ease until the second half of next year, and it will have a knock-on effect on Africa.
It says the global economy is struggling to satisfy a growing demand for oil and gas as it emerges from the pandemic.
The Bank says those hardest hit will be those least able to afford food, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.
It predicts food poverty will increase by 25%, potentially leaving almost 41 million people at risk of shortages.

A new report says six African countries are investing heavily in the latest surveillance technology to spy on activists, business competitors, journalists, and other governments
The Institute of Development Studies, which published the report, identified Nigeria as the biggest spender, with more than $127m invested in surveillance-related activities and equipment in 2017.
The report says Egypt, Kenya, Senegal, South Africa, and Sudan have also made significant investments in surveillance technology.
It added Internet signal interception, citizens surveillance, and internet eavesdropping often happens despite laws granting the right to privacy of communication and correspondence.

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, has assured that Nigeria would meet the three million barrels per day quota allocated to the country by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Sylva says though the country currently produced about 1.3 million barrels per day, concerted efforts were being made to increase production to meet the OPEC quota.
The minister says the Federal Executive Council had mandated the ministry to meet the three million barrels per day production within the shortest time possible.
Sylva also disclosed that the rehabilitation of Port-Harcourt Refinery and Petrochemical Company was on course, adding that soon, that of Warri and Kaduna would commence as well.

Rivers State Governor, Mr Nyesom Wike, says that the state was not at war with the federal government or any of its agencies.
The clarification followed insinuations in some quarters about hostility between the two tiers of government in the wake of the legal dispute over who is authorised to collect Value Added Tax in the state.
The governor says there is no desire or any intention of the Rivers State government to fight the federal government, but in a federal system, the states are not houseboys of the federal government.

President Muhammadu Buhari will depart for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to participate in the investment conference organised by the Future Investment Initiative Institute.
The President will be joined at the 5th edition of the flagship investment event by business executives from Nigeria, bankers, Captains of industry and energy experts to discuss issues on the future of investments across the globe.
The three-day event, with the theme, INVESTMENT IN HUMANITY, which will host global executives and asset managers, will deliberate on progress and prosperity with energy; true final frontiers in investments; science in action

The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mallam Mele Kyari says Nigeria will not be cowed to jettison oil and gas, the nation’s chief revenue earner, in the rush to achieve cleaner and sustainable energy.
He says Nigeria must strike a balance between achieving financial security, a critical driver of the nation’s survival as well as energy security and sustainability.
Kyari noted that such a balance was necessary considering the fact that Nigeria depends largely on income from oil and gas.
Kyari says it would be unwise for the country to abandon its main source of revenue just to achieve cleaner or sustainable energy.

Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu says the final report of the Judicial Panel of Enquiry and Restitution in the state was being awaited, assuring that his government would disclose the report fully to members of the public.
The Governor says the panel report would be helpful in strengthening true reconciliation and preventing the re-occurrence of violence in the State.
Sanwo-Olu says the panel was set up to look into allegations of human rights abuses against the police and also determine the cause of coordinated attacks on Lagos, noting that the panel’s final report would be fully implemented.