Newscast - Africa

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo tasked states to think out of the box in raising their respective Internally Generated Revenues.
He says by thinking differently there is a need for a sub-national to think like a sovereign State.
He says there is a different mindset when they are sure of a monthly allocation of cash at least enough to pay salaries, whether they generate income or not.

Qatar believes that recognising the Taliban government in Afghanistan is not a priority now and that the focus should be on engaging with the new administration and addressing humanitarian issues.
Mutlaq al-Qahtani, the special envoy of the Qatari foreign minister, called for other countries to engage more deeply with the Taliban as Afghanistan’s de facto authority while urging the group to act as a responsible administration and respect the right of women to work and girls to attend school.
Al-Qahtani explained that although the group wants international recognition and agreed on a peace deal with the US, it has resorted to public hangings and other brutal tactics since taking power.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi says the Group of 20 has agreed to work together to avoid a humanitarian disaster in Afghanistan, even if it means having to coordinate efforts with the Taliban.
The European Union opened the talks by pledging one billion euros which will go to urgent humanitarian needs and also assist neighbouring countries in taking in Afghans who have been fleeing since the Taliban took control of the country on August 15.
Draghi says there has basically been a convergence of views on the need to address the humanitarian emergency.
Draghi says the absence of China’s President and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin did not undercut the importance of the meeting organised by Italy, the current G20 chair.

IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath says Energy prices, which have soared in recent days, are likely to remain high in the coming months but begin to retreat early next year,
She says while energy prices will be elevated for the next couple of months, they expect that to come back down by the end of the first quarter next year and into the second quarter.
Gopinath cautioned that the weather will play a factor since a very severe winter could lead to broader power outages that will have a much bigger effect on the world.

Ghana's Minister of Communications and Digitalisation, Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, has says cyber security companies and professionals in the country will soon be licenced.
She says Section 49 of the cybersecurity Act 2020 introduced the mandatory licensing of cybersecurity service providers.
President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says professionals in the field would be certified and licenced as pertained in Law, Accounting and other professions and charged the Cyber Security Authority to work towards the certification, accreditation and licensing of cyber security institutions and professionals.
The Minister stressed that section 59 further enjoined the Authority to enforce the adoption of cybersecurity standards and monitor compliance of public and private entities.

Chad has been readmitted to international football after Fifa ended a suspension, originally handed out for governmental interference in football, that had lasted six months.
Fifa in a statement says the Bureau of the Fifa Council has decided to lift the suspension of the FTFA with immediate effect.
Fifa added that following the lifting of the suspension, a joint Fifa-Caf mission will be deployed to N'Djamena without delay to follow up on discussions with the FTFA and the Chadian government.

The UN’s top court awarded Somalia control of most of a potential oil and gas-rich chunk of the Indian Ocean after a bitter legal battle with neighbouring Kenya over their sea border.
Chief judge Joan Donoghue says the International Court of Justice ruled there was no agreed maritime boundary and drew a new border close to the one claimed by Somalia, although Kenya kept a part of the 100,000 square-kilometre area.
The court’s decision could have far-reaching consequences for the future of relations between two key countries in one of the world’s most troubled regions.

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Malam Muhammad Bello has made a case for a special revenue status to be accorded the FCT to enable it to meet up with its burgeoning infrastructure need.
The minister called for a new revenue sharing formula that is fair and equitable, taken into consideration the role the territory was playing in national development.
He says the FCT administration would be in a position to execute projects that are of the highest quality if there is a corresponding increase in revenue sharing formula.
The minister says the FCT needs a special revenue package to do more projects that would have a direct impact on the residents.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says that he is not calling for the devaluation of the naira contrary to some reports that trailed his speech at the opening session of the mid-term ministerial performance review retreat at the presidential villa, Abuja.
Osinbajo in a statement says he rather advocates a forex policy to curb corruption.
The Vice President says those who have access to the dollars at N410 turn round to sell it were benefiting from the current exchange rate.
He says the Naira exchange rate benefits only those who are able to obtain the dollar at N410, some of who simply turn round and sell to the parallel market at N570.

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike says the electronic transmission of results if adopted by the Independent National Electoral Commission will reduce electoral fraud.
Wike commended the National Assembly for empowering INEC to determine the mode of transmission of results.
He says the process would be a trust in the nation’s electoral system that would also reduce election litigations.
He however urged the National Assembly not to decide for political parties, the method to be adopted in the conduct of their primary election as been recommended in some clauses in the Electoral Act Repeal and Re-Enactment bill.