Newscast - Africa

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control has called on state governments and citizens to take more proactive steps to combat the outbreak of cholera across states in Nigeria.
The agency made the appeal in a report where it stated that there have been 31,425 suspected cases of cholera and 816 deaths reported from 22 states and the FCT, between January 1 and August 1, 2021.
The NCDC says the recent outbreak has been exacerbated by poor access to clean water, open defecation, poor sanitation, and hygiene.
The NCDC says it activated the National Cholera Emergency Operations Centre on June 22 and has deployed rapid response teams to support the most affected states, it warned that those actions won’t be enough.

The Federal Government has threatened to review its relationship with Indonesia if it fails to bring the Indonesian immigration officials that assaulted a Nigerian diplomat to book.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffry Onyeama, says there was absolutely no justification whatsoever for this kind of behaviour against not only a Nigerian diplomat but any Nigerian at all.
He says It was totally unacceptable Nigeria has also summoned its ambassador to Indonesia to give a detailed account of the assault, which has sparked outrage after a video of it went viral.

Amazon.com Inc on Tuesday says it would pay customers who suffer injuries or property damage from defective goods others sell on its U.S. platform, in a new policy that could reduce litigation.
Amazon maintains that sellers themselves are responsible, and most courts have ruled in its favour.
A state appellate court in California, however, last year said it could be liable for goods it stores and ships via its Fulfillment by Amazon program.
The company says effective Sept. 1, Amazon will pay valid claims of up to $1,000, which make up more than 80% of injury and damage cases on its platform, at no cost to sellers.

The Senate moved toward the final passage of a bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure package, after clearing the last significant procedural hurdles for the legislation over the weekend.
The legislation is expected to pass, after nearly 70 senators voted to advance it late Sunday night. It is the product of weeks of intense negotiations, largely led by White House officials and a core group of 10 Republican and Democratic senators.
Senator Bill Hagerty, Republican of Tennessee, held up a move to expedite the bill over the weekend, largely to protest how it is paid for.
Senators remained hopeful that on Monday they would reach an agreement on postponing the vote until Tuesday at a reasonable, daylight hour, rather than taking a vote in the early morning hours.

Mozambique's president has called for newly stationed multi-national troops to act with harmony and respect for human life as they prepare to serve in the troubled province of Cabo Delgado.
The mission is funded by the southern African regional bloc, Sadc, with a budget of $12m and renewable on a month-by-month basis.
More than 3,000 people have been killed and 820,000 displaced since the Islamist insurgency in Cabo Delgado began in 2017.
Rwandan and Mozambican troops said they recaptured the rebels' stronghold of Mocímboa da Praia.
Mozambique's President Felipe Nyusi urged the troops to strengthen their relations with the populations through humanitarian aid, whenever possible.

Health officials in Guinea have confirmed West Africa’s first case of Marburg, a highly infectious disease that’s in the same family as the virus that causes Ebola.
The World Health Organization says the virus needed to be stopped in its tracks.
Marburg virus disease is transmitted to people from fruit bats and spreads among humans through the transmission of bodily fluids.
Dr Matshidiso Moeti, from the WHO, says the virus had the potential to spread far and wide.

The Central Bank of Nigeria says its proposed digital currency, known as e-Naira, will be treated as critical national infrastructure to protect it from operational and cyber-security risks.
The apex bank says there would be a co-existence of traditional payment systems and the CBN Digital Currency to address interoperability risks that might be associated with the implementation.
CBN says it would apply the regulatory framework and compliance mechanisms to prevent disruptive competition for electronic money.
The bank explained that medium to long-term pay-off in increased efficiency of operations was expected to offset initial outlay. It added that any risk of disintermediation would be addressed by the introduction of limits on the e-Naira holdings.

The Lagos State House of Assembly has granted the request of the State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, for the state government to assume full ownership of the privately-owned Lekki Concession Company Limited.
The House Committee on Finance led by Rotimi Olowo explained that upon the buy-out of all the shareholdings interest of LCC by the state, the government has become the subsisting shareholders of the company with 75% shareholding while the Office of Public-Private Partnerships was left with the remaining 25% shareholding.
He says the original $53.9 million loan obligation from a private sector facility – the African Development Bank had been resolved after series of engagements between the bank, LCC, and the state government.

The Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr Faisal Shuaib, says Nigeria is scheduled to commence the second phase of its COVID-19 vaccination programme on August 16.
The Federal Government had earlier scheduled the exercise to begin on Tuesday, but it was postponed due to unforeseen circumstances.
Dr Shuaib suggested the postponement had been necessary for preparations to be finalised.
The second phase of the vaccination programme was breathed into life after the US donated over four million doses of the Moderna vaccine.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has condemned the assault of a Nigerian diplomat by immigration officials in Indonesia.
The victim was manhandled and arrested by immigration officials in front of his official quarters in the Asian country.
A viral video of the event shows at least three men in a vehicle assaulting the official, ignoring his screams of pain.
The Nigerian Foreign Affairs Ministry in a statement says the unfortunate incident is against international law and the Vienna Conventions governing Diplomatic and Consular Relations between states.