Newscast - Africa

The shareholders of MTN Nigeria Plc have approved the cancellation of 7.5 billion unissued shares, the company has disclosed.
The telecoms company’s shareholders also approved the cancellation of over 402 million preference shares of $0.005 each.
President Mohammed Buhari in August 2020, signed the amended Companies and Allied Matter Act, mandating all listed companies in Nigeria to have only issued shares against the current system of operating issued and authorised share capital.

Former US President Donald Trump has launched a collection of digital trading cards depicting him in various guises including a superhero, astronaut and Nascar driver.
Mr Trump says these limited edition cards feature amazing ART of my Life & Career!"
Last month, the billionaire launched his third bid for the White House.
The clip featured an animated version of the former president in front of the Trump Tower in New York, who rips open his shirt to reveal a superhero costume emblazoned with the letter T as lasers shoot from his eyes.
Mr Trump says the non-fungible tokens were very much like a baseball card, but hopefully much more exciting.
He added that the cards, costing $99 each, would make a great Christmas gift.

The United States House of Representatives has passed a bill to allow Puerto Rico to vote on a binding referendum on whether to become a state or gain independence – a largely symbolic measure unlikely to pass in the Senate.
The House passed the proposal, dubbed the Puerto Rico Status Act, in a 233-191 vote The proposal calls for a vote in November of next year to resolve Puerto Rico’s political status.
The measure would give Puerto Rican voters a chance to choose between independence, sovereignty in free association with the US or statehood.
The referendum would not include Puerto Rico’s current status as a US commonwealth.

The United States Congress is considering legislation that would restrict the use of TikTok by government employees over security concerns that user data could be passed along to the Chinese government.
The US Senate passed a bill earlier that would ban federal workers from using TikTok on government-owned devices, and conservative lawmakers in states such as Georgia have passed similar legislation.
US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi signalled that she was receptive to the bill but had not decided whether the House, the second body in the US Congress, would take it up before the expected end of the current congressional session next week.

A large drop in the water levels at Lake Kariba, the key supply for Zambia's hydroelectric power plants, has forced the country to begin rationing power supply.
Lake Kariba is the biggest source of power for both countries but Zimbabwe has already used up its annual water allocation to produce power and was eating into Zambia’s share.
Zambia is now restricted to producing 800MW of power and Zimbabwe 300MW daily.
Water levels have dropped to critical levels at Kariba due to successive droughts with low rainfall and excessive use of water for power generation.
Zambia says it will continue to export power despite the rationing.

US President, Joe Biden, has announced that he supports the African Union joining the G20 club of nations permanently.
He says Africa belongs to the table in every room where challenges are being discussed and in every institution where discussions are taking place.
A member of the National Security Council, Judd Devermont says they need more African voices in international conversations that concern the global economy, democracy and governance, climate change, health and security.
Other topics discussed at the summit, which concludes on Thursday, included investment, trade and energy, among others.

South Africa's former President Jacob Zuma says he has launched a private prosecution against his successor Cyril Ramaphosa.
The announcement made by the Jacob Zuma Foundation said President Ramaphosa was charged with serious crimes but did not specify the alleged offense.
The foundation says President Cyril Ramaphosa has been charged in a private prosecution with the criminal offense of being accessory after the fact in the crimes committed by among others Advocate Downer namely, breaching the provisions of the [National Prosecuting Authority] NPA Act.
It added that the crimes carry a sentence of 15 years imprisonment.

Mozambique’s parliament has approved a bill legalising the involvement of local forces in the fight against jihadists in the northern Cabo Delgado province.
Local militias have been assisting the army and its allies from Rwanda and the southern African regional bloc in the fight against jihadists in the province.
Defence Minister Cristovao Chume, admitted that the Mozambican army was not strong enough to tackle jihadist activities alone.
He says there was an urgent need to establish local forces to strengthen the army “in combating and containing the spread of jihadist incursions”.
He says they would protect community settlements and public and private infrastructure, similar to strategies used in other jurisdictions where national security was compromised.

The Federation Account Allocation Committee shared a total sum of N902.053 billion to the three tiers of government, as Federation Allocation for the month of November 2022.
From this stated amount, inclusive of Gross Statutory Revenue, Value Added Tax (VAT), Exchange Gain and Electronic Money Transfer Levies (EMTL), the Federal Government received N358.515 billion, the States received N270.836 billion, the Local Government Councils got N204.130 billion, while the Oil producing states received N68.572 billion as derivation, (13% of Mineral Revenue).
The distribution is as follows; Federal Government got N30.426 billion, the States received N101.420 billion, Local Government Councils got N70.994 billion.

Shareholders of Dangote Cement unanimously authorised the management of the company to undertake a share buy-back of up to 10 per cent of its issued shares.
The company had stated interest to buy back 10 per cent of its issued shares to improve return on equity and shareholders’ value and facilitate future long-term growth.
The shareholders, who unanimously approved the share buyback through voting at the company’s Extraordinary General Meeting in Lagos, described the exercise as laudable and a win-win situation for them.
The shareholders also authorised the board to amend the Articles of Association of the company to reflect the company’s share capital, following the cancellation (if any) of the shares acquired and/or otherwise held by the company.