Newscast - Africa

Tanzania’s Energy Minister Januari Makamba has joined Uganda's parliament in criticizing a European Union parliament resolution calling on the two countries to stop developing their oil and gas projects in the East African region.
He told the BBC that Tanzania like many other countries in the world is entitled to use its resources the same way industrialized countries do for their people.
The EU parliament resolution passed warned of human rights abuses and the social and environmental risk posed by the Eacop project.
Uganda’s Deputy Speaker criticized the resolution, describing it as based on misinformation and deliberate misrepresentation of key facts on environment and human rights protection.

The International Monetary Fund has ranked Nigeria as the 11th country with the highest private savings in the sub-Saharan Africa region, placing Angola in the number one spot.
The report says private savings in Nigeria increased from about 19 percent in 2019 to about 24 percent in 2022.
It noted that savings were the most important source of financing for Nigerian households’ survival during COVID-19, followed by loans, goodwill, and working.
The IMF stated that the private saving rate in SSA increased during the last two decades to an average rate of 17.3 percent in 2019 from 11.5 percent in 1983.
The International Monetary Fund has ranked Nigeria as the 11th country with the highest private savings in the sub-Saharan Africa region, placing Angola in the number one spot.
The report says private savings in Nigeria increased from about 19 per cent in 2019 to about 24 per cent in 2022.
It noted that savings were the most important source of financing for Nigerian households’ survival during COVID-19, followed by loans, goodwill, and working.
The IMF stated that the private saving rate in SSA increased during the last two decades to an average rate of 17.3 per cent in 2019 from 11.5 percent in 1983.

The Federal Government has suspended Azman Air, two months after grounding Aero Contractors and Dana Air, reflecting the crisis in the aviation sector.
The Director General of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, Captain Musa Nuhu, says that the agency was withholding the Air Transport License of Azman Air till it provided the required documentation for its operational licenses’ renewal and sign a Memorandum of Understanding on how it would remit its legacy debt accrued from the collection of Passenger Service Charge.
Nuhu says the Azman Air must sign the MOU to negotiate its debt remittance, which was part of the N42bn and $7.8m debts in PSC, and also provide Tax Clearance as one of the documentation for its ATL.

The presidency revealed that the $311 million loot by the late former military Head of State, General Sani Abacha, which was repatriated to the country, had been paid directly to contractors for various jobs executed for the government.
It says the direct payment was to prevent the National Assembly and the Ministries, Departments, and Agencies from diverting the money.
Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Public Affairs, Ajuri Ngelale, says the country would not be able to expand its revenue base without putting the infrastructure on the ground.
Ngelale explained that considering the infrastructure deficit in the country, the Buhari government devised innovative ways to finance, to bridge 50 years of infrastructure neglect in the country.

Twenty-four Nigerians have filed a lawsuit against the Independent National Electoral Commission for failing to give them and the other seven million Nigerians adequate time and opportunity to complete their voter registration after they have carried out their registration online.
The Plaintiffs are seeking an order of mandamus to direct and compel INEC to re-activate its continuous voter's registration exercise to allow the Plaintiffs to complete their registration and collect their Permanent Voters’ Cards.
The Plaintiffs are also seeking an order of mandamus to direct and compel INEC to provide adequate facilities and deploy personnel to the registration units of the Plaintiffs to enable them complete their registration and collect their PVCs.

The National Bureau of Statistics says Nigeria’s inflation rate rose to 20.52 per cent in August 2022.
The Bureau stated that in August 2022, on a year–on–year basis, the headline inflation rate was 20.52%.
This was 3.52% points higher compared to the rate recorded in August 2021, which was 17.01%.
The percentage change in the average CPI for the twelve months period ending August 2022 over the average of the CPI for the previous twelve months period was 17.07%, showing a 0.47% increase compared to 16.60% recorded in August 2021.

Google suffered one of its biggest setbacks when a top European court fined it 4.125 billion euros for using its Android mobile operating system to thwart rivals, offering a precedent for other regulators to ratchet up the pressure.
The Unit of U.S. Tech giant alphabet had challenged an earlier ruling, but the decision was broadly upheld by Europe's second-highest court in ruling and the fine was reduced only modestly from 4.34 billion euros.
The EU antitrust enforcer has imposed a total of 8.25 billion euros in antitrust fines on the world’s most popular internet search engine in three investigations stretching back more than a decade.

The United States is considering options for a sanctions package against China to deter it from invading Taiwan, with the European Union coming under diplomatic pressure from Taipei to do the same.
The sources say the deliberations in Washington and Taipei's separate lobbying of EU envoys were both at an early stage a response to fears of a Chinese invasion which have grown as military tensions escalate in the Taiwan Strait.
They said the idea is to adopt sanctions beyond measures already taken in the west to restrict some trade and investment with China in sensitive technologies like computer chips and telecoms equipment.

Twitter's shareholders have voted to approve a deal with Elon musk to buy the company for $44bn which means Twitter will now try to force Elon musk to buy the company in the courts.
The meeting followed explosive testimony from twitter's former head of security Peiter Zatko in front of the US Senate.
Musk says he no longer wished to purchase the company in May, but twitter argues that he cannot back out of the deal.

President William Ruto is set to sign an executive order giving the national police service financial autonomy with the inspector general as the accounting officer.
President Ruto says that the constitution provides for the IG to exercise independent command over the NPS.
The head of state however says that the operational autonomy of the office of IG has been undermined by what he described as the continued financial dependence on the office of the president.
President Ruto further assured all public servants that his administration will respect their professional service noting that an era of intimidation had come to an end.