Newscast - Africa

President Muhammadu Buhari has vowed to resist any attempt to undermine the development of sports in the country, declaring that football as the number one sport in Nigeria remains a national asset.
The president directed the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development and the Nigeria Football Federation to commence implementation of the two-volume report in phases, within the relevant sections of the Nigerian laws on sports development and the statutes of the world soccer governing body, FIFA.
The president further expressed concern over the development of football in the past years, owing to the neglect of the core orientation of football administration, urging the NFF to salvage the domestic league at all levels.

Nigeria and the United States government have reached an agreement on the return of over $23 million of the Abacha loot.
The Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami says the fund when returned will be invested in three ongoing projects by the Federal Government, including the ongoing Abuja-Kaduna road and the 2nd Niger Bridge.
Nigeria has in the past recovered several other tranches of the Abacha loot, which are proceeds believed to have been diverted from public coffers by the military administration of General Sani Abacha in the 1990s.

A United Nations waiver allowing 13 Afghan Taliban officials to travel abroad expired on Friday, as the Security Council failed to reach an agreement on whether to extend the travel exemptions.
China and Russia have called for an extension, while the United States and Western nations have sought a reduced list of Taliban officials allowed to travel to protest against the Taliban’s rollback of women’s rights and failure to form an inclusive government as it promised.
The US proposed reimposing the travel ban on seven of the 13 Taliban officials and keeping the exemption for six others, but limiting their travel only to Qatar, where US-Taliban talks have taken place, council diplomats said.

The World Food Programme says 30,000 tonnes of Ukrainian wheat bought for its operations in Ethiopia is expected to arrive in neighbouring Djibouti next week.
Claire Neville, the WFP’s spokesperson for Ethiopia, told the BBC that the wheat will support the organisation’s efforts to feed millions of people affected by food insecurity as a result of protracted conflicts and severe drought.
Neville added that the food will support the body's operations across the country, where it aims to target 3.4 million people in the northern regions of Tigray, Afar and Amhara that have been impacted by a brutal civil war that broke out 22 months ago.

The International Energy Agency has raised its forecast for world oil demand in 2022 to 99.7 million barrels per day in 2022 and 101.8 million bpd in 2023.
The organisation which provides data, forecasts and analysis on the global oil market, stated that the projection was hinged on soaring oil use for power generation and gas-to-oil switching by many countries.
The IEA report stated that World oil demand is now forecast at 99.7 million bpd in 2022 and 101.8 million bpd in 2023.
The IEA report however stated that the world oil supply hit a post-pandemic high of 100.5 million bpd in July despite Nigeria’s perennial underperformance as maintenance was completed in the North Sea, Canada and Kazakhstan.

The Zambian government has approached Africa’s richest man and President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote pleading for support for the development of the country’s agricultural sector through the establishment of fertiliser plants in the country.
Minister of Commerce and Industry, Zambia, Mr Chipoka Mulenga, expressed the belief that any investment in fertiliser production would not only help the country to be self-sufficient in food production but would also help to grow the Zambian economy as well as that of the neighbouring countries.
Mulenga maintained that Dangote had been able to change the narratives through his investment in cement production across Africa, stating that Africans are now investing in the continent.

The Securities and Exchange Commission says that it is engaging with the federal government to reconsider the exemption of tax on corporate bonds and short-term securities.
The Director-General of SEC, Yuguda Lamido, stated that the commission is still engaging with the Honourable Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning on the request for tax exemption on corporate bonds and short-term securities.
He says they believe that tax exemption should return to the capital market. Stakeholders also agree with this. Therefore, the commission continues its engagement with the Honourable Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning on the request for tax exemption for corporate bonds.

The Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu would next month in Lagos host representatives of the United Nations, European Union, Economic Community of West African States as well as other policymakers, local and international operators and investors to dialogue and proffer solutions to the myriads of problems bedeviling the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry.
The Exhibition Manager, Energy Portfolio, Middle East and Africa, Informa Markets, Mr. Ade Yesufu, says the three day-event would be held in Lagos, from September 20 to 22, 2022, with over 3000 attendees, over 100 exhibitors from 21 countries expected.
He says Nigeria’s power sector was in dire need of technological transformation and digitalisation to compete globally and achieve sustainable growth.
Yesufu explained that the first step to achieving the above would be to attract key local and international investors not only to dialogue with other stakeholders but to also discover viable mechanisms to solve the challenges in the energy sector.

The Federal Government says it has started making moves to resolve tariff shortfalls in the power sector.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says the NELMCO will enhance ongoing efforts to resolve liabilities relating to tariff shortfalls for distribution companies, among other challenges plaguing Nigeria’s power sector.
The Vice President told the members that they are expected to make conscious and deliberate efforts to develop appropriate strategies to facilitate the successful conclusion of the outstanding pre-privatisation issues of the defunct PHCN.

The Independent National Electoral Commission says contrary to reports making the rounds, it has not discarded the electronic transmission of election results.
Spokesman to the commission, Festus Okoye, says INEC is not contemplating a revert to the manual process of result transmission.
Mr Okoye says the confusion regarding what method has been adopted stems from a recent short interview granted to a national newspaper on the procedure for result management during elections.
The INEC Commissioner reassured Nigerians that the electronic transmission of results has come to stay adding that this method further boosts the credibility and transparency of the electoral process when citizens follow polling unit level results on the INEC Result Viewing portal in real-time on Election Day.