Newscast - Africa

The Economic Community of West African States has declared President Muhammadu Buhari's ban on Twitter unlawful and has ordered the government never to repeat it.
The court ordered the Buhari administration to take necessary steps to align its policies and other measures to give effect to the rights and freedoms and to guarantee a non-repetition of the unlawful ban of Twitter.
The Court also ordered the Buhari administration to bear the costs of the proceedings and directed the Deputy Chief Registrar to assess the costs accordingly.

The Nigeria Labour Congress has faulted the Federal Government over its handling of the industrial actions that have grounded activities in public universities.
It is also calling on the Federal Government to pay the salaries of the striking workers, which it said had since been frozen on the premise of the so-called ‘no work-no pay’ policy.
NLC President, Ayuba Waba, says the Federal Government should immediately conclude the ongoing negotiation with trade unions in Nigeria’s universities and be prepared to commence implementation of whatever Collective Bargaining Agreement arising therefrom so that public universities in Nigeria can resume normal activities.

The Zamfara State Government has suspended the Emir of Birnin ‘Yandoto of Tsafe Local Government Area, Aliyu Marafa, for conferring a chieftaincy title to a notorious bandit leader.
Secretary to the State Government, Kabiru Sardauna, announced the suspension in a statement on Sunday.
Governor Bello Matawalle approved the appointment of a Committee to investigate the circumstances leading to the action of the Emir.

Singapore and the Philippines’ central banks have unveiled a surprise tightening of monetary policy in the latest sign of heightened inflation concerns in the Asia Pacific.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas lifted its benchmark interest rate by 0.75 percentage points in an unscheduled rate hike on Thursday, as the central bank signaled it was ready to take further action to tackle rising inflation.
BSP Governor Felipe Medalla says that the central bank stood ready to take further necessary actions to steer inflation towards a target-consistent path over the medium term.

The World Health Organization’s chief says fresh surges of Covid infections show the pandemic is nowhere near over, warning that the virus is running free.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says he was worried that case numbers were shooting up, putting more strain on health systems and workers.
He says that as transmission increases, governments must also deploy tried-and-tested measures like mask-wearing and improving ventilation.
WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan added that recent changes in testing policies were hindering the detection of cases and the monitoring of virus evolution.

New Zealand’s central bank lifted its benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point to 2.5 percent as it attempts to curb inflation.
It was the third time this year that the Reserve Bank of New Zealand lifted the cash rate by 50 basis points, following hikes in April and May. There was also a quarter percentage point rise in February.
The bank has forecast that the rate will peak at 4 percent late next year.
It says that it remains appropriate to continue to tighten monetary conditions at a pace to maintain price stability and support maximum sustainable employment.

Ghana’s inflation hit 29.8% in June, the highest since December 2003.
The country’s statistics office says surging food and commodity prices are responsible for the spike.
The government has now turned to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout plan expected to be worth $1.5bn.
Ghana’s total debt is estimated to be more than two-thirds of its revenue and an increase in its debt profile could harm future generations and scare investors

The United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Mr. Mathias Schmale says Nigeria currently lags behind in terms of reaching many of the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 targets.
The UN scribe says the country’s population of over 150 million has the majority living on less than N370 per day, quoting data from the World Bank.
Schmale says even though there are significant challenges to the attainment of the 2030 agenda, which was worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, Nigeria was already lagging behind before the dual obstacles.

The Lagos State House of Assembly has refuted claims suggesting that its lawmakers secretly passed a Sharia law.
Chairman, Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on Information, Security and Strategy, Hon. Setonji David says the Assembly has at no time passed a Sharia law in a deal to get Northern support for the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, as the peddlers of this deception would have people believe.
The lawmaker says the alleged secret passage of Sharia law by Lagos Assembly, is malicious and unfounded.

A firm seeking to be joined in the ongoing $3.1 billion e-Customs project suit in the Federal High Court Abuja, Adani Mega Systems Limited, has accused the federal government of acting unlawfully in awarding the contract.
It stressed that there were several pending suits on the matter before other courts.
The firm averred that it would be affected by the outcome of the ongoing matter while listing some of the pending cases it claimed were on and related which are concerned with the automation of the Nigeria Customs Service.