Newscast - Africa

The UK will provide an additional £1bn in military aid for Ukraine, a near-doubling in its support for the fight against the Russian invasion.
The new funding takes the military aid given to Kyiv to £2.3bn - and the UK has also spent £1.5bn in humanitarian and economic support for Ukraine.
Boris Johnson says British spending was transforming Ukraine's defences.
The UK governmnet says the new £1bn is set to come from departmental underspends plus £95 million from the Welsh and Scottish governments' budgets.

US intelligence agencies believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin still wants to capture most of Ukraine
Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines says It means the war could last for a long time.
The US's top intelligence officer Ms Haines says Putin still has the same goals as the ones he held at the start of the conflict to take most of Ukraine.
She says Russia is unlikely to achieve that goal any time soon.

The Ethiopian government-appointed human rights watchdog has called for the immediate release of thousands of Tigrayans who are being held in two detention camps in the north-eastern region of Afar.
The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission described their detention as illegal.
It says around 9,000 Tigrayans have been held there since December last year. They were from areas bordering Tigray where there has been a civil war.
The Addis Ababa government says the detainees were being held for their own safety and also to allow screening to find criminals including people linked to the fighting.

A Sudanese doctors' union says a protester was killed during anti-military demonstrations in Khartoum Bahri after security forces used excessive force.
The Central Council of Sudanese Doctors says a martyr, who was not identified, has died after he was shot in the chest by the forces of darkness.
The doctors say that the security forces used excessive force, thinking they could silence the growing revolution.
The CCSD says this brings the death toll to 103 as a result of the crackdown against the pro-democracy demonstrations prompted by the last October's military coup.

The controversial National Water Resources Bill, 2020, re-emerged on the floor of the House of Representatives amidst suspicions from members.
The leadership, however, assured the lawmakers that the new version of the legislation would capture all the interests of the states.
Chairman of the House Committee on Water Resources, Sada Soli, says the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, as well as commissioners for justice and attorneys-general of the 36 states of the federation, had been consulted and the opinions received would be attached to the bill and distributed to all members.

The Federal Government has signed a $2.78m exchange of note agreement with the Japanese government for an economic and social development programme.
The Assistant Director, Public Relations of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Osagie Edward, explained that the agreement involved the acquisition of high-speed boats to reinforce services for coastal security in Nigeria, with NIMASA as the implementing partner.
The Director-General of NIMASA Dr Bashir Jamoh assured the Japanese government that the agency, working with relevant stakeholders, would ensure the sustainability of the recent success in the war against piracy in Nigerian waters and the Gulf of Guinea.

The House of Representatives has passed for second reading, a bill seeking to establish an Entrepreneurship Development Bank of Nigeria, with the aim of providing soft loans for small and medium-scale enterprises in the country.
The consolidated bill was jointly sponsored by Mr Benjamin Kalu and Olalekan Afolabi
Kalu says the proposed bank would be charged with the responsibility, among other things, of providing medium and long-term finance for indigenous small businesses.
He added that the bill, which July 18, 2019, focuses on Nigerian youths and contemplated providing improved access to finance for youth entrepreneurs in innovation, manufacturing, agriculture and trade.

The Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has reiterated the need for the government to partner with the private sector to ensure that residents have access to affordable accommodation.
The governor says his administration, in partnership with the private sector, has delivered more than 3,526 housing units across the state since 2019.
The Managing Director, LBIC, Oluwatobiloba Lawal, says the inauguration of the Greater Lagos LBIC apartments is a testament to the Governor’s commitment to the provision of affordable shelter that could stimulate the economic growth of the state hence, the THEMES agenda is working.

Revenue allocation to federal, state and local governments has declined from a peak of N970.57bn in July 2021 to N680.783bn in May 2022, representing a 30 per cent reduction over the period.
The decrease in allocation to these levels of government reveals the fiscal challenges facing various levels of government in Africa’s biggest economy.
The Federal Government has raised its budgetary allocation of N443 billion for gasoline subsidy to N4 trillion and has received approval from the National Assembly.

The Federal Government approved a new revenue boost scheme aiming to annually generate N3.8tn and N160bn from non-oil and oil ventures respectively.
The Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, says the revenue mobilization reforms, will be accelerated and be derivative of the federal government’s strategic revenue growth initiative.
She added that the significant progress that has been made in this initiative includes the raising of the VAT from 5 per cent to 7 per cent and other measures since 2019.