Africa Business Radio

Western powers have called on the Ethiopian government to stop detaining people based on their ethnicity. The US, UK and others cited reports by human rights groups that many Tigrayans were being rounded up, including priests, the elderly and mothers with their children. They said people were being held without charge in inhumane conditions. The government denies it is targeting any ethnic group. It says individuals who are suspected of supporting the Tigray People's Liberation Front and its ally the Oromo Liberation Army have been arrested. The government says it has made significant gains against Tigrayan forces in recent days.

Algeria's President Abdelmadjid Tebboune says Algeria has agreed to give a grant of $100m to the Palestinian Authority. Mr Tebboune says Algeria would be hosting a meeting of Palestinian factions in the near future. The Palestinian Authority has major financial problems, which leaves it struggling to pay public sector employees. Algeria has increased its activity over the Palestinian issue recently, just as its neighbour Morocco has been building new ties with Israel after signing a normalisation deal last year.

The federal government set to take a decisive step to enhance justice delivery as well as reduce drastically the number of inmates across custodial centres in the country. Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami stated that the project was initiated to ensure the hearing and determination of urgent and time-bound cases, using the digital platform. He says the government will no longer be constrained by mobility, space and time in justice delivery on account of accommodation of the virtual court sitting facilities and deployment of incidental technology. He noted stably the country’s justice system which is founded on the constitutional principle of fundamental rights to a fair hearing requires the court to hear and determine cases in public and in the presence of suspects or parties in court.

Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Ambassador Sarafa Isola, called on the British authorities to review their decision to place Nigeria on the red list. He believes rescinding its decision does not make the UK authorities weak but true leaders who have the interest of the people at heart. He says changing decisions with more facts doesn’t portray as weakened but make a good leader who has courage. UK authorities had over the weekend added Nigeria to the country’s red list category in a bid to contain the spread of the new COVID-19 variant, Omicron. The British government went on to halt the process of making decisions on visitor visa applications in Nigeria and other countries on its red list.

The President of the African Development Bank Group, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, has condemned travel bans placed on African countries over the latest variant of COVID-19, Omicron. Adesina in a statement says Global vaccines and travel apartheid against Africa are endangering lives, hurting economies, lives, jobs and livelihoods, from a pandemic Africa did not cause. End the apartheid. Respect Africa!” UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid said most a significant number of Omicron cases have been linked to travel with Nigeria.

The National Bureau of Statistics says Nigeria’s trade balance in the third quarter of 2021 amounted to a deficit of N3,023.50 billion as the value of imports continued to outpace exports, The deficit was an increase of 26.53% compared to the same period in 2020.Total imports in the third quarter grew to N8,153.79 billion, showing an increase of 17.32% quarter on quarter and 51.47% on a year-on-year basis.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has condemned the red listing of Nigeria by the UK government over the two cases of the omicron variant of COVID-19. Mr Mohammed described the decision as unjust and discriminatory. The minister has, however, called on the UK government to rescind their decision immediately. He also discussed the way forward and the upscale of the current responses to the pandemic including ongoing mass vaccination, surveillance and screening at the various points of entry.

The news on Africa business radio. The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has put the amount spent on subsidising petrol, between January and October 2021, at N1.03tn. The NNPC says it would deduct its October 2021 value shortfall of N199bn from its November 2021 proceeds meant for sharing at the December 2021 Federation Accounts Allocation Committee meeting. The oil firm referred to its subsidy spending as under-recovery, as it had repeatedly stated that it had no authorisation by the National Assembly to pay subsidy.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett urged world powers to take a hard line against Iran in negotiations aimed at reviving an international nuclear deal. Israel has been watching with concern as world powers sit down with Iran in Vienna in hopes of restoring the tattered 2015 deal. Continued Iranian advances in its atomic programme have further raised the stakes. Bennett called on every country negotiating with Iran in Vienna to take a strong line and make it clear to Iran that they cannot enrich uranium and negotiate at the same time.

Afghanistan’s Taliban government rejected condemnation by Western nations over dozens of alleged summary killings of former security force personnel documented by rights groups since the Islamists returned to power. The US, other Western nations, and allies said they were deeply concerned by allegations by Human Rights Watch and others that point to serious human rights abuses. The State Department says alleged summary killings and enforced disappearances contradict an amnesty declared by the Taliban for former security force personnel after the Islamists defeated a Western-backed regime and retook control of the country in mid-August. The Taliban’s Interior Ministry however rejected both the Western rebuke and rights groups’ allegations.

The Swiss unit of German group Lufthansa says Swiss International Air Lines has temporarily suspended flights to Hong Kong until December 11 due to tightened quarantine restrictions for crew members A spokesperson says the move affects four flights from Zurich in all adding Hong Kong was the only destination involved. It says the Swiss would closely monitor the situation with a view to resuming services. Hong Kong, an international business and financial centre mandate 14-21 days of hotel quarantine for almost all arrivals, whether or not they are vaccinated.

The World Health Organisation says Omicron has been detected in 38 countries but there are no reported deaths so far from the new COVID-19 variant. WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier says it is commendable that makers of COVID-19 vaccines are planning for the likelihood of needing to adjust their products to protect against the Omicron variant. WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan urged people not to panic over the emergence of the Omicron coronavirus variant and said it was too early to say if COVID-19 vaccines would have to be modified to fight it. Swaminathan says that the right response was to be prepared and cautious and not to panic in face of the new variant.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute says sales of weapons and military services by the world’s 100 biggest arms companies reached a record $531bn in 2020, an increase of 1.3 per cent in real terms compared with the previous year, The Swedish think tank says 2020 marked the sixth consecutive year of sales growth by the top 100 firms and came even as the global economy shrank. Overall sales were 17 per cent higher than in 2015 when it first included data on Chinese firms. Firms in the United States continue to dominate the industry, with total sales of $285bn from 41 companies accounting for about 54 per cent of all arms sales among the 100 biggest companies. SIPRI says the top five companies in the ranking since 2018 have all been based in the US.

Fana Broadcasting Corporation reports that Ethiopia's education ministry has announced a temporary closure of all secondary schools to allow students to help in harvesting crops for Ethiopians on the war front. Education Minister Berhanu Nega says the schools would be closed for a week. The government says more than 1.2 million students were out of school due to the ongoing conflict in the north. The government announced a six-month state of emergency in November to contain a Tigrayan rebel advancement towards the capital, Addis Ababa.

South Africa's Stellenbosch University has adopted a new language policy that approves the use of three languages for teaching and communication at the institution - English, Xhosa and Afrikaans. There had been controversy surrounding the use of Afrikaans at the university after the South African Human Rights Commission announced the launch of a probe into allegations some students had been stopped from speaking Afrikaans at welcome events and informal settings at Stellenbosch. A spokesperson says the changes would be implemented in January. Dr Leslie van Rooi says through the policy, the university recommits itself to multilingualism by using the three official languages of the Western Cape, namely Afrikaans, English and isiXhosa. He added that the university through its policy would like to enhance access and success as well as the idea of social cohesion even further on campuses.

The President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Felix Tshisekedi, has sacked the head of the state-owned mining company. Albert Yuma, had been at the helm of Gecamines for more than a decade. Mr Yuma strongly denied allegations that he was involved in multi-million dollar corruption scandals. He described himself as a patriotic reformer of the industry. President Tshisekedi says cleaning up the mining sector is a key priority and he had been under international pressure to remove Mr Yuma.Rights groups have long complained that the mining sector is riddled with corruption and human right abuses.

The Lagos State Government has released two volumes of the report of the Judicial Panel of Inquiry detailing the fallout of the #EndSARS protests in October last year. The second volume of the Justice Doris Okuwobi-led panel showed that of the 65 petitions to the committee by members of the police force impacted by the demonstration, 11 were considered worthy of resolution. The panel said the funds had been exhausted and therefore appealed to Sanwo-Olu to augment the N400 million earlier made available for the purpose.

The National Population Census has promised to give Nigerians credible, reliable and dependable population statistics that can help governments in proper planning for national growth and development. The Federal Commissioner representing Ekiti at NPC, Hon. Ayodeji Ajayi, charged staff, officials and management team that will be participating in the pre-test exercise, to be professional and patriotic in discharging their duties. The NPC Commissioner says the exercise which will be conducted in all the 36 states of the federation simultaneously, including Abuja the Federal Capital Territory, is a follow up to the one earlier conducted by the Commission earlier this year.

The police in Lagos have announced that they have commenced an investigation into the death of Sylvester Oromoni jr, a 12-year-old student of Dowen college in the Lekki area Of Lagos. The Commissioner of Police in Lagos says the Homicide Section of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department , Panti, has been directed to take over the case from the Maroko division. Odumosu added that the command is teaming up with the Delta State Police Command in the investigation to unravel the mystery behind the death of the minor. He says a comprehensive medical test will be carried out and analysis will be done to establish facts in our investigation.

President Muhammadu Buhari declared that Nigeria remains the most viable and attractive investment destination in Africa, adding that the country is on the path of becoming the continent’s leading industrial and trading nation. The President says Nigeria is reaping from the efforts his administration has made to consciously improve the investment environment. He says the government focused on policies, projects, and programs that support private sector investors. He added that despite the adverse global economic environment of recent years, Nigeria’s investment environment has greatly improved both at the national and sub-national levels.