Africa Business Radio

Bishop of Ihiala Diocese of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, Prof Israel Okoye, has warned that the insistence of the federal government to support open grazing may lead to food shortage in Nigeria.The former academic says the controversy about open grazing in Nigeria has become an unfortunate distraction from some fundamental issues on the economy, education, justice, equity, leadership and others, that needed to be addressed.He says although cattle rearing is the key feature of animal husbandry, their politicisation and seeming treatment as national obligations have attracted objection and resentment.

The Kogi State Government dared the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to come out with the report of its investigations on the purported N20 billion bailout funds over which a Lagos High Court reportedly froze the state’s account in August.The state in a statement insisted that the alleged sum of N19,333,333,333.36, which Sterling Bank had undertaken to the EFCC to transfer to the Central Bank of Nigeria did not belong to the Kogi State Government and that the state did not enter into any agreement, either with Sterling Bank or the EFCC, to return any bailout funds to the CBN as being portrayed.The government however kicked against the withdrawal by the EFCC, challenging the anti-graft body to make public its investigation of the alleged bailout funds.

The Central Bank of Nigeria has issued guidelines to the Advisory Committees of Experts of non-interest banks in supervising and monitoring the disposal of Non-permissible Income by the institutions.The CBN explained that the move was part of efforts aimed at standardising the treatment and disposal of NPI by the NIB.The apex bank noted that the NPI was not an object of ownership of the NIB and does not confer any ownership rights on it.The CBN stated that the NPI shall be put in a dedicated NPI account and shall not be commingled with the funds of the NIB.The apex bank added that the NIBs were under obligation to dispose of any NPI that accrues to it, pointing out that disposing the NPI to a charitable cause is regarded as proper disposal on certain conditions.

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project has filed a lawsuit against President Muhammadu Buhari.The group is asking the court to declare illegal and unconstitutional the plan by the administration to track, intercept and monitor WhatsApp messages, phone calls, and text messages of Nigerians and other people, as it severely threatens and violates the right to the preservation of privacy.”SERAP is seeking a declaration that any monitoring of WhatsApp messages, phone calls and text messages is oppressive and draconian, as it threatens and violates sections 37 and 39 of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 as amended.

The World Health Organization says its newly established task force could be the last chance to find the truth over the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.The WHO’s director-general voiced his frustration over the level of access China had granted to the international mission to China.Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says the mission’s final report did not conduct an extensive enough assessment over the possibility the virus was introduced to humans through a laboratory incident.The WHO announced the names of 26 nominees to join the newly established Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogensa .The proposed team of scientists includes six people who visited China as part of the previous WHO-China mission.

United Nations diplomats say UN chief Antonio Guterres asked to postpone a virtual meeting with Southeast Asian ministers at the last minute to avoid signalling any recognition of Myanmar’s military government by being in the same online room as the military’s envoy.Guterres asked to postpone the meeting until a time when it can be held in a mutually agreeable format, in view of the ongoing urgent international and regional issues.UN diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Guterres did not want to get ahead of a decision by UN member states on who will sit in Myanmar’s seat at the world body after rival claims were made by the military and Kyaw Moe Tun, the current UN ambassador who was appointed by the elected government.

Microsoft says it will shut down career-oriented social network LinkedIn in China, citing a challenging operating environment as Beijing tightens control over tech firms.Senior vice president of engineering Mohak Shroff says the US-based company will replace LinkedIn in China with an application dedicated to applying for jobs but without the networking features.The Wall Street Journal says LinkedIn was given a deadline by Chinese internet regulators to better oversee content on the site.Chinese authorities have been targeting a range of homegrown tech behemoths for alleged monopolistic practices and aggressive harvesting of consumer data.

IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva says accelerating the pace of vaccinations worldwide will be key not just to contain the coronavirus pandemic, but also to resolving the speed bumps besetting the global economic recovery.Those disruptions stem from the unprecedented situation created by the pandemic and the sharp rebound in demand as economies reopen, as well as struggles to hire workers amid renewed infections from the Delta variant of the coronavirus.Georgieva says however the more fundamental problem is the growing divergence between countries that are pulling forward more strongly and those that are falling behind largely due to the drastically lower vaccination rates in lower-income nations.

The international organisation says the Francophonie summit due to be held in Tunisia in November has been postponed.The 88 French-speaking countries were scheduled to meet on the island of Djerba next month but have decided to move the event to next year.The decision is believed to be partly motivated by the political situation in Tunisia.The delay of the Francophonie summit is seen by the opposition as a blow to the president and his power grab.

The World Health Organization says Six out of every seven coronavirus cases are not being detected in Africa.It has made the calculation based on a formula that looks at recorded deaths and case fatality rates.The WHO is boosting community screening in eight countries aiming to reach seven million people with rapid testing in the next year.WHO's Africa director Dr Matshidiso Moeti says with limited testing, they are still flying blind in far too many communities in Africa while more testing means rapid isolation, less transmission and more lives saved through targeted action.

A new report from Oxfam says West African governments are planning to slash and burn their way out of Covid-19 induced economic loss.Its report singled out Nigeria as the worst-performing West African country when it came to tackling inequality going into the pandemic.It says that the country’s health spending is the third-lowest in the world at 3.6% of GDP and that 40% of its population does not have access to healthcare services.The report warned that any massive cut on public finances could push millions more West Africans into poverty and hunger.

President Muhammadu Buhari says he will hasten the signing of the Consolidated Insurance Bill 2020 once it lands on his desk.The President says once the National Assembly has finished the process of reviewing the Consolidated Insurance Bill 2020 and forwarded he would speedily subject it to the necessary executive checks and sign it into law. The President commended the leadership of the Institute for bringing some sanity into the Nigerian Insurance Industry as well as giving more visibility to the importance of the industry in national development, counselled them to do more.

A total of 3,577,860 doses of the Pfizer vaccine have arrived in Nigeria from the United States.A statement released by the United States Mission in Nigeria says the arrival of 3,577,860 doses of Pfizer vaccine is for the public health and benefit of the Nigerian people through COVAX, the worldwide initiative ensuring equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.The mission noted that safe and effective vaccines remain the best tool to ending the pandemic.

The House of Representatives has passed two bills to establish the North-Central and North-West development commissions.The commissions are charged with the responsibility to receive and manage funds allocated from the federation accounts.The funds will be directed towards the reconstruction and rehabilitation of roads, houses and other infrastructural in the regions.The commissions have become imperative, according to the lawmakers, due to the ecological and security challenges in the affected regions.It is also hoped that the commissions will help to reduce poverty in the regions.This comes after two related bills to establish development commissions in the South-West and South-East were passed in the green chamber.

The Nigerian Communications Commission has confirmed it is 97% ready for the implementation of 5G deployment in the country.NCC Executive Vice Chairman, Professor Umar Danbatta, stated that this paradigm shift in communication has led to a significant increase in network connectivity requirements as a result of an unprecedented upsurge in internet traffic, occasioned by the use of a plethora of web applications.He explained that the NCC is working with operators to implement a number of initiatives to ensure network expansion.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities has expressed displeasure over what it describes as a slow pace in the implementation of the Memorandum of Agreement it reached with the Federal Government last year.ASUU President, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke also urged the National Assembly to initiate a law that makes it compulsory for public office holders to send their wards to public schools in the country, saying such a step would let the officials know the decay in public universities.The meeting is a follow-up of the reconciliation meeting held in August to evaluate the progress so far made in the implementation of the memorandum signed in 2020.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo tasked states to think out of the box in raising their respective Internally Generated Revenues.He says by thinking differently there is a need for a sub-national to think like a sovereign State.He says there is a different mindset when they are sure of a monthly allocation of cash at least enough to pay salaries, whether they generate income or not.

Qatar believes that recognising the Taliban government in Afghanistan is not a priority now and that the focus should be on engaging with the new administration and addressing humanitarian issues.Mutlaq al-Qahtani, the special envoy of the Qatari foreign minister, called for other countries to engage more deeply with the Taliban as Afghanistan’s de facto authority while urging the group to act as a responsible administration and respect the right of women to work and girls to attend school.Al-Qahtani explained that although the group wants international recognition and agreed on a peace deal with the US, it has resorted to public hangings and other brutal tactics since taking power.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi says the Group of 20 has agreed to work together to avoid a humanitarian disaster in Afghanistan, even if it means having to coordinate efforts with the Taliban.The European Union opened the talks by pledging one billion euros which will go to urgent humanitarian needs and also assist neighbouring countries in taking in Afghans who have been fleeing since the Taliban took control of the country on August 15.Draghi says there has basically been a convergence of views on the need to address the humanitarian emergency. Draghi says the absence of China’s President and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin did not undercut the importance of the meeting organised by Italy, the current G20 chair.

IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath says Energy prices, which have soared in recent days, are likely to remain high in the coming months but begin to retreat early next year, She says while energy prices will be elevated for the next couple of months, they expect that to come back down by the end of the first quarter next year and into the second quarter.Gopinath cautioned that the weather will play a factor since a very severe winter could lead to broader power outages that will have a much bigger effect on the world.