Africa Business Radio

Energy experts in South Africa have expressed shock at the government’s announcement that it wants to install a new nuclear capacity to solve its power problems.The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy says that it planned to put out the tender by March next year.Prof Anton Eberhard of the Power Futures Lab at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business says that a new nuclear procurement would be a wasteful and costly diversion.He added that the country should instead focus on implementing its electricity supply plan, which prioritises generating 33 GW of power mostly from solar and wind by 2030.

The UN Security Council has renewed for a year sanctions imposed against targeted individuals and entities in Mali for obstructing the 2015 peace agreement.The sanctions include a year-long travel ban and an asset freeze to last until 31 August next year.Those targeted are accused of involvement in planning, implementing or perpetrating acts that violate international humanitarian law, including attacks on medical or humanitarian personnel.The UN Security Council requested that the UN chief includes in his next report on Minusma an update on measures taken to ensure that sanctioned individuals did not benefit from any UN support in Mali.

The mission's head says forces from Ethiopia's Tigray region have looted the US government humanitarian agency's warehouses in the neighbouring Amhara state.The head of USAID in Ethiopia told state television that Tigrayan fighters had emptied warehouses, taking food and other items also stole trucks.He says they had caused a great deal of destruction in the villages they went to.Last week, officials in Amhara accused Tigrayan forces of killing about 40 civilians and destroying schools, hospitals and other facilities.The Tigray rebel forces have formed an alliance with a rebel group in the country's largest state of Oromia, threatening a far larger part of Ethiopia.

The national oil company’s Group Managing Director, Mallam Mele Kyari, says when the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation is fully commercialised in the next few months, the corporation will no longer render free service to the federal government. Kyari noted that from then, all services rendered to the government by the NNPC limited or its subsidiaries will come at a cost to the government, including the remittance of federation crude account funds to the planned upstream commission.He stated that the NNPC was on course towards its final incorporation, explaining that it will no longer have access to government funding, but would survive based on its internal resilience and efficiency.

The United Nations says Nigeria is not the only country facing myriad human rights challenges.The UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Edward Kallon says like other countries, Nigeria faces myriad human rights challenges. Kallon says they aim to reach a common understanding between the Government, human rights partners, civil society, and the UN on human rights priorities in Nigeria.Kalli says Nigeria has ratified the nine core UN human rights treaties, including other regional instruments. The Nigerian Constitution has elaborate provisions on the protection of human rights.

The President of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, disclosed that the 20 per cent equity taken by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation in his much-awaited refinery will not be paid in a single cash transaction.He noted that while a third of the $2.7 billion deal would be paid in cash, the second would be through crude sales and the third would be through profits made by the corporation.He noted that there are a lot of misconceptions around the planned 20 per cent equity holding by the national oil company, explaining that the deal also involves all the products to be churned out by the $19 billion facilities, including petrochemicals.He pointed out that the project currently employs 29,000 Nigerians and 11, 000 foreigners with plans to ramp up the number to 57,000 in the coming months.

The Federal Government is considering taking some measures against people who refuse to get vaccinated.The Executive Director of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr Faisal Shuaib, explained that the Federal Government may apply the basic rule of law” against such people because they will be endangering the lives of other people.Shuaib noted that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration is making frantic efforts in making the vaccines more accessible to all Nigerians.

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Adeniyi Adebayo has explained that the nation’s economy is coming back strongly with foreign investors making a commitment to invest in the country.The Minister says Nigeria is open for business and our investment climate is continually improving. The year 2020 was challenging for all economies but Nigeria is coming back strong.He added that the Federal Government recognised the importance of attracting and retaining patient investment into the economy.He says this accounted for his Ministry’s commitment to the strategic relationship that exists with the Chamber and to continue working with the leadership towards our collective objectives of attracting more investments to the nation’s economy.

Niger State Governor Abubakar Bello has suspended the operation of cattle markets across the state.The Secretary to the State Government, Ahmed Matane, says that it was part of measures to address security challenges in the state.The statement added that any vehicle carrying cattle into the state must show a way-bill and evidence of the origin where the cattle were purchased and their destination.It also noted that the state government had banned the sale of petroleum products in jerry cans or any other containers at filling stations.

Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu has signed the anti-grazing bill into law.The governor signed the bill on Tuesday after it was earlier passed by the State House of Assembly.The governor says the signage of the bill is in line with the resolution of the Southern Governors’ Forum at its last meeting in Lagos where September 1 was set as the deadline for Governors in Southern Nigeria to sign the Anti-Open Grazing Bill into law.He says it is a very laudable development aimed at stemming needless instances of skirmishes, conflicts as well as infractions on the enviably peaceful disposition of the good people of Ondo State.

The Central Bank of Nigeria has directed all banks in the country to publish the names and Bank Verification Number of defaulters of its forex policy.The defaulters of the policy are those using fake visas and cancelling air tickets after purchase of Personal Travel Allowance and Business Travel Allowance.The Director of the Banking Supervision Department, says Haruna Mustafa explained that this practice will affect the integrity and stability of the forex market.He says the CBN has received and noted with concern reports of sharp practises by some unscrupulous customers to circumvent the new CBN policy on the sale of forex for overseas personal and business travel.

The Pentagon has announced that the number of hate crimes in the United States rose last year to the highest level in more than a decade, driven by a rise in assaults targeting Black victims and victims of Asian descent.The 2020 data submitted to the FBI by more than 15,000 law enforcement agencies across the country, identified 7,759 hate crimes in 2020, a 6 per cent increase over 2019 and the highest tally since 2008.The FBI data showed the number of offences targeting Black people rose to 2,755 from 1,930 and incidents against Asians jumped to 274 from 158.

The Pentagon has announced that the final US military flight has left the Afghan capital officially ending the United States’s 20-year war in Afghanistan after a chaotic evacuation effort.General Kenneth McKenzie, commander of US Central Command, says that the US evacuated 79,000 people from Kabul, including 6,000 American citizens, since August 14, a day before the Taliban took control of the city.He says the withdrawal signifies both the end of the military component of the evacuation but also the end of the nearly 20-year mission that began in Afghanistan shortly after September 11, 2001.

The UN Security Council adopted a resolution requiring the Taliban to honour their commitment to let people freely leave Afghanistan, but the measure did not cite a safe zone mentioned by French President Emmanuel Macron.The resolution was passed with 13 votes in favour and no objections while China and Russia abstained.The resolution says the council expects the Taliban to allow a safe, secure, and orderly departure from Afghanistan of Afghans and all foreign nationals.The Security Council expects that the Taliban will adhere to these and all other commitments.

The European Union on Monday recommended that its member states reimpose travel restrictions on US tourists over rising covid infections in the country.The European Council says it was taking six territories off its list of locations exempted from restrictions on non-essential travel during the coronavirus pandemic.The EU says Israel, Kosovo, Lebanon, Montenegro, the Republic of North Macedonia and the United States of America were removed from the list.The EU says it is without prejudice to the possibility for member states to lift the temporary restriction on non-essential travel to the EU for fully vaccinated travellers.

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases says South African scientists have detected a new coronavirus variant with multiple mutations but are yet to establish whether it is more contagious or able to overcome the immunity provided by vaccines or prior infection.The variant, known as C.1.2, was flagged last week by the KwaZulu-Natal Research and Innovation and Sequencing Platform in a preprint study that has yet to be peer-reviewed. NICD scientists say C.1.2 was only present at very low levels and that it was too early to predict how it might evolve.NICD researcher Penny Moore says they do not have experimental data to confirm how it reacts in terms of sensitivity to antibodies.

The International Committee of the Red Cross says more than 44,000 people, 45% of them children, are currently declared missing across Africa.The ICRC says about 82% of those missing are from just seven countries with armed conflicts.Nigeria accounts for more than half of the total number of missing persons in Africa – about 24,000 people have been registered missing in the country.The ICRC says the continent had seen a rise in the number of missing people in the past year as a result of armed conflicts and other forms of violence.

The United Nations Environment Programme says leaded petrol has been eradicated from the world.It described the end of its use as a huge milestone. The fuel has contaminated the atmosphere, drinking water and crops for nearly a century.The UN says its abolition will save 1.2 million premature deaths every year, largely by reducing heart disease and cancer. It also damages the developing brains of children.

The federal government revealed that it spent over N1.5 trillion in managing the effects of COVID-19 in the country. Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, says the growth rate was an indication that business and commercial activities had fully returned to the pre-pandemic level.The minister also predicted that if necessary economic measures and policies were put in place and sectors, such as agriculture, were improved upon, the economy would maintain a five per cent growth rate in the third quarter (Q3) of the year.

The Shehu of Borno, Abubakar El-Kanemi, says the people of Borno State were lucky to have President Muhammadu Buhari in government as his reign has changed the tide against insecurity significantly.The Shehu of Borno says his people had seriously suffered as a result of the Boko Haram crisis but added that they were lucky to have the Buhari government, which eventually changed the tide.He says all the local government areas in the state, which were under the control of Boko Haram had been taken back by the troops, adding that normal business activities had also returned in the state.