Africa Business Radio

The Central Bank of Nigeria announced the formal engagement of global fintech company, Bitt Inc., as a technical partner for its proposed digital currency, also known as e-Naira. CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, says the Central Bank Digital Currency would bring about increased cross-border trade, accelerate financial inclusion, and lead to cheaper and faster remittance inflow. He says digital money, also known as cryptocurrency, would lead to easier targeted social interventions, as well as improvement in monetary policy effectiveness, payment systems efficiency, and tax collection.

The Chief Justice of Nigeria and Chairman of the National Judicial Council, Justice Tanko Muhammad has summoned the Chief Judges of Rivers, Kebbi, Cross River, Anambra, Jigawa and Imo State to an emergency meeting.The CJN summoned the head of the concerned courts to the emergency meeting to brief him on the incessant granting of the conflicting orders on suits instituted by different political parties before the various courts.The Spokesperson of the NJC, Soji Oye confirmed that the letter indeed emanated from the office of the CJN but declined to say on what specific day the meeting has been scheduled for. He however said that the meeting will hold sometime this week.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has called on leaders to make sacrifices in order to deal with tensions among people of different faiths and ethnicities in the country.He stated that there is no way that they can deal with the tensions between the faiths and ethnicities in Nigeria today unless those in leadership are prepared to make some important sacrifices.Osinbajo says those sacrifices are in what they say, how they say it, and then sacrifices also in the acknowledgement of whatever people are saying and the willingness to accept.Osinbajo also called for interfaith dialogue, emphasizing the importance of language and communication to prevent violence.

A band of veteran Afghan leaders, including two regional commanders, are angling for talks with the Taliban and plan to meet within weeks to form a new front for holding negotiations on the country’s next government.Khalid Noor, son of Atta Mohammad Noor, the once-powerful governor of northern Afghanistan’s Balkh province, said the group comprises veteran ethnic Uzbek leader Abdul Rashid Dostum and others opposed to the Taliban’s takeover.He says they prefer to negotiate collectively because it is not that the problem of Afghanistan will be solved just by one person.He says it is important for the entire political community of the country to be involved, especially the traditional leaders, those with power, with public support.

French President Emmanuel Macron says France, Germany and the United Kingdom are working on a United Nations proposal aimed at establishing a safe zone in Kabul to allow safe passage for people trying to leave Afghanistan.Macron says France had begun discussions with the Taliban to explore how to further evacuations might proceed.Macron says what they have proposed is a solution to create a zone allowing people to arrive at the airport.Macron says it was too early to reach any conclusions, but he said it was worth pursuing.Macron added says Discussions with the Taliban did not mean France would necessarily recognise Taliban rule officially.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says Turkey cannot take the burden of a new migrant wave from Afghanistan, as concerns about a new migrant wave remain after the Taliban’s takeover.Cavusoglu says Turkey has sufficiently carried out our moral and humanitarian responsibilities regarding migration adding that It is out of the question to take an additional refugee burden.Cavusoglu says Europe, as well as regional countries, would also be affected if migration from Afghanistan turns into a crisis and that lessons should be learned from the Syrian refugee crisis.

President Joe Biden has met with the families of the 13 US soldiers who were killed in an attack at Kabul airport last week, as the remains of the fallen army personnel are returned to the United States from Afghanistan.Biden and First Lady Jill Biden attended the dignified transfer of the fallen soldiers at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Sunday, a military ritual of receiving the remains of those killed in foreign combat.Al Jazeera reports that the US soldiers ranged in age from 20 to 31.

The United States says it destroyed an explosive-laden vehicle with an airstrike in Kabul on Sunday, hours after President Joe Biden warned of another terror attack in the capital as a massive airlift of tens of thousands of Afghans entered its last days.The US says it had only struck the vehicle but added that secondary blasts indicated a substantial amount of explosive material.Local media reported possible civilian casualties, which the US said it was assessing.The Taliban revealed their supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada was in southern Afghanistan and planning to make a public appearance.

The AFP news agency reports that the Gambia has formally blocked flights bringing migrants deported from the European Union.Gambian foreign ministry spokesman Saikou Ceesay told AFP large numbers of returning migrants would cause social upheaval.AFP says the news came as Germany was preparing to expel a number of Gambians.The AFP says International Organization for Migration more than 35,000 arrived there between 2014 and 2018 - often taking dangerous journeys over the Mediterranean.The IOM says overseas remittances of an estimated 118,000 Gambians living abroad account for more than 20% of the country's GDP.

Rebel forces from Ethiopia's conflict-hit Tigray region have accused the African Union of bias, days after the bloc appointed the former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo as a mediator.A spokesman for the Tigray People's Liberation Front, Getachew Reda, accused the AU of siding with the Ethiopian government and barely acknowledging the existence of the ten month-long conflicts.He says the TPLF was not against the appointment of a mediator but said it would be naive to expect the mission to work.The Ethiopian government has repeatedly said it would not be willing to hold talks with the TPLF which it has described as a terrorist organisation.

Zambia’s new President Hakainde Hichilema has replaced the country’s top military commanders and the head of the police and signalled a focus on the security forces being more accountable to the citizens.The president announced new commanders of the Zambian army, the air force and the national service and their deputies, as well as a new inspector general of police.Mr Hichilema says the new office bearers must have the interest of the people at heart and serve the country diligently while ensuring human rights, freedoms and liberties are respected.He says the police must carry out proper checks before detaining suspects and that no one should be arrested before investigations are concluded.

President Muhammadu Buhari has appealed to the warring groups in Plateau States and other parts of the country to embrace peace and end the shedding of blood seen in the country in the past few days.The president in a statement by his spokesman, Malam Garba Shehu, also assured all citizens that his government was on top of the situation and was moving ahead to crush perpetrators of the unrest in Plateau State.He says to achieve success in that regard, communities must unite to end the orgy of violence in the past few days.He says attempts to simplify the reasons into a basic narrative may help raise donor-dollars for international non-governmental organisations , fill pages of overseas newspapers and burnish foreign politicians’ faith credentials.

Dangote’s $2 billion Petrochemical Plant located in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos State will produce 77 different high-performance grades of polypropylene, drive investment in the downstream industries, generate employment, huge value addition, tax revenue, reduce foreign exchange outflow and increase the Gross Domestic Product of the country.Group Executive Director, Strategy, Capital Projects & Portfolio Development, Dangote Industries Limited, Mr Devakumar Edwin, says that the petrochemical plant, which is nearing completion, would also embark on the production of polyethene products in the nearest future.Edwin says the petrochemical plant would reduce the demand for foreign exchange from the nation’s treasury to import petrochemical by-products.

Human rights lawyer, Mr Femi Falana, says the judgement of the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, which ruled against the administration and collection of Value Added Tax by the Federal Inland Revenue Service not only corroborated the struggle for restructuring via litigation but also strengthened the campaign.Falana urged all state governments to team up with Rivers State Government to defend the judgement.Falana warned that the FIRS should not be prevented from collecting VAT, pending the hearing and determination of the appeal. He said dispute over the enforcement authority of VAT, should not call for anarchy.

The interim Chairman, Alliance on Surviving COVID-19 and Beyond, Femi Falana, has asked the Federal Government to secure the release of the officer abducted during an attack on the Nigerian Defence Academy.Falana asked President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to unmask the killers and bring the perpetrators to book to serve as a deterrent to others.The Senior Advocate of Nigeria noted that by choosing to invade the military institution, the criminal elements have proven that nowhere is safe in Nigeria.He says by attacking the military institution, the dangerous criminal elements had wanted to prove that nowhere is safe in Nigeria.

The Ministry of Labour and Employment has rejected the 21-day ultimatum given to the Federal Government by the Nigeria Medical Association saying it is in direct collision with the Memorandum of Understanding signed on August 21.The NMA had threatened to join the ongoing strike by the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors if the government failed to resolve all the issues contained in the various agreements signed with its affiliate unions.The government argued that the NMA’s position was at variance with the timeline stated in the Memorandum of Agreement.

A WHO document shows that the World Health Organization’s pandemic programme plans to ship 100 million doses of the Sinovac and Sinopharm COVID-19 shots by the end of next month, mostly to Africa and Asia, in its first delivery of Chinese vaccines.The Chinese shipments will help the sputtering global COVAX vaccine sharing programme which is far behind its pledge to deliver 2 billion doses this year following supply problems and export curbs imposed by major producer India.It could also boost Beijing’s vaccine diplomacy efforts despite concerns over the efficacy of the Chinese shots, which have been turned down or paired with boosters from Western manufacturers by some of the recipient countries.

The Africa director of the World Health Organization says COVID-19 vaccinations in Africa have tripled during the past week, though protecting even 10 per cent of the continent by the end of September remains a very daunting task.Matshidiso Moeti told reporters that this is a preventable tragedy if African countries can get fair access to vaccines.The WHO Africa director says 13 million doses were administered in the past week, three times more than the number of shots given in the previous week as donations of doses increased from developed countries.

India lifted its ban on Boeing Co.’s 737 Max jet, a major boost to the American planemaker that leaves China as the only leading aviation market yet to allow the aircraft to resume service.The Directorate General of Civil Aviation in an order posted on its website says India’s decision comes after it observed no untoward reporting on jets already flying since 17 global regulators allowed it to resume flights.Boeing rose 0.4% to $222 before the start of regular trading in New York. The stock had climbed 3.3% this year through Wednesday while the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 16%.

A group of seven US Capitol Police officers are suing former President Donald Trump accusing him of conspiring with far-right groups and intentionally sending a violent mob on January 6 to disrupt the congressional certification of the election.The suit filed in federal court in Washington, DC, alleged Trump worked with white supremacists, violent extremist groups, and campaign supporters to violate the Ku Klux Klan Act, and commit acts of domestic terrorism in an unlawful effort to stay in power”.The 71-page suit lays out in detail the officers’ arguments that Trump and his supporters conspired in the months leading up to January 6 to prevent Congress from certifying the election results through the use of force, intimidation, and threats.