Africa Business Radio

France has ordered the closure of a mosque in the north of the country because of the radical nature of its imam’s preaching.The mosque in Beauvais will remain shut for six months, according to the prefecture of the Oise region where Beauvais is located.It says the sermons there incite hatred, violence and “defend jihad”.Local authorities were legally bound to launch a 10-day period of information-gathering before taking action but told AFP that the mosque would now be shut within two days.

Hundreds of thousands more people were confined to their homes in northern China Tuesday as the country battled its worst Covid surge in 21 months and locked-down residents took to social media to complain about food shortages.China has followed a zero-Covid strategy of tight border restrictions, lengthy quarantines and targeted lockdowns as Beijing prepares to welcome thousands of overseas visitors to February’s Winter Olympics.The surge has prompted authorities to impose what they have called the strictest possible curbs in the northern city of Xi’an, whose 13 million residents are entering the sixth day of home confinement.

Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry stressed the Egyptian state's firm tendency to give political priority to advancing and developing relations with African countries, in light of historical ties, common strategic interests, mutual respect and joint benefit.The top diplomat called for coordinating and boosting national efforts to continue the active movement in the African arena and promote bilateral relations with the various countries and continental regions in areas of common priority.He also stressed Egypt's commitment to continuing training and capacity-building courses offered to African cadres in the various fields within the framework of solidarity and desired integration.

Data from the revenue service showed that South Africa’s trade surplus widened to 35.83 billion rands in November from a revised surplus of 27.68 billion rands in October.The South African Revenue Service says exports rose 4.5% on a month-on-month basis to 162.79 billion rands, while imports fell 0.9% to 126.96 billion rands.

A South African court has halted oil giant Shell's seismic testing for oil and gas along the country's eastern coastline, pending a final ruling.Shell says it had paused operations while it reviewed the judgement.South Africa's Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe had condemned the project's critics, saying they wanted to deprive Africa of energy resources.High Court Judge Gerald Bloem says that Shell's right to explore the waters near the Wild Coast was awarded on the basis of a substantially flawed consultation process.

President Muhammadu Buhari will sign the 2022 Appropriation Bill on Friday.The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Garba Shehu, says the 2022 budget has been transmitted by the National Assembly and the President will sign the bill into law by 10am.This comes barely a week after lawmakers in the House of Representatives and Senate chambers of the National Assembly passed a budget of N17.126 trillion, increasing the benchmark price of crude from $57 to $62 per barrel.

Figures from the Central Bank of Nigeria shows that the currency in circulation rose from N2.97tn at the end of October to N3.15tn in November.The CBN data showed that the currency in circulation increased to N2.84tn in September from N2.78tn in August.The Currency Operations Department of the CBN says in its 2020 annual report that it sustained banknotes disposal operations in 2020 to ensure the circulation of clean banknotes.The apex bank says in furtherance of this objective, it deployed 11 banknote destruction systems and three currency disintegrating systems for currency disposal activities in the period under review.

Telecom consumers under the aegis of the National Association of Telecoms Subscribers have kicked against the plan by the Federal Government to introduce a suite of digital tokens to enhance the verification of the National Identity Number, effective January next yearThe federal government says the digital tokens consisting of 16 alphabets and numbers will be accepted for third-party verification, instead of the 11-digit NIN.The President, NATS, Adeolu Ogunbanjo, however, says the move was currently uncalled for, and shouldn’t be implemented without proper consultation with stakeholders.

Polish President Andrzej Duda has vetoed a controversial media ownership law that critics said was intended to silence a US-owned TV station critical of the government.The law would have prevented companies from outside the European Economic Area from controlling Polish media outlets. The ruling Law and JusticeParty said foreign corporations hold too much power over Polish media and rushed the bill through parliament earlier this month. Critics said the move was intended to attack TVN24, Poland's most watched news channel and a network whose reporters have often been critical of the conservative government.President Duda says he appreciated the government's attempt to protect the country from potentially hostile actors such as Russia, but noted that the bill raised significant concerns over property rights.

France has announced tighter Covid restrictions amid concerns over the Omicron variant.From 3 January, remote working will become compulsory for those who can and public gatherings will be limited to 2,000 people for indoor events. The news comes as France recorded more than 100,000 new infections on Saturday - the highest number reported in the country since the pandemic began.France's prime minister however did not bring in a New Year's Eve curfew.

A spokesperson for the US National Security Council told AFP on condition of anonymity that the talks with Russia will take place on January 10.Moscow earlier presented the West with sweeping security demands, saying NATO must not admit new members and seeking to bar the United States from establishing new bases in former Soviet republics. The spokesperson added that Moscow and NATO representatives are expected to meet on January 12, while Russia and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe which includes the United States, will meet on January 13.

Somalia's President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo has suspended the prime minister, who is facing allegations of involvement in the theft of land. Mohamed Hussein Roble accused the president of trying to stage a coup and said he would continue in office.He urged the security forces to take orders from him rather than Mr Farmajo.The prime minister's allies say Troops loyal to the president earlier failed to block Mr Roble from entering his office in the capital Mogadishu. US embassy in Somalia urged the leaders TO refrain from provocative actions, and avoid violence".

South Africa is holding a week of events to mark the passing of the anti-apartheid leader Archbishop Desmond Tutu.The plans include two days of lying in state before an official state funeral on 1 January in Cape Town.Tributes have been pouring in from leaders around the world, including Queen Elizabeth II, US President Joe Biden and Pope Francis.South African President Cyril Ramaphosa says Tutu was one of the country's best-known figures at home and abroad that Tutu had helped bring about a liberated South Africa.

The Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors explained why electricity distribution companies always assumed ownership of equipment voluntarily made available by customers for use by Discos networks.ANEDʼs Executive Director for Research and Advocacy, Sunday Oduntan, says that the move by Discos had to do with indemnity and public safety.Oduntan says Discos needed to protect the equipment and ensure that access was only granted to qualified personnel, as some people had lost their lives because they were trying to maintain their transformers without being certified to do so. He noted that the issue of community volunteering was clearly stipulated by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission.

The Federal Capital Territory Administration says the capacity of no fewer than 2,300 members of staff of the administration has been upgraded on various Information Communication Technology skills to improve service delivery to residents in the territory. The Acting Director, FCTA Department of Reforms Coordination and Service Improvement, Dr Jumai Ahmadu, says that the staff members were drawn from various Secretariats, Departments and Agencies of the FCTA within the last 11 months.She says the capacity building programmes were essentially trained the trainer's initiatives geared to bringing the workforce up to date with current technological trends, for efficiency in the system.She says that the department leveraged continuous exposure of staff to capacity building initiatives especially in ICT, to enhance improved service delivery to residents in the territory.

Experts in the telecommunication industry have said the move by the Federal Government to tax social media companies is right because the companies generate commercial revenues from the nation.Meta says 7.5 per cent value-added tax will be applied on sales of ads to advertisers from January 2022, and this applies to all non-resident businesses that provide digital service in the nation.The National Coordinator, Alliance for Affordable Internet, Olusola Teniola, noted that the move by the FG was aimed at increasing its revenue through taxes. According to Teniola, Nigeriaʼs approach is very similar to that of Ghana.He says since the VAT would naturally be transferred to the consumer, a way to cushion this impact, especially as the increase in digital transactions would continue, had to be adopted too.

The Federal Government hopes to push its public debt stock to N50.22tn by 2023, with domestic debt at N28.75tn and external debt at N21.47tn.The Debt Management Office says that Nigeriaʼs public debt was N38tn as of the end of the third quarter of 2021, with the total debt stock rising by N2.540tn in three months from July to September 2021. The government also discloses that it needs money to finance the plan of N348.1tn, and the borrowing framework in the plan is 45 per cent each for both foreign and domestic borrowing.

The National Assembly has transmitted the 2022 Appropriation Bill to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent.The House of Representatives and the Senate passed the Federal Governmentʼs budget on Tuesday and Wednesday last week, respectively, raising the total estimates from the proposed N16.391tn to N17.126tn. The oil benchmark was raised from the proposed $57 per barrel to $62.President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, had said the budget would be transmitted to Buhari by Thursday.The National Assembly had with the 2022 budget returned the country to a January-December budget cycle.Buhari had signed the 2021 Appropriation Bill into law on January 1, 2021, while itʼs life cycle was expected to expire on December 31, but for the recent extension of the lifespan of its capital component three months by the National Assembly.The President is expected to assent to the money bill by Saturday.

A spokesman for the government says the Taliban has dissolved Afghanistan’s election commission, a panel that supervised polls during the previous Western-backed administration.Spokesman Bilal Karimi says there is no need for these commissions to exist and operate while referring to the Independent Election Commission and the Independent Electoral Complaints Commission.He says if they ever feel a need, the Islamic Emirate will revive these commissions.

A Moscow court says it was imposing a fine on Alphabet’s Google $98m for what it said was a repeated failure to delete content Russia deems illegal, the first revenue-based penalty of its kind in Russia.Moscow has increased pressure on Big Tech this year in a campaign that critics characterise as an attempt by the Russian authorities to exert tighter control over the internet, something they say threatens individual and corporate freedom.Google in an email says it would study the court ruling on Friday before deciding on further steps.The court fined Meta Platforms $27.15m on the same grounds. Russia’s communication watchdog Roskomnadzor said that Facebook and Instagram failed to remove 2,000 pieces that violate Russian laws whereas Google keeps 2,600 pieces of banned content