Author: Editorial Staff

A WEST African court has restrained the Nigerian government from ‘unlawfully’ prosecuting people from using Twitter, while it is considering a legal action launched by activists and journalists seeking to reverse a ban on the social media giant. Authorities in early June indefinitely suspended Twitter, two days after the platform removed a post from President Muhammadu Buhari that threatened to punish regional secessionists, which Twitter said violated its rules. The Nigerian attorney general further said those who defied the ban should be prosecuted, but did not provide any details as to which law would be invoked. In response, the Socio-Economic…

GABON has become the first African nation to receive a financial reward for protecting its forests as part of international efforts to fight climate change, the government announced Tuesday. Gabon has received $17 million in recompense for successfully cutting its carbon emissions by reducing deforestation and forest degradation, the environment ministry said in a statement. The payment came ‘after independent experts verified Gabon’s results’ showing that the country’s carbon emissions in 2016-17 had dropped compared with the annual figures for 2006-15. The funds were delivered by the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI), an organisation launched in 2015 by the United…

AMEA Power, a subsidiary of UAE-based Al Nowais Investments (ANI), has commissioned its 50MW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant in Blitta, Togo, marking the country’s first utility-scale renewable energy project developed by an Independent Power Producer (IPP), and one of the largest solar PV IPP plants in West Africa. Officially named Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed, after Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, the PV plant has been delivered in record time, with just 18 months between the signing of the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) and commencement of commercial operations. Built by AMEA Togo Solar, a subsidiary of AMEA Power, the plant, located…

SECONDARY school drop-outs in Tanzania will be offered the opportunity to resume studies in alternative colleges, the government said on Tuesday, part of a shift away from a disputed policy under which pregnant girls were expelled from school. Such expulsions had increased under the tenure of  President John Magufuli, who died in March, according to rights groups who accused his government of discriminating against female students based on a policy that dated back to 1961. ‘We are offering an alternative path to education to all children who missed their education for any reason, including those girls who got pregnant while in…

FIFTEEN Nigerian hostages have escaped from their abductors as they slept, weeks after they were among more than 130 pupils and teachers snatched by gunmen from an Islamic seminary, the school’s headteacher told AFP Tuesday. On May 30, around 200 motorcycle-riding gunmen from one of the gangs known locally as bandits stormed Tegina town in Niger state, abducting 136 pupils and some teachers, according to authorities. Late on Saturday, 15 of the hostages slipped past the bandits guarding them in a house in a remote village in neighbouring Zamfara state while they were asleep, said Abubakar Alhassan, the headteacher of…

FOLLOWING the Nigerian government’s approval of negotiations with Twitter over its suspension in the country, President Muhammadu Buhari has endorsed the composition of a government team to engage with the microblogging and social networking service in Nigeria. The approval was announced in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who will chair the team. The government’s team also comprises the Attorney General and  Minister of Justice, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Works and Housing,  Minister of State for Labour and Employment as well as…

THE group of 15 West African countries have adopted a new road map to launch a single currency in 2027 after its previous plans were derailed by the coronavirus pandemic. The new road map was agreed by heads of state of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, president of the ECOWAS Commission, told a news conference after a summit of the leaders in Ghana on Saturday. The countries hope a single currency will help to boost trade and economic growth ‘Due to the shock of the pandemic, the heads of state had decided to suspend…

THE Turkish housewares sector has been developing distinctive strategies to boost export to African countries, according to sector insiders. The Turkish Home and Kitchenware Manufacturers and Exporters Association (EVSID) launched Tuesday a virtual trade event between Turkey and African countries. Nearly 30 Turkish companies and 64 buyers from 12 African countries will hold up to 400 meetings to expand their trade relations as part of the event that will last four days, the EVSID said at a press release. Speaking at the opening webinar of the organisation, Turkish Exporters’ Assembly President Ismail Gulle said the sector identified 102 different products…

IGBAL Abdi has been using Kenya’s Mombasa port to import electronic goods for his clients who are based in the northeast region of the country. The 55-year-old trader transports his cargo from the Mombasa port to Garissa town, a distance of 400 km, which is a tedious ordeal given the poor state of the highway road. The inauguration of the first berth of the Lamu port in May, however, has raised Abdi’s hope and confidence in business. During the launch, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said the port will open up northern Kenya to the rest of the world and also…

THE administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has begun ramping up efforts to regulate online media in Nigeria, just two weeks after Twitter was indefinitely banned in the country. Now, the federal government has asked that the House of Representatives pass a law that will enable the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to control all forms of internet broadcasting and social media. Many Nigerian users believe that this is but further attempts to stifle the country’s civic space – effectively crippling free speech and public dissent online. Information and Culture Lai Minister Mohammed (pictured) made the request on June 16 during a…