Africa

The Central Bank of Nigeria has introduced a scheme that would offer a reward of five naira for every $1 sent by Nigerians living abroad through international money transfer operators in the country in what it calls “naira for dollar”. It is a step that shows Nigeria’s reliance on diaspora …

A court in Tunisia has sentenced the brother-in-law of the ousted president, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, to 10 years in jail for corruption. The court found that Belhassen Trabelsi and the owner of El Hiwar TV had set up a private company where they siphoned off advertising revenues from state …

Senegal’s main opposition leader, Ousmane Sonko, has called for more protests against President Macky Sall, whom he accuses of being behind the rape charges he’s now facing. He is accused of raping a woman who worked in a beauty salon. Speaking in Dakar after his release, the opposition leader said …

The first batch of 96,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine has arrived in Sierra Leone under the Covax initiative, a UN-backed programme that is trying to ensure Covid-19 vaccines are shared fairly among all countries The doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine come weeks after the arrival of 200,000 doses of the …

A man linked to the violent riots at the US Capitol was on Monday arraigned at a federal court in New York after being deported from Kenya over the weekend, according to media reports. Isaac Sturgeon was seized by FBI officials on arrival at John F. Kennedy International Airport in …

Burundi is to free 5,255 prisoners as part of a presidential pardon aimed at emptying overcrowded jails, according to a decree seen by AFP on Monday. In the decree, President Evariste Ndayishimiye said he is “convinced that an exceptional measure of clemency is needed to decongest prisons and improve conditions …

The family and supporters of Saudi-Australian theologian Usama Hasani have pleaded with the authorities in Morocco not to extradite him to Saudi Arabia where he’s wanted. Dr Hasani, 42, and his wife Hana Hasani, have also appealed to the Australian government to intervene. The theologian was arrested on February 8 …

The authorities in Kenya have banned maize imports from neighbouring Uganda and Tanzania over safety concerns, media outlets in the three countries report. They cite a letter from Kenya’s Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) as saying maize imports from Uganda and Tanzania were found to have “high levels of mycotoxins”. …

Of Lebanese and Liberian descent, Ghanaian actress, producer and singer Juliet Ibrahim lent her support to LGBTQI people through an Instagram post. In a publication, she attacked all public sector actors and clerics who are against the development of homosexuals. “Superficial minds. If you have all traveled beyond your homes …

After being immunized against the coronavirus pandemic on Saturday, Muhammadu Buhari the Nigerian president urged all “eligible Nigerian” to be vaccinated against the virus as soon as possible. At a media event in Abuja, Buhari himself was earlier vaccinated using the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, manufactured by the Serum Institute of …