In the news

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 …

The developers of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 on Tuesday questioned the neutrality of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) after an EMA official urged EU members to refrain from approving the Russian vaccine for now. Christa Wirthumer-Hoche, the head of EMA’s management board, told a talk show on Austrian …

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 …

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has announced that fully vaccinated Americans can return to some sense of normalcy. Those who have received the required jabs can visit with other vaccinated people and some unvaccinated people, according to the new guidelines. People are considered protected two weeks …

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”. …