Over the past week, there were lots of important stories from around the African continent, and we served you some of the most topical ones.
Here is a rundown of the backstories to some of the biggest news in Africa that we covered during the week:
Again, Nigeria sets Dec 2024 deadline to end fuel importation
When on Friday, November 24, Mr. Mele Kyari, the Group Managing Director of state-owned oil firm, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), announced that the country would end the importation of refined petroleum products by December 2024, not many Nigerians were thrilled by the news which came like another decimal in the line of such vows made by previous governments.
Kyari, who was briefing Nigerian lawmakers on steps being taken by the corporation to achieve the deadline, added that all the four refineries in the country located in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna would be operational by then.
At the meeting with the legislators in Abuja, Kyari said his confidence was gotten from the fact that Nigeria produced 1.49 million barrels of oil per day last month, the most in nearly two years, after increasing its output by 60,000 barrels per day, something the country had not achieved in years.
“I can confirm to you that by the end of December this year, we will start the Port Harcourt refinery; early in the first quarter of 2024, we will start the Warri refinery; and by the end of 2024, Kaduna refinery will come into operation.
“We will no longer be talking about fuel importation by the end of 2024. I am very optimistic that this will crystallize,” he enthused.
But the optimism exhibited by Kyari is not sold to majority of Nigerians who have had to live through such promises for over 20 years.
Nigeria, which has one of the largest oil deposits in world, has failed to maximise its potential as none of the publicly owned refineries has worked to capacity for years despite several investments to revive them.
However, there is light at the end of the tunnel as a privately owned refinery built by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote is set to roll out its products in December.
The failure of both the previous and current governments has contributed to the high level of national anticipation surrounding the Dangote refinery which had earlier failed to commence operations despite a funfair launch earlier this year.
When it rains, it pours for ex-President Lungu of Zambia
Former Zambian President, Edgar Lungu was in the eye of the storm during the week in review as the government in power said it was going to engage legal experts to find out the legal implications of his drawing benefits from taxpayers after he had earlier announced that he had retired from active politics before making a u-turn this year.
After he left office, Lungu had announced his retirement from active politics, but according to Chief Government spokesperson, Cornelius Mweetwa, the former president was still collecting retirement benefits which he claimed was a breach of the Zambian constitution.
Lungu’s return to full-time politics and emerging as the leader of the main opposition party, Patriotic Front (PF), was described by Mweetwa as being tantamount to “obtaining by false pretence”.
At a press conference in Lusaka, the spokesman said the central government wanted to “understand whether Lungu committed an offence of obtaining money by false presence which was a criminal offence in the country.”
“Those things are still being studied by the legal experts to establish the way forward because the rule of law is very clear and whoever breaks it must be made accountable,” Mweetwa stated.
The goverment mouthpiece added that the offences were not covered under the presidential immunity because they were committed at the time Lungu had left office, and failure to enforce the law by government was a criminal offence on its part because it swore to protect the Constitution.
The hounding of Lungu and the continuous attacks on the opposition in Zambia which saw the suspension of 18 opposition MPs from the parliament is seen by many political analysts in the country as a clear strategy of silencing dissenting voices, while others fear it could mark the start of a dictatorship by the President Hakainde Hichilema administration.
More trouble for embattled Zambia’s Speaker Mutti
It was another week of trouble for the embattled Speaker of the Zambian National Assembly, Nelly Mutti as a group of female politicians joined their voice to the plethora of attacks on her by accusing her of being used to breach the constitution of the country.
The group, known as the National Management Council in charge of Resource Mobilisation, at a press conference in Lusaka, said Mutti had played into the hands of men in the Parliament and had allowed herself to be manipulated to suit their purpose through unnecessary manouvers.
The leader of the group, Olivia Phiri, who addressed a joint press conference of women in politics, warned Mutti against allowing herself to be used for the wrong purposes.
“Madam Speaker you cannot be used in the night and still want to be used during the day. National Assembly is the last house where laws are made and you can not be used by men to violate the constitution,” Phiri said.
Her warning came amid series of troubles that Mutti has had to face from her fellow MPs which reached a crescendo with the suspension she doled out to 18 opposition lawmakers, 16 from the Patriotic Front and two independent members of parliament.
Phiri also alleged that Mutti was blocking the chances of other women getting such positions in future or being appointed by future presidents.
“What now the Speaker doesn’t understand is that she is blocking other women because they will say women are like this, it will remain in the history like the Chair had explained the history of this country, we have women that fought for the independence of this country”, she said.
The first female Speaker in the history of Zambian politics has also had to face a plethora of criticism, court cases and serial accusations of constitutional breaches, but so far, she is still standing as she has the backing of President Hakainde Hichilema and the ruling United Party for National Development (UPND).
Mutti maybe standing on safe ground for now, but for how long can she hold on?
Bandits kill, abduct Nigerians for failing to pay illegal levies
It was a bloody weekend in the northeastern states of Taraba and Zamfara in Nigeria as heavily armed bandits killed no fewer than 11 people and abducted more than 100.
You may wonder what their crime was?
The failure to pay different kinds of levies amounting to N110 million to the terrorists, including paying to harvest their farm produce and paying a ransom for informing soldiers of the location of the bandits triggered the criminals to carry out the dastardly act.
On Friday, the gang laid siege to Taraba and killed 11 peasant farmers and injured several others, while on Saturday, it was the turn of Zamfara to witness another round of bloody invasion when a notorious bandit kingpin known as Damina (meaning Rainy Season), led his gang to “rain” havoc on helpless residents. By the time he was done, his men had taken over 100 captives while dozens of others were injured in the mindless attack.
Alhaji Muhammad Usman, from one of the affected villages who narrated how the incident happened to journalists, said the bandit leader had earlier imposed N110 million on the communities as harvesting levies, giving them a two-week ultimatum to comply or face the consequences.
“N50 million levy was imposed on our community, while N30 million was imposed on Kwanar Dutsi; N20 million on Sabongari Mahuta, and N10 million on Unguwar Kawo,” he said.
Another resident said Damina attacked them because they could not raise the N50 million he asked them to pay as compensation for informing soldiers of his men’s movements.
“We were trying to gather the money reaching out to people when Damina decided to strike,” he said.
The northeastern part of Nigeria has, over the past 15 years, become the haven of bandit and terrorist activities despite efforts by government at different levels to nip the menace in the bud, including negotiating with and granting them amnesty.
Zamfara has seen repeated and regular attacks from different bandit groups, including the sacking of whole communities, schools and even burning down police stations.
Another feather for Burna Boy as he is confirmed world’s most-followed artiste on Audiomack
It was a good week for Nigerian Afrobeats sensation, Damini Ogulu, the one knows as Burna Boy, when global music streaming giant, Audiomack, announced him as the world’s most-followed artiste on the platform.
According to Audiomack, the Grammy-Awards winning singer hit above five million followers with his stream of songs including the super hit track, “African Giant” which accounted for over a quarter of the following.
The milestone is the first in the history of the platform and they made sure they rolled out the drums to celebrate the “Last Last” crooner.
Audiomack is an on-demand music streaming and audio discovery platform that allows artistes and music content creators to upload limitless music and podcasts for listeners through its mobile apps and website. For the Nigerian star to hit the milestone is a testament to his immense talent and the acceptability of the Afrobeats music genre across the world.
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