The Zambia Compulsory Standards Agency (ZCSA) says it will commence its 2024 national Open Market Surveillance (OMS) inspections across the nine provinces of the country to assess compliance with compulsory standards on 61 locally manufactured and imported products.

Brian Hatyoka, the ZCSA Acting Manager for Communications and Public Relations, who disclosed this in a statement issued in Lusaka on Sunday, said the inspection exercise would include a wide range of products, such as food, beverages, animal feed, chemicals, engineering products, household electrical appliances, fertilizers, and used textiles.

He noted that the surveillance would cover Eastern, Central, Lusaka, Southern, Western, Copperbelt, North-Western, Muchinga, and Northern provinces.

“During this activity, which runs from November 11 to November 25, 2024, non-compliant products will be seized, withdrawn from the market, and destroyed, in line with Section 16 4(b) of the Compulsory Standards Act No. 3 of 2017, to safeguard consumers and the environment,” Hatyoka warned.

He explained that the exercise is also aimed identifying new and unregistered suppliers offering products under compulsory standards.

Hatyoka added that during a similar exercise in 2023 where ZCSA conducted OMS inspections across six provinces, covering 22 districts and 64 localities, 2,540 trading outlets were inspected, examining 35 products, with 150 instances of non-compliance identified with the overall compliance rate increasing to 89 percent, up from 85 percent in 2022.

“ZCSA, as a statutory body under the Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry, is mandated by the Compulsory Standards Act to enforce standards for public safety, health, consumer protection, and environmental care,” Hatyoka emphasized.
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A new jihadist sect operating in northern Nigeria, known as Lakurawa, is reportedly intensifying its recruitment drive by offering monetary incentives to youths in Sokoto State in exchange for their allegiance.

Counter-insurgency expert, Zagazola Makama, who revealed this in a post on X on Sunday, said the IS-affiliated group offered as much as N1 million to lure the
young men into the sect.

In the post accompanied by a video, Makama said the financial incentives by the group are part of an aggressive recruitment campaign aimed at attracting followers to their cause.

“The new suspected extremist group, identified as “Lakurawa,” is offering as much as one million naira to young men in exchange for their allegiance,” Makama wrote.

“Impeccable sources told Zagazola Makama that this group, allegedly composed of individuals from Mali, Chad, Libya, Niger, and Burkina Faso are  actively recruiting local youths in Sokoto through substantial financial incentives of up to N1m.

“This financial lure, according to witnesses, is part of an aggressive recruitment campaign aimed at attracting followers to their cause.

“Unlike traditional criminal gangs, the Lakurawa are reported to adhere to extremist ideologies linked to the Khawarij sect, similar to the beliefs of Boko Haram.

“Local sources suggest that they employ a combination of financial incentives and ideological influence to gain support among vulnerable communities.

“Beyond the recruitment, the Lakurawa reportedly confront and expel bandits and confiscate their cattle’s in areas under their control.”