Nigeria ranks 6th in Africa visa openness report
Nigeria has ranked sixth in the latest Africa Visa Openness Report by the African Union (AU) and the African Development Bank (AfDB).
The report, which is the seventh edition, was released on Sunday in Balaclava, Mauritius, at the 2022 African Economic Conference (AEC).
The report noted that Benin, the Seychelles, and the Gambia ranked first, second, and third, respectively.
The data for the 2022 edition was collected in July and August, primarily from the International Air Transport Association and countries’ official websites.
The report noted that 48 countries out of 54 now offer visa-free travel to the nationals of at least one other African country. This is according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
Read also: Nigeria tops list of foreign airlines debtors – IATA
Oil theft: Customs seizes 33,390 litres of petrol on Badagry creeks
In an effort to arrest the worrying trend of diverting petroleum products from Nigeria to other neighbouring countries, the Nigeria Customs Service announced on Sunday the seizure of 33,390 litres of petrol along the Badagry waterways in Lagos State.
Hussain Abdulahi, the agency spokesman, said the seizure happened on December 8 after careful investigation.
He quoted Bello Jibo, Comptroller, Customs Area Command at Seme Border Area, as saying that the seizure had a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N8,808,280.
Jibo said the command had seized 930,140 litres of petrol; about 28 tanker-loads of 33,000 litres each, from January to date.
He explained that the seizures were contained in 31,000 jerry cans of 30 litres of petrol each.
“The combined DPV of the petrol stands at N167,722,751.51,’’ he said.
Atiku reassures Nigerians of his commitment through his UAE security model, privatization, others
Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and his running mate, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, have promised to regain the trust of Nigerians through their adoption of the United Arab Emirate (UAE) security model, privatization, abolition of the multiple forex exchange system, and others when voted into power.
Abubakar disclosed this on Sunday, during a People’s Townhall meeting organised by Channels Television and its partners to provide a platform for Nigerians to interact with their presidential candidate by asking them questions and hearing from them in a more relaxed atmosphere.
He explained some of his plans on how to deal with some of Nigeria’s most pressing challenges if they are elected in 2023.
Some of the plans he was particular about were the abolition of the multiple foreign exchange rates system of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the application of the UAE security model, the abolition of the petroleum subsidy, and the privatisation of national assets, among others.
In response to the insecurity and agitations in the Southeast, Governor Okowa said that giving the Southeast more involvement in the security architecture and restructuring was the solution. He believes that a sense of belonging was a way to assuage them and make the region look like it was part of the nation.
On dealing with the growing insecurity challenge, Atiku said that he was going to adopt the UAE security model. He noted that the UAE’s approach of using technology to monitor everybody’s movement will discourage people from committing crimes.
“The security architecture I admire is the UAE security architecture, and it’s primarily based on monitoring. You don’t see policemen in uniform in the UAE, and you don’t see soldiers, but virtually everybody is being monitored on a daily basis, particularly if you are a visitor; from the moment you step into the country or go out, anywhere you are going, you are being watched, and that is the deployment of technology as far as security is concerned.
“That is to say we are aiming for the ultimate, but we have to deal with our current security structure. How we reform it to ensure that we give our people a more secure environment to undertake their own legitimate businesses wherever they may be, whether in rural areas, semi-urban areas, and so on?” Atiku said.
On privatization, Atiku decried the current situation of leaving most income-generating assets with the government. He suggested privatising these assets. He believes that the private sector is capable of managing these assets.
“I mean, let’s be honest with ourselves, we have four refineries and they have seized functioning; I don’t know for how many years now and every year we budget money for overhauling the refineries that don’t work; please let’s give it to the private sector,” he said about the local refineries that has gulp billions of tax payers’ money in turnaround maintenance.
Biden aims to narrow trust gap with US-Africa leaders’ summit
In a bid to narrow the gap between the United States and Africa, President Joe Biden will play host to dozens of African leaders in Washington this week. Biden believes this meeting will help re-establish old alliances with the continent and increase its relevance in international trade and politics.
The three-day U.S.-Africa summit is expected to kick off on Tuesday. The Biden administration officials played down their increasing concern about the clout of China and Russia in Africa, which is home to more than 1.3 billion people. Instead, administration officials tried to put the focus on their efforts to improve cooperation with African leaders.
“This summit is an opportunity to deepen the many partnerships we have on the African continent,” Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said when asked about the shadow that China and Russia cast on the meetings. “We will focus on our efforts to strengthen these partnerships across a wide range of sectors spanning from businesses to health to peace and security, but our focus will be on Africa next week.”
According to White House officials, the talks are expected to be focused on climate change, the impact on Africa, the Russia war on Ukraine, trade, coronavirus, and much more.
UK lenders see 23% slide in mortgages for home-buyers in 2023
In a move that seems to moderate the demand in the housing market, British banks and building societies are expected to lend 23 percent less to homebuyers next year.
This action is targeted at taking mortgage volumes back to their level before the COVID-19 pandemic after a two-year boom that lifted house prices by more than a quarter.
According to Reuters, trade body UK Finance forecast on Monday that gross mortgage lending for house purchases would fall to 131 billion pounds ($161 billion) in 2023 from 171 billion pounds this year and a peak of 189 billion pounds in 2021 when pandemic-related tax incentives were in force.
Lending to buy-to-let landlords was forecast to fall by 27 percent, and overall residential property sales were likely to drop to 1.01 million next year from 1.27 million in 2022, it added.
The report linked the growing cost of living challenges and higher interest rates as some of the principal reasons for these changes.
“Amid challenging times for the UK economy, we expect cost of living pressures and rising interest rates to reduce demand for house purchases,” it said.
