No fewer than 50 persons were reportedly killed in Gwadabawa and Tangaza Local Government Areas of Sokoto State by bandits last weekend after locals refused to pay illegal levies imposed on them. Sokoto Police Command PPRO, ASP Ahmad Rufa’i, who confirmed the attacks on Sunday, assured the people that the command was on top of the situation and promised to give an update on the attacks. Hours after the attack on three communities in Tangaza council, the corpses of 37 persons were yet to be buried. The communities attacked were Raka, Raka Dutse, and Filin Gawa. The immediate chairman of Tangaza, Bshar Kalenjeni, also confirmed the attacks, saying 18 persons were killed at Raka, 17 at Filin Gawa and two at Raka Dutse.
The Senate has indicted the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation over failure to repay short-term loans given to Ministries, Departments, and Agencies from Special Funds Accounts totalling ₦910 billion. The lawmakers discovered this after a thorough investigation by the Senate Public Accounts Committee chaired by Senator Mathew Urhoghide, following the submission of the 2017 Auditor General report. According to the query, loans and debts arising from Special Funds Accounts showed that the balances remained unpaid throughout the year, although the loans were meant to be short-term. In response, the OAGF in its response claimed that several letters had been written to the Minister of Finance to authorise the settlement of the loans granted against allocations of various MDAs affected. The Senate, therefore, ordered that all outstanding loans should be recovered by the Accountant General of the Federation and evidence of recovery presented to the Auditor General and Senate Public Accounts Committee within 60 days.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has proffered three policies including acquisitions and mergers of banks and non-banks to mitigate the possible systematic financial instability in Ghana. These policies, captured under the Risk Assessment Matrix contained in the recent IMF country report on Ghana, aim to mitigate risks and ensure the stability of the banking and Non-Bank Financial Institutions (NBFIs). The first policy suggests strengthening financial safety nets and closely monitoring the liquidity and asset quality of banks and NBFIs. The second policy involves designing an appropriate strategy to recapitalise banks and NBFIs. Lastly, the IMF encourages acquisitions and mergers as a means to address any necessary consolidation in the financial space.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is nearing an agreement with neighbouring Angola over one of the offshore blocks between the countries that have been the subject of a 50-year dispute, Reuters reported. Under the terms of the production-sharing deal proposed by Angola and Chevron (CVX.N), each country would take a 30% stake in block 14 and operator Chevron, the remaining 40%, Congolese Hydrocarbons Minister Didier Budimbu said in an interview with Reuters in Paris. A successful deal could help ease tensions between the two countries over the blocks, which have long been controlled by Angola. Angola’s state-owned oil company Sonangol and Chevron did not respond to requests for comment. “We are due to meet again very soon and things can move very quickly,” Budimbu said. He said discussions were continuing on the other blocks straddling both countries on the Atlantic coast.
