National And International News Roundup – 9th March 2021

Joseph Le, Minister of Public Service and Administrative Reforms has dismissed claims that young people need to bribe their way into the public service in Cameroon. He mentioned that today in Kahle, Mayo Kani Division in the North region. He has challenged young people to be daring while working hard.

Primary and secondary schools in Douala, other towns and cities in Cameroon have intensified the campaign to enforce COVID-19 barrier measures. Several students and pupils without face masks are sent back home. Meanwhile, some private enterprises are still reluctant to impose strict COVID-19 measures.

The March session of parliament begins in Yaoundé tomorrow. Lawmakers will be expected to tackle a number of issues, including the raging Covid-19 pandemic and the fast-rising number of positive cases.

Radio stations are sprouting up in Cameroon on a daily basis, resulting in frequency interruptions. This has made listening to the radio boring for some Cameroonians as total anarchy reigns in the process of allocating radio frequencies. Members of the Inter-Ministerial Commission for the Regulation of Radio Frequency met today in Yaoundé to design ways of bringing order to the sector.

Some inhabitants of Douala say the quest to create wealth without suffering is largely responsible for the rise in occultism and homosexuality in the city. An elderly man and a Form Five boy caught in the unlawful act yesterday, are in detention.

The Government has announced the tarring of the road linking Mora and Amchidé in Kolofata Sub-Division in the Far North of Cameroon. Amchidé, the border Cameroonian town with Nigeria has witnessed several attacks from Boko Haram insurgents in 2021.

Rescuers have retrieved 12 bodies of children who drowned near a popular beach in southern Ghana. They were part of a group aged between 14 and 17 who had gone for a swimming outing on Sunday at Apam town. Parents and locals have gathered at the shore to wait for news of those still missing.

A Senegalese opposition group has suspended plans for three days of huge protests called by opposition leader Ousmane Sonko. Mr Sonko was freed from detention on Monday but still faces a rape charge – which he says is politically motivated. At least eight people have died during days of violent protests in Senegal sparked by the arrest of Mr Sonko on charges of public disorder.

A controversial Islamic cleric in Nigeria has clarified his comments after the Nigeria Army cautioned him about his “utterances”. Sheik Ahmad Gumi reportedly said that the army was divided along religious lines. The Kaduna-based preacher however told BBC Pidgin that the military did not understand his comments.

The Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) has become the second major political party in Ethiopia to announce that it will not take part in the June election. ”OLF regrettably pronounces that its participation in the upcoming general election is completely prevented,” a statement from the party said, blaming Prime Minister’s Abiy Ahmed’s Prosperity Party for the decision. The party said the jailing of some of their leaders and the alleged closing down of their offices by the government had disrupted the party operations and accused Mr Abiy of “narrowing” the democratic space – a claim the prime minister’s party denies.

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 remittances, which has dipped over the last year, likely due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the earnings of Nigerian migrants. Diaspora remittances to the country totalled $25bn (£18bn) in 2019 but dipped to just over $5.3bn in 2020, according to data from the Central Bank of Nigeria.