Daily Watch – NIS seize PVCs from foreigners, UN peacekeepers clash with Congo protesters

Nigeria ranks among those countries with the lowest level of food security, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Wednesday. “The spillover effects of the war in Ukraine, which have been transmitted mainly through higher domestic food prices, worsened the effects of the pandemic, particularly on the most vulnerable— with Nigeria being among the countries with the lowest food security,” the Fund stated in its just concluded Article IV consultation with Nigerian authorities. The Fund highlighted the importance of improving the performance of the agricultural sector for job creation and food security.

The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has confiscated a total of 6,216 Permanent Voter Cards and national identity cards from non-Nigerians across 21 states. Comptroller General of Immigration Isah Idris disclosed this on Wednesday at the 2023 NIS election retreat in Abuja. He said a total of 3,823 identity cards and 2,381 voters card were confiscated and have been handed over to the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to delist the registered foreigners. Idris said the non-Nigerians intercepted are mainly from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) region. The states where they were intercepted include Kebbi, Lagos, Ogun, Yobe, Niger, Plateau, Sokoto, Zamafara, Kwara, Kogi, Jigawa, Katsina, Edo, Cross River, Oyo, Taraba, Bauchi, Adamawa, Akwa-Ibom, Nasarawa, and the Ilela border.

The Ghanaian government has said that it has achieved more than 50 percent participation of its target for the controversial Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP). The government had an 80 percent target for the exercise and it has now had more than 50 percent of bondholders signing up for it, according to Deputy Finance Minister Abena Osei Asare. According to her, the 3-day extension is to make room for more bondholders who could not sign up due to pressure on the systems to do so. “As of yesterday, when we decided to extend and grant that administrative window, we had done above 50 percent,” Madam Abena Osei Asare said in an interview with Citi FM on Wednesday. This comes as Bloomberg reports that the country is preparing a new offer for local pension funds into its debt restructuring program, weeks after exempting them from participating in the plan. Unlike other holders of cedi-denominated government debt, pension funds, which held about 5.5% of all domestic government bonds as of August 2022, will receive their full interest under the plan, but it will come over a longer period of time.

Eight people were killed and 28 wounded when protesters in east Congo’s North-Kivu province blocked and set fire to a MONUSCO convoy of United Nations peacekeepers on Tuesday, resulting in clashes. The convoy returning to Goma with supplies was attacked and looted on Tuesday evening, according to the provincial government, as it was making its way through Munigi, a camp that houses hundreds of displaced families outside the city. The mission reported that three people were killed in clashes while the North-Kivu’s military governor, Constant Ndima Kongba, said eight people were killed and 28 wounded after MONUSCO fired warning shots. In a statement on Wednesday, Kongba said displaced citizens stopped the convoy to enquire about its cargo and attacked after the peacekeepers refused to tell them. A spokesperson for the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Khadi Lo, told Reuters via WhatsApp that the mission stood by its version of the events. She did not respond to questions about peacekeepers allegedly firing warning shots.