Daily Watch – Gunmen abduct Kaduna schoolkids, AU troops targeted in Somalia

Gunmen in Kaduna kidnapped eight secondary school students returning from class along with an unknown number of others, authorities said on Tuesday. State internal security commissioner Samuel Aruwan said gunmen seized the eight students from Awon Government Secondary School in Kachia local government area. The gang had earlier kidnapped the other people. “The management of the school has submitted the names and classes of the kidnapped students,” said Aruwan.

Rising inflation in Nigeria has eroded the ₦30,000 monthly minimum wage by 40.6 percent since 2019, a new report by Afrinvest (West Africa) Limited, a wealth advisory firm has said. The report showed that since the national minimum wage review to ₦30,000 from ₦18,000 in 2019, the headline inflation rate index has risen by about 68.3 percentage points from 2019 year-end to 517.39 points in February 2023. It estimated that the share of final consumption expenditure of the average household in inflation-adjusted national disposable income is about 71.3 percent in 2022, implying a 3.9 percentage points reduction from the level last reported by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in the first half of 2021, but way above the 2019 level.

The cedi gained 3.11% to the US dollar last week to narrow its year-to-date losses on the forex market to about 17%. The cedi also gained 1.18% and 1.95% week-on-week to the pound and the euro respectively. This was due to the Bank of Ghana’s foreign exchange intervention and positive news about the progress of Ghana’s ongoing debt restructuring. The central bank provided $3 million on the spot market and allocated $20 million to the Bulk Oil Distribution Companies at a ¢12.00/$1 forward rate. Parliament also approved a new tax bill aimed at raising $340 million in revenue, with the bid to improve fiscal consolidation and secure the IMF programme. The new tax bill includes increased income, corporate taxes, and excise duties on cigarettes and beverages.

A convoy of African Union peacekeepers has been hit by an explosion in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu. Reports suggest that at least three civilians who were in the vicinity lost their lives. According to a local security officer cited by AFP, the explosion was caused by a landmine planted near the road. Troops from the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) had been conducting their daily patrols when the attack occurred. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack but the Al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for recent attacks in the Horn of Africa country.