Daily Watch – NASS approves independent candidacy, Ghana mine accident kills seven

Nigeria’s Senate, on Tuesday, directed the Clerk to the National Assembly (CNA) to transmit two constitutional alteration bills, including one that seeks to provide for independent candidacy in presidential, governorship, national and state assemblies and local government councils elections to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent. The other bill seeks to include the presiding officers of the National Assembly in the membership of the National Security Council. The two proposals were part of the constitutional alteration bills transmitted to State Houses of Assembly for concurrence last year but not part of the initial 35 that secured the required approval of 24 out of 36 state assemblies. Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, in a motion during Tuesday’s plenary, informed his colleagues that Gombe’s legislature had approved both bills, ensuring they met the constitutional threshold, and forwarded its resolution to the National Assembly. This is not a guarantee of passage, however; of the 35 constitution alteration bills sent to the president for assent, 19 were rejected and 16 were signed into law.

Oil production from Nigerian onshore and shallow-water fields is in decline as the bulk of production moves offshore, where international oil companies (IOCs) dominate. According to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) data, Nigeria’s total oil output from January to April averaged 22.4 million barrels from offshore, 12.2 million from onshore, and 1.5 million from shallow-water fields. The trend signals a shift from Nigeria’s traditional onshore oil fields, where production has stagnated due to militancy, pipeline vandalism and oil theft. With IOCs dominating offshore production, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) is struggling to maintain its share of the country’s oil output, raising concerns about the long-term sustainability of the country’s oil industry.

At least seven people died after a mining pit in which they were working collapsed in the Eastern Region of Ghana, an official confirmed. Alfred Agyemang, regional operations director of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), said that the incident occurred at a community in the Birim North District of the region. He said rescuers managed to save three people alive, and they were receiving medical treatment in a hospital nearby. “One of the survivors told us that there were about 10 people working in the pit when it caved in,” said Agyemang, who is leading a team of NADMO officials to the site of the disaster, adding that seven dead bodies were also recovered from the collapsed pit.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, announced that six African leaders plan to travel to Ukraine and Russia to help find a solution to the war. Ramaphosa added that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy had agreed to receive the African peace mission in their respective capitals. “The two leaders that I had occasion to speak to… agreed that we would commence with the preparations for the engagements with these African heads of state. The Secretary General of the United Nations was also briefed and so is the African Union office,” said Ramaphosa. The initiative was drawn up by the Republic of Congo, Egypt, Senegal, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia. The announcement came a day after Ramaphosa said South Africa had been under “extraordinary pressure” to pick sides in the conflict, following accusations from the United States that Pretoria supplied weapons to Moscow, a move that contradicts its professed neutrality.