Nigeria’s new lawmakers were sworn in on Tuesday following February’s elections, setting the stage for President Bola Tinubu to submit cabinet nominees in a process likely to signal how he intends to tackle a struggling economy and growing insecurity. The swearing-in ceremony in the capital Abuja also saw Tinubu’s allies, Godswill Akpabio elected as Senate President and Tajudeen Abbas as House Speaker, to mark the official start of legislative duties for newly elected officials. The Nigerian stock market rose to its highest level since July 2008 on Tuesday, the first day of trading after the legislative elections and the suspension of Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele. Nigeria’s Senate wields significant influence in Nigeria’s bicameral legislature, including scrutinising and confirming the president’s cabinet nominees. Tinubu has up to the end of July to name his cabinet but his aides say the president could submit some names as soon as next week.
Kwara State Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq has expressed dismay over the news of no fewer than 100 people who are feared dead in a boat accident in Egbu village, in the Patigi Local Government Area of the state. Media reports say the boat travelling along the Niger River was carrying wedding guests who were returning on Monday morning to Kwara State from a ceremony in nearby Niger State. The state police command confirmed on Tuesday that 103 out of about 300 passengers perished in the boat mishap.
A showdown is expected in Ghana’s parliament if the Electoral Commission (EC) proceeds to lay its proposed Constitutional Instrument (CI) without amending it to add other identity documents apart from the Ghana Card as the sole identity document. Speaking to JoyNews, the Director of Electoral Services of the EC, Serebour Quaicoe, insisted that they will not heed the unanimous decision of Parliament to amend the proposed C.I. Last week, Minority Leader Cassiel Ato Forson told journalists that both ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) MPs will come together to kick against the proposed CI without the amendment proposed by Parliament.
A group of U.S. lawmakers is calling for a US-Africa trade summit planned for later this year to be moved from South Africa in response to what they said was the country’s “deepening military relationship” with Russia. In a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other senior officials, they also suggested that South Africa is in danger of losing its benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) – Washington’s flagship trade programme. South Africa is due to host the AGOA Forum in Johannesburg, a meeting of African leaders and U.S. officials, to discuss the future of the programme, which is slated to expire in 2025. South Africa’s exports to the U.S. under AGOA reached nearly $1 billion in the first three months of this year, making it the second-biggest beneficiary of the programme after Nigeria.