Daily Watch – Chad ends defence pact with France, Tax reform bills move along

Amnesty International said in a report on Thursday that Nigerian police used excessive force and shot protesters while cracking down on demonstrations in August over a cost of living crisis, killing at least 24 people and arresting 1,200 protesters. On 3 August, police denied killing protesters but said seven people died. At that time, the police blamed four deaths on an explosive device planted by suspected Boko Haram militants who infiltrated a crowd. Police said two people were killed after being hit by a car while marching and one man was shot by a local vigilante while trying to loot a shop. Amnesty said in its 34-page report that the police killed at least 24 protesters in Kano, Katsina, Jigawa, Kaduna, Niger, and Borno states. “In almost all cases the victims were shot by the police – firing live ammunition at close range, often at the head or torso, suggesting that they were shooting to kill,” it added.                                                                        

The four tax reform bills proposed by President Bola Tinubu have passed a second reading in the Senate. They are the Joint Revenue Board of Nigeria (Establishment) Bill, 2024 -SB.583; The Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) BILL, 2024- SB.584; The Nigeria Tax Administration Bill, 2024-SB.585; and the Nigeria Tax Bill, 2024 – SB.586. The executive bills were sponsored by the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, during plenary on Thursday. After the debate on the general principles of the bills, the lawmakers read them for the second time and referred them to the Senate Committee of Finance for further legislative action. The bills scaled the second reading a day after the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, appeared before the Senate to explain their purpose. Mr Oyedele told the lawmakers that the bills aimed to lift the tax burden on 90% of Nigerian workers.

Production on Ghana’s Jubilee oil field slowed marginally to 89,000 barrels per day (bpd) at the end of October 2024. This was captured in the November 2024 Trading Update released by Tullow Oil plc, on Thursday. Daily Crude Production on the Jubilee field was above 90,000 barrels a day at the end of July. The end-of-October update fell below expectations primarily due to the underperformance of the J69-P well. The firm linked the challenge on the Jubilee field to “unplanned downtime at the Ghana Gas Company onshore gas processing plant and plants and periods of reduced water injection due to power outages.” It was also revealed that the Government of Ghana’s debt for gas supplied from the Jubilee and TEN fields is $40 million. Tullow Oil describes this debt as “overdue gas payments from the Government.”

Chad’s government, on Thursday, said it has ended its defence cooperation pact with France. In a statement, Chad’s foreign ministry said the country wanted to fully assert its sovereignty after more than six decades of independence. It said the decision to end the defence cooperation agreement revised in 2019 would enable it to redefine its strategic partnerships. “In accordance with the terms of the accord, Chad will respect the modalities of the termination including the necessary deadlines, and will collaborate with French authorities to ensure a harmonious transition,” the statement said. France’s foreign minister, Jean-Noel Barrot, visited Chad’s border with Sudan on Thursday. In a further blow to France, Senegal’s President Bassirou Diomaye Faye said in an interview with French state TV on Thursday that it was inappropriate for French troops to maintain a presence in his country.