Harare, Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe plans to ban second-hand car imports from Japan which it fears may be contaminated with radioactive material released into the atmosphere when the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant was damaged by a tsunami in March last year, Transport Minister Nicholas Goche.

The state-run Herald daily reported on Tuesday that Nicholas Goche told the Parliamentary Committee on Transport, Communication and Infrastructure Development that the Zimbabwean government has begun working on monitoring mechanisms to ensure vehicles imported into Zimbabwe are safe.

The cost to the Nigerian government of its fuel subsidy shot up by almost five times to USD 9.3 billion between 2006 and 2011, and accounted for 30 percent of all federal expenditure – a statistic quoted a new study on reforming the energy sector in Africa by the African Development Bank.

The study, published by the AfDB’s Chief Economist department, uses the case study of Nigeria for lessons in how to carry out such an energy reform program, particularly with regard to cutting or eliminating fuel subsidies while avoiding or minimising adverse effects such as supply-shock inflation and social unrest.