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Tag: Africa

  • World economy incomplete without  prosperous Africa

    World economy incomplete without  prosperous Africa

    • By Nduka Chiejina and Collins Nweze, Marrakech, Morocco

    • Continent hosts first World Bank/IMFmeeting in 50 years

    With its conviction that a buoyant world economy requires a prosperous Africa, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) yesterday opened their first meetings on African soil in 50 years.

    The meetings are holding in Southern Moroccan city of Marrakesh.

    The multilateral institutions lauded the resilience of Africans.

    They have been under pressure to assist the poor nations blighted by debt and climate change.

    The institutions hold their annual gathering of finance ministers, representatives of the financial sector and development experts, as well as central bank governors outside their Washington headquarters triennially.

    Speaking at the Africa Inspired session of the meetings, IMF Managing Director, Kristalina Georgieva, described Africans as incredible, saying they have continually supported the content.

    Marrakesh was supposed to host the meetings in 2021, but the gathering was postponed twice because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

    In early September, a 6.8-magnitude earthquake shook Morocco, killing nearly 3,000 people in the region. It threatened to derail the event again, but the government decided it could go ahead.

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    The IMF and World Bank last held their meetings in Africa in 1973, when Kenya hosted the event.

    Half a century later, the continent faces an array of challenges ranging from conflict to a series of military coups to unrelenting poverty to natural disasters.

    “A prosperous world economy in the 21st century requires a prosperous Africa,” Georgieva said in a speech in Abidjan last week.

    The IMF boss noted the meetings kicked-off yesterday that the Fund plays a crucial role in bringing countries together.

    “This means also expanding the voice of emerging and developing countries,’’ Georgieva said.

     The consultations would continue until Sunday and will among other issues, cover the looming debt crisis in lower-income countries, climate change, high inflation and the fight against poverty.

  • ‘Why we must correct Africa’s poor leadership style’

    ‘Why we must correct Africa’s poor leadership style’

    Former Minister of Education, Obiageli Ezekwesili, has called for the need to correct the leadership anomaly in Africa to change the negative narratives.

     Ezekwesili, who spoke in Abuja at the graduation of the School of Politics, Policy and Governance (SPPG), said Africa’s problem is poor public leadership.

    She said SPPG would build a connected and resilient Africa to raise people to change the narrative of leadership and entrench ethical standards in governance and politics.

     “If we succeed in correcting the leadership anomaly on our continent, one thing is certain, Africa will claim the 21st century.

     “What concludes the matter is that Africa’s problem is poor public leadership; we have said it so often.

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     “The SPPG is our answer and our response to that problem. We are saying it is not our destiny to be governed by the worst among us. And if you reject a situation then you must act to correct that situation”.

    SPPG Vice Chancellor, Alero Otobo, who said 184 people graduated in the 2023 set, said the institution is raising a people to take responsibility for the African project.

     Oyibo, who said it is time to transform governance model for African, urged graduates to uphold integrity, excellence and resilience.

     “SPPG has ambitious plan of raising and preparing 10,000 disruptive thinkers, value based political leaders, public leaders in the next 10 years and we are pleased we have 184 graduates”.

  • Nigeria backs Gates Foundation’s boost of vaccine manufacturing in Africa

    Nigeria backs Gates Foundation’s boost of vaccine manufacturing in Africa

    The coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Ali Pate, has backed a plan by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMFG) to accelerate mRNA vaccine innovation and manufacturing in Africa.

    Pate, in a statement by the Foundation, said one way to give more people access to next-generation vaccines is to put innovative mRNA technology in the hands of researchers and manufacturers in Africa and elsewhere.

    The statement follows Monday’s unveiling of new investments to advance access to mRNA research and vaccine manufacturing technology that will support the capacity of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) including Nigeria to develop high-quality, lifesaving vaccines at scale, by BMFG Co-Chair, Bill Gates, at the ongoing 2023 Grand Challenges Annual Meeting in Dakar, Senegal.

    Pate, a global expert on vaccines, was quoted as saying, “Putting innovative mRNA technology in the hands of researchers and manufacturers in Africa and around the world will help ensure more people benefit from next-generation vaccines.

    “This collaboration is an encouraging step that will increase access to critical health technologies and help African countries develop vaccines that meet the needs of their people.”    

    The BMFG move builds on lessons the foundation has learned from more than 20 years of working with vaccine manufacturers in LMICs and the opportunity to leverage recent scientific advances to develop low-cost, high-quality health tools that reach more people around the world.

    mRNA technology is considered a potential game-changer for a range of infectious diseases, including tuberculosis, malaria, and Lassa fever, which disproportionately affect people in LMICs.

    The foundation believes new technology can significantly lower the costs of mRNA research and manufacturing and enable expanded access—helping to close critical gaps.  

    The foundation announced a total of U$40 million in funding to advance access to Quantoom Biosciences’ low-cost, mRNA research and manufacturing platform, which was developed with an early-research Grand Challenges grant made to its parent company, Univercells.

    The Institut Pasteur de Dakar (IPD) and Biovac, research institutes with vaccine manufacturing experience based in Senegal and South Africa, respectively, will receive $5 million each to acquire the technology and will be able to use it to develop locally relevant vaccines.

    To further advance the technology and lower costs for commercialization, the foundation also will provide $20 million to Quantoom Biosciences, ensuring LMICs can benefit from the next-generation mRNA health tools.

    The Gates Foundation will grant another US$10 million to other LMIC vaccine manufacturers to be named.

    This new funding builds on the foundation’s previous US$55 million investment in mRNA manufacturing technology. 

    “Expanding our capacity to discover and manufacture affordable mRNA vaccines in Africa is an important and necessary step towards vaccine self-reliance in the region,” said Dr. Amadou Sall, CEO of IPD.

    “We welcome this new funding, which will promote the development of lifesaving technologies on the continent while also contributing to global health security by expanding the supply and access to vaccines—allowing us to achieve greater health equity worldwide.”

    mRNA vaccines have simpler research and manufacturing processes than traditional vaccines, so expanding access to this next-generation technology can help countries like Senegal and South Africa gain autonomy to discover and develop low-cost, high-quality vaccines for diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis that are consistent with their health priorities.

    “Innovation can be transformative, but only if it reaches the people who need it most,” said Morena Makhoana, CEO of Biovac.

    “This collaboration will help close critical gaps in access to promising mRNA vaccines against diseases that disproportionately affect the world’s poorest. It will also assist us in our mission to establish end-to-end vaccine manufacturing capability at scale in Africa for global supply.”

    Quantoom’s modular mRNA technology addresses common bottlenecks in current mRNA research and manufacturing technologies, making it simpler and cheaper to use.

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    For example, the cost to produce a vaccine could drop by more than 50 percent with Quantoom’s platform compared to traditional mRNA technology.

    It could also significantly reduce the need for deeply trained experts, which continues to be a barrier to vaccine production in Africa and elsewhere while maintaining or even increasing the quality of the product.

    “Expanding the availability of affordable, high-quality vaccines that meet the needs of local communities is one of the best ways to improve global health outcomes and reduce preventable deaths,” said Trevor Mundel, president of the foundation’s Global Health Division.

    “By lowering barriers to access for low- and middle-income countries, we can help ensure more people around the world benefit from lifesaving health innovation.”

    “The development of new vaccines is costly, resource intensive, and concentrated in high-income countries,” said José Castillo, CEO of Quantoom Biosciences.

    “We’re thrilled to partner with IPD and Biovac to scale our technology in Senegal and South Africa and help increase access to novel mRNA vaccines—one of medicine’s.

  • Seeking local solutions to Africa’s development, unemployment issues

    Seeking local solutions to Africa’s development, unemployment issues

    The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) enjoyed global wide acclaim in faraway New York City, USA, during an interface and discussion session on the sidelines of the just concluded United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), where President Bola Tinubu and a host of others paid glowing tribute to the forerunner of the the TEF initiative Mr Tony Elumelu and his team for their unwavering commitment towards Africa’s youth development reports PRECIOUS IGBONWELUNDU

    A Golden fish, as the saying goes, has no place to hide. This wisecrack becomes apposite in describing what happened to Mr Tony Elumelu, the brain behind the widely acclaimed Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF).

    Elumelu was singled out for recognition by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, wait for this, in faraway New York City, USA!

    President Tinubu addressed a packed audience on the sidelines of the just concluded United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

    The venue was the United Bank of Africa (UBA) House at 575 Fifth Avenue, Manhattan in New York City and the event a roundtable to chart the way forward for a prosperous Africa and her teeming entrepreneurial youth population organised by the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF’s) Generation Unlimited, IKEA Foundation

    and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

    Expectedly, President Tinubu who was represented by the Minister for Trade and Industry, Doris Uzoka-Anite, did not shy away from telling the gathering comprising African business and political leaders, potential foreign investors and Nigerians in the diaspora the bitter truth.

    Without mincing words, Tinubu, undoubtedly buoyed by the need for Africans to be the drivers of her economic and infrastructural growth, decried the over reliance by Africans on foreign donors, calling for an end to that mindset.

    The President who showered encomiums on Elumelu whom he described as the major person driving investments in supporting the youths and start-ups; reiterated the need for Africans to challenge themselves a bit more and stop looking for international organisations for donor funding.

    “I don’t think we are doing enough as Africans for Africa. We need to do a lot more. Tony Elumelu has been the major person driving investments in supporting the youths and start-ups.

    “We need to challenge ourselves a bit further. Africa has some of the richest people on the planet. We have a resource-rich continent with a huge population of young people.

    “We need to take up the challenge upon ourselves as Africans to support one another. It is about time we stopped looking for international organisations for donor funding. We need to go out of that mentality.

    “We will rather have donor funds coming in to support what we have on ground already and not them coming to give us a seed or showing us the way.

    “We actually know how to do things. In Africa, we have a rich culture and if we go back to our tradition, there is a whole lot we can learn from each other.”

    Noting the importance of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to the economy, Tinubu said they  contributed almost half of national GDP, and more than 80% percent of employment.

    According to him, if every one of the 40 million MSMEs in Nigeria added just one more job, no combination of large enterprises could possibly produce a similar national impact.

    “That is the power of our small and medium businesses and this is why we owe them every support that we can make available…

    “We must organise the disorganised SME market, and enable greater formalisation. We must invest in SMEs. Governments and the private sector have important roles to play in this regard.

    “Our investing must be coordinated, targeted, and generous. This is where the example of the Tony Elumelu Foundation is a worthy role model for all. We must create and expand pathways for our SMEs to export their products and services and integrate into global value chains,” he said.

    On the impact the TEF has had on multiple young people and SMEs in the country since its establishment in 2010, Tinubu said the organisation’s goal to democratise luck, reduce poverty and scale job creation in Africa, has been done very successfully, with plenty of testimonials along the way.

    “We have stories like Bosun Tijani, one of the young Nigerians in which Mr. Elumelu, through the Tony Elumelu Foundation, invested early on. Bosun founded Co-Creation Hub, a centre of innovation for Nigeria and Africa, and today, a decade later, he is Nigeria’s Honorable Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy.

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    “In 2015, TEF established its Entrepreneurship Programme, a $100m commitment to raise 10,000 African entrepreneurs within 10 years. Since then, more than 18,000 African entrepreneurs have been funded, 30 percent of them Nigerians.

    “Inspiring stories like that of Chioma Ukonu, whose social enterprise, Recycle Points, is helping create a cleaner planet and now, we are at yet another milestone in the Tony Elumelu Foundation journey, the launch of the Coalition for African Entrepreneurs.

    “We are rooting for you, and looking forward eagerly to more success stories that will emerge from the TEF portfolio. On our part as government, we are collaborating with the private sector to implement programmes like the National Talent Export Programme (NATEP), and the Investment in Digital and Creative Enterprises (iDICE), in line with the renewed hope agenda.

    “Between these two programmes, and others, we hope to create millions of new jobs and to position Nigeria as a leading global hub for sourcing digital and creative talent, and for exporting their services.

    “The future is indeed bright and full of hope, because of all the important work that is being done, with institutions like the Tony Elumelu Foundation showing the way,” said Tinubu.

    Lagos Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu who was at the event also commended Elumelu for the great work his foundation was doing across Africa.

    He said: “You could see Tony Elumelu is now an household name not only in the tech startup space but in everything around youth employment and youth engagement. So, what they are doing here is to sort of review what they have done in the last 12/13 years and come up with the report on the impact of their intervention.

    “I find it very instructive and very strategic to what we are doing in Lagos. First, it is to listen to them to see how their engagement has been and to see what has been the feedback from all of the beneficiaries that have enjoyed the foundation and I think Tony and all of them in the foundation are doing a great job…”

    Reminiscing about the year he and his wife took the bold step to invest $100m seed capital in the foundation to rewrite and change Africa by enhancing entrepreneurship development that would galvanise local solutions to the continent’s challenges, Elumelu in his speech said they lit a beacon which needs to shine brighter and better through the support and collaboration of everyone.

    “One hundred million dollars is a drop of water in the ocean compared to what we need in Africa. Young Africans need economic support. We’ve seen the devastating effect of climate change, how our young ones due to hopelessness are migrating and living in difficult situations. We want to put a stop to that,” he told the gathering.

    The TEF founder advocated the need to prioritise young Africans, bring more women to economic activities and alleviate poverty in order to achieve sustainable and inclusive economic growth, development in the continent.

    Assistant Administrator and Regional Director for Africa (UNDP), Ahunna Eziakonwa, said they partnered TEF due to similar belief in galvanising development across Africa and globally, adding that Africa’s wealth was its population, which constituted 70 per cent of young, vibrant and innovative persons.

    “It is our loss if we don’t invest in them because that is the future of prosperity,” she said, just as she called for enhanced collaboration and investment to strengthen economic development of African youths.”

    Earlier, TEF’s Chief Executive Officer, CEO, Somachi Chris-Asoluka, said the organisation was the partner of choice for all development agencies across the world who want to transform the way they give to Africa and want a more catalytic, impactful partnership with the continent.

    She said: “The Tony Elumelu Foundation is a leading philanthropy in Africa empowering young African entrepreneurs from all 54 African countries. We launched our flagship programme, the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship programme with a $100 million commitment by Mr Elumelu and his family.

    “His goal was to see 10,000 African entrepreneurs over 10 years, in only eight years, we have more than surpassed that target. We have funded 18,000 entrepreneurs, disbursing over a 100 million dollars directly as seed capital to these entrepreneurs and they have gone on to create over 400 thousand jobs across all African countries.”

    Guests at the roundtable included Microsoft’s EVP and President, National Transformation Partnerships, JP Courtois; Assistant Treasury Secretary for International Trade and Development, USA, Alexia Latortue; Africa Director, National Security Council, Deniece Laurent-Mantey; President USADF, Travis Atkins;

    CEO of UBA, Oliver Alawuba; Executive Director for International Banking and CEO of UBA America, Sola Yomi-Ajayi;  Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Transcorp Hotels Plc, Modupe Olusola; Founder DelYork Group, Linus Idahosa, Nollywood actress, Omoni Oboli and CEO IKEA Foundation, Per Heggenes, among others.

  • Africa: Coups, barrack revolts and leadership questions

    Africa: Coups, barrack revolts and leadership questions

    President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Nigeria leader made a visibility outing at the United Nations General Assembly on its 78th session, New York on a number of pertinent issues that had dotted the path of African nations, Nigeria inclusive.

    Of particular attention is the present resurgence of military coups in recent years in Guinea, Burkina Faso, Mali, Gabon, and Niger republics. The sermonisation against coups and coup d’états in Africa is not novel neither the ambivalence of western powers on the issue obscure! The causes of military upsurge particularly in Africa are not unknown neither the remedies unsubstantiated or buried in fertile imagination.

    The first coup in Africa occurred through the Nasserite revolution in Egypt in 1952, to be followed in 1963. The implosion of military upsurge in Africa is a combination of social forces both external and internal. In his work on military anatomy, Huntington and Janowitz in their “The Man on Horseback” noted that coups and coup d’état are by-products of colonial implantation in colonized territories. At the exit of colonial lords at the end of empire, more particularly described in the contemporary coinage as “flag independence”, two power elites were created by the imperial imposters: the so-called nationalist/agitators who emerged as political class and the soldier mostly products of Western allied powers of first and second world wars and the Sandhurst trained soldiers of British West African Frontier Forces. Neither the emergent political class nor the coercive soldier had indigenous understanding of how to protect and preserve the African identity and civic citizenry that predated the Berlin Conference of African Balkanisation by the colonial power the viz Belgium, Portugal, France, Germany, the British and their allied lords.

    The option of coup became inevitable as a result of the intra-power struggle for supremacy among these elite postcolonial corps having regard to colonial masters’ arbitrary territorialisation of Africa along fault-lines of ethnicity, disparate cohabitation of the incompatibles and religious divide which the imperial lords knew from the on-start that the African elites would not have ability to manage. In their prophetic synthesis, the colonial lords remarked that no African emerging power-broker would be able to manage colonial empire within the space of six years after their flag independence. Predictably, by January 15, 1966, Nigeria the giant of Africa had fallen into military predators in a revolution authored and partially executed by the fine Majors: Okafor, Anuforo, Ifeajuna, Wale Ademoyega and Chukwuma Nzeogwu.

    Ghana was to follow suit on February 24, 1966 in a coup led by General Kotoka.

    Between the middle of 60’s to 70’s, almost two-thirds of emergent African nations had fallen into the hands of military buccaneers from west to central from east to north of Sub-Saharan Africa some with bitter notoriety like Idi Amin, Jean Bokassa, El-Selasie, and Macias Nguema of Equatorial Guinea. The synopsis of barrack revolts and counter coups hinges on an equally intra-struggle for supremacy by the foot-soldiers along ethnic, social, religious or variant polarisations.

    For example, while the coup of January 15, 1966 was welcomed as an end of era and good riddance to the excesses and intolerance of post-independence Nigerian leaders of (1960-1966), the July 29, 1966 counter-coup described generally as ‘revenge coup’ was to return power to the northern hegemonies igniting Araba, or genocide of southerners mostly of Igbo extraction and bloody civil war which lasted between 1967-1970.

    This pattern of cleavages dividing the military along the fault lines of ethnicity, religion, social stratification were to invite various counter-coups in Nigeria, Ghana, Togo, Benin and many other Africa countries till the ferment of globalisation in politics and economy of 1990’s.

    In his work, Armies and Politics, Jack Woddis remarked among others: ‘To understand the role of the armed forces in the total system of political power, one must first consider the nature of political power itself…. Additionally it is essential to consider these questions because on the hand of reformists, liberals and conservatives tend to argue as if political power rested solely or almost entirely with parliament and government while some of ultra-left views on other hand tend to dismiss parliament and parliamentary government as virtually irrelevant and to see political power in the somewhat form of an armed institution ready to repress and shoot down anyone who challenges it…”

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    The third option to political class and military adventurers is the ‘people’s militia’ which unfortunately has been too weak to assert political ascendancy in Africa as it did in Russia in (1917) and China 1949. When Chou En-lai, the premier of China visited Africa in 1967, he was said to have remarked that the people’s revolution coordinated by the peasants in the case of China and by the working class of the proletariat in the USSR, was unlikely in Africa. He said having toured some strategic points in Africa, while Africa and Africans have the ingredients to evoke revolution like mass poverty and mass discontent, theirs is and still the absence of mass mobilization of the peasant resenting all the paraphernalia of the rich class, the political class in such a way to invite massive revolts in the palaces of the rich, the bourgeois the political lords and enthrone peoples government in their places.

    If we must find an antidote to coup and coup d’états in Africa, we must look beyond Washington, London, Paris, Bonn, Lisbon and Brussel for our searchlight because like “us” they have been part of Africa’s burden; they cannot be part of our solution.

    What is the way out of the woods? Chief Obafemi Awolowo, writing a foreword in Ebenezer Babatope’s book on this very same subject said: “In man long search so far for political emancipation, there is no alternative to democracy at least for now.

    The only panacea to coup and coup d’état is good governance in all its ramification.

    Africa must evolve a novel eclectic blend with our indigenous political structure and imposed Western civil democracy in a way that leadership in Africa will cater for the greatest good for the greatest number of her citizens with open and civic engagement and an all-inclusive institution that will be poised to outlive the African Big-man syndrome!

     Africa has been under the backwaters for a very, very long past. We were the first to be enslaved first by the Arab mandarins and later by the Europeans at all fronts. Our land had been balkanised to develop Europe and America. We had been bruised and battered by our identity and seen as the last man after the apes of Mesopotamia, Africa was later colonised with all the attendant dehumanization of her culture, mores, values, and self-esteem. Africa after the so-called flag independence is still controlled by the former colonial powers in “neo-colonialism” which the legend of Africa, Osage Kwame Nkrumah described in his seminal work as the highest stage of imperialism.

    When shall we rise up to face our world like the “Chinese challenge” on the contemporary world stage? When Europe and America were still in their backwaters, Chinese were able to build the famed the Great Wall of China which predated European civilisation!

    It may not matter whether the cat is black or white so long as it catches the mice is a long Chinese proverb which Africa must imbibe and act speedily upon in the 21st century.

    Essentially, with credible open and all-inclusive governance and civic institutions, the people themselves will act as police to check the nemesis of coup and military insurgencies. That is the way to go.

    •Ishola, legal practitioner, veteran journalist writes from Ilorin, Kwara State.

  •  How to prevent Military rule in Africa, by Ganduje

     How to prevent Military rule in Africa, by Ganduje

    The national chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Ganduje has prescribed good governance as a panacea to the increasing military intervention in Africa.

    He called on leaders in the continent to improve the well-being of their people in order to tame the rising military adventure into politics and governance.

    Ganduje made the assertion when the national chairman of the ruling party in Ghana, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Stephen Ayensu Ntim, paid him a courtesy call on Sunday at his residence in Asokoro, Abuja.

    The APC chairman decried the living conditions of most Africans, urging leaders at all levels in Africa to work assiduously to provide good governance to ameliorate the suffering of the people.

    He said: “You are breaking the ice between leaders of political parties in Africa. Political parties are the fulcrum of democracy to stop military intervention in Africa.

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    “We need to provide good governance to our people to make military coups less attractive in Africa.

    Ganduje further traced the long history between Nigeria and Ghana, noting that both countries share a lot in common.

    Mr Ntim who was accompanied by the Ghana Ambassador to Nigeria,  Rashid Bawa herps on the need to collaborate with the ruling APC in Nigeria to retain power in Ghana.

    “APC and NPP should be able to share ideals so that we can remain in government for the long term. We will learn a lot from APC.”

    Ntim arrived in Abuja for the launch of the book, “Beyond Beauty” written by Dr. Blessing Agbomhere, APC, South-South Youth Leader and member of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC).

  • Africa’s next Super Model winner to go home with Ksh1m prizes

    Africa’s next Super Model winner to go home with Ksh1m prizes

    The winner of this year’s Africa’s Next SuperModel (2023) would smile home with 1 million Kenyan Shillings (Ksh 1m) worth of prizes, courtesy of Isis Models International.

     Isis is an agency that identifies, develops, and sustains the careers of beautiful black models.

    With rising creative and modelling talents in Africa becoming the centre of global attraction, Nairobi is set to take centre stage in the modelling world as it prepares to host much-anticipated Africa’s Next Super Model 2023.

    Scheduled for October 28, at the iconic Radisson Blu Upper Hill, Nairobi, this event will be one of Africa’s biggest beauty pageants.  This prestigious event promises to be a spectacle like no other, bringing together the finest models and designers from all parts of the world.

    Remarkably, Africa’s Next Super Model is more than just a runway show; it is a celebration of African diversity and creativity. The event highlights the diverse talent found throughout Africa by featuring models from all regions, including the Kakuma refugee camp and other East African camps.

    Nigerian-born and Africa-focused Joan Okorodudu, who is the CEO of Isis Models International shared her excitement about this year’s competition.

    She told reporters in Nairobi that over 31 agents have already registered for Africa’s Next Super Model 2023, with participants representing Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Burundi, and Uganda. Okorodudu said this year’s event promises to be a melting pot of cultures and a celebration of the continent’s modelling prowess.

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    Models will be arriving on October 20 for what is anticipated to be a fiercely contested competition. With several models registered, the competition will be intense, and the top 20 models will have the opportunity to shine on the runway.

    The inaugural edition of Africa’s Next Super Model took place in Kigali, Rwanda, in November last year, setting the stage for this prestigious modelling competition’s continued success and growth.

    About Africa’s Next Super Model, it is important to note that Africa’s Next Super Model is a prestigious modeling competition that celebrates African culture, diversity, and talent. It provides a platform for models and designers from across the African continent to showcase their skills and creativity on an international stage.

     Okorodudu,  through her passion and remarkable brilliance in finding new talents, has been instrumental in making Africa’s Next Super Model a global success with models featured in the top shows across the world.

    She said: “This event will bring together Models, designers, Model scouts, and agents from around the world. Last year in Rwanda, the competition had 15 agents and this year the event is expecting 30 agents from across the world.”

    Isis Models Africa’s biggest model search is evidenced by the number of finalists doing top shows at Fashion Week around the world.

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  • Nigeria recorded highest diaspora remittance in Africa last year

    Nigeria recorded highest diaspora remittance in Africa last year

    Nigeria accounted for the highest remittance flow into Sub-Saharan Africa in 2022, as the continent recorded an estimated $52.9 billion, the latest World Bank report has stated.

    The report, tagged, ‘Remittances Remain Resilient But Are Slowing’, covered 2022, and showed that Nigeria accounted for $20.1 billion.

    This represents 38 per cent of the total remittance flow and is higher than that of Ghana (11.9 percent), Kenya (8.5 per cent), Tanzania (25 percent), Uganda (17.3 percent) and Rwanda (21.2 per cent).

    “The increase in remittance flows to the region supported the current accounts of several African countries dealing with food insecurity, supply chain disruptions, severe drought (Horn of Africa), floods (in Nigeria, Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Cameroon), and debt-servicing difficulties,” the report said.

    A broader look showed that remittance flows to low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) was $647 billion, but it was projected to rise slowly by 1.4 per cent to $656 billion in 2023.

    For the total remittance flows globally, the projection is $840 billion in 2023 and is projected to increase further by $18 billion in 2024.

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    Commenting on the importance of remittance flows, the World Bank said: “Over the past year, remittances have continued to represent an even larger source of external finance for LMICs, relative to foreign direct investment (FDI), official development assistance (ODA), and portfolio investment flows.

    “The importance of remittances as a premier source of external finance for LMICs is more apparent when China is excluded from the sample.”

    The report further stated that: “Remittances have become the most important foreign exchange earner in several countries. For example, for Kenya remittances are larger than the country’s key exports, including tourism, tea, coffee, and horticulture. Those countries more dependent on receipts as a proportion to GDP include the Gambia, Lesotho, Comoros, and Cabo Verde.”

    In addition, the World Bank said Sub-Saharan Africa remains the region with the highest remittance costs. Highlighting how costly remittance is on the continent, the report said: “Senders had to pay an average of 8.0 percent to send $200 to African countries during 2022Q4, compared with 7.8 percent in 2021Q4. Costs vary substantially across the region, ranging from 2.1–4.0 percent in the lowest cost corridors to 17–35 percent in the highest.

    “For example, sending $200 in remittances from Tanzania to neighboring Uganda would have cost a migrant 35.5 percent in 2022Q4. Banks charge the highest costs, thus emphasising the importance of cross-border mobile money transactions. In Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda, such transactions are constrained by limited interoperability among telecom operators and money transfer operators.”

    Meanwhile, the growth of remittance flow into Africa is projected to fall to 1.3 per cent in 2023, from 6.1 per cent in 2022.

    “Risks to the outlook include capital outflows, measures to control foreign exchange, and sanctions. South Africa was put on a “gray list” by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Growth in remittance flows is expected to recover to 3.7 percent in 2024,” the World Bank said.

  • Africa illustrious award 2023 honours change makers

    Africa illustrious award 2023 honours change makers

    The 2023 edition of the Africa Illustrious Award is set to recognise another set of trailblazers across Africa, in various works of life. 

    The recipients are those whose works are moving their communities forward. Some impactful organisations will be honoured as well.

    The event holds on October 13, 2023 at the Lagos Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos. 

    In the previous editions, many prominent Africans including Prof. Patrick Lumumba have been recognised for extraordinary afrocentric ideas shaping the continent for good. 

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    Also, former Nigeria’s President Dr Goodluck Jonathan as the peace Ambassador of all time; Dr Absalom Dlamini former Prime Minister of Eswatini; Prof. Monique Ekpong former Ambassador of Nigeria to Angola and Dr. Alfred Mutua former Governor of the Machakos County in  Kenya have also been honoured.

    Other recipients like Prof. Charles Esimone were recognised for exceptional university administration. 

    In sports, Chioma Ajunwa, Joseph Yobo, John Ogu, among others have been recognised. 

    Also, any iconic political leaders across Africa have also been recognised.

  • ‘Africa will no longer watch foreigners plunder its resources’

    ‘Africa will no longer watch foreigners plunder its resources’

    Africa will no longer watch foreigners plunder its resources, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu said yesterday.

    To halt illegal exploitation of the continent’s mineral resources by external forces, he sought United Nations’ backing in the fight against elements he described as ‘resource thieves.’

    President Tinubu shed light on African countries’ resolve to protect their resources during a meeting on Wednesday with UN Secretary-General Mr António Guterres at his UN Headquarters Office in New York, United States.

    According to a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Chief Ajuri Ngelale, the President said African countries will henceforth, be aggressive in the fight against smuggling of natural resources from the continent’s shores.

    He questioned the motives of those coming to take African resources illegally, saying that the trend should stop.

    President Tinubu lamented how human rights advocacy is used by wealthy and powerful nations to stop developing economies from dealing decisively with malign actors who illicitly siphon and smuggle out the continent’s vast mineral resources.

    He said Africa has been made to face the predicament in the face of smuggling with western-made weapons, which enrich the wealthiest economies at the parasitic expense of African stability and wealth creation.

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    Tinubu said: “We are facing the great challenge of scavengers ravaging our lands and oppressing our people on illegal mines—taking our gold and mineral wealth back to developed economies by stealth and violence against Nigerians. Where one’s human right ends, the rights of another begin. Most especially for self-protection.

    “If we fight, they say ‘human rights,’ but we will now be aggressive and we will question motives. We will stop what is happening in our land. We require your effective collaboration,” the President firmly stated.

    President Tinubu  said the UN must transform from being one of the world’s foremost talkshops to discuss global issues into the world’s foremost action coordination center.

    He said a situation in which 70 per cent  of the resources being devoted to the world’s poorest countries are being spent and sent back out on overheads and administrative costs, will defeat the purpose and objectives of the organization.

    The President stressed: “The poverty ravaging our continent and the question of security and counter-terrorism requires us to work in close and effective synergy. The world will ignore Nigeria at its own peril. If we engage in talkshops as real challenges wreak real havoc in real time, we will fail.

    “The time to strike is now. The time to achieve real results is now. I fought for democracy. I was detained for democracy. I am now President and I am determined to prove that democracy can provide the development that our nation and our continent so urgently demands.

    “Trace those of us here to our foundations and you will find that we have ties and links with poverty. We must not be ashamed of that history, but poverty is unacceptable. I am one of the lucky survivors of gripping poverty.

    “Nigeria is truly a giant. 240 million people and counting with a massive youth population. We are done saying too much. We seek much action. We have arisen out of poverty as individuals, but until our people have arisen out of that, we will not rest, even if it requires decisions at home that make me temporarily unpopular.”