The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Africa

  • Nigeria, S/A key to Africa’s greatness, says envoy

    For Africa to move forward economically, Nigeria  and South Africa must show the way for other countries on the continent to follow, the new South Africa’s Consul-General in Lagos, Mr. Darkey Africa, has said.

    He spoke in in Lagos  at a ceremony to mark South Africa’s Freedom Day.

    Africa said Nigeria and South Africa were endowed to provide the fulcrum to move the continent to greater heights.

    He eulogised Nigeria for providing help to his country during its greatest hour of need, a reference to the huge financial backing Nigeria gave to South Africa during its bloody apartheid struggle.

    “We owe these 22 years of democracy to your unyielding support. We must continue to work together, despite the challenges we face in building a new and better Africa.

    “Our greatness and role to taking Africa forward must not be hindered or frozen by our perceived attitudes towards each other,’’ he said.

    The Consul-General said it was important for both countries to nurture a common goal reflected in how they treat each other.

    He argued that it was needless for businessmen in both countries to doubt their governments’ efforts in creating a conducive business environment.

    According to him, Nigeria and South Africa’s commercial diplomacy should be pursued in a congenial atmosphere.

    Africa urged the two countries to continue to imbibe the leadership roles played by Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo, Amadu Bello, Nelson Mandela and Tambo Mbeki.

    “Our people must renew their trust in each other and the collective future of Africa. Nigeria and South Africa are both pillars of the Africa we want and are therefore, central to the momentum of Agenda 2063,’’ he said.

  • Phase3 chief is Africa Telecom Entrepreneur

    Phase3 chief is Africa Telecom Entrepreneur

    The Chief Executive Officer, Phase 3 Telecoms, Mr Stanley Jegede has won this year’s edition of the “Africa Telecom Entrepreneur of the Year” award n Ghana.

    The award was organised by a group, the Africa Information Technology and Telecom Awards (AITTA) in Accra, Ghana.

    In a statement, the firm said the honour is coming in the heels of the firm’s emergence as Best Fibre Optic Company of the year at the Nigeria Communications Week Beacon of ICT Awards in Lagos.

    Represented on the occasion by the firm’s General Manager, Sales and Marketing, Akeem Adeshina, the CEO said the award is a testimony to the outstanding commitment of the team of its young women and men that work diligently daily to deliver the Phase3 mandate to consistently provide excellent services to connect people and businesses for the socio-economic development of Africa.

    In a telephone interview, Jegede, who is currently on tour of project sites across the country, said: “The continuous painstaking effort and hard work put into expanding West Africa’s largest and indigenous telecom infrastructure network to enhance the sub-region’s options for route diversity, local/international redundancy and to remove heavy reliance on traditional connectivity;  is made all the more worthwhile by the AITTA acknowledgement and recognition. It could not have come at any better time than now. It is the entire Phase3 family.”

    He said the focus of the firm has always been to proffer solutions on connectivity and access that open limitless opportunities for African businesses to thrive and compete on the global stage. He added that as the demand for connectivity and network services continues to rise, Phase3 will not relent on its commitment to maintaining a secure, reliable and scalable infrastructure.

  • WHO confirms Zika virus in Africa

    WHO confirms Zika virus in Africa

    The Zika virus blamed for neurological disorders and birth abnormalities in Brazil has been confirmed to be circulating in Africa for the first.

    The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Friday said this is confirmed after sequenced from a sample from Cape Verde.

    Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Africa Director, said the findings are of concern because it is further proof that the outbreak is spreading beyond South America and is on the doorstep of Africa.

    She said the information would help African countries to re-evaluate their level of risk and adapt and increase their levels of preparedness.

    Moeti said she would not recommend strict travel restrictions to try to stop the spread of the disease.

     

  • Dangote, others seek change in perception on doing business in Africa

    Dangote, others seek change in perception on doing business in Africa

     • ‘The continent has best RoI, long term growth potential’

    Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote and other seasoned industrialists have sought a change in perception about doing business on the continent.

    They took exception to the gloomy pictures painted about doing business in Africa.

    Dangote and members of a McKinsey Private Breakfast discussion Panel agreed that Africa’s long-term growth potential should be a subject of emphasis to gradually change the  perception.  They also agreed that since Africa offers the best returns on investment on any venture, it is indeed the best place to invest in the world.

    Other business leaders who joined Dangote to review the McKinsey report titled: “Lions on the Move 2.0: The Continuing Progress of Africa’s Economies”, include CEO, Global McKinsey, Dominic Barton; Executive Chairman of Mara Sokoni, Ashish Thakkar; Vice-President for Africa, the World Bank, Makhtar Diop; and General Executive-Secretary, Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Carlos Lopez.

    Dangote emphasized that there are positive events and stories on Africa but “we have to get rid of perception risk. The fragility of perception drives away investors. We need to change the mind set because good things are happening in Africa. Sometimes the old and existing investors paint a gloomy picture of doing business in Africa to avoid competition and scare away potential investors. You have to act big and bold.”

    He said, for instance, that the cement segment of his Group’s businesses has invested over $4 billion in the continent and that the returns are quite good. “We are bullish about investing in Nigeria, devaluation or no devaluation,” Dangote said.

    In response to how African entrepreneurs can have wider access to finance, Dangote advised that there should be a robust policy that encourages banks especially locally owned ones to finance local entrepreneurs.

    He pointed out that 90 per cent of Nigerian banks are owned locally and that perhaps correlates with why Nigeria has the highest number of entrepreneurs in Africa. He, however, said one of the biggest challenges to investing in Africa is lack of credible data to work with. While encouraging that Africans should stand up and tell their stories, he expressed optimism that his group, in the next five years, will be the first African company to feature on Fortune 500 list of companies.

    Barton spoke about the fact that Africa could boast of young population and good talent poll which would aid her industrial efforts. He called for collaboration between the private sector and government to enhance the capacity building of the young population and build efficient tax system.

    The CEO of Global McKinsey also posited that the democratic dividends occasioned by the stable governance should be harnessed to strengthen quality education for the young population.

    Also, Thakkar harped on the development of e-commerce as the emerging market and that young entrepreneurs should be inspired and mentored to keep on track.

    The McKinsey report expressed belief in Africa’s long-term growth prospects which it described as being very strong but powered by four factors. It gave the factors as the working age population, which will be world’s largest by 2034 at 1.1billon with stable jobs now growing faster than the labour force.

    The second factor, the report indicated, is that Africa has continued to urbanize rapidly: “Another 190 million moving to urban regions by 2025 and urban areas have 2.5x higher productivity than rural areas”

    The third propeller factor is the “technology creating opportunities to leapfrog in key sectors e.g. financial services, education and retail/wholesale”

    The last factor for long term growth in Africa is the level of infrastructure investment, which the report claimed had risen to 30 per cent over the last five years. The infrastructure investment stood at $80b in 2015, or 3.6 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), up from 3.2 per cent in 2010.

    The World Economic Forum on Africa in Rwanda focused on connecting Africa’s digital transformation. Convening under the theme, ”Connecting Africa’s Resources through Digital Transformation,” the discussion in Kigali came after the Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos-Klosters in January.

    The Forum is seeking to identify priorities and actions for Africa’s leaders as they look to build economies resilient to today’s challenges and able to flourish in the increasingly digital, convergent marketplaces of tomorrow.

    Participating in the discussions in Kigali are over 1,200 leaders from government, business, civil society, academia, media and the arts.

  • Pollution causes .6m deaths annually – UNEP

    Pollution causes .6m deaths annually – UNEP

    Indoor air pollution in Africa, is responsible for 600,000 premature deaths annually, a report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said on Thursday.

    The report said that the continent’s reliance on the use of biomass for cooking, lighting and heating means that 90 per cent of the region’s population was exposed to health threat.

    It noted that land degradation, air pollution, and the provision of sanitation and safe drinking water were among the main problems on the continent.

    The report said that many of the region’s fisheries, both inland and marine, face over-exploitation from illegal, under-reported and unregulated fishing.

    It, however, said that the continent had an opportunity to use its large young population to drive its growth.

    “Low-carbon, climate-resilient choices can develop the continent’s infrastructure, accelerate industrialization, increase energy and food production, and promote sustainable natural resource governance,’’ it said.

    On water and sanitation, the report said the proportion of the population served with “clean water is increasing and grew from 64 per cent in 2005 to 68 per cent in 2012.’’

    It, however, said that absolute numbers of people without safe drinking water remain high.

    “More than half of the population in sub-Saharan Africa still does not have any access to improved sanitation, compared to 90 per cent coverage in North Africa, with a vast difference between urban and rural areas,’’ the report said.

    It listed African megacities such as Cairo, Kinshasa and Lagos, and emerging mega cities such as Dar es Salaam, Johannesburg and Luanda, as facing challenges from poor management of sanitation services.

    The report said those challenges arose from inadequate and deteriorating infrastructure resulting from under-investment.

    According to it, land-based activities causing pollution of freshwater bodies ultimately impact coastal and marine resources.

    On land and forest, it noted that Africa had the second largest continent in the world, but most prized asset for food production, nutritional health and economic development.

    “Worryingly, about 500 000 square meters of land in Africa is being degraded due to soil erosion, pollution and deforestation.

    “This land degradation can damage agricultural productivity, nutrition and human health.

    “A growing population and a rise in the demand for firewood will mean that forest cover in Africa is likely to continue shrinking, declining to less than 600 million hectares by 2050.

    “Over cultivation, inefficient irrigation practices, overgrazing, the over-exploitation of resources, uncontrolled mining activities and climate change will further degrade land in Africa,’’ the report said.

    It explained that this would lead to reduced agricultural productivity, reduced food security, which could increase migration and spread disease, destroy infrastructure such as roads and bridges, and high rates of poverty.

  • Dstv observes Africa Month with local content

    Dstv observes Africa Month with local content

    Television content provider, DStv will be taking subscribers on a voyage to discover the finest materials from the continent in celebration of Africa Month. From Africa Magic channels straight to Maisha Magic Bongo, subscribers will be treated to exciting movies, series, reality shows and so much more all through the month of May, its management says.

    Nollywood screen diva, Omotola Jalade Ekeinde returns with the second season of her reality show, Omotola, The Real Me which airs every Sunday at 7:30pm on Africa Magic Showcase.

    Africa Magic Family follows the investigation surrounding the mysterious death of Alfred and how his death changes his daughter’s life forever on Emerald, Mondays to Fridays at 7pm. Also, The Johnsons shows just how they cope with what life has to offer them. It shows Mondays to Fridays at 8pm.

    On Africa Magic Epic and Africa Magic Urban, subscribers will be spoilt for choice with the list of movies featuring both established and upcoming Nollywood stars. The movie Mad Couple starring Mercy Johnson will air on Sunday, May 8 at 7pm on Africa Magic Epic. Screen beauties Tana Adelana and Annie Macaulay team up in the movie Eight which airs on Africa Magic Urban, Sunday, May 15.

    While on Maisha Magic Bongo (DStv channel 160), the marriage institution can be quite tricky with its ups and downs. The show, Sakata la Ndoa brings the full interpretation of marriage on Wednesdays to Fridays at 5:30pm while the exiting adventure of Malaika on High Heels airs every Sunday .

  • Africa gets development think-tank

    Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) and its development partners have launched  the Africa Project Developers Initiative (APDI), a think-tank and network, to promote development on the continent.

    APDI creates a platform that fosters continuous dialogue amongst members, standardises project development documentation, develops market benchmarks, enables knowledge transfer, leads and facilitates independent  research and serves as a policy advocacy forum for the industry.

    AFC in a statement by its President/Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr. Andrew Alli, said a significant bottleneck in unlocking Africa’s infrastructure is the development of viable projects that meet the viability and bankability tests of financiers.

    He noted that African project development itself is a proven asset class, with an increasing number of projects successfully reaching financial close.

    Alli said challenges experienced by developers require the establishment of an innovative and collective approach to addressing the issues. According to him, the average project development time span from concept to financial close is seven years.

    “If Africa is to make an impactful difference and meet its developmental aspirations, a think-tank such as the Africa Project Development Initiative, is an imperative for project developers,” he stressed.

    AFC Executive Director and Chief Investment Officer Mr. Oliver Andrews said: “There are huge opportunities for international investors in Africa if its much-needed large scale infrastructure projects are bankable.

  • ‘Africa’s business prospects positive’

    PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Africa Business Agenda for 2016 released on Tuesday in Kigali, Rwanda, showed that, in spite of Africa’s economic challenges, business prospects remained positive.

    This is contained in a statement issued by PwC. The statement said Africa’s Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) are leveraging on technology and innovations in order to stimulate growth in a challenging global business environment.

    It stated that: “the African Business Agenda compiles results from 260 CEOs and includes insights from business and public sector leaders from 18 African countries. “CEOs in Africa are scaling-up their efforts to innovate and find new ways to do business on the continent in a move to stimulate growth in a challenging and uncertain global business environment,” the statement said.

    The statement quoted PwC’s CEO Africa’s Hein Boegman as saying that “the global financial and economic crisis has revealed Africa’s vulnerability to a number of external economic shocks. Notwithstanding a multitude of challenges, many of which are cyclical, we remain confident that Africa’s prospects remain positive.”

    It said just over a quarter of CEOs in Africa believed that global growth would improve in the next 12 months.

    It said African CEOs were less optimistic about global prospects a year ago, with 66 per cent of CEOs (Global: 73 per cent) thinking the economy would not improve in the next 12 months, while 92 per cent (Global: 73 per cent) were extremely concerned about exchange rate volatility.

    “Africa is a complex and diverse continent requiring layers of insight. Growth in Africa is taking place in individual markets and geographic regions, within industry sectors and influenced by demographic changes.

    “Notwithstanding the difficulties and challenges that lie ahead, many organisations in Africa have learnt to adapt and be agile to respond and overcome many of these challenges in order to achieve their organisational goals,’’ the statement added.

  • Restoring Africa’s pride

    Restoring Africa’s pride

    Mass Communication students of the Kogi State University (KSU) in Anyigba have held a festival to celebrate African culture as part of the requirement to pass their course in African Communication System. MOHAMMED YABAGI (400-Level Mass Communication) reports.

    The Department of Mass Communication of the Kogi State University (KSU) in Anyigba is working to restore African culture.

    The department has dedicated the African Communication System course to cultural renaissance in order to inculcate morals and good values in students. Under the course, students are required to organise a yearly festival to increase their understanding of African culture.

    This year’s event was colourful. Lecturers and students were joined by the Head of the Department (HOD), Dr Chika Asogwa, to make the event memorable. The HOD, a Catholic nun, stood out in an elegant attire, instead of her usual cassock.

    At the event, which held at Prof Idachaba Lecture Theatre, the course lecturer, Mr Gabriel Ottah, said it  was to make young generation of Africans proud of their cultures and the communication systems bequeathed to them by their ancestors.

    He said: “I am overwhelmed by the turnout of the students at the event. Africans have unique patterns of interactions among ourselves. We conduct our businesses, using the system of communication, family, age groups, open markets, town criers, signals, demonstration, music, dances and so on. Our forebears lived happily among themselves under this system,” he said.

    Bemoaning the erosion of values, Ottah said today’s society had been tainted with youth cultism, kidnapping, terrorism, armed robbery and vices alien to Africa values.

    An African, he said, is known for hard work and diligence, adding that the youth must uphold these values to promote cultural rebirth.

    On her part, Dr Asogwa described African culture as beautiful, calling on students to promote their heritage openly. She said there was no civilisation that could relegate African culture to the background, noting that black people’s values remain so strong despite western civilisation.

    Asogwa said: “African Communication Day Celebration always reminds me of my school days in Europe. We used to have African Day, during which all students of African origin were expected to dress in their traditional attires and showcase their customs. This event has brought extra touch to the study of the course and the celebration of our culture.”

    She enjoined the students to instill the values being taught in the course, saying that the department would do all it could to assist to address immoral dressing among students.

    While calling on the government to support tertiary institutions, Dr Asogwa said higher institutions remained one of the best platforms to fight societal vices.

    Dean, Students’ Affairs, Dr Usman Ogbo, who joined in the celebration, said the cultural festival was a panacea to tackling negative effects of cultural imperialism. He said the western civilisation did not help Africans in anyway, noting that the culture of immorality and nudity eroded the good values Africa is known for.

    He said: “Students need to show best behaviour that Africans are known for. One of the negative roles the mass media play in today’s society is the dominance and propagation of violence, particularly on television and the home video. Foreign film contents on television are mostly showing scenes of violence. The actors, who engage in murder and other violent actors, are portrayed as heroes. Research has shown that children, who watch violence on the screen are prone to re-enact that violent behavior in real life.”

    Ann Ikechukwu, a Mass Communication student, said apart from losing traditional dress code to western imperialism, Africans also prefer western food to local delicacies. She said: “The food we eat and method of worshipping God have been altered. The Igbo are known to like akpu; the Yoruba are known for amala and pounded yam, the Igala are known for uka and the likes. We have our food, but we are no longer interested in eating them. We prefer the western food, which lacks nutritional values.”

  • Africa accounts for 1.4% of global insurance premium

    The President, African Insurance Organisation (AIO), Mrs. Lamia Ben Mahmoud has lamented that Africa’s share of global insurance premium remains low at 1.4 per cent.

    She added that penetration remained low with a premium/gross domestic product (GDP) ratio not exceeding one per cent in some countries. This is below the average rate of 2.7 per cent recorded in 2014 for the entire continent, she added.

    Delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the 43rd Conference and General Assembly holding in Marrakech, Morocco, yesterday, she said Africa’s share of the global insurance market is 1.1 per cent for Non-Life insurance business and 1.8 per cent for Life Business, adding that this is a demonstration of the enormous growth potential within the African insurance industry, an indicator that the  market is still largely untapped.

    In order to insure Africa’s future, she said insurers all over the continent must devise strategies aimed at facing the numerous challenges today.

    According to her, within the past decade, the continent has been hit by some major challenges which have to a large extent hampered economic growth and affected the insurance sector tremendously.

    She said: “I am referring to the recent drop in fuel prices, in fact, the price per barrel in January 2016 stood at approximately a quarter of its market value two years ago, and at the lowest point since 2003.” On the list of challenges, she identified cyber criminality, political instability, and insecurity with new waves of terrorist attacks, climate change and food security challenges.

    “We still suffer from a shortage of skilled and experienced insurance professionals. As a result, large and complex risks are not retained within Africa but are ceded to foreign insurance markets because specialist risk management capabilities and high quality security are not sufficiently available. This leads to premium flight which threatens the viability of the domestic insurance industry.  Moreover, there is still wide spread ignorance on the benefits of insurance. Added to this list is an acute insufficiency of product differentiation.

    “We emphasise in this area on the need to strengthen the diversification of training in scientific and technical issues by leveraging new tools and instruments imposed by the development of technology to ensure greater communication of their knowledge and know-how.

    “The challenges are many and daunting; especially in a context where the one size solution is outdated as customers now expect personalised insurance solutions.”

    She said it is true that some of the solutions to these problems require a multidimensional approach with the input of other key actors required, adding that extending insurance cover to the unserved segment of the population will increase penetration in Africa.