The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Africa

  • ‘CU graduates’ll solve Africa’s problems’

    ‘CU graduates’ll solve Africa’s problems’

    The Covenant University (CU), Ota, Ogun State has restated its commitment to training solution providers to Africa’s various challenges.

    Chancellor of the university, Dr David Oyedepo, said through qualitative education, CU graduands would restore human dignity and Africa’s lost glory.

    Dr Oyedepo, who was represented by a member of Covenant Board of Regents, Bishop Thomas Aremu, said this at the university’s 13th matriculation.

    Over 2,000 new students comprising, 1,996 undergraduates and 155 postgraduates, swore the matriculation oath.

    Oyedepo said CU is on a rescue mission to transform values by allowing students to maximise their individual dreams.

    “Inculcating sense of responsible in students to achieve quality leadership is a veritable tool to attain desirable result to numerous challenges like insecurity and corruption in the country,” he said.

    The CU Vice-Chancellor, Prof Charles Ayo, said the nation was in need of quality leaders that would deliver good dividends of quality training such as being impacted by the institution.

    Also, the Registrar, Dr Olumuyiwa Oludayo, said CU would solve the country’s leadership problems.

    “There is hope for the country and people should not give up despite the numerous challenges because the institution was working through toward providing lasting solution to nagging problems of quality leadership,’’ Oludayo said.

     

  • ‘Accenture ‘ll keep enhancing Africa’s digital transformation’

    Accenture, a global management consultancy firm and Oracle’s first diamond partner, has promised to continue to enhance digital transformation and business efficiency through the application of relevant solutions in Nigeria and Africa.

    Oracle Alliance Lead, Accenture, Olatunde Olajide who spoke in Lagos said the firm has been at the forefront of the digital disruption process with innovative solutions that has helped telecom companies and other organisations to transform their businesses through effective customer interaction and also to make profits.

    Olajide said the Accenture works with all the major companies in the world as its clients offering solutions that help these organisations to improve on customers’ relationship, know their profile, their data plan, how much usage has been made, and then be able to discern a product that meets their needs based on data that has been harnessed as well as the interactions made.

    He spoke at this year’s Oracle Day with Digital Disruption as it’s theme. He said Accenture is a co-innovator with Oracle which it has partnered with for about 30 years and that the company is very close to its clients globally, understands what they want and together with Oracle addresses needs of these customers. While making a presentation on digital transformation, he stated that in any given technology revolution, changes enabled by technology propagate too many aspects of economic, political, business and personal life.

    On how technology would enhance economic activities, he said the firm has made labour less important as production capital, led to collaborative consumption, and a rise in the role of internet protocol and a shift from venture capital to equity and public funding with examples in the area of fiber optic deployment and smart cities.

    Olajide said emphasis is now on data, new sources of value: attention, identity, reputation, social graph, machine intelligence, robots, genetic modeling, new buyer values, change in control points and a winner takes all phenomena. And on institutional changes, he said digital disruption has led to new types of competition among countries, changes in concepts of employment, approaches to work, privacy and identity concerns as well as educational learning pattern with the help of the Internet.

    He said digital technologies are already beginning to affect many aspects of social life through social media interaction, and online shopping and buying processes.

    According to him, platforms such as Twitter, Google, Facebook, and others constitute a  paradigm shift ading that what gives them power is their ability to grow, specifically, in speed to scale.

    He said even politics is also increasingly being transformed by digital capabilities adding  that the banking sector is not left out in the digital disruption process as GTBank, through the social media introduced has its ‘social banking’ service on Facebook.

  • The Twenty Seventh October of Blaise Compaore

    The Twenty Seventh October of Blaise Compaore

    There is a cruel and neat symmetry to events unfolding Burkina Faso. It speaks to the paradoxes of people’s uprising in Africa and elsewhere else, and the virtual impossibility of having a popular revolution in the very society that appears to need it most. In all probability, the more harshly authoritarian a society is the less likely it is to have a revolution leading to immediate and automatic democratic emancipation of the people.

    In Burkina Faso, it all began in October and has ended in late October. If one were to put a sheen of revolutionary optimism on this, one can as well say that it all cruelly terminated in October 27 years ago but has resumed in another October 27 years after.

    It was on October 15, 27 years ago that Blaise Compaore cruelly terminated the quaint revolutionary experimentation of his bosom friend, Thomas Sankara, in a broad daylight putsch the like of which had never been seen in Africa. At the end of it all, the Ouagadougou Presidential Palace was a site of Homeric bloodletting. Several officers and many socialist cadres lay dead. Sankara himself, sensing the end, had brushed aside all efforts to shield him and the proud descendant of Mossi warriors had gone out to meet his assailants with service pistol blazing.

    It is the heroic people of Burkina Faso themselves who have found a name for their revolutionary uprising against a consummate tyrant. They have named their own version of the Arab Spring after a local bird. The Lwili  is the common name for bird in the Moore language that is most widely spoken in Burkina Faso. But in the past fortnight, the bird has been invested with the mythical aura of a voice that cannot be caged by a monstrous despot. Maya Angelou would be smiling. Twenty seven years after, the Burkinabes have found their voice again. It is the return of the repressed.

    But we must caution incurable revolutionary romantics against false hopes and futile optimism. The original Sankara revolution was not the product of a popular uprising. Sankara himself was hardly a natural democrat.  Belonging to the most elite and elitist of military formations, he merely enlisted the people in his revolutionary project. It was a drama of military giants; a bye product of an intense power struggle among the old Upper Volta military aristocracy. Once in power, Sankara knew where he wanted to take his people and nation, no matter the objective material and historical circumstances.

    It would seem in retrospect that Sankara deliberately courted revolutionary martyrdom. There was something about him which hinted at the holy martyr. For him, the life of the individual leader does not really matter as long as he could cultivate the cult of heroic example. His was a fundamental intellectual assault on the bastion of military reaction and authoritarian privileges; and on the cherished ideals of African post-colonial armies originating from colonial rapine and predation.

    They all noted.  Calm, cool, intensely cerebral and immensely self-possessed, Sankara was a master of the soaring revolutionary rhetoric which did not take hostages whether old imperialist or new internal colonialist. In a moment of exasperation and frustration, Francois Mitterand, the late French president, wryly described him as a cutting edge that cuts too sharply.

    Thomas Sankara was arguably the greatest son of Burkina Faso and one of the greatest sons of Africa ever. He gave his people a new name, a new identity and helped them to find their voice. It was too good to be true. The Burkinabe leader became a revolutionary poster boy for good governance and accountability all over the continent. Sharp, witty, quick on his feet and eternally swapped in paratroopers’ combat fatigues, Sankara was a walking reproach to the corrupt and dissolute post-colonial military oligarchy that held post-colonial Africa by the jugular.

    The good people of Africa noted. There was something mesmerising and electrifying about this new type of military rule. On a typical weekend, the Burkinabe leader could be seen in shirt and shorts personally coating the walls of the presidential villa. He had openly boasted that all his worldly possessions, including an old fridge, could be packed into the boot of his old Renault jalopy.

    Panache and self-assurance, intellectual rigour and revolutionary asceticism is not the kind of combination expected of an African leader, particularly in the nascent epoch of global capitalism. The noose began to tighten round Sankara internationally, continentally and nationally.  From Equatorial Guinea to Zaire, military despots dominant on the continent saw him as a dangerous advertisement for a more humane mode of governance and a source of inspiration to revolutionary wannabes in the post-colonial military.

    It is instructive to note that after Sankara was murdered by his friend, Nigeria openly threw protocol to the dustbin by immediately welcoming Compaore’s envoys, Captain Henri Zongo and Major Boukary Lingani. This was at the same time when the veteran African nationalist, Kenneth Kaunda, was firmly shutting the door of the Zambian nation against the miserable pair. Two years later in a classic instance of poetic justice, Compaore rounded up the two officers and had them summarily executed for plotting against him.

    With such friends and “revolutionary comrades” as the military bastion of the “revolution”, Sankara needed no enemy outside the national borders. Yet he had plenty of them. It is noteworthy that shortly after the ouster of his friend, “Beautiful Blaise” announced a sweeping programme of “rectification” which was nothing but a sly shorthand for rolling back the populist contents of the Sankara revolution. Yet for about a week after the “rectification” began, Compaore could not face the people he had “rectified” even on television, citing a historic bout of malaria. Some malaria indeed!

    For Sankara, the last straw was probably the seminal rift with Moamar Ghaddafi, the deposed Libyan despot. Despite his radical posturing, Ghaddafi was a pan-Arabic racist and equal opportunity anarchist who took a petulant childlike delight in destabilising Black African regimes irrespective of ideological colouration. Sankara stoutly refused to allow Charles Taylor, Ghadaffi’s protégé, an access through Burkina Faso to launch his war against his country. Two years after the overthrow of Sankara, Compaore granted Taylor free access through Burkina Faso. The rest is history.

    But the old native bird of Burkina Faso is not through with us yet. Twenty seven years after Sankara’s assassination and as Compaore fled the capital, the ghost of Sankara returned to the Burkina Faso capital for unfinished business. It was a much storied ghost. Irate protesters against Compaore were seen carrying huge banners bearing the portrait of the noble and iconic paratrooper. It was a historic trope for a return match. Nothing could have been more deeply symbolic of what is known as the cunning of history.

    It was also a defining moment in Burkina Faso history.  Twenty seven years ago and the very day after the murder of Thomas Sankara, Ouagadougou residents began arriving at the hurried makeshift grave that was fingered as Thomas Sankara’s last resting place, laying wreathes and tearing at their own body in a gesture of profound grief. It soon became a holy site. Soldiers forcibly dispersed them and then hurriedly uprooted Sankara’s remains for forcible relocation to an unknown and unmarked grave.

    Last week and twenty seven years after, the army in Burkina Faso was still struggling with the ghost of Sankara as they fired shots to prevent the people who have succeeded in banishing a murderous tyrant from entering the premises of the television station. With such a deeply entrenched counter-revolutionary army, a democratic revolution may well be impossible.

    Who needs a revolution, anyway? Given the recent experience of the so called Arab Spring where a popular revolt has led to the paradoxical consolidation of a counter-revolutionary military oligarchy and Libya’s precipitate lurch into radical anarchy, the civil leaders of Burkina Faso may have to lower their sight and cure themselves of romantic revolutionary delusions.

    The Burkinabe army is too deeply complicit in the Compaore era to play the role of a change-driven nationalist institution. It is its instincts as a veritable spoiler that will more likely gain ascendancy in the coming weeks and months. It is instructive that the first pretender to the throne that Compaore hurriedly vacated was his former ADC who had risen to become a general. The second was the second in command of his Praetorian guard.

    But even a badly wounded and badly compromised army knows when it is in need of a signal retreat. What the people of Burkina Faso have gained from their heroic struggle is the right to freely choose their own leaders. Not even the army can stop that. Many of the young people who rose in furious protest had not known any other leader apart from Blaise Compaore. But they know their history, and they know that there was another man called Thomas Sankara.

    Even more in death, Sankara has turned out to be the greatest nemesis of corrupt oligarchies. As the great man himself would say, not even the mightiest of armies can stop an idea whose time has come. It is that dictum that has just played out in the land of upright people. Thus as Shakespeare would say, the whirligig of time has brought its sweet revenge. On the twenty seventh October of Blaise Compaore, Thomas Sankara can  rest in peace. Burkina Faso must now move on.

  • Mall for Africa: Bridging merchant-buyer gaps

    Nigerians willing to purchase items from European and North American markets will now have the opportunity of doing so from the comfort of their homes, courtesy of a new online mall called ‘Mall For Africa’ (MFA).

    The mall, which recognises that local purchase of goods from foreign markets is not entirely a new concept, has come to bridge the numerous merchant-buyer gaps noticeable in many of the existing platforms.

    It is said to be the world’s first virtual mall and promises to act as a channel between the online shopper and the merchant, spanning more than 80 shops in the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK). In all, a prospective buyers can select from more than 8.5 million items, which will be delivered between 10 and 15 working days.

    The Mall’s chief executive officer, Tope Folayan, said: “We have built what I believe is the world’s first virtual mall where the merchant rejects payment options (debit/credit cards and so on). MFA will accept these options and complete the transactions. Where the merchant blocks out Nigerian transactions, we accept them. Foreign companies usually don’t accept individual transactions via local credit cards, but because of MFA, they now do and the entire process of shopping via Mall for Africa is very easy,” he said

    Noting some of the challenges in the industry as willing buyers against merchants unwilling to sell to Nigerians, blacklisting of Nigeria by merchants and rejection of Nigerian payment system– credit/debit cards by merchants, Folayan said: “The consequence is that online retail alternatives are limited to shopping at the local open market or mall or from a few select online stores, where they run the risk of settling for overpriced purchases, fake/inferior purchases or just managing what is on offer.

    Another option, he said, is to keep a list of items and wait to get a visa, and then travel abroad to purchase items and bring them back. Or to look for a willing friend or family member living abroad, who will purchase the items and find another friend or family member to bring them back on their trip back home.

    ‘Mall For Africa’ is saying this excess-luggage nightmare can be avoided.

     

  • As Africa’s middle classes grow, shopping centres boom

    A surge in disposable income and growth in Africa’s middle classes has led to an upswing in the number of shopping centres across the continent, a report by google has said.

    With shoppers searching for new ways to spend their money, and investors keen to help them to do it, some 14 new shopping centres opened their doors between 2012 and 2013, according to research by Sagaci, a market intelligence organisation.

    Excluding South Africa, there were 242 shopping centres in the continent last year, the report said.

    “The middle class is developing. And the people in it want to spend their money,” Julien Garcier, a partner at Sagaci, told AFP.

    More than 180 other retail developments are in the pipeline, according to the researchers, funded “largely by local investors”.

    Just one shopping centre closed last year, the Westgate mall in Nairobi, Kenya, which was shut after an attack by the Somali Islamist group Shebab in which at least 67 people were killed.

    According to the International Monetary Fund, about 150 million people can be considered firmly in the continent’s middle class, with the same number again part of the more vulnerable “floating” middle class.

    Sub-Saharan African economies are currently some of the fastest growing in the world, and expected to expand by more than five percent this year.

    While much of the continent’s growth has come from oil, gas and other natural resources, the emergence of a middle class has also boosted consumer growth.

    According to a study by the African Development Bank published in 2011, nearly 34 per cent of Africa’s population are middle class, with the group almost tripling in size from 1980.

    In May, the accountancy firm Ernst & Young published a report that said that many investors are now moving into “consumer-related sectors as Africa’s middle class expands”.

    Garcier says his research suggests that some 30 per cent of households living in the biggest African cities earn more than $500 (370 euros) a month.

    “In all the countries of sub-Saharan Africa, the size (of the middle class) is underestimated,” he said.

  • Ridding Africa of diseases

    Ridding Africa of diseases

    At the annual conference of Parasitology and Public Health Society of Nigeria (PPSN) at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), parasitologists resolved to rid the country of preventable diseases by promoting hygiene. OLADELE OGE (Mass Communication) reports.

    How can Nigerians collaborate with health workers to rid the country of deadly diseases? They can do so by complementing parasitologists’ efforts in promoting hygiene in all communities.

    This was the conclusion at the 37th/38th Annual Conference of the Parasitology and Public Health Society of Nigeria (PPSN) last week at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN).

    During the three-day conference with the theme: National Transformation Agenda: Role of parasitology and public health in disease control, the health workers outlined ways of engaging the citizens to tackle health challenges in their environment. By enlightening people in rural communities on the sanitary and hygienic ways they can cook and bath, diseases can be isolated, it was said.

    The Local Organising Committee (LOC) chairman, Prof Fabian Okafor, explained the reason for combining last year’s conference and this year’s. He noted that the 10-month strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) forced the society to postpone the 37th conference.

    He said the event was an opportunity to evaluate the contributions of public health workers and parasitologists to the success of the Transformation Agenda of the Federal Government and also to help the nation to prioritise methods of mitigating health problems in communities.

    He urged the participants to deliberate in line with the objectives of the conference, saying the Society would achieve its aim by teamwork, innovation, outreach and networking. Okafor also called for interdisciplinary co-operation within the health sector to achieve effective results.

    Declaring the conference open, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof B.C. Ozumba, represented his deputy on Administration, Prof M.I. Igbokwe, charged the participants to design new  way in combating diseases in Africa. He said there could only be prosperity in an environment free of life-threatening diseases that could prevent people from carrying out commercial activities.

    Prof Ozumba enjoined them not allow the recommendations remain a pipe dream, charging them to work with the government and communities in implementing their views.

    In his paper titled: “The global interest in the elimination of neglected tropical disease: The role of African Universities, Prof Dan Ajei Boakye said diseases posed greatest threat to humanity, nothing that there was no country immune to outbreak of life-threading disease.

    To win the war against disease, Prof Adjei said Africa needed well-trained doctors, pharmacists and nurses, who could deploy their expertise to combat any disease. “Trained health workers know how best to educate the people in preventing disease in human communities,” he said.

    While noting that western scholars had contributed immensely in controlling diseases, the don charged participants to contribute to the research geared towards making the African continent free of preventable ailments. He urged government and non-governmental organisations to collaborate with health workers in achieving the aim.

    The president of the Society, Prof Martins Aisien, said that the conference was organised as a wake-up call to African medical scientists to provide solution to the health challenges facing the continent.

  • Posers for Fed Govt over $5.7m seized by South Africa

    Posers for Fed Govt over $5.7m seized by South Africa

    For partaking in suspicious foreign exchange transactions, Nigeria has in the last few weeks incurred the wrath of South Africa. The latest is about a $5.7 million arms deal, which the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) insists is a legal transaction.  The reaction of the NSA throws up issues that remind many of the sweet-sour relationship between the two nations, writes OLUKOREDE YISHAU

    Walk the streets of Lagos, Abuja and other big cities and towns in Nigeria and chances are that on two of ten houses will hang a satellite dish with the inscription ‘DSTV’. Ask two in 10 Nigerians what GSM service provider they are hooked on to; the probability is that they will say MTN.  These two companies are of South African origin. It is believed they make more money in Nigeria than anywhere else in the world. National Security Adviser (NSA) Col. Sambo Dasuki made reference to what these two companies and, by extension, South Africa, have gained from Nigeria in his reaction to the country’s seizure of  $5.7million arms’ cash deposited in a bank.

    The South African authorities seized the money on the basis that the transaction was illegal. This was the second in less than one month. The first was $9.3 million – stashed in several suitcases  and airlifted through the Lanseria Airport, north of Johannesburg, in September.

    The latest seizure made public on Monday was done by the country’s Asset Forfeiture Unit of the National Prosecuting Authority. The money was frozen for allegedly being the proceeds of illegal transactions.

    A South African newspaper Rapport reported that it gathered that the deal was approved by the Federal Government. The NSA issued the end-user certificate for the transaction. It was meant for the supply of helicopters, unmanned aircraft, rockets and ammunition.

    The transaction was between Cerberus Risk Solutions, an arms broker in Cape Town, and Societe D’Equipments Internationaux, a Nigerian company based in Abuja.  Societe paid R60m into Cerberus’ account at Standard Bank.

    “Cerberus was previously registered as a broker with the National Conventional Arms Control Committee, but the registration expired in May this year. The marketing and contracting permits also expired at the same time,” reports City Press.

    Col. Dasuki’s reaction to the latest seizure depicted some anger. First, he said there was nothing illegal about the deal and wondered why the money should be seized. He reminded South Africa of how Nigeria has provided a beneficial environment for MTN, DSTV and a host of other South African businesses to thrive unhindered.

    His words: “It is our hope that South Africa would reciprocate this noble gesture. We want to state clearly that a business transaction actually took place between a legitimate company in Nigeria and another legitimate one in South Africa through the bank.

    “In the course of events, the South African company could not perform and decided to refund the money. What is illegitimate in this transaction done through the bank?”

    The NSA obviously had his eyes on MTN’s profits when he made the veiled threat. MTN Nigeria reported revenues of N793.614 billion in the 2013 business year. The amount was a 5.31 per cent rise from the N753.578 billion recorded in 2012 and 4.70 per cent above revenues posted in 2011.

    Since inception in 2001, MTN has paid N1.23 trillion or $7.07 billion to governments in taxes and other levies.

    A breakdown of some of the payments shows that in the 12 years to December 2013, MTN paid company income tax of N330.235 billion to the Federal Inland Revenue Service; N224.439 billion in Value Added Tax (VAT); N191.087 billion as withholding tax, and N44.845 billion as education tax.

    In a statement earlier in the year, MTN Group, which operates in 22 countries, said revenues in Nigeria rose 24.5 per cent. It added that South Africa and Nigeria are the largest contributors to its income. The two countries accounted for 77.9 percent of data revenue growth.

    DSTV, which enjoys a near monopoly in the pay-Tv sector, also enjoys huge patronage in Nigeria. Save competition from StarTimes and CONSAT, which is relatively new, DSTV has a cashcow in Nigeria.

    Col. Dasuki’s call on South Africa, coming on the heel of the first seizure, will only appeal to a few. Not many Nigerians will be willing to take sides with the Federal Government, given the fact that no satisfactory answer has been given for the cash earlier seized. Unlike now when the NSA issued a statement, it was only through the grapevine that Nigerians got to know that the cash belonged to the Federal Government.

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) said it was embrassing the $5.5m seizure came at a time the circumstances surrounding the seizure of $9.3 million were still hazy. The party slammed the Federal Government for issuing “childish and immature threats against South Africa threatening its investments in the country, instead of addressing the pertinent questions surrounding the illegal arms procurement deals”.

    It said: “Mr. President, you cannot threaten another country when your administration is willfully breaking the laws of that country. In this case, your administration stands on a weak moral ground, as its hands have been caught in the cookie jar. Therefore, issuing infantile threats is laughable, unacceptable and wrong.

    “Mr. President, if the funds involved in the latest seizure were sent through bank transfer, can the government explain why Oritsejafor’s plane was stuffed with cash and transported to South Africa? Can your administration’s embarrassing explanation that it is customary for other country’s security agencies, including with MOSSAD, KGB and CIA, to cart plane loads of cash across the world to purchase black market weapons hold any more water now? These are some of the questions Nigerians are asking, not an untenable spin by untruthful government officials,” the party said.

    Senior lawyers, who spoke with The Nation yesterday, described the latest seizure as shameful.

    Former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) President Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN), activist-lawyer Festus Keyamo, former NBA Ikeja Branch chairman Monday Ubani, Constitutional lawyer Ike Ofuokwu, and Lagos lawyer Ike Ibe called for the prosecution of all those involved in the shady deals.

    Akeredolu said the government’s admission of being involved in what he called cross border crime is an indictment of the current leadership.

    Keyamo said the cash seizures are not only embarrassing, but are a disgrace to the country.

    “These transactions are highly suspicious; they smack of illegality, and it is embarrassing and very shameful that the Federal Government can be linked one way or the other to these shady deals.”

    Ubani urged Nigeria to unite and ensure the matter is not swept under the carpet.

    This is not the first time the country and South Africa are having a spat, but unlike in the past when many Nigerians took sides with the government, the government may have to do this battle alone.

    Many Nigerians will easily recollect the 2012 spat over the deportation of 125 Nigerians from Johannesburg over vaccination.  The then Foreign Minister Olugbenga Ashiru said the deportations represented something more than a vaccination concern. Ashiru said it represented the ongoing “xenophobia” faced by Nigerian immigrants living in South Africa who face rampaging police who arrest them without cause.

    The country followed up by reciprocating the gesture with the deportation of South Africans. It only ended when South Africa apologised to Nigeria. The current situation, however, is a different one, meaning South Africa may not apologise and with Nigerians not with their government on this case, it is to your tent o’Israel for the Federal Government.

     

     

     

  • Plant breeders to boost Africa’s indigenous crops

    Two hundred and fifty plant breeders from different African countries are currently at the newly opened African Plant Breeding Academy in Nairobi, Kenya, to examine the nutritional and productivity levels of about a hundred African crops. Upon completion of the project, which is set to last five years, these breeders will be able to advise smallholder farmers in their respective countries on the crops with high yields and nutrition.

    Crop yields and nutrition are boosted when farmers cultivate the right crops, says Howard-Yana Shapiro, an assistant professor at the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences at the University of California–Davis, US, which is involved in this project. “What we are trying to do is help correct the lack of nutritional content in many indigenous African food crops.”

    Under the umbrella of the African Orphan Crops Consortium (AOCC), the University of California is collaborating with the African Union through the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), the International Livestock Research Institute, the World Agroforestry Center and others to implement this high-tech initiative.

    The consortium launched the plant-breeding academy, the first of its kind in Africa, last December. Ngozi Abu, one of the trainees and also a senior lecturer in the Department of Plant Science and Biotechnology at the University of Nigeria, emphasises that African researchers should take the lead in research on African crops. Only African scientists or those working in Africa know the desires of African farmers and consumers, she said. Ms. Abu believes thatAfrican crops such as “cocoyam and plantains could become the nutritious crops of the world tomorrow.”

    The 250 plant breeders will use new equipment and techniques to “genetically sequence, assemble and annotate the genomes” of the hundred African crops, explains Margaret Kroma, an assistant director general at the World Agroforestry Centre. It’s about getting the DNA of crops, Allen Van Deynze of the University of California Seed Biotechnology Center told Africa Renewal in an interview. He maintains that if breeders understand the DNA of crops, farmers could even get information on crops with strong resistance to climate change, in addition to being able to select those with higher nutritional content and yields.

    Throwing his weight behind the academy, Ibrahim Mayaki, the head of the NEPAD, says, “Malnutrition is a direct product of food insecurity. A large number of Africans suffer deficiencies of micronutrients such as minerals, iron and vitamin A, with devastating effect on the population.” According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), malnutrition is responsible for more than half of child deaths in developing countries.

    Deynze likened this initiative to using a smart cell phone instead of an analogue landline phone.  African breeders will “take advantage of the latest technologies to rapidly advance development of crops that are important to African diets and health,” he says, adding that farmers easily double their yields when they plant the right seeds.

    One of the first crops to be examined is the baobab. The fruit can be made into a powder for consumer products. Agricultural scientists refer to the baobab as a “wonder tree” because it has 10 times the antioxidants of oranges, twice the calcium of spinach, three times the vitamin C of oranges and four times the potassium of bananas.

  • Etihad increases services in Africa

    Etihad Airways will expand its African route network with the launch of a daily service to Dar es Salaam, the largest city in Tanzania.

    Flights between Abu Dhabi and Dar es Salaam, which commence on 1 December 2015, will be operated using Airbus A320 aircraft with 16 Business Class and 120 Economy Class seats.

    Dar es Salaam will be Etihad Airways’ 110th destination globally, and its 11th destination in Africa and the Indian Ocean. The daily schedule will offer two-way connectivity over Etihad Airways’ hub in Abu Dhabi, with convenient onward connections to 45 popular destinations across the Middle East, Europe, the Indian Subcontinent, North and Southeast Asia, and Australasia.

    In particular, it is anticipated that the demand for the new route will be boosted by strong flows of business and leisure travellers, as well as cargo volumes, between the East Africa region and the Indian Subcontinent and China.

    James Hogan, President and Chief Executive Officer of Etihad Airways, said: “Dar es Salaam is an important new route on Etihad Airways’ global network. It builds upon our existing presence in Africa, and supports the close trading relationship between the United Arab Emirates and Tanzania.”

    The UAE is the primary trade partner of Tanzania in the GCC region. Between 2007 and 2012, trade between UAE and Tanzania increased by more than 350 per cent to US$761 million.

    “Africa has one of the world’s fastest growing regional economies, and the launch of this new route also enhances access and the two-way flow of trade and tourism between the continent and key destinations across our global network, supports inbound tourism, encourages investment, and provides much needed local employment,” he added.

    Tanzania has the sixth largest population in Africa (51 million), with over four million people living in the largest city, Dar es Salaam. The large proportion of the community consist of market traders and proprietors of small businesses whose families originated from the Middle East and Indian Subcontinent—areas of the world with which the settlements of the Tanzanian coast have had long-standing trading relations.

    The country is also developing quickly, and currently has around US$19 billion in transport and utilities infrastructure projects being planned. China is playing a key role in financing these major projects, and is fast becoming the East African country’s leading trade partner, with trade between the two countries growing to $3.7 billion in 2013.

    In 2013, Tanzania was also named one of the world’s most sought after destinations for leisure travellers, and is blessed with numerous national and international tourist attractions including Mt. Kilimanjaro, the wildlife-rich national parks of the Serengeti, and the spice island of Zanzibar.

    Tanzania has the second largest economy in East Africa, and Dar es Salaam provides a strategic gateway for the transportation of goods and commerce to the surrounding six land-locked countries of Zambia, Malawi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi.

     

  • Nigeria to lift trade frontier in U.S.-Africa relations

    Nigeria to lift trade frontier in U.S.-Africa relations

    President Barack Obama deserves commendation for instituting a new engagement with Africa. Bringing trade relations to the fore, even if the traditional concerns for security and good governance remain on his agenda, is especially laudable.

    For some, the recently concluded U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, represents a fitting recovery from what had appeared as general apathy towards Africa. When finally he decided to broadly engage with African leaders, President Obama looked beyond the traditional model that has been criticised as paternalistic.

    In the past, the focus was on dolling out U.S. aid to Africa, in a relationship in which the hand of the giver was always on top. Even more commendable is that, as the U.S. contemplates deepening commercial relationship with Africa, it looked beyond the traditional sector of trading oil and few other extractive commodities.

    Nevertheless, Africa commands this new attention. In the last ten years, Africa has significantly shed the image of war and deprivation. Economic growth has been steady, averaging estimated five per cent yearly, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. Constitutional democracy has taken root in most African countries. Evidence of improved governance is seen across Africa, and economic reform initiatives — like the ones enunciated in the Transformation Agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria — have improved market performance, unlocked private sector resources and, consequently, helped to expand the middle class.

    Africa remains resource-rich. But the new attraction for the continent, especially from China, recognises so much that Africa has to offer and what it needs for further progress. Africa has become more aspirational than it had ever been or even taken to be, aware it has the capacity to give even as it takes from development partners. As a result, a win-win approach is being realised in engaging the African continent.

    China has gained the head start advantage over the United States and Europe in commercial relations with Africa this new term. Indeed, as the West loses the momentum for trade with Africa, even so has China pushed its appetite for African economic engagement.  It is an open secret; China’s trade with Africa has been on the increase. It rose from $166 billion in 2011 to $210 billion in 2013. In the same period, U.S. trade with Africa dwindled from $125 billion to $85 billion. Africa has opened the door to China’s knock on the door of African opportunities. While this is happening, for debatable reasons, the U.S. beats a retreat. The policy justification for U.S. exit cannot be because of the traditional concerns of insecurity and bad governance. These issues have improved significantly over the past decade. Perhaps, the changing structure of U.S. trade interest, because of increased energy security at home, provides an explanation. Nevertheless, the $33 billion investment commitment by the Obama administration and U.S. investors in power and other industries during the recent meetings in Washington DC is a commendable reawakening.

    There is no doubt that Africa’s trade with the West, particularly the United States, has important and unique values. Well-recognised is sharing of best practices. Even if African leaders had been reticent towards policy prescriptions, the evidence now is that the continent shares the values of representative government, open and transparent policy and economic freedom for the private sector to drive growth and prosperity. Moreover, the riches of Africa’s diversity accommodate multiple, external players, on the basis that Africans themselves are also investing in the continent and are establishing functional commercial partnerships. Yes, we have abundant natural resources. But even more importantly, we have the population to support production of consumer products. Africa’s demography — about one billion people which comprises a higher youth population — tells that long-term viability of investments cannot be in doubt. In Nigeria, the services sector is now the biggest contributor to our Gross Domestic Product. The opportunities seem boundless.

    Because U.S. businesses have largely overlooked African opportunities, and the U.S. press have yet to shed the old stereotypes in reporting the continent (although the European press have made better progress with objective and balanced reporting of Africa), it will be useful to highlight some of the attributes of the African growth story and the investment opportunities. Nigeria is a fitting example, because of scale, homogeneity of policy around private sector development and commonality of Africa’s aspirations. The Federal Government protects private investment. One of the ways this is affirmable is respect for contract. Competitive bidding has been the hallmark of licensing and sales of public assets in the country after the last of the military interregna 15 years ago. This ensures deals are transparent and valid. The reform of the legal and regulatory frameworks has been pursued with vigour since 1999, helping to define engagement, making contracts binding and making rules clearer and less whimsical.

    As we affirm at the Nigerian Export-Import Bank, the Nigerian opportunities are not concentrated in oil and gas. At NEXIM Bank, we have identified manufacturing, agro-processing, solid minerals and services as areas of big opportunities; not just for commercial profit, but also for socially impactful businesses through local employment and empowerment. In these sectors, Nigeria seeks to create opportunities for a vibrant youth population with realistic wage structures. Broader investment in these high growth and job-rich sectors will enhance wealth creation, broader base prosperity and increase demands, in a virtuous cycle.

    General Electric is one of the U.S. major businesses that have recognised the business potentials in the infrastructure gap in Nigeria and the bright policies of the Jonathan Administration to harness the potentials. GE is investing in the Nigerian power sector where we intend to increase output five folds over the next decade. The ripples of substantial progress in meeting Nigerian power sector demands will prove that the country is very well able to grow in double digits for a long time, given current seven per cent GDP growth at a time industrial activities and enterprises are stifled by power shortage from the national grid. But in pursuing progress, public investments in infrastructure have been substantial even as private sector investment in power generation and distribution has towered, in contradistinction to when it was zero up till a few years ago. However, more private sector investment is necessary in infrastructure and power to accelerate progress.

    Partnerships are working in Nigeria. Public-private partnerships have delivered projects and unlocked potentials. Similarly, private sector partnerships are thriving. GE has been operating in Nigeria through business partnerships with local investors, who themselves are successful, savvy and understand the local environment. In Washington DC last month, GE and Heirs Holding led by Nigerian Mr. Tony Elumelu, further demonstrated the working of private sector partnerships by deepening relationship with the new deals they announced.

    Similarly, Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote entered project partnership with Blackstone-backed Black Rhino, in a $5 billion investment in infrastructure development. With policy support from the administration of President Jonathan, Nigerian small and medium scale businesses are growing. They are viable prospective partners to U.S. SMEs who want to invest abroad to generate new businesses and develop new markets.

    It is in the area of private sector partnerships that Nigeria will provide the lift for the new commercial engagement of the United States with Africa. Using the familiar proclivity of the Nigerian diaspora to succeed, and the achievements of those in the U.S., the average Nigerian at home is self-motivated to succeed. We have embraced the principle for self-actualisation in business. Nigerian businesses are successfully raising capitals in the international markets. A number of Nigerian banks and non-financial services providers are multinationals in their own rights, having subsidiaries in several countries in Africa. A few are listed in the London Stock Exchange, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and in Canada, closer to the US. These vibrant businesses will help U.S. businesses to quickly gain traction and gain market share as partners.

    Nigeria is not just the biggest economy in Africa; it is the regional hub for West Africa. For businesses looking at Africa, Nigeria provides the base for further outreach to cover West and Central Africa. The two sub-regions account for over 400 million population. Intra-regional trade amongst these two sub-regions is significant when we consider Africa’s trade without factoring in extractive commodities. The traditional trade relation is receiving a boost by the efforts of NEXIM Bank to facilitate a private sector shipping company to provide maritime trade links between West and Central Africa. The Sealink project is coming to financial close, following investment interests by African investors. This initiative will help remove non-tariff barriers to intra-Africa trade.

    Moreover, the past five years have witnessed NEXIM Bank’s funding interventions in Nigerian SME manufacturers who now export to West Africa and beyond.

    In the short term, a security challenge exists with the insurgency in the North Eastern part of the country. Efforts are being made to contain the threats. Longer-term, the efforts of the Federal Government will come into fruition with its recognition that a society that promotes prosperity through the right combination of investments in its people and infrastructure will remove the desperation and some of the other incentives that drive criminal activities.

    Lastly, Nigeria recognises the importance of civil society engagement. Civil engagement has been the hallmark of the administration of President Jonathan, which promoted the national conference that recently concluded. Under the Administration, elections have become more transparent, conclusive and less acrimonious. Opposition parties freely engage, and have criticised the government without any untoward consequences. It is this civility and democratic ethos that further assures that Nigeria is the place to do business, even as Africa is ready for business.