The Nation Newspaper

Tag: African

  • LAPD African Cops to premiere December 4

    The lives of African American cops in Los Angeles are the focus of a new movie, LAPD African Cops, set to be premiered in cinemas across Nigeria on December 4.

    The film, from the stable of The Atuma Brothers International Company, was written and directed by Hollywood-based Nigerian, Pascal Atuma. It tells the story of two West African men (Officer Naija and Officer Ghana) who join the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and go about installing African values of culture, respect and morals as they go about their policing duties.

    The resulting culture clash is however relaxed with comedy, the genre which the movie adopts. In the movie, the ‘African’ cops are seen comically enforcing decent dressing on young Americans who ‘sag’ and wear skimpy clothes in ways synonymous to correcting young people in Africa.

    “What we are trying to do is tell our own stories,” producer and director of the movie, Pascal Atuma, said during a recent meeting with journalists. Together with his brother and co-producer Dr Oscar Atuma, they also acted as cops in the movie.

    “We don’t want the western world to tell African stories.”

    LAPD African Cops also stars African American movie stars which include Vanessa Bell Calloway (Coming to America), Luenell Campbell (Borat), Dorien Wilson (The Parkers), Brian Hooks (Eve’s Show), Mari Morrow (One Life To Live), Jaszmin Lewis (Barbershop), Trina Mcgee (Friday After Next), Tonya Lee Williams ( Young & Restless), Caryn Ward-Ross (The Game) and Bless Brown Vera (Sexy Boy In America).

    Already, Silverbird Cinemas have acquired rights to show the movie in West Africa. The film is already being distributed in South Africa, US and Canada. Plans for airing it in London are also in the offing.

  • Faseru is VP African Cashew Alliance

    National President, National Cashew Association of Nigeria (NCAN), Tola Faseru, has been elected Vice –President, African  Cashew Alliance (ACA).

    He is the first Nigerian to occupy the position on the Executive Committee (EC) of ACA, the association’s governing body.

    The EC is elected every two years by a General Assembly of registered and paid-up ACA members, usually during the ACA Annual Conference.

    He was elected during the Ninth ACA World Cashew Festival & Expo which held between September 21 and 24 at Maputo, Mozambique. Mozambique is the second largest producer of cashew nuts in East Africa.

    The Chairman, Colossus Investments Limited, said  his election would open doors for  more Nigerians to make in-roads into the continental cashew market.

    According to him, international cashew kernel demand is active, there is need to sustain the campaign for improved farming and processing techniques to ensure the country presents higher cashew grades.

    He said Nigeria can produce about 500,000 tonnes/year of raw cashew, adding that  this can only be  achieved  if  cashew cultivation is increased from the national output of about 200,000. Further sector development has however, he noted, has continued been hampered by low production levels, low cashew quality and the lack of quality standards.

    This has weakened international consumer confidence which has in turn left the nation’s cashew value chain at a disadvantage. Besides, he deplored the limited access to financing and high credit interests, hindering investments in local cashew processing.

    The industry, he added, may not reach its full potential to deliver sustainable and inclusive growth without strong, coordinated action around export strategies that take full account of the different policy frameworks governing cashew export.

  • Canada’s summer of African festivity

    Canada’s summer of African festivity

    Toronto’s vibrant art scene is partly fuelled by African and Caribbean culture, writes OLUBANWO FAGBEMI after a recent visit to Canada

    Under the banner of AFROFEST 2015, a group of African and Caribbean artistes promoted the concept of cultural integration in Toronto, Canada, using music, art and culture as instrument. Sponsored by the government and its media and corporate partners, the 25th festival of African music and culture appealed to the celebratory mood of the estimated 400, 000 Black individuals in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and their friends.

    To an assortment of music, races mingled on the wide expanse of natural green named Woodbine Park on the weekend of July 4 and 5, days before the July 10 opening of the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games. At the same time, stalls vending artefacts recorded impressive customer traffic.

    For long-time patrons, however, “behind Saikou’s stall” was the place to be. In re-enactment of an unspoken annual tradition of spontaneous drumming and dancing behind art buff Saikou Saho’s tent, dexterous drummers, some fresh off the main stage, entertained onlookers for free. Their sonorous output invariably pulled agile dancers before a ring of spectators that stretched and shrank with the start and stop of drumming.

    Northwards, art enthusiasts gathered for a similar fiesta at the Toronto Harbourfront Centre. Crowd response to African dance troupes’ sound check during the July 4 leg of summer events organised by the Kick Up Your Heels charity concern underlined the city’s summertime passion, with the African beat and movement particularly sought-after.

    Dispersing after the first group’s rehearsal with obvious reluctance, a mostly white and Asiatic audience regrouped at the West Jet Stage once the multi-racial cast emerged for a 60-minute medley of traditional and contemporary steps titled Ayo Ni Ijo. The ovation moved Mohammed Allen, one of the performers, to declare the response the best he had yet experienced in his solo career as a traditional dancer.

    The African-Canadian thought his brand of choreography which fused western-style break-dance and pop with traditional African steps and costume a unique contribution to Toronto’s multi-ethnic mix.

    He said: “My kind of dance mostly promotes African culture with the infusion of other cultures. Canadians ask a lot of questions and many of them want to know why we dance this way or that way. My aim is to inform and educate them while promoting African culture.”

    The Pan Am Games next handled the baton of entertainment, with morning and afternoon athletics events succeeded by free concerts beginning July 11 at three venues across the city.

    Tagged Panamania, the shows presented through collaboration of the city and its official partners drew thousands for a five-week period punctuated by a break between the Pan Am and Parapan American Games.

    But Tuesday, July 21 remains memorable. Near-satisfied with a succession of entertainers including Grammy Award-winning long-timers, Blind Boys of Alabama, the reporter retired to the periphery of Nathan Phillips Square, setting of a third of the scintillating series of shows, to contemplate the long walk to his Dovercourt Road residence. Then, a James Brown-like scream pierced the night air.

    It sent the reporter and many others scrambling to the base of the stage. “Yeah, that’s more like it,” he said to himself as the lead singer of Charles Bradley and His Extraordinaires launched a soulful delivery that seemed appropriate for closing billing.

    Exiting the stage at some point to change into a shiny, caped costume that all but transformed him into ‘Dr Love’, Charles Bradley wound his audience into a romantic state embraced by couples and welcomed by singles. Registering his determination to fly out to Toronto from his United States of America base against doctor’s orders, the performer professed his love for Torontonians. “I just love Toronto. You guys don’t know what I had to go through to be here.”

    Reducing his hip-thrusting act to a more delicate prostrate pose on stage towards the end, Bradley condensed the pervading mood into a poser as he crooned into the microphone with dreamy eyes.  “What are you looking for? Are you here for love or are you here for lust?”

    The roared response suggested something in between. Unruffled, Bradley extended his late-night prescription until couples merged into singles and singles split in twos. If the reporter seemed to see double, by the way, he pleads Bradley’s extraordinary influence as excuse.

    Next came the Caribana, lately known as the Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival after a trademark law dispute between the originators of the festival and the current organisers. Preceded by much hype, the Toronto street carnival featured events that celebrate the music, food and arts of the Caribbean region.

    Rated as the largest cultural festival of its kind in North America, it showcased the Grand Parade down Lakeshore Boulevard, the Annual Gala and the tent villages to the amazement of spectators. By estimates, the festival yearly generates over $400 million for the economy of Toronto and the province of Ontario.

    Said Saho in eyebrow-raising response to earlier enquiries about the festival’s antecedents: “Listen, Caribana’s gonna be big, big!”

    It turned out to be big in more ways than one: big costumes, big crowd, big business and big loudspeakers mounted on big SUVs. That was not all. Typical of carnivals with female participants in skimpy outfits, there were big behinds on show, and a multitude of big male eyes in tow.

    Some eyes apparently went too far as ‘stormers’, an unwanted group of people who crash the masquerade parade (typically without a costume and sometimes with a camera for taking disparaging photographs of female participants), courted usual controversy.

    The position of African and Africa-derived art and culture in Canada remains free of controversy, however. As Allen pointed out, overseas promoters need only ensure backward integration to sustain progress. For starters, he and Canada-based African artistes have slated worldwide international dance and drum festivals beginning with Nigeria

  • UBA trims loans as African units turn profit

    UBA trims loans as African units turn profit

    United Bank for Africa (UBA) lowered its forecast for 2015 loan growth to five to eight percent from 15 to 20 per cent as rising regulatory and economic uncertainty increase risks to lending, the bank said yesterday.

    UBA CEO Phillips Oduoza told Reuters in an investor call that the lender would maintain a conservative approach to lending for the second half of the year with a view to balancing risk with returns.

    Loans grew 8.5 percent in the first half with foreign currency loans accounting for 30 per cent of total N1.16 trillion ($5.8 billion) loan book. That compares with 14 per cent growth in loans last year.

    Oduoza said the bank would maintain its other forecasts. He forecast 2015 return on equity (ROE) would be above 20 percent, up from 19.2 per cent last year. ROE hit 22.3 percent in the first six months of the year.

    “We have revised downwards our loan growth target … given renewed uncertainty in the global and domestic market we would maintain a conservative approach,” HE said.

    Nigeria’s economy slowed sharply to 2.35 percent in the second quarter from 6.54 percent a year ago as lower crude prices took its toll on Africa’s biggest economy and top oil producer.

    The drop in crude prices also hit the currency market, prompting the central bank to tighten access to dollars in a bid to curb speculation on the naira, in turn hurting bank revenues from foreign exchange activities.

    Oduoza noted that regulatory risk was also rising with the government withdrawing public funds from the banking sector.

    Last week, UBA posted a pretax profit rise of 35 per cent in the first half to N39.04 billion ($196 million) and declared a dividend of 0.20 naira, thanks to increased income from business customers.

  • Gabon is top sub-Saharan African country in retail growth

    Gabon is the most attractive sub-Saharan African country for international retailers to target due to strong economic growth and a stable middle class, according to A.T. Kearney’s African Retail Development Index.

    The study, which evaluated 48 countries in the region, ranked Gabon ahead of Botswana, Angola and Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy and most populous country.

    The index, published by the United States (US) consultancy, is compiled based on size of the urban population, business efficiency and risk of investment.

    “Scale will come to sub-Saharan Africa only when a few things happen, particularly the development of a shopping culture,” A.T. Kearney consultants including Mike Moriarty and Jaco Prinsloo said in the report. “The first priority in most markets is for basics and dry goods, but over time fresh supply chains and modern shopping space will be increasingly needed.”

    South African retailers including Shoprite Holdings Ltd., Woolworths Holdings Ltd and Pick n Pay Stores Ltd. are expanding on the continent to take advantage of higher economic growth rates than in their home market and rising household incomes.

    U.S. chain Wal-Mart Stores Inc is also adding new stores in sub-Saharan Africa through its Johannesburg-based, Massmart Holdings Ltd. None of the four chains have entered Gabon.

  • African ministers, to discuss growth

    Key Finance Ministers, central bank governors, and private sector operators from Africa would meet to discuss ways of implementing development financing initiative in the continent.

    Tagged, Financing For Development (FFD) Agenda, the meeting is part of the Africa Investors (AI) summit that is coming up on September 24 this year concurrently with the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York.

    AI said the meeting will discuss issues bordering on a new development agenda in Africa, universal agreement on climate change,  among others.

    Being the first summit after the FFD meeting which  took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,  critical problems  affecting development in  the continent are  going to be discussed with a view to finding lasting solutions to them.

  • Here comes African Film Consortium

    FROM FESPACO to the now-rested Sithengi Film Festival, Cape Town – Durban International Film Festival to Zanzibar International Film Festival, and the Pan African Film Festival, Los Angeles among others, the desire to up the ante of African cinema has made the screaming titles of various film industry sessions.

    The discussions go on and on, and one can only be as good and up-to-date with the last film forum attended.

    However, leveraging on the current mobile internet technology that has made the world a hut, a platform known as the African Film Consortium made debut on WhatsApp on August 14, 2015, courtesy of a film enthusiast, Mykel Parish.

    There is no gainsaying that this might provide a rapid solution to cross fertilization of idea; the forum also prides itself with the best in African film landscape.

    AFC parades great African filmmakers, film educators, critics, curators, actors, culture advocates, content buyers, investors and a host of other enthusiasts of African cinema.

    Here is a fraction of the impressive line-up which in few days has outdone its present social media space of100 group membership, and which is already transiting to a more ample virtual room on Twitter.

    AFC parades great names such as Professor Hyginus Ekwuazi, Richard Mofe Damijo, Joke Silver, Mildred Okwo, Tunde Kelani, South Africa-based Firdoze Bulbulia Itsepere and husband Faith Isiakpere, Steven Markovitz, Mahmood Ali-Balogun, Alex Eyengho, Seyi Babatope, Victor Okhai, Opa Williams, Teco Benson, Obi Emelonye, Stephenie Linus and Emeka Ossai.

    Others are Frankfurt-based Isaac Izoya, the initiator of Nollywood Film Festival Germany & Nollywood Europe Golden Awards; Ibrahim Ceesay, President of the Copyright Collecting Society of The Gambia; Hakim Olaleru, creative director, singer, songwriter and CEO of Multimedia, Nigeria; Joel Karekezi, a Rwandan filmmaker; Johnny Muteba, Founder and CEO of South African Film and Television Academy and Creative South Africa; Mangenge Gelam Dickson, aka Colonel Dickson, cultural  promoter and actor based in Cameroun; Amil Shivji, filmmaker from Dar Es Salaam; Sara Blecher, South African filmmaker; Kevin Kriedemann, ex Variety and Hollywood Reporter journalist, now marketing African creativity; Zziwa, a film director and actor from Uganda; Fahruq, an independent filmmaker based in Kenya; Tony Eddy, MD of Panavision Africa; Nico Dekker, CEO of Cape Town film studio; Chioma Ude, CEO of Africa International Film Festival; Daniel Nyalusi of the Zanzibar International Film Festival; Dr. Ama Muna Tutu, Cameroon Minister of Culture and notable cinematographer Jonathan Kovel.

    There are also journalists and film critics including myself, Steve Ayorinde, Shaibu Huseini, Risper Muthamia, media consultant based in Kenya, and Alenne Menget, investigative journalist and a filmmaker based in Cameroon. The list indeed is endless.

    Described by pundits as the biggest film movement in Africa at the moment, the forum, straight to business, kicked off with an insightful keynote address by Prof. Ekwuazi.

    No doubt, the forum is a strategic virtual discourse round-table meant to involve African Ministers of Culture and other decision makers who can pave the way for the needed synergy or treaties needed by Africans along film business line.

    Members hope that a similar platform can be organised where content providers can meet with buyers and distributors.

    For example, Firdoze thinks it would be a great idea to ‘meet at Discop this year’, and have a special session in children’s media.

    Members believe that the creative industry can transform the African narrative and contribute in the realisation of the Africa Agenda 2063 of the African Union and her member states.

    Some of the ‘forumites’ capture the grace of the medium in very apt words.

    Alene Manget says: “ I lack words to express my excitement. Mykel, I think your tour round Africa for the past 10 years is yielding for the benefits of the entire industry…You may not know what this networking means.”

    Teco Benson says: “You are an inspiration to the industry…When we still were dreaming; you made the bullets leave the guns in our African movies.”

    He adds: “With this congregation of African great minds, never will African voice be suppressed. And never will Africa be seen as a dark continent.”

    For Opa Williams, “Our vision and mission is to communicate to the world our culture, our position as a united race,  telling the world who we really are through our stories and working together as Africans to uphold our beliefs and greatness.”

    Mykel explains that the “African Film Consortium is focused on engaging collaborative instincts to harness the outlay of vast African filmmaking resource base towards re-shaping of thought processes for the realization of sustainable cinema for Africa.”

    Although the first two days were spent enlisting and introducing members across Africa and the Disapora, Prof. Ekwuazi’s notes was a thoughtful ‘baptism’ that speaks volume about the mission, objective and direction of the new movement.

    Ii is my pleasure to share his thoughts and other concerns here in subsequent editions.

  • Don seeks African rebranding

    Don seeks African rebranding

    A professor of Sociology  and Criminal Justice, Virginal State University, Nana Derby, has advocated a rebranding of African identities to free the continent from Western domination.

    She spoke on the theme:  ‘A deconstructionist alternative in post-development Africa at the 42nd public lecture of Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State last Friday.

    She said Africa must embrace the developmental philosophy of the founding fathers that fought for her freedom.

    “I do not in any way advocate the secession of African nations from the world system,” Derby said, adding: “rather, I endore the optimism of the African-centred growth and development that the men and women who spearheaded our freedom instigated.

    “How do we establish the foundation so proclaimed several decades ago, and what identities do we project for ourselves. Who speaks for Africa? And how do we build that Africa capable of managing her own affairs?”

    She continued: “The attainment of political independence and the choices of dependency and modernisation plunged us deeper into the world system, not as equal partners, but as dependants and champions of the periphery noted for subservience, deprivation and vulnerability. In economic terms, our dependency and peripheral locations were suggestive of long-term trade imbalances, deficits, and limited foreign exchange earnings, Derby added.

    “To deconstruct, the continent need to decontextualise our identities, celebrate our differences, and critically reappraise the identities that processes of exploitation, colonisation, enslavement, post colonialism, and economic dependence bestowned on Africa.”

    Derby noted that over the last 50 years, Africa’s dependence on Western aids has done her more harm than good, despite that she can tap on her inner deposits to better her lot.

    ” For over 50 years, Africa’s dependence on foreign aid has been detrimental: yet the continent failed to advocate locally acquired programmes fitting valuable tour citizens and judiciously centred on our unique characteristics,”  the don said.

    To add more salt to the injury, African leaders made themselves tools for the emergence of sustenance of African’ s negative and poor economic performances which are detrimental to  the continent’s growth. She lamented that heavy dependence of African nation on Western countries had been attributed to dysfunctional Institution, bribery, mismanagement and misappropriation of state funds.

    ”Unfortunately, the funds are misappropriated or siphoned illicitly into personal venture, leaving the states with very little to show for their mounting debts,” she said.

    “African nations need to step out of the perpetual modernisation and dependency-driven development to usher herself into the post-development era of self-reliance,” Derby concluded.

  • United Capital, Lion’s Head to manage German’s African bond fund

    United Capital Plc, an investment banking group quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), and Lion’s Head,  been appointed as the fund managers for the Africa Local Currency Bond Fund (ALCB Fund).

    ALCB Fund was established by KfW on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. On behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development,  KfW has so far invested $32 million for the initial capitalization of the Fund, out of which $18.4 million has been invested in seven non-sovereign local currency bond issuances.

    As fund managers, United Capital and Lion’s Head will be expected to implement an institutional upgrade and grow the Fund to a size beyond $100 million in the medium term.

    The ALCB Fund’s mission is to support local African banks, financial institutions, agribusiness, and renewable energy companies to issue bonds and similar instruments in local currency. The Fund aims to improve and diversify access to long term funding in domestic capital markets for the benefit of Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs)

    United Capital will be represented by its asset management arm, United capital Asset Management. United Capital, one of Africa’s leading investment banks, has extensive experience in high profile financial executions. In 2014 the company executed the largest corporate bond issue in the Nigerian market, which was simultaneously listed on both the NSE and the Financial Market Dealers Quotation (FMDQ) OTC platform. Other pioneering achievements recorded by United Capital include, completion of the first mortgage securitization for a mortgage backed bond in 2007; the first Tier 2 subordinated debt issuance through the bond market; and the largest corporate bond issuance in West Africa in 2010.

    Lion’s Head, a merchant bank based in London and Nairobi brings capital markets expertise to development finance initiatives for frontier markets. Lion’s Head advises across a broad range of capital markets and corporate finance initiatives across Africa, working with both the public and the private sector.

    Group chief executive officer, Oluwatoyin Sanni, said the selection further validates the company’s capability and service proficiency as a leading investment banking group.

    “It is an honour to be selected as Fund Managers alongside Lion’s Head in the management of the ALCB Fund,” Sanni said.

    Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Investment Banking at United Capital, Wale Shonibare added said the company would bring its African market expertise to bear in providing the necessary tailored solutions to significantly grow the Fund, and to meet KfW’s development objectives.

    Chairman, Lion’s Head, Bim Hundal, said the company was excited to add the ALCB Fund to its portfolio of asset management.

    A member of the board of directors of the ALCB Fund, Karl von Klitzing, said the fund managers would help to consolidate the growth of the fund.

    “Having proven the concept of an African non-sovereign local currency bond fund by sourcing and implementing the first investments and managing the fund by ourselves, we are very happy to now hand over a high impact and good credit quality portfolio to experienced fund managers, to bring the fund to a truly sizable scale,” Karl von Klitzing said.

  • Ecobank ‘champion’ of African economic integration

    The Ivorian Prime Minister Daniel Kablan Duncan has praised the Ecobank Group as “an indefatigable pioneer of African economic integration that continually champions economic development on the continent and in Côte d’ivoire particularly”.

    He spoke when Ecobank Côte d’Ivoire inaugurated its new head office building in Abidjan.

    Established in Côte d’Ivoire in 1988, Ecobank Côte d’Ivoire is one of the 36 subsidiaries of the pan-African banking group Ecobank, under the group’s parent and holding company Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI). Ecobank Côte d’Ivoire finances 13 per cent of the Ivorian economy, having paid 14 billion CFA francs ($ 23.5 million) in taxes to the Ivorian Treasury in 2014.

    With 655 employees and 55 branches across the country, the Ivorian subsidiary has total assets of 850 billion CFA francs ($ 1.4 billion) and recorded profit before tax of 17 billion CFA francs ($ 28.7 million) in 2014.

    Group Chiref Executive Officer (CEO) Ecobank, Albert Essien, said: “Ecobank Côte d’Ivoire is a pearl in our network and we are proud of our subsidiary. It provides us with an important platform through which we can continue to contribute to the economic development of Côte d’Ivoire as we offer our Ivorian customers access to banking services and financial resources.”

    The Mayor of the host district of Plateau, Bendjo Akossi, emphasised that Ecobank Côte d’Ivoire’s new head office building was designed by African architects. The building’s main architect, Ibrahima Konare gave a presentation showing the various stages of construction and highlighted the avant-guard design of the building.

    Chairman, Ecobank Côte d’Ivoire, Pierre Magne, said the new head office was cost 12 billion CFA francs (USD 20.2 million), adding that it “showed the confidence of the Ecobank Group in the future of Côte d’Ivoire and its firm commitment to support the country in its journey to towards the 2020 development horizon”.

    Deputy Group CEO of Ecobank, Evelyne Tall Daouda, said: “This head office building illustrates the firm commitment of the Ecobank Group to consolidate its position in Côte d’Ivoire, to contribute to the development of the Ivorian economy, to take part in the creation of wealth and tangible employment for young people, and to provide banking  services for more and more Ivorians.”

    She also congratulated the Managing Director of Côte d’Ivoire, Charles Daboiko and his team on completing the building.

    Duncan cut the ribbon to declare the building open. He and guests  signed the guest book and took a tour of the building’s banking branch.