The Nation Newspaper

Tag: East Africa

  • Nigeria’s NotJustOk takes music to East and South Africa

    Nigeria’s NotJustOk takes music to East and South Africa

    NIGERIA’S foremost music site, NotJustOk, is breaking new grounds, with a recent expansion that is taking their offering to East and South African countries.

    With this, the popular website which has only existed for a decade has sets itself ahead of other online entertainment content providers across the continent.

    This, according to its founder, Demola Ogundele, is part of the company’s commitment to exposing African music to the world.

    He said: “NotJustOk pioneered the popularity of Nigerian and Ghanaian music online and our entrance into East and South African markets is an attempt to popularize the amazing music coming out of counties such as Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, Botswana and other countries in the region.”

    He further explained that, “this will both provide variety to our three million monthly users and attract even more users from these regions so that they can also enjoy and consume music from their local markets and discover music from other African regions.”

    The intention, according to Ogundele, “is to add more value to these regions as we added to the Nigerian music space which is currently the dominant force in African music.”

    He noted that NotJustOk has been at the forefront of promoting Nigerian and Ghanaian music which is now popularly referred to as ‘Afrobeats’ in the West.

    “This new extension has already been added to the website and can be accessed by simply clicking on the Region button at the home page and navigating to the East Africa or South Africa additions on www.notjustok.com,” he said.

    ABOUT Notjustok.com

    Created in June 2006, the Nigerian music website is estimated to have over three million viewers per month, from 183 countries, and recorded as one of Nigeria’s and Tanzanian’s most visited website.

    The website delivers music and music videos from the hip hop and contemporary music genres. It also allows artists to upload their songs to the public through a music sharing platform called “Mynotjustok”. The website contributed to the sales of popular music albums, including Superstar by Wizkid, The W Experience by Banky W, C.E.O by Da Grin, and M.I.2 by M.I.

    NotJustOk was voted the “Best Nigerian Music Website” at the City People Entertainment Awards in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014. It was also voted “Blog of The Year” at the 2013 edition of the Nigeria Entertainment Awards.

  • Africa Finance Corporation expands into East Africa

    Africa Finance Corporation expands into East Africa

    Rwanda and Uganda have become the first East African countries to become members of Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), bringing the development finance institution’s members to 13 African countries. Other members are:  Cape Verde; Chad; Côte d’Ivoire; Gabon; the Gambia; Ghana; Guinea-Bissau; Guinea; Liberia; Nigeria and Sierra-Leone.

    Chief executive officer, Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), Andrew Alli, said the accession of Rwanda and Uganda marked a significant milestone in AFC’s mission to address Africa’s pressing infrastructure needs and build the foundations for robust economic development across the continent.corporation has invested $2.6 billion in projects across 24 African countries and in a wide range of sectors including power, telecommunications, transport and logistics, natural resources and heavy industries.

     

     

     

  • Heightened security in Cameroon as Buhari visits

    Heightened security in Cameroon as Buhari visits

    Security in Yaounde, capital of Cameroon, has been beefed up with the expected visit of President Muhammadu Buhari to the Central African nation on Wednesday.

    President Buhari is billed to start his visit to Cameroon on Wednesday and he will hold talks with his Cameroonian counterpart, President Paul Biya, on how to tackle the Boko Haram insurgency.

    After visiting Niger and Chad after his inauguration on May 29, President Buhari had earlier shifted his visit to Cameroon due to the Muslims’ Ramadan fasting and his invitation to the G-7 meeting in Berlin, Germany.

    Security patrols in Yaounde, the country’s capital, have increased since information about the Nigerian leader’ visit was made public.

    Besides thorough checking and searching of cars and trucks with ordinary plate numbers, cars with diplomatic plate numbers are also not spared.

    Speaking to journalists on Buhari’s visit, Nigeria’s High Commissioner to Cameroon, Amb. Hadiza Mustapha said: “It is our tradition in Nigeria that when presidents come into office, his first port of call should be African countries. His visit shows the highest level of cordiality.

    “There is need to synergize between the frontline states on how to confront insurgency, in order to build on the gains so far achieved.

    “Nigeria’s relations with Cameroon have a long history of both economic and political ties anchored on affinities and shared destiny.

    “It is a very significant visit and we are looking forward to it. The President is going to spend a night which shows you how much importance he attaches to it. I’m highly honoured to be receiving the second Nigerian President as Ambassador here.”

    [news_list display=”tag” tag=”Buhari, Cameroon, Security, Africa” exclude_categories=”Buhari, Cameroon, Africa Union, Chad” show_more=”on”]

  • Farmers bemoan market sshare loss to East Africa

    Nigerian  farmers  are losing their market share to their East African counterparts, Secretary, South-South Apex Farmers Association (SAFA), Mr. Alphonsus Inyang, has said.

    Speaking in Uyo during a two-day workshop of the association, he said lack of coordination  of   farming activities in the country is the reason for the loss of market share currently suffered by local   farmers.

    Inyang said one of the biggest food chain firms in the country imports apple, plantain, water leaves, vegetables and banana from Ethiopia, Cameroun and some other East and Central African countries.

    According to him, the firm resorted to importation of the produce since it could not get farmers that were willing to coordinate their activities with a view to meeting their orders.

    He said: “The food chain firm in question, right now buys apple, plantain, water leaf, vegetable and banana from Ethiopia, Congo, Cameroun and from some other East and Central Africa countries. As our farmers have not been properly coordinated, these things are likely to continue to happen in the country.”

    Inyang observed that farmers here cultivate and make losses because their areas of farming have not been properly identified and coordinated. In other words, they farm without information and the use of latest technology.

    He said: “There are certain chemicals that Shoprite gives to their suppliers to spray on plantain. These chemicals can preserve the plantain from two weeks to two months without going black. This happens because the farmers are coordinated.

    “So, these are the areas that we at SAFA want to enlighten our farmers on. They need to know the areas they should invest in.”

    He urged government to encourage farmers in the country by granting those loans and mop up their excess produce. This, he said will encourage and enable them operate profitably.

    He said it is regrettable that farmers in the South-South region continue to operate on small scales, which makes them miss out on some important aids that would have come their way.

    “This is why SAFA is here to encourage small farmers to grow gradually by getting them involved in government programmes’ for possible assistance,” he added.

    He said the association would organise training and capacity building for farmers. This, he noted will serve as a bridge between the farmers and the government to enable farmers assess government’s programmes and gain market for their produce.

    Inyang stated that the roles of government in agricultural programmes’ are important especially during the month of September where farmers will begin to bury crates of eggs to prevent under pricing of their produce.

    He said: “We need government to assist us; like buying eggs at market price from us and then distribute them at affordable price to citizens to save us from huge losses.

    “If you move from one poultry farm to the other, there is no market. Between the months of May to September each year, poultry farmers in Akwa Ibom State usually dig and bury their eggs in the ground, this is painful.”

    Its Chairman, Dr. George Ikpot, who was represented by a member, Board of Trustees, Mr. Godwin Udom, stated that SAFA will work with farmers and develop their capacity to attain maximum returns on their investment.

  • West African insurers, banks attracted to East Africa

    Oil and gas finds in East Africa have become very attractive to West African financial services firms with some firms starting up divisions there.

    With this move, West Africa’s financial services firms want to capitalise in insuring and financing oil and gas projects in East Africa.

    South Africa’s banks and insurance companies had also identified this opportunity a little more than three years back.

    Insurance firms Ghana Re and Nigeria’s Continental Re have launched new wholly-owned firms in Nairobi in the past 12 months, paying more attention to the oil and gas sectors.

    Old Mutual Kenya, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the London and JSE-listed life insurer Old Mutual, has introduced its products in Kenya. It is not clear if it will expand to other parts of East Africa.

    GTBank Plc, two weeks ago, said it was acquiring a 70 percent shareholding in Kenya’s Fina Bank with the aim of providing finance in the oil and gas sectors.

    Another West African lender, Ecobank, has seen its Kenyan unit, Ecobank Kenya, say it will start an investment bank in the next two months to lend in these sectors.

    In 2008, South Africa’s Standard Bank acquired Kenya’s CfC bank with the aim of exploiting imminent opportunities in the country.

    In 2011, FNB, a wholly-owned subsidiary of FirstRand, South Africa’s third biggest bank, set up its first branch in Dar Es-Salaam, the capital of Tanzania.

    The bank, which already has a presence in Kenya, has plans to expand to Uganda and Rwanda.

    It is believed that Kenya and Uganda have about 2.5 billion barrels in oil resources while Tanzania has unprocessed gas resources amounting to 33-trillion cubic feet.

    East Africa’s financial services firms have been slow to take up these opportunities because they are not well capitalised and lack appropriate skills.