The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Zambia

  • Zambia can’t stop all our stars – Iheanacho

    Zambia can’t stop all our stars – Iheanacho

    Super Eagles attacker, Kelechi Iheanacho believes Nigeria possesses too much quality for Zambia’s Chipolopolo and has predicted a win in today’s World Cup qualifier in Ndola.

    Iheanacho scored the winner in Nigeria‘s last international – a 1-0 victory over Tanzania in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in Abuja on September 3.

    He is keen to repeat similar heroics at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium, Ndola and reckons his teammates will be too strong for Zambia.

    “It’s an away game for us and is going to be a difficult one. We have great players that will make the difference against Zambia.

    “We have to overcome Zambia first before we can talk about Cameroon and Algeria.

    “However, it’s not going to be easy and nobody knows what is going to happen. We will keep fighting as a team to get to the World Cup,” Iheanacho told www.cafonline.com.

    The Manchester City who turned 20 on October 3 also revealed that failure to qualify for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations will serve as motivation for Nigeria to qualify for the 2018 Fifa World Cup in Russia.

    “It’s unfortunate we missed out on the 2017 AFCON but we are not out of everything. We have all put that behind us and our focus is on the next games.

    “We have to take that as a lesson and come back stronger to qualify for the World Cup.

    “I will also work hard for my country as an individual; and we are going to put in all hard work collectively as a team.

    “To play in the FIFA World Cup will be a dream come true for me and is going to help my career as a player too,” he said.

  • Zambia to unleash 18-year-old on Eagles

    Zambia to unleash 18-year-old on Eagles

    Reports gathered by Owngoalnigeria.com has it that Zambia are planning on unleashing 18-year-old forward Patson Daka on the Super Eagles, when both teams clash in Ndola in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers on Sunday.

    Coach Wedson Nyirenda handed invitation to the highly rated teen after ignoring former captain and legend Christopher Katongo ahead of the clash against Nigeria.

    Daka who plays for local side Power Dynamos scored against Nigeria at the Africa U-17 championship in Niger Republic last year when Nigeria defeated them 1-3.

    Although experienced forward Winston Kalengo and Collins Mbesuma are favourites to start against Nigeria on Sunday, Daka is being lined up for the role of an impact substitute in the game.

    The Chipolopolo will rely on the strength and physical nature of either Mbesuma or Kalengo in the early stages of the game to wear down the Nigerians, before bringing on the pacy Daka, to stretch the defence of the Eagles which would have been made weary by either of the aforementioned duo.

  • Rohr banks on Iwobi to destroy Zambia

    Rohr banks on Iwobi to destroy Zambia

    • Says Arsenal star will solve goal scoring problem
    • We have Zambia’s video —Rohr
    • Expects changes in strategy from new Coach

    Super Eagles’ Technical Adviser, Gernot Rohr has tipped Arsenal forward Alex Iwobi to help his team score goals when the Nigerian team confronts the Chipolopolo of Zambia in a crucial 2018 World Cup qualifier in Ndola on Sunday.

    The Franco German Coach was excited with the presence of the Arsenal rising star and he did not hide his belief that Iwobi could help unlock the defense of the Zambians to score the needed goal(s) on Sunday. Rohr told the media representatives that covered his first media parley in Abuja yesterday at the team’s Bolton White Apartment Camp.

    “(Alex )Iwobi was injured the last time he was invited to play for Nigeria against Tanzania. He is here now and everybody knows that he is a good player. I hope his integration in the team will make our first team strong enough in Ndola.

    “We cannot change much tactically because the time is short (to do that now). I count a lot on him (Iwobi) that he can help us to win the game.

    “We must have a good striker and a good attack; we must have a good and quality playing game and we must have players who can score.

    “We don’t want the problem that we encountered in Uyo to repeat itself in Ndola. In Uyo (against Tanzania) we had 27 shot on goal but scored only one goal. It was a problem”, Rohr disclosed.

    Super Eagles Technical Adviser, Gernot Rohr has allayed fears over the invisibility of the Chipolopolo of Zambia at home boasting that he knows the strength and the weaknesses of the host team.

    Nigeria will slug it out with Zambia on Sunday in a fierce battle for the only ticket for the 2018 World Cup which also comprise of other top African teams Algeria and Cameroun. Rohr is not afraid of winning his first world cup qualifier  away from home.

    “We have the video of the last five games of the Zambian team. We are also aware of the fact that they have changed their coach so it can be a bit different (in technic and style) but I think the Coach will present the same players against us in Ndola.

    “We know them (Zambians) very well. We have watched their video clips of their last five games together two days ago (Wednesday) and yesterday (Thursday) too. We know much about the team. What we don’t know is the strategy the new coach will employ since he is a new Coach handling the team now.

    “But we have professional players that know the situation so we can have good adaptation concerning the situation. The Zambian Coach can employ another strategy but we have our strategy and we will play our game. The most important thing is our team not the other team.

  • 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier: Zambia to wear new kits against Eagles

    Zambia are set to launch a new kit against Nigeria in the 2018 FIFA World Cup (Caf) qualifier.

    The two nations will lock horns in a Group B encounter at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola on 9 October 2016.

    Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) general secretary Ponga Liwewe spoke to the media ahead of the crucial encounter.

    “We are working to make sure Chipolopolo can be dressed in the new kit as they play Nigeria,” Liwewe told Zambia Post.

    FAZ had a sponsorship agreement with American company Nike which expired in 2014 and they are now linked with Italian company Kappa.

  • Lungu leads in Zambia presidential poll

    President Edgar Lungu was leading in Zambia’s presidential election on Monday, with 85 percent of the constituencies counted, but his main rival demanded a recount in a key district, citing irregularities.

    Lungu faces a stiff challenge from United Party for National Development (UPND) leader, Hakainde Hichilema, who accused him of running the economy down, a charge the president has rejected.

    With 50.14 percent, Lungu was ahead of Hichilema, with 47.7 percent, after results were collated from 132 of 156 constituencies in the August 11 voting, the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) told a news conference.

    But Hichilema told a separate media briefing his party wanted a recount of votes in Lusaka district “for the sake of free, fair, credible and transparent elections.”

    “The question is will the elections be defined as free and fair, transparent and credible in this environment? My answer is no,” Reuters quoted Hichilema as saying at the briefing.

    “Zambia needs to remain peaceful. Anybody seeking political office wants to make sure that they take over a country that is peaceful and stable so that you can implement your vision.”

    The winner of the presidential election in one of the most stable democracies in Africa must get more than half the vote, failing which the top two candidates face a rerun.

    The UPND said on Saturday that data from its own parallel counting system showed Hichilema beating Lungu “with a clear margin,” based on about 80 percent of votes counted.

  • Nigeria, Zambia lead top in women entrepreneurs

    Africa leads the world in the number of women starting businesses, a study by Global Economic Forum has said. The study, however, added that Nigeria and Zambia led the pack with 40.7 per cent of adult women as owner-managers of their own businesses or nascent entrepreneurs.

    According to the study, the number of women entrepreneurs is higher on the African continent than anywhere else in the world, even compared to the United States (U.S), where only 10.4 per cent of women own and manage their own business.

    The Country Director, Centre for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), Mrs. Omowumi Gbadamosi, disclosed the study result at a conference organised by the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) Business Women Group (NAWORG) in Lagos, during the week.

    Speaking on the theme, “Challenges facing women-owned business,” Mrs. Gbadamosi said given women business owners’ ability to pull themselves, their families and communities out of poverty, it behoved the government to support them. She encouraged the public and private sectors to work together to ensure that women accessed the finance, training, and support they need to run successful enterprises.

    According to her, over 60 per cent of informal cross-border traders in West Africa are women, for whom the informal market provides opportunities to reduce poverty, create wealth and fight unemployment.

    “In Central and Western Africa, female informal cross-border traders on average employ 1.2 people in their home businesses and support 3.2 children and 3.1 dependents who are not their children or spouses,” she said.

    Lagos State Commissioner for Commerce, Industry and Cooperatives Prince Rotimi Ogunleye, in his paper, said the state has broadened the scope for women participation in business and enterprise by initiating and distilling measures targeted at increasing the number of women-owned business networks.

    He said the state has been closing gender gaps to lift women’s incomes and their contribution to agricultural production and small-scale industrialisation.

    Ogunleye, who was represented by a director in the ministry, Mrs. Mojisola Subair, said women were involved in the development of the human society and economic well being of any country.

    She assured of the state’s continued support to women through innovative entrepreneurship development and business policies and programmes.

    Earlier, First Deputy National President, NACCIMA and Chairperson, NAWORG Iyalode Alaba Lawsonon spoke on the need to redirect the thoughts of grassroots women towards sustainable empowerment and socio-economic self-reliance in her paper entitled “Galvanising the grassroots women entrepreneurs to key into the opportunities of sustainable development goals”.

    She said women were key factors in the drive towards the attainment of global sustainable goals.

  • Zambian President reverses decision to hike electricity tariffs

    Zambia’s President Edgar Lungu has reversed a sharp increase in electricity tariffs aimed at generating revenue for investment in additional supply.

    He said the hike had ended up hurting the poor, a presidential spokesman said on Monday.

    Zambia’s state power utility -Zesco Ltd – had on Dec. 3 increased the average price of electricity to 10.35 U.S. cents per kilowatt hour from six U.S. cents.

    “The president directed Zesco to revert to the old tariffs until measures are put in place to ensure that poor consumers are protected,” presidential spokesman Amos Chanda said.

    Mining companies were unaffected by the increase because they have separate bulk power supply agreements with Zesco and power supplier Copperbelt Energy Corp (CEC).

  • RIO 2016 OLYMPIC RUGBY QUALIFIERS: Nigeria drawn against Zimbabwe, Uganda, Zambia

    RIO 2016 OLYMPIC RUGBY QUALIFIERS: Nigeria drawn against Zimbabwe, Uganda, Zambia

    Nigeria national rugby team, Black Stallions has been drawn in group B alongside Zimbabwe, Uganda and Zambia for the 2016 Olympics games qualifiers.

    According to information made available to the Nigeria Rugby Football Federation by Rugby Africa, the qualifiers will be staged in Johannesburg, South Africa on the 14th – 15th November, 2015.

    Reacting after the draws, coach of the Nigerian Rugby team also know as Black Stallions, Fabian Juries said, “The draw here offers some really exciting match-ups right from the group stage and there are lots of potential for upsets as well, which means no team can take anything for granted.”

    Despite Zimbabwe being already tipped by bookmakers as group B favorites, the South African Rugby legend believed that the Zambian team is also not a pushover as he warned opposing teams that any attempt to underrate Nigeria at the Africa Cup Sevens where the winner qualifies for the Rio Olympic Games in 2016 may prove costly.

    Meanwhile in group A, Kenya who is a strong force in Africa rugby will tackle Madagascar, Senegal and Mauritius.

    In group C, Northern African brothers, Tunisia and Morocco have been pitted together with  Namibia and Botswana.

     

  • LafargeHolcim global synergies manifest as Zambia profits jump

    The synergies expected from the merger of the world’s two biggest building materials companies-Lafarge, the French giant and Holcim, its Swiss rival, are beginning to manifest as LafargeHolcim’s Zambian operations reported a jump in profits and Moody’s affirmed the new cement giant.

    Lafarge Zambia Plc, a subsidiary of LafargeHolcim reported a four percent rise in profits in the first six months of 2015 to K187 million.

    The firm also saw its sales turnover jump by 14 percent to K700 million over the same period, while Earnings per Share rose by four percent to ZMW 0.936.

    “The company is ready to leverage the benefits of belonging to such a strong group. It is determined to keep its market leadership and continue to offer our customers the best quality products and services,” Lafarge Zambia Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel Rigaux said.

    The LafargeHolcim $40 billion merger which was completed  last month, creating the world’s most advanced building materials company. The new firm has vast Research and Development capability, comprising 13 product development laboratories around the world employing over 1,100 experts.  The global dimension of the merger has meant the new Group is benefitting from the size of its industrial network, which will facilitate optimisations . About €1.4bn in targeted synergies from the merger has already been confirmed.  There would also be a significant reduction in net debt of the combined company through divestitures, target for solid Investment grade credit ratings, solid margins (c.24 percent post synergies) and an attractive dividend policy.

    Ratings agency, Moody’s Investors Service, affirmed the merged entity’s strong balance sheet by upgrading the erstwhile standalone entity of Lafarge to Baa2.    “This brings the ratings in line with that of LafargeHolcim which has a stronger credit profile,” says Falk Frey Senior Vice President and lead analyst at Moody’s for Lafarge    “Moody’s generally views the strategic rationale of the merger as positive as the merged group will have an even more geographically balanced presence than former Holcim and Lafarge on a stand-alone basis.    This business profile should provide a better resilience to cyclical swings in demand for cement, aggregates and ready-mix concrete in individual countries,” Frey said. On a combined pro forma basis, LafargeHolcim sold 263 million tons of cement and 288 million tons of aggregates in 2014 with an installed cement production capacity of 386.6 million tons per annum.    On a pro forma basis, the group recorded net sales of CHF32.6 billion and an operating EBITDA of CHF6.7 billion for fiscal year 2014.

    LafargeHolcim generates approximately 60 percent of pro forma 2014 revenues in emerging markets. The remaining 40 percent are generated in developed markets.    LafargeHolcim is a major player in the Nigerian market with significant or complete ownership of Ashaka Cement, Atlas Cement, Lafarge Ready-mix, UniCem and WAPCO.

    The business continues to be known as Lafarge Africa Plc in Nigeria-Lafarge Africa Plc is a holding company of LafargeHolcim assets in Nigeria and South Africa-it’s HQ is in Lagos where it is listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

    “The merger would have a positive impact on the ongoing consolidation of the Nigerian operations of Lafarge,” Kayode Omosebi, a research analyst at Lagos based Investment firm, United Capital Plc, said.    “We expect to see synergy gains from its consolidation in coming quarters as a combination of economies of scale, cost efficiency, innovation, better scope of operation and a more diversified product portfolio will boost performance and increase market share. We anticipate an increase in market share supported by its differentiated product offerings and its focus on corporate demand. Furthermore, increasing production from UNICEM and a more stable Ashaka will support growth from the company,” Omosebi said.

    In the Philippines listed cement maker Holcim Philippines Inc., (which is a subsidiary of LafargeHolcim) is confident that its output target for 2017 of 10 million metric tons (MT) is achievable by late 2016.  “We are now a part of the LafargeHolcim group… What we’re after is to supply customers. If we supply more customers and eventually increase market share, then it’s better for us,” Holcim President and Chief Executive Officer Eduardo Sahagun said.  LafargeHolcim is listed on the stock exchanges in Paris and Zurich.

  • Dangote Cement inaugurates  $400m plant in Zambia

    Dangote Cement inaugurates  $400m plant in Zambia

    Dangote Group yesterday  inaugurated a new cement plant and 30 megawatts (Mw) coal-fired power plant in Zambia.

    The new plant, with the capacity to produce 1.5 million metric tonnes per annum (MTPA)  is located in  Masaiti District, Ndola town in Zambia.

    The cement plant with the power plant came at a  cost $420million. The plant has already started production.

    Speaking during the commissioning, President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, said the $400million spent on the new cement plant came from Nigeria, saying that with the plant, the company now has about 14 cement plants located in several countries in Africa.

    He added that the power plant would generate 30Mw, while 20Mw of the generated power would be used by the company while the remaining 10Mw would reserved.

    In the next 10 days,  he disclosed  that a new haulage business would commence operation in the region with   over 400 trucks.

    He told the audience that the company has started the first cement road in the country, adding that it is committed to  the development of the local community by building schools, hospitals and others for them as part of  its Corporate-Social  Responsibility (CSR).

    Aside, he said the company has set up scholarship scheme for students in the universities in Zambia, adding that small scale farmers would be assisted yearly to improve their yields.

    Vice President of Nigeria, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, described the new plant in Zambia as an “important milestone in the relationship” that exists between Nigerian and Zambia.

    He said: ”Dangote and other entrepreneurs have done us very proud. With 1.5 metric tonnes per annum of  cement in Zambia, 2.5 mmtpa in Ethiopia and another cement plants in Senegal, Tanzania  and others countries.’

    With the new investment in Zambia, he said three issues have been brought to the fore namely political stability, human capital development and institutional integration.

    He said with the right institutional framework presently,  this would guarantee an environment where business enterprises thrive.

    He added that with substantive investment in human capital development, this would surely put an end to unemployment,  poverty and poor infrastructure in African continent.