Nigeria has secured last week a $150 million loan from the World Bank for its mining sector. The loan which is provided in the framework of the Mineral Sector Support for Economic Diversification (MinDiver) project aims to boost the mining industry, by developing infrastructure, knowledge and attracting investment in the sector. The news was revealed by Rachid Benmessaoud, World Bank...

Green Africa Airways will soon begin its operations in Nigeria, thus offering more choice for Nigerian air travellers. This was revealed by the firm’s chief executive officer, Babawande Afolabi. The airlines which will be based in Lagos, after securing its air transport licence, is working to obtain an air operator’s certificate. It will use leased mid-sized jets for its flights and will...

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) aiming to become a commercially viable entity, said it will commercialize some of its ICT infrastructure. This was revealed by the Corporation’s group managing director, Maikanti Baru (photo), during a meeting with the minister of communication, Adebayo Shittu. “Our look-ahead plan is to commercialise our Fibre-Optics Cable Network utilizing...

Since the start of the commercialization campaign on December 1, 2016, the Société nationale des oléagineux du Sénégal (Sonacas SA) bought more than 82,000 tons of groundnuts, APS was told by Pape Dieng, the firm’s managing director. Though it exceeds by 75,000 tons last year’s output, it remains far from the amount expected before the end of the season on April 30, knowingly 200,000...

Should Africa be concerned automation? Well, according to a study conducted by the McKinsey consulting firm published in the Harvard Business Review, between 41% and 51.9% of professional activities could be automated in five of the continent’s largest economies namely Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Egypt and South Africa. The study which overviews 46 nations, worldwide, gathering 80% of the...

Visiting Zegoua, near the Cote d’Ivoire border, Mali’s minister of State domains and land affairs, Mohamed Ali Bathily, announced that his administration would like to "give agricultural lands their real value". A goal which the official believes will not take place without the registration of all cultivated lands. “Europe has done this since the 14th century; the United States have...

Battered by the volatility of the international cocoa market, despite their position as largest suppliers of the commodity (60% of the world’s output), Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire have decided to boost their cooperation. This was told Reuters by the respective heads of the Coffee-Cocoa Council of Cote d’Ivoire (CCC) and Ghana’s Cocoa Board (Cocobod). The reinforcement should take place via...

To promote investment in the Algerian agricultural sector, the minister of agriculture, rural development and fishery, Abdesselam Chelghoum, revealed that over two years, 350,000 hectares of arable lands were awarded to investors, Alg24 reports. The minister who disclosed the information on the sidelines of a fair on agrofood production in Algiers, called investors to “modernize the sector by...

13 illegal refineries have been destroyed by the Nigerian military in the Niger Delta. This was announced on Thursday by military authorities. Major Abubakar Abdullahi, a military spokesman, said troops “discovered and destroyed 13 illegal refineries” during a patrol in the Iyalama Adama axis of Rivers state. The announcement sends a message that contradicts a recent one by...

In March, annual inflation slumped to 17.26% from 17.78% in February, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows. According to the statistics office, this is the second consecutive month the figure drops in more 16 months. This results mainly from the central bank's intervention on currency market, the office said on Thursday. Indeed, since February, the Apex bank has been injecting...