In Nigeria, the World Bank has said it will support the Lagos State government with a grant of up to $620 million for school infrastructure projects and other critical areas. This is to encourage out of school children to get back to the classroom. World Bank’s Senior Director for Education Global Practice, Jaime Saavedra Chanduvi (photo, 2nd right), revealed this during an official visit...

The FINACTU Group is very pleased to conduct an important mission for the General Retirement Fund for State Agents (IPS-CGRAE[1]) in Ivory Coast, in order to start up a supplementary pension scheme for the State officials and agents. Indeed, CGRAE, committed to offer quality services to its insured persons, took the initiative to start a very ambitious project to create a funded scheme, which...

The Federal Government of Nigeria this week, approved a National Gas Policy which builds on the policy goals of the government for the gas sector. According to Idang Alibi, the Director of Press at the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the policy aims to ease investment and develop the sector. “The gas policy intends to move Nigeria from an oil-based to an oil and gas-based industrial...

The Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) has granted Burkina Faso two financing facilities worth $43 million (about FCFA25 billion) for infrastructure projects. Agreements for the funding were recently signed by Burkina Faso’s minister of economy, finance and development, Rosine Coulibaly, and Yousef Al-Basam, vice president and director general of SFD. The first facility, which amounts...

Lending rate at Nigeria’s interbank on Friday rose to about 15% from the 5% recorded last week. This was after commercial lenders made payment for dollar and Treasury bill purchases, thereby bringing down liquidity, traders told Reuters. “The interbank rate traded above the 40% level on Wednesday because of the treasury bill auction,” a trader said adding that the rates later fell after...

In Cote d’Ivoire, after months of talks with civil servants unions, the Ouattara government has promised on July 6 to pay the workers FCFA249 billion (433 million $) of arrears. “The government made us an offer to pay 249 billion over eight years, but we have not yet signed anything”, said Gnagna Zadi, president of the Platform for Professional Organisations of the public sector....

Ethiopian Airlines has said that it has concluded plans to commence a three times per week planned operation to Kaduna, Nigeria, from August 1, 2017. Adding Kaduna, the Ethiopian national carrier operates 23 weekly flights to Nigeria’s main cities of Abuja, Lagos, Enugu and Kano. “We are pleased to commence scheduled operation to Kaduna; a fifth city in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. As...

The Kaduna State Government says it has commenced the distribution of the World Bank’s $21.6 million school improvement grant and scholarships for female teachers and girls in the state. According to the Executive Chairman of the Kaduna State Universal Basic Education Board, Nasiru Umar, the fund is being distributed under the Global Partnership for Education and Nigerian Partnership...

Cote d’Ivoire’s Prime Minister, Amadou Gon Coulibaly, announced on July 6 that processes for land registration are being “revised and simplified”. The minister was speaking on the sidelines of a meeting organized by the General Confederation of Ivory Coast’s Employers (CGECI). As he was meeting with the group of employers, the official said the “Rural Land Agency has been...

In Nigeria, the Government of Ebonyi state on Friday said it has borrowed a total of N10billion ($28.9 million) from the Federal Government. This is aimed at financing agricultural activities in the state. According to the Governor of the State, David Umahi (photo), the credit would be used to support farmers and the production of rice locally. In this framework, it would establish mega rice...