As part of strategies to revive Nigeria’s power sector, the Federal Government says it has provided N40billion ($115.6million) to settle outstanding electricity bills owed by ministries and agencies. According to the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma (photo), the gesture was imperative as the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) predicted in the 2017 budget would...

Cote d’Ivoire said it has sold in advance a million tons of cocoa from the 2017-18 season, a source close to the matter told Bloomberg. This is 5% up from estimates on last May 27, which stood at 950,000 tons. According to the same source who asked not to be named, the Coffee and Cocoa Council plans to increase cocoa forward sales bringing them to 1.3 million tons before the beginning of the...

In Cameroon, a local civic society coalition launched last Monday, a petition to boost transparency in the provisioning of land and mining deeds, in addition to taking into account communities’ opinions. “The goal is to initiate a participative approach in the management of natural resources, in a country where lands are highly sought after by companies operating in the forest, mining and...

After reporting a pretax loss of $6.7 million last year, its first annual loss in 30 years, Guinness Nigeria is looking towards share sale to raise $126 million from existing shareholders. “Our expectation is that funds raised will help mitigate the impact of increasing finance costs, optimize our balance sheet and improve the company's financial flexibility,” Peter Ndegwa, Chief...

In a bid to reduce its spending and fight corruption, the Nigerian government has increased by 50% its budget for information and communication technology, bringing it to N41 billion ($118million). Moreover, it has started working with US tech giants, Oracle and Microsoft, in the same framework. Oracle has actually helped Nigerian authorities remove 50,000 ghost workers or fake entries from...

How can companies help limit the impacts of the sharp increase in fragile situations and crises encountered throughout the world? How can we ensure that they do not have the opposite effect and actually help to sustain such fragile situations? These questions are currently a key concern for companies doing business in the regions in question as well as for development bodies. Therefore, it was...

The World Bank has approved an additional loan of $27 million for Cape Verde to finance reforms launched since 2013 in its transport sector, the country’s government recently announced. According to the government, the reforms project aims, not only at improving the nation’s road network, but the performances of companies operating in the transport industry as well. Out of the...

The Ebonyi state government in partnership with the Bank of Industry (BoI), has jointly earmarked N2billion ($5.8million) to assist Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the state. Under the pact, the government of the state will provide N1 billion ($2.9million), while the BoI will provide the remaining N1 billion. Money from the fund will be distributed in form of loan with a single...

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has revealed plans to recommence drilling activities in the Benue Trough, where seismic activities are currently taking place. Speaking in a podcast message to the Corporation’s Staff to mark One-Year Anniversary of his appointment as the Group managing director of the state oil company, Maikanti Baru, said drilling in the country’s...

Ecobank Nigeria says it has entered into a strategic partnership with Transfast, a leading international provider of cross-border payments and remittance solutions, to ease the transfer of funds by expatriates across the world to Nigeria. Under the partnership, Nigerians in diaspora can send money in local currency directly to beneficiary’s bank account 24/7 via any of Ecobank’s wide branch...