The ex-depot price of diesel dropped by more than 30% between February and June this year due to the instability in forex and crude oil prices in the global market. Unlike petrol which has a price cap, the price of diesel is being controlled by market forces of demand and supply. With the global market price of crude above $53 in February, the prices of refined products also rose making the...

The Debt Management Office (DMO) has said that Nigeria will sell its initial $328 million sovereign sukuk in the local market this June. This will be used to finance road projects in the country. “The issue is part of plans to fast track the development of infrastructure and engage in project-tied capital raising,” the debt office said adding that the country has road, railway and power...

Finland has expressed its readiness to construct a cyber-security system in Nigeria and establish new ICT services in the country. In addition, the Northern European nation also plans to invest in infrastructure development, as it would facilitate changes in Nigeria. Speaking during a visit to her Nigerian counterpart, Adebayo Shittu, Finland’s Minister of Transportation and Communications,...

Seven Chinese trawling vessels have been arrested off the Casamance coast in the south western part of Senegal for illegal fishing. This was revealed to Reuters by Karim Maram, naval Captain and head of the patrol mission responsible for the arrest. Recalling that “the trawlers were caught in the flagrant offence”, the official said Chinese fishermen as well as employees from Guinea-Bissau...

Zimbabwe has banned maize imports to protect farmers’ interests and insure a good harvest this year, Agriculture’s deputy minister, Davis Mharapira, told Reuters. The country expects to produce this year 2.1 million tons of the crop, thus four times last year’s volume (511,000 tons) which was impaired by the a severe drought induced by the El Niño weather phenomenon, one of the worst...

The Tunisian parliament will soon meet in a plenary session to discuss the issue of public domains in Meknassi, Sidi Bouzid governorate, in the central part of the country, Shems Fm reports. “On the initiative of the Sidi Bouzid governorate, the session will focus on the State domain issue in Meknassi. The meeting aims to grant ownership of land used by farmers for decades. They are being used...

The World Bank has approved on June 2, the provision of a $120 million facility to the Ivoirian state, reveals a statement from the institution. The funds should help finance the programme for infrastructure projects for urban development and improving the competitiveness of secondary cities (PIDUCAS). Developed to create an environment that will make more attractive some of the country’s...

The Speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara (photo), is currently being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on allegations of illegally adding figures to the 2016 budget after being passed by the parliament. This was revealed in a letter from the anti-corruption agency dated June 9. According to the agency, the speaker and three other...

Eland Oil & Gas says its subsidiary, Elcrest Exploration and Production, has signed a rig contract with OES Energy Services to secure a rig for a new drilling programme at the Opuama field in OML 40 in Nigeria. This is coming after Eland last week announced plans to raise up to $19.5 million to increase production from the OML 40 licence by three-fold. The rig will drill the side-track...

The Afam VI power plant in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, has seen its output drop by about 40% to 350Megawatts due to transmission challenges. The plant has the capacity to generate 650MW of electricity but only generates at most 450MW due to lack of adequate capacity to evacuate the entire 650MW. “The reliability of the existing infrastructure also needs improvement. For example,...