Following the advice given by World Bank, the Federal Government of Nigeria has agreed to pay the sum of N407 billion debt it owed fuel importers under a subsidy scheme, the finance ministry revealed. Nigeria imports most of its gasoline requirement due to its worn-out refining system. Companies importing subsidized products into the country have been funding their goods with low available...

The President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari has been advised by the World Bank on Wednesday, to take advantage of the global oil prices that has severely dropped by removing fuel subsidy as scarcity persists. John Litwack, World Bank’s Lead Economist for Nigeria, who had declared this at the inauguration of the new edition of the Nigeria Economic Report, noted that the bank had predicted...

Norwegian energy company Statoil, has announced that it needs explanation on Tanzania’s new petroleum law. According to the company’s local commercial manager, Oivind Holm Karlsen, Statoil wants to learn the effect of the law on its operations in the country. “We need to go through the law to make sure we have a common understanding of what it is.We need to understand what the implication...

In Egypt, BP has announced that it has obtained extra stake from DEA Deutsche Erdoel in the West Nile Delta (WND) project. This acquisition makes the company the operator of the project with 82.75% stake.   “We are pleased to be increasing our interest in the WND project, which is a strategic project for BP and will play a key role in helping to secure Egypt’s energy supply for...

Canal 3 TV comes out of its Benin cocoon expanding to West Africa, broadcasting in 4 languages: Hausa, Savanna, Wolof and French. Beninese firm Canal Holdings who is in charge of editing these TV channels just signed a long term contract with satellite operator SES S.A, one of the biggest in the world. Canal 3 channels which are going to be paid-for will be broadcasted in West Africa through two...

Maputo, Mozambique’s capital is at the top of the ranking for African cities with highest potential in terms of inclusive growth according to the 2015 Master African Cities Growth Index published on December 2. For this third edition of the Master African Cities Growth Index/ACGI, 74 cities have been ranked based on their population size: big (more than a million), average (from 500,000 to a...

African export-import bank, Afrximbank, announced it has proposed Egypt a facility of up to $1 billion, underwriting $500 million, to help improve the country’s foreign currency liquidity. The president of this pan-African group, Benedict Oramah, presented this proposal during a courtesy meeting in November ending to the governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), Tarek Amer. Mr....

COP 21, a meeting where promises are backed by actions. Indeed, on December 7, French minister of foreign affairs Laurent Fabius announced that developed countries had already mobilized €10 billion of public funding to support an initiative driven towards the development of renewable energies in Africa. Mr. Fabius who heads the Climate Change Talks COP 21 said the sum was the “amount...

Could Loïc Evain have been wrong? After cases of avian flu had been confirmed in France and four northern African countries closed their borders to French poultry, Deputy Director General of Food told AFP everything was under control and that countries such as Morocco would soon be able to reopen their doors to France’s poultry. However, Maghreb Emergent, says otherwise. Indeed, Rabat just...

On December 7, 215, fixed-line telecom operator Neotel announced in a release that its CEO Sunil Joshi resigned. His resignation follows an investigation led by the firm’s board of administration which cleared him of bribery allegations. These investigations were initiated at the beginning of the year after newspaper The Mail & Guardian made allegations about Neotel making illicit...