In an interview with French Magazine Le Point, President Issoufou described Niger’s demography as a ticking bomb. “We have a growth rate of 4% per annum, and a fecundity rate or 7 children per woman. In addition, when asking women about how many kids they want, they respond nine, while men say eleven. So the average number of kids desired exceeds the rate of fecundity. It’s a great...

Organized by the Alliance Pour Refonder la Gouvernance en Afrique (ARGA), a structure based in Dakar (Senegal), a reflection workshop on migration-induced land challenges took place on December 15 in Korhogo, in the Northern part of Cote d’Ivoire. This was reported by l’Agence Ivoirienne de Presse. Regrouping about 50 academics and experts of migration, the workshop aimed to determine issues...

The Burundi government has studied the bill to ratify a €70 million (about $95 million) loan agreement signed with the European Investment Bank (EIB). Signed in 2014, the agreement will help finance the development of the Jiji and Murembwe hydropower projects. Situated in the Southern part of Burundi, on the Eponymous Rivers, the two plants will add an additional 50 MW to the...

The African Development Bank (AfDB) announced in a statement published on December 15, it has granted Ethiopian Airlines a $159 million loan to fund part of its strategy to grow and modernize its fleet. The statement reveals that the funding comes in two tranches. The first which represents 85% of the funding is covered by the African Trade Insurance (ATI), the African agency for export...

The Global Telecommunication Union (GTU) recently published a report entitled Measuring the information society 2016 which reveals that in terms of ICT and telecom’s growth around the world (175 countries listed), Mauritius comes first in Africa and 73rd worldwide. The Island is followed in Africa by Seychelles, South Africa, while Niger and Chad came last in the ranking, both in Africa and...

Pancontinental Namibia on Monday announced that it has received a cash call claim in the amount of $552,897 from Tullow Oil. The claim, which was received on Friday, December 16, 2016, arises from alleged costs sustained by Tullow during the operatorship of the Namibian licence, PEL 37. Tullow claims the amount which stands at $552,897 represents 35% of operatorship costs supposedly...

South Sudan’s Petroleum Minister, Ezekiel Lul Gatkuoth (photo), has announced plans to increase oil production from 130,000 to 350,000 barrels a day, in spite of the ongoing armed conflict in the country. According to him, technical measures had been put in place to reopen oil fields in the northern Unity region, making it possible to boost national production to 350,000 barrels a day by early...

Aminex Plc has announced that it has received formal approval from the Tanzanian Minister of Energy and Minerals to extend the work period of the Nyuni Area PSA for a period of four years. The current work period will now be extended until at least 27th October 2019. Nyuni covers more than 400,000 acres and is potential host to multi-trillion cubic feet of gas. According to the company, it has...

UK oil giant, BP on Monday announced that it is farming in into Kosmos Energy’s exploration blocks, offshore Mauritania and Senegal. According to the company, it would purchase a 62% working interest, including operatorship, of Kosmos’ offshore Blocks C-6, C-8, C-12 and C-13 in Mauritania as well as a 32.49% effective working interest in Kosmos’ Saint-Louis Profond and Cayar Profond blocks...

Algeria’s Sonatrach, has signed contracts with Tecnicas Reunidas and Amec Foster Wheeler to carry out studies for two new refinery processing plants. According to Sonatrach's CEO, Amin Mazouzi (photo), the first plant, in Skikda, would process 4.6 million tonnes of fuel oil and 4 million tonnes of naphtha for an annual output of 3.2 million tonnes of diesel and 3.5 million tonnes of gasoline....