Nigeria's Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the request for a $1.3 billion loan from international lenders to fund the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN), the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun (photo), revealed on Wednesday. According to Adeosun, the loan includes $500 million from the World Bank to be repaid over 21 years, $450 million from the African Development...

Mining firm Avenira hopes to soon raise $AU2.5 million, in the framework of share acquisition plan, to advance its Baobab phosphate project in Senegal. The company will allow its shareholders to buy new shares ranging overall between AU$1,000 and AU$15,000, at c8.4 per share. The price offered is 10.6% below the weighted-average price of Avenira’s share which was estimated at $0.094...

Momentum Africa Real Estate Fund (MAREF), a joint-venture between London-based Global Investment Management and South African real estate group Eris Property, annonced the final closing of a $170 million fund which will focus on real estate assets across Africa. The investment fund whose two main stakeholders are subsidiaries of MMI Holdings, Africa’s third largest insurer listed on the...

Meeting with authorities in charge of arable land, Algeria’s minister of agriculture, rural development and fishery, Abdesselam Chelghoum, announced that the State has recovered more than 100,000 hectares of non-used arable lands across the nation over the past six months. These lands were distributed in the framework of a programme to boost access to land (APFA) and in respect to an...

Nigeria President has formally launched the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) which contains measures expected to help plug the country out of recession. Speaking in Abuja at a brief ceremony set up after a meeting of the Federal Executive Council (Cabinet), Muhammadu Buhari (photo) said his administration is determined to transform Nigeria from a consumer nation to a net producer. “The...

In Togo, all riparians expropriated 30 years ago due to the development of the Nangbeto hydropower dam have come up to shout their anger. Indeed, the people accuse the State of not providing the houses, schools, health centres, markets, roads and other infrastructures it promised at the time. “In the framework of the construction of the Nangbeto dam, people living on the site had to leave. At...

Popular Farms and Mills Limited, a division of Stallion Conglomerate, plans to increase its production of locally farmed rice from 450,000 metric tonnes to 1.5 million tonnes annually. The company intends to achieve this by using integrated rice value chain and enhancing milling activities. “Popular Farms and Mills Limited will leverage the impulse provided by the Federal Government through...

Six states in Nigeria could benefit from a new $500 million loan from the World Bank for the construction of rural roads. “The rural roads construction project is expected to increase farmers’ access to farm inputs and markets, thus reducing post-harvest losses, and the loan is such that participating state governments will pay 5% counterpart funding while the federal government is to...

The government of Japan has donated $3.5 million to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), for the provision of food assistance to internally displaced people in the Northeastern part of Nigeria. This fund will allow WFP deliver food to over 160,000 people in Borno and Yobe States. “We commend the Government and people of Japan for their continued contributions to WFP’s...

Nigeria’s crude oil and condensate production dropped by more than 200,000 bpd to 1.676 million bpd last month against 1.9 million bpd in February, according to the Ministry of Petroleum. Although the Ministry which disclosed this on Tuesday did not provide the reason behind the monthly drop, sources with knowledge of the issue attribute the fall to the ongoing maintenance at the Bonga oil...