During its second council of ministers of the year, the government of Benin has decided to lease the Pendjari Park. The reserve will henceforth be run by African Park Network. The government hopes the move will help improve the site’s management and attract more tourists. African Park Network is non-profit NGo founded in 2000. It helps African nations deal with flora and fauna...

Nigeria has made the list of World Trade Organization (WTO) members to approve the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), which is expected to reduce trade costs by over 14% for low-income countries and more than 13 percent for upper middle-income countries by restructuring the flow of trade across borders. According to the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enelamah (photo),...

The failure by the Federal Government of Nigeria to generate sufficient income to fulfil its obligations has resulted in the country borrowing from international financial institutions to meet demands, the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun (photo) has revealed. According to her, the realities currently on the ground had made it vital for Nigeria to get a loan if it must survive the economic...

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) under its direct sale, direct purchase import model has called for tenders for the lifting of crude oil. According to an NNPC spokesman, the deadline for the submission of bids is February 2 while the program will commence on April 1 and will last for one year. “To ensure sustainable petroleum product supply across the country, NNPC has...

According to figures provided by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Nigeria’s domestic crude oil production increased by 403,900 bpd to 1.940 million barrels per day in December, compared to the 1.536 million bpd recorded in November 2016. This increase is as a result of the Federal Government’s proposal to militant groups in the oil-rich Niger Delta region, for a...

In the western part of Algeria, agricultural lands have been taken over by urbanization, denounced last Tuesday the general secretary of the Algerian Famers Union (UNPA), Mohamed Alioui. “60% of fertile agricultural lands in the region were devasted for ubanization purpose,” said the leader at a meeting with members of local office of Blida’s farmers union. Calling farmers to defend their...

Nigerian cashew farmers plan to make the nation the second largest producer of the crop in Africa, by 2020, with a forecast output of 500,000 metric tons, Vanguard reports. An achievable goal according to Tola Fasheru, president of the naitional cashew association of Nigeria. “Virtually all the states in the country have the potential to grow cashew,” said Fasheru. However, to achieve this...

The Nigerian Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Babatunde Fashola (photo), has ruled out plans to review the sale of power assets to private investors. According to Fashola, reviewing the sales is unnecessary, as three years were enough to judge the capability of the new owners. Fashola urged electricity consumers to join forces with the power investors in order to improve their services...

MTN Group has said it may postpone plans to list its operation on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) until 2018, as it is making efforts to resolve a regulatory dispute and awaits an economic recovery. “It’s a work in progress and hopefully within the 12 to 18 month period, we will be able to do it. Regulatory issues need to be resolved, and the macro conditions need to have improved,’’...

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has ordered the Deposit Money Banks and other financial institutions in the country not to transact in digital currencies as they are not legal tenders in Nigeria. This digital currency according to CBN includes, bitcoin, ripples, monero, litecoin, dogecion and onecoin. It warned that any institution or individual caught dealing in such currencies was doing...