Category: West Africa

Mali has cut its cotton production forecast for the 2016/17 season to 650,000 tonnes from a previous estimate of 750,000 to 800,000 tonnes, the Malian Company for the Development of Textiles said on Monday, without giving a reason for the reduction. The cotton season opened last month in West Africa’s biggest cotton producer, where last…

Around $15 billion – equal to about half the country’s foreign currency reserves – was stolen from Nigeria’s public purse under the previous government through fraudulent arms procurement deals, the vice president said on Monday. Africa’s top oil exporter is going through its worst economic crisis in decades due to the drop in global crude…

The federal government has accumulated over N2 trillion through the Treasury Single Account (TSA) since the commencement of the policy on September 15, 2015. The minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said this at a town hall meeting held on Monday in Lagos. The policy is meant to consolidate all inflows from Ministries, Departments…

A former President of the Senate, Ken Nnamani, on Monday frowned at the delay in the passage of the 2016 Budget by the National Assembly and assent by the executive arm of government, asking the latter to be conscientious in resolving the impasse. Mr. Nnamani, who was answering questions from State House correspondents in Abuja,…

MTN Group former chief executive officer  Sifiso Dabengwa was paid R23.7 million ($1.6 million) for loss of office after he resigned from Africa’s biggest wireless operator following a record $5.2 billion fine levied by Nigerian regulators. The payout equates to almost three years basic salary and took Dabengwa’s total 2015 remuneration to R40.6 million, Johannesburg-based MTN…

In a press release published last week on 13 April regarding its latest edition of the ‘Migration and Development Brief’, the World Bank said it found that remittances to developing countries grew only marginally in 2015, as weak oil prices and other factors strained the earnings of international migrants and their ability to send money…

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) announced on April 15, 2016, the approval of USD 18 million in funding for two projects co-financed with the African Development Bank (AfDB). µThe first project aims at supporting African countries to shift toward renewable energy (RE) infrastructure through the preparation of RE projects, while the second seeks to help…

Abuja — Barring any hitches, five senior officials of Shell Petroleum Company of Nigeria Limited are expected to appear before the High Court of Bayelsa State in Yenagoa for allegedly violating the state’s building regulations. They were earlier this month served with copies of criminal summons/complaint through the company’s head office at 21/22 Marina, Lagos…

The minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, has disclosed that, contrary to reports, there is no currency swap agreement between Nigeria and China. He made this disclosure to State House Correspondents yesterday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. LEADERSHIP recalls that during President Muhammadu Buhari ‘s visit to China, an agreement on a ‘Mandate Letter Between…

Niamey – Operations restarted at Niger’s only oil refinery at the weekend after a strike over working conditions and pay disrupted fuel deliveries for three days, a union official said on Sunday. The strike at the Soraz refinery, a joint venture between China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) and the Niger government, began on Wednesday, restricting…