Nearly 20 Kenya-based companies have been blacklisted by the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB) in less than two years over fraud and quality concerns in projects funded by the multilateral lenders, according to an official statement seen by APA in Kigali last Friday.
Some 40 percent of sub-Saharan Africa’s people are under the age of 15, making them potential future fintech customers at a time when smartphone penetration, still under 50 percent, is rising sharply [File: Adetona Omokanye/Bloomberg]
Fintech startups drew more than 60 percent of all venture funding that flowed into Africa last quarter.
President Buhari and Mr. Antony Blinken
President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed appreciation to the United States for allowing Nigeria to procure military hardware to fight terrorism in the country and the training given to the Nigerian military.
(Ecofin Agency) - Following the previous dip of remittances to sub-Saharan Africa by 0.4% in 2019 and 12% in 2020 due to the pandemic, things have improved this year. According to data from the World Bank, money sent home this year, by sub-saharan Africans in Diaspora has amounted to $45 billion. This is 6.2% higher than last year.
The Young Activists
Young activists have been swapping inspiring stories at a UN-partnered youth summit last week about how they’ve driven positive change for their communities and the environment – and how everyone can do the same.
The international community must step up support to Madagascar, where more than one million people in the south are facing severe hunger, top UN aid official there said last Thursday in a renewed appeal for solidarity and funding.
The plan by the Federal Government to sanction eligible Nigerians who refuse COVID-19 vaccination and the cholera epidemic, which has been silently growing nationwide since beginning of the year are some of the leading stories in Nigerian newspapers recently.
(Business in Cameroon) - Chinese company Yousheng Cement Co Ltd is currently finetuning the establishment of a new cement plant inside the port area in Douala. The information was disclosed by Nana Aboubakar Djalloh, Minister Delegate to the Minister of Environment, in a release inviting the population to the public sittings, on August 30-September 4, 2021, at the Joss II Government Primary School in Douala, in the framework of the project’s environmental impact assessment.
(Ecofin Agency) - The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) adopted on 29 August new key performance indicators to measure the quality of telecom services provided by operators.
Rampaging miners
On the 13th of August 202, a journalist investigating artisanal mining issues for Radio Milo based in the Siguiri Prefecture was attacked by a group of young artisanal gold miners armed with hunting rifles and knives.
Nubaysha (Photo UPU)
“Winners of the competition all display a wisdom, a strength of character that goes far beyond their years; something that makes them stand out as individuals and as ambassadors of their generation.”The Universal Postal Union’s Director General Bishar A. Hussein remarked at a special ceremony during the 27th Universal Postal Congress in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire while announcing the winner of the edition.
Masahiko Metoki of Japan new Director shaking hands with the outgoing Director
Masahiko Metoki of Japan has been elected the new Director General of the UN specialized agency for postal matters, while Marjan Osvald of Slovenia has been elected as the organization's Deputy Director General.
Group photo with the outgoing DG (center) Bishar A. Hussein (Photo UPU)
Abidjan/Bern, 9 August 2021. Speaking at the official opening ceremony of the 27th Universal Postal Congress in Abidjan, Côte d' Ivoire, the Universal Postal Union’s Director General Bishar A. Hussein highlighted the international postal sector’s innovation and creativity during the COVID-19 pandemic.
(Modern Ghana) Ghanaian fisheries observers are bribed, threatened and abused at sea, investigations by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) have revealed .
(Togo First) - For the second consecutive year, Togo is the country that exported the largest volume of organic soyabeans to Europe. The West African nation, according to a report recently released by the EU Commission, sent 51,000tons of the crop to the Schengen Area.
Kenya Power workers. FILE PHOTO | NMG
Kenya has been ranked as the top country in the world in reducing the population with no access to electricity, pointing to the impact of the State’s focus on rural areas for nearly a decade.
(Business in Cameroon) - In Cameroon, Mobile Money operators are calling for flexible identification rules to allow users without official Identification documents to have access to some basic services.
(Ecofin Agency) - Between the covid-19 pandemic and the Ever Given accident, the global economic environment was not conducive to increased revenues for the Suez Canal. However, the waterway generated a historic annual revenue in 2020-21.
As part of community development in Wau, IOM does capacity building and training for youths. Photo: IOM 2020/Peter Caton
Young people who were displaced by conflict in South Sudan have returned home to power change in their community. Hundreds of thousands of people, young and old were forced to flee their homes over recent years following civil war and widespread insecurity in the eastern African country.
SOUTH AFRICA – kls The Department of Employment and Labour has bemoaned the low levels of compliance with health and safety measures by employers, as the country battles the third wave of COVID-19 infections.
*VP chairs inaugural meeting of National Steering Committee on Poverty Reduction with Growth Strategy
How the Buhari administration plans to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in ten years will not be based on a business as usual approach, but a very simple, common-sense strategy that will deliver the results as the President promised, according to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
(Ecofin Agency) - The trade agreement that could be the most significant development in U.S-Africa trade relations, since the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) passed in Congress in 2000, faces another hurdle. This is attributable to the expiration of the key legislative tool (TPA) needed to accelerate Congress’s approval of the agreement. Consequently, the prospects for the deal to conclude becomes gloomy.
Angola – Sécil Marítima SA expects to start commercial passenger transport, between the cities of Cabinda and Soyo, as of the last quarter of this year, revealed its interim chairman of the Board of Directors (PCA) of the institution, João Martins.
(Ecofin Agency) - The G7 group, an inter-governmental political forum including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, is committing $382 million to tackle the increasing food crisis and famine in the Northeast region of Nigeria.
(Business in Cameroon) - In Cameroon, smartphone adoption is steadily rising, according to figures published by the national telecom observatory of the telecom regulatory board ART. Recently, citing the figures from that observatory, Minister of Posts and Telecommunications (MINPOSTEL) Minette Libom Li Likeng revealed that from 25% in 2016, the smartphone penetration rate rose to 40% in 2020.
The Nile has delivered freshwater, fed agriculture, and supported livelihoods in Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan for thousands of years. Photo:Unsplash/Jeremy Zero
The United Nations stands ready to support Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan in efforts to resolve their decade-long disagreement over the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), senior officials told the Security Council on Thursday July 8th 2021
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An Interview with the creator Giselle Rufer
DELANCE SWISS WATCHES
While strides have been made to ensure gender equality over the years, work is continuing to accelerate these actions. “In terms of the landscape, I can proudly say that South African women have been as a result of democracy, taking part in decision making processes and structures. We have women ministers; we have women in top management and women who own businesses. I think in 1994, this was not imaginable. The advent of democracy has made it possible for us to thrive,” says Charlotte Lobe.
African authors are not too well known in Switzerland especially the female authors as I have learned, even by the people who have a general interest in Africa or business in/with Africa.
To circumvent liquidation, proactive engagement with creditors at the early stages of financial distress is imperative
It is well documented that the COVID-19 pandemic is taking its toll on businesses. Commerce in most sectors is fighting to keep their doors open, grappling with creditors to avoid winding up proceedings and its far-reaching implications.
The fight against plastic pollution is being hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, as the use of disposable masks, gloves and other protective equipment soars, but UN agencies and partners insist that, if effective measures are put into place, the amount of plastics discarded every year can be significantly cut, or even eliminated.
1) Pollution driven by huge increase in mask sales
The promotion of mask wearing as a way to slow the spread of COVID-19 has led to an extraordinary increase in the production of disposable masks: the UN trade body, UNCTAD, estimates that global sales will total some $166 billion this year, up from around $800 million in 2019.
Dr. John Nkengasong and Commissioner Amira Elfadil Mohammed Elfadil
Everyone knows by now that due to a combination of leadership, environment, social ecology, demographics and as yet unknown biological and other factors, Africa has been spared the worst of the havoc that COVID-19 has wreaked on other parts of the globe and was predicted to do here too.
Tamer Farouk
As the pandemic continues to influence how organisations operate and behave, African businesses need to adapt its workforce and technology considerations
Achare Takor
In response the Covid-19 pandemic, the Government of Cameroon decided on a number of fiscal measures to support Cameroonian businesses and households
With every industrial revolution comes shifts to social, economic, environmental and political systems, paving the way for transformative changes in the way we live and work.
The Universal Postal Congress has re-elected Switzerland to the Council of Administration and the Postal Operations Council of the Universal Postal Union. Delegates confirmed their confidence in Switzerland in the elections at the 27th World Postal Congress in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. The Universal Postal Union will be headed by Masahiko Metoki from Japan beginning from 2022.
(Ecofin Agency) - Authorities in Senegal are exploring ways to boost the cotton industry after the sector delivered poor performances in recent years. The Agricultural Research Institute (ISRA) unit based in Tambacounda announced it is currently developing new varieties to improve both the productivity and the quality of the fiber.
(Ecofin Agency) - After the first investment in Morocco’s irrigation sector in March, Amethis Mena Fund II plans new investments in North Africa.
(Ecofin Agency) - As part of initiatives to help Africa catch up with the Covid-19 vaccination campaign, France and Germany announced they are giving the continent 80 million shots of vaccines.
[WHO-AFRO] Birnin -- Kebbi, 21 January, 2022 - I learnt about cervical cancer and people dying from the disease while carrying out my duty as a journalist. I never took time to know my status until October 2021, when an expert reiterated that early detection is key to surviving any form of cancer", says Adenike Tambe, a health journalist living in Abuja.
[WHO-AFRO] Addis Ababa -- A human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination campaign that aims to immunize over 1.8 million 14-year-old girls in nine regions against HPV is underway. The campaign commenced on 10 January 2022 and will end on 22 January.
[RFI] In an effort to revitalise Gambia's flagging tourism sector, which has been decimated during the Covid-19 pandemic, the West African country is looking closer to home, and even at its own, to bolster the once-vibrant industry.
[UN News] At least 1.5 million children are not receiving life-saving treatment for severe wasting in Eastern and Southern Africa, warned the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Friday.
[The Herald] Although Zimbabwe has witnessed a substantial increase in investment towards mental health awareness over the past few years, stakeholders have called for more collaborative efforts to ensure availability and accessibility of services.
[New Zimbabwe] The Bulawayo city council in conjunction with the ministry of Health and Child Care, has embarked on an accelerated door to door Covid-19 vaccination programme.
[Vanguard] What I'm bringing to the table as judge on the show - D'banj
[New Zimbabwe] Zimbabwean music legend Zexie Smart Kugariga Manatsa, who died last Thursday, was buried at Warren Hills cemetery on Sunday amid calls for government and stakeholders to help promote upcoming artists.
[New Frame] German funk legend Jan Weissenfeldt's new album takes a decade on the road playing music from 1970s Africa and translates it into an explosive new sound.
[The Herald] Veteran musician Zex Manatsa has died.
[The Point] The question, "Where were you?" has become a political cliché in The Gambia. At a 2018 press conference, Gambia's President Adama Barrow lashed out at intellectuals, and asked where they were when he and his supporters stood up to get rid of former President Yahya Jammeh. But I want to use pose the question in a different sense, namely, with regards to music, because I REALLY love music. And I can't help it because it is hard-wired onto my brain.
[The Herald] United States-based Zimbabwean gospel singer Reverend Togarirepi Chivaviro is preparing to drop his 19th album.
[Daily Maverick] Westerford High School in Cape Town has maintained a consistent 100% pass rate for years, which has positioned the 69-year-old academic institution as one of the country's top schools.
[African Arguments] Liberia's free education policies seem to have alleviated one big problem but exacerbated another.
[Ghanaian Times] The Management of the Ghana Education Service and representatives of the various teacher unions in the country have both agreed to further engage in order to come to a common understanding on the implementation of the new school calendar for basic schools.
[Ghanaian Times] Wa -- President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo yesterday gave the assurance that the Simon Diedong Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies (SDD-UBIDS) would soon receive a seed capital to enable it operate at full capacity and also acquire basic logistics needed for the running of the institution.
[Ghanaian Times] Somanya -- The University for Environment and Sustainable Development (UESD) at Somanya in the Eastern Region has held its second commencement lecture and thanksgiving service to usher in the new academic year with the call on management of the University to make learning and research programmes relevant to help reverse the adverse effect of climate change.
[Ghanaian Times] Tema -- The Ghana Unity Association of Maryland in the United States of America on Wednesday presented food items worth about $1000 to the Tetteh Ocloo State School for the Deaf in Tema.
[The Herald] Herald Correspondent
[Ghanaian Times] The traffic situation in the country's capital, Accra is becoming unbearable by the day, a worrying situation which needs urgent attention by the traffic management authorities.
[Ghanaian Times] An official of the Vector Control Unit, Zoomlion Ghana Limited, Abel Djangmah, has reiterated the need to intensify the ongoing monthly disinfection operation at the country's airports.
[Namibia Economist] Privately-owned airline, FlyNamibia, previously known as FlyWestair, is set to increase flights to Cape Town in South Africa, according to a statement released on a travel news website this week.
[Govt of SA] Employment and Labour inspectors to conduct mega blitz inspections targeting hospitality sector - Western Cape
[Daily News] QATAR Airways has increased its weekly flights between Dar es Salaam and Doha from two in 2007 to 19 currently as it marks 15 successful years of operations in Tanzania.
Devil or fool? Several churches in Germany have stained-glass windows portraying Adolf Hitler. Who were the artists and what are the artworks all about?
For over a century, Afghanistan's rulers and ethnic groups have been arguing about what women should do and how they should be. Women haven't had much say.
Indonesian collective Ruangrupa, curators of the world-famous contemporary art show, refute accusations of antisemitism. The pandemic is also making planning difficult.
There are strange placenames around the world. A village in Wales is even called: „Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch“. We want to know what the most unusual placename is that you have heard of?
After their visas were rejected, Cameroonian researchers may only participate online in a colonial looted art workshop organized by Munich's ethnological Museum Fünf Kontinente.
He had attended an elite Nazi school, but after the war, he became a film star and an outspoken opponent of far-right violence. He has died at the age of 93.
[Graça Machel Trust] Women entrepreneurs make a substantial contribution to the economic growth of a country. While many are yet to achieve their full potential, female-led Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) are vibrant through self-financing 'chamas' where they pool resources as a group of individuals for investments and loans to expand their businesses.
[UNFPA] Grand Sud -- "I want to be a health worker when I grow up," said shy 8-year-old Satiana Hary*, "because I want to be able to treat myself if I fall sick." She knows about falling sick - and about violence - after being raped by her neighbour, a man in his mid-twenties. Satiana endured endometritis, vaginitis and cystitis as a result.
[Ghanaian Times] Techiman -- Increase microcredit for women in the Bono East Region, as a strategy for poverty alleviation and women empowerment, the Center of Posterity Interest Organisation (COPIO), a Techiman - based NGO, has urged financial institutions and other stakeholders.
[Vanguard] Maiduguri -- Aisha Umar, a female Internally Displaced Person (IDP) in Borno State, has been reported dead after allegedly being raped by an official of an International Non-Governmental Organisation.
[FrontPageAfrica] Monrovia -- The Vice President of the Republic of Liberia, Jewel Howard-Taylor, has addressed the first-ever National Progressives Women's Conference under the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) held on Tuesday, January 18, 2022, at the Abuja International Conference Center, in Abuja, Nigeria.
[The Herald] A 30-year-old Harare man has appeared in court on allegations of kidnapping a woman in the Harare Central Business District.
Devil or fool? Several churches in Germany have stained-glass windows portraying Adolf Hitler. Who were the artists and what are the artworks all about?
Women who work in pandemic care services often work long hours for low wages. Their labor has bolstered the health care system and helped increase the rate of vaccination.
The unidentified man was found alive in the nose wheel section of the cargo plane when it landed in Amsterdam, Dutch authorities said. He is believed to have slipped aboard before the flight left Johannesburg.
Britain's justice minister has insisted the governing Conservative party is not Islamophobic after a former junior minister claimed she was fired because she made colleagues "uncomfortable."
The Taliban representatives are discussing humanitarian aid in Oslo, their first official talks in Europe since they seized power. Their arrival prompted protests.
A senior doctor working at a public hospital in Paris faces litigation for trying to sell an X-ray as a digital artwork. The head of public hospitals in Paris slammed the move as "disgraceful" and "scandalous."
[Vanguard] -Amaechi, Achebe, INC, others speak
[DW] Reports of gunfire came hours after mutinous soldiers fired weapons at several barracks in the capital, Ouagadougou. The government had denied social media reports of a coup
[Premium Times] At least 46 villagers were killed within a week after bandits launched a punitive expedition against two Kebbi villages.
[Independent (Kampala)] The Last Word -- On January 26, President Yoweri Museveni and NRM will mark 36 years in power. His is third longest serving presidency in Africa today, and one of the longest in the post-World War Two world. What is his legacy?
[Independent (Kampala)] Kampala, Uganda -- Two weeks before Uganda ended the longest school closure in the world owing to outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Education and Sports instructed all primary and secondary schools to allow pregnant students to return to school so as to complete their education.
[This Day] Abuja -- The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo has stressed the need for constant dialogues among the various ethnic nationalities in Nigeria as a means of taking the advantages of the country's diversities.
Data centers that support businesses, internet services and our social media lives use lots of energy. As their numbers grow there is pressure to make them more energy-efficient and reduce their environmental impact.
[Egypt Online] Telecommunications Minister Amr Talaat said on Saturday 22/01/2022 that the ICT Ministry aims to increase the number of services offered on Egypt Portal to 200 by the end of 2022.
[Daily Trust] Alhaji Aliko Dangote, President of Dangote Group, says the Dangote Refinery and Fertiliser projects will come on stream before the end of third quarter of this year.
[Premium Times] The transportation minister inspected the progress of the Lekki seaport.
[Capital FM] Nairobi -- Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) Governor Patrick Njoroge has mourned his Ugandan counterpart Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile as a man who worked diligently to forge closer ties within the East African Community (EAC)
[Premium Times] SERAP is also seeking "an order directing and compelling the Federal Government to publish details of spending of the loans obtained by governments..."
Once Bayern Munich's most expensive signing, Corentin Tolisso is widely expected to soon leave on a free transfer. But the Frenchman scored again as Bayern brushed aside Hertha Berlin, and he may yet earn a new deal.
[Vanguard] Nigerian and Javor Matis Ivanjica striker Ugochukwu Ogbonnaya Uduenyi, has spoken of how the many years he spent playing for clubs on load deal shaped him to become a better player in Europe.
[CAF] Tunisia are through to the quarter final stage at the on-going TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations Cameroon 2021.
[CAF] The Stallions of Burkina Faso beat Gabon 7-6 on penalties following a 1-1 draw in regulation time to qualify to the quarter finals of the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations Cameroon 2021.
[DW] The Super Eagles won all their three group games but came unstuck against Tunisia's Carthage Eagles in Garoua. What promised to be a long campaign was brought to an abrupt end at the first knockout stage.
[RFI] Nigeria boss Augustine Eguavoen warned his squad to be on thei guard for an underestimated Tunisia side keen to make a statement during their last 16 clash at the Africa Cup of Nations.
[New Zimbabwe] A Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) grouping has demanded the urgent introduction of wealth tax to facilitate the trickledown effect of financial resources to the country's "have nots" in a bid to reduce the alarming poverty levels.
[Daily News] THE United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has expressed its commitment of cooperating with Tanzania on ensuring the country makes progress and records success, especially on the coming Population and Housing Census to be held in August this year.
[IPS] Mogadishu -- I arrived in Somalia in September 2019, two decades after having worked here previously. I knew that I was taking up a challenging assignment, but I was also looking forward to seeing Somalia's progress.
[African Arguments] Covid-19 pushed an additional 100 million people into extreme poverty, according to the World Bank. The pandemic has not only caused a global health crisis, but also has led to major economic disruptions. The disease has claimed millions of lives globally, including thousands dying of starvation, lack of access to medical care due to income losses, and illness because of exposure due to inability to isolate as people need to work to sustain their household.
[The Conversation Africa] On Jan. 15, 2022, the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano in Tonga erupted, sending a tsunami racing across the Pacific Ocean in all directions.
[Afrobarometer] Large majorities of Sudanese see the country as headed in the wrong direction and describe both the national economy and their personal living conditions as bad, according to the latest Afrobarometer survey.
[Daily Trust] The federal government will spend 0.5 per cent of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on science, technology and innovation in order to promote creativity among the youths and create jobs, the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, has said.
[New Era] Upon completing her studies at the Okakarara Vocational Training Centre in 2017, Ester Ndeutalala (28) began working on a mini food blender.
[Premium Times] The most innovative solution providers will pitch their ideas to the companies and will each receive £25,000.
[Premium Times] PTCIJ was established in 2014 to expand the practice of investigative reporting to an exponential level
[New Times] Four young Rwandan innovators and entrepreneurs have developed an application dubbed "Apewo App" available on Play store and App store as an online exhibition platform where people can order for and buy different types of locally made products.
[Egypt Online] Egypt's First Lady Entissar El Sisi stressed that Egyptians are capable of innovation and giving if they are given a chance.