Nigerian firms in trouble as central bank measures backfire

ABUJA, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Nigerian companies making anything from soap to tomato paste could run out of raw materials and be forced to shut down as Africa's top oil producer has effectively banned the import of almost 700 goods to prevent a currency collapse.

Selected luxury items such as make-up or brown bread imported from Europe have become scarce in some shops as the central bank denies importers dollars, seeking to stem the fallout from a crash in vital oil revenues hammering Africa's largest economy.

The central bank has restricted access to foreign currency to import 41 categories of items to stop a slide of the naira but the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) said this in fact amounted to about 680 individual items.

The foreign exchange bans are part of a long-term plan by President Muhammadu Buhari to encourage local manufacturing, but they run the risk of pushing the economy closer to recession after growth halved in the second quarter compared with the same period last year.

Many items on the central bank list - ranging from incense and toothpicks to plywood, glass and steel products -- are not available in Nigeria in sufficient volumes.

While Nigeria grows a lot of tomatoes, transport is poor and it lacks facilities to produce the concentrate needed by factories making tomato paste, a staple in the West African nation.

"We've taken this matter up with the central bank and the highest authority in this country ... Fiscal authorities will also be involved, they weren't before," Remi Ogunmefun, the director general of MAN, said.

MAN had told the central bank 105 items should be removed from the list, but the bank said it could not afford to do so and agreed to look into removing 44 items.

MAN also suggested 93 finished items that should be added to the list because Nigeria produces enough of them.

The economic crisis is a blow to Buhari who wants to end dependence on oil revenues but faces criticism for failing to name a cabinet four months after taking office.

Since the central bank unveiled its controls in June, executives have had to deal with foreign suppliers worried they won't get paid. They also struggle to convince banks to approve dollar payments.

"It takes minimum 10 days now to get dollars, before it was 24-48 hours, and sometimes when you request like $100,000, you only get $80,000 and it's getting worse," said an executive at a large furniture company, asking not to be named.

It's not clear which imports are still allowed as the central bank lists only categories. He can still bring in beds and chairs to be assembled in Nigeria, but not sofas.

Some firms have defaulted on contracts and lost credit lines. "Many companies have defaulted on fulfilling foreign obligations ... even blue chip companies ... for the first time," said Muda Yusuf, director general of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce.

According to the Lagos Chamber of Commerce, Nigeria is short of 600,000 tonnes a year of palm oil, that is used to make soap, detergents and cosmetics that have also been restricted. Pharmaceutical firms lack bottles, and glass manufacturers do not have the glass to make them.

Julia Payne (Reuters)

Two in every 100 Syrian migrants may be ISIS recruits

Two in every 100 Syrian migrants smuggled into Europe are Islamic State-trained fanatics, David Cameron was warned yesterday.  Lebanese education minister Elias Bousaab, who met the Prime Minister during his lightning visit to the region, said the extremist group is sending trained jihadists ‘under cover’ to attack targets in the West.

If true, it could mean up to 400 of the 20,000 refugees Britain has promised to accept by 2020 have been radicalised. ‘It’s becoming a danger because they are recruiting kids from schools, they are recruiting everywhere. ‘It’s a very dangerous situation and the world should wake up and do something about that.

‘Isis will not stop at the border with Lebanon, before you know it Isis will be in Europe.’ Mr Bousaab’s warning came as Mr Cameron visited refugee camps to see how Britain’s £1billion aid spending is used. 

curled from Dailymail

The depth of Nigeria’s Electricity Problem

There's no end in sight to the daily blackouts that the government says are costing Africa's largest economy about $100 billion a year in missed potential and that President Muhammadu Buhari calls a "national shame." Gas shortages, pipeline vandalism, inadequate funding, unprofitable prices and corruption mean fixing the electricity cuts two years after a partial sale of state power companies to private investors won't be easy.

Generated output has never risen above 5,000 megawatts, which is about a third of peak demand, and if it did the state- owned transmission system can't deliver any more than that before it starts breaking down. South Africa, with a less than a third of Nigeria's population of about 180 million, has nine times more installed capacity and it too is grappling with blackouts.

Nigeria, Africa's biggest oil producer, ranked the worst of 189 countries after Bangladesh and Madagascar on the ease of getting electricity connected to businesses, costing almost 7 percent of lost sales each month, according to a 2015 World Bank Doing Business report.

The power bottleneck comes on top of a slump in oil prices and currency that are threatening Nigeria's role as a destination for investors. Economic growth slowed to 2.4 percent on an annual basis in the second quarter from 6.5 percent a year earlier.

About two-thirds of Nigeria's people have no access to electricity, and at the current plant commissioning rate, supply will barely meet 9,500 megawatts by 2020, according to a 2014 World Bank project document. Demand is expected to increase 10 percent each year. Buhari's party promised before he won power in March's election to generate 40,000 megawatts within four to eight years.

For years the industry's poor performance has spawned jokes about the former state electricity company's name. Nigerians called the National Electric Power Authority "Never Expect Power Always," and when its name was changed to the Power Holding Company of Nigeria a decade ago, they mocked it as the "Problem Has Changed Name."

Hopes that the power situation would improve after former President Goodluck Jonathan partially sold off 15 state generation and distribution companies for more than $3 billion to private investors two years ago have been dashed.

The buyers included locally owned companies such as Forte Oil, Sahara Group and Transnational Corp. of Nigeria, along with foreign technical partners such as Korea Electric Power Corp.

They found the companies they bought weren't financially viable, and the distribution firms mounted with debt started hemorrhaging cash. Last year, "the financial flows in the sector came close to collapse,'' Britain's Department for International Development said in a December 2014 report.

"There wasn't much due diligence done" because strikes during the sale period blocked access to the utilities, said Dolapo Kukoyi, a partner at Lagos-based Detail Commercial Solicitors, which advised investors looking to buy the distribution companies. "People basically bought blind -- this was across the board."

Nigeria's central bank designed a 213 billion-naira ($1.1 billion) bailout package to cover revenue shortfalls and help the companies meet debt-service obligations on bank loans of almost 500 billion naira.

The power industry still requires as much as $20 billion of investment in the next six years, according to Benjamin Dikki, the director-general of the Bureau of Public Enterprises, which led the sales.

Even after the sales, bribery of electricity workers by some diesel generator and fuel suppliers to organize household and business blackouts in order to boost sales is continuing.

Diesel generation costs 30 cents to 50 cents per kilowatt-hour, compared with the average grid tariff of 13 cents, according to the World Bank. Timothy Oyedeji, a spokesman for the Power Ministry, didn't answer two calls and a text message seeking comment.

The generation companies have battled with chronic gas shortages used by 70 percent of the plants, despite Nigeria holding Africa's biggest reserves of more than 180 trillion cubic feet. From December to June, rampant pipeline attacks reached levels last recorded at the peak of a 2006 to 2009 militant insurgency in the oil producing Niger River. They've slowed since then.

Government-set tariffs have also hampered the distribution companies. Just before the elections, the regulator banned them from charging consumers for losses caused by billing mistakes, effectively cutting the tariff by more than half in some areas. This caused most of the distribution utilities to declare force majeure, claiming they couldn't pay for their power supply.

Up the chain, generating companies say they haven't received payments from state-owned Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading, which acts as a middle man between them and the distribution companies.

And because the distribution utilities haven't paid about 20 billion naira owed since February, payments to the power plants have slowed, said Rumundaka Wonodi, chief executive officer of NBET in Abuja.

While NBET has enough cash to make the market payments for five months, the money is there to cover breakdowns and the company doesn't want to deplete the funds without the agreement of the power minister, Wonodi said. Problem is, Buhari hasn't filled that position more than three months after taking office.

The generation companies are also feeling the pinch. The 30-year-old Egbin plant in Lagos, which is owned by Sahara and Korea Electricity, is owed almost 44 billion naira for December to June, along with 22 billion naira of past debt costs.

"We've never broken even in 2 1/2 years," Egbin Chief Executive Office Dallas Peavey Jr. said in an interview at the plant. "If it wasn't for Sahara to be quite honest we would have shut down about three months ago.''

The national grid is another bottleneck. It needs about $40 million a year just for maintenance, compared with the $1 million now allocated by the government, Peavey said. Nigeria's aggregate technical, commercial and collection losses are 35 percent of total generation, according to the World Bank.

Buhari said last month that he recognized that transmission was a greater problem than generation and his administration was taking action to boost supply.

curled from the Chicago Tribune

Nigerian Ambassador to the US, Adefuye Passes

Nigerian Ambassador to the United States, Adebowale Adefuye, is dead. Adefuye, a former History professor died on Thursday August 27th, 2015 at an undisclosed hospital in Washington DC. Late Ambassador Adefuye was appointed the head of the Nigerian mission to the U.S. in 2010 by former President Goodluck Jonathan.

Prof. A. Adefuye (1947-2015)

He was born in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State in 1947. He was a graduate of the University of Ibadan where he bagged his first degree in 1969. He was also a Fulbright Scholar and embarked on further studies and research work at the Columbia University in New York, the University of North Florida, and the University of Florida in Gainesville.

Adefuye explains a point during a recent visit by President Buhari to DC

Adefuye (L) at the White House

Prior to his being named Nigeria’s ambassador to the US, he served as ambassador to Jamaica, and deputy high commissioner in the U.K.

List of illegal Educational institutions in Nigeria

The National Universities Commission recently released a list of illegal degree awarding institutions operating in Nigeria. The list of these illegal universities was made available to the public in a NUC’s weekly bulletin dated August 24. In the bulletin, the NUC Executive secretary, Julius Okojie, warned that Certificates obtained from these universities and colleges will not be recognized for the purpose of NYSC, employment and further studies.”

Full list:

1. University of Accountancy and Management Studies, operating anywhere in Nigeria.

2. Christians of Charity American University of Science and Technology Nkpor, Anambra State or any of its campuses.

3. University of Industry, Yaba, Lagos or any of its other campuses.

4. University of applied Sciences and Management Port Novo, Republic of Benin or any of its other campuses in Nigeria.

5. Blacksmith University, Awka or any of its campuses.

6. Volta University College, Ho, Volta Region, Ghana or any of its other campuses in Nigeria.

7. Royal University Izhia, P.O. Box 800, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State or any of its other campuses.

8. Atlanta University, Anyigba, Kogi State or any of its other campuses.

9. Sunday Adokpela University, Otada Adoka, Otukpo, Benue State or any of its other campuses.

10. United Christian University, Macotis Campus, Imo State or any of its other campuses.

11. United Nigeria University College, Okija, Anambra State or any of its other campuses.

12. Samuel Ahmadu University, Makurdi, Benue State or any of its other campuses.

13. UNESCO University, Ndoni, Rivers State or any of its other campuses.

14. Saint Augustine’s University of Technology, Jos Plateau State or any of its other campuses.

15. The International University, Missouri, USA, Kano and Lagos Study Centres, or any of its campuses in Nigeria.

16. Columbus University, UK operating anywhere in Nigeria.

17. Tiu International University, UK operating anywhere in Nigeria.

18. Pebbles University, UK operating anywhere in Nigeria.

19. London External Studies UK operating anywhere in Nigeria.

20. Pilgrims University operating anywhere in Nigeria.

21. Lobi Business School Makurdi, Benue State or any of its campuses in Nigeria.

22. West African Christian University operating anywhere in Nigeria.

23. Bolta University College Aba or any of its campuses in Nigeria.

24. JBC Seminary Inc. (Wukari Jubilee University) Kaduna Illegal Campus.

25. Westlan University, Esie, Kwara State or any of its campuses in Nigeria.

26. St. Andrews University College, Abuja or any of its campuses in Nigeria.

27. EC- Council University, USA, Ikeja Lagos Study Centre.

28. Atlas University, Ikot Udoso Uko, Uyo Akwa Ibom State or any of its campuses in Nigeria.

29. Concept College/University (London) Ilorin or any of its campuses in Nigeria.

30. Halifax Gateway University, Ikeja or any of its campuses in Nigeria.

31. Kingdom of Christ University, Abuja or any of its campuses in Nigeria.

32. Acada University, Akinlalu, Oyo State or any of its campuses in Nigeria.

33. Fifom University, Mbaise, Imo State or any of its campuses in Nigeria.

34. Houdegbe North American University Campuses In Nigeria.

35. Atlantic International University, Okija, Anambra State.

36. Open International University, Akure.

37. Middle Belt University (North Central University), Otukpo.

38. Leadway University, Ugheli, Delta State.

39. Metro University, Dutse/Bwari, Abuja.

40. Southend University, Ngwuro Egeru (Afam) Ndoki, Rivers State.

41. Olympic University, Nsukka, Enugu State.

42. Federal College of Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Abuja.

43. Temple University.

44. Irish University Business School London, operating anywhere in Nigeria.

45. National University of Technology, Lafia, Nasarawa State.

46. University of Accountability and Management Studies, Mowe, Lagos Ibadan Expressway and its Annex at 41, Ikorodu Road Lagos.

47. University of Education, Winneba Ghana, operating anywhere in Nigeria.

48. Cape Cost University, Ghana, operating anywhere inNigeria.

49. African University Cooperative Development (AUCD), Cotonou, Benin Republic, operating anywhere in Nigeria.

50. Pacific Western University, Denver, Colorado, Owerri Study Centre.

51. Evangel University of America and Chudick Management Academic, Lagos.

52. Enugu State University of Science and Technology (Gboko Campus).

53. Career Light Resources Centre, Jos.

54. University of West Africa, kwali-Abuja, FCT.

55. Coastal University, Iba-Oku, Akwa-Ibom State.

56. Kaduna Business School, Kaduna.

57. Royal University of Theology, Minna, Niger Delta.

The NUC listed another eight illegal institutions as currently undergoing investigations and court actions. The commission said the action will lead to the prosecution of the proprietors and recovery of illegal fees and charges on subscribers.

The Universities are:

1. National University of Nigeria, Keffi, Nasarawa state.

2. North Central University, Otukpo, Benue State.

3. Christ Alive Christian Seminary and University, Enugu.

4. Richmond Open University, Arochukwu, Abia State.

5. West Coast University, Umuahia.

6. Saint Clements University, Iyin Ekiti, Ekiti State.

7. Volta University College, Aba, Abia State.

8. Illegal Satellite Campuses of Ambrose Ali University.

U.S. Pilot killed in Lagos Helicopter Crash

The bodies of the two remaining persons missing from Wednesday’s Bristow helicopter crash in Lagos have been recovered by the search and rescue team. The bodies recovered at about 10.25 a.m. yesterday were that of a white American, Captain Jay Wyatt, who was the pilot and a black, who was the co-pilot. The two-man crew perished when the twin-engine Sikorsky 76C+ plunged into the water north of the city as it was heading back from an oil rig on Wednesday.

Marine police and fishermen delivered the bodies of Capt. Joseph "Jay" Wyatt of Oklahoma and First Officer Peter Bello of Nigeria, according to the helicopter's owner, Bristow Group of Houston, Texas. A statement from the company did not give Wyatt's home town.

According to a report by LASWA Managing Director, Mr Yinka Marinho,  submitted to the state government; ’At 9.30am yesterday, a joint effort by the Nigerian Navy and LASWA rescue teams retrieved the bodies of the Captain and co-pilot from the cockpit of the crashed helicopter. The bodies were handed over to the police station at Oworonshoki. The Lagos State Police Command’s spokesperson, DSP Patricia Amadin, had confirmed that after the crash, six persons were rescued alive on Wednesday and four dead.

The police also confirmed that the ill-fated helicopter which plunged into the Lagos Lagoon at Oworonshoki, was carrying 12 passengers when the accident occurred at about 3.10 p.m.

20 Senior Pastors Retired from RCCG

TWENTY senior pastors of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, who have attained the age of 70 had bowed out of active service in obedience to the church’s constitution which pegged retirement age at 70. The announcement of retirement was made at the conclusion of this year’s ministers’ conference, ahead of the convention, by the General Overseer of the church, Pastor Enoch Adeboye.

Six of the pastors received awards of excellence while the 14 others got the award of “Fruitful.”

Moreover, they all received the General Overseer’s handshake, plaques and undisclosed sums of money. The church thanked the retirees and prayed for them.

In a similar development, the church gave awards to some of its pastors who have served the church for 20 years and more. They are in the categories of 20, 25 and 30 years.

Source: Vanguard

Ghana Oil Woes

When the Ghana shipped its first barrels of crude oil in 2010, then-president John Atta Mills pledged to build new roads and a deep-sea port, expand the power grid and create an aluminum industry.

Five years later and Ghana’s economy is sinking. The government was forced to seek an emergency loan from the International Monetary Fund of almost $1 billion, the currency was the worst performer in Africa against the dollar in the first half of the year and power cuts of 24 hours at a time are crippling businesses.

The promise of an oil windfall led Ghana on a borrowing spree. Feted by donors for its stable democracy in a region known for coups and civil conflict, the West African nation attracted investors hunting for high yields. Spending controls weakened at the same time as gold and cocoa prices fell. Soon Ghana went from being almost debt-free to being downgraded by credit-rating companies.

“It’s clear that Ghana did fall prey to the oil curse in the sense of the expectation that oil money was going to solve all its problems,” Philippe de Pontet, Africa director at Eurasia Group, said from Washington. “That had a perverse impact on government planning, spending and behaviors.”

After posting the fastest economic growth in Africa in 2011, Ghana’s expansion of 4 percent in 2014 was the slowest in 20 years. This month it raised its 2015 deficit target to 7.3 percent of gross domestic product to account for lower-than-expected revenue from oil.

Ghana is among producers from Iran to Russia to Nigeria that are struggling with lower-than-expected crude revenue. They are whipsawed by a global supply surplus that caused the price of Brent crude to drop about 50 percent in the past year.

It’s a long way from 2007, when Ghana rode a wave of optimism after London-based Tullow Oil Plc discovered a large offshore reserve. The World Bank estimated in 2009 that the oil boom would boost government revenue by a third and transform an economy that stood at $16 billion at the time.

When Mills opened the first oil tap in December 2010, he pledged to avoid the mistakes of other African oil producers and save revenue for future generations. The resource comes with “serious responsibilities” and the government “must ensure oil is a blessing, is not a curse,” he said.

Ghana began racking up foreign debt less than two years after it was one of a group of highly indebted poor countries granted large write-offs. 

The government sold its first global bond of $750 million in 2007 and, following the oil discovery, received a $3 billion loan from China in 2011.

Authorities have sold $1 billion in Eurobonds in each of the past two years and plan to auction at least another $1 billion this year. The yield on the Ghana’s dollar debt maturing in 2023 is up 130 basis points, or 1.3 percentage points, to 9.286 percent since it was sold in July 2013.

Public debt has almost doubled since 2007 to reach 68 percent of gross domestic product. The country may be headed for default in the next few years, Bloomberg Intelligence’s Mark Bohlund wrote this week.

“Government has borrowed and borrowed,” said Mohammed Amin Adam, head of the Accra-based African Center for Energy Policy. “If you look at borrowing and spending behavior, it quickly reached unsustainable debt levels on the back of oil expectations.” Part of that borrowing was used to pay higher wages after Mills implemented a new salary structure for more than 600,000 civil servants in 2010. The wage bill more than doubled to 5 billion cedis ($1.5 billion) in 2011 and increased by 47 percent the year after that. Mills died in office in 2012. He was replaced by John Dramani Mahama, who has failed to stem debt levels or solve the energy crisis.

His government has blamed falling commodity prices for much of the crisis as it cut budgeted revenue, while pointing to oil prices for the cedi’s decline. Two phone calls and a text message to the mobile phone of Finance Minister Seth Terkper weren’t answered.

The IMF loan, agreed to in April, has provided the government with some breathing space and given investors reason to come back as authorities pledge to keep spending under control. The cedi has recouped all its losses of the first half of the year. And it has gained 26 percent against the dollar since June 29, when the IMF gave a positive assessment of Ghana’s budget targets.

 “With the IMF coming in, the government is being more cautious in terms of borrowing,” said Bernard Anaba, a policy analyst at the Integrated Social Development Centre, an Accra-based research group. “I’m optimistic that the accumulation of debt will slow down.”

The cedi has plunged 58 percent against the dollar since the beginning of 2011, reaching a record low of 4.49 on June 29. Inflation reached 17.1 percent in June. Santiago Cuneo, an economist at RVX Asset Management based in Miami, said he had owned Ghanaian debt before but wouldn’t jump at it now.

“Since the IMF deal, there has been some improvement in the numbers but I’m afraid we’re going to see a weakening cedi,” he said. “Even if there’s progress on the fiscal side, the price of oil and the falling commodity prices are not going to help.

Source: BloombergBusiness

Sudanese documentary wins big at Durban International Film Festival

Beats of the Antonov was a big winner at the 36th Durban International Film Festival, taking home both Best Documentary and the freedom of expression award. The uplifting documentary is a celebration of the people of the Blue Nile and Nuba Mountains in Sudan, who fought with the South for independence but now remain trapped in a civil war in the North.

The jury awarded Beats of the Antonov R25 000 for Best Documentary “for its story, characters, relevance and visual interpretation,” and for a “story told with grace, while honouring the integrity of the people who gave them access as well as the subject matter.”

The jury for Arterial Network’s Artwatch Africa Award for freedom of expression, which carries a cash prize of R15 000, added, “This compelling film shows how the power of music, dancing and culture sustains the displaced people living in the remote war-ravaged areas of Southern Sudan.”

City Press similarly hailed Beats of the Antonov as “the must-see film at the Durban International Film Festival this year.” 

Scoring the documentary 9/10, reviewer Charl Blignaut said the "truly extraordinary film dances a line between cultural expression and an exploration of identity in a pure, textured and impossibly complex Fanonian sense… Beats of the Antonov is the purest kind of cinema. One man and a camera that unpeels a story of the unmakings and makings of identity through cultural production, one where the musician and the audience is unseparated, where music is able to express both lament and healing.”

The documentary also re-opened debate over the South African government’s decision to allow Sudan’s current president, Omar al-Bashir, to leave South Africa last month, flouting a court order and international convention. As Tymon Smith wrote in his festival review in The Times, the “excellent Beats of the Antonov… got tongues wagging.” As the headline of a Sunday Tribune op-ed said, “Zuma needs to see his Sudan documentary,” which positions the civil war in Sudan as a racist war driven by an anti-black notion of Arabisation.

"Omar al-Bashir, who is by all counts a black African, chooses to identify mainly as Arabic-Islamic,” hajooj told The Financial Mail. "This is not an issue until he, and previous Sudanese governments, impose this, at gunpoint, as a national identity on the rest of the 56 major ethnic groups that make up Sudan. This one-dimensional Sudanese identity creates marginalised second-and third-class citizens and an endless state of war in Sudan."

Beats of the Antonov has charmed audiences around the world, winning The People’s Choice Documentary Award at The Toronto International Film Festival and four other international awards. Sudanese filmmaker hajooj kuka directed and shot the documentary over two years, at immense personal risk. He also produced alongside South African Steven Markovitz, as a coproduction between Sudanese production company Refugee Club and South African company Big World Cinema. South African Khalid Shamis edited the documentary with hajooj in Cape Town.

Nigerian appointed World Bank VP

Former Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ms. Arunma Oteh has been appointed Vice President and Treasurer of the World Bank. Oteh was appointed DG of the SEC by President Goodluck Jonathan in 2010. World Bank statement announcing the appointment is quite detailed and highlights Oteh’s impressive career achievements. Below is a part of it.

Arunma, a Nigerian national, was most recently the Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Nigeria. Appointed to a five-year term by the President of Nigeria in 2010, she led the transformation of the country’s capital markets industry into a major global presence.

She was a member of the Board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) and the Chairperson of the Africa Middle East Regional Committee of IOSCO. Prior to joining the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Nigeria, Arunma was Group Vice President, Corporate Services, at the African Development Bank Group (AfDB). In this role she oversaw a number of departments, including human resources, information and communications technology, and institutional procurement.

From 2001 to 2006 she held the role of AfDB Group Treasurer, where she led AfDB’s fundraising and capital market activities across the world. Earlier roles at the AfDB, which she joined in 1992, included trading room management, investment portfolio coverage, and public sector lending. She also held other positions in capital markets and lending during the course of her career at the AfDB.

Arunma began her career in 1985 at Centre Point, where she executed debt and equity offerings in the Nigerian capital markets. 

She earned her Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of Nigeria and her Masters of Business Administration from Harvard University.

As VP and Treasurer, Arunma will manage and lead a large and diverse team responsible for managing more than $150 billion in assets.

Her top priorities will be to:

(i) maintain the World Bank’s global reputation as a prudent and innovative borrower, investor and risk manager;

 (ii) manage an extensive client advisory, transaction and asset management business for the Bank;

(iii) engage, in her capacity as one of the World Bank’s key representatives, with outside stakeholders including global private sector financial institutions, the financial media and the sovereign debt and reserve managers in client countries, as well as ratings agencies; and

(iv) collaborate extensively with the Finance Partners throughout the WBG, including with IFC and MIGA, expanding shared approaches, in particular around innovative financing for development and for key new projects.

Ms. Oteh was selected to this position through an international competitive search. Her appointment is effective on September 28, 2015.

President Obama discusses AGOA

President Obama delivers remarks at a reception celebrating the African Growth and Opportunity Act, in the East Room of the White House, July 22, 2015.

Explosion in Damaturu as Muslims gather for Eid-el-Fitri prayers

Twin bomb blasts has been reported in Damaturu, Yobe state at the praying ground, where Muslim worshippers had gathered for the Eid-el-Fitri prayers. Death toll as at press time is 10. “The bomb was targeted at the prayer ground in the area and several persons that were injured were taken to General Hospital.”

Nobody immediately claimed responsibility for the blasts, but such incidents are usually blamed on Islamist group Boko Haram. On Thursday, some 50 people were killed in bomb attacks at a market in Gombe, around 200 km (120 miles) from Damaturu. Damaturu city experienced two suicide bomb attacks in May.

Adefuye, Ojukwu other Envoys Recalled by Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has recalled political appointees serving as envoys abroad. They were told to hand over to the highest ranking officer in their various locations. They include Bianca Ojukwu who had been in Spain, Chief Ojo Maduekwe (Canada), Dr. Dalhatu Tafida (UK), Professor Ade Adefuye (USA), Mr. Taofeek Arapaja (Jordan), Mrs. Fidelia Njeze (Switzerland), and Mr. Yemi Farounbi (Philippines).

They were among the 93 envoys posted out in June 2012. Of the 88 envoy nominees sent to the Senate by Jonathan at the time, only 84 passed the screening. Mrs. Bianca Ojukwu, who was nominated to represent Anambra State on the list of non-career category, had not appeared for screening but was confirmed nonetheless, her nomination coming barely a week after her husband died in a London hospital. The sack is the biggest since President Buhari assumed office on May 29.

RCCG pastor, five others killed by Suicide Bomber

A suicide bomber has attacked a Redeemed Christian Church of God parish in Potiskum, Yobe State Nigeria. The attack occurred as worshipers were arriving for the Sunday Service. The pastor of the Church, a female parishioner and her two children are reported to be among the dead.

According to AFP the bomber entered the uncompleted Redeemed Christian Church of God at 9:55 am and detonated his explosives, killing the worshippers, including a woman and her two children as well as the pastor, they said. “Four worshippers died instantly while the fifth victim gave up shortly after she was taken to hospital,” according to a police officer involved in the evacuation.

Meanwhile, the General Overseer Pastor Enoch Adeboye is expected to make a statement with reference to the incidence and security in and around thousands of other parishes around the country.

Boko Haram slaughter nearly 200 in 48 hours in Nigeria

Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - Boko Haram carried out a fresh wave of massacres in northeastern Nigeria on Friday, locals said, and killing nearly 200 people in 48 hours of violence President Muhammadu Buhari blasted as "inhuman and barbaric".

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Telecoms Coys in Nigeria burn $100M on Diesel Generators

Nigeria’s biggest telecommunications companies are spending close to $100 million a year on diesel fuel to keep their networks running due to the country’s poor electricity supply. Nigeria has the capacity to generate around 5,000 megawatts of electricity. In comparison South Africa with just over a third of Nigeria’s population generates around 40,000 megawatts. Even then, Nigeria’s supply is very erratic and is often far below its capacity.

Meanwhile, Kenya set to construct Africa’s biggest wind power farm, near Laisamis, 550km north of Kenya’s capital Nairobi.

Andrea Achudume

READ MORE HERE

Nigeria: Is ‘Change’ a social media experiment?

The article below is curled from the examiner.com and is titled; Executive stalemate: Nigeria’s new regime grounded in confusion

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Politics, Hunger for Power causes embarrassing Fracas in Nigeria House of Assembly

Members of the House of Representatives descended into full blown on July 25th 2015, as members disrupted its session and physically assaulted each other over the election of House principal officers.

The House broke into two factions, one supporting the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, which seeks to choose the House principal officers, and another, backing the the speaker, Yakubu Dogara, who insists on defying the party. The House and the Senate have been rocked by crisis over the election of their principal officers.

Nine Black Church Members Shot Dead by alleged White Killer

A gunman opened fire killing nine people in a race-hate crime at the 150-year-old Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church in Charleston, South Carolina. The gunman let one woman escape at the African American church so she could tell the world what happened. A five-year-old girl also survived by playing dead after the suspect, a white man in his twenties, stormed a weekly bible study group and opened fire on the room.

Eight of the victims died at the scene, and one later in a hospital.  At least one injured person is being treated in a hospital. Rev. Clementa Pinckney, pastor of the church and South Carolina state senator, is among the dead and his sister has also reportedly been shot.  The city is now on lockdown as a police in bullet-proof vests launch a huge manhunt to find the killer, who entered the church and sat down quietly before suddenly standing up and opening fire.

According to Dot Scott, president of the Charleston NAACP, a female survivor told her family members the gunman came into the church at around 9pm on June 17^th.  

Michelle Obama brief Visit to UK

Michelle Obama, USA First Lady and her children, Sasha and Malia, spent two days in London to highlight her campaign to bring girls in the world's most impoverished communities into education.

During her brief visit Mrs Obama enjoyed tea with Prince Harry and had an affectionate reunion with David and Samantha Cameron on the steps of Downing Street.

After touching down in London on Monday evening, the famous family boarded Air Force One this morning to make their way back to The White House.

"That is why President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will be championing our efforts to help adolescent girls around the globe attend and complete school through the initiative, which will build upon the public engagement campaign the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) launched last summer” said the first Lady.

Dangote Commissions $500M Cement plant in Ethiopia

Dangote Cement Plc has commissioned a 2.5 million metric tonnes per annual (mmtpa) cement plant worth N94.5 billion ($480 million) in Ethiopia as the company is set to invest N3.15 trillion ($16 billion) between 2015 and 2018 in its new and existing cement plants in furtherance of its expansion plan in Africa.

President/chief executive officer of the Dangote group, Aliko Dangote made this known at the commissioning ceremony of the Dangote Cement Plant in Mugher District, Ethiopia, yesterday. He said that Dangote Cement is setting up new cement plants and terminals across 16 African countries, including Ethiopia, saying, “This is in line with our long term vision to become one of the world’s biggest cement producers.”