World Energy Forum Holds October

By Adedapo Adesanya The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) and the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) have signed an agreement for a dual currency line of credit comprising $50 million and €50 million to support local agricultural businesses in West Africa. The credit lines are expected to strengthen food security, economic growth, and employment generation. The President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of EBID, Mr George Agyekum Donkor and Mr Solomon Quaynor, AfDB Vice President for Private Sector, Infrastructure, and industrialisation, formalised the agreement during a signing ceremony at the bank’s headquarters in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.

By Adedapo Adesanya The Nobel Committee has awarded the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize to jailed Iranian activist, Ms Narges Mohammadi, for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all. In a statement announced on Friday, Ms Mohammadi was recognised for her brave struggle which has seen her arrested 13 times, convicted five times, and sentenced to a total of 31 years in prison and 154 lashes. As of the moment of her recognition for the prize, Ms Mohammadi is still in prison after her role in the largest

By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh Russia, the largest country in the world by area, has a population of 147.2 million, according to the population census. In the 2021 census, it was said that roughly 81% of the population were ethnic Russians, and 19% of the population were ethnic minorities. Demographers say Russia has become increasingly reliant on immigration to maintain its population. Russia’s population is increasingly decreasing since the start of its invasion of neighbouring Ukraine in late February 2022. The demographic crisis has deepened primarily due to high military fatalities while simultaneously facing renewed brain drain and human capital flight

By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh As stipulated by the guidelines, Russia takes over the rotating chairmanship of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) from January 2024. There are high hopes a lot more will change, especially towards widening its numerical strength and increasing support for the Global South. In addition, there is also the expectation that BRICS will consolidate its role within the emerging geopolitical processes and global competition for Africa. China and Russia are currently making efforts to assert influence more aggressively, despite the challenges and obstacles, in cooperating with Africa. According to authentic reports, a number of

By Sodeinde Temidayo David I’m sure you know that catfish farming in Nigeria has become one of the most commonly practised fish farming businesses, with a lot of back benefits. The high demand and consumption of fish have made the business very profitable if well-managed. Catfish farming has become one of the fastest-growing areas of animal food production. Gone were the days when the only means of getting fish was by catching it in the local rivers, ponds or from fishermen. About half of the fish consumed in Nigeria are now raised in artificial environments. If you are looking forward

By Dipo Olowookere The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) conducted its weekly mopping up of excess liquidity in the financial system through the Open Market Operations (OMO) on Thursday. At the exercise, the apex bank auctioned the OMO bills across three maturities and received bids from the respective tenor unlike in the previous session, where it only manages to sell one or two maturities. At yesterday’s OMO sale, the bank offered N10 billion worth of the 89-day bill to offshore investors and banks. It also auctioned N20 billion worth of the 180-day bill and N270 billion worth of the 362-day

By Adedapo Adesanya The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved the loan of €145 million to finance reliability and performance upgrades to the country’s rail system under the Egypt National Railways Modernization Project (ENRMP). The funding will be used to enhance operational safety and to increase network capacity on national rail lines. Speaking on this, the country’s Minister of International Cooperation, Dr Rania Al-Mashat said, “Safe, accessible, convenient and green transport systems will be crucial to achieving sustainable development. “The improvement and expansion of Egypt’s rail system through the ENRMP allows for active mobility and enables the urban and rural

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Trading activities commenced yesterday on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and the two sessions this week have ended in the red zone. Analysts at Meristem Research predict that pockets of bargain hunting are expected in the banking space as a number of stocks are still trading below their fundamentally justified values. “Also, we do not rule out some level of profit-taking activities on large-cap stocks that gained significantly in the week past. “However, we posit that buy pressures will outweigh the sell. Hence, we expect the market to close the week positive.” Last week,

By Adedapo Adesanya Crude oil prices were hit on Tuesday night as expectations of a huge crude oil inventory in the United States pulled prices down as demand worries caused by the coronavirus continued to pressure the market. Brent crude, the global benchmark, dropped $1.18 or 3.57 percent to trade down at $31.87 per barrel. As for the US benchmark, the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude, it plunged by $2.45 or 9.4 percent to $23.63 per barrel. The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated on Tuesday a large crude oil inventory build of 11.9 million barrels for the week ending April

By Adedapo Adesanya The Africa Women Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum (AWIEF) and the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) initiative of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) have joined forces to drive increased access to finance and markets for women-owned and women-led small and medium enterprises (WSMEs) across Southern, East and West Africa. The new AfDB-funded AWIEF programme Solutions Catalysing Increased Access to Capital for the Success of Women Entrepreneurs aims to accelerate efforts to address gender inequality and drive inclusive economic transformation. More than 500 growth-oriented women SMEs will be supported for scale, access to markets and

By Adedapo Adesanya The partnership between The Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) and the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) will deliver additional 250 Megawatts (MW) to serve customer within the franchise area. This was disclosed by the Managing Director of NDPHC, Mr Chiedu Igbo, at the signing ceremony in Lagos recently, revealing that the agreement has taken off with immediate effect. Some of the initial project areas are Benin Bypass (industrial cluster near NDPHC’s power plant at Ihovbor, Benin-City, Edo State; Asaba, Delta State, Ondo South Senatorial District, Ondo State and interventions in Ekiti State. He recalled that the

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The latest report from Nielsen West Africa has disclosed that consumer sentiment in Nigeria suffered a sharp decline in the second quarter of 2020. In the Nielsen Consumer Confidence Index (CCI), it was stated that Nigeria’s index decreased by 14 points to 108, while Ghana, its West African brother, reported a substantial decrease of 15 points to 104. The declines in the two West Africa giants were attributed to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, which caused the two countries to declared lockdowns as part of efforts to stop the spread of the virus. This consequently caused loss in