Features

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Almost every Nigerian vote since independence in 1960 has been dogged by varying degrees of conflict and allegations of rigging. That’s one reason why the 2015 election that saw Muhammadu Buhari, now 76, become the first candidate in the nation’s history to topple a sitting president through the ballot box was such a watershed moment. But the former military ruler has fallen short on meeting pledges to rejuvenate and diversify the oil-dependent…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) -Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari, who is seeking another four-year term in elections due to take place in six days, said the country’s anti-graft agency has raised concern over laundered money being used to buy votes. The fight against corruption is being hindered by vested interests and “lawyers table endless objections to obstruct court proceedings, whilst their clients hope it lasts until a ‘friendly’ president is voted into office,” the former dictator…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s debt-laden power utility raced to stabilize the grid by resorting to the most intense supply cuts in four years while Moody’s Investors Service warned a plan to fix it fell short. Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. implemented so-called stage 4 rotational power cuts from 1 p.m. That involves taking 4,000 megawatts of demand out of the system to prevent its complete collapse. The reductions come as Moody’s Investors Service…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – When Bolanle Aliyu decided to run for governor of Oyo State in southwestern Nigeria, even her husband was initially reluctant to support her. Aliyu knew it was going to be tough once she entered the boisterous and sometimes violent world of Nigerian politics. She’d have to figure out how to fund her campaign and deal with corrupt party officials demanding bribes for everything from nomination forms to ensuring her…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South African President Cyril Ramaphosa unveiled plans to revive the flagging economy and create jobs, including removing obstacles to investing and doing business, attracting more tourists, and stepping up the fight against graft. “We are undaunted by the considerable difficulties we have yet to overcome,” Ramaphosa said in his annual State-of-the-Nation address in Parliament in Cape Town on Thursday. “Above everything else, we must get our economy working again.” The keynote…

MAPUTO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Mozambique shouldn’t repay any of the loans it got from Credit Suisse AG as part of a $2 billion sovereign debt scandal that’s seen three former employees and an ex-finance minister arrested, a group of non-governmental organizations said. “We demand that Credit Suisse publicly declare that the Mozambican people should not pay a single cent on those debts,” the group said in a letter to the bank signed by…

TRIPOLI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Clashes resumed near Libya’s biggest oil field, a day after eastern military commander Khalifa Haftar said his forces had reached the deposit in a push to secure the southwestern region and its energy installations. Haftar’s self-styled Libyan National Army exchanged fire early on Thursday with troops led by Ali Kana, a supporter of the rival United Nations-backed authorities in Tripoli in the west of the divided country, according to people with…