Features | - Part 215

Ghana President Picks Investment Banker as Finance Minister

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ghana appointed investment banker Ken Ofori-Atta as finance minister following elections last month that saw the return to power of the New Patriotic Party. The announcement was made by President Nana Akufo-Addo on Tuesday in comments on Citi FM radio. Ofori-Atta, 57, held the post of executive chairman of the Accra-based investment bank Databank Financial Services Ltd. for 12 years until 2012 and served as director of fundraising during the NPP’s campaign for the…

West African Leaders Meet on Gambia Standoff as Deadline Looms

Posted on by The Editorial Team

BANJUL (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Economic Community of West African States meets in the Nigerian capital Monday to discuss how to get Gambian President Yahya Jammeh to step down next week without the bloc having to resort to force. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari hosts his Senegalese and Liberian counterparts in Abuja on Monday, according to a statement e-mailed by the Nigerian presidency. Sierra Leone Vice President Victor Bockarie Foh and former Ghanaian President John Mahama will also attend, it said….

Nigerian Militants Threaten to Widen Attacks on Oil Industry

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Niger Delta Avengers, a militant group whose attacks on infrastructure curbed Nigerian oil output last year, threatened to widen its campaign after becoming frustrated with government talks. “The Nigerian state is not ready for any form of dialogue and negotiation with our people to addressing the issues sustaining the unending sufferings and deprivation,” the Avengers said in a Jan. 6 posting on its website. The militants said the Jan. 3 award by…

Shell Pipeline Fire Threatens to Deepen Nigerian Oil Output Drop

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc shut the Trans Niger oil pipeline after a fire, threatening to worsen a drop in Nigerian output due to unplanned disruptions. The line can transport about 180,000 barrels a day to the Bonny Export Terminal in the Niger Delta was halted Tuesday due to a blaze at Kpor in Ogoniland, Precious Okolobo, a company spokesman in Lagos, said Thursday by phone. Shell declined to comment on the…

Kenyan Senate Passes Controversial Electoral Law Amendments

Posted on by The Editorial Team

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Kenyan Senate passed contentious amendments to nation’s election laws that the opposition says could aid the ruling party rig a ballot to be held in August. The amendments to the electoral law provide for a manual mechanism for voter registration and results transmission as a fall-back plan should electronic methods fail. The Coalition for Reforms and Democracy, Kenya’s main political opposition group, says the changes may open the electoral…

Uganda gets $151 mln loan from African Development Bank for toll road

Posted on by The Editorial Team

KAMPALA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Uganda will expand a major road linking its capital Kampala with Rwanda after signing a deal on Thursday for a $151 million loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB). The 40-year loan will partly finance a new 23 km, 4-lane toll road to help de-congest traffic on an existing road, the finance ministry and AfDB said, adding the government would fund the remainder of the $192 million project. In recent…

President Buhari Faces Spreading Opposition as Nigerian Economy Slumps

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Yusuf Rabiu went door-to-door urging people in the northern Nigerian city of Kano to vote for President Muhammadu Buhari in last year’s elections. Now he’s regretting his decision. “We expected him to solve our economic problems,” Rabiu, a 36-year-old hat seller, said at the city’s Kurmi market as a group of friends nodded in agreement. “I didn’t know voting for him would mean more hunger, more suffering.” After ending the 16-year reign…

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