The new Chief Executive Officer of South Africa’s MTN, Rob Shuter, has been brought in to boost profits at Africa’s biggest mobile phone group after a $1.7 billion fine in Nigeria, by persuading its 200 million clients to use their handsets to store money and pay bills. But the hunt for returns by the outsider, the current European head of Vodafone and a former banker, will throw MTN into an unfamiliar world of finance with increasing regulatory risks as authorities step up efforts to combat illicit money transfers. It will also pit MTN against African rival Safaricom, which is 40% owned…
Author: Admin
Nigeria’s naira could stabilise next week on increased dollar liquidity from month-end greenback sales by oil companies, while Ghana’s cedi is expected to slip on rising dollar buying. Nigeria’s naira was quoted within the range of 282-284 to the dollar at the interbank market on Thursday, a range it has been trading at since the re introduction of two-way quote after the central bank unpegged the naira. The naira firmed at the parallel market to 335 to the dollar against 370 a dollar last week. “As we approach month-end, we expect the multinational oil companies to begin their month-end dollar…
Central Bank Nigeria (CBN) is selling dollars on the inter-bank market for the fourth day to ease dollar shortages after it floated the currency, traders said. The naira traded at 283 to the dollar at 1249 GMT, on volumes of $76.8 million, which traders attributed to the central bank intervention. The inter-bank market opened at 0800 GMT with no activity for more than three hours. Nigeria ditched a peg on the naira to allow the currency to trade freely on the inter-bank market but traders say dollar liquidity was tight, leaving the central bank as the main supplier of hard…
Gunmen have killed a local driver and kidnapped as many as seven people in Calabar, Cross River State of Nigeria. At least three of whom kidnapped are Australian citizens and one an Australian resident, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Thursday. There was some initial confusion over the number of victims and nationalities of those involved, as police in Nigeria gave conflicting accounts. The workers, two of whom police said later escaped, were contractors for cement company Lafarge Africa. They were attacked on the outskirts of the city of Calabar at around 05:30 a.m. (0430 GMT), police said. Calabar is…
As Nigeria grapples with a foreign exchange crisis, one person stands out in the scramble to obtain hard currency: Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man. When the government restricted the supply of dollars in June 2015 to prop up the value of the Nigerian naira, firms owned by Dangote landed a healthy share of dollars available at the cheap official rate, a study by Reuters shows. Reuters examined foreign currency transactions made during an 11-week period in March to May this year. Over that time, Dangote businesses were able to buy at least $161 million in hard currency from the central…
The following company announcements, scheduled economic indicators, debt and currency market moves and political events may affect African markets on Thursday. GLOBAL MARKETS Asian stocks were up in hesitant trade on Thursday, as many investors sought shelter in safe-haven assets such as the Japanese yen and government debt as they braced for Britain’s vote on its fate in the European Union. WORLD OIL PRICES Oil prices rose in Asian trading on Thursday, shrugging off a smaller-than-expected decline in U.S. stockpiles, as the market nervously awaited the result of Britain’s “Brexit” vote. SOUTH AFRICA MARKETS South Africa’s rand marked a fourth…
Carnegie Mellon University’s commitment to educating Africa’s next generation of technology leaders and entrepreneurs received a boost on June 20 in Kigali, Rwanda with a $10.8 million commitment from The MasterCard Foundation. This new partnership, which will be established at Carnegie Mellon University’s College of Engineering program in Kigali, Rwanda, will benefit 125 academically talented but economically disadvantaged students from Sub-Saharan Africa as part of The MasterCard Foundation Scholars Program. Carnegie Mellon University will join a global network of 23 Scholars Program partners, comprising educational institutions that are committed to developing Africa’s young leaders. These Scholars will go on to use…
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has warned members of the public to beware of fraudsters who may take advantage of the EFCC’s 2016 Recruitment Exercise to defraud unsuspecting Nigerians in whatever form as the exercise is not at any cost to the prospective candidates. The Screening of prospective employees in the services of EFCC commenced in all the zonal offices of the Commission yesterday, Monday June 20, 2016. The authentic list of the shortlisted candidates is published in the EFCC website and also announced here: EFCC Recruitment.
As part of efforts to enhance its operations, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is in the process of recruiting qualified Nigerians into its Service. Screening of prospective employees is expected to commence in all the zonal offices of the Commission on Monday June 20, 2016. No further information was released about the screening. Get in touch with any of the EFCC’s offices closer to you. If you have applied to the vacancies, please check this link for your name: https://efccnigeria.org/efcc/index.php/2016-recruitment There are two categories of vacancies for Diploma Cadre and SSCE Cadre.
Wife of The Nigerian Senate President and Grand Patron of White Ribbon Alliance Nigeria (WRAN), Her Excellency, Mrs Toyin Saraki, has expressed shock and sadness at the sudden death of British Member of Parliament, the Right Honourable Jo Cox, MP. In a statement reacting to the news communicated by Betsy McCallon, White Ribbon Alliance Global CEO, Mrs Saraki said, “I am deeply saddened to learn of Jo’s death and I offer my heartfelt condolences to her husband, Brendon Cox, as well as her two children. I will always remember Jo’s groundbreaking advocacy efforts to stem the tide of preventable deaths…
There is no way to deny the importance of money in our lives. Some people try to dismiss it as something they don’t find to be that important, but the truth is that money is a necessity that we have if we want to survive in the modern world. If you are sitting in front of a computer or reading this article from your mobile device, you are very likely a person that has chosen to live within the system. That system requires money in order to function properly. Understanding money is a very complex process because there are many…
Despite the usual suspects of defending champions Spain, world champions Germany and hosts France having received much of the attention in the build up to the European Championships, there is a growing feeling amongst the footballing community that it could well be a year in which a so called outsider causes a potential upset. Having qualified strongly from their respective qualifying groups to make Euro 2016, the likes of England and Belgium make up a group of teams looking to win the tournament for the first in their history. Coupled with apparent weaknesses and injury concerns from the tournament favourites,…
It is a known fact that Homework is the most dreadful part of a student’s life. Homework seems to be a thorn by every teenager. As the competition rises more and more, students are forced to study for competitive examinations and entrance tests along with school work and school. The pressure of building a career and competing in competitive examinations alongside the added burden from school examinations and regular class tests can make what’s supposed to be delightful years of school, a complete hell. And there are no two ways about it: all of the work needs to be done…
Africa Day is celebrated annually on 25 May within the African continent to mark the formation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) on 25 May 1963 and the African Union in 2002 and the progress made by the continent since then to advance democracy, peace, stability and socio-economic development. As Nigeria joins other African countries in celebrating this year’s Africa Day celebration, Nigerian leaders must begin to look beyond personal interest and work towards the growth and development of Nigeria nay the African continent. Africa is in dire need of leaders that have the interest of the continent at…
The Samsung Electronics “Inspire Bigger Dreams” competition has produced three winners. The campaign was aimed at encouraging Nigerians to keep their dreams alive, dream bigger and aspire to greater heights. Mr. Muhammed Nasirudeen Musa, Mr. Ibrahim Ambali, and Mr. Ibrahim Usman Salihu emerged winners out of the entries that were received. The “Inspire Bigger Dreams” campaign, which kicked off in March, 2016, requested participants to take clear pictures of anything they found inspiring within their environment. These pictures were then uploaded to www.pictureyourdream.ng/inspired with a caption explaining why or how the picture inspired them. The top 50 entries based on…
Last week, H.E. Mrs Toyin Saraki, Founder-President of the Wellbeing Foundation Africa (WBFA) and the wife of the Senate President of Nigeria, took part in the Women Deliver conference in Copenhagen. The conference brought together non-governmental organisations, policymakers, private sector business leaders, and women from across the world to tackle the challenges of gender inequality. Mrs Saraki laid out her vision on education; health; frontline, community-based workers workers; power and strategic influence; and prosperity in West Africa. She took part in a high-level panel discussion on how to be a powerful woman, where she reflected on how to use power…
American voters rank among some of the least active in the world, particularly among developed countries. In 2012, the most recent time Americans voted for president, the country’s population was nearly 313 million, of which about 241 million were at least 18, the legal voting age, according to the most recent data available from the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. Nearly 194 million Americans — or 80 percent of those eligible — were registered to vote. In that election, about 67 percent of the country’s registered voters cast a ballot. Compare that with the last elections held in…
According to the release from WALLDORF, Germany today, SAP will train more than 150,000 youth in 30 African countries this year to foster digital literacy and equip the continent’s rising generation with job-relevant digital skills. SAP’s Africa Code Week 2016 will run from October 15 – 23, 2016, with thousands of free coding workshops and online training offered to children and youth aged 8 to 24. SAP initiative – with hundreds of partners – will offer job-relevant software coding skills to 150,000 youth across 30 African countries “Today literacy should go beyond just knowing how to read and write, even…
Long before the oil era, Fort McMurray first flourished as a fur trading hub tucked in a valley of northern Canada’s boreal forest. Even then, the area’s shiny black soil stood out. Devastated by wildfires this week, this outpost for oil-sands workers 700 kilometers (540 miles) northeast of the industry’s high-rise headquarters in Calgary has known boom and bust for generations. The latest seeds of wealth were sown in the 1960s, when large-scale production of crude from sandy bitumen started. The gateway to the world’s third-largest reserves, the city became the beating heart of Canada’s oil patch, an icon of…
Revelation emerged that two months after Osama bin Laden was killed, the CIA’s top operative in Pakistan was pulled out of the country in an abrupt move vaguely attributed to health concerns and his strained relationship with Islamabad. In reality, the CIA station chief was so violently ill that he was often doubled over in pain, current and former U.S. officials said. Trips out of the country for treatment proved futile. And the cause of his ailment was so mysterious, the officials said, that both he and the agency began to suspect that he had been poisoned. Mark Kelton retired…