Buhari may have rejected ‘push’ for another term in office
Buhari may have rejected ‘push’ for another term in office
There are indications that Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari will not seek a fresh term after the end of his second tenure in 2023.
Although handlers of the President have said he would not elongate his tenure, there have been speculations that some political elements who are huge beneficiaries of Buhari’s name as the President are suggesting for him to “give tenure elongation a try”.
On Monday, Buhari was quoted to have urged other African leaders to stop elongating their stay in office. “President Buhari asks West African leaders to stop elongating their tenure in office, saying it is becoming a source of trouble”, a President’s media aide, Garba Shehu told tweeted @GarShehu.
Mr. Shehu’s tweet may have put paid to speculations that Buhari is interested in staying in Aso Rock beyond 2023.
By the unwritten power sharing agreement of the ruling party, the All Progressive Congress, power has been scheduled to return to Southern Nigeria in 2023. However, strong power brokers have indicated that the North may not be willing to let go of power in 2023.
Nigeria criticised what it calls the “incessant harassment of its citizens in Ghana and the progressive acts of hostility towards the country by Ghanaian authorities”.
The statement from Nigeria’s Information Minister Lai Mohammed says Nigerians in Ghana are “being made… objects of ridicule”.
The “aggressive and incessant deportation” of Nigerians
The closure of shops belonging to Nigerians.
Mr Mohammed says the Nigerian government is “considering a number of options aimed at ameliorating the situation” but does not say what those are.
Earlier this week, Ghana’s Foreign Minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey summoned Nigeria’s chargé d’affaires to complain about comments attributed to her Nigerian counterpart.
Geoffrey Onyeama is alleged to have said that the crackdown on illegal foreign retail business in the country was for political gain.
In a series of tweets, she described the comment as “most unfortunate” and noted that the Ghanaian government was not targeting any particular nationality in this exercise.
Ghanaian law bars foreigners from engaging in the retail business, especially in market areas and local business owners are putting pressure on the authorities to enforce the law, reports the BBC’s Thomas Naadi in Accra.
Diplomatic relations between the two countries have been strained in recent months following trade tensions and the demolition of the Nigerian diplomatic building.
BREAKING: Adesina re-elected for another 5-years as AfDB President
Nigeria’s Akinwumi Adesina has been re-elected as the President of the African Development Bank President for a second five-year term. The election took place electronically on Thursday at the virtual annual general meeting of the bank.
Adesina’s reappointment on Thursday at the helm of the 56-year-old bank is considered a formality as he is the sole candidate.
Presidential new media aide, Bashir Ahmad, tweeted, “Nigeria’s Dr. Akinwumi Adesina has been re-elected as the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB). With this re-election, he will spend another 5 years supervising the affairs of the Bank. Congratulations!”
The head of the African bank had appealed on Wednesday for a second term in office after a months-long storm over alleged corruption and poor governance that ended after he was cleared in an independent probe.
In a speech at the AfDB’s annual meetings, Adesina formally requested a second term as president, declaring that he was “doing it with an acute sense of duty and commitment.”
“I do it to serve Africa and our bank, in an unbiased way, to the best of the abilities that God has given me,” he said, according to a statement issued by the bank.
Adesina, the son of a farming family, became in 2015 the first Nigerian to head the bank, one of the world’s five biggest multilateral lenders and an important but often unseen player in economic development.
He gained continent-wide recognition last October when the AfDB secured $115 billion (105 billion euros) in funding pledges, a move that doubled its capital and cemented its triple-A credit rating.
The AfDB has estimated that the continent could lose at least $173.1 billion in GDP in 2020 and $236.7 billion in 2021 as a result of the economic fallout from the COVID-19 crisis.
The bank has moved swiftly in response, setting up a coronavirus funding mechanism in April of up to $10 billion.
The number of shareholders in the AfDB rose to 81, Adesina said, with the admission of Ireland. Fifty-four shareholders are African, while the others are from the Americas, Asia and Europe.
Nigeria’s Akinwunmi Adesina to be re-appointed President of AfDB Thursday
Nigeria’s Akinwunmi Adesina to be re-elected AfDB President Thursday
Having cleared his name in the corruption allegation against him and being the sole candidate for the African Development Bank President this year, Mr. Akinwunmi Adesina, Nigeria’s former Agriculture Minister will be re-elected the President of the Bank on Thursday at the ongoing annual summit of the 56-year old continental Bank.
On Wednesday, Adesina formally asked for a second term in office in a speech at the AfDB’s annual meetings. He formally requested a second term as president, declaring that he was “doing it with an acute sense of duty and commitment.”
“I do it to serve Africa and our bank, in an unbiased way, to the best of the abilities that God has given me,” he said, according to a statement issued in French.
Adesina’s ambition had been troubled earlier in the year when whistleblowers alleged his watch had been tarred by graft, poor management, personal enrichment and favouritism.
He was cleared by the organisation’s ethics committee, but the United States then intervened, demanding an independent investigation.
Adesina, 60, fought back angrily, backed by Nigeria, the biggest of the AfDB’s shareholders.
A three-person outside panel, led by former Irish president Mary Robinson alongside Gambia’s Chief Justice Hassan Jallow and the World Bank’s former integrity vice president, Leonard McCarthy, carried out its own review.
Its report, issued last month, said Adesina had been properly investigated and that the panel “concurs with the (ethics) committee in respect of all the allegations” against him.
Adesina, the son of a farming family, became in 2015 the first Nigerian to head the bank, one of the world’s five biggest multilateral lenders and an important but often unseen player in economic development.
He gained continent-wide recognition last October when the AfDB secured $115 billion (105 billion euros) in funding pledges, a move that doubled its capital and cemented its triple-A credit rating.
Criticism of his managerial style emerged after the bank was shaken by a string of departures when he took over.
‘Strengthened credibility’ The head of the AfDB’s board, Niale Kaba, who is also the Ivory Coast’s minister of planning and development, acknowledged in opening remarks on Wednesday that the bank had experienced a “management crisis” after the whistleblower report.
But, she said, the independent panel, through its investigation, had not only cleared Adesina “but above all strengthened the credibility of the institution’s bodies, the guarantee of its stability and reputation with shareholders.”
She paid tribute to Adesina’s “leadership and the initiatives undertaken to develop Africa and help the continent to ease the impact” of the coronavirus pandemic.
The AfDB has estimated that the continent could lose at least $173.1 billion in GDP in 2020 and $236.7 billion in 2021 as a result of the economic fallout from the COVID-19 crisis.
The bank has moved swiftly in response, setting up a coronavirus funding mechanism in April of up to $10 billion.
The number of shareholders in the AfDB rose to 81, Adesina said, with the admission of Ireland. Fifty-four shareholders are African, while the others are from the Americas, Asia and Europe.
‘Africa’s outlook is positive,’ AfDB tells investors
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has said that Africa’s economic outlook post-covid is good, thereby laying groundwork for Indian investors who are looking to invest in Africa.
During a recent virtual conference hosted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and its partners, officials called for Indo-African partnerships to go beyond government-to-government cooperation and promote private sector participation in order to accelerate Africa’s development.
The Conference on Innovative Financing Mechanisms for Doing Business with Africa took place on 30 July 2020 and attracted more than 600 participants from over 45 countries. Besides Africa and India, there were also participants from the Middle East, Europe, and Asia, representing businesses, governments, financial institutions, and business promotion agencies.
Akhilesh Mishra, India’s Additional Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, urged the private sector to consider investing in youth and startups because those sectors have enormous potential for employment generation. He noted that, aside from the long-term funding traditionally provided as official development assistance, African countries will require more targeted short-term financing.
Bajabulile Swazi Tshabalala, Acting Senior Vice President and CFO of the African Development Bank Group, highlighted business potential in Africa, noting that the continent had great prospects for investors, with a growing consumer market that Indian firms cannot afford to miss.
“The positive outlook for Africa is reinforced by the establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) (https://bit.ly/3as7sxU), which seeks to deepen regional integration across the continent and allow the free movement of people and trade across borders,” Tshabalala said.
Tshabalala said there was a tremendous opportunity for Indian industry to work together with the Bank in sectors such as power generation and transmission, energy, agricultural transformation, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, technology, transportation, and industrialization.
The Bank is seeking to expand the number of bankable projects in Africa and has set aside $100 million for project preparation activities in low-income countries. It is also keen to mobilize greater private sector participation in these projects from all countries, she added.
David Rasquinha, Managing Director of the Export-Import Bank of India, underscored the need to expand Indian financial inflows to Africa by expanding the Indian banking network. He said India and Africa could work together in areas such as healthcare and pharmaceuticals, the financial sector and infrastructure development.
Nana Spio-Garbrah, chief financing analyst from the African Development Bank’s syndications, co-financing and client solutions department, spoke on the Bank’s capacity to mitigate risk for foreign investors, especially during this era of COVID-19.
Spio-Garbrah also talked about the Bank’s Partial Risk Guarantee (PRG) and Partial Credit Guarantee (PCG) (https://bit.ly/3avAGfi), which has been upgraded to meet client needs better. She mentioned the Bank’s syndication services, particularly the A/B loan product, which allows B-lenders to benefit from the Bank’s Preferred Creditor Status. She also mentioned the Co-Guarantee Platform – a new cooperative of four risk mitigation providers and the African Union, which collectively pools their capacities to de-risk African projects.
The panelists also included representatives from ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development, and ABSA Bank, who introduced their financial services and products. Escorts Limited, one of India’s leading engineering companies, talked on the trilateral partnership between India, Japan, and Africa in the agriculture sector.
The conference was supported by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, the African Development Bank, the Export-Import Bank of India, and other organizations.
The African Development Bank and India (https://bit.ly/3iIOk1x) have a long-standing strategic partnership dating back almost 40 years to 1982, when India first joined the African Development Fund (ADF) (https://bit.ly/2XZ18IS), the concessional arm of the Bank Group. A year later the country became a shareholder of the African Development Bank.
Killer of Rafiki, Uganda’s rare silverback mountain gorilla, jailed for 11 years
Killer of Rafiki, Uganda’s rare mountain gorilla, jailed for 11 years
Felix Byamukama, the killer of one of Uganda’s best known mountain gorillas, Rafiki, has been jailed for 11 years. Byamukama pleaded guilty to illegally entering a protected area and killing a gorilla.
Byamukama had said the gorilla attacked him and he killed Rafiki in self defence, according to the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA).
Mountain gorillas are endangered with just over 1,000 in existence and the UWA said “Rafiki has received justice”.
Byamukama also pleaded guilty to killing a small antelope, known as a duiker, and a bush pig, as well as being in possession of bush pig and duiker meat.
He admitted to the UWA previously that he, and three others, had gone to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park with the intention of hunting smaller animals and that he killed Rafiki in self-defence when he was attacked.
Investigations showed Rafiki was killed by a sharp object that penetrated his internal organs.
The gorilla went missing on 1 June and his body was discovered by a search party the following day.
A UWA team tracked Byamukama to a nearby village, where he was found with hunting equipment.
Three others denied the charges and have been remanded in jail, awaiting trial.
Byamukama will serve several sentences concurrently, leading to 11 years in jail which falls far short of the life sentence it was predicted he could have been given.
This was because he was not tried in a special wildlife court, a UWA spokesperson told the BBC.
Image copyrightUGANDA WILDLIFE AUTHORITYImage captionThere are just over 1,000 mountain gorillas left in existence
The silverback, believed to be around 25-years-old when he died, was the leader of a group of 17 mountain gorillas.
This group of gorillas was described as habituated, meaning that its members were used to human contact.
Conservationists were worried that the group would be taken over by a wild silverback who would not want to come into contact with humans, which could have affected tourism.
But UWA has since confirmed that the group is now led by a black-back from within the family and is stable.
The mountain gorillas are a popular draw for visitors to the country and the UWA relies on the tourists for revenue.
Rafiki himself was very popular with people who had come to the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.
But parks have been closed during the coronavirus pandemic and the UWA said there had been an increase in poaching. It has counted more than 300 incidents during the months of the lockdown, reports the BBC’s Patience Atuhaire.
The mountain gorilla species is restricted to protected areas in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda.
They can be found in Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and a network of parks in the Virunga Massif range of mountains which straddle the borders of the three countries.
Independent Panel says AfDB President, Adesina is not corrupt
Independent Panel says AfDB President, Adesina is not corrupt
A much awaited report by an Independent Review Panel has completely exonerated the President of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina of any ethical wrongdoings.
The Independent Review Panel was set up by the Bureau of Governors of the Bank, following a complaint by the United States, to review the process by which two previous organs of the Bank – the Ethics Committee of the Board, and the Bureau of the Board of Governors – had previously exonerated Adesina.
The distinguished three-member Independent Review Panel include Mary Robinson, who is a former President of the Republic of Ireland, a former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the Chairperson of the Elders, a global body of wise persons concerned with the world’s wellbeing; the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Gambia, Mr. Hassan B. Jallow; and Mr. Leonard F. McCarthy, a former Director of Public Prosecutions, a former Director for the Office of Serious Economic Offences, and a former Head of the Directorate of Special Operations of South Africa. He also served as the Vice President of Integrity for the World Bank for nine years.
In January 2020, sixteen allegations of ethical misconduct were levelled against Adesina by a group of whistleblowers. The allegations which were reviewed by the Bank’s Ethics Committee of the Board of Directors in March, were described as “frivolous and without merit.” The findings and rulings of the Ethics Committee were subsequently upheld by the apex Bureau of the Board of Governors in May, which cleared Adesina of any wrongdoing.
The report of the Independent Review Panel states that it “concurs with the (Ethics) Committee in its findings in respect of all the allegations against the President and finds that they were properly considered and dismissed by the Committee.”
The Panel once again vindicates Adesina and states, “It has considered the President’s submissions on their face and finds them consistent with his innocence and to be persuasive.”
The conclusions of the Independent Review Panel are decisive and now clear the way for Governors of the Bank to re-elect Adesina to a second five-year term as President during annual meetings of the Bank scheduled for August 25-27.
Adesina is a highly decorated and distinguished technocrat and globally-respected development economist. He was awarded the prestigious World Food Prize in 2017 and the Sunhak Peace Prize in 2019 for global leadership in agriculture and for good governance.
Since taking over the reigns of the Bank in 2015, he has introduced several innovative reforms including a High5 development strategy; a restructuring of the bank including setting up offices in several African nations to get closer to its clients; an Africa Investment Forum that has attracted $79 billion in investment interests into projects in Africa between 2018 and 2019. He successfully led a historic General Capital Increase campaign that culminated in the Bank’s shareholders raising the institution’s capital from $93 billion to $208 billion, in October 2019.
In June and July respectively, global credit ratings agencies Standard and Poors and Fitch Ratings both affirmed the ‘AAA’ rating of the Bank, with stable outlook.
Under Adesina’s leadership the African Development Bank launched a $10 billion crisis response facility to boost African nations’ ability to tackle the health and economic effects of COVID-19.
Several Governors of the Bank speaking off the record, say it is now time to put recent events in the past; provide the Bank’s President with full support; and bolster the Bank’s efforts on Africa’s critical development issues.
North Africa Economic Outlook 2020: An unparalleled crisis and a conditional recovery
North Africa Economy in 2020: An unparalleled crisis and a conditional recovery
In 2020, the North African region will face an economic contraction forecast between 0.8 and 2.3%; Socioeconomic stability, social inclusion and human capital development are prerequisites for resilience and emerging from the crisis.
Faced with an unparalleled crisis, the region’s countries implemented health and budget measures to curb the spread of the virus and protect their populations. The economic slowdown, due to disruptions across several sectors, has had large-scale socioeconomic consequences.
The rapidity with which economic and other restrictions are being lifted in North Africa is raising uncertainty and suggests two distinct recovery scenarios. The first is based on a timeline for emerging from the crisis in July 2020. The second is based on the pandemic lasting through December 2020.
Under the first scenario, regional growth would fall by 5.2 percentage points, resulting in a decline in growth of ‑0.8%. In the second scenario, growth would fall by 6.7 percentage points, leading to a ‑2.3% decline. However, economic recovery is forecast for 2021, with regional growth of between 3% and 3.3%.
The North Africa Economic Outlook 2020 shows that the services, tourism and industrial sectors, which are the main contributors to the regional economy, have been severely affected by the numerous restrictions associated with the COVID-19 response.
The report suggests that the pandemic’s negative impact on global demand and the prices of basic goods is likely to increase fiscal deficits and current account imbalances in the region. In the worst-case scenario, the fiscal deficit in 2020 could average 10.9% of regional GDP. In 2019, the fiscal balance, estimated at ‑5.6% of regional GDP, exceeded the African average of ‑4.7%.
Regarding the current account balance, North African countries recorded an average deficit of 4.4% of GDP in 2019. Assuming a reduction in global demand of 7.9% and a crude oil price of $20 per barrel, the worst-case scenario suggests a deficit of 11.4% of GDP in 2020. This situation is attributable mainly to the deficits of oil-exporting countries, 20% and 19.8% of GDP in Algeria and Libya respectively. This is true also of Mauritania (17%) and Tunisia (12.2%), whose main trading partners, China and Europe, are expected to be in recession in 2020.
The report also emphasises the non-inclusive nature of growth in North Africa. Social and regional disparities, already significant, have widened as a result of the pandemic. The report recommends tackling them by undertaking structural reforms to increase public-sector efficiency and private-sector competitiveness to create more jobs.
The report calls on North African countries to continue to implement fiscal measures to protect affected households and businesses. The development of the agro-industrial sector is also recommended to promote local agricultural value chains. Further, countries should work toward greater trade openness and integration, in the context of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
The Bank recommends investing in human capital and skills as an essential condition for accelerating economic development. In North Africa, adapting skills to match job opportunities emerging because of the fourth industrial revolution will require coordinated reforms of both education and training systems, notes the report. For workers still in employment, countries should introduce more efficient mechanisms to promote in-work training. Governments could consider providing grants to the private sector to create jobs for young people and women in strategic sectors. Finally, the development of the manufacturing sector is a key driver of economic growth, as it provides productive, well-paid jobs for a large number of workers.
COVID-19: Seychelles re-opens economy, gets $10 million AfDB loan
COVID-19: Seychelles re-opens economy, gets $10 million AfDB loan
The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org) on Monday approved a $10 million loan to the Republic of Seychelles to support the government’s COVID-19 response program. The loan will be channeled toward macroeconomic stabilization, strengthening national health responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, and safeguarding livelihoods and social safety nets.
Against a backdrop of declining revenues, the Seychelles government recently amended its budget to respond more effectively to COVID-19, taking on an immense financial burden as it works to enhance the country’s health systems, mitigate job losses, and redress lost business and household incomes.
The amended budget provides for an additional $ 3.6 million to the health sector, which will help put in place robust early-detection surveillance systems and enhanced testing capability at points of entry. The government is also readying isolation and quarantine facilities ahead of the resumption of international flight arrivals.
The Government has committed to safeguard 37,409 private-sector jobs through provision of a six-month wage grant while also increasing allocations to the national Social Protection Agency to widen safety nets for informal workers and other vulnerable groups.
“The economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic have been more devastating than the disease itself in Seychelles. Tourism is one of the worst hit-industries globally, yet it is the main source of income for Seychelles, accounting for 25 percent of its GDP. The Bank’s support will augment the government’s efforts aimed at cushioning the country against the impacts of the pandemic,” said Nnenna Nwabufo, Ag. Director General for the Bank’s East Africa Regional Office.
The crisis response program is aligned with the Bank Group Ten-Year Strategy-TYS (2013-2022) and the High 5s priorities, specifically “improve the quality of life of the people of Africa”. The operation is also aligned with the Bank’s Seychelles’ Country Strategy Paper (2016-2020), which aims at stimulating private sector activity in support of economic diversification though policy reforms.
Insufficient economic diversification, a small domestic market and vulnerability to external economic and environmental shocks are among the main development challenges the Seychelles economy faces. The pandemic has seriously exacerbated these challenges and wiped out some of the country’s development gains. The Bank has revised the 2020 and 2021 GDP growth rate projections for the country downwards, from 3.3% and 4.2 % to -10.5% and -7.7%, respectively.
The country recorded its first case of COVID-19 on 14 March and had 11 confirmed imported cases by 6 April. All 11 cases are fully recovered with no new cases or deaths.
AfDB Probe: How Some Board of Governors voted Against Nigeria’s Adesina
AfDB Probe: How Some Board of Governors voted Against Adesina
Facts have emerged that some Board of Governors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) did not absolve its President, Akinwumi Adesina of wrong-doing following corruption allegation leveled against him by insider whistle-blowers.
Adesina, who is a sole candidate for re-election has an overwhelming support from African stakeholders but he is being resisted by United States America who has the second largest shareholding in the continental body.
While the Bureau of Board of Governors accepted report of the Ethics Committee of the Boards of Directors, the governing body has allowed a review of the Committee decision “based on the views of some Governors on the matter and the need to carry every Governor along in resolving it”, statement by the AfDB has said.
The Bureau of Board of Governors said its Chairperson did not err by accepting the decision of the Ethics Committee. It said the Board performed its role on this matter in accordance with the applicable rule under Resolution B/BG/2008/1 1 of the Board of Governors.
The Bureau also reiterates that the Chairperson of the Bureau of the Board of Governors performed her role in accepting the findings of the Ethics Committee in accordance with the said Resolution.
“However, based on the views of some Governors on the matter and the need to carry every Governor along in resolving it, the Bureau agrees to authorize an Independent Review of the Report of the Ethics Committee of the Boards of Directors relative to the allegations considered by the Ethics Committee and the submissions made by the President of the Bank Group thereto in the interest of due process.
The Independent Review shall be conducted by a neutral high caliber individual with unquestionable experience, high international reputation and integrity within a short-time period of not more than two to four weeks maximum, taking the Bank Group’s electoral calendar into account.
The Bureau agrees that, within a three to six month period and following the independent review of the Ethics Committee Report, an independent comprehensive review of the implementation of the Bank Group’s Whistle-Blowing and Complaints Handling Policy should be conducted with a view to ensuring that the Policy is properly implemented, and revising it where necessary, to avoid situations of this nature in the future”, the statement read.
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