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Armed men have kidnapped four oil workers in Nigeria's southern oil-rich Niger Delta region, military sources say. The area’s military spokesman, Isa Ado, said on Wednesday that those taken hostage were employees of the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NOAC), a subsidiary of the Italian energy giant, ENI. The oil workers were travelling without a security escort in the Southern Ijaw area of Nigeria's Bayelsa State when they were abducted by gunmen in a speedboat on Tuesday, the spokesman added.

"We have started a rescue mission to secure their release and also bring the captors to book," he further noted. The incident comes ahead of Nigeria’s February 14 presidential election, which will see a contest between incumbent Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan of the ruling People's Democratic Party and former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress. Nigeria has witnessed a string of kidnappings, deadly shooting attacks and bombings by Boko Haram Takfiri militants since the beginning of their operations in 2009. Violence in Nigeria has left over 13,000 people dead and 1.5 million displaced over the past years.

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Ngwa Bertrand

05.Feb.2015

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Exchanges between the two countries suffer a 12 percent commercial deficit on the part of Cameroon.

eroon and Nigeria held in Douala on January 28. Organized by the Cameroon Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Crafts, CCIMA, with the collaboration of the Nigerian High Commission in Yaounde, business people in Cameroon sensitized on the importance of business exchanges the two brotherly nations.

The meeting was crucial to conclude the commercial agreement discussed at the Sixth Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission on April 11, 2014, strengthen trade relations existing between the two countries, as well as open up new collaboration based on the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises, SMEs.

Ekoko Mukete, Vice President of CCIMA, said the 170 million Ngerian population and 21 million Cameroonian population is a big market for investors from both countries to exploit.

Between 2011 and 2014, Nigeria’s exports (cosmetics, textiles, motor spare parts, household equipments) to Cameroon stood at 36 per cent. On the other hand, Cameroon’s exports to Nigeria, mainly, cotton, rubber, foodstuff, which fall under non petroleum products stood at 24 per cent, within the same period.

From allAfrica/Written by Christopher Jator

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Ngwa Bertrand

01.Feb.2015

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Ghana’s President, John Dramani Mahama has said that the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has put in a special appeal to its development partners and the international donor community to write-off the debts of the most affected Ebola countries in West Africa. President Mahama who is the current chairperson of ECOWAS said this in a press briefing on proceedings of the just-ended African Union Summit in Ethiopia after his arrival back home in Ghana over the weekend. This he said would enable the countries-Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone to re-invest in the socio-economic sectors of their economies to avoid their economies from collapsing. Experts in economics have warned in the recent past that if the debts of the Ebola affected countries are not canceled, their economies are likely to collapse.

Apart from the debt cancelation ECOWAS asked, the regional body will also help the Ebola countries to develop their human skills needed to sustain their economies in the short term. President Mahama observed that the affected countries had suffered a lot and therefore the forgiveness of the debts would give them an opportunity to re-build their economies to ensure investor confidence in their countries. ``We are putting measures in place in the short term to help our brothers and sisters, it is not only about the debt write-off, ECOWAS will initiate skills building programs to strengthening their capacity to be able to help them recover from the devastation of the disease’’, he said.

The United Nations has urged donor countries in the past to cancel debts of the Ebola affected countries to enable them recover. Donor countries in West Africa including the US and the UK have not responded to this request and is unclear whether they will heed to this appealed by ECOWAS. The Ebola outbreak in West Africa was first reported in March 2014, and has rapidly become the deadliest occurrence of the disease since its discovery in 1976. The disease has killed more than 8,690 people in Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone. Some deaths have also been reported in Nigeria and Mali.The World Health Organization admits that the death figures are underestimates, given the difficulty of collecting data.

 

 

 

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Ngwa Bertrand

01.Feb.2015

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According to the World Bank, Sub-Saharan Africa is projected to remain one of the fastest growing regions in the world. While Africa’s economy is soaring past most regions with an annual growth of about 5% due mainly to increased agriculture production, infrastructure investment including transportation, ports and energy as well as buoyant services led by tourism, telecommunications and financial services, the continent’s middle class is expected to swell to approximately 300 million people. Additionally, the World Bank projects private consumption in the region to remain strong in 2015-17; particularly with the continent’s burgeoning middle class looking to splurge on new passenger vehicles and for most, their first such purchase.

Last year, Africa was projected to see sales of new 2 million cars with major auto players such as Toyota, Tata Motors and General Motors looking at the continent for growth opportunities. According to , they are approximately 21.6 million passenger vehicles operating in Africa; making the continent’s 1.2 billion population an attractive prospective for automobile manufacturers. As a result, African entrepreneurs are also entering the automobile industry; designing and developing vehicles geared for the local market.

 

Below are three African-based automobile manufacturing companies that look the most promising;

 

Kiira Motors Corporation, Uganda

 

Originally developed by students from Uganda’s Makerere University for a project headed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the sedan hybrid electric vehicle called the Kiira EV SMACK was designed for the region, local terrain and consumers’ ability to afford the car. The five-seater sedan is powered by a rechargeable battery and also has an internal combustion engine-based generator which charges the battery. The first commercial vehicle from this line is expected to rollout in 2018

 

Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company, Nigeria

 

The domestic vehicle maker Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company has built on its success of manufacturing buses and trucks to launch a passenger car line comprised of a truck (IVM 1021A) and a Sports Utility Vehicle (IVM 6490A). According to the company website, the automobile company was commissioned by President Goodluck Jonathan and founded by Mr. Innocent Chukwuma.

 

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Ngwa Bertrand

01.Feb.2015

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According to the World Bank, Sub-Saharan Africa is projected to remain one of the fastest growing regions in the world. While Africa’s economy is soaring past most regions with an annual growth of about 5% due mainly to increased agriculture production, infrastructure investment including transportation, ports and energy as well as buoyant services led by tourism, telecommunications and financial services, the continent’s middle class is expected to swell to approximately 300 million people. Additionally, the World Bank projects private consumption in the region to remain strong in 2015-17; particularly with the continent’s burgeoning middle class looking to splurge on new passenger vehicles and for most, their first such purchase.

Last year, Africa was projected to see sales of new 2 million cars with major auto players such as Toyota, Tata Motors and General Motors looking at the continent for growth opportunities. According to , they are approximately 21.6 million passenger vehicles operating in Africa; making the continent’s 1.2 billion population an attractive prospective for automobile manufacturers. As a result, African entrepreneurs are also entering the automobile industry; designing and developing vehicles geared for the local market.

 

Below are three African-based automobile manufacturing companies that look the most promising;

 

Kiira Motors Corporation, Uganda

 

Originally developed by students from Uganda’s Makerere University for a project headed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the sedan hybrid electric vehicle called the Kiira EV SMACK was designed for the region, local terrain and consumers’ ability to afford the car. The five-seater sedan is powered by a rechargeable battery and also has an internal combustion engine-based generator which charges the battery. The first commercial vehicle from this line is expected to rollout in 2018

 

Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company, Nigeria

 

The domestic vehicle maker Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company has built on its success of manufacturing buses and trucks to launch a passenger car line comprised of a truck (IVM 1021A) and a Sports Utility Vehicle (IVM 6490A). According to the company website, the automobile company was commissioned by President Goodluck Jonathan and founded by Mr. Innocent Chukwuma.

 

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Ngwa Bertrand

01.Feb.2015

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According to the World Bank, Sub-Saharan Africa is projected to remain one of the fastest growing regions in the world. While Africa’s economy is soaring past most regions with an annual growth of about 5% due mainly to increased agriculture production, infrastructure investment including transportation, ports and energy as well as buoyant services led by tourism, telecommunications and financial services, the continent’s middle class is expected to swell to approximately 300 million people. Additionally, the World Bank projects private consumption in the region to remain strong in 2015-17; particularly with the continent’s burgeoning middle class looking to splurge on new passenger vehicles and for most, their first such purchase.

Last year, Africa was projected to see sales of new 2 million cars with major auto players such as Toyota, Tata Motors and General Motors looking at the continent for growth opportunities. According to , they are approximately 21.6 million passenger vehicles operating in Africa; making the continent’s 1.2 billion population an attractive prospective for automobile manufacturers. As a result, African entrepreneurs are also entering the automobile industry; designing and developing vehicles geared for the local market.

 

Below are three African-based automobile manufacturing companies that look the most promising;

 

Kiira Motors Corporation, Uganda

 

Originally developed by students from Uganda’s Makerere University for a project headed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the sedan hybrid electric vehicle called the Kiira EV SMACK was designed for the region, local terrain and consumers’ ability to afford the car. The five-seater sedan is powered by a rechargeable battery and also has an internal combustion engine-based generator which charges the battery. The first commercial vehicle from this line is expected to rollout in 2018

 

Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company, Nigeria

 

The domestic vehicle maker Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company has built on its success of manufacturing buses and trucks to launch a passenger car line comprised of a truck (IVM 1021A) and a Sports Utility Vehicle (IVM 6490A). According to the company website, the automobile company was commissioned by President Goodluck Jonathan and founded by Mr. Innocent Chukwuma.

 

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Ngwa Bertrand

01.Feb.2015

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