Business

Africa Telecom People’s (ATP) jury for the competition that recognises the best companies and managers in the telecommunications sector in Africa has just named Cameroonian national, Elisabeth Medou Badang (photo), the Managing Director of Orange Cameroon, as 2014’s top telecom manager in Africa.

Elisabeth Medou Badang officially assumed her post at the helm of France Telecom’s Cameroonian subsidiary on December 2, 2013 after her three years as CEO of Orange Botswana.

Along with Orange Cameroon’s Managing Director, the ATP 2014 jury also recognised the young Cameroonian, Arthur Zang, the inventor of the cardiopad, who was laureate of the “best development initiative” award.

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Ngwa Bertrand

24.Dec.2014

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The Agricultural Research for Development Institute (IRAD) has a balanced budget of 12.2 billion FCFA, up by 2.5 billion FCFA. This was announced by that organisation in a release issued following its last board meeting this year.

Out of this sum, the operational budget, which is the amount used to finance research activity, is 6.5 billion FCFA, which is a 53.1% increase over 2014.

According to the IRAD, this increase “is largely due to the taking into account of the special donation of 500 million FCFA granted by the government for the large-scale production of improved seeds from major impact speculation.”

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Ngwa Bertrand

24.Dec.2014

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A few weeks ago, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, announced a nearly 10% devaluation of the Naira, Nigeria’s currency, after admitting that a plunge in world oil prices and dwindling dollar reserves were making it difficult to defend the value of the currency. The Naira is now trading at N187 to $1, compared to N165 in November. In dollar terms, the devaluation has knocked more than $40 billion off the value of Nigeria’s economy.

Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, is the biggest loser among Nigeria’s richest people as the Naira’s slump, coupled with falling stock prices, has erased more than $7.8 billion of his fortune since February, when FORBES locked in the values for its annual ranking of the World’s Billionaires. Dangote was worth $25 billion at the time; as of market close on Tuesday, he’s worth $17.2 billion. More than half of the drop in his fortune has happened since early November. As of Nov. 7, Dangote was worth $21.6 billion, $4.4 billion more than now.

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Ngwa Bertrand

24.Dec.2014

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The workers are demanding the adoption of the long-awaited Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), which is aimed at improving oil and gas operations in the country. They have also called on the government to manage corrupt labor practices carried out by the government and oil companies. In addition, the unions have said in an earlier statement that the strike action is also against “the inability of the government to carry out turnaround maintenance of the refineries” and its failure to reduce gas prices after global oil prices dropped.

The Nigerian government has also been accused of failing to fight pipeline vandalism. The workers have also demanded that the government work to improve the country’s neglected roads, which they say is hindering the transportation of oil. The unions have stated that the strike will not end until the government and operators show “a strong commitment” to resolve the problems they face. Although Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil producer, it imports most of its fuel from other nations due to a lack of refining capacity. Despite the abundance of natural resources in Africa’s biggest economy, a large number of Nigerian people live in poverty.

Culled from Presstv

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Ngwa Bertrand

17.Dec.2014

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Rita Akana

Alamine Ousmane Mey, Cameroon Finance Minister has provided details of the third bond issued by the state of Cameroon.  The minister revealed to local and international media on Tuesday the 16th of December the framework of the bond, its purpose, its characteristics and conditions of subscription, and the different mechanisms related to the operation. Cameroon Concord gathered that the funds collected will be used to partially finance structuring projects included in the 2014 Finance Act and none of these projects is in Anglophone Cameroon.

The Biya Francophone Beti-Ewondo Finance Minister cited what he described as major projects which included the tarring of 27,381 kilometres of roads in Francophone Cameroon, the continuation of work at the Kribi port (a project that was born after the Francophone Beti-Ewondo government stifled the Limbe port scheme) and the Douala- Yaounde highway.

Minister Alamine Ousmane revealed that  the ECMR bond had a subscription rate of 5.5%  which is also net nominal interest rate per year from 2014 to 2019) and extends from 24 November to 23 December 2014.  The operation launched by the Cameroonian government is open to all interested investors and has received from the Bank of Central African States (BEAC) the operation safety waste mechanism. The amount of the bond issue by public offering (ECMR) is 150 billion FCFA. The price of the bond is 10 000 FCFA minimum for the subscription, 10 obligations. 15 million of bonds in total have been placed on the market.

The Finance boss said the date of duration for the use of selected titles is 3 days after the closing of the transaction and it also has a 1 year grace period. However, our chief economic reporter says it is unwise for any investor to channel his money to a country where cabinet ministers are constantly being harassed by judges of a so called Special Criminal Court.

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Ngwa Bertrand

17.Dec.2014

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The workers are demanding the adoption of the long-awaited Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), which is aimed at addressing all issues threatening the country’s oil and gas sector. They have also called on the government to manage corrupt labor practices carried out by the government and oil companies. The strike is also in protest against “the inability of the government to carry out turnaround maintenance of the refineries" and its failure to reduce gas prices after global oil prices dropped.

The Nigerian government has been accused of failing to maintain the refineries and fight pipeline vandalism. The workers have also demanded that the government work to improve the country’s neglected roads. The unions added that the strike would not end until the government and operators showed “a strong commitment” to resolve the problems they face. Although Nigeria is Africa's largest oil producer, it imports most of its fuel from other nations due to a lack of refining capacity. Despite the abundance of natural resources in Africa’s biggest economy, a large number of Nigerian people live in poverty.

 

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Ngwa Bertrand

15.Dec.2014

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