ABUJA, Nigeria, August 1, 2025/ — The Federal Government of Nigeria and the Oyo State Government will be joined by the African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org) for the groundbreaking ceremony of the Oyo State Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone (SAPZ). Headlining the ceremony, to be held 2 August 2025 in Ijaiye, Akinyele Local Government Area, will be Nigeria’s Vice President, Kashim Shettima, African Development Bank Group head, Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina, and Oyo State Governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde, alongside senior government officials, development partners, and private sector leaders. The SAPZ Programme is…
Category: AFRICA
2025 Country Focus Report: Burkina Faso urged to make better use of national resources to finance its development
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, July 31, 2025/ — The African Development Bank’s 2025 Country Focus Report for Burkina Faso (www.AfDB.org), the national version of the African Economic Outlook, was officially launched on 18 July 2025 in Ouagadougou. The ceremony was chaired by Souleymane Nabolé, Technical Advisor, representing the Minister of Economy and Finance, in the presence of Daniel Ndoye, the Bank Group’s Country Manager for Burkina Faso. Run virtually, the session brought together more than 80 participants from the public administration, technical and financial partners, the research community and the private…
Petrofund Launches Flagship Scholarship to Empower Namibian Youth in Oil and Gas
WALVIS BAY, Namibia, July 31, 2025/ — Namibia’s Petroleum Training and Education Fund (Petrofund) officially launched its flagship scholarship program during the 2nd Youth in Oil and Gas Summit, reinforcing its commitment to building a highly skilled national workforce for the country’s burgeoning oil and gas sector. The new scholarship,the statement said, complements the Namibian government’s free tertiary education policy by fully funding undergraduate and postgraduate students in engineering, geosciences, paramedics and technical vocational training disciplines relevant to upstream oil and gas operations. Courses will be offered at accredited institutions…
Climate change is making Africa’s debt burden worse – new debt contracts could help
The Conversation First Published,July 30,2025 Author: Magalie Masamba(Extraordinary lecturer at the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria) Many African countries are already struggling with heavy debt burdens. Climate change is making this worse. Africa contributes the least to global emissions but suffers the most from extreme weather, rising temperatures and drought. These disasters affect not just people’s livelihoods but also national revenues, making debt repayment harder. Yet traditional debt contracts don’t account for this. The link between these pressure points is becoming undeniable. As climate-related disasters worsen, debt-laden countries are left…
Libya Islamic Bank-Backbase Join Hands to Bring Digital-first Banking to Libyan Customers
Backbase, the global leader in AI-powered banking technology, has announced in Tripoli,Thursday,the recent successful platform launch of Libyan Islamic Bank (LIB), one of the country’s fastest-growing financial institutions. This achievement,the announcement noted, represents Backbase’s first platform launch in Libya, underscoring its commitment to expanding state-of-the-art, customer-centric banking across North Africa. From ambition to impact As a digitally focused bank, LIB set out to differentiate itself through an experience-led approach to banking. In collaboration with Backbase, the bank laid the groundwork for a customer-first operating model that is built for speed,…
Op-Ed: Financing Energy Access in Africa: Leveraging Fossil Fuel Revenues to End Energy Poverty (By NJ Ayuk)
NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber (https://EnergyChamber.org) In an emissions-focused world, do oil and gas revenues have a role to play in ending energy poverty in Africa? It may sound counterintuitive, but many would argue that they do, albeit as enablers of a future powered by alternative energy sources. The key lies in recognizing that Africa’s situation is unique, and solutions take time, building on what we have and what we can do with it. This means that, in working towards a just energy transition, the continent’s oil and…
Global Investment in African Gold Surges Ahead of African Mining Week (AMW) 2025
CAPE TOWN, South Africa, July 30, 2025/ — Africa – the world’s second-largest gold-producing region after China – is seeing a marked increase in gold mining investment in 2025. Driven by strong global demand, favorable prices and vast untapped reserves, international financiers are stepping up support for gold projects across the continent. In June, Canadian firm Asante Gold secured a $470 million financing package from Appian Capital and South Africa’s FirstRand Bank to expand the Chirano Mine and advance the Bibiani Project in Ghana – Africa’s leading gold producer and…
Chad and AfDB Join Hands for Affirmative Action on Circular Economy Transition for Resource Use Efficiency and Sustainability
Report: Mohammed Abu China and Europe has since been in the forefront of the global transition from the take-make-use-discard, wasteful linear economy which is unsustainable experts contend,to the emerging circular economy paradigm. Circularity principles is premised on the fact that, resources endowment is not infinite and thus,the need for resource use efficiency whereby nothing is wasted. From a circularity pespective,waste in whatever form be in biodegradable or none-biodegradable, shouldn’t be left to post an environmental hazard or burden whatsoever to humanity,but rather should be harnessed as raw materials to create…
“The Northern Ghana is a gem of untapped potential”-Charles Abugre
Dr.Charles Abugre,an International Development Economist,is also,a former CEO of the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority(SADA) and Cotton Development Authority,Ghana. “The Northern Ghana is a gem of untapped potential” Address at the Northern Ghana Development Conference The Northern Ghana Caucus in Parliament Tamale Charles Abugre 21/07/2025 Salutations Naa Chairman, Naa Yab Nanton-Naa I am most honored and humbled by the opportunity given to me by the Majority Leader and members of the Caucus to be on this podium. Please accept my congratulations for this historic initiative. It was long in coming but…
Attaining Food Security and Combatting Global Warming: Scientists Eye Africa’s Baobab and Marula
Report: Mohammed A. Abu Amidst food security concerns and the disastrous global warming that constitutes an existential threat to humanity today, scientific researchers posit that two iconic trees, the African baobab (Adansonia digitata) and Marula (Sclerocarya birrea) might be more important for food security and preventing disastrous global warming than any other species growing on our home planet. Baobab and marula, they say could be grown sparsely on vast areas without changing the existing land-use patterns. Their Unique Selling Points They can become large trees in arid conditions, where nothing…