Vol 7 (AAC) No 2 |
- NIGERIA
- CHINA
Nigeria's state-backed mortgage provider FMBN is in talks with two Chinese financial institutions about a US$6 bn. loan for new housing
With the national population reaching 174 million this year, the the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria estimates the housing deficit at 17 mn. units. However, talks led by...
Private letters to President Jonathan from General Obasanjo and Bank Governor Sanusi warn of deepening financial and political threats
The leaking this week of two damning letters to President Goodluck Jonathan was surely no coincidence and fires a powerful broadside against his government and his plans to...
Piracy, oil theft and sectional rivalries are spinning out of control in the Delta, the political heartland of President Jonathan
The idea that choosing a President and a Petroleum Minister from the Niger Delta would be the best way to tackle the crisis in the oil and gas...
Disarray and defections are undermining the governing party and the President but don’t yet put the opposition clearly in the lead
The defection of five state governors from his party to the new opposition alliance on 26 November can hardly have surprised President Goodluck Jonathan, who has been procrastinating...
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New trends in trade and finance will change political as well as economic ties on the continent
In the coming weeks, some statisticians in Abuja could shake up Africa’s economic and diplomatic hierarchy. The boffins look set to chart the rise of Nigeria’s economy to...
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Promises of a ten per cent cut in state spending at the start of the election campaign defy political gravity
No official reason was given for the postponement of President Goodluck Jonathan's budget speech to the National Assembly, to 19 November. But it is safe bet to assume...
The governorship election in Anambra State on 16 November will kick off the race for the national polls in 2015, even if the formal opening may be six...
As the political class gets drawn into presidential plans for a national conference, the rebel state governors are running out of options
It has taken six weeks for President Goodluck Jonathan to regain the political initiative after seven state governors walked out of his party’s national conference at the end...
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Goodluck Jonathan is the first Nigerian President to make an official state visit to Israel
The declared aim of President Goodluck Jonathan’s 23-29 October trip to Israel was for him to join another 30,000 Nigerians on a Christian pilgrimage and to preside over...
The ex-governor fraudster is going to make the Crown work for his loot. Now, a ‘retrial’ will investigate his assets fully in 2014
The process of deciding how much of ex-Delta State Governor James Ibori’s assets the Crown will confiscate will now continue in what promises to be high courtroom drama...
Vol 54 No 20 |
- NIGERIA
- BRITAIN
Southwark Crown Court witnessed a bizarre sight in late September when the former Governor of Delta State, James Onanefe Ibori, argued that property he had already admitted owning...
Vol 54 No 19 |
- NIGERIA
- BANKS
Tough decisions face one of Africa’s most respected banks: its Chairman and Chief Executive are under scrutiny for claimed malpractice
Directors of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), Africa’s biggest cross-border lender, are due to hold another emergency meeting on 20 September to resolve the crisis over claims that its...
The President’s failure to bring together the rival factions in his party has chronically weakened his government’s standing, nationally and regionally
The open brawl between rival factions of the governing People’s Democratic Party in the National Assembly on 18 September pointed dramatically to the failure of party leaders to...
The President sacked nine ministers on 11 September, many of whom are linked to his opponents
The first major reshuffle of Goodluck Jonathan's presidency on 11 September looked more like a panic reaction to political revolt inside his party rather than a strategic move...
Seven state governors have walked out of the governing party, dealing a critical blow to its election strategy
As he started a three-day state visit to Kenya on 5 September, President Goodluck Jonathan might try to put his own government’s political disarray into perspective. His host,...
The battle for control of wealthy Rivers State is a personal struggle for power in the Niger Delta but has the makings of a national crisis
For many of those listening to Governor Rotimi Amaechi’s address to the Chatham House think-tank in London on 24 July, the speaker may have appeared just another ambitious...
Rampant oil theft, spills and a pipeline shutdown focus attention on Shell’s operations as a political crisis looms
The Niger Delta faces a new round of turmoil as politicians and their business allies jostle for power at the centre of the country's oil industry. On 10...
The aftermath of the fire could result in costly litigation for Shell and further erode President Goodluck Jonathan's presidency
The latest fire and pollution incident at Bodo may leave Royal Dutch Shell open to hugely costly damages. A landmark United Nations Environment Programme report in 2011 estimated...
Opponents – within and outside the ruling party – are undercutting President Jonathan’s authority as he prepares for the 2015 elections
Two factors – rampant factionalism in the governing People’s Democratic Party and a coherent opposition alliance are changing the calculus in Nigerian politics. For the first time in...
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Quieter streets along with fewer attacks and bombings suggest the declaration of emergency rule in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states is holding back, for now, the momentum of...
Partisan wrangling and commercial manoeuvring have derailed plans to make the oil and gas industry more efficient and accountable
Efforts towards comprehensive reform of Nigeria’s oil and gas industry are in tatters some five years after the first version of the Petroleum Industry Bill was presented to...
With Map: Recent Boko Haram activity: bombings, shootings, kidnappings, jailbreaks
At face value, the declaration by President Goodluck Jonathan’s government, dominated by appointees from the oil-rich Niger Delta, of a state of emergency in north-east Nigeria and plans...
A Lagos court has sentenced Azim Aghajani, the Iranian convicted on 13 May of importing 13 containers of infantry weapons, to only five years, along with his Nigerian...
A new political alliance to confront President Jonathan is gathering pace as
security conditions – north and south – deteriorate
The newly united opposition parties – the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) – have joined forces to condemn soldiers for what...
The United States Supreme Court decided on 17 April to back a lower court’s refusal to hear a suit brought by Nigerians against Royal Dutch Shell ...
As computer software billionaire and philanthropist Bill Gates visited child health projects in Ghana on 26 March, controversy raged in Nigeria, where he had cancelled...
Kidnapping is on the increase as Nigeria’s two main Islamist terrorist groups follow different paths
Claims are bitterly disputed that seven hostages have been murdered by their jihadist captors in the north after a rescue attempt by Nigerian and British forces. Abuja and...
Oppositionists unite and governing party dissidents plot against him but the President is fighting back, armed with state and business patronage
It doesn’t look good for President Goodluck Jonathan as he prepares his campaign for a second term in the 2015 elections. His close advisors concede that he could...
A lavish launch on 21 February for Eko Atlantic City brought the political and business elite into an awkward communion. On reclaimed land adjacent to the upmarket Victoria...
Concern is growing in the Niger Delta over the fate of the charitable trust set up with US$5 million of the 2009 $15.5 mn. settlement...
The troops now on their way to Mali to fight alongside the French are extending the campaign against Boko Haram
The 900 troops sent this week to fight alongside French and local forces in Mali are joining an operation which the Nigerian government sees as an extension of...
Despite corruption worries and a row with Obasanjo over the crisis in the north, President Jonathan prepares to stand in the 2015 elections
Election billboards in the business district of Abuja calling for President Goodluck Jonathan to stand for election again in 2015 opened the political season of the New...
Vol 6 (AAC) No 10 |
- NIGERIA
- CHINA
The President returned from his July trip with US$1.1 bn. in loans and promises of new projects – but it’s far less than the $3 bn. his goverment had targeted
President Goodluck Jonathan’s state visit to China delivered much-needed finance for infrastructure projects but the final amount was rather less than his officials had originally envisaged. Ahead of...
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Vol 6 (AAC) No 10 |
- NIGERIA
- CHINA
The promised deregulation of the refined petroleum market is just one reason for the investment delay
Political and financial concerns have stalled or forced the reformulation of many of the major projects trumpeted since 2008. Back in May 2010, the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation...
Vol 6 (AAC) No 6 |
- NIGERIA
Governor, Central Bank, Nigeria
Sanusi Lamido Sanusi wrote an op-ed in London’s Financial Times in March that compared Chinese involvement in Africa to that of the Europeans in the colonial era....
Vol 6 (AAC) No 4 |
- NIGERIA
- CHINA
Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Lamido Sanusi took to the stage at the World Economic Forum (23-27 January) in Davos, Switzerland, to argue that Africa’s relationship with China...