Vol 3 (AAC) No 9 | NIGERIACHINA Telecom troubles 20th July 2010 Plans to sell the state-owned Nigeria Telecommunications (Nitel) have floundered after China Unicom announced it would not be contributing to the front-running New Generation Consortium comprised of China Unicom Europe, the...
Vol 3 (AAC) No 7 | NIGERIACHINA Oiling the gears 20th May 2010 Beijing’s biggest African offer yet is a risky gambit to gain a major stake in the upstream and downstream sectors of Nigeria’s oil business Equal measures of optimism and scepticism greeted China’s announcement of an agreement to build three oil refineries worth US$23 billion. The terms of the memorandum of understanding are clear; the...
Vol 3 (AAC) No 4 | NIGERIACHINABRIEFING Beijing's builders are back 12th February 2010 The on-again off-again plan to renovate the railway linking coastal Lagos to Kano in the north may formally start up this year, but questions about the validity of any contract...
Vol 3 (AAC) No 2 | NIGERIAINDIASOUTH KOREA It's not over until it's over 15th December 2009 After winning back its oil acreage, South Korea offers pipelines, a power station and negotiations with its commercial rivals After winning a court battle over the Nigerian government's attempt to cancel its oil production licences, South Korea's Korea National Oil Corporation is offering to finance billions of dollars of new...
Vol 3 (AAC) No 2 | NIGERIASOUTH KOREA A useful deal in the Delta 15th December 2009 South Korea's state-run Land and Housing Corporation is offering investments and technical cooperation in the oil-rich Niger Delta, a move that might help the ambitions of Seoul's energy companies and appeal...
Vol 50 No 25 | NIGERIA Yar'Adua's cardiac crisis encourages Abuja plotters 18th December 2009 The political class examines its options as the President stays away Every day Nigeria's feistier newspapers remind their readers how long - more than three weeks so far - that President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua has been out of Nigeria...
Vol 50 No 25 | NIGERIA Nigeria's succession: the candidates 18th December 2009 Should President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua's health problems cause him to withdraw from office, a number of People's Democratic Party (PDP) notables are poised to ascend.
Vol 50 No 24 | NIGERIA Rogues and rackets on trial 4th December 2009 A corruption case in Geneva snares some of Nigeria’s political elite, and judges order the return of stolen state assets The conviction in a Swiss Court on 19 November of Abba Abacha, son of former military leader General Sani Abacha, for participating in a criminal organisation together with...
Vol 50 No 24 | NIGERIA The Abacha family's plunder machine 4th December 2009 General Sani Abacha is reckoned to have stolen over US$3 billion of Nigeria's public assets, of which at least $1 bn. and 900 million Deutsche Marks were deposited... READ FOR FREE
Vol 50 No 24 | NIGERIA Ailing president, procrastinating politics 4th December 2009 The latest illness of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua adds urgency to calls for far-reaching electoral and political reforms ahead of national elections due by early 2011. Despite mounting calls for Yar’Adua to step down on health grounds after he was spirited off to Saudi Arabia for treatment of acute pericarditis, his cabinet ministers insist he must remain in charge. Meanwhile, activists and opposition politicians are reorganising to challenge the incumbent People’s Democratic Party’s overwhelming grip on power. With national elections due by early 2011. The financial stakes are huge - control of some US$100 billion of annual oil and gas revenue. The last elections in...