WEST AFRICA
ZIGUINCHOR: Landmines and armed attacks in Senegal's Casamance region are preventing farmers from maximising production from the region's fertile soil, but there is another problem, too: not enough young people are taking up farming, residents and experts say. 6 Nov 2009 10:41
WEST AFRICA
Nigeria's banking sector has been ordered to start reporting on suspicious cash transactions from people involved in politics. The new regulation requires banks to check the identity of anyone making a transaction above 250,000 naira (around US$1,600). 5 Nov 2009 11:14
WEST AFRICA
SAN DOMINGOS: Aid agencies are encouraging communities to diversify their agricultural production in Guinea-Bissau, where 90% of farmers grow rice or cashews to survive, making them vulnerable to erratic rainfall and price fluctuations. 23 Oct 2009 10:55
WEST AFRICA
[Tania Ghosh] Nigeria is being urged to take a tougher stance in negotiating oil contracts with China, including an insistence that technology and skills transfers become part of the deals. 20 Oct 2009 09:55
WEST AFRICA
KANO: The national government has started marking out grazing reserves across Katsina and Bauchi states in northern Nigeria, as well as the capital Abuja, to curb often deadly clashes between farmers and nomads over pasture. 13 Oct 2009 07:10
WEST AFRICA
Nigeria is planning to spend up to two billion US dollars from its oil cash reserves to boost its economy in response to the global downturn, the country's junior finance minister Remi Babalola announced this week. The National Economic Council has already approved the economic stimulus package, Babalola said. 9 Oct 2009 10:00
WEST AFRICA
The Nigerian government is considering a temporary nationalisation of some underperforming banks, according to the country's finance minister Mansur Muhtar. He talked about the possibility during a press conference in Istanbul, but emphasised that long-term nationalisation is not in the government's plans. 7 Oct 2009 06:58
WEST AFRICA
WASHINGTON: The World Cocoa Foundation, late last week, announced a public-private partnership for rural education with the US Agency for International Development (USAID) Africa Education Initiative and its members as well as The Jacobs Foundation and the Norwegian Association of Chocolate Manufacturers. 5 Oct 2009 09:00
WEST AFRICA
A Chinese state-owned oil company is negotiating drilling rights for several onshore oil blocks in Nigeria, the Financial Times reports yesterday, 29 September 2009. China's CNOOC is said to be attempting to buy six billion barrels of oil, equivalent to one sixth of Nigeria's proven reserves. 30 Sep 2009 08:01
WEST AFRICA
The annual Makhulu Polane t-shirt design competition is open for entries from Thursday, 16 July 2009. This local initiative was started by Big Blue in 2006 in a quest to discover and support fresh home-grown talent. 15 Jul 2009 09:33
WEST AFRICA
The annual Makhulu Polane t-shirt design competition is open for entries from Thursday, 16 July 2009. This local initiative was started by Big Blue in 2006 in a quest to discover and support fresh home-grown talent. 15 Jul 2009 09:33
WEST AFRICA
LAGOS: Blue Intercontinental Micro-finance Bank (BIFMB) in Nigeria, was awarded the National Gold Quality Micro-finance Bank 2009 award by the Quality Management Institute on Tuesday, 7 July 2009. 9 Jul 2009 10:09
WEST AFRICA
ACCRA: When you meet Naomi Aframea, 60, in the streets of Accra, you could take her for any other Ghanaian woman going about her business. But step into her stall at Agbobloshie Market, one of the capital's satellite markets, and amidst stacks of the wooden crates used to ship tomatoes, you sense her power. 8 Jul 2009 15:39