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Insurgencies dip investment in Nigeria by 21%, UN says

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A new report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Investment has shown clearly the effects of the insurgencies in both the Niger Delta and Northern Nigeria by militants groups, with foreign direct investment to Nigeria dipping by 21 per cent last year.

Though Africa remained a relatively strong destination for foreign investors in 2012, with the continent recording a 5.5% increase in investment to $ 50billion, Nigeria bucked the trend. And it has it internal crisis to blame.

Inflows to Nigeria declined by 21 per cent to $ 7.0 billion, from about $ 9billion in 2011, accounting for much of the diminished flows to the West African region.

•Okonjo-Iweala,  Finance Minister

•Okonjo-Iweala, Finance Minister

The UNCTAD World Investment Report 2013, subtitled Global Value Chains: Investment and Trade for Development, which was released last night put the investment decline to West Africa at 5 %, standing at $ 16.8 billion. Investment to Ghana was however stable at $ 3.3 billion.

Mining interests in Mauritania got an inflow of $ 1.2 billion.

The region of North Africa is beginning to see signs of a revival in cross-border investment activities, after declines rooted in the area’s political turmoil in 2011. FDI flows to North Africa increased by 35 per cent to $ 11.5 billion in 2012, the World Investment Report notes. Much of this increase was accounted for by a turnaround in Egypt, where inflows climbed from a net divestment of $ 0.5 billion in 2011 to a positive $ 2.8 billion in 2012. The report notes that the 2012 figure is still much lower than the levels reached in Egypt before 2011.

Central Africa saw its inflows rise to $ 10 billion, a record high, maintaining a trend of increasing FDI since 2010. Natural resources continue to attract investment from mining transnational corporations (TNCs). For example, significant FDI was targeted at the expansion of the copper-cobalt Tenke Fungurume mine (Democratic Republic of the Congo).

FDI flows to Southern Africa fell sharply, however, from $ 8.7 billion in 2011 to $ 5.4 billion in 2012, even as some countries saw substantial increases. Inflows to Mozambique, for example, doubled to $ 5.2 billion, attracted by the country’s huge offshore gas deposits. Meanwhile, Angola registered a third successive year of decline in FDI. Investment to that country fell by $ 6.9 billion. Inflows to South Africa, which have tended to fluctuate greatly in recent years, dropped by 24 per cent in 2012, to $ 4.6 billion. By contrast, FDI outflows from South Africa rebounded sharply to $ 4.4 billion, returning the country to the position of largest source country of FDI in Africa. South African companies were active in acquiring operations in industries such as mining, wholesale, and healthcare during 2012.

East Africa also saw its investment dollars increase to $ 6.3 billion last year from $ 4.6 billion in 2011, thanks to new oil and gas developments in Uganda and Tanzania.

“Africa is the one continent in the report this year that still had increased FDI,” said Philip Cobbina, a lecturer at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration, referring to foreign direct investment.

Foreign investment dropped to $ 1.35 trillion worldwide compared to $ 1.65 trillion in 2011, with spending hit by continued investor uncertainty over the world economy’s recovery since the 2008 financial crisis, UNCTAD reports.

For the first time, the developing world overtook developed countries when it comes to foreign investment, bringing in 52 percent of foreign investment worldwide.

“Foreign direct investment has contributed to the development of nations in the developing world and will continue to play an important role,” Ghana’s Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry Nii Lantey Vanderpuije said at the launch of the report in Ghana’s capital Accra.

Africa is home to some of the world’s fastest growing economies, many of which are new democracies bouncing back from years of war, military rule or economic mismanagement.

The International Monetary Fund announced in April that it expects the continent’s economies to grow at 5.6 percent in 2013, led by rapidly growing economies like Mozambique and Nigeria.

Analysts however warn that such growth has in some cases not equated with significant development and poverty reduction.

Countries like Ghana — considered a success story in west Africa — have seen their economies boosted by new discoveries of oil, which buoyed investor interest and helped lead to GDP growth of 7.9 percent in 2012.

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Kano Transfers Over 1,000 Almajiris To Different States Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic

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The Kano State Government on Saturday said it has transferred 1,098 ‘almajiris’ to different states of the country.

The commissioner for local government, Murtala Garo, disclosed this while presenting a report before the state’s task force on COVID-19 at the government house, Kano.

Almajiris are children who are supposed to be learning Islamic studies while living with their Islamic teachers. Majority of them, however, end up begging on the streets of Northern Nigeria. They constitute a large number of Nigeria’s over 10 million out-of-school children.

Mr Garo said the Kano government transported 419 almajiris to Katsina, 524 to Jigawa and 155 to Kaduna. He said all of them tested negative for coronavirus before leaving the Kano State.

Despite the coronavirus test done in Kano for the almajiris, the Jigawa government earlier said it would quarantine for two weeks all the almajiris that recently arrived from Kano.

Mr Garo said another 100 almajiris scheduled to be taken to Bauchi State also tested negative to COVID-19.

In a remark, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje said the COVID-19 situation in Kano was getting worse. He appealed for a collaborative effort to curtail the spread of the virus in the state.

Mr Ganduje, who commended residents for complying with the lockdown imposed in the state, said the decision was taken to halt the spread of the virus.

Kano State, as of Saturday night, has 77 coronavirus cases, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.

The decision to transfer the Kano almajiris is part of the agreement reached between Northern governors that almajiris in each state be transferred to their states of origin.

However, even before the latest agreement by the governors, the Kano government had been transferring almajiris to other states and neighbouring countries after it banned street begging in the state, most populous in Northern Nigeria.

Despite the transfers, however, no concrete step has been taken to ensure such children do not return to Kano streets as there is freedom of movement across Nigeria although interstate travel was recently banned to check the spread of the coronavirus.

 

Sourced From: Premium Times Nigeria

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Nigeria News

COVID-19: ‘Bakassi Boys’ Foil Attempt To Smuggle 24 Women Into Abia In Container

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By Ugochukwu Alaribe

Operatives of the Abia State Vigilante Service, AVS, popularly known as ‘Bakassi Boys’ have arrested 24 market women hidden in a container truck, at Ekwereazu Ngwa, the boundary community between Abia and Akwa Ibom states.

The market women, said to be  from Akwa Ibom State, were on their way to Aba, when they were arrested with the truck driver and two of his conductors for violating the lockdown order by the state government.

Driver of the truck, Moses Asuquo, claimed he was going to Aba to purchase stock fish, but decided to assist the market women, because they were stranded.

A vigilante source told Sunday Vanguard that the vehicle was impounded while the market women were sent back to Akwa Ibom State.

Commissioner for Home Land Security, Prince Dan Okoli, who confirmed the incident, said that  smuggling of people into the state poses great threat to the state government’s efforts to contain the spread of COVID- 19.

 

Sourced From: Vanguard News

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Nigeria News

Woman Kills Her Maid Over Salary Request

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Operatives of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Yaba of the Lagos State police command have arrested one Mrs Nene Steve for allegedly killing her maid, Joy Adole

The maid was allegedly beaten to death by Nene for requesting for her salary at their residence located at 18, Ogundola Street, Bariga area in Lagos.

Narrating the incident, Philips Ejeh, an elder brother to the deceased said that he was sad when they informed him that his sister was beaten to death.

He explained that the deceased was an indigene of Benue State brought to Lagos through an agent and started working with her as a maid  in January 2020.

‘’She reported that her boss refused to pay her and anytime she asked for her salary she will start beating her.

She was making an attempt to leave the place but due to the total lockdown she remained there until Sunday when her boss said she caught her stealing noodles and this led to her serious beating and death,’’ Ejeh said.

He called on Lagos State Government and well- meaning people in the country to help them in getting justice for the victim.

The police spokesman, Bala Elkana, stated that the woman and her husband came to Bariga Police  Station to a report that their house girl had committed suicide.

Detectives were said to have visited the house and suspected foul play with the position of the rope and bruises all over the body which confirmed that the girl had been tortured to death and the boss decided to hang up the girl to make it look like suicide.

He said: “The police moved on with their investigation and found a lot of sign of violence on her body that she has been tortured before a rope was put on her neck.’’

He added that the police removed the corpse and deposited it in the mortuary for autopsy to further ascertain the cause of the death.

Elkana said the matter has been transferred from Bariga police station to Panti for further investigation while the couple have been arrested and will be charged to court.

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Boko Haram Attacks: Buhari Summons Urgent Meeting Of Service Chiefs

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President Buhari and the Service Chiefs in a meeting. (File photo)

Ostensibly alarmed by the latest killings of dozens of soldiers by Boko Haram insurgents, President Muhammadu Buhari has summoned an urgent meeting of Service Chiefs to find ways to stop the trend. 

He has also dispatched the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, to the neighbouring Republic of Chad for an urgent meeting with President Idris Deby and his defence counterpart. 

Knowledgeable sources said in Abuja on Friday that the president is worried by on the deterioration of security situation on the Nigeria – Chad Border that has led to the recently increased Boko Haram terrorism in the area.

The sources which did not want to be named in Abuja said: “Nigeria has a Chad  problem in the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) put together to secure the Lake Chad basin areas and repeal the Boko Haram terrorist attacks against all the countries neighbouring the Lake.”

The sources noted that Chad is believed to be having their own internal security challenges and this has reportedly led to their pulling away their own troops manning their own border around Lake Chad,  saying: “That lacuna is being exploited by the Boko Haram terrorists, who go in and out of Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon to launch terrorist acts.  This is a clear illustration of the fact that terrorism is beyond national borders.”

When contacted, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, confirmed that the Defence Minister is going to Chad but said he is unaware of the purpose. 

Meanwhile, the military authorities are said to be in the process of identifying the families of the latest victims with a view to making contact with them. 

Credible sources revealed that it is the reason the president is yet to make any pronouncement on the matter. 

“The President has called an urgent meeting with the Service Chiefs, as well as the fact that families of the latest victims of the Boko Haram are being identified and contacts made before a government pronouncement on the tragic attacks. This, it is understood, is the reason for the silence of the government over the incident,” the source said. 

 

Sourced From: Tribune

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