Tunis: This Country Strategy Paper (CSP) proposes a strategy for supporting Nigeria’s development efforts over the period 2013-2017 and is anchored on creating a sound policy environment and investing in critical infrastructure. This strategy is aligned with the long-term development agenda of the new administration as outlined in the vision 20:2020 and anchored on the Government’s Transformation Agenda (TA:2011-2015). It is also aligned with the Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) (2011-2013) - jointly prepared by the World Bank, African Development Bank (AfDB), United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Department for International Development (DFID); and with the Country Assistance Framework (CAF) currently being developed by the donor community in Nigeria.
Lagos: The ever-expanding moonscape that stretches out behind a wall holding back the Atlantic Ocean here will one day host a project designed to help anchor Nigeria as Africa's biggest economy. But if the ambitious plan to construct a new city on land reclaimed from the sea represents Nigeria's future, it is one that will be outsourced. Nearly every aspect of it will be privately run, from electricity supply to security. Economists expect Nigeria, already the continent's most populous nation and largest oil producer, to overtake South Africa in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) over the next several years, technically making it Africa's biggest economy.
Lagos: Nigerians in Cape Town, Saturday, threatened to sue the South African Government over the January 6 alleged killing of their colleague, Mr. Obinna Ugboaja, by some men of the South African Police Service. President of the Nigerian Union Western Cape (NUWC), Azu Oparaugo, who spoke to The Guardian from his Cape Town base, said the Union had reported the issue to the two Nigerian Mission in Johannesburg and Pretoria but would proceed with legal action to drive home its position on the matter.
Lagos: Several lessons abound for Nigeria in the aftermath of the conviction, by a South African court, of Henry Emomotimi Okah, for masterminding the October 1, 2010 twin bombings in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The explosion killed 12 people. The conviction climaxed the drama, anxiety, embarrassment and indignation thrown up by the trial. Clearly, there is no hiding place anymore in the world for perpetrators of crime. Nigeria must, however, catch up with the rest of the world in ensuring speedy dispensation of justice, as evidenced in the South African example. Beyond these however, the Okah saga is at best, a reminder of the lingering political agitation over injustice and environmental degradation in the Niger Delta.
Convicted leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, Henry Okah, has asked a Johannesburg High Court to allow him call witnesses to testify for mitigation of his sentence. The court at its last sitting on January 21 found Mr. Okah guilty of conspiracy to commit terrorism by masterminding two car bomb attacks in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, on October 1, 2010. The court had reserved the pronouncement of the sentence till January 31, 2013. Mr. Okah’s attorney, Lucky Multulanla, told the trial judge, Neels Claassen, on Thursday that his client wishes to call at least five witnesses from Nigeria and outside Nigeria to testify for the mitigation of the convict’s sentence in the interest of the Niger Delta community.
Cape Town: At least five African nations including Nigeria are planning international bond sales this year, providing investors targeting the world's poorest continent with alternatives to South African debt. The extra yield investors receive for holding Nigerian dollar bonds maturing in January 2021 rather than similar-maturity South African dollar debt has narrowed 74 basis points this year to 34. Moody's Investors Service, Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings have lowered South Africa's debt since September, while S&P raised Nigeria's rating in November.
Abuja: Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan, Wednesday said that Nigeria and South Africa should leverage on the strong brotherly relations between them for the benefit of the African continent. President Jonathan, who spoke during a farewell visit to him by the outgoing South African High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Kingsley Mamabolo, stated that “we worked together successfully to eradicate apartheid and we should continue to build on our past relationship for the benefit of Africa.”
Johannesburg: A South African court found suspected Niger Delta militant leader Henry Okah guilty of terrorism on Monday for masterminding two car bombs that killed at least 10 people in the Nigerian capital at an independence day ceremony in 2010.Judge Neels Claassen said Okah, who was accused of leading the militant MEND group in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta, was found guilty on 13 counts ranging from conspiracy to commit terrorism to detonating explosives.
Washington: The former Angolan Planning minister, Ana Dias Lourenço was appointed Monday by the President Jose Eduardo dos Santos to the country's seat at the Executive Council of the Bretton Woods Organisation (World Bank). The ceremony took place at the World Bank headquarters in Washington, DC. Ana Dias Lourenço was appointed to the post of Temporary Executive Director of 25th constituency, which integrate Angola, Nigeria and South Africa. Ana Dias Lourenço at two-year term post replaces Mansur Muhtar, former Minister of Finance of Nigeria.
Abuja: The recent convention of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa returned incumbent President Jacob Zuma as party president and potential flag-bearer at the forthcoming presidential elections, for which he will take a shot at a second term of five years. Zuma won convincingly at the ANC elective conference in Bloemfontein. He garnered 2,983 votes to defeat his challenger and Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, who got 991 votes.
