Africa Business News

The CEO of Chile´s Antofagasta told Reuters that miners will think twice before splashing out on major new projects even as copper prices have soared to decade-long highs this year.Antofagasta CEO Iván Arriagada however says many miners had learned the lessons of the previous supercycle of high prices, driven by the growth of the Chinese economy, in which bold but only marginally profitable investments were punished when prices plunged later in the decade.He says there are relatively few promising deposits being discovered or for sale, further complicating prospects.He says Antofagasta had no plans beyond an upgrade of its ageing flagship Los Pelambres mine, which will churn out an additional 60,000 tonnes annually, and a pending investment decision over a 140,000-tonne-per-year expansion of its Centinela division.

Uganda and Tanzania have signed three key agreements aimed at developing Uganda’s oil and gas industry, during Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s first trip abroad.The agreement on the host government and shareholding for the pipeline, as well as the transportation and tax deals, is a step towards the start of the construction of the crude oil pipeline.The two countries entered a partnership to build a 1,443km (896 miles) oil pipeline to pump Uganda’s oil from the Albertine basin in the west of the country, to Tanzania’s Indian Ocean port of Tanga.They hope that the pipeline will bring socio-economic benefits and revenues to the region, by creating an estimated 10,000 jobs during the construction and operation of the project.Uganda is projected to pump its first of an estimated 1.4 billion barrels of commercially viable oil in 2025.

The federal government has received the report of the compensatory contracts and other incentives committee on the abandoned $1 billion Kaztec Engineering Limited fabrication yard, located in Ilase village, Snake Island, Amuwo-Odofin Council, Lagos State.Chairman of the Committee and Member of the Board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Senator Magnus Abe explained that the federal government would not sit by and allow such humongous waste of resources on the project.He stressed that aside from the 3,000 jobs lost to the collapse of the facility, over $650 million had already been expended on the abandoned project.Abe noted that the facility was to add over 19 million barrels to the national oil reserve before Addax Petroleum declared a force majeure on the project which has not been operational since 2015 due to contractual issues.

The National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control has found out that the chemical added to the killer flavoured drink that led to the death of three persons in Kano State contained ‘Hyroxylamine,’ used for terrorism.It says all the merchants of the deadly chemicals and additives had been apprehended while further investigation continued.The Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye warned Nigerians against adding chemicals and additives to food and drinks to enhance the taste.She stated that such practices could result in severe illness and even death.

The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammed Sa’ad Abubakar III charged Nigerians to embrace inter-religious harmony to ensure peace in the country.He has also directed Muslims to look out for the crescent of Ramadan from today.Abubakar prayed that the excellent relationship between Muslims and Christians in the state would continue to be strengthened to ensure peace not only in Kogi but the entire country.He thanked the people of Kogi State for the inter-religious harmony in the state and urged other Nigerians to emulate it.

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project has called for a slash in the pay of political office holders such as the President, Vice-President, governors and their deputies, as well as lawmakers.SERAP in a statement issued by its SERAP Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, asked the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission to urgently review upward the remuneration, allowances, and conditions of service for Nigerian judges, and to review downward the remuneration and allowances of high-ranking political office-holders in order to address the persistent poor treatment of judges and to improve access of victims of corruption to justice.SERAP also urged the commission to send its review and recommendations to the National Assembly for appropriate remedial and legislative action, as provided for by the Nigerian Constitution 1999.The letter followed the nationwide industrial action by the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria to press home their demand for financial autonomy for the judicial arm of government, and the federal government’s silence on the judiciary workers’ strike that has grounded courts across the country.

The United Nations Office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs has confirmed the attack on its facility in Damasak, Borno state.The humanitarian coordinator and head of the un mission in Nigeria, Mr Edward Kallon, says he is deeply concerned about the recurrent reports of violent attacks by non-state armed groups putting the lives of civilians at risk.He also condemned the attack on humanitarian aid operations and facilities that are, the lifeline for people affected by violence and conflict in northeast Nigeria who are dependent on assistance to survive.He adds that humanitarian operations in Damasak have been reduced due to the violent attack as the support to 8,800 internally displaced people and 76,000 people in the host community receiving humanitarian assistance and protection there has been halted.

Governors from the South East of Nigeria have established a security outfit called EBUBE AGU as part of plans to checkmate the rising unrest in the region, stemming from an increase in criminal activities. A communique put out by the governors of the Southeast says the agency is to oversee and monitor the activities of vigilante groups in the region.Chairman of the Southeast Governors Forum, Dave Umahi noted that the headquarters of the EBUBE AGU security outfit will be in Enugu state.

The International Monetary Fund’s managing director says unprecedented policy response and speedy vaccine development helped pull the global economy back from the brink last year, but the outlook is still marked by severe uncertainty and increasingly lopsided access to wealth and opportunity.IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva says there is light at the end of the tunnel.The IMF lifted its global growth forecast to 6 per cent in 2021 and 4.4 per cent in 2022 on Tuesday. But the upgrade is driven primarily by rebounds in the United States, China and India.Georgieva urged governments to ensure people have a fair shot at COVID-19 vaccines, economic recovery and stable futures.Georgieva says that getting back to business requires ramping up vaccine distribution and ensuring that surplus vaccines are transferred to poorer countries.

Italy recommended on Wednesday that AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 shot only be used on those over 60 and Britain that people under 30 should get an alternative, due to possible links between the vaccine and very rare cases of blood clots.European Union health ministers failed to agree on common guidance on the use of the shot, despite calls for coordination across member states to combat public hesitancy over a vaccine set to be a key component of many vaccination programmes.Italy’s health authority recommended that the shot only be used on people over 60 years old but said those under 60 who have taken a first AstraZeneca shot can also take a second one.