Africa Business News

Niger's junta-appointed Prime Minister Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine is in Russia's capital Moscow for talks aimed at deepening economic and military ties between the two countries.
He is accompanied by Defence Minister Salihou Mody as well as Niger's ministers of petroleum and trade.
Niger’s military junta, which is under tough sanctions from its West African neighbours, is seeking to diversify its partnerships.
The junta has made clear its intention to free itself of Western influence, beginning with the severing of military ties with France.

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Sudan's government says it has suspended any involvement in peace talks mediated by the East African regional body, Igad.
It had been trying to get the army and the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to negotiate an end to the nine-month civil war.
The foreign ministry says it had suspended dealings with Igad after the regional group added Sudan to the agenda of a meeting and invited the RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo to attend.

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The National Assembly has raised the budgetary allocation to the Ministry of Works from N657.3bn in the proposed budget to N1.03tn.
This represents N373bn or 56.7 per cent increase from the initial figure in the appropriation bill. It also represents a 65.4 per cent increase from the amount approved in the 2023 budget.
The approved budget showed that the increase was due to the raising of its capital budget from N617.9bn to N987.3bn.
An analysis of the document also showed that several capital projects were introduced in the approved budget.

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Access Bank, the flagship subsidiary of Access Holdings Plc, has entered into a transaction with the Ugandan-based Finance Trust Bank Limited and it’s shareholders for the acquisition of a majority equity stake in FTB.
The Company Secretary, Sunday Ekwochi, says the proposed acquisition is subject to regulatory approval.
The Holdco says that the transaction would see Access Bank acquire a majority stake from existing shareholders and inject capital to increase FTB’s capital base; “Both which are subject to regulatory approvals by the Central Bank of Nigeria and Bank of Uganda.

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The Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, launched a special team tagged the ‘Special Intervention Squad’ to reduce the spate of kidnappings in the Federal Capital Territory.
The police boss says the team comprised specially trained mobile police officers who are expected to provide rapid response to the security breaches in the FCT.
Egbetokun assured Nigerians that the newly launched Special Intervention Squad will be replicated in neighboring states to address the challenge of insecurity.

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The Federal Government has ordered investigations into the explosion that rocked Ibadan Oyo State on Tuesday, claiming three lives and injuring 80 persons.
Minister of Solid Minerals, Dele Alake, says that officers from the ministry will work and collaborate with the Oyo State Government to know the actual cause.
He directed the ministry’s mine officers who are already on site in Ibadan to join ongoing investigations to find out the immediate and remote causes of the explosion.

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Chinese military bodies, state-run artificial intelligence research institutes and universities have over the past year purchased small batches of Nvidia semiconductors banned by the U.S. from export to China.
The sales by largely unknown Chinese suppliers highlight the difficulties Washington faces, despite its bans, in completely cutting off China's access to advanced U.S. chips that could fuel breakthroughs in AI and sophisticated computers for its military.
Buying or selling high-end U.S. chips is not illegal in China and the publicly available tender documents show dozens of Chinese entities have bought and taken receipt of Nvidia semiconductors since restrictions were imposed.

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Nauru has severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan in favour of China, just days after Taiwanese voters elected a new president.
Nauru's government said it would no longer recognise Taiwan as a separate country but rather as an inalienable part of China's territory.
China has over the past years been poaching Taiwan's diplomatic allies.
Nauru's diplomatic switch leaves just 12 countries still keeping diplomatic ties with Taipei, including Guatemala, Paraguay and the Marshall Islands.

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A new analysis by the International Monetary Fund says Artificial intelligence is set to affect nearly 40% of all jobs.
IMF's managing director Kristalina Georgieva says in most scenarios, AI will likely worsen overall inequality.
Ms Georgieva adds that policymakers should address the troubling trend to prevent the technology from further stoking social tensions.
The IMF says AI is likely to affect a greater proportion of jobs - put at around 60% - in advanced economies. In half of these instances, workers can expect to benefit from the integration of AI, which will enhance their productivity.

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The United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which has helped in the fight against rebels for more than two decades, will completely withdraw from the country by December.
Bintou Keita, head of the mission known as MONUSCO says after 25 years of presence, MONUSCO will definitively leave the DRC no later than the end of 2024.
The announcement comes after the Congolese government called for the UN mission to leave the country, saying it had failed to protect civilians from armed groups.
Numerous armed groups, including the Allied Democratic Forces and M23, are active in restive eastern areas such as North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri provinces, where civilians face violence and displacement.

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