Abducted Dapchi Schoolgirls To Be Released - Boko Haram

Abducted Dapchi Schoolgirls To Be Released  - Boko Haram

The Musab al-Barnawi faction of the Boko Haram said the 110 students of the Government Girls Technical College, Dapchi they kidnapped on Monday, February 19, 2018 are safe and will soon be freed. Click here to read the report.

African SMEs Set to Benefit from USD 74M Guarantee

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African SMEs Set to Benefit from USD 74M Guarantee

SMEs in Africa’s infrastructure sector to benefit from African Guarantee Fund’s increased capacity through GuarantCo’s re-guarantee facility.

Felix BIKPO- Chief Executive Officer , AGF and Lasitha PERERA- Chief Executive Officer, GuarantCo (Source: African Guarantee Fund.)

LONDON, United Kingdom, March 2, 2018/ -- The African Guarantee Fund for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (AGF) (www.AfricanGuaranteeFund.com) has today entered into a re- guarantee transaction of an amount of up to USD 74 million with GuarantCo (www.GuarantCo.com), to increase its guarantee capacity for SME financing. SME’s have a large and growing impact on GDP in emerging markets and are a key source of job creation. Strengthening Africa’s infrastructure is critical for development as it is through this that African countries become more competitive at a global level. With this increased capacity, AGF will be able to support larger local currency transactions for SMEs involved in infrastructure.

Dangote Inaugurates Multi Billion Naira Rice Processing Plant in Jigawa...Promises to End Rice Importation

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Rice Production: Dangote Inaugurates Multi Billion Naira Rice Processing Plant in Jigawa...Promises to End Rice Importation

The mill with a capacity to process 16 metric tons of paddy rice per hour, when completed, will in a year process paddy rice worth N14 billion bought directly from the famers in Jigawa at market rate

LAGOS, Nigeria, March 1, 2018/ -- The Dangote (http://Dangote.com) Rice Outgrower Scheme in Jigawa State reached a turning point yesterday when the President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote laid a foundation stone for the construction of a multi-billion Naira rice processing mill in Hadin, Jigawa state.

Mastercard Partners with Nigerian Banks To Use Facebook Messenger To Help Small Businesses Go Digital


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Mastercard Uses Facebook Messenger to Help Small Businesses Go Digital

Launches Masterpass QR bot for Messenger to enable Nigerian businesses to set up digital money accounts and accept QR payments

BARCELONA, Spain, March 1, 2018/ -- At Mobile World Congress (www.MobileWorldCongress.com), Mastercard (www.Mastercard.com) today announced that it will use Facebook Messenger to provide technology to small businesses in Africa and Asia to drive affordable acceptance of electronic and mobile payments. Access to digital payments will help these businesses expand to new markets, and unlock financial services and products that enables them to grow their livelihoods.

African Markets Make Significant Progress in Sustainable Finance Reforms, Report Finds



African Markets Make Significant Progress in Sustainable Finance Reforms, Report Finds

WASHINGTON, 27 February 2018 / PRN Africa / -- Emerging markets have become a major force in driving development and fighting climate change, as 34 countries have initiated banking reforms to expand sustainable lending, according to the first comprehensive Global Progress Report of the Sustainable Banking Network, an IFC-supported organization of banking regulators and associations.

Three SBN members are advancing sustainable finance in Africa: Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa. Nigeria is leading the way as the most advanced, with the Nigerian Sustainable Banking Principles and guidelines for high risk sectors in place since 2012. The report underlines several good practices introduced in Kenya, where the Sustainable Finance Initiative Guiding Principles are endorsed by the national banking association and the Kenyan Central Bank, and include not only environmental and social aspects, but also governance issues. In South Africa, the voluntary Principles on Social and Environmental Risk Management were developed by the banking association, with the active participation of 32 South African and international banks. Along with industry associations and regulatory agencies, the National Treasury is leading efforts to develop a national shared vision for sustainable finance to be launched this year.

Nigeria Battles its Largest Lassa Fever Outbreak on Record

Nigeria Battles its Largest Lassa Fever Outbreak on Record

GENEVA, 28 February 2018 / PRN Africa / -- Nigeria's Lassa fever outbreak has reached record highs with 317 laboratory confirmed cases, according to figures released by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) this week.

Two Nigerian Journalists Charged with Cybercrime

Two Nigerian Journalists Charged with Cybercrime 

NEW YORK, 27 February 2018 / PRN Africa / -- Nigerian authorities should immediately drop plans to charge Timothy and Daniel Elombah, editor and chief executive respectively, of the independent Elombah news website, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Roaring To Life: Growth and Innovation in African Retail Banking

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Roaring To Life: Growth and Innovation in African Retail Banking

The McKinsey Global Banking report finds winning strategies among Africa’s top banks

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, February 28, 2018/ -- The McKinsey Global Banking (www.McKinsey.com) practice has today published a new report on African Retail Banking - Roaring to life: Growth and innovation in African retail banking (https://goo.gl/grn5ju).

Africa: Orange and OpenClassrooms Have Combined Forces to Train Young Africans in Digital Technology

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Orange and OpenClassrooms have combined forces to train young Africans in digital technology

Digital training centres will be established based on the OpenClassrooms diploma with “Guaranteed employment” commitment, with the help of local partners

PARIS, France, February 23, 2018/ -- Orange (www.Orange.com) and OpenClassrooms (https://OpenClassrooms.com) are pleased to announce the signing of a broad-based partnership to provide digital training in Africa. Several Orange subsidiaries in Africa are already working on the launch of training centres providing online courses via OpenClassrooms.

To rise to the challenge of the digital revolution in Africa, students and teachers alike need to be trained in the new technology. There are two objectives for countries in Africa: to use digital technology to boost growth, and to focus on new sectors of business that create jobs. In both cases, it is essential to train young Africans to ensure the economic development of the continent in the decades to come and avoid the brain drain of strategic skills for its development. By 2050, the African population will double to reach 2.5 billion, half of whom will be under the age of 25, according to estimates by the UN. Investing in education, in particular e-education, is an absolute priority to overcome the lack of physical and technical infrastructure.

From Wole Soyinka to Orikinla

Seven years ago, in February 2011, the greatest black writer and the "Lion of African Literature", Prof. Wole Soyinka, the first black person to win the Nobel Prize for Literature sent me the following letter by email in reply to an email I sent to him. It is one of my most treasured possessions, including a thank you note from the great Tai Solarin and emails from Hans Jürgen Pohland, the great German filmmaker and director of Francis Oladele's film adaptation of two classic novels of the great Chinua Achebe; "Things Fall Apart" and "No Longer At Ease" starring Princess Elizabeth of Toro, Orlando Martins and Johnny Sekka.

Dear 'Orikinla',
Quickly to thank you for news of yourself and your literary achievement. I shall now look out for your books to add to my reading list. Unfortunately however, owing to the frequency of such requests, I found myself obliged, albeit reluctantly, to routinely decline writing forewords and blurbs to new works. The minuscule exceptions have been in truly exceptional circumstances.
I hope you do understand, and will kindly accept my excuses.
With sincere warm wishes to you and your writing,
Wole Soyinka

The book I wanted him to write the foreword, "In the House of Dogs" is distributed by Amazon and displayed on my https://www.amazon.com/author/ekenyerengozimichaelchima.