Africa Business News

Organisers of the October 1 protest against hardship in the country have insisted they would proceed with the ‘showdown’ despite kicks by the Federal Government and warning by the Nigerian Police Force. A former presidential candidate and activist who is one of the leaders of the planned Oct 1 protest, Omoyele Sowore, gave an update on his social media platform X on Monday, insisting on the action, and saying it would be held across the country. “NO GOING BACK! #FearlessInOctober”. He says the nationwide protest will be held at the Eagles Square Abuja, and the demonstrations will be peaceful.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/africa-business-news--4166630/support.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is calling for a full return to office at the start of 2025. For the last 15 months, employees have been expected to work in the office three days per week. Now employees will be expected to be in the office five days a week, with work from home being OK only in extenuating circumstances. Big Tech executives have championed return-to-office mandates, but they have proven unpopular among some tech workers.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/africa-business-news--4166630/support.

Sri Lanka's new president Anura Kumara Dissanayake has been sworn into office, promising "clean" politics as the country recovers from its worst economic crisis. The left-leaning Dissanayake says they need to establish a new clean political culture and win back the people’s respect and trust in the political system. Dissanayake says the unity of Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims and all Sri Lankans is the bedrock of this new beginning, Dissanayake also promised voters good governance and tough anti-corruption measures.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/africa-business-news--4166630/support.

Women's rights advocates are demanding the immediate implementation of a nearly 30-year-old gender equity bill which Ghana’s president signed into law. Ghana's Affirmative Action (Gender Equality) Act 2024 is expected to ensure a critical number of women hold key positions in government, security, commerce and other decision-making spaces. The law promotes the progressive and active participation of women in public life from a minimum of 30% to 50% by 2030, in line with the UN's Sustainable Development Goal of achieving gender equality by 2030. This ends a process which began in 1998, with the bill shuffling between parliaments until the legislature passed it in July this year. Many campaigners faulted Ghana’s law-making body for the long delay. Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin says he hoped lawmakers would commit to the reforms and do more to create a free and just society to liberate more women to support and develop mother Ghana.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/afr

The South African Reserve Bank has cut interest rates by 25 basis points, the bank lowered interest rates from 8.25% to 8%. South Africa’s inflation eased to 4.4% after a decrease in transport prices and utility rates. It is the lowest inflation rate since April 2021. SARB governor Lesetja Kganyago says they found 25 to be a prudent stance to take adding that Adventurism is not part of the monetary policy toolkit. He added that both 25 and 50 basis points cuts were on the table but the monetary policy committee unanimously settled on the former.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/africa-business-news--4166630/support.

Kenya has pledged to send 600 more police officers to Haiti in the coming weeks to help fight gangs controlling much of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and nearby areas. Kenya’s President William Ruto says he supported turning the current Kenya-led security mission into a full United Nations peacekeeping operation. A handful of other countries have together pledged at least 1,900 more troops. Violence in Haiti is still rife and a UN human rights expert has warned that gangs are targeting new areas, causing further displacement. The UN Security Council is due to meet by the end of the month to decide whether to renew Kenya's current mandate for another 12 months, paving the way for a full UN mission in 2025.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/africa-business-news--4166630/support.

The Federal Government has saved a total sum of N900bn proposed to be spent for state governments’ infrastructural development and security between November 2023 and July 2024. The Federal Accounts Allocation Committee deducts the amount disbursed to a special account before its monthly revenue distribution to the three tiers of government. President Bola Tinubu earlier approved the establishment of the Infrastructure Support Fund for the 36 States of the Federation as part of measures to cushion the effects of the petrol subsidy removal on the people.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/africa-business-news--4166630/support.

The Independent National Electoral Commission has declared Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress as the winner of the 2024 governorship election in the South-South state. Okpebholo, 54, secured 291,667 votes to defeat Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who got 247,274 votes and Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party (LP) who came a distant third in the race with 22,763 votes. Fourteen other candidates contested the seat but got less than the three frontline candidates.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/africa-business-news--4166630/support.

TikTok will start making its case against a law that will see it banned in the US unless Chinese owner ByteDance sells the social media app within nine months. The measure - signed into law by President Biden in April - has been prompted by concerns that US users' data is vulnerable to exploitation by China's government. TikTok and ByteDance have always denied links to the Chinese authorities and have described the law an "extraordinary intrusion on free speech rights. The firm will make its arguments before a three-judge panel at an appeals court in Washington DC. Company representatives will be joined by eight TikTok creators, including a Texas rancher and a Tennessee baker, who say they rely on the platform to market their products and make a living.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/africa-business-news--4166630/support.

The government of South Sudan is holding an emergency cabinet meeting hours after it announced that long-delayed national elections would be postponed by two years. The polls were due to take place this December. A 2018 peace deal that ended a civil war allowed President Salva Kiir to remain in charge of a transitional government with his former foe Riek Machar serving as his deputy. South Sudan, the world's youngest country, has not held national elections since independence in 2011. This has fuelled suspicion that they are clinging to power in the oil-rich country. President Salva Kiir's office says essential tasks like writing a new constitution must happen before an election. Officials have also cited logistical and security challenges, which could not be overcome by the end of the year.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/africa-business-news--4166630/support.

The Lagos Waste Management Authority plans to introduce community recycling centres to support businesses in the circular economy. LAWMA CEO, Muyiwa Gbadegesin says the centres are part of upcoming innovations from the waste management agency during the Lagos Recyclers Association Conference held on Friday in Lagos State. Gbadegesin says the community recycling centre will be a drop-off point for people in the community to bring recyclable materials, whether it’s paper, PET bottles, other types of plastic, glass, metals, even textile waste, and then food waste.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/africa-business-news--4166630/support.

President Bola Tinubu has returned to Abuja after his official visit to China and his short stay in the United Kingdom. President Tinubu held bilateral meetings with President Xi Jinping and Chinese Premier Li Qiang, and there were five memoranda of understanding signed between Nigeria and China. He also attended the forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Beijing, and as chairman of ECOWAS, delivered a paper on global peace, stressing multilateralism and cooperation as essential ingredients for international peace.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/africa-business-news--4166630/support.

The Dangote Refinery located in Lagos has denied selling petrol to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited at N898 per litre. A spokesman for the refinery Anthony Chiejinadescribed the claim by the NNPCL as “misleading and mischievous”. He urged Nigerians to disregard this malicious statement and await a formal pricing announcement by the Technical Sub-Committee on Naira-based crude sales to local refineries, appointed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He added that they the products to NNPCL in dollars with a lot of savings against what they are currently importing so there will be petrol in every local government area of the country regardless of their remote natureBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/africa-business-news--4166630/support.

Boeing is offering its staff a 25% pay bump over a four-year contract, in a bid to avoid a strike that could potentially shut down its assembly lines as early as Friday. Union leaders representing more than 30,000 employees have urged the workers to support the proposal, describing it as the best contract they had ever negotiated. Boeing workers in the Seattle and Portland region are set to vote on the deal. The aerospace giant's chief operating officer, Stephanie Pope, described the proposal as a "historic offer" adding that If ratified by union members, it would be the first full labour agreement between the firm and the unions in 16 years.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/africa-business-news--4166630/support.

Sudan's military-led government has rejected a call by a UN fact-finding mission for the deployment of an international force to protect civilians from the country’s ongoing civil war. The UN mission reported that Sudan’s warring parties had committed "harrowing" human rights violations against civilians. The UN mission’s lead, Chande Othman, says given the failure of the warring parties to spare civilians, an independent and impartial force with a mandate to safeguard civilians must be deployed without delay. The head of the World Health Organization, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also called on the world to wake up and help Sudan out of the nightmare it is living through.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/africa-business-news--4166630/support.

Ethiopia's Prime Minister has warned that anyone planning on invading the country should "think 10 times" before doing so because, any attack would be repelled. Ethiopia has been experiencing some rising tensions with neighbouring Somalia and Egypt. Somalia has described a maritime pact that Mr Abiy's government signed with the self-declared republic of Somaliland in January as an act of "aggression", and has responded by forging closer military ties with Egypt. Egypt has also been involved in a long-running dispute of its own with Ethiopia over Addis Ababa's decision to build a large dam on a tributary of the River Nile.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/africa-business-news--4166630/support.

The Federal Government has signed a $1bn iron ore steel deal project with China. The Minister of Solid Minerals Development Dr Oladele Alake, said the deal was signed for Kogi State as a breakthrough in the Federal Government’s campaign to make local value addition the development model in the solid minerals sector. He says the Federal Government has reversed the pit-to-port policy under which mining companies exported raw minerals to extraction with local value addition which is the best guarantee of jobs for the youths, skills transfer and better trade balance between the country and her trading partners. He noted that to promote local value addition, he has announced that applicants for licences to mine must disclose plans for processing the raw minerals as part of the conditions for approval.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/africa-business-news--4166630/support.

Brazil's Supreme Court will vote on whether or not to uphold a ruling to ban social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. Justice Alexandre Moraes called for the vote after the platform was suspended in the country in the early hours of Saturday. It came after X failed to appoint a new legal representative in Brazil before a court-imposed deadline. Justice Moraes gave companies, including Apple and Google, a five-day deadline to remove X from its app stores and block its use on iOS and Android devices. He added that individuals or businesses that are found to still be accessing X by using virtual private networks could be fined $8,910.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/africa-business-news--4166630/support.

S & P Global Ratings has downgraded Kenya’s credit rating from “B to B-”, meaning that Kenya has now been deemed credit-risky by all three of the biggest credit rating agencies. Due to being credit-risky, raising money from debt instruments will become problematic for Kenya because the borrowing cost becomes expensive. The ratings tell investors that Kenya is not a debt-sustainable country. So, they will be wary now of providing Kenya with loans. After Kenya’s president, William Ruto withdrew the Finance Bill in June, he mentioned that the country will look at alternatives to raise money. Borrowing more money at high interest rates to meet its debt obligations remains one bleak option for Kenya.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/africa-business-news--4166630/support.

Amazon Web Services hosted a summit in Johannesburg, South Africa to discuss the advancements of Generative Artificial Intelligence and committed to making a follow-on investment of $1.7 billion by 2029 to increase renewable energy supply to its data centres. AWS has two of its three data centres located in South Africa. At least one of them consumes about 1,000 megawatts of electricity. AWS will use that investment to generate more electricity to sustain the high demand for storage for data points and also use AWS Bedrock which allows companies to build on existing Gen AI models, and scale their operations.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/africa-business-news--4166630/support.