Africa Business Radio

Shell-funded impact investment company All On announced a $2m investment in a fintech company, Infibranches Technologies Limited to help bridge the energy distribution gap in underserved rural and peri-urban areas of Nigeria.CEO Infibranches Olusola Owoyemi, say he is enthusiastic about the potential of this deal to fill the gap by connecting consumers and service providers seamlessly, illustrating the interconnected nature of financial inclusion and poverty reduction.He noted that Infibranches plans to speed up customer acquisition in its current markets and introduce new products and services to address energy distribution issues.

The United States Federal Reserve is reviewing the ethics policies that govern the financial holdings and activities of its senior officials in the wake of recent disclosures that two regional Fed presidents engaged in extensive trading last year.Financial disclosure forms show that Robert Kaplan, president of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank, in 2020 traded millions of dollars of stock in companies such as Apple, Amazon, and Google, while Eric Rosengren, president of the Boston Fed, traded in stocks and real estate investment trusts.Both Kaplan and Rosengren said last week that their trades were permitted under the Fed’s ethics rules. They however said they would sell their holdings at the end of this month and place the money in index funds, which track a wide range of securities, or in cash.

The European Parliament has adopted a resolution calling for the EU to adopt targeted sanctions on Lebanese officials engaged in corruption and obstructing the Beirut Port explosion investigation.The resolution condemned Lebanese political parties for the country’s devastating economic crisis and for delaying any semblance of economic recovery and accountability.The resolution urged the EU to maintain pressure on political leaders in Lebanon, where a government was formed last week following more than a year of political deadlock.The resolution notably condemned the rejection of an IMF-approved bailout plan presented by the previous Lebanese government.

Australia has announced that more US troops will rotate through the island nation and that the allies will cooperate on missile development, the latest joint steps amid shared concerns about China’s increasing assertiveness in the region.Australia earlier announced a three-way alliance with the United States and Britain in which Canberra will acquire nuclear-powered submarines, enraging France whose own key contract for conventional submarines was scrapped.Defence Minister Peter Dutton says that Australia will be significantly enhancing cooperation including working together on the development of missiles and explosive ordnance.He says Australia was willing to see more US Marines in a 10-year rotation through the northern city of Darwin.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken says France remains a vital partner to the United States on many issues as he sought to allay Paris’s anger at a security partnership between the US, the United Kingdom and Australia that did not include the European Union country.Blinken says the US is looking to find every opportunity to deepen cooperation with France, including in the Indo-Pacific region.The top US diplomat stressed the importance of the alliance between the US and France.He says that France is a vital partner on so many other things which stretch back a long time but also stretching forward into the future.

EU Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis pleaded for urgent reform of the World Trade Organization, saying it was high time for change at the global trade body.Dombrovskis says he was ready to consider a major shake-up of the WTO’s dispute settlement system.He says the face of trade has changed considerably since the foundation of the WTO in 1995 adding that the rules that govern the organisation have not.He says the WTO is caught between a rock and hard place. Its negotiating function is paralysed. Its dispute settlement system is frozen.

Leaders of West Africa regional bloc Ecowas have imposed travel bans and a freeze of the financial assets of Guinea's coup leaders and their families.The sanctions are expected to put more pressure on the military junta to restore constitutional rule.The decisions were announced after an extraordinary summit in Accra, Ghana, on Wednesday.The regional bloc also wants the junta to conduct elections within six months and insists that none of the military leaders should be allowed to contest the polls.The leaders however expressed their willingness to support the country through the transitional process.They have called on the Africa Union, the UN, and their international partners to help enforce the travel bans and financial sanctions against the junta and their families.

Kenyans protested at a jump in fuel prices, which threaten to pile on the misery for a population already suffering economic hardship because of the Covid-19 pandemic.Fuel prices are now at record levels after the country’s energy regulator this week put an end to subsidies on petrol, diesel and kerosene that were introduced earlier this year to ease anger over the surging cost of living.The scrapping of the subsidies, which took effect on Wednesday, increased the price of petrol in Nairobi by about six per cent to a maximum of almost 135 shillings a litre.And the cost is set to rise further with the introduction of a near five per cent excise duty on fuel from October 1.

The World Health Organization says Guinea has declared the end of an outbreak of the Marburg virus, which belongs to the same family as Ebola, Health authorities in the country confirmed West Africa’s first recorded case of Marburg on August 9, in a man whose infection was detected after he had died a week earlier.Guinean health authorities began monitoring the Marburg victim’s contact cases.WHO Africa director Matshidiso Moeti added that Guinea’s growing expertise in responding to viral outbreaks had prevented a spillover and saved lives.

Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State has declared that the state government stopped dialoguing with bandits troubling the state because of their deceit.Matawalle, however, disclosed that relative peace had since returned to the state with the people now happy and going about their normal business.The governor Thursday told newsmen says people had started seeing results of the stringent measures put in place to restore security, adding that though the measures were tough, the people had not minded, because they are now feeling secure.Governor Matawale had also recently proposed dialogue as a strategy for ending the violent activities of bandits and kidnappers in the state.

Nigeria has announced plans for another visit to the global market. The Debt Management Office says that it had secured virtual meetings with investors holding from today to September 20th, 2021.The debt management agency says meetings would also be held with local investors In order to avail domestic investors the opportunity to invest in the Eurobonds.The DMO stated that through the Eurobond issuance, Nigeria is expected to raise up to $3 billion but no more than $6.2 billion.

The Presidency has decried a recent alliance between the Yoruba Nation agitators and the Indigenous People of Biafra, warning that such a treaty cannot be taken seriously because of the violent antecedents of the IPOB.The Special Assistant to the President, Garba Shehu, says the president warned that the IPOB is a designated terrorist organization that has now publicly revealed a 50,000 strong paramilitary organization.Mr Shehu urged the Yoruba secessionist group to quit its association with IPOB because it regularly murders security agents and innocent civilians, with a significant uptick of violent attacks this year.He further explained that the IPOB is attempting to hold Nigerian states hostage with orders to stay at home under threat of terror.

President Muhammadu Buhari has described football as a great tool for national unity in the country, restating his government’s resolve to develop the game. He made the comment when he received a FIFA delegation led by its President, Gianni Infantino, and the President of Confederation of African Football Patrice Motsepe, at the State House in Abuja. President Buhari explained that the country was giving adequate attention to sports and has set up a committee to draw a 10-year plan for football.

Governors from the southern region of Nigeria have declared their support for the collection of Value Added Tax by state governments, in place of the Federal Inland Revenue Service.Chairman of the Forum and Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, made the position of the governors known in a communique issued at the end of the meeting.He says the meeting resolved to support the position that the collection of VAT falls within the powers of the states.The governors reaffirmed their commitment to fiscal federalism and stressed the need for the southern states to pursue their inclusion in the Nigerian Constitution, through the ongoing constitutional amendment.

The US Justice Department says three hackers working for a company in the United Arab Emirates for the benefit of the government in Abu Dhabi has agreed to pay $1.68m in penalties as part of a legal settlement in the United States.The Justice Department in a statement says the suspects, two US citizens and one former American citizen, provided zero-click computer hacking services to the UAE company that could compromise a device without any action by the target.The Justice Department says all three previously worked for the US intelligence community or the US military,.Acting Assistant Attorney General Mark Lesko says Hackers-for-hire and those who otherwise support such activities in violation of US law should fully expect to be prosecuted for their criminal conduct.

French Defence Minister Florence Parly warned Mali against a deal with Russian private security group Wagner amid claims the West African country’s junta is close to hiring 1,000 mercenaries.Two French sources told AFP that the Malian government was nearing a deal with the controversial Russian firm, which would underline Moscow’s growing influence in the region.A spokesperson for the Malian defence ministry says Mali intends to diversify its relationships in the medium term to ensure the security of the country.The spokesperson says they haven’t signed anything with Wagner, but they are talking with everyone.

Qatar says it will not take responsibility for Kabul airport without clear agreements with all parties involved, including the Taliban, about its operations.Qatar’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani says his country cannot take responsibility for the airport’s operations if all issues are not clearly addressed.Doha has become a key broker in Afghanistan following last month’s withdrawal of US-led NATO forces, helping evacuate thousands of foreigners and Afghans, engaging the new Taliban rulers, and supporting operations at Kabul airport.Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has told Al Jazeera the group is now securing and operating the site, indicating it was in talks with Qatar and Turkey about the facility’s future.

The United States will withhold $130m in security assistance to Egypt this year, releasing the funds only if the government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi ends the prosecution of rights and civil society organisations.US media reports that Washington also demanded the release of 16 American prisoners in return for aid.The decision by the US State Department is to make good on its promise to have a human rights-leading foreign policy and to curtail a portion of the $1.3bn in security aid the US annually provides to Egypt, a country it considers a key ally in the Middle East and North Africa.

The military junta in Conakry has announced the gradual reopening of borders with neighbouring countries in a statement read on national TV.Some of the borders have been closed since last week’s coup and others for months beforehand.The Senegal, Sierra Leone and Guinea-Bissau borders were ordered closed by President Alpha Condé in September 2020, for security reasons, before the 18 October presidential election.This closure caused diplomatic tension given the significant movement of people and goods in the region.

Afghanistan’s acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi has criticised the United States for its actions towards the new Taliban government and for severing economic assistance after the group seized power last month.Muttaqi says that the group would not allow any country to impose sanctions or embargoes on Afghanistan, including the US.He says they helped the US until the evacuation of their last person, but unfortunately, the US, instead of thanking them, froze their assets.The US Federal Reserve, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have cut off Afghanistan’s access to funds, resulting in a widespread liquidity crunch in the cash-dependent economy.Muttaqi thanked the international community for pledging more than $1bn of aid for Afghanistan at a UN donor conference on Monday.