Business
EU-Africa Business Forum: Working together towards sustainable growth and employment
BRUSSELS – To promote sustainable and inclusive growth in both Africa and the EU, European Commission Vice-President, Antonio Tajani, and Commissioner for Development, Andris Piebalgs, will today take part in the 5th EU-Africa Business Forum in Brussels.
The event brings together more than 500 high-level representatives from European and African business, politics and public institutions for two days (31 March/1 April) of discussions.
Debates will focus on common challenges such as the stake of young people in today’s economies, the role of banks for inclusive growth and financing issues for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and on specific issues such as raw material, risk capital, sustainable energy or space cooperation. Prior to the forum, Commissioner Piebalgs also announced two new EU programmes to support the private sector in West Africa and Madagascar.
Vice-President Tajani, Commissioner responsible for Industry and Entrepreneurship, said ahead of the event: “Africa is on the move. The accelerating industrial development of Africa is a reality. The developing regions and countries that are sharing the benefits of globalisation are the rapidly industrialising ones. The European Union and Africa have genuine interest in increasing bilateral trade, investment and market integration in mutually beneficial relations to boost strong sustainable and inclusive growth and create jobs”.
Commissioner Piebalgs commented: “Africa has become one of the fastest growing regions in the world over the last decade, but we must accelerate the creation of decent and productive jobs to ensure that the benefits of this growth are being shared more evenly. The private sector has a key role to play in this and the Commission will soon present a policy paper on how to modernise EU support for developing the private sector in developing countries and how to strengthen its role in achieving inclusive and sustainable growth there where it’s most needed.”
A new EU-funded project recently launched in Madagascar will enable the private sector to better support inclusive growth and be more competitive on the national, regional and international markets. With €8 million of EU funding, activities will include support and training for business associations (e.g. chambers of commerce) so they have the knowledge to increase competitiveness among their members and to help them represent economic interests in public-private dialogues and negotiations. Specific support will be given to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in the form of training in marketing/management techniques, help with accessing finance and preparing business plans. They will also receive help in improving product quality and finding market opportunities.
A second EU programme aims to make businesses in West Africa more competitive and help to improve the business and investment climate in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Among other things, it will help the region and its countries to adopt policies that can attract investments (EU funding: 20 million).
In the centre of discussions Vice-President Tajani will have during the summit will be sustainable access to raw materials as well as access to high quality and affordable medicines. He will discuss with his counterparts cooperation projects in the fields of space technologies which can play a positive role in the developing world to favour sustainable development, such as food security, health and education. Furthermore, Vice-President Tajani will encourage enterprises in African countries to seize new business opportunities under the COPERNICUS programme allowing the access to its satellite data.
Tajani will highlight the benefits of use of satellite navigation in Africa under the Commission’s EGNOS programme which will help to optimise transport with the use of satellite guidance as well as bring an enormous increase in the safety of the African skies, guiding planes safely to airports along regional and international routes. Benefits associated to this safety increase in Africa are estimated at more than €1,100 million!
The 5th EU-Africa Business Forum takes place on the eve of the EU-Africa Summit. It will be jointly opened by European Commission President, José Manuel Barroso, and African Union Commission Chairperson, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. On 1 April, Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht will participate and the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, will give concluding remarks.
The 4th EU-Africa Summit will take place in Brussels on 2-3 April 2014. It will bring together African and EU leaders, as well as the leaders of EU and African Union institutions. Under the theme “Investing in People, Prosperity and Peace”, participants will discuss topics including peace, security, investment, climate change and migration. Previous summits took place in Cairo (2000), Lisbon (2007) and Tripoli (2010).
EU-Africa relations are largely based on the Joint Africa-EU Strategy, adopted in 2007. Alongside this strategy, a 2011-2013 action plan, agreed at the last EU-Africa summit in 2010, sets out concrete targets within specific areas of cooperation, such as peace and security, democratic governance and human rights.
The 2014 summit will be an opportunity to take a fresh look at the EU-Africa partnership, to highlight some of the results that have been achieved, and to explore areas for future cooperation.
The Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation has uncovered financial irregularities amounting to ₦514 billion in the 2021 operations of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd).
The revelations were contained in a comprehensive audit report highlighting non-compliance and internal control weaknesses within Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) during the 2021 financial year.
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Breakdown of Infractions
The audit detailed four major financial discrepancies within NNPCL:
“Irregular Deductions: A total of ₦343.64 billion was deducted from domestic crude oil sales at source without proper documentation.
“Sinking Fund Deposits: ₦83.66 billion, categorized as miscellaneous income, was retained in a sinking fund account.
“Unauthorised Refinery Deductions: ₦82.95 billion was deducted from federation revenue purportedly for refinery rehabilitation.
“Unsubstantiated Payments: ₦3.75 billion was flagged for transactions related to petrol sales that lacked proper verification.
The Auditor-General’s report stated that these financial activities violated the 1999 Constitution and the Financial Regulations Act of 2009, underscoring significant lapses in compliance with statutory guidelines.
According to the report, NNPCL generated ₦484.73 billion from domestic crude oil sales in March and May 2021.
However, ₦343.64 billion was deducted for various purposes, including “Value Shortfall,” “Strategic Stock Holding Cost,” and “Pipeline Maintenance.”
The deductions were made unilaterally by NNPCL without adequate documentation or justification.
Additionally, the report flagged ₦50 billion of the net payable amount for May 2021 as unaccounted for, creating a significant gap in the federation’s revenue.
“Audit observed from the review of NNPC SAP payment record for March and May 2021 payments that the sum of ₦484.73bn was the gross amount generated for the sale of domestic crude for the months of March and May 2021.
“The sum of ₦343.64bn from the gross amount was unilaterally deducted from the gross domestic crude sales as NNPC Value shortfall, Strategic Stock Holding Cost, Crude Oil and Products Pipeline Losses, as well as the pipelines maintenance and management costs.
“The details of each of the cost components deducted were not provided for audit review. Hence, the reasons for the deductions could not be justified by the management.”
On the unremitted ₦50 billion from May 2021, the report noted: “In the month of May, the net payable that could have been remitted ought to have been ₦127.075bn, but only the sum of ₦77.075bn was remitted, leaving an unremitted balance of N50bn to the Federation Account, which has remained unaccounted for.”
The report attributed these anomalies to weaknesses in NNPCL’s internal control systems, warning of the risks they pose to public funds.
It read, “The above anomalies could be attributed to weaknesses in the internal control system at NNPC, now NNPC Ltd. This is a potential loss of Federation revenue, diversion of public funds, or misapplication or misappropriation of funds.”
The success of the maiden edition of the Lagos Shopping Festival (LSF), Africa’s first 72-hour non-stop commerce and entertainment event has been credited to the Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
This is the view of Managing Director/Chief Strategist of Chain Reactions Africa Ltd, Israel Jaiye Opayemi, one of the main organisers of the event.
According to Opayemi, though Chain Reactions Africa conceptualised the event, the festival could be rightly described as the Governor’s baby and owes its success to his leadership. “Firstly, the Lagos Shopping Festival could not have come to fruition if the Governor did not buy into our audacious plan when we first presented the idea to him during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Secondly, it was the Governor’s exemplary leadership of the project as its Chief Marketing Officer which attracted the buy-in of key sponsors like Zenith Bank, Tolaram Group, First Bank Plc, and Guinness Nigeria Plc,” Opayemi revealed.
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While the duo of Zenith Bank and First Bank provided their bank on wheel platforms for buyers at the Lagos Shopping Festival, they also supported the Vendors with special Point of Sale Machines with which to process payments from buyers. The banks were also seen marketing their diverse banking products to guests within the shopping arena.
For Tolaram, it was a time to support the citizens and give back to society. Guests at the Lagos Shopping Festival were freely given some of the products of the group such as PowerOil, Indomie and Kellogg’s packaged into goodie bags and given out to prospective buyers at the shopping arena. The Children’s Arena was however activated by Indomie with the children entertained by Santa Claus within a well-equipped arena manned by the Indomie Brands team and the Lagos State Safety Marshalls. The children were daily treated to free Indomie meals daily and given various gifts to go home with.
On its part, Guinness Nigeria came through as the real life of the Nigerian party by organizing product sampling activation for the teeming guests at the festival using brands such as Singleton, Johnnie Walker, Ciroc, Don Royale and Captain Morgan to deliver pleasant experiences to guests aside from Guinness and Malta Guinness.
While unveiling the identity of the festival last month, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu had thanked the management of Zenith Bank Plc, Tolaram Africa Group, Guinness Nigeria Plc and First Bank of Nigeria for supporting the idea of a Lagos Shopping Festival, describing it as a value addition on the state’s tourism calendar and the overall efforts to grow the State’s GDP. The Governor further said, “I must specially acknowledge your pioneering sponsorship role. It is easy for a corporate sponsor to jump on the sponsorship band wagon of an already established festival and fund it. But you are supporting the maiden edition of this Lagos Shopping Festival with us. The competition is watching you now. Do not build this brand with us and yield the space for the competition to take over. I do hope you would all commit long term to this brilliant initiative.”
On his part, Girish Sharma, CEO Guinness Nigeria Plc, expressed enthusiasm for the initiative. “Lagos is the commercial heartbeat of Nigeria and Africa’s entertainment capital, and the Lagos Shopping Festival captures its essence. We see opportunities in this initiative because it is a creative fusion of commerce and entertainment. This partnership reflects our dedication to fostering economic opportunities and support the nation’s vibrant entertainment industry.”
A first-of-its-kind, the festival was a convergence of commerce and entertainment, bringing together buyers and sellers in the MSME ecosystem, and hordes of fun-seekers who were entertained with thrilling performances by A-list entertainers, including Adekunle Gold, Wande Coal, Teni, Young Jonn, BNXN, Ayo Maff, SB Live and EmmaOMG. The list also included some of Nigeria’s most sought after DJs such as DJ Neptune, DJ YK Mule, DJ Baddo while Gbenga Adeyinka the 1st and Larry J dished out rib-cracking comedy performances.
Held from 23rd to 25th Day of December 2024, at the iconic Mobolaji Johnson Arena, Onikan Stadium, Lagos, the Lagos Shopping Festival saw thousands of fans throng the main venue and select Lagos malls during the three-day period to bag the latest bargains from local and top global brands.
The Nigerian Naira experienced mixed movements in the foreign exchange markets on Monday, as it depreciated to N1,665 per dollar in the parallel market, down from N1,660 per dollar recorded over the weekend.
In contrast, the official exchange rate saw the Naira appreciate to N1,534.56 per dollar, improving slightly from N1,535 per dollar last Friday, according to data released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
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This reflects a marginal gain of 44 kobo in the official Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM).
As a result, the gap between the parallel market rate and the NFEM rate widened to N130.44 per dollar, compared to the N125 per dollar margin recorded over the weekend.
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