Business News
Akinwunmi Adesina sworn-in for second term as AfDB President
Adesina was re-elected on August 27 to serve a second five-year term.
Dr Akinwumi Adesina has been sworn-in as the newly re-elected President of the African Development Bank for a second term. The swearing-in and oath-taking ceremony took place on Tuesday and was broadcast virtually.
The event was attended by Heads of States, Governors, Nigeria’s former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, and over 200 external stakeholders who joined physically and virtually.
The Chairperson of the AfDB board of Governors and Ghana’s Finance Minister, Kenneth Ofori-Attah, administered the oath of office.
Dr Adesina, Nigeria’s former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, was re-elected on August 27 to serve a second five-year term, after a unanimous vote of all Governors, regional and non-regional members of the Bank.
Back story: Nairametrics reported a few days ago when Adesina was re-elected as the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), for another five-year term.
The re-election took place electronically during AfDBs’ 2020 Annual Meeting.
On his intentions to run as the multilateral bank’s President for a second time, Mr. Adesina stressed the need for unity to enable the continent to pull together and stay focused on the goal of fighting the effect of the pandemic on Africa’s economy.
According to him, “pulling together has always been the strength of the African Development Bank.”
What the future holds for Africa
Adesina said, “Today, a rainbow stretches from the 81 member countries of the African Development Bank across the deep blue skies of Africa…The future beckons us for a more developed Africa and a much stronger and resilient African Development Bank.”
Ofori-Atta, who administered the Oath Office, explained that he had no doubt that Africa’s premier development bank had secured the right leadership.
“We need to continue to steer and direct the Bank’s efforts to setting global standards of excellence, integrity, commitment to service and responsiveness to the challenges of the continent,” he said.
Going forward in his new term, he would focus on building on the collective achievements and a stronger and more resilient African Bank Group. “Our focus will be on institutions, people, delivery and sustainability. Together we win for Africa.
“Yet again, let us move forward, driven by the power of our mission, inspired by the primacy of our vision and emboldened by the strength of our togetherness,” Adesina said.
Energy
Nigeria to fix irregular power supply in 40 years- Senate
The four decades is needed due to underfunding and the FG’s failure to fix the challenges of electricity generation.
The Nigerian Senate has said that it will take Nigeria 40 years to fix irregular power supply.
This was disclosed by the Senate Committee on Power on Tuesday after the Minister of Power and his team made a presentation to the Committee, according to Guardian.
The four decades wait, according to the lawmakers, is due to underfunding and the Federal Government’s failure to fix the challenges of electricity generation.
The committee was astonished by the submission of the Minister of Power, Mamman Saleh, that of the N165billion required for capital projects in 2020, N4billion was given as bribe of which only N3billion was cash-backed.
In lieu of this, the Committee dismissed claims made by the minister over raising hope on early provision of constant power supply, while Managing Director of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Sule Ahmed Abdulaziz, painted a gloomy picture during the ministry’s budget defense.
A member of the Committee, Danjuma Goje, expressed concern that based on Abdulaziz’s presentation, N165billion was proposed, but the ministry gave N4billion in envelope, insisting that it would take 41 years to deliver constant electricity when N165billion is divided by N4billion.
Backstory
Recall that Nairametrics had earlier reported that it will take nothing less than $100 billion to enable stable power supply in Nigeria.
What they are saying
Mr. Danjuma expressed pessimism over hopes of stable power supply in the country. He went as far as stressing that even if ongoing projects are being completed there is still no hope for stable transmission of power in the country.
Mr. Danjuma was quoted as saying: “Going by the minister’s presentation that transmission gas increased from 5000 to 8000 megawatts, it is not enough. When dishing out figures, we should bear in mind that capacity, transmission, and distribution have increased and that Nigerians, manufacturers, and industrialists want to see stable electricity.”
ENDSARS
#EndSARS: ECOWAS calls for protesters to remain peaceful in their demonstrations
ECOWAS has called on protesters to be peaceful in conducting their protests.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), has called on protesters to be peaceful in conducting their protests and urged Nigerian security operatives to exercise restraint in the handling of protests.
This was disclosed in a statement by the organization on Tuesday and comes on the heels of statements by other International bodies and personalities, who have expressed worry over the nature of brutality meted on protesters, especially after the Lekki shootings.
Press Release on #ENDSARS Protests in Nigeria pic.twitter.com/hht0YjVclo
— ECOWAS-CEDEAO (@ecowas_cedeao) October 27, 2020
“ECOWAS Commission notes with concern that demonstrations by Nigerian youth calling for Police reforms, particularly the abolition of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigerian Police force, accused of misconduct by those demonstrating, have turned violent,” they said.
The body said it recognizes the right to peaceful protests and also called for protesters to be peaceful, due to the rising reported cases of lootings post protests during the curfews.
“While ECOWAS recognizes the right of citizens to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly and protests, it also wishes to stress that those rights should be exercised in a nonviolent manner.
“In this regard, ECOWAS calls on all protesters to remain peaceful in the conduct of their demonstrations. It also urges the Nigerian security operatives to exercise restraint in the handling of the protests and act professionally.”
Bottomline
The tone of ECOWAS’ message is different compared to the rest of other stakeholders including the statement of the Lagos State Governor, House of Reps Speaker, and the Vice President, who all acknowledged that the protests were peaceful and the protesters were attacked and that the violence from the curfews was not done by the protesters but by hoodlums.
The ECOWAS message is also the first statement by West Africa’s most important regional body since the #EndSARS protests started in the first week of October.
Economy & Politics
Kano State presents N147.9 billion budget for 2021 fiscal year
Governor Ganduje has presented the total sum of N147.9 billion as Kano State’s proposed budget for 2021 fiscal year.
Nigeria to fix irregular power supply in 40 years- Senate
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#EndSARS: ECOWAS calls for protesters to remain peaceful in their demonstrations
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