Africa > West Africa > Industry

Industry in West Africa

  • Deadly Riots Again Grip Guinea’s Bauxite Hub

    GUINEA, 2017/09/16 Deadly rioting has again broken out in the Republic of Guinea’s bauxite capitol according to witnesses who spoke to the media. According to locals, over the course of two days rioters destroyed a police post and vehicle, leading to a lethal response by government forces. They say that rioters as well attempted to block bauxite miners from arriving to work at the mines, but their efforts were not entirely successful according to officials at Societe Miniere de Boke (SMB).
  • Dangote signs $450million jumbo sugar production agreement with Niger state

    NIGERIA, 2017/09/09 Yesterday, the Pan African Conglomerate, Dangote Group took an extra bold move for self-sufficiency in sugar production through the Nigerian government’s backward integration policy. The group signed a Memorandum of Considerate (MoU) with the Niger National Government for the establishment of a jumbo $450million national-of–art and fully integrated sugar complex. According to the President of the Group, Aliko Dangote, this investment was informed by his company’s firm belief in the potential of the Nigerian economy, adding that the new outlay will add price and create jobs for Nigerians. The project will generate over 15,000 jobs in the national and bring about a complete economic turn-around for the national.
  • Nigeria: Afrexim Signs $1.1bn Loans With Dangote, Elumelu's Heirs Holdings

    NIGERIA, 2017/07/14 The African Export Import (AFREXIM) Bank, has signed a memorandum ( MOU)of considerate with both the Dangote Group of Companies and Tony Elumelu's Heirs Holdings for a loan of $1billion and $100 million respectively. The two deals, were signed at one of the sessions at the 24th Annual General Conference of the bank holding in Kigali, Rwanda. At the signing ceremony, AFREXIM Bank's president, Dr. Paul Oramah, said the transaction was part of the bank's bid to expand businesses in Africa through disbursement of N9 trillion ( $25 ) billion in the next five years.
  • Nigeria: Dangote Sets Up Truck Assembly Plant in Lagos, Creates 3,000 Jobs

    NIGERIA, 2017/01/17 Africa's richest man and foremost entrepreneur, Aliko Dangote, is setting up a $100 million vehicle assembly plant in Lagos, to tap the opportunity provided by the scarcity of forex and help tackle employment crisis in the country. The plant will be churning out heavy business trucks on which his conglomerate, the Dangote Group spends huge all to import for distribution of its products both locally and across the continent. Chief Corporate Communication Officer of Dangote Group, Mr. Anthony Chiejina confirmed the project, saying Dangote would be partnering a leading Chinese Company, National Heavy business Truck Group Company Limited, SINOTRUK to produce several thousands of trucks used mainly for haulage from its newly promoted assembly plant at Ikeja, Lagos.
  • Dangote Refinery to Drive Capacity in Africa by 2020 – OPEC

    NIGERIA, 2016/11/28 Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote’s refinery in Nigeria will drive refinery capacity expansion in Africa, by 2020, the organization of petroleum Exporting Nations (OPEC) said in its 10th edition of World Oil Outlook (WOO). The refinery which OPEC considers as the initial privately owned and operated in Nigeria, is expected to refine as much as 650,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
  • Africa: China - Africa's Springboard to Industrialisation

    CHINA, 2016/05/10 China is fast proving its mettle on its commitment to helping African nations come out of their situations to occupy world positions of prosperity. While some people on the continent are from presently on to wake up to that reality, the Asian country has a drawn-out vision which augurs well with the developmental aspirations of African nations. That China has emerged as Africa's major trading partner in the last few years is undisputable, with trade reaching $975,92 billion between 2011 and 2015.
  • Africa Industrialization Day through the micro lens

    AFRICA, 2015/11/30 Despite my years of research experience on African industrial development, it has come to my attention for the initial time that there has been a long tradition of celebrating Africa Industrialization Day on November 20—each year since 1990! But why celebrate African industrialization? In short, to raise world awareness on the importance and challenges of African industrialization and to stimulate the international community\'s commitment to the industrialization of Africa. In addition, African industrial development contributes to not just in general economic and social development but as well to this year’s theme: Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) for poverty eradication and job creation for women and youth. 1. Why do we care about African industrialization? All nations should have an active industrial policy to achieve sustainable development: Sound industrial policies present Africa opportunities to invest in its human and physical capital formation, in technological innovation, and in supportive institutions. In addition to the merits of industrialization on its own, African industrialization as well helps nations achieve pro-poor increase and safeguards economies against market and climate-related shocks. Thus, African industrialization is essential to spurring increase and improving in general well-being on the continent.
  • Why Nigeria is yet to respond to Volkswagen emission scandal

    GERMANY, 2015/10/31 The Nigerian government will national its position on the Volkswagen, VW, emission scandal this week, Joseph Odumodu, the Director General, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), has said. Mr. Odumodu, who made statement on Sunday in Abuja in an SMS to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said the relevant government agencies were “working out something”. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had recently discovered that some Volkswagen diesel engine cars on sale in that country had devices that could cheat emission tests. The EPA’s findings cover 482,000 cars in the U.S. alone, inclunding VW brands such as Audi A3, Jetta, Beetle, Golf and Passat.
  • Dangote Cement's 5000 Job Prospects Excites Government of Senegal

    NIGERIA, 2015/04/08 Leading Cement manufacturers, the Dangote Cement Plc has rolled out products from its $300 million cement plant in Senegal amid excitement by the country's government on the prospect of direct employment of about 5,000 thousands of the locals by the company. The establishment of the cement plant by Dangote is said to be the single major investment in Senegal by an African and the Senegalese government promised to protect the company to achieve its optimal production capacity. Both the Nigerian Ambassador to the Republic of Senegal, Katyen Jackden and Senegal Director of Mines, Ousmane Cisse commended the doggedness of the Chairman of Dangote Cement in seeing the plant through despite various setbacks.
  • Nigeria’s film industry steps out of the shadows

    NIGERIA, 2015/04/05 The contributions of Nigeria’s film industry, the second-major in the world in terms of number of films produced, to the national economy have become all the clearer next the rebasing of the country’s GDP last year. A move to recalculate the net worth of Nigeria’s economy in 2014 saw the number of industries or activities used for assessment purposes rise from 33 to 46, with a noticeable shift in emphasis towards technology-driven sectors. Part the segments included for the initial time were the film industry, the IT sector, the music industry, on-line sales and telecommunications. As a result of the rebasing exercise, Nigeria’s GDP in 2013 jumped from an initial estimate of $285.5bn to $510bn. The Nigerian film industry, known as Nollywood, is a key contributor to the increase. Under the rebasing conducted by the national statistics agency, the film industry accounted for additional than 1.4% of GDP – or $7.2bn of Nigeria’s economy. With an estimated 1m people due or not instantly working in the industry, the making, distributing and screening of moving pictures has become the country’s second-biggest source of employment next agriculture.