From WSJ: Foreign consumer-goods companies including Coca-Cola Co., Nestlé SA and Unilever PLC have been in Africa for decades without much competition from local players. Now, home-grown companies are expanding aggressively across the continent, eager to accommodate a growing middle-class among the billion-person population. Examples? Among the most prominent of these consumer upstarts: African retailers… Read More »
… more oil is spilled from the [Niger] delta’s network of terminals, pipes, pumping stations and oil platforms every year than has been lost in the Gulf of Mexico, the site of a major ecological catastrophe caused by oil that has poured from a leak triggered by the explosion that wrecked BP‘s Deepwater Horizon rig last… Read More »
… because the governors plan to start signing execution warrants of those sentenced to death – as a way to decongest prisons. The announcement, according to the prisoners, had caused them great shock, anxiety and trauma and they, therefore, want the court to stop any planned execution because it would be cruel and inhuman to… Read More »
Senegalese economist Sanou Mbaye on some of the problems French West African countries have been facing since independence: On the monetary front, the CFA Franc Zone’s member countries dismantled the federal structure that united them [French West Africa and French Central Africa] during French occupation and erected trade barriers instead. The CFA franc issued by… Read More »
The Economist interviews Dele Ogun, head of the Genesis Project, on the political situation in Nigeria.
On the law(s), see Black Look’s NigeriansTalk article. For a well-written deconstruction of the holy-prophet-laid-this-down angle, see Chxta’s NEXT article. H/T Jeremy.
BusinessDay: There is going to be lots of jobs and racketeering during the period. Artisans would make more money and thugs will have more jobs to do for their principals which would mean more money for them. The list of those that will benefit is endless. Election campaign involves a lot of activities which include… Read More »
Stephen Smith writes in the BBC Focus on Africa Magazine about the relationship between France and its former colonies in Africa. One of the things he looks at is what has changed after the fall of the Berlin Wall and what has not. There is a little about the economic relations, but I miss a… Read More »
She describes him as a calm leader who was dedicated to the principles of democracy and the rule of law, both in Nigeria and West Africa. For a somewhat different take on Yar’Adua, see Benson Eluma’s NigeriansTalk piece.
Image via Wikipedia 1. Akin pulls out tissues for President Yar’Adua 2. Goodluck Jonathan makes his first address as president to the country (Video) 3. Reuters says Yar’Adua death leaves succession wide open 4. Next gives details of the burial 5. Discussions and speculations about who will become the new vice president 6. Is it… Read More »