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Morocco, Nigeria sign gas pipeline agreement

Morocco, Nigeria sign gas pipeline agreement

Morocco, Nigeria sign gas pipeline agreementRabat : Morocco and Nigeria signed three cooperation agreements, including an agreement for a strategic Morocco-Nigeria gas pipeline, during the visit here of Nigerian President Muhammad Buhari.

The agreements were signed at the Rabat Royal Palace in the presence of President Buhari and Moroccan King Mohammed VI.

The 5,600-km pipeline will give Africa a new economic, political and strategic dimension and place Morocco and Nigeria as two leaders of South-South cooperation in the African continent.

The pipeline has strategic importance and benefits, not only for Nigeria and Morocco, but also for the countries crossed by the pipeline, a joint statement said.

Another agreement was a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the OCP Group and the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority for the development of an industrial platform in Nigeria for the production of ammonia and related products.

There was also a cooperation agreement in the field of agricultural vocational training and technical supervision between the agriculture ministries of the two countries for the joint development of agriculture and fisheries in western Africa.

—IANS

Nigeria puts off signing of Africa free trade deal

Nigeria puts off signing of Africa free trade deal

Nigerian Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment Okechukwu Enelamah

Nigerian Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment Okechukwu Enelamah

Lagos : Nigeria has officially put off signing the framework agreement for establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA) following protests by major labor unions which warned that the deal would harm the local economy, Anadolu Agency reported.

Nigeria’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Tope Elias-Fatile said in a statement on Sunday that President Muhammadu Buhari canceled his trip to the Rwandan capital Kigali where African heads of state were scheduled to ink the agreement this week.

“President Buhari has canceled his trip to Kigali, Rwanda to attend an Extraordinary Summit of the African Union on Tuesday March 21, to sign the framework agreement for establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area,” the statement said, adding: “This is to allow more time for input from Nigerian stakeholders.”

The Nigerian federal cabinet last week approved the signing of the deal which it said would boost the country’s export, “spur growth and boost job creation as well as eliminate barriers against Nigeria’s products and provide a Dispute Settlement Mechanism for stopping the hostile and discriminatory treatment directed against Nigerian natural and corporate business persons in other African countries.”

ACFTA, a brainchild of the African Union to deepen regional integration, had been in the works since January 2012, with Nigeria as one of its major promoters. However, local labor unions and big corporations have always been against it.

Last week, Nigerian Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment Okechukwu Enelamah acknowledged the continuous opposition to the deal but he added that efforts were afoot to get the buy-in of all the stakeholders ahead of the signing.

—AB/UNA-OIC

Italy’s energy giant, FAO ink Nigeria water accord

Italy’s energy giant, FAO ink Nigeria water accord

Italy's energy giant EniAbuja : Italy’s state-run energy giant Eni and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) have signed an agreement to foster access to safe, clean water for domestic use and irrigation in crisis-hit northeast Nigeria.

Under the project which was signed on Tuesday, Eni will drill boreholes and provide photovoltaic power systems, including training for their use and maintenance for longterm stability, the FAO said.

The FAO will provide support by identifying the areas to sink the wells as well as technical expertise in the region covered by the project.

The FAO’s assistance in the region “has helped Internally Displaced Persons in camps and those returning to liberated communities, including host communities, to return to their farms and pick up the bits and pieces of their lives again,” said the organisation’s country representative in Nigeria, Suffyan Koroma.

The Eni-FAO project aims to give further humanitarian assistance to people who have fled their homes in the region and host communities amid “unprecedented levels of population displacements” and prolonged disruption of agriculture, livestock rearing and fishing, the organisation said.

The Eni-FAO project is part of Eni’s sustainability effort in Nigeria which includes agricultural development, access to energy, health, training and environmental protection initiatives.

The joint project comes after Nigeria’s government asked oil and gas companies to help it alleviate the suffering of victims of the Boko Haram insurgency in the northeast.

The FAO has operated Nigeria since 1978 and has programmes and projects in more than 30 states across the Federation.

—IANS

Nigeria new attraction for Indian pharma firms

Nigeria new attraction for Indian pharma firms

pharmaceutical market, medicinesBy Francis Kokutse,

Accra : As Indian pharma firms look to increase their footprints in Africa, Nigeria seems to be offering opportunities, as its pharmaceutical market is likely to grow to $3.6 billion by 2026, according to a study by international consulting group McKinsey.

“The Nigerian pharma market could rise by as much as nine percent a year over the next 10 years to reach $3.6 billion by 2026, making it as large as the South African market today. Over the same period, Nigeria could contribute between $1.9 billion and $2.2 billion to pharma sales growth, 55 per cent of it from prescription drugs,” it said in a report.

What makes the Nigerian market very attractive is a report by international accounting firm PwC earlier this year that projected the country’s population to grow by 119 per cent from 2015 to 399 million by 2050, making it the third most populous country in the world.

“With more than 60 per cent of the population falling within the working age of 15-64 years, this young workforce will be able to support the growth of Nigeria’s services sector, whilst also driving domestic consumption,” it added.

“Pushed by rapid urbanisation, household consumption expenditure in Nigeria is projected to grow by eight per cent annually to reach $1.1 trillion by 2030, from $317 billion in 2014,” McKinsey said.

Much as there is a growing market, McKinsey described Nigeria as “complex” and suggested that companies that intend to enter must “address short-term economic setbacks and deep-rooted structural challenges before they can take advantage of growth in the longer term”.

These include the development of local solutions to some hindrances that prevent access to the market.

Nigeria’s “healthcare infrastructure is not fully developed,” because the existing infrastructure varies between cities and rural areas as well as between public and private sector, Mckinsey said, adding that this has resulted in the lack of facilities, equipment and capabilities to address the healthcare challenges.

“For example, its ratio of 0.9 hospital beds per 1,000 people is less than half the global average of 2.3, and its 0.07 intensive-care beds per 100,000 people is a fraction of Kenya’s 0.3. Because of this lack of infrastructure, an estimated 5,000 patients a month travel abroad for healthcare, with 60 percent needing treatment in cardiology, musculoskeletal, hematology or oncology,” the report said.

It is no wonder, therefore, that Nigerians have resorted to health tourism to access healthcare outside the country. India and South Africa have become the recognised destinations. Mckinsey said companies that want to take advantage of the situation must first look at the top five cites which together have 45 per cent of the total consumption.

“Per capita spending in big cities can reach almost twice the national average. Cities are important for another reason too: their superior logistics, infrastructure, and healthcare capabilities make them an engine for structural changes in Nigeria’s health system.”

(Francis Kokutse can be contacted at fkokutse@ians.in)

—IANS

Nigeria to open Africa’s first Petroleum University

Nigeria to open Africa’s first Petroleum University

President Muhammadu Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari

Abuja : Nigeria has cleared the path for the opening of Africa’s first Petroleum University with President Muhammadu Buhari signing a bill for its establishment.

The Federal University of Petroleum Resources will be located in the country’s Delta region, focusing on petroleum engineering and technology-related courses, Xinhua reported.

Nigeria is the largest oil producer in Africa and the sixth largest in the world.

—IANS