<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/GettyImages-1246197123-1-1-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-423453" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/GettyImages-1246197123-1-1-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/GettyImages-1246197123-1-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/GettyImages-1246197123-1-1-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/GettyImages-1246197123-1-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/GettyImages-1246197123-1-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/GettyImages-1246197123-1-1-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">DAKAR, SENEGAL , JANUARY 12: A view of Bignona bus station as passengers and drivers both dissatisfied with inter-city travel arrangement, which was introduced after 41 people lost their lives as a result of the collision of 2 buses on 8 January, in Dakar, Senegal on January 12, 2023. (Photo by Fatma Esma Arslan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>



MADRID, March 2 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Spain is extending a so-called circular migration programme to its first sub-Saharan African country, bringing in at least 100 people from Senegal to work on its farms during the harvest season, a government source said.



The programme, due to start in April, aims to replicate the success of a 22-year-old circular migration scheme with Morocco in which around 15,000 seasonal workers are brought in to work each year in Spain&#8217;s agricultural sector for a limited time before returning home.



Spain uses circular migration programmes to curb illegal migration while plugging labour shortages in its key agriculture sector, another government source said.



The&nbsp;spotlight was thrown on the risks taken by illegal migrants to Europe with the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AS8N32O08B&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">death of at least 65 people</a>&nbsp;off Italy´s coast on Sunday.



The Senegal plan&nbsp;follows on the heels of a pilot programme with Honduras which brought in 250 workers in 2022. This year, up to 415 Honduran workers and 102 from Ecuador have come to pick berries, staying for an average of five months.



Spain has been grappling with illegal migration from Senegal for decades. In 2006, the arrival of more than 30,000 Senegalese migrants to the Canary Islands was resolved with an agreement for increased vigilance by EU border police of boats leaving Dakar in exchange for aid and a commitment to take in legal workers.



The programme has had its teething problems. A pilot scheme in 2019 failed after only 18 out of 47 Senegalese workers returned home.



The success of the Moroccan programme was partly due to the selection of women with children as the main participants, providing an incentive for them to return home, said Carmen González Enríquez, senior analyst at the think tank Elcano Royal Institute.



Spain&#8217;s Migration Ministry has not given details to Reuters on how it has tweaked the selection criteria to make it work this time, and has said that the selection of personnel is up to the Senegalese authorities.



In 2022, all the 17 Senegalese participating in a pilot programme did return home.



(Reporting by Belén Carreño; Editing by Charlie Devereux, Aislinn Laing and Nick Macfie)

GettyImages-1246197123-1-1

Spain to extend seasonal migrant workers programme to Senegal

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/GVVD7RTPANKEHJR4J5T4JRVGHA-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-422301" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/GVVD7RTPANKEHJR4J5T4JRVGHA-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/GVVD7RTPANKEHJR4J5T4JRVGHA-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/GVVD7RTPANKEHJR4J5T4JRVGHA-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/GVVD7RTPANKEHJR4J5T4JRVGHA-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/GVVD7RTPANKEHJR4J5T4JRVGHA.jpg 960w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A man trades U.S. dollars for Ghanaian cedis at a currency exchange office in Accra, Ghana, June 15, 2015. Picture taken June 15. REUTERS/Francis Kokoroko</figcaption></figure>



March 2 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;China&#8217;s official bilateral loans involving Ghana account for less than 5% of the West African country&#8217;s total debt, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Thursday.



Multilateral and commercial debt account for the vast majority of Ghana&#8217;s external debt, ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a regular press briefing.



Germany&#8217;s finance minister&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N34J4Z5&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">recently</a>&nbsp;singled out China during a visit to Ghana, as he called on countries that have lent to the embattled nation to form a creditor committee quickly to help it restructure its debt.



China has been consistent in criticising multilateral lenders for not taking haircuts on loans extended to debtor countries while Beijing is being asked to do so on credit it has extended bilaterally.



China is the world&#8217;s largest bilateral creditor.



Ghana owes China $1.7 billion, according to the International Institute of Finance, a financial services trade association focused on emerging markets.



China&#8217;s Premier Li Keqiang yesterday said that China is willing to participate &#8220;constructively&#8221; in solving the debt problems of relevant countries under a multilateral framework, in a phone call with with International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva.



A spokesperson for the IMF told Reuters that Georgieva &#8220;had a very productive call with Prime Minister Li.&#8221;



(Reporting by Joe Cash and Yew Lun Tian; Writing by Bernard Orr; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman, William Maclean)

GVVD7RTPANKEHJR4J5T4JRVGHA

China says official bilateral loans involving it make up less than 5% of Ghana’s debt

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="518" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/RKVZ6TC225P6DFYZLTBWRLBQAA-820x518.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-423446" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/RKVZ6TC225P6DFYZLTBWRLBQAA-820x518.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/RKVZ6TC225P6DFYZLTBWRLBQAA-300x189.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/RKVZ6TC225P6DFYZLTBWRLBQAA-143x90.jpg 143w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/RKVZ6TC225P6DFYZLTBWRLBQAA-768x485.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/RKVZ6TC225P6DFYZLTBWRLBQAA.jpg 960w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The logos of companies Rand Merchant Bank, FNB, Wesbank and Ashburton Investments are seen outside the FirstRand offices in Cape Town, South Africa, March 11, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Hutchings</figcaption></figure>



JOHANNESBURG, March 2 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;FirstRand Ltd&nbsp;FSRJ.J, one of Africa&#8217;s biggest banks, posted a 15% rise in interim profit on Thursday, as it benefited from a high interest rate environment and economic activity picked up after the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions.



Headline earnings per share, a profit measure widely used in South Africa, came in at 322.7 South African cents for the half year ended Dec. 31, up from 281.4 cents in the same period a year ago.



The South African lender declared a dividend of 189 cents per share and posted a return on equity (RoE), a key measure of bank profitability, of 21.8%.



South African lenders, one of the biggest in the continent, had a good run last year, but a worsening operating environment in the country, primarily due to frequent rolling blackouts, has raised doubts about sustainable growth.



Increasing interest rates have led to worries of bank loans going sour in a country jostling with high unemployment and anaemic growth, and analysts have said FirstRand&#8217;s primary exposure to South Africa could be a big risk.



&#8220;Structural constraints in South Africa&#8230; will, however, continue to limit the growth opportunities,&#8221; FirstRand said, but added its RoE for the next six months would remain at the upper end of its stated range of 18% to 22%.



(Reporting by Promit Mukherjee; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Subhranshu Sahu)

RKVZ6TC225P6DFYZLTBWRLBQAA

South African lender FirstRand reports 15% rise in interim profit

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="533" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/6J6PNYKTJBNXHCL7QNCB3OLL7A-820x533.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-423442" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/6J6PNYKTJBNXHCL7QNCB3OLL7A-820x533.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/6J6PNYKTJBNXHCL7QNCB3OLL7A-300x195.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/6J6PNYKTJBNXHCL7QNCB3OLL7A-139x90.jpg 139w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/6J6PNYKTJBNXHCL7QNCB3OLL7A-768x499.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/6J6PNYKTJBNXHCL7QNCB3OLL7A-1536x998.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/6J6PNYKTJBNXHCL7QNCB3OLL7A-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Bola Tinubu, former Lagos state governor and All Progressives Congress (APC) leader, is pictured at a party meeting in Abuja Febuary 17, 2015. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



LAGOS, March 1 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Nigeria&#8217;s president-elect&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N3515TX&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bola Tinubu</a>&nbsp;has promised to tackle a litany of problems, including escalating violence, double-digit inflation and industrial-scale oil theft.



His supporters portray him as an effective administrator who improved roads, trash collection and other services in the chaotic city of Lagos during his tenure as governor from 1999 to 2007. Opponents are sceptical: many of Nigeria&#8217;s problems worsened under outgoing president Muhammadu Buhari, on whose party ticket Tinubu ran.



Here is what Tinubu&#8217;s win could mean.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">HOW DOES HE PLAN TO FIX THE ECONOMY?</h2>



Tinubu says he will build on Buhari&#8217;s public infrastructure programme to create jobs and remove legal limits on government spending.



Nigeria&#8217;s&nbsp;revenue-to-GDP&nbsp;ratio is the lowest among its peers, according to the World Bank. Tinubu says he will reduce corporate tax to attract investment and plug tax loopholes to boost revenue.



A popular fuel subsidy, which cost $10 billion last year and is driving up debt, will be phased out and the money channelled to infrastructure, agricultural and social welfare programmes.



So too will a system of multiple foreign exchange rates that the International Monetary Fund says is subject to abuse and makes it difficult for investors to repatriate their money.



Any new foreign borrowing will be used to fund projects that generate revenue from which debt can be repaid,&nbsp;Tinubu says.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">WHAT ARE HIS PLANS FOR THE OIL SECTOR?</h2>



<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N32I5S3&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Crude oil theft</a>&nbsp;is the biggest headache for oil companies, which have seen production tumble. Oil majors are selling shallow-water projects, mainly due to the&nbsp;theft and vandalism&nbsp;of pipelines, and shifting offshore.



Tinubu says he will set up a surveillance unit to protect the country&#8217;s pipelines and attract new investors with tax incentives.



Africa&#8217;s top producer of crude oil depends on imported refined fuels, something Tinubu wants to end by increasing domestic refining through joint ventures with private investors.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">HOW WILL HE DEAL WITH INSECURITY?</h2>



<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N34T4H5&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Spreading insecurity</a>&nbsp;is a major concern for Nigerians and foreign investors, from kidnappings for ransom in the northwest to a 13-year Islamist insurgency in the northeast, separatist violence in the southeast and decades-old ethnic tensions between herders and farmers in the north-central region.



Tinubu wants to recruit more soldiers and police officers, while paying and equipping them better.



He says there will be &#8220;anti-terrorist battalions&#8221; and special forces to fight jihadists and armed gangs but also wants the military involved in community initiatives to &#8220;win hearts and minds.&#8221;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">WHAT ABOUT HUMAN RIGHTS?</h2>



Human rights groups and media outlets including Reuters have&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/investigates/section/nigeria-military/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">documented abuses</a>&nbsp;on all sides of the conflict in the northeast and elsewhere.



The International Criminal Court prosecutor concluded in 2020 that grounds existed to open an investigation into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity by both Nigeria&#8217;s security forces and insurgents, but the court has not opened one.



Tinubu casts himself as a champion of human rights, pointing to his time campaigning against Nigeria&#8217;s former military rulers in the 1990s when he was forced into exile.



But critics question whether he will hold authorities to account after he suggested that protesters who were shot at during anti-police brutality protests in 2020 should explain why they were in the locations where security forces opened fire.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-is-democracy-under-threat">IS DEMOCRACY UNDER THREAT?</h2>



This year&#8217;s election marked nearly a quarter century of democracy in Africa&#8217;s most populous nation, and many hoped that it would be its most credible yet thanks to an increasingly professional electoral commission and measures to curb fraudulent practices rife in many previous polls.



But malfunctions in new equipment used to verify voters&#8217; identities and transmit results, along with instances of violence and disruption of voting in some areas undermined confidence in the process.



Tinubu&#8217;s closest challengers, Atiku Abubakar from the main opposition People&#8217;s Democratic Party and the Labour Party&#8217;s Peter Obi, rejected the result as fraudulent.



Tinubu was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N3590DC&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">declared the winner</a>&nbsp;with 37% of the vote and turnout was just 29%, according to results released by the Independent National Electoral Commission.



&#8220;Mr Tinubu&#8217;s narrow victory is bittersweet, as his historically low support in the polls could lead some to question his legitimacy as president,&#8221; the Oxford Economics Africa consultancy said in a note.



NEWSMAKER-Bola Tinubu: From godfather of Lagos to Nigeria&#8217;s president-elect<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N3515TX&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



Tinubu is Nigeria&#8217;s president-elect after disputed election<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N3580OF&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



Churches, mosques house stolen Nigerian fuel in pervasive oil theft, says NNPC head<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N30633R&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



Insecurity threatens Nigeria&#8217;s democracy<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N34T4H5&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



(Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Alexandra Zavis and Toby Chopra)

FILE PHOTO: Bola Tinubu, former Lagos state governor and All Progressives Congress (APC) leader, is pictured at a party meeting in Abuja

Nigeria election: what to expect from president-elect Bola Tinubu

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/GettyImages-1246860733-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-423424" width="820" height="547" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/GettyImages-1246860733-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/GettyImages-1246860733-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/GettyImages-1246860733-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/GettyImages-1246860733-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/GettyImages-1246860733-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/GettyImages-1246860733-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">An election poster for the All Progressive Congress (APC) presidential candidate Bola Tinubu and his running mate Kashim Shettima in the Victoria Island district of Lagos, Nigeria, on Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. Nigerians are gearing up to choose a successor to President Muhammadu Buhari, whose eight years in power have been blighted by economic decay, soaring unemployment, heightened insecurity and an exodus of the educated elite. Photographer: Benson Ibeabuchi/Bloomberg via Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



ABUJA, March 1 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Nigeria&#8217;s new president-elect, Bola Tinubu, on Wednesday defended the integrity of the national election that he won, and called on citizens to unite around him after a bitter dispute over results opposition parties have said are flawed.



The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said Tinubugarnered 8.79 million votes in the weekend election, ahead of main opposition challenger Atiku Abubakar&#8217;s 6.98 million votes. Peter Obi, an outsider popular with younger&nbsp;and more educated urban&nbsp;voters, garnered 6.1 million votes.



A candidate can win a Nigerian election by getting more votes than their rivals, provided they get 25% of the vote in at least two-thirds of the 36 states and the federal capital Abuja, which Tinubu&nbsp;did.



&#8220;I am very happy I have been elected the president of the federal republic of Nigeria,&#8221; Tinubu said to cheers in Abuja. &#8220;This is a serious mandate. I hereby accept it.&#8221;



Nigeria&#8217;s election was meant to be its fairest and most open contest to date. But the electoral process encountered problems, owing to new technology that did not function well and seemed to overwhelm Nigeria&#8217;s notoriously inadequate communications network.



INEC had promised to upload results from each polling unit to its website in real time but most units were unable to do so immediately, undermining trust in the process.



Thousands of results have still to be uploaded.



Because of these failings, the main opposition parties of Atiku and Obi have rejected the results as fraudulent.



&#8220;I commend INEC for running a credible election no matter what anybody says,&#8221; Tinubu said. &#8220;The lapses that were reported, they were relatively few in number and were immaterial to affect the final outcome of the election.&#8221;



Tinubu now faces a long list of national problems, including&nbsp;Islamist insurgencies in the northeast, armed attacks, killings and kidnappings, conflict between livestock herders and farmers, cash, fuel and power shortages, and deeply entrenched corruption.



President Muhammadu Buhari, also from the All Progressives Congress (APC), congratulated his successor.



&#8220;Elected by the people, he is the best person for the job. I shall now work with him and his team to ensure an orderly handover of power,&#8221; he said in a statement.



Uploading results from polling stations live to the web is not a legal requirement, but it meant results had to be collated manually inside ward and local government counting centres as in previous polls, reneging on a policy that was meant to improve transparency.



Observer missions have criticised this as the result of poor planning.



As Lagos governor, Tinubu won praise for partially fixing some of the cities problems, including reducing violent crime, waste collection and traffic.



The 70-year-old has, however, sometimes appeared frail in public, slurring his speech, answering questions with platitudes, and skipping several campaign events, leaving some to doubt how effective or dynamic he will be as leader.



(Reporting by Tim Cocks; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Gerry Doyle)

Campaign Posters Ahead of Nigeria’s Presidential Election

Nigeria’s Tinubu defends win in disputed presidential poll

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="545" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247399811-820x545.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-423414" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247399811-820x545.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247399811-300x199.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247399811-136x90.jpg 136w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247399811-768x510.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247399811-1536x1020.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247399811-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">L-R: Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, Speaker, House of Representatives; Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Presidential candidate, All Progressives Congress (APC), and Senator Kashim Shettima, Vice Presidential candidate, in a campaign bus in Lagos. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Presidential candidate, All Progressives Congress (APC) for 2023 Elections holds grand finale of his campaign at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere, Lagos on Tuesday, February 21, 2023. Photo by Adekunle Ajayi (Photo by Adekunle Ajayi/NurPhoto via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>



PORT HARCOURT, Feb 28 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Provisional results from Nigeria&#8217;s disputed presidential&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N35504P&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">election</a>&nbsp;showed Bola Tinubu from the ruling party closing in on victory, a Reuters tally of votes in 31 of the country&#8217;s 36 states and the federal capital showed on Tuesday.



With only 5 states left to declare, Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress party (APC) was ahead with about 35% or 7.5 million of valid votes counted, making it highly likely he would be declared winner on Tuesday of a weekend election to replace outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari, also APC.



Atiku Abubakar of the main opposition People&#8217;s Democratic Party (PDP) was trailing with 29% or nearly 6.2 million valid votes. Peter Obi of the smaller Labour Party got 25% or about 5.2 million votes. More results were expected to show the winner later on Tuesday.



Opposition parties have rejected the results as the product of a flawed process, which suffered multiple technical difficulties owing to the introduction of new technology by INEC.



The preliminary results announced in the states will again be presented at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)&#8217;s collation centre in the federal capital Abuja.



But INEC officers in Rivers State, the capital of Africa&#8217;s biggest oil industry, said they had suspended the announcement of results after state collation officer Charles Adias had received death threats via text message.



&#8220;When there are crises in the polling unit, the attack is on my phone that I am responsible. When BVAS (voter identification machines) fail to function, the attack is equally on my phone that I am responsible,&#8221; Adias told journalists, saying INEC would &#8220;reconvene&#8221; when his safety concerns had been addressed.



INEC in the capital Abuja said it would resume collating results at 2 p.m. (1300 GMT).



Nigerian electoral law says a candidate can win just by getting more votes than their rivals, provided they get 25% of the vote in at least two-thirds of the 36 states.



The election was also marred by violence in places, although seemingly not yet on the scale of previous ones.



INEC had promised to upload results directly from each polling unit to its website but most were unable to do so immediately.



By 1230 GMT, INEC had posted results from 83,906 polling units out of 176,846.



That meant results had to be collated manually inside ward and local government counting centres as in previous polls, problems observer missions also criticised as the result of poor planning.



There are fears frustrations over the process could boil over into violence.



In a normally bustling market on Lagos island, one of the most densely populated places in Africa, shops were shut and streets deserted on Tuesday morning.



FACTBOX-Nigeria election 2023: how it all works and when to expect results&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N3522MW&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



(Reporting by Tim Cocks Additional reporting by Hamza Ibrahim in Kano, Ahmed Kingimi in Maiduguri, Anamesere Igboeroteonwu in Onitsha and Tim Cocks and James Oatway in Lagos;Writing by Tim CocksEditing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

Tinubu, APC Presidential Candidate, Concludes Campaign In Lagos

Lagos ex-governor Tinubu closes in on Nigeria election victory

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="532" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/HCHHLCWC75NNPMNDQ7PFQZ5WFU-820x532.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-423408" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/HCHHLCWC75NNPMNDQ7PFQZ5WFU-820x532.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/HCHHLCWC75NNPMNDQ7PFQZ5WFU-300x195.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/HCHHLCWC75NNPMNDQ7PFQZ5WFU-139x90.jpg 139w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/HCHHLCWC75NNPMNDQ7PFQZ5WFU-768x499.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/HCHHLCWC75NNPMNDQ7PFQZ5WFU-1536x997.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/HCHHLCWC75NNPMNDQ7PFQZ5WFU-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Kenyan small-scale traders protest against what they say is the invasion by a foreign retail shop called China Square in downtown Nairobi, Kenya February 28, 2023. REUTERS/Monicah Mwangi</figcaption></figure>





NAIROBI, Feb 28 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;More than a thousand Kenyan traders protested in the capital Nairobi on Tuesday against a new Chinese-owned retail shop they accuse of undercutting them with ultra-low prices.



Traders in Kenya and other rapidly growing economies in Africa have protested periodically against their Chinese competitors. China is Africa&#8217;s top trading partner and more than 1 million Chinese are estimated to reside on the continent.



Kenya&#8217;s relationship with China was in focus during last year&#8217;s presidential election, won by William Ruto. Ruto promised to publish government contracts with China agreed under his predecessor and to deport Chinese nationals working illegally.



The Kenyan traders have been angered by a newly opened China Square retail shop on the outskirts of Nairobi, whose prices for everyday goods like curtains imported from China are on average 50% cheaper than those brought in by local traders.



Clad in dust coats used in their retail outlets, the traders marched to the office of the deputy president and to parliament to submit a petition against the Chinese retailers.



&#8220;The Chinese cannot be importers, retailers, wholesalers and hawkers,&#8221; read one placard held aloft during the protest. Some chanted &#8220;Chinese must go!&#8221;



Trade Minister Moses Kuria has offered to take over China Square&#8217;s lease from its Chinese owner and hand it to local traders, but Korir Sing&#8217;oei, the principal secretary at Kenya&#8217;s ministry of foreign affairs, stressed on Twitter that all investors are welcome, irrespective of their nationality.



Wu Peng, the top Africa official at China&#8217;s ministry of foreign affairs welcomed Sing&#8217;oei&#8217;s assurance on Twitter.



China Square&#8217;s owner Lei Cheng told a local newspaper he was inspired to open the shop after finding the prices at a Nairobi supermarket to be exorbitant.



Ruto&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N3234AQ&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">followed through</a>&nbsp;in November on his campaign promise to publish documents related to $3 billion in loans for a controversial Chinese railway built under his predecessor.



Analysts said the move could strain relations with China, Kenya&#8217;s biggest bilateral creditor, since such deals are generally kept confidential. Chinese officials did not comment on Ruto&#8217;s action.



(Reporting by Duncan Miriri and Monica Mwangi; Editing by Aaron Ross, William Maclean)

Kenyan small-scale traders protest against a foreign retail shop called China Square in downtown Nairobi

Kenyan traders protest against Chinese competitor’s cheap prices

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1229604769-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-423399" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1229604769-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1229604769-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1229604769-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1229604769-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1229604769-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1229604769-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A &#8216;To Let&#8217; sign on the window of a closed store on 7th Street in the Mellville district of Johannesburg, South Africa, on Thursday, Nov. 12, 2020. Jobs were at the center of a post-virus reconstruction and recovery plan presented by President Cyril Ramaphosa last month, with the government committing 100 billion rand ($6.37 billion) to create public and social employment opportunities. Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg via Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



PRETORIA, Feb 28 (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa&#8217;s official unemployment rate fell for the fourth consecutive quarter in October-December, moving further away from a record high struck during the COVID-19 pandemic.



Unemployment fell to 32.7% in the final three months of 2022 from 32.9% in the July-September period, the statistics agency said on Tuesday.



But the total number of unemployed people edged up to 7.753 million people in October-December from 7.725 million in the previous three months.



According to an expanded definition of unemployment that includes those discouraged from seeking work, 42.6% were without work in the fourth quarter, down from 43.1% in the third quarter.



Africa&#8217;s most industrialised economy has one of the highest unemployment rates in the world, with a yawning divide between the rich and poor remaining almost three decades after the end of apartheid.



The official unemployment rate hit a record high of 35.3% in the fourth quarter of 2021.



(Reporting by Promit Mukherjee Editing by Alexander Winning)

South Africa’s Economy With Unemployment Hitting 17-Year High

South African unemployment rate drops for fourth consecutive quarter

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="545" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247213516-820x545.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-423395" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247213516-820x545.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247213516-300x199.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247213516-136x90.jpg 136w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247213516-768x510.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247213516-1536x1020.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247213516-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Supporters of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), parade during the party&#8217;s presidential campaign in Ibadan, Nigeria, on Thursday, February 16, 2023. (Photo by Adekunle Ajayi/NurPhoto via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>



ABUJA, Feb 27 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Nigeria&#8217;s ruling party candidate Bola Tinubu was ahead in the vote count after Saturday&#8217;s presidential poll, a Reuters tally of provisional results in 20 of 36 states showed on Monday, but opposition parties walked out of the counting process citing concerns of fraud.



The tally of provisional electoral commission results showed Tinubu, of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party, was ahead with 39.7% or 5.4 million of valid votes counted, against 32.2% or 4.4 million votes for Atiku Abubakar of the main opposition People&#8217;s Democratic Party (PDP).



Outsider Peter Obi of the smaller Labour Party was in third place on about 16.3% with about 2.2 million.



The election has been fraught with logistical and technological difficulties that resulted in the failure, in many places, to upload results directly from each polling unit to its website, as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had promised to do to guarantee transparency.



There is no legal requirement to do so, but the failure of the electoral commission to live up to its promise meant results had to be collated manually inside ward and local government counting centres as in previous polls.



&#8220;INEC&#8217;s lack of efficient planning in critical stages and effective public communication reduced trust in the process,&#8221; the European Union observer mission said in a statement.



Commonwealth observer mission chief Thabo Mbeki also criticised INEC for its failure to upload the results.



By 1700 GMT on Monday, INEC had uploaded results from just 66,167 polling units out of a total of 178,846, its website showed.



&#8220;We take full responsibility for the problems and regret the distress that they have caused the candidates, political parties and the electorate,&#8221; the commission said in a statement.



Opposition parties remained unsatisfied.



&#8220;The electoral process has been rigged &#8230; and we are completely disassociating ourselves from it,&#8221; PDP Atiku&#8217;s campaign manage Melaye Dino said at the INEC results centre in Abuja. Obi&#8217;s Labour party was equally scathing.



&#8220;We regret to say that we have lost confidence in the results being collated and announced,&#8221; Akin Oshintokun, director of Obi&#8217;s campaign, told reporters. &#8220;We hereby call on the INEC to &#8230; follow its own guidelines or completely cancel the entire election.&#8221;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tech-woes">TECH WOES</h2>



The election was highly dependent on communications technology that may have seemed doomed to fail in a country with such poor internet coverage, and the failures open the way for legal challenges against the results.



Obi defeated his ruling party challenger to win Nigeria&#8217;s commercial hub of Lagos in a major upset in the poll which was marred by delays and complaints of irregularities.



Around two-thirds of states in Africa&#8217;s most populous country have yet to declare.



But the win in Lagos state &#8211; with 582,454 votes against 572,606 for Tinubu &#8211; was a major boost for Obi, whose run challenged candidates from two long-established movements that have alternated in power since the end of army rule in 1999.



Obi&#8217;s campaign grabbed headlines with its use of social media and its focus on young people and urban voters fed up with widespread corruption and insecurity.



To become president, a candidate needs to get more votes than any other candidate and also garner a quarter of the votes in at least 24 states.



There have been reports of violence and intimidation, though not at the scale of previous elections.



In northern Kano state, police said a group had attacked a campaign office for a smaller opposition party and set the building on fire, killing two people.



Police said they had killed one of the attackers and arrested four suspects.



(Additional reporting by Hamza Ibrahim in Kano, Ahmed Kingimi in Maiduguri, Anamesere Igboeroteonwu in Onitsha, Tim Cocks in Lagos, Felix Onuah and Camillus Eboh in Abuja; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Stephen Coates)

Tinubu, APC Presidential Candidate, Campaigns In Ibadan

Tinubu ahead in Nigeria election as opposition parties reject vote

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247532783-1-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-423391" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247532783-1-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247532783-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247532783-1-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247532783-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247532783-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247532783-1-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">LAGOS, NIGERIA &#8211; FEBRUARU 27: An election officer votes counting during the presidential election collection at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) headquarters in Lagos, Nigeria on February 27, 2023. (Photo by Emmanuel Osodi/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>



LAGOS, Feb 27 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Nigeria&#8217;s electoral commission has started announcing state-by-state results from Saturday&#8217;s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N3570R5&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">presidential election</a>.



All three major parties have complained of irregularities. There have been reports of violence and intimidation, though not on the scale of previous elections.



Here are details of the election process and current leaders.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-who-are-the-main-candidates">WHO ARE THE MAIN CANDIDATES?</h2>



Eighteen candidates are running for president but only three are seen as having a realistic chance. They are Bola Tinubu from the governing All Progressives Congress party (APC), Atiku Abubakar of the main opposition People&#8217;s Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the smaller Labour Party (LP).



A fourth contender, Rabiu Kwankwaso, of the New Nigeria People&#8217;s Party (NNPP), is expected to do well in parts of the north.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">WHO IS LEADING?</h2>



According to a Reuters tally of provisional results announced by electoral officials in 20 of Nigeria&#8217;s 36 states, Tinubu leads with&nbsp;39.7%or 5.4 million of valid votes counted, against 32.2% or 4.4 million votes for Atiku. Obi had polled about 16.3% or 2.2 million votes.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">HOW ARE THE VOTES TALLIED?</h2>



Results from 176,846 polling stations are being counted manually and then relayed electronically to the Independent National Electoral Commission&#8217;s (INEC) headquarters in Abuja, which posts them on its website.



The results are also being tallied at the ward, local government and state level. A returning officer from each state then travels to Abuja with a tally sheet, which will be compared against the results sent directly by polling stations to the national collation centre.



After tallies from all the states and the federal territory of Abuja are verified, the INEC chairman will announce the national results and declare a winner.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">HOW DOES A CANDIDATE WIN?</h2>



To win the presidential election, a candidate only needs a simple majority, provided they have at least a quarter of the votes cast in at least 24 states. If no candidate achieves that, a runoff will be held within 21 days.



(Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe and Tim Cocks; Editing by Nick Macfie and Stephen Coates)

GettyImages-1247532783-1

Results so far in Nigeria’s presidential election

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247104178-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-423378" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247104178-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247104178-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247104178-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247104178-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247104178-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247104178-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, running mate of Peter Obi, Labour Party presidential candidate, delivers a speech during a campaign rally in Lagos, Nigeria, on Saturday, Feb. 11, 2023. Nigerian businessman and ex-governor Obi remains the top choice to become the nations next president, according to a new poll. Photographer: Benson Ibeabuchi/Bloomberg via Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



LAGOS, Feb 27 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Outsider Peter Obi defeated his ruling party challenger to win Nigeria&#8217;s commercial hub of Lagos on Monday, in an upset two days after a presidential election marred by delays and complaints of irregularities.



A Reuters tally suggested that Bola Tinubu, of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party, was well ahead in other areas &#8211; though around two thirds of states in Africa&#8217;s most populous country still have to declare.



But the win in Lagos state was a major boost for Labour Party leader Obi, whose run shook up politics by challenging candidates from the two long-established movements that have alternated in power since the end of army rule in 1999.



Obi got 582,454 votes in Lagos state, ahead of 572,606 Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos who had focused a lot of his campaign there. Atiku Abubakar of the main opposition People&#8217;s Democratic Party (PDP), came third with 75,750 according to provisional electoral commission data.



Obi&#8217;s campaign grabbed headlines with its use of social media and its focus on young people and urban voters fed up with widespread corruption and insecurity.



Across the country, Tinubu led with about 3.29 million votes, against 2.28 million for Abubakar and 818,000 for Obi, according to a Reuters tally from 10 states out of 36 so far collated by the Independent National Electoral Commission.



To become president, a candidate needs&nbsp;to get more votes than any other candidate and also&nbsp;garner a quarter of the votes in at least 24 states.



By&nbsp;1200&nbsp;GMT, INEC had uploaded results from&nbsp;56,235&nbsp;polling units out of a total 178,846, its website showed.



&#8220;We take full responsibility for the problems and regret the distress that they have caused the candidates, political parties and the electorate,&#8221; the Commission said



All three parties complained of irregularities. Obi&#8217;s Labour Party castigated&nbsp;the electoral body for the failure, in&nbsp;many&nbsp;places, to&nbsp;immediately upload&nbsp;results directly from each polling unit to its website, as it had promised to do to guarantee transparency.



There have been&nbsp;reports of&nbsp;violence and intimidation,&nbsp;though&nbsp;not&nbsp;at this stage on&nbsp;the scale of previous elections.



In northern Kano state, police said a&nbsp;group had&nbsp;attacked a campaign office for a smaller opposition party and set the building on fire, killing two people.



Police said they had killed one of the attackers&nbsp;and arrested four&nbsp;suspects.



(Additional reporting by Hamza Ibrahim in Kano, Ahmed Kingimi in Maiduguri, Anamesere Igboeroteonwu in Onitsha, Tim Cocks in Lagos and Felix Onuah in AbujaEditing by Tim Cocks and Andrew Heavens)

Nigerian Presidential Candidate Peter Obi Rally

Outsider Obi wins Nigeria’s Lagos as vote count grinds on

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247507132-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-423370" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247507132-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247507132-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247507132-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247507132-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247507132-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247507132-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Voters wait on the queue to cast their votes during the Nigeria Presidential election at a polling station at the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja on February 25, 2023. (Photo by Olukayode Jaiyeola/NurPhoto via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>



ABUJA, Feb 26 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Nigeria&#8217;s electoral commission began announcing state-by-state results from national elections on Sunday,&nbsp;amid complaints of irregularities, though&nbsp;it is not expected to name a victor in the race to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari for several days.



The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N3522MW&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">presidential vote</a>&nbsp;is expected to be the closest in Nigeria&#8217;s history, with candidates from two parties that have alternated power since the end of army rule in 1999 facing an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N2ZV37D&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">unusually strong challenge</a>&nbsp;from a minor party nominee popular among young voters.



Votes in presidential and parliamentary elections are collated in each of Nigeria&#8217;s 36 states before the count is transmitted to the electoral commission&#8217;s central tallying centre in the capital Abuja.



The first results, from Ekiki state, showed a majority of votes for president cast in favour of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N2XV3J2&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bola Tinubu</a>&nbsp;of the governing All Progressives Congress.



Tinubu pulled in more than 200,000 votes in the state, against less than half that total for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL5N2X564P&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Atiku Abubakar</a>&nbsp;of the main opposition PDP and just over 11,000 for Peter Obi of the Labour Party.



Independent National Electoral Commission&nbsp;(INEC)&nbsp;chairman Mahmood Yakubu adjourned the session following the first results and said the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N3560AV&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">release of tallies</a>&nbsp;would resume at 11 a.m. (1000 GMT) on Monday.



However all three parties complained of irregularities. Obi&#8217;s Labour party lambasted the electoral commission for failing to upload results directly from each polling unit to its website, as it had promised to do to guarantee transparency.



More than 24 hours after polls were meant to close, many polling stations have yet to upload their results. Nigerian Civil society organisations decried the error and the failure of several polling stations to open on time in a news conference.



INEC apologised for these glitches in a statement.



&#8220;The Commission is aware of challenges with the INEC Results Viewing Portal &#8230; (which) has been relatively slow and unsteady,&#8221; it said, blaming &#8220;technical hitches.&#8221;



Both the PDP and APC complained of local INEC officials being pressured to alter results before submitting them.



There were also incidents of violence and intimidation, but seemingly not on the scale of previous elections.



Soldiers were forced to intervene on Sunday after 15 men pretending to be INEC officials stormed a voting collation centre in the Alimosho neighbourhood of Lagos, attacking party agents with knives and sticks, footage obtained by Reuters TV showed.



&#8220;Hoodlum boys &#8230; just came and started coming out with daggers and hitting everybody that are Labour Party agents,&#8221; the party&#8217;s ward secretary Jacob Sulemain said, a masked soldier behind him. The footage showed some of the gang kneeling after being detained.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-change">&#8220;CHANGE&#8221;</h2>



Voting had to be extended into Sunday in a few parts of the country after&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N3550K2&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">glitches</a>&nbsp;on Saturday, but counting has been underway since polls closed with the final tally expected within five days.



In one polling station&nbsp;in Yenagoa on Sunday, voters stood on sandy, weed-choked ground checking for their names plastered on a half-built concrete house. Voting also continued on Sunday in some parts of northeastern Borno state after voting machines failed to work.



It was not clear how many of Nigeria&#8217;s 93 million registered voters were unable to cast a ballot on Saturday.



In most parts of the country of 200 million people, voting went smoothly.



There were reports of violence in the northern state of Kano on Sunday, where an armed group attacked a collation centre in the town of Takai before security forces arrived, said Rakiya Muhammad, an election observer who witnessed the incident.



Outgoing President Buhari, a retired army general who was also once a military ruler in the 1980s, is stepping down after winning two previous elections and serving the maximum eight years permitted by the constitution.



His successor will face a litany of crises gripping Africa&#8217;s top oil producer and the continent&#8217;s most populous nation.



Nigeria is struggling with Islamist insurgencies in the northeast; an epidemic of kidnappings for ransom; conflict between herders and farmers; shortages of cash, fuel and power; and deep-rooted corruption and poverty.



&#8220;I witnessed the worst experience of my life under this administration. Recently I spent two days without eating anything,&#8221; said Ahmad Sulaiman, 49, who sells handbags in a market, as he stood in the baking sun in a dusty alleyway in Kano city.



&#8220;I voted because I wanted change,&#8221; he added. He declined to say who he had voted for.



FACTBOX-Results so far from Nigeria&#8217;s presidential election<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N3550K2&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



FACTBOX-Nigeria&#8217;s election: when is the vote and what&#8217;s at stake?<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N32V27A&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



FACTBOX-Nigeria election 2023: how it all works<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N3522MW&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



FACTBOX-Top candidates in Nigeria&#8217;s presidential election: Tinubu, Abubakar, Obi<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N3435RW&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



(Additional reporting by Hamza Ibrahim Macdonald Dzirutwe and in Lagos, Tife Owolabi in Abuja and Ahmed Kingimi in Maiduguri; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Alexander Smith, Jan Harvey and Chris Reese)

Nigeria General Elections

Nigeria’s electoral commission starts announcing state-wide results

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247471387-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-423363" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247471387-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247471387-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247471387-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247471387-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247471387-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1247471387-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">LAGOS, NIGERIA &#8211; FEBRUARY 25: Polling clerks start to count the votes at a polling station after completing the voting process of the general election in Lagos, Nigeria on February 25, 2023. Nigeria will elect the President and Vice President and members of the Senate and House of Representatives. (Photo by Emmanuel Osodi/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>



YENAGOA, Nigeria, Feb 26 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Nigerians were still voting in a few parts of the country after glitches prevented them from doing so on Saturday, but results of the national election would start to be announced from 6 p.m. (1700 GMT) the electoral commission said.



Counting was already underway in the West African oil exporting country&#8217;s presidential and parliamentary elections, with the final tally expected within five days.



Commission chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, told a news briefing in the capital Abuja that collated results from a handful of Nigeria&#8217;s 36 states would be announced from Sunday evening.



The race to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari was expected to be the closest in Nigeria&#8217;s history, with candidates from two parties that have alternated in power since the end of army rule in 1999 facing an unusually strong challenge from a minor party candidate popular among young voters.



A Reuters reporter saw people casting their votes at polling stations in Yenagoa city, in Nigeria&#8217;s oil-producing south, where polling could not take place in some parts on Saturday because election officers and materials did not arrive.



In one, voters stood on sandy, weed-choked ground checking for their names plastered on a half-built concrete house.



&#8220;The experience was the yesterday it was a terrible thing,&#8221; Freedom Amienyo, a 59-year-old civil servant, said after voting.



&#8220;But today they tried to redeem the situation and we have come exercise our franchise, which makes me happy&#8221;.



Voting was also expected to continue in some parts of northeastern Borno state after&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N3550K2&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">voting machines</a>&nbsp;failed to work.



It was not clear how many of Nigeria&#8217;s 93 million registered voters were unable to cast a ballot on Saturday.



In most parts of the country of 200 million people, voting went smoothly. Despite scattered incidents of violence and intimidation, this was not on the scale of previous elections.



There were reports of violence in the northern state of Kano on Sunday, where an armed group attacked a collation centre in the town of Takai, before security forces arrived, said Rakiya Muhammad, an election observer who witnessed the incident.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-three-horse-race">THREE HORSE RACE</h2>



The main presidential contenders are former Lagos governor Bola&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N2XV3J2&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tinubu</a>, 70, of the ruling All Progressives Congress, former vice president&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N2XK0DY&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Atiku</a>&nbsp;Abubakar, 76, of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, and former Anambra State governor Peter&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N2ZV37D&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Obi</a>, 61, of the smaller Labour Party.



Outgoing President Buhari, a retired army general who was also once a military ruler in the 1980s, is stepping down after winning two previous elections and serving the maximum eight years permitted by the constitution.



Whoever wins will face a litany of crises gripping Africa&#8217;s top oil producer and the continent&#8217;s most populous nation.



Nigeria is struggling with Islamist insurgencies in the northeast, an epidemic of kidnappings for ransom, conflict between herders and farmers, shortages of cash, fuel and power, as well as deep-rooted corruption and poverty.



&#8220;I witnessed the worst experience of my life under this administration. Recently I spent two days without eating anything,&#8221; said Ahmad Sulaiman, 49, who sells handbags in a market, as he stood in the baking sun in a dusty alleyway in Kano city.



&#8220;I voted because I wanted change,&#8221; he added, declining to say who he had voted for.



FACTBOX-Nigeria&#8217;s election: when is the vote and what&#8217;s at stake?<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N32V27A&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



FACTBOX-Nigeria election 2023: how it all works<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N3522MW&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



FACTBOX-Top candidates in Nigeria&#8217;s presidential election: Tinubu, Abubakar, Obi<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N3435RW&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



(Additional reporting by Hamza Ibrahim Macdonald Dzirutwe and Tim Cocks in Lagos, Felix Onuah in Abuja and Ahmed Kingimi in Maiduguri; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Frances Kerry and Alexander Smith)

2023 Nigerian general election

Some Nigerians vote late after glitches as election count underway

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="456" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/nigeria-elections-820x456.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-423357" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/nigeria-elections-820x456.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/nigeria-elections-300x167.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/nigeria-elections-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/nigeria-elections-768x427.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/nigeria-elections.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Electoral campaign posters are seen in Numan road, ahead of Nigeria&#8217;s presidential elections, in Yola, Nigeria, February 23, 2023. (Reuters)</figcaption></figure>



LAGOS, Feb 25 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Nigerians go to the polls on Saturday to elect a successor to President Muhammadu Buhari, with many hoping the next leader will steer Africa&#8217;s most populous nation and biggest economy on a new course after years of worsening violence and hardship.



The main candidates in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N3521QQ&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">most wide open contest</a>&nbsp;since Nigeria switched from army rule to democracy in 1999 are two political veterans from the two main parties and a candidate from a minor party who opinion polls suggest has a chance thanks to support from young voters.



Buhari, a retired army general, is stepping down after serving the maximum eight years allowed by the constitution but failing to deliver on his pledge to bring back order and security across Nigeria, Africa&#8217;s top oil-producing nation.



More than 93 million people are registered to vote for the next president and members of the National Assembly and the some 176,600&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N3522MW&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">polling stations</a>&nbsp;will be open between 8:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. (0730 GMT to 1330 GMT).



Vote-counting will begin as soon as polls close and results will be posted outside polling stations. The final tally from the 36 states and federal capital Abuja are expected within five days of voting.



The run-up to the vote has been marred by violence, a pattern seen in previous Nigerian elections, with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N353337&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the killing</a>&nbsp;of a senatorial candidate in the volatile southeast region on Wednesday the latest in a series of serious incidents.



The election comes as Nigerians are struggling to cope with a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N34W19W&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">shortage of cash</a>&nbsp;caused by a botched plan to swap old bank notes for new ones that has wreaked havoc on people&#8217;s daily lives and led to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N34X1XN&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">scenes of violence</a>&nbsp;at banks and cash machines.



The new president will also have to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N32V27A&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">grapple with problems</a>&nbsp;ranging from high inflation, deep poverty and energy shortages, to an Islamist insurgency in the northeast, industrial-scale oil theft in the south and rampant crime everywhere.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-three-main-contenders">THREE MAIN CONTENDERS</h2>



The main contenders in the race to succeed Buhari are former Lagos governor Bola Tinubu, 70, of the ruling All Progressives Congress, former vice president Atiku Abubakar, 76, of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, and former Anambra State governor Peter Obi, 61, of the smaller Labour Party.



<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N2XV3J2&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tinubu</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N2XK0DY&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Atiku</a>, as he is known in Nigeria, are both political heavyweights with decades of networking behind them and bulging campaign coffers. Both Muslims, Tinubu is an ethnic Yoruba from the southwest and Atiku is a Fulani from the northeast.



<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N2ZV37D&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Obi</a>, a Christian from the Igbo ethnic group, has less of a political machine behind him but has used a slick social media campaign to generate huge&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N34T3LL&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">enthusiasm among young voters</a>, with some even calling themselves the &#8220;Obidients&#8221;.



Nigeria has a long history of electoral fraud and violence, though its polls have been getting gradually cleaner in recent cycles. The presidential candidates and parties pledged on Wednesday to support a peaceful and transparent process.



The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it has introduced new technology and procedures to ensure this election is free and fair, such as a Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) that will identify voters using biometric data.



However, analysts have warned there were still risks from the dearth of cash, which could make hard-pressed citizens vulnerable to vote-buying by candidates, and a shortage of fuel that could make it hard for INEC to deploy staff and equipment to all areas.



<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N3532Z6&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">U.S. President Joe Biden</a>&nbsp;called on Thursday on candidates and parties to accept the results of the election as announced by INEC, and urged all Nigerians including young voters to make their voices heard through the ballot box.



FACTBOX-Nigeria&#8217;s election: when is the vote and what&#8217;s at stake?<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N3532Z6&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



FACTBOX-Nigeria election 2023: how it all works<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N3522MW&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



FACTBOX-Top candidates in Nigeria&#8217;s presidential election: Tinubu, Abubakar, Obi<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N3435RW&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



(Writing by Estelle Shirbon; Editing by Frances Kerry)

nigeria-elections

Nigerians vote in election, hoping for better economic times

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="615" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/SP6TRDAA75NEZE6QYLJM6N6ANI-820x615.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-423347" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/SP6TRDAA75NEZE6QYLJM6N6ANI-820x615.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/SP6TRDAA75NEZE6QYLJM6N6ANI-300x225.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/SP6TRDAA75NEZE6QYLJM6N6ANI-120x90.jpg 120w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/SP6TRDAA75NEZE6QYLJM6N6ANI-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/SP6TRDAA75NEZE6QYLJM6N6ANI-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/SP6TRDAA75NEZE6QYLJM6N6ANI-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">People gather at a market, ahead of Nigeria&#8217;s presidential election in Kano, Nigeria February 24, 2023. REUTERS/Abraham Achirga</figcaption></figure>



KANO, Nigeria, Feb 24 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;At a market in Nigeria&#8217;s northern Kano state customers stocked up on Friday on food and essentials, uncertain of the outcome of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N32V27A&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Saturday&#8217;s election</a>&nbsp;to choose a new president and lawmakers, in a country where voting has sometimes been followed by violence.



Shortages of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N34F4DP&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cash and fuel</a>&nbsp;and the highest inflation rate in nearly two decades have left Nigerians frustrated about the government of President Muhammadu Buhari, who is not on the ballot after serving the maximum two presidential terms.



&#8220;We don&#8217;t know what is going to be the outcome of the election so that is why you see everyone trying to come and buy some items,&#8221; said potato seller Auwal Usman Ahmed as he sorted his wares at Yan Kaba Market in the city of Kano, capital of the state of the same name.



In past elections, violence has flared in Kano, a largely Muslim state, after results were announced.



Businesses and markets traditionally close on voting day in Nigeria and the country&#8217;s security agencies have announced restrictions on the movement of vehicles from 12 a.m. (2300 GMT on Friday) to 6 p.m. (1700 GMT) on Saturday, calling it a measure to ensure security.



Esther David, a government employee in Kano, said she had stocked up, but was confident her prayers would prevent an outburst of violence.



<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N34T4H5&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Widespread insecurity</a>&nbsp;is a major concern for voters, although the army and police have promised a peaceful election.



In the southeastern Anambra state, where separatist and gang violence has killed dozens of people this year, nurse Norah Ejike said she was was worried about post-election violence.



Ejike, 22, was among last-minute shoppers before markets closed in Anambra&#8217;s capital Awka but was unable to buy what she wanted. Although she had money in her bank account and a bank card, sellers at the market demanded payment in cash, which is in short supply after the central bank withdrew old naira bills from circulation.



&#8220;The best chance is to shop now,&#8221; she said. &#8220;We just place it in God&#8217;s hands although we know that there is definitely going to be killing.&#8221;



(Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Frances Kerry)

People gather at a market, ahead of Nigeria’s Presidential election in Kano

Ahead of Nigeria elections, residents stock-up on food, essentials

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="546" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1243256381-820x546.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-423337" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1243256381-820x546.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1243256381-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1243256381-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1243256381-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1243256381-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1243256381-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">ST PETERSBURG, RUSSIA &#8211; 2022/09/15: The flag of Republic of South Africa seen in the gallery of flags of the participating countries in the framework of St. Petersburg International Gas Forum 2022 (SPIGF 2022). (Photo by Maksim Konstantinov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>



JOHANNESBURG/PARIS, Feb 24 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;International financial crime watchdog the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on Friday added South Africa to its &#8220;grey list&#8221; of countries under special scrutiny to implement standards to prevent money laundering and terrorism financing.



Being added to the list is a reputational setback for the Africa&#8217;s most advanced economy, which has been trying to address shortcomings identified by the FATF.



The rand&nbsp;ZAR=D3&nbsp;extended losses against the dollar after the watchdog&#8217;s decision was announced to trade down about 1% on the day.



Analysts say increased FATF monitoring could mean South African clients at international financial institutions will be subject to enhanced due diligence checks. It could also complicate South African attempts to access funding and support from multilateral development institutions and official lenders.



South Africa&#8217;s central bank and National Treasury said&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AJ8N34502H&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">in separate statements</a>&nbsp;that they noted the watchdog&#8217;s decision and would work to address its concerns.



The Treasury said it expected a limited impact from the grey-listing on financial stability and the costs of doing business with South Africa.



&#8220;The costs of increased monitoring will be substantially lower than the long-term costs of allowing South Africa&#8217;s economy to be contaminated by the flows of proceeds of crime and corruption,&#8221; it said.



The Paris-based FATF also added Nigeria, Africa&#8217;s biggest economy, to its grey-list on Friday.



It said both South Africa and Nigeria had made high-level political commitments to address the deficiencies it had found.



(Reporting by Tassilo Hummel in Paris, Bhargav Acharya, Nellie Peyton and Alexander Winning JohannesburgEditing by Ingrid Melander, James Macharia Chege, Tomasz Janowski and Louise Heavens)

The flag of Republic of South Africa seen in the gallery of

Financial crime watchdog adds South Africa, Nigeria to ‘grey list’

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-475710622-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-423332" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-475710622-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-475710622-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-475710622-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-475710622-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-475710622-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-475710622-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A visitor inspects photovoltaic panels operating in the Sishen solar park, operated by Acciona SA, in Kathu, Northern Cape, South Africa, on Tuesday, June 2, 2015. South Africa, which has implemented rolling blackouts this year as electricity demand exceeds supply, is running a five-round program of tenders to tap new sources of energy and encourage more private companies to build power projects. Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg via Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



PARIS, Feb 24 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;A new investment fund with 87.5 million euros ($92.63 million) will finance solar power production across Africa, with a focus on West and Central Africa, French fund manager RGREEN INVEST and investment adviser ECHOSYS INVEST said on Friday.



The AFRIGREEEN Debt Impact Fund&#8217;s first closing will finance on- and off-grid solar power plants for small- and medium-sized commercial and industrial consumers across the continent, the statement said.



The project aims to provide direct lending and asset-based debt facilities for regional and international developers and African commercial and industrial companies to develop solar infrastructure.



The groups are looking to have a portfolio of twenty to thirty investments, with aim of meeting long-term debt financing needs of between 10 and 15 million euros, with an average of around 5 million euros over eight to ten years, the statement said.



The fund also includes and offer of long-term local currency financing in Ghana and Nigeria with support from the International Development Association&#8217;s Private Sector Window Local Currency Facility.



The Fund&#8217;s will measure impact targets in terms of megawatts (MW) installed, megawtt-hours (MWh) produced, tonnes of CO2 emissions and litres of fuel avoided, and number of companies directly or indirectly accessing new financing channel, it said.



The impact will also be measured by the number of commercial and industrial companies able to upgrade their power generation facilities and enhance their efficiency.



RGREEN INVEST and ECHOSYS INVEST said that the first closing included commitments from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC).



French banks Societe Generale&nbsp;SOGN.PA&nbsp;and BNP Paribas&nbsp;BNPP.PA&nbsp;completed the first round of funding, the statement said.



The group is aiming to raise a total of 100 million euros from development finance institutions and private investors.



($1 = 0.9446 euros)



(Reporting by Forrest Crellin and Sudip Kar-Gupta. Editing by Jane Merriman)

Reuters

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Results so far in Nigeria’s presidential election

Outsider Obi wins Nigeria’s Lagos as vote count grinds on

Nigeria’s electoral commission starts announcing state-wide results

Some Nigerians vote late after glitches as election count underway

Nigerians vote in election, hoping for better economic times

Ahead of Nigeria elections, residents stock-up on food, essentials

Financial crime watchdog adds South Africa, Nigeria to ‘grey list’

New French fund with 87.5 mln euros targets African solar development

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Reuters

Spain to extend seasonal migrant workers programme to Senegal

China says official bilateral loans involving it make up less than 5% of Ghana’s debt

South African lender FirstRand reports 15% rise in interim profit

Nigeria election: what to expect from president-elect Bola Tinubu

Nigeria’s Tinubu defends win in disputed presidential poll

Lagos ex-governor Tinubu closes in on Nigeria election victory

Kenyan traders protest against Chinese competitor’s cheap prices

South African unemployment rate drops for fourth consecutive quarter

Tinubu ahead in Nigeria election as opposition parties reject vote

Results so far in Nigeria’s presidential election

Outsider Obi wins Nigeria’s Lagos as vote count grinds on

Nigeria’s electoral commission starts announcing state-wide results

Some Nigerians vote late after glitches as election count underway

Nigerians vote in election, hoping for better economic times

Ahead of Nigeria elections, residents stock-up on food, essentials

Financial crime watchdog adds South Africa, Nigeria to ‘grey list’

New French fund with 87.5 mln euros targets African solar development

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