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ABUJA (Reuters) &#8211; Nigeria&#8217;s debt office has a short list of banks to manage its planned $1 billion Eurobond sale, but the government has not made a final decision, a senior official said on Friday.
Nigeria, Africa&#8217;s largest economy, wants to sell $1 billion in Eurobonds by the end of the year, although no bank has been appointed yet to arrange the issue.
The official, who did not wish to be identified, said the list has been sent to Nigeria&#8217;s Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), after which the finance minister will offer the names to the cabinet for approval. He did not disclose how long the process might take.
&#8220;The names have been picked but it has to go through government process,&#8221; he told Reuters. &#8220;The issue will happen this year.&#8221;
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Nigeria has $500 million of commitments for the planned Eurobond and any decision to increase the size of the offer will depend on pricing, Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun has said.
The official said Adeosun met with Moody&#8217;s Investors Service on Friday to discuss Nigeria&#8217;s ratings before the bond sale. Moody&#8217;s downgraded Nigeria&#8217;s sovereign rating to B1 from Ba3 in April, citing risks to government efforts to diversify revenues away from oil, its mainstay.
Citibank and Deutsche Bank managed previous issues by Nigeria in 2010 and 2013.
(Reporting by Chijioke Ohuocha, editing by Larry King)
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© Thomson Reuters 2016 All rights reserved﻿

Nigeria short lists banks for Eurobond sale

Life was rosy for Femi Otedola until it took a sudden turn leaving him billions in the red. He had to start all over again.The article below tells his story, it first appeared in Forbes Africa and is republished with its permission. Subscribe today by contacting Shanna Jacobsen Shanna.Jacobsen@abn360.com﻿﻿
In 2008, a shipment containing one million tons of diesel set sail, heading for the shores of Nigeria. The owner of the vessel, Femi Otedola, Chairman of Forte Oil, a petroleum and power generation company, had grown the company to one of the largest in Nigeria, with over 500 gas stations, according to Forbes. The growth had been rapid and profits were at an all-time high. Then disaster struck.
“I had about 93 percent of the diesel market on my fingertips. All of a sudden oil prices collapsed and I had over one million tons of diesel on the high seas and the price dropped from $146 to $34,” says Otedola.
That was only the beginning of his problems. The naira was subsequently devalued and interest began to skyrocket. When the dust settled, Otedola had lost over $480 million due to the plunge in oil prices, $258 million through the devaluation of the naira, a further $320 million due to accruing interest and then finally $160 million when the stocks crashed.
“I had two options, either to commit suicide or to weather the storm. I decided to weather the storm. I just knew it was a phase I had to go through. You see God prepares you for greater things and of course experience is the best teacher so I had to learn my lessons. I took the bitter pill,” he says.
READ: <a href="/news/special-report/2015/04/21/alpesh-patel-a-millionaire-at-23-but-lost-it-all/">Alpesh Patel: A millionaire at 23, but lost it all﻿</a>﻿
Otedola was now $1.2 billion in debt. He sought solace in the only thing that had set him on the path to discovering oil, destiny.
READ: <a href="/news/western-africa/2016/09/17/africas-second-richest-woman/">How Africa&#8217;s second richest woman gained her fortune﻿</a>
“You cannot compete with destiny, so it was my destiny to make billions every month and lose billions as well. I said to myself ‘I was not going to have friends and enemies, I was only going to have competitors.”
At the age of six, Otedola had already discovered his knack for business. He would provide manicure and pedicure services to his father and his friends and write them a receipt for payment. On his birthday, while all his friends wanted toys, Otedola asked his father for a briefcase instead. His father, Michael, as the Govenor of Lagos State, was a respected man. Now, his son’s public fall threatened to destroy that name.
“After I lost the money, something that struck me was that my father had always been my role model in life and the first thing I had to do was to protect his name. He had a policy; honesty was the best policy, so I had to protect that name and his integrity.”
Just after the global banking crisis had struck, the Nigerian government established the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) to buy up distressed loans. Otedola’s loan was sold to AMCON, by the bank he blamed for his demise.
“Experience is the best teacher. I didn’t have a proper structure and I also put the blame on the banks for not advising me. All they were interested in was the profits. They were not interested in sustainability of the business, they were short-sighted and all they were interested in was throwing money at me. So they never advised me,” says Otedola.
The banks had to shave off about $400 million from the debt leaving Otedola $800 million in the red. AMCON offered him a restructuring deal, which Otedola declined. He opted instead to repay what he owed and start all over again.
“So we got a reputable firm to value my assets. I had about 184 flats, which I gave up. I was the largest investor in the Nigerian banking sector, which I gave up, I was also a major shareholder of Africa Finance Corporation and I was the Chairman of Transcorp Hilton. I was a shareholder in Mobil Oil Nigeria Limited, the second largest shareholder in Chevron Texaco, Visafone and several companies which they valued, and I had to give up to repay the debt.”
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Otedola was left with two properties, his office space and a 34-percent stake in African Petroleum, which he rebranded, to Forte Oil in 2010. In 2014, Otedola bounced back to reclaim his place on the FORBES rich list and currently has a net worth of $1.8 billion, according to the FORBES wealth unit in the United States. These days, he is much wiser; there are systems in place to prevent a similar collapse of his mammoth oil empire.
According to the mogul, the day he lost everything was the day he learned his biggest lesson. It taught him that he could overcome anything﻿

Nigerian billionaire Femi Otedola on the day he lost everything

Some 30,000 residents of the Nigerian megacity Lagos have become homeless because of state-ordered demolitions and fighting between rival communities, residents and a rights group said on Thursday.
The violence highlights the challenges of a rapidly rising population unable to provide enough jobs and housing for its 180 million people. Many end up trying to migrate to Europe by boat from lawless Libya.
Africa&#8217;s largest economy is in recession as oil revenues have fallen and hard currency reserves dwindled, forcing the closure of plants unable to import raw materials. Every day, thousands head to Lagos, the commercial capital, seeking work in a city of 23 million.
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<div class="teads-player" id="teads1">A spokeswoman for Lagos police said officers had arrested several people for setting fire to makeshift houses in the affluent Lekki island district. She denied claims by a Lagos-based rights group, the Justice and Empowerment Initiatives (JEI), that the police had destroyed buildings.</div>
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Trouble started when fighting erupted this week between locals and others from Benin, a poor nation just west of Lagos, several residents told a Reuters reporter at the scene, where rows of bamboo buildings had been burned down. Some were still burning.
Bulldozers escorted by police arrived late on Wednesday to raze the traditional housing, JEI said, blaming officers for the conflict.
&#8220;Police came &#8230; with caterpillar and started breaking everywhere, putting fire on peoples&#8217; houses,&#8221; the group quoted a resident as saying in a statement. &#8220;They are seriously beating our people.&#8221; Police denied this.
JEI published videos showing people fleeing in boats, an account confirmed by residents.
&#8220;Police came at 11 p.m. and ordered us to go. We left by boat,&#8221; said a worker called John, who said he had fled with his family. &#8220;We have nowhere to go now.&#8221;
Lekki is a prime site for investors, who have been building luxury apartments, skyscrapers and waterside restaurants, attracting poor Nigerians and workers from West Africa.
In August, the Lagos state government gave residents who lacked building permits two weeks to move out of Lekki and other up-market districts. JEI said officers had gone ahead with demolitions despite a court order to wait for a hearing.
The Lagos state government could not be reached.
The overcrowding in Lagos looks likely to continue. By 2050, Nigeria&#8217;s population is set to more than double to 400 million, making it the world&#8217;s third most populous nation after China and India, according to U.N. estimates.

Demolitions leave 30,000 homeless in Nigeria

Africa is lagging behind the rest of the world, but this is paradoxically an advantage for the region: it approaches development differently and has already taken concrete steps to address the backlog,
With the help of 10 myths Euler Hermes decrypts reasons why Africa is a special continent of many resources, which will find its way of growing and becoming a key player in the global economy.﻿
Myth #1: All African countries are the same
Most African countries have a complicated business environment &#8211; even Nigeria. However the continent’s driver is ranked 169th in the World Bank’s Doing Business 2016.
Nonetheless, there are differences among African economies in the pace of growth and level of diversification. There are three groups of countries in Africa. First, the strong links such as South Africa and Morocco with an attractive business environment, but their growth (+0.5% and +2% respectively in 2016) remains moderate, although stable. Then the change champions, including Ivory Coast and Ethiopia. These economies record strong growth rates (7.5% and 7% respectively in 2016), pushed by their will to diversify and improve their business environment. Finally, lagging behind are countries such as Nigeria or Cameroon where change needs to be fostered.
Myth # 2: Africa only relies on raw materials
Africa has tremendous raw-material sources and is often viewed as an indispensable pool of labor for the near future. But the African economy is also a hotbed of innovation. “Compared with Singapore and its 2% of GDP spent on R&amp;D, Africa ranks lower. But this gap is going to narrow very rapidly thanks, for example, to hubs and the will to overcome the infrastructure deficit. Each region has its own champion: Kenya (0.9% of GDP) in the west, South Africa (0.75%) in the south, and Morocco (0.8%) in the north.
This innovation effort is also reflected in the creation of technologic hubs, whose number is steadily increasing in the African continent. At present there are 24 hubs in South Africa, 11 in Kenya and 7 in Uganda. In Kenya, the technologic incubator iHub has contributed to the development of 150 companies since 2008, an evidence of its role in the growth of African economy. 
Myth # 3: African infrastructures are non-existent
The infrastructure gap (water, electricity, internet, transport) in Africa remains important. The example of Nigeria is striking: to fill its infrastructural gap, the country must spend USD 1900bn by 2030, that is nearly USD 130bn a year (25% of current GDP). This gap penalises African economies and costs two percent of growth to the region every year, according to the African Development Bank.
But the development of African infrastructures is also an economic opportunity. “African countries cannot finance these infrastructural investments themselves. In the long term, this should trigger significant investments in the region, that will contribute to finance the regional economy.
Myth # 4: Africa is isolated from the world
African foreign trade continues to growth &#8211; well, almost. In 2016, Africa is expected to lose USD 12bn exports by value (totaling USD 560 billion) because of the commodity shock. In 2017, demand to Africa should increase by USD 30bn. “This is not only in the short term. Actually, by 2025 African countries should continue to open up and the continent’s heavyweights, i.e. Nigeria (+USD 210bn of additional exports in ten years / + USD 150bn of imports), South Africa (+ USD 140/180bn) and Egypt (+ USD 83/79bn), will see their trade with the rest of the world soar.
The favourite destination of African exporters remains China (27% of African exports in 2016). However, the raw material part in African exports to China has decreased from 97% in 2010 to 83% in 2015, in contrast with low-value-added manufactures (3% in 2010 vs. 7% in 2015).
Myth # 5: African institutions are non-existent
Next to countries where institutions do not (or have stopped to) evolve, there are countries launching important reforms. Rwanda for example has strengthened its fight against corruption, by setting up a national anticorruption council and an entity supervising the award of public contracts. The purpose of this is to reduce the differential quality between institutions in Rwanda and those in more developed countries such as Brazil or Italy.
On the other side, the needs of public-service users are changing and the same occurs with demands for social security. Moreover, institutions have to respond differently: The digital revolution can help African institutions to skip several stages of development. South Africa, Rwanda and Ghana have already developed online public services of relatively good quality, and this is how institutions in these countries are catching up with international standards. 
Myth # 6: No-one is going to finance African growth
Once the oil aftershock has worn off, Africa will resume growing at an average +3% a year. Some countries still post record growth rates higher than +5%, despite the hard shock. In addition, the financing and rebalancing of growth, including investments to be made, will be the key to a sustainable takeoff. “The mix of funding will be crucial. In addition to external resources, particularly from foreign direct investment (FDI), some countries are already able to finance at least part of their growth with budgetary resources. This is the case in South Africa, Egypt and Senegal where they account for 25% and 30% of GDP in 2016. Household confidence and investor confidence will be indispensable to collect savings.
Nevertheless, the way ahead will be thorny: (i) budgetary revenues make up only 14.5% on average of the African GDP, compared with 30% in developed countries; (ii) FDI is only 2% of GDP, compared with 2.4% in developed countries.
Myth # 7: African consumers are not bankable
Consumption growth in Africa is well under way. In 2016, Africa reports the highest consumption growth rates, led by Côte d’Ivoire (+6%), Uganda (+7%) and Nigeria (+5%), compared with +1.4% in OECD countries or +2% in Pacific Asia. “Consumption development in Africa is driven by the continent’s exploding urbanization: by 2045, African towns will be flooded with 24 million people, compared with only nine million in China and 11 million in India.
But African consumption development should follow a different path from that of developed countries. “The wealth effect and internet access add to the volume growth of African consumption. Consumers in Africa are going to skip some steps and force business sectors to reconsider their approach. This is especially striking in distribution, financial services or transports: for example, 70% of Moroccans have internet access (55% in China), and 14% of Kenyans use contactless payment cards (60% of French are still and always using bank checks).Euler Hermes has worked out a proprietary consumption potential indicator combining these three determinants. The verdict is final: Nigeria, Kenya, Morocco, Egypt and South Africa are the leading pack, followed by Ghana, Ivory Coast, Tanzania, Sudan and Congo, DR.
Myth # 8: It’s hard to work with African companies
Given the payment terms granted by foreign suppliers to African companies, it is undisputable that stronger confidence would free considerable resources for growth. “Out of EUR 800bn of goods imported every year by Africa, approx. 60% are paid cash. If transactions were settled at 30 days, this would free EUR 40bn of working capital requirements, equal to the GDP of Tanzania, or to 1.6% of the GDP of Africa.
This situation engenders a sort of vicious cycle for African companies. Their cash flow suffers from the multiplication of cash payments, and this makes them more exposed to possible economic risks. As for domestic trade, this calculation in a country like Nigeria generates EUR 10bn of additional cash flows: a foot on the ladder for growth-seeking SMEs.
Myth # 9: Agriculture, something of the past
Agriculture is the driver of economic growth in Africa: it remains the first contributor to employment and lifts millions of people out of poverty every year. Nevertheless, what is needed is a true green revolution to accelerate the catalyst role of the farming sector, by focusing productivity, market access and technologic contents.
In terms of growth by value of agricultural exports from 2005 to 2015, Ethiopia and Ivory Coast (+30%), Kenya and Rwanda (+20%) have specialised in high-value cash crops. Other countries, such as Zambia, Senegal and Morocco, have managed to use mechanisation and technology to increase agricultural productivity.
Myth # 10: It’s hard to find entrepreneurs and talents in Africa
Education levels are increasing in Africa. In particular, access to university education in Cameroon has grown from 4.6% in 2000 to 13% in 2013. However, even in South Africa, the most proficient student, the percentage of youth entering university is only 20% by age group. Furthermore, official statistics on entrepreneurship are disappointing: in South Africa, just to make an example, only two companies are set up every 1 000 inhabitants.
These low figures mask the rampant informal entrepreneurship that is set to remain the basis for human capital development in the short term. Therefore, attention should be focused just on this entrepreneurial environment, apart from access to education. In Nigeria and Uganda for example, the towns of Lagos and Kampala have only recently reformed their registry system, a big problem for all those wishing to start business.

The truth about Africa: 10 myths debunked

Recently, I have been intrigued to see how parts of this great continent are beginning to take up the mettle and make a mark when it comes to technology prowess, particularly, the platform economy.
We might still not have created the likes of Google, Facebook, Whatsapp, but our foray into M-Pesa, the platform that has come to define the era of mobile money in Africa and many other innovations, demonstrates that it won’t be long before the continent enters the ranks of producing a global platform of note.
I have been clamoring for a company to originate from Africa that creates games for the people of Africa and of course the world.  Gaming is the way one can express how their culture is reshaped and changes over a period of time &#8211; <a href="http://www.chopup.me/">Chopup</a> is one such tech platform.
Chopup is the brainchild of two youngsters in Nigeria, who have chased their dream to make sure African games like their peers around the world have a voice and more importantly, the people of this continent can also enjoy games that are made in their own circumstances.
These games that are created use the environment and caricature of the bustling energies of Lagos particularly the Yellow Combies, which pry commuters from one part of the city to the rest.
To get their creation going, these youngsters arranged gaming challenges at different universities across Nigeria, taking a cue from the playbook of the forerunner of the social media, Facebook.
These youngsters have won accolades about their growing creation in gaming and continue to learn and aspire to take their games across the continent and world.
Recently, their games have been uploaded into the gaming portals of MTN, Etisalat and Huawei and are slowly making their way across the continent.
The journey of these two youngsters is still in its infancy, but the steps taken shout of a growing tech future as attested by the recent visit by Mark Zuckerberg to Nigeria and Kenya
*YPO is a global community of chief executives dedicated to becoming Better Leaders through Lifelong Learning and Idea Exchange.TM  We create trusted spaces where leaders gather, connect, share and grow. The YPO platform provides more than 24,000 members in more than 130 countries – representing diversified industries and types of businesses – with access to extraordinary educational opportunities, alliances with leading institutions, and interest-based communities to support their businesses, communities and families. For more information, visit <a href="http://www.ypo.org/">ypo.org</a> .﻿

A Nigerian startup that's redefining gaming in Africa

Thomson Reuters Foundation
The 21 Chibok schoolgirls freed by Boko Haram militants last month say they were not abused or raped during two-and-a-half years&#8217; captivity in northeast Nigeria, a source close to the presidency said on Wednesday.
Many girls kidnapped by the Islamist militant group have been used as sex slaves, fighters and even suicide bombers, according to rights groups including Amnesty International.
But the 21 freed girls said the militants treated them well while they were held captive, according to a confidential report based on their two-week debriefing prepared for President Muhammadu Buhari and seen by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
The girls, released last month after Switzerland and the Red Cross brokered a deal, are now being held in a secret location in the capital Abuja for assessment by the Nigerian government.
State health workers confirmed that the girls were not sexually abused while in captivity, adding that they all tested negative for sexually transmitted diseases, the report said.
&#8220;The girls said the Boko Haram men always assured them that they would eventually go back home to their families, and were careful about what they said around the girls and how they treated them,&#8221; said the source, who declined to be named.
&#8220;They had been fed well and regularly, until the military cut off Boko Haram supplies,&#8221; the government source added.
More than 200 girls were seized from their school in April 2014 in Chibok in Borno state, where Boko Haram has waged a seven-year insurgency aimed at creating an Islamic state, killing thousands and displacing more than 2 million people.
Boko Haram has kidnapped hundreds of men, women and children but the abduction of the Chibok girls &#8211; some 200 of whom are still missing &#8211; prompted outrage worldwide and their plight was publicised using a Twitter hashtag, #bringbackourgirls. 
 
NO FORCED MARRIAGE, CONVERSION
The daily routine for the girls, who were moved in captivity between the northeastern town of Gwoza and the Sambisa forest, a Boko Haram stronghold, involved personal time in the morning followed by Koranic teaching and cooking meals, the report said.
Most of the girls said they were held in makeshift dwellings made of zinc sheets in Sambisa, while those who were married lived with their militant husbands in camps across the forest.
The 21 recently released girls said that while the Boko Haram militants advised them to marry and convert to Islam, they were not forced into doing so, according to the report.
&#8220;The girls said that those of them who did not agree to marry were used as house girls (servants),&#8221; the source said.
The girls recognised almost all the faces of Boko Haram members on a government most-wanted list, but did not know the militants&#8217; names and never saw the Islamist group&#8217;s established figurehead Abubakar Shekau, according to the source.
When shown pictures of 142 of their still missing classmates, the girls said 61 had married Boko Haram militants, eight had died during Nigerian air force strikes, three during childbirth, and one of an unknown cause, the report found.
Another Chibok girl and her 10-month-old son were discovered by troops days ago while they were screening escapees from Boko Haram&#8217;s base in the Sambisa forest.
The first of the Chibok girls to be released by Boko Haram, Amina Ali, was freed in May. Ali has since been held in a house in Abuja for what the state has called a &#8220;restoration process&#8221;. She said in August that she &#8220;just wanted to go home&#8221;.
Boko Haram controlled a swathe of land around the size of Belgium at the start of 2015, but Nigeria&#8217;s army has recaptured most of the territory. The group still stages suicide bombings in the northeast, as well as in neighbouring Niger and Cameroon.﻿

Freed Chibok girls spared from abuse by Nigeria's Boko Haram

Nigeria has signed agreements to add more than 500 megawatts of capacity to its national grid, the office of the vice president said on Thursday.
Africa&#8217;s most populous nation produces less than 4,000 megawatts (MW) but requires around 10 times that amount to guarantee power for its 180 million inhabitants.
Chronic power shortages have hindered the country&#8217;s development for decades and are one of the biggest constraints on investment and growth in Africa&#8217;s largest economy, which is in recession for the first time in more than 20 years.
The vice president&#8217;s office said a number of agreements had been signed including ones with the World Bank and Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC).
&#8220;Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the signing ceremony described the agreements as significant, enabling the consistent additional generation of more than 500 MW of electricity to the national grid,&#8221; said his spokesman Laolu Akande.
The vice president said the agreements would open up new opportunities for investments in Nigeria&#8217;s gas and power sectors.
He suggested that the West African country could potentially attract investment into the power sector.
Osinbajo&#8217;s office said Nigerian gas supplier Seven Energy was investing around $500 million in the construction of a gas processing facility at the Uquo Field in the southern state of Akwa Ibom.
And a Partial Risk Guarantee between the World Bank and NDPHC was signed to secure the supply of some 130 million cubic feet per day of gas to a power plant in the southern city of Calabar by Seven Energy.
The agreement covers private debt in the event of a government&#8217;s failure to meet specific obligations to a project.﻿

Nigeria to add more than 500 megawatts to national grid

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ONITSHA, Nigeria Nov 3 (Reuters) &#8211; A Nigerian tomato paste plant said on Thursday it is shutting down, firing 1,500 staff and moving abroad as it is unable to obtain the hard currency it needs to operate, in a public embarrassment for President Muhammadu Buhari and his plan to diversify the economy.
Buhari, elected last year on a ticket to fix a country mismanaged for decades, frequently talks about ending the country&#8217;s dependency on oil exports by boosting local food production, repeating his mantra: &#8220;We must produce what we eat&#8221;.
His wife Aisha attended the February launch of the Erisco tomato processing plant in the commercial capital Lagos, hailed by officials as the start of a new era that would end the costly business of importing tomato paste, a staple food in Nigeria.
But eight months later the firm is abandoning the West African country &#8211; and openly criticizing the government and central bank in a strongly worded public letter to Buhari for failing to support it.
Erisco has been forced &#8220;against our wish to create jobs in foreign lands due to the evil and wicked desires of unpatriotic Nigerians who frustrate every effort we have made to genuinely create jobs and grow our economy,&#8221; founder Eric Umeofia said in the letter, published in the newspapers on Thursday.
&#8220;CBN (the central bank) refused to give us forex to import machineries, machine spare parts and raw materials to be used for processing of Nigerian fresh tomatoes into tomato paste in our Lagos factory,&#8221; he said.
He said the central bank had even banned the firm from using its own hard currency deposits of $460,000.
The presidency and the central bank could not immediately be reached for comment.
The central bank has effectively banned the import of 700 types of goods including machines and raw materials to offset a massive loss in oil revenue, the country&#8217;s lifeline.
The bank has also kept the naira at an artificially high rate versus the dollar to avoid another devaluation, which entrepreneurs say has deterred investors. Buhari has repeatedly spoken out against devaluing the naira.
Erisco said it had hoped the government would support it by banning imports of tomato paste, as it had done in the past with cement or some fruits to help Nigerian manufacturers.
&#8220;Your Excellency Sir, you may wish to know that Erisco Foods Limited is the only tomato processing company that is using Nigeria&#8217;s fresh and dry tomatoes as the major raw material to produce tomato paste till date,&#8221; Umeofia told Buhari in the letter.
The company has accumulated losses of 3.6 billion naira ($11.8 million), he said. ($1 = 304.2500 naira) (Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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Nigerian tomato plant to close, layoff workers

Standard Chartered&#8217;s Islamic division is seeking banking licences in three African countries in order to offer its services to the continent&#8217;s large Muslim population.
Standard Chartered Saadiq could enter at least one of these markets &#8211; Nigeria, Botswana and Zambia &#8211; as early as 2017, Mohammad Ali Allawalla, who is head of Islamic banking for retail clients at the bank, said on the sidelines of a media briefing on Tuesday.
The Muslim population in sub-Saharan Africa is forecast to more than double from about 250 million people in 2010 to nearly 670 million in 2050, according to Pew Research Center.
As well as talking to regulators in the three African countries, Standard Chartered Saadiq is also in discussions about gaining an Islamic banking licence in Brunei in South East Asia and working with the regulator there on guidelines for Islamic wealth management.
Standard Chartered Saadiq&#8217;s core markets are Pakistan, Malaysia, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Indonesia and Bangladesh and in 2014 it entered the Kenyan market, its first move into Africa.
&#8220;Nigeria is an interesting market in terms of size we are exploring and other markets like Botswana and Zambia, which are not big markets in terms of sheer size but in terms of pockets of customers they present a good opportunity,&#8221; Allawalla said.
Nigeria, the continent&#8217;s most populous nation, has around 77 million Muslims, according to Pew Research Center.
Allawalla said the country presented challenges for retail banking because of the gap between rich and poor.
Standard Chartered already operates in Nigeria, Botswana, Zambia and Brunei and Saadiq would only venture into them if there was a need for a alternative Islamic products, Allawalla said.
&#8220;Its not just a matter of what we would like to do, it&#8217;s also a matter of how mature the regulations are, what do the regulations allow you to do, what is the cost of setting up vis-à-vis the products you can roll out in the market,&#8221; he added.﻿

Standard Chartered Islamic division sets sights on Africa

Nigerian communities affected by an oil spill in the Niger Delta hub have threatened to block access to a pipeline unless state oil producer NNPC provides a cleanup and compensation within one week, a statement said.
Spills from blown-up or faulty pipelines have triggered an insurgency in the Delta, where militants fight for a greater share of oil revenues and a cleaner environment.
A pipeline operated by NNPC that runs from Escravos to the Warri refinery has been leaking crude since it broke on Aug. 17 in Delta state, a group of communities said in a statement received on Sunday.
Traditional rulers of the so-called Gbaramatu Kingdom said they gave NNPC seven days to &#8220;clean up the impacted communities, provide relief materials and pay adequate and fair compensation to the communities and people.&#8221;
If the demands are not met in seven days, the rulers&#8217; statement said, &#8220;we would have no other option than to shut down the Escravos to Warri trunk line.&#8221;
The communities accused NNPC of failing to repair the pipeline despite repeated warnings of a massive spill.
NNPC had no immediate comment.
Nigeria&#8217;s oil production has fallen by 1.8 million barrels per day from 2.2 million bpd at the start of the year due to attacks by militants, the oil minister said last week.
President Muhammadu Buhari is due to meet Niger Delta leaders and representatives of militant groups this week in Abuja.﻿

Nigerian communities threaten to block crude pipeline

GENEVA &#8211; The United Nations has negotiated the release of nearly 900 children detained by Nigeria&#8217;s army and security forces after they have retaken land from Boko Haram militants, a senior official said.
The 876 children had been held in the barracks in Maiduguri, UNICEF&#8217;s Manuel Fontaine said after visiting the northeastern city.
It was not immediately clear how long they had been held, but the army routinely detains civilians who have been living in areas that had been ruled by the insurgents on suspicion that they too might be linked to militant activities.
However, rights groups say there is no proper legal process for such civilians, including the children, since they do not get formally charged and some end up in so-called rehabilitation centres, which the groups say are like prisons.
The United Nations says children should not be detained.
&#8220;We fear that there are still kids who are being at least temporarily detained because they are being released from Boko Haram areas by the army but then kept for a while,&#8221; Fontaine, UNICEF&#8217;S regional director for Western and Central Africa, told reporters by telephone.
He give no details of the ages of the children or how long they had been at the barracks &#8211; but after President Muhammadu Buhari came to power in May 2015, security forces began an offensive, backed by neighbouring countries, to retake territory from Boko Haram, meaning at least some of the children could have been held for a year or more.
There was no immediate comment from the army. Army officials say they need to question civilians to establish whether they have any ties with the militant group, which has been trying for seven years to set up an Islamic state.
The security situation remains volatile in northeastern Borno state and its capital Maiduguri because Boko Haram still stages suicide bombings, often using women or teenagers.
Fontaine also said the conflict, which has killed thousands and displaced more than 2 million, had separated around 20,000 children from their parents, of which 5,000 had since been reunited with their families.
&#8220;Once we get children out, there is a major issue of stigmatisation in the communities,&#8221; Fontaine said. &#8220;There is a sense that children who have been associated with Boko Haram for a while, could be, and in some cases we have some evidence, are rejected by community and people around them.&#8221;
This was also a problem for the girls freed from the town of Chibok, he said. Nigeria this month negotiated, with the help of Switzerland, the release of 21 of more than 200 girls Boko Haram kidnapped in April 2014.
 
(Reporting by Stephanie Ulmer-Nebehay; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Alison Williams)﻿

UNICEF frees 876 children held by Nigeria for possible Boko Haram ties

Nigeria launched a $10 billion infrastructure programme on Thursday in its restive Delta region as part of a plan to end an insurgency that has hobbled oil production.
President Muhammadu Buhari will meet representatives of militant groups and community leaders from the Niger Delta in Abuja next week in a bid to end the attacks, Oil Minister Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu said.
Speaking to a forum in Abuja aimed at outlining strategy for the petroleum industry, Kachikwu described bringing the insurgency to an end as the first goal of a seven-point plan.
&#8220;Our target is to ensure zero militancy in the area,&#8221; he said. &#8220;This planned meeting shows the level of interest the president has to ensure peace in the area.&#8221;
The $10 billion investment is &#8220;not necessarily&#8221; going to come from the federal government, but rather from &#8220;oil companies, investors, individuals&#8221;, he said.
Militants fighting for a greater share of the OPEC member&#8217;s wealth complain of poverty and a lack of development across the Niger Delta region, where most of Nigeria&#8217;s oil is pumped.
 
NATIONAL IMPERATIVE
The seven-part strategy also envisages passing a long-delayed Petroleum Industry Bill by December. The bill, which covers everything from an overhaul of state oil company NNPC to taxes on upstream projects, was delayed by violence in the Delta, which at one point cut production to 30-year lows.
The first part of the bill is already pending in the senate, and Kachikwu said the second part, which deals with fiscal aspects of the petroleum industry, is &#8220;almost completed&#8221; and will be presented to the oil industry in the next week or two.
While the government has emphasized diversifying the economy, Buhari said on Thursday it would be impossible to move forward without the oil industry.
&#8220;Oil and gas resources still remain the most immediate and practical keys out of our present economic crisis,&#8221; Buhari said, and the plan for the industry is &#8220;a national imperative and a core thrust of our economic policy&#8221;.
To drum up financing and oil investments, Nigeria will hold a roadshow in the Gulf in January and in the United States by mid-2017, Kachikwu told reporters.
One area of investment would be in improving outdated refineries to stop costly fuel imports, he said.
&#8220;We are going to be licensing private refineries, to look at investing in private refineries.&#8221;
Kachikwu said Nigeria&#8217;s oil output stood at 1.8 million barrels a day, compared with the 1.9 million bpd the Petroleum Ministry announced earlier this week. Still, he added that the government hoped to get back to 2.2 million bpd next year &#8211; the level seen at the start of 2016.
&#8220;We have a capacity to produce 3 million,&#8221; he said.
 
(Reporting by Felix Onuah and Ulf Laessing, writing by Libby George; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Giles Elgood)﻿

Nigeria's $10bn infrastructure programme to tackle insurgency in oil delta

ABUJA &#8211; Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari will meet leaders of the restive Niger Delta in Abuja next week in an attempt to end an insurgency in the oil-producing region, the oil minister said.
Ending unrest in the region that accounts for most of Nigeria&#8217;s oil production was the first goal of an energy industry roadmap unveiled on Thursday, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu said.
&#8220;Our target is to ensure zero militancy in the area,&#8221; he told a forum in Abuja aimed at outlining strategy for the petroleum industry. &#8220;This planned meeting shows the level of interest the president has to ensure peace in the area.&#8221;
The strategy included a goal of passing the long-delayed Petroleum Industry Bill by December. The bill itself, which covers everything from an overhaul of state oil company NNPC to taxes on upstream projects, was delayed by violence in the Delta, which briefly brought production to 30-year lows.
Kachikwu said Nigeria was also considering asset sales and wanted to improve the investment climate and enable development of the nation&#8217;s gas assets.
The seven elements of the plan are: solving the Niger Delta development and security problem, policy and regulations reforms, business environment and investment drive, transparency and efficiency, stakeholders management and international coordination, gas revolution and finally refineries and local production capacity, Kachikwu said.
There has been a push from some senior figures in Nigeria to sell assets in order to fund blockbuster spending plans, but it is not clear whether these plans have support from all the nation&#8217;s leaders.
In a speech at the same event, Buhari said the government was committed to engaging with all stakeholders in the southern region to find a lasting peaceful solution. He gave no details.
Militants have been fighting for a greater share of the OPEC member&#8217;s wealth to go to the Niger Delta, where many complain of poverty.
Government sources had told Reuters on Monday that the government would hold a meeting with community leaders and militant representatives in Abuja next week. 
Nigeria has been holding talks for months to end the attacks on energy facilities, but no lasting ceasefire has been agreed.
Kachikwu told the event that Nigeria&#8217;s oil output stood at 1.8 million barrels a day, compared with the 1.9 million bpd the Petroleum Ministry announced earlier this week. Still, he added that the government hoped to get back to 2.2 million bpd next year &#8211; the level seen at the start of 2016.
&#8220;We have a capacity to produce 3 million,&#8221; he said.
 
(Reporting by Felix Onuah and Ulf Laessing, writing by Libby George; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Giles Elgood)﻿

Security first goal in Nigeria's oil roadmap

TOKYO  &#8211; A prominent Nigerian asylum seeker and activist is being held in solitary at a Tokyo detention centre, a case that has highlighted a growing crackdown on foreigners living in Japan without visas and prompted demands for her release.
Elizabeth Aruoriwo Obueza was detained two weeks ago after authorities turned down an appeal against her asylum rejection, Obueza and her lawyer told Reuters.
Obueza, 48, campaigns for asylum seekers and the 4,700 people on &#8220;provisional release&#8221; from immigration detention &#8211; a status that lets foreigners out from detention but bars them from working and travelling freely.
Obueza&#8217;s arrest is part of a wider campaign by the Justice Ministry, which in September 2015 said it would take steps to reduce the 60,000 foreigners living in Japan without visas. People on provisional release, many of whom have lived in Japan for decades, have been among those targeted, activists and lawyers say.
&#8220;Elizabeth was targeted and detained for being an activist,&#8221; said immigration lawyer Shoichi Ibusuki. &#8220;I want her released immediately.&#8221;
The crackdown on people like Obueza comes even as people on provisional release, despite being legally unable to work, power Japan&#8217;s construction and manufacturing sectors as companies scramble to find workers in the worst labour shortage in decades.
&#8220;Elizabeth is held in solitary because she&#8217;s an activist and immigration officials don&#8217;t want her causing trouble,&#8221; said Mitsuru Miyasako, head of the Provisional Release Association in Japan, a group representing refugees and immigrants.
&#8220;Locking someone up alone in a tiny room is to ruin them psychologically.&#8221;
Naoaki Torisu, a senior Justice Ministry official overseeing immigration detention, declined to comment on Obueza&#8217;s situation, saying he could not discuss individual cases.
Obueza said she fled Nigeria for Japan in 1991 to escape female genital mutilation and applied for asylum in 2011.
Obueza told Reuters she was locked up for more than 22 hours a day. Typically, detainees at the Tokyo Immigration Bureau, where she is held, are locked up for 18 hours a day, according to the Justice Ministry.
&#8220;I want to help people,&#8221; Obueza told Reuters from across a security divide in a small meeting room at the detention centre. &#8220;Give me the right to help people &#8211; don&#8217;t put me in here.&#8221;
During her previous 10-months arrest in 2011 at a different centre, Obueza organised detainees to write a joint petition to immigration authorities calling for better medical care, Miyasako said.
For more than a decade, Obueza has visited immigration detention centres across Japan, helping detainees navigate the asylum system and find lawyers, rights groups, lawyers and former detainees said.
&#8220;She has supported so many people as an activist and that&#8217;s a nuisance for the immigration authorities,&#8221; said Miyasako, who has worked closely with Obueza, adding that hundreds have received her help.
Solitary cells &#8211; usually for detainees who are ill, unruly or have tried to harm themselves &#8211; encompass just three tatami mats, or around five square metres, detainees say.
In 2014, a Sri Lankan named Niculas Fernando died in a solitary cell at the same centre, highlighting severe problems in medical care provided at the facilities.
Isolation hasn&#8217;t stopped Obueza from fighting for detainees&#8217; rights.
&#8220;When I go outside my room, I go around the windows and talk to the others,&#8221; Obueza said. &#8220;I advise them what to do.&#8221;
 
(Reporting by Minami Funakoshi and Ami Miyazaki; Additional reporting by Thomas Wilson; Editing by William Mallard and Nick Macfie)﻿

Calls for release of Nigerian activist held in solitary in Japan

ABUJA  &#8211; Oil firms operating in Nigeria have sacked about 3,000 workers, a labour union official said on Wednesday, calling on the government to file a protest with foreign oil operators.
&#8220;The government should call the multinationals to order. They are sacking and closing shop,&#8221; Igwe Achese, president of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas, told Reuters after a union meeting.
&#8220;So we want government to act. That&#8217;s why we have given a 21-day ultimatum,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We believe government would act. If they don&#8217;t, when we get to the bridge, that is at the expiration of the ultimatum, we will cross it. I don&#8217;t want to use the word &#8216;strike&#8217; now.&#8221;
Nigeria&#8217;s Premium Times said on its website that Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Pan Ocean and Saipem were among the firms that had dismissed oil workers.
Chevron had no immediate comment, while the Premium Times said Exxon Mobil had not responded to a request for information.
The oil industry has been hit by low crude prices and a wave of militant attacks in Nigeria&#8217;s oil hub, the Niger Delta. Several foreign firms have evacuated expatriate staff from the southern region due to the violence or scaled back activities.
Nigeria pumps around 1.9 million barrels a day, the Oil Ministry said in a tweet on Monday. That is less than the 2.2 million bpd at the start of the year but better than the 1 million bpd reported a few months ago because of militant attacks.
 
(Reporting by Camillus Eboh and Ulf Laessing; Editing by Chris Reese and Peter Cooney)﻿

Oil firms sack 3,000 workers, Nigerian union asks government to step in

ABUJA (Reuters) &#8211; Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has asked parliament to approve plans to borrow $30 billion abroad to fund infrastructure plans until 2018, according to a letter read out on Tuesday in the assembly.
Nigeria, an OPEC member, slipped into recession for the first time in more than 20 years in the second quarter largely due to low global oil prices. Crude oil sales account for about two-thirds of government revenue.
The borrowing plans included the sale of Eurobonds worth $4.5 billion and a planned budget support of $3.5 billion, according to the letter from Buhari.
&#8220;The projects cut across all sectors with special emphasis on infrastructure, agriculture, health, education, water supply, growth and employment generation, poverty reduction,&#8221; said the letter read out in both chambers by the Senate President and House of Representatives speaker.
&#8220;It has become necessary to resort to prudent external borrowing to bridge the financing gap,&#8221; Buhari said in the letter. The borrowing was for the period until 2018, he added.
Buhari had already sent a draft budget for 2017 to parliament for approval, detailing plans to spend a record 6.866 trillion naira ($22.55 billion) aimed at pulling Africa&#8217;s biggest economy out of recession.
The planned spending is up from this year&#8217;s 6.06 trillion naira budget and seeks to stimulate growth by funding infrastructure development to increase manufacturing, create jobs and reduce costly imports.
The government has held talks for months with the World Bank, China and other institutions to fund a 2016 budget deficit of 2.2 trillion naira but so far only the African Development Bank has publicly confirmed a planned loan of $1 billion.
Nigeria also wants to sell $1 billion in Eurobonds by the end of the year although as of Friday no bank to arrange the issue had been appointed yet.
Problems related to oil prices have been exacerbated by militant attacks on energy facilities that have cut crude production, which was 2.1 million barrels per day (bpd) at the start of 2016, by 700,000 bpd.
In an effort to blunt the appeal of militancy in the Niger Delta oil hub, Buhari also asked lawmakers to spend another 35 billion naira within the 2016 budget on an amnesty plan for former fighters.
Cash salaries had been paid to ex-militants only until May because the amnesty&#8217;s original budget of 20 billion naira had fallen short. &#8220;This is creating a lot of restiveness and compounding the security challenge in the Niger Delta,&#8221; Buhari said in a letter.
Oil output has improved to 1.9 million bpd, the petroleum ministry said in a tweet late on Monday, without giving details.
($1 = 304.5000 naira)
 
(Reporting by Camillus Eboh; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Mark Heinrich)﻿

Nigeria's Buhari asks parliament to approve $30 bn of borrowing

Nigeria&#8217;s lower house of parliament will investigate a railway concession the government wants to grant to U.S. firm General Electric over possible procedural violations by Nigerian officials, lawmakers said on Tuesday.
The government and the GE have confirmed talks on a railway concession deal worth around $2 billion but no details have yet emerged.
Nigeria has been looking for partners to overhaul its ageing railway system, which was mainly built by British colonial rulers before the country&#8217;s independence in 1960.
Yerima Ahmed, chairman of the Committee on Privatisation, which will probe the potential deal, said the government was not following proper procedures.
&#8220;The National Council on Privatisations has not been inaugurated,&#8221; he said, referring to a body he said should have been consulted under the law for such a sale.
The House of Representatives approved a motion by lawmaker Chukwuemeka Ujam to &#8220;investigate the engagement of General Electric of the United States of America in violation of the Public Enterprises Act&#8221;, lawmakers said.
The lawmakers did not make any allegations of wrongdoing against GE.
The government said earlier this month more talks were needed with GE on the possible concession.
The government, suffering from a slump in crude exports, wants to boost exports of food and other non-oil products but the country lacks roads or functioning railways.
But there is resistance in parliament against government plans to attract investors for Nigeria&#8217;s outdated refineries, railway system or other public assets to drum up badly needed hard currency and foreign expertise.
&#8220;They have illegally launched an attempt to take over our refineries, that was resisted,&#8221; said Sani Zorro, a lawmaker form the ruling All Progressives Congress, to which President Muhammadu Buhari belongs.
&#8220;They are now making attempts to take over our remaining public assets. We call them parasites,&#8221; he said.
The West African country has already signed two deals worth around $5 billion with China Civil Engineering Construction Corp (CCECC), part of China&#8217;s state-owned railway construction firm, to modernise and build railways in the north and south of the country, the Nigerian Transport Ministry has said.﻿

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