NEPAD Today 31 July 2013

31 July 2013

Editor
Yinka Adeyemi
Assistant Editor
Meseret Arega
Editorial Board: Yinka Adeyemi (ECA), ADOU Jean Yves (AUC), Meseret Arega (ECA)

Too much of Africa’s money is illicitly transferred, says ECA’s Hamdok

Stressing that domestic resources mobilization was critical to sustaining Africa’s growth, ECA’s Deputy Executive Secretary, Abdalla Hamdok, said in Addis Ababa last week that over $50 billion leaves Africa yearly in the form of Illicit Financial Flows (IFF) which, he said, has to be effectively tracked, stopped and returned to Africa for the continent’s use.
Speaking at a NEPAD High Level Event on “Aid as catalyst for domestic resource mobilization in Africa”, Hamdok said the magnitude of IFF depletes Africa’s domestic resources which are crucial to sustaining growth and development on the continent.
He said the High Level Panel against IFF from Africa, led by former President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, acknowledges that there were supply and demand sides to IFF and that effective policies were needed at national, regional and global levels to stop the flows. “Africa alone cannot stop IFF. Global action is needed,” he said.
Hamdok said African countries could increase domestic resources mobilization through policies aimed at boosting tax revenue (as done by Rwanda); innovative public private partnerships (as done by Senegal on provision of water), diaspora funds (as used by Ethiopia) and sovereign wealth funds which help against shocks.
Source: Special to ECA.
ECA’s call to action in support of the work of the Mbeki Panel is encapsulated in the tagline: IFF- Track it. Stop it. Get it.  For more information, contact gibrahim@uneca.org

Almost two-thirds of internet users in Africa are in Nigeria and Kenya - World Bank report

The World Bank’s African Development Indicators has released its 2012/2013 report, showing that 62 per cent of internet users in Africa (outside of North Africa) are from two countries: Nigeria and Kenya. The report gives a detailed collection of data in Africa ranging from national fiscal and external accounts, millennium development goals, private sectors goals, trade and integration.
The data also includes macroeconomic, sectoral, information communication and social indicators for 53 countries. In the 2012/2013 report, the African Development Indicator said that for over a decade, Sub-Saharan Africa has been experiencing relatively rapid economic growth, averaging about 5 per cent a year. Emblematic of the growth is the ICT revolution in Africa, with more than 80 per cent of urban Africans having access to cellphones.
Maktar Diop, vice president of the World Bank, said that “of the 89 million recorded internet users in Sub-Saharan Africa, half of them were in Nigeria. Two countries (Kenya and Nigeria) account for 62 per cent of internet users.”
However, the Seychelles has the highest number of internet users per 100 people.
Africa Development Indicators 2012/13 has been regarded as world banks invaluable tool for analysts and policymakers who want a better understanding of Africa’s economic and social development.
Source: http://www.humanipo.com/news/7468/Kenya-and-Nigeria-account-for-over-half-of-Sub-Saharan-Africas-internet-users

Kenya, China in talks over railway financing

Western firms could be locked out of the Sh1.2 trillion East African modern railway project after confirmation that Kenya has opened discussions on financing with China.
For the two countries to strike a deal, China is likely to push for its contractors to handle the high-speed standard gauge railway line connecting Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda.
“The government of Kenya is undertaking bilateral financing negotiations with the government of China,” reads part of a report by the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure.
Treasury has the option of securing funds from any of Chinese export credit institutions — the China Export Import (Exim) Bank, the China Development Bank, Sinosure or the China Agricultural Development Bank.
Uganda and Rwanda have indicated plans to equally enter deals with China as each country seeks to raise funds for the project.
Source: http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Kenya-and-China-in-talks-over-Sh1-2trn-railway-financing/-/539546/1926956/-/da2rmj/-/index.html

Tripartite RECs to present tariff offers by September 1

A report on the tripartite ministerial committee meeting on Trade and Industry held on July 9-10 in Mauritius notes that a failure to liberalise tariffs had delayed the conclusion of ongoing talks among the three trading blocs in Africa: Comesa, SADC, EAC.
The Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) is driven by three pillars namely market integration, infrastructure development and industrial development.
Member states of the TFTA have been asked to prepare their tariff offers within a 60-85 per cent range in order to allow the completion of ongoing negotiations for a free trading area.
“Following the agreement on these modalities, member States will be expected to submit their offers by September 1, so that talks can be finalised by the end of next year,” said Mark Ogot, a senior assistant director at the East African Community Affairs, Commerce and Tourism Ministry.
“For the case of EAC which is a customs union, it will have to agree on what tariff offers it will give to other countries depending on what it gets from them.”
Source: http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/business/Talks-on-tripartite-free-trade-area-to-conclude-by-2014-/-/2560/1920698/-/4sf89t/-/index.html

World Bank to finance road linking Kenya and South Sudan

The World Bank has agreed to finance the Lodwar- Nadapal Road, boosting Kenya’s ambition to link its market with South Sudan. The road is part of the 595 Kilometre Eldoret-Nadapal Road project that has been on the government’s cards since the landlocked country gained its autonomy from Sudan two years ago.
The fresh campaign spearheaded by the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) will pave the rough road, boosting movement of goods and services between Kenya and South Sudan.  In a statement released yesterday, KeNHA said the works for the 340-km section between Juba and Nadapal (340 kilometres) had already commenced after the World Bank provided some funding.
The Corridor would run from Eldoret, through the border post of Nadapal, and finally to Juba.
The World Bank has pledged to finance the construction of the road under its East Africa Regional Transport and Trade Facilitation Program(SS-EARTTFP) at a cost estimates
to be determined after completion of designs.
Source: http://en.starafrica.com/news/world-bank-lends-kenya-155m-for-water-infrastructure-improvement.html

$45 million granted to create Pan African University for Science, Technology and Innovation

The African Development Bank's (AfDB) Board of Executive Directors approved on Wednesday, July 24 an African Development Fund (ADF) grant of US$ 45 million to support the creation of a Pan African University (PAU). The new university consisting of five Pan African Institutes will focus mainly on science, technology and innovation.
The new university would be a groundbreaking step in strengthening higher education and building human capital in Africa. Africa has been slow to develop its science and technology sectors and commercialize its innovations. Currently the best African university ranks just 113th globally. Of the 400 top universities worldwide, only four are in Africa, all of which are in the Republic of South Africa. Also, while Africa accounts for 13.4 per cent of the world's people, it produces only 1.1 per cent of world scientific knowledge
The PAU will establish an academic network of already existing post-graduate and research institutions intended to serve all African countries. Consisting of five thematic institutes based in East, West, Central, North and Southern Africa the PAU will deliver programs in:
. Basic sciences, technology and innovation (East Africa)
. Earth and life sciences including health and agriculture (West Africa)
. Governance, humanities and social sciences (Central Africa)
. Water and energy sciences including climate change (North Africa)
. Space sciences (Southern Africa)
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201307251572.html

NEPAD eager to kick start nurses and midwives project in Cameroon

A visiting delegation from NEPAD led by Prof. Nzobz Mboya has outlined three documents that are required of Cameroon as prerequisite to put in place a higher level training project for nurses and midwives in Cameroon. The six-member team held a working session with the Minister Delegate in the Ministry of External Relations in charge of Relations with the Commonwealth, Joseph Dion Ngute on July 25, 2013 in Yaounde.
The leader of the delegation said there was a need for an MoU between government and NEPAD, and  another one between the host university in Cameroon (University of Yaounde I) and that of Stellenbosh in South Africa. He said there was also the need for drawing a curriculum that would run for three years. The nursing and midwifery training project, he explained, was NEPAD’s vision, to initially run through five institutions of learning across five countries in Central Africa, but an Economic Community for Central African States (ECCAS) Summit had scaled it down to three: Gabon, Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon.
NEPAD Agency had earlier pledged $1 million and $1.5 million to Gabon and the DR Congo respectively for the effective implementation of the project in the two countries. Mboya said the Agency was still waiting to hear from Cameroon regarding the three prerequisites.  
Source: Cameroon Tribune, Monday 29 July 2013.

Upcoming events (some dates or venue may change)

1. Mining and Power Synergy,  9 October  2013, Fleuve Congo Hotel, Kinshasa, DRC

2. Seminar on Advancing Regional Integration through NEPAD Implementation: Learning Event on Comparative Analysis of African-European Integration Studies September 2013 South Africa.

3.    Africa-NEPAD Week at 69th UN General Assembly (mid-October 2013)

4.    21st Africa Partnership Forum – Dakar (tbc) November 2013
 
5.    High Level Summit and Business Conference on Africa’s Domestic Resource Mobilzation (DRM) November 2013)

6.    5th GEO Health & Environment Community of Practice (CoP), 23-25 July 2013, Washington D.C., USA

7.   48th NEPAD Steering Committee meeting – Dakar, End of August/Sept 2013

A production of the RCM-Africa Secretariat, AU and NEPAD Support Team, Capacity Development Division (CDD),
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Director: Adeyemi Dipeolu
Email: ecanepad@uneca.org