Corporate Council on Africa’s latest news updates

(Posted 06th April 2022)

CCA MEMBERS IN THE NEWS
Visa opens first Innovation Studio in Africa to Advance Future Payment Solutions
The Eagle Online
Visa (Visa Inc.), the world leader in digital payments, has today opened a new Innovation Studio in Nairobi, its first dedicated innovation site in Sub-Saharan Africa… Read more>>

U.S.-AFRICA RELATIONS
Ghana Diaspora Connect Roadshow to the United States of America
Embassy of Ghana
The Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) in collaboration with the Embassy of the Republic of Ghana, is embarking on a 5-state Diaspora Connect Roadshow in the United States starting April 4 – 21, 2022. On Wednesday, April 20 at 2:00 pm EST, the Embassy will host a Diaspora Investment forum at the Chancery. To attend, email trade@ghanaembassydc.org before April 19, 2022…Read more>>>

U.S. announces the continuation of national emergency in South Sudan
Radio Tamazuj
The United States of America has announced the Continuation of the National Emergency with Respect to South Sudan for another year. US President Joe Biden said in a statement seen by Radio Tamazuj said that the national emergency declared on April 3, 2014, must continue in effect beyond April 3, 2022… Read more>>

U.S. to build $537 million consulate in Nigeria’s megacity 
Reuters
The United States will build a $537 million consulate in the Nigerian megacity Lagos, the country’s commercial capital, as Washinton strengthens economic and diplomatic relations with Africa’s most populous country… Read more>>

U.S. Senate passes the Ethiopian Peace and Stabilization Act
News 24
The mini truce in Ethiopia has been welcomed by the international community, but it was not enough to stop the United States Senate from passing the Ethiopia Peace and Stabilisation Act of 2022. Earlier this week, with the support of the Foreign Relations Committee, the bill sailed through the US Senate… Read more>>

AGRIBUSINESS
Reuters
West Africa faces historic food crisis driven by conflict, price surge
West Africa is facing its worst food crisis on record driven by conflict, drought, and the impact of the war in Ukraine on food prices and availability, aid agencies said on Tuesday… Read more>>

Weather adequate for start of Ivory Coast cocoa mid-crop, farmers say
Reuters
Rain was below average last week in most of Ivory Coast’s cocoa-growing regions but good soil moisture continued to strengthen the April-to-September mid-crop, farmers said on Monday… Read more>>

ENERGY
Africa looks to renewables to curb warming, boost economies
Hosted AP
Workers install a solar panel at a photovoltaic solar park situated on the outskirts of the coastal town of Lamberts Bay, South Africa on March 29, 2016. Renewable energy’s potential across the African continent remains largely untapped, according to a new report in April 2022 by the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change… Read more>>

How Nigeria paid $137m in two years for unutilized gas in ‘take or pay’ deals
The Cable
Facts have emerged on how Nigeria paid $137 million in two years for gas and electricity that were never used in the “take or pay deal” the country entered into with some investors in the power sector. The whooping sum covers payments for 2018 and 2019 under the gas supply agreement deals reached with the firms… Read more>>

HEALTH
The African Union Endorses Plan to Strengthen Healthcare Workforce in Wake of Covid Pandemic
Forbes
The present of Covid-19 pandemic has once more exposed the acute shortage of human resources for health in Africa. Covid-19, like Ebola in West Africa in 2014 and countless other disease threats in history, has underscored an unalienable truth… Read more>>

Zimbabwe on the verge of famine and malnutrition occurs throughout the country
Mail and Guardian
Zimbabwe, once regarded as the breadbasket of Southern Africa exporting agricultural produce to the region and beyond, is on the verge of famine and chronic malnutrition is endemic throughout the country… Read more>>

Rural health worker shortage threatens Africa’s COVID vaccine rollout
CNBC Africa
Deliveries of COVID jabs to Africa have been ramped up in recent months, but the poor provision of health services in rural areas threatens to undermine vaccination efforts… Read more>>

INFRASTRUCTURE
Kenya Gets Huawei-Linked Chinese Communications Cable
VOA News
China has connected a high-speed, multimillion-dollar, 15,000-kilometer undersea cable to Kenya, as Beijing advances what’s been dubbed its “digital silk road,” and Africa seeks the infrastructure it badly needs for better internet connectivity… Read more>>

ICT
Increased social media use puts African leaders on edge
Deutsche Welle
Africans are taking to WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter in ever greater numbers to voice their opinions. Many of their leaders aren’t happy about this.. Read more>>

New Money Transaction App Officially Launched in Liberia
All Africa
Liberians are set to benefit from transactions with a new Money transfer app which maiden launching took place in Congo Town over the weekend. eWallie was launched at an elaborate program that brought together stakeholders in the sector of the digital transition… Read more>>

TOURISM
Ghana wants to make heavy investments to upgrade its tourism sector
Africa Business Insider
Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo said his administration is on a mission to upgrade and reposition some of the West African country’s most historic tourist attractions … Read more>>

Egypt, Turkey consider coordination to boost tourism 
Al-Monitor
In the wake of the stagnation that hit the vital tourism sector in Egypt since the state of the Russian war on Ukraine. 24, Egpyt is contemplating new ways to attract foreign tourists, including Russians, as both Russia and Ukraine are among its most profitable markets… Read more>>