The Nigeria Rugby Football Federation (NRFF) (www.NigeriaRugby.org) has awarded Edo State the hosting rights for the 2024 National League for the South South Zone.

This decision marks a significant milestone for Edo State, often referred to as the “Heart Beat of Nigeria,” as it gears up to welcome teams from across the South South region.

Teams from Delta, Rivers, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, and Edo will compete for the zonal title and a ticket to the national Super Six finals. This regional league is part of a broader competition held across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones—South West, South South, South East, North Central, North East, and North West. The winners from each region will advance to compete for the national title.

The Edo State Rugby Association has graciously accepted the opportunity to host this prestigious event, which is expected to enhance the sport’s profile and development within the state.

NRFF President Dr. Ademola Are praised the chairman of the Edo State Rugby Association, Comrade Sunny Osayande, an astute businessman with a keen vision, along with his vice chairman, Mr Asuen Marcel for their unwavering support and dedication to the growth of rugby in Edo.

Dr. Are also congratulated the state on having five of its players in the national team that recently participated in the African Games in Ghana.

During his visit, Dr. Are engaged with various stakeholders in Edo at all levels, reaffirming the NRFF’s commitment to the growth of sports in the state.

In the South West, 5 Clubs from Lagos and 1 from Ogun State will compete for the Cup. this further demonstrates the NRFF’s strategic approach to developing rugby across Nigeria.

Fixtures and plans for other regions will be announced in the coming days as preparations for the 2024 Nigeria Rugby Football Federation League gathers momentum.

E-sign
From the Office of the President of Nigeria Rugby Football Federation

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Nigeria Rugby Football Federation (NRFF).

African Development Bank President Dr Akinwumi Adesina (www.AfDB.org) says the world is changing and Africa needs to be at the table.

Adesina told more than 150 journalists covering the Bank’s Annual Meetings in Nairobi that the Global South is becoming much more important and that as a result the global financial architecture needs to change:

“The global financial architecture is not addressing Africa’s issues nor delivering for Africa. Our voice needs to be at the table. The global financial architecture needs to be creating fairness, equality, justice, representation and inclusiveness.”

Adesina welcomed the International Monetary Fund’s decision to create a third seat for Africa on its Board, and the inclusion of South Africa and the African Union in the G20, adding that he thought there should be a second seat for Nigeria in the G20. He stressed, however, that collaboration was key:

“Africa is coming of age on the strength of south-south cooperation, but I don’t see the world in a divisive manner. We should be looking at our ability to pool our energies and harness all our diversity for the good of the world. All our development banks cooperate and now there isn’t a single project in Africa that we can’t finance – not one”.

He said that he believed strongly in Africa’s future:

“I’m an African. We have the potential to be great as a continent…We have 477 million people under the age of 25. Africa will be the workshop of the world and is full of entrepreneurs and young people able to take opportunities”.

He said that Africa’s agricultural potential, with 65% of the world’s uncultivated arable land, will determine the future of the world’s food supply and will make the continent globally competitive. The Bank is investing heavily in agriculture and cited the Bank’s work in Ethiopia where it has given heat tolerant wheat varieties to local farmers. 5,000 hectares were planted, that has now grown to 2 million hectares and as a result Ethiopia is now self-sufficient in wheat production and starting to export.

“If we can do that for Ethiopia”, says Dr Adesina, “we can do it anywhere”.

Combatting climate change is a key theme at the Annual Meetings as Africa experiences extreme weather patterns bringing devastating floods in Kenya and Mozambique and droughts in Tanzania, Malawi and Zimbabwe which declared a national emergency as the drought grew in intensity and scale.

Adesina said he was humbled that the Bank was meeting against this backdrop of floods that recently devastated parts of Kenya and conveyed his sympathy to the families of people who lost their lives.

Adesina says that Africa will drive the global agenda for renewable energy, employing solar power to fuel future energy needs. By 2030 the African Development Bank in collaboration with the World Bank will connect 300  million Africans to electricity. Already the Bank’s New Deal for Africa has increased access to power from 37% of Africans to 52%, while it’s  $20 billion Desert to Power project in the Sahel will generate 10,000 Megawatts of power, bringing electricity to 250 million people.

“Electricity is the life blood of economic development” says Dr Adesina, “it enables digital infrastructure, rail and transport corridors like the Lobito Corridor between Angola, Zambia and the DRC, and the Lagos to Abidjan highway”.

Adesina said infrastructure like this supported the Banks High 5” objectives to integrate Africa and industrialise Africa. He said he was proud that the two strategic objectives along with the other three High 5s  – to “power Africa, feed Africa  and improve the quality of life for the people of Africa “-  had transformed the lives of 400 million Africans since he introduced them in 2016:

“If we will keep doing these High 5s Africa will achieve 90% of its UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)and 90% of AU’s Agenda 63 goals. I’ll work to the last second to achieve this”.

The 5-day African Development Bank’s Annual Meetings will be end from 27-31st May in Nairobi, Kenya.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Development Bank Group (AfDB).

Contact:
Peter Burdin
Communication and External Relations Department
email: media@afdb.org

About the African Development Bank Group:
The African Development Bank Group is Africa’s premier development finance institution. It comprises three distinct entities: the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Development Fund (ADF) and the Nigeria Trust Fund (NTF). On the ground in 41 African countries with an external office in Japan, the Bank contributes to the economic development and the social progress of its 54 regional member states. For more information: www.AfDB.org

African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) (www.Afreximbank.com) and the Africa Petroleum Producers’ Organisation (APPO) have announced the historic signing of the Establishment Agreement and the Charter of the Africa Energy Bank (“AEB”) at a ceremony held at the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources of the Arab Republic of Egypt.

The event was hosted by H.E. Eng. Tarek El Molla, Egyptian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources who also witnessed the signing ceremony. Prof. Benedict Oramah, President and Chairman of Board of Directors, Afreximbank, and Dr. Omar Farouk Ibrahim, Secretary General of APPO signed the Establishment Agreement and the Charter of the Africa Energy Bank on behalf of their respective institutions.

The signing ceremony concludes two years of negotiations and preparations by the two parties having signed a Memorandum of Understanding in May 2022 towards the establishment of the AEB.

The AEB was created to address the impending funding crisis in the African oil and gas industry, triggered by the global energy transition. Traditional financiers, on whom Africa has relied for decades, are withdrawing support, particularly in Africa, citing climate change concerns as the primary reason.

H.E. Eng. Tarek El Molla, who is also a Member of the APPO Ministerial Council noted that: “It is a great honour to witness the establishment of the Africa Energy Bank. This moment marks a significant milestone in our continent’s journey towards energy independence and sustainable development. By harnessing our collective resources and expertise, we are paving the way for a brighter, more prosperous future for all Africans. The collaboration between Afreximbank and APPO is a testament to our unwavering commitment to powering Africa’s growth and ensuring energy security for generations to come. I am confident that this newborn Institution shall grow to serve the cause of Africa and Its people. I commend the negotiating team and on behalf of the APPO Ministerial Council, I congratulate the team.’’ 

Commenting on the event, Prof. Benedict Oramah, noted:

“Today marks a historic day for our continent. We are honoured to have collaborated with APPO towards the establishment of the Africa Energy Bank.  These are challenging times when we must strive to find the right balance between the imperatives of mitigating climate change and the urgency of averting social upheavals as a result of increasingly difficult economic and financial conditions in Africa. For us at Afreximbank, we are enormously proud to be co-investing in this new vehicle and for taking the lead role in advising on the management and implementation process with the operational launch set to commence in July.”

Prof. Oramah added: “This has truly been a joint effort and we are immensely grateful to the members and leadership of APPO for their collaboration with Afreximbank as we look forward to continuing this endeavour to address the urgent needs of a continent and its people.”

On his part, Dr. Omar Farouk Ibrahim posited that the AEB is Africa’s response to the imminent funding challenge that the global paradigm shift from fossil fuels to renewable energies – euphemistically called the energy transition – poses to the oil and gas industry in Africa: “For too long Africa’s oil and gas industry has been dependent on extra-African funding. We came to take foreign financing of our oil and gas projects for granted, until the advent of energy transition made us realize that those on whom we have depended for many decades have decided to abandon us.” The Secretary General argued that Africa cannot afford to abandon oil and gas in a hurry when it has the largest proportion of its population living without access to energy.

Dr. Farouk further commended Professor Oramah for his exemplary leadership and commitment to the cause of the African continent. He also noted that the idea of the AEB was conceived and incubated in Cairo when H.E. Eng El Molla hosted the two Institutions in December 2020.

The AEB’s primary objective is to fill the imminent void that the withdrawal of funding for oil and gas projects in Africa by the traditional financiers could cause to the industry. With over 125 billion barrels of proven crude oil reserves, over 600 trillion cubic feet of proven gas reserves, and with more findings regularly being made; it does not make sense for Africa to abandon these energies when it has the largest proportion of world’s population living without access to modern energy.

While the AEB’s focus shall be funding oil and gas projects, it shall not close its doors to renewable energy projects. AEB shall strive to harness all forms of energy to ensure that Africa’s energy poverty is eradicated. Although started by Africa, shareholding is open to all Investors who share the mission and vision of the Bank.

The AEB has been structured as an independent and supranational pan-African energy development bank with an initial USD 5 Billion capital.

With the signing of the Establishment Documents by the two founding institutions, at least two Member Countries now need to sign and ratify the Establishment Documents for the Bank to take off.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Afreximbank.

Media Contacts:
Vincent Musumba
Manager, Communications and Events (Media Relations)
Email: press@afreximbank.com
Tel: +20 2 24564100 /1/2/3

About Afreximbank: 
African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is a Pan-African multilateral financial institution mandated to finance and promote intra-and extra-African trade. For 30 years, the Bank has been deploying innovative structures to deliver financing solutions that support the transformation of the structure of Africa’s trade, accelerating industrialization and intra-regional trade, thereby boosting economic expansion in Africa. A stalwart supporter of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), Afreximbank has launched a Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) that was adopted by the African Union (AU) as the payment and settlement platform to underpin the implementation of the AfCFTA. Working with the AfCFTA Secretariat and the AU, the Bank is setting up a US$10 billion Adjustment Fund to support countries to effectively participate in the AfCFTA. At the end of September 2023, Afreximbank’s total assets and guarantees stood at over US$33.4 billion, and its shareholder funds amounted to US$5.8 billion. Afreximbank has investment grade ratings assigned by GCR (international scale) (A), Moody’s (Baa1), Japan Credit Rating Agency (JCR) (A-) and Fitch (BBB). Afreximbank has evolved into a group entity comprising the Bank, its impact fund subsidiary called the Fund for Export Development Africa (FEDA), and its insurance management subsidiary, AfrexInsure, (together, “the Group”). The Bank is headquartered in Cairo, Egypt.

About APPO: 
The African Petroleum Producers’ Organization, APPO (formerly African Petroleum Producers’ Association, APPA), was founded on January 27th 1987, in Lagos, Nigeria, by 8 oil and gas producing African nations: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Libya and Nigeria.

The Organization has since added 10 full Members (DR Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Namibia, Niger, Senegal, South Africa and Chad) and 1 Honorary (the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela) making 18 full members.

The Headquarters is in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo.

The Objective of APPO is to provide a platform for cooperation and harmonization of efforts, collaboration, sharing of knowledge and skills among African oil producing countries.

https://apo-opa.co/3VpE2JQ

The Africa Investment Forum has launched a series of investment roundtables to overcome Africa’s project bankability challenges and, ultimately, bridge its infrastructure investment gap. The Roundtables will showcase key players currently focused on project development and bankability in Africa.

Held on the sidelines of the African Development Bank’s 2024 Annual Meetings in Nairobi, the first roundtable featured presentations by Cygnum Capital (https://apo-opa.co/3KyjnNa) and the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA) (https://apo-opa.co/3KtgEVp). It was moderated by Aly-Khan Jamal, Partner at the Boston Consulting Group.

Cygnum is a leading investment banking and asset management firm that serves frontier and emerging markets. SEFA is a $500 million multi-donor fund managed by the African Development Bank that provides catalytic finance to unlock private sector investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency.

In her opening remarks, Chinelo Anohu, Senior Director of the African Development Bank, said, “The Africa Investment Forum’s Bankability Series is a testament to our unwavering commitment to advancing the bankability of deals across Africa. By showcasing innovative approaches and fostering collaboration among key stakeholders, we aim to redirect global capital flows towards Africa’s transformative projects. Together, we can unlock the continent’s vast potential and drive sustainable economic growth.”

She also highlighted the Bank Group’s Transition Support Facility (TSF), which provides additional concessional resources to enhance private sector growth in eligible African Development Fund (ADF) countries, comprising the 37 most vulnerable African countries to fragility and conflict. She noted that 10 of 37 Board Room deals presented at the Africa Investment Forum Market Days 2023 benefited from the TSF.

The Africa Investment Forum, an initiative of the African Development Bank and seven founding partners, is a platform that advances projects to bankable stages, raises capital, and accelerates deals to financial closure. Since 2018, when it was created, the platform has showcased over 150 deals on the global stage through its Boardrooms approach.

The Africa Investment Forum’s annual Market Days event brings together transaction sponsors, investors and governments in Board Rooms to move deals toward bankability.

The Bankability Roundtables will showcase key players currently focused on project development and bankability in Africa.

Chris Kandie, Cygnum Capital’s Executive Director, shared insights from a private sector perspective. He cited several challenges facing project preparation and development in Africa. They include human resource capacity, lack of scale, speed, accessibility, focus, and coordination among project preparation facilities.

Cygnum Capital provided advisory services for the Kenya Affordable Green Housing Fund (KGAHF), an investment opportunity presented at the 2019 Africa Investment Forum’s Market Days. The fund achieved its first close of $84.5 million in July 2021, attracting investments from local pension funds, DFIs, and the European Investment Bank.

Joao Duarte Cunha, head of Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (https://apo-opa.co/3KtgEVp) cited several projects that have been presented to investors through the Africa Investment Forum, including the Facility for Energy Inclusion (FEI) which was Africa’s first dedicated off-grid, mini-grid, and small Independent Power Producer (IPP) debt fund. A $1 million grant provided by SEFA ultimately helped to raise over $400 million globally across two different funds.

Another project that featured at Market Days is SPARK + Africa, the world’s first impact investment fund to finance the value chains for clean cooking to expand availability to more Africans.

The Africa Investment Forum will hold follow-up roundtables focusing on the role of technology in enhancing project bankability and development.  

The event drew about 100 attendees including African Development Bank Vice President for Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialisation Solomon Quaynor, the Bank Group president’s Special representative for the Africa Investment Forum Yacine Fal. Representatives of the platform’s Founding Partners, Deutsche Bank, African Risk Capacity Group, Japan International Cooperation Agency, KfW, the German state-owned investment and development bank, Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, IFC, Swiss Re Group, and the Confederation of Chinese investors among others, were also present.

The Africa Investment Forum’s Founding Partners are the African Development Bank Group, Africa50, Afreximbank, the Africa Finance Corporation, the Development Bank of Southern Africa, the European Investment Bank, the Islamic Development Bank and the Trade and Development Bank.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Development Bank Group (AfDB).

Media contact:  
Olufemi Terry
Communication and External Relations Department
media@afdb.org

About the African Development Bank Group:
The African Development Bank Group is Africa’s premier development finance institution. It comprises three distinct entities: the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Development Fund (ADF) and the Nigeria Trust Fund (NTF). On the ground in 41 African countries with an external office in Japan, the Bank contributes to the economic development and the social progress of its 54 regional member states. For more information: www.AfDB.org