The assertion by Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) that non-transparent resource-backed loans that complicate debt resolution and compromise countries’ future growth are undermining African economic potential is one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Thursday.
The Punch reports that President of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina, has said that non-transparent resource-backed loans that complicate debt resolution and compromise countries’ future growth are undermining African economic potential.
According to a statement from the bank on Wednesday, Adesina said this at the Semafor Africa Summit, taking place on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank 2024 Spring Meetings.
“I think it is time for us to have debt transparency accountability and make sure that this whole thing of these opaque natural resource-backed loans ends because it complicates the debt issue and the debt resolution issue,” Adesina told Semafor Africa.
Adesina highlighted the challenges posed by Africa’s ballooning external debt, which reached $824bn in 2021, with countries dedicating 65 per cent of their GDP to servicing these obligations.
He said the continent would pay $74bn in debt service payments this year alone, a sharp increase from $17bn in 2010.
The AfDB boss also criticised the ‘Africa premium’ that countries pay when accessing capital markets, despite data showing that Africa’s default rates were lower than those of other regions.
He demanded that the risk perception be changed, as it has been driving up borrowing costs for African countries.
The newspaper says that the Federal Government through the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development has revoked 924 dormant mineral licences to enhance the mining sector’s transparency and efficiency.
This action was taken as the government identified licence racketeering as one of the main obstacles hindering the development of the sector.
The Minister of Solid Development Minerals, Dele Alake, disclosed this information at a press conference on Wednesday in Abuja.
The revoked licences include 528 exploration licences, 20 mining leases, 101 quarry licences and 273 small-scale mining licences.
Last November, the ministry revoked 1,633 mineral titles previously given to non-complying mining companies for failure to pay statutory charges, fees, and dues to the government.
The minister also promised to clean up the solid minerals sector for international competitiveness and urged all stakeholders who have acted wrongly in this sector to turn a new leaf.
The Guardian newspaper reports that the leader of the Ilana Omo Oodua, Professor Banji Akintoye, has disagreed with leaders of the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, on restructuring saying the Yoruba Nation wants self-determination not restructuring.
He said this when he was featured on Arise television’s ‘The Morning Show’.
The professor of History who repeatedly said the goal to achieve his Yoruba Nation dreams will surely come to pass argued that if restructuring is implemented, the same Fulani herders who have allegedly killed more than 29,000 Yoruba will remain in Nigeria and continue their atrocities.
He wondered why there was so much noise about agitation for Yoruba Nation and people look away from Fulani who threatened to take over the seat of power.
While acknowledging the role of Afenifere in restructuring, he noted that the only solution to the senseless killing, maiming, raping and kidnapping of Yoruba was to get out of the country.
His words: “Our fathers in Afenifere are doing the right thing talking about restructuring so that we can go back and live our own life the way we used to live it prosperously. But we, another group of people larger than they are now saying self-determination is the answer not restructuring why because when you restructure you’re still in Nigeria and those people who are killing, maiming and raping our women and daughters remain in Nigeria.
“The only solution to that is to separate from them; to have our own country where we can make laws and determine who to admit. But if we restructure, they still have the right to come to Nigeria and still perpetrate the evils they do.”
The newspaper says that the E54 Bridge of Murtala Muhammed International Airport Terminal One suffered a fire outbreak in the early hours of this morning.
Smoke was detected billowing from the E54 Bridge, leading electrical engineers to immediately cut off power to the airport’s E Wing. A statement by the Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Federal Airports Authority, FAAN, Mrs Obiageli Orah, Director, said that although the fire was brought under control at 06:41 am, all flight operations in Terminal 1 of MMA have been diverted to the D Wing.
The statement reads: “At 05:29 hrs, smoke was detected billowing from the E54 Bridge, leading electrical engineers to immediately cut off power to the entire E Wing. The Airport Rescue and Firefighting Services (ARFFS) team was quick to respond, arriving at the scene by 05:30 hrs. Initial suspicions point to sparks from an electrical unit as the cause, but a thorough investigation is ongoing to ascertain the cause of the fire.
“The incident, which had escalated into a fire, was brought under control by 06:41 hrs. Efforts to ventilate the smoke from the building are in progress.
In the meantime, all flight operations in Terminal 1 of MMA have been diverted to the D Wing. More details will follow shortly.”
GIK/APA
Nigeria: Press focuses on how Africa’s growth is being slowed by $824bn resource-backed loans
