Author: Anthony Nlebem

BY JACINTA ENEJE

The economies of Nigeria and other African countries require at least $432 billion to effectively gain full recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, the African Development Bank (AfDB), through its president, Akinwunmi Adesina, has said.

The leading African multilateral development finance institution also predicted that the continent’s economic growth will be sluggish for the year 2022, in a message Adesina delivered at the AfDB annual general meeting in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

“The recovery for Africa will be very costly. Africa will need at least $432 billion to address the effects of Covid-19 on its economies plus on the lives of its people, resources that it does not have. The measures taken already by the global community, especially the Debt Service Suspension Initiative, the G20 Common Framework for Debt Treatments, and the issuance of the $650 billion Special Drawing Rights by the @IMFNews, have all helped,” Akinwunmi disclosed.

The covid-19 pandemic has brought about sluggish growth in the economic output of some countries in the continent. This slow but negative growth was principally driven by the slump in the level of productive activities resulting from the effect of the pandemic.

However, in the case of Nigeria there had been a recession after two consecutive quarters of negative growth. But recent data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has shown sustained growth in the national output for six consecutive quarters to 3.1 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2022, from 3.98 percent in 2021, although, still a drag by the 26 percent year on year negative growth in the oil sector.

On the outlook for the year 2022, the AfDB projects that there will likely be a 4.1 percent growth for the continent in 2022 following the strong rebound in the real gross domestic product of the continent to 6.9 percent in 2021 in comparison with the proposed outcome for this year. Moreover, the bank highlighted the crippling effect of the pandemic and the Russo-Ukrainian crisis as significant reasons for the slow growth.

By ONOME AMUGE

A new research has reported that Nigeria’s agriculture sector faces a financing deficit of N76 trillion or $183 billion, representing roughly 90 percent of total demand for agricultural finance, according to the research by Agric-Logic, a diversified agricultural research and consulting firm.

The totality of the Nigerian agriculture sector includes agribusinesses, crop and livestock production, aquaculture, staples for domestic processing and consumption, and cash crops for export value; and widely considered as a critical enterprise for economic development.

The research which was commissioned by the Embassy of the Netherlands to Nigeria, noted that the total demand for agricultural finance is about N83 trillion or $200 billion, a far cry from the total supply of agricultural finance estimated at N1.6 trillion or $4 billion, with an additional N6 trillion or $15 billion self-financed by entrepreneurs.

Having looked into historical data, current developments, and gathered insights from over 300 respondents in the agriculture sector, the report noted that while supply of agricultural finance has an average growth of 29 percent annually, its demand growth of 15 percent annually, renders it insufficient to catch up with the finance gap, which could double by 2027 unless critical measures are implemented towards boosting agricultural investments.

Emphasising the relevance of banks to agricultural finance in Nigeria, the report disclosed that banks are the largest provider of agricultural finance in Nigeria, with funds from financial institutions growing 35 percent annually, though agriculture only represents about five percent of their total loan portfolio.

It further stated that public schemes by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), particularly the Anchor Borrowers’ programme, has served as a significant source of funds for agriculture and agribusiness, and the largest actor that is facilitating inputs credit to farmers and providing medium term finance to SMEs.

“These funds however do struggle with low repayment rates and as such have limited scalability,” the report noted.

The report attributed agriculture’s poor financing to the inability of players in the sector to meet up with collateral requirements of financial institutions, and lack of a rural branch network to facilitate an organised financing scheme.

It highlighted other challenges hindering agriculture finance in Nigeria to include:

A largely informal economy and entrepreneurship as Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the agriculture sector are significantly contributing to gross domestic product (GDP), but often not registered and with limited scalability.

Market volatility, weather and supply chain dependencies which are agriculture risks that discourage investments in the sector.

Farming population dominated by smallholder/subsistence farmers leading to low productivity.

Strengthening agriculture finance towards efficient development
To ensure impactful financing in the agriculture sector, the report enjoined all stakeholders to focus on the most scalable and impactful solutions in each segment of the sector.

According to the Agri-Logic research, informal community funding schemes are the most appropriate solution for a large segment of smallholder farmers, and can be easily scaled by public and private extension services such as aggregators or input dealers on community level.

It also asserted that value chain finance can build on existing commercial structures, supported by micro finance banks (MfBs) to reach commercially viable smallholder farmers, while providing alternative collateral solutions and scalable data.

Though informal schemes and value chain finance have the largest impact on livelihoods and food security, the report stressed that banks and fintechs have the potential to contribute the largest supply of financing needed to bridge the financing gap in the sector.

To ensure this, it advised banks to increase investments and incentives in agricultural schemes and agribusiness, noting that an improved knowledge of agriculture operations and tools for agribusinesses and SME investing can support the growth of the sector.

Funds as an indirect investment vehicle was also suggested as a solution for banks who are not able to build agribusiness expertise.

Players in the agriculture sector were further advised to develop properly structured proposals that appeal to asset managers, pension funds, investment clubs and diaspora investments, to generate fundings.

These combined interventions, the report noted, can generate an additional supply of finance of N30 trillion or $73 billion by 2030, improve livelihoods for 50 million people, enable production of an additional 125 million metric tonnes of food, and contribute N35 trillion to the country’s GDP.

All is now set as Coscharis Motors, the exclusive distributors of Ford, Renault and Ford trucks and a number of other global automobile brands in Nigeria gears up to attend this year’s Lagos Motor Fair.

The auto exhibition now in its 17th edition will run from May 30 to June 4, 2022 inside the Balmoral Convention Centre, Federal Palace Hotel & Casino, Victoria Island, Lagos. It will have on display three brands namely, Ford, Renault and Ford Trucks, as well as other brands that will be exhibited by other competitors.

 

While Ford and Renault will feature passenger vehicles including sedan, SUVs and Pick-up trucks, Ford trucks will be featuring heavy duty commercial vehicles (HDCV) ranging from tractor heads to dump trucks, concrete mixer and tippers.

Coscharis Motors promises to delight her numerous customers with special promotional offers across the three brands at the fair. The highpoint of the motor fair will be the unveiling of a new Ford nameplate, BRONCO, into the Nigerian market.

Abiona Babarinde, general manager, marketing and corporate communications, Coscharis Group, said that as the exclusive representative of these three brands in Nigeria, Coscharis is bringing its showrooms closer to its customers at the fair.

“Also, we are excited to announce that we will be delighting our customers with the many mouth-watering offers we have lined up for them at the motor fair. We are also keen to reveal the latest addition to our Ford brand in Nigeria, the BRONCO,” Babarinde said.

While at the fairground, Coscharis Motors will also offer vehicle sales, after sales services, trade-in options and vehicle finance options (in partnership with Coscharis Mobility and some other finance companies) to her customers at the motor fair.

This is to deliver a total brand experience to customers and prospects alike when they visit the Coscharis pavilion throughout the duration of the fair.

Coscharis Motors Plc has the exclusive franchise for Ford, Renault and Ford Truck brands in Nigeria with dedicated sales and service showrooms and workshops in all the six geopolitical zones.

BY MADUABUCHI EFEGADI

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has advised Africa’s decision makers, including those at the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), that a reduction of non-tariff barriers, including border and customs administration, could lead to trade gains of $20 billion a year in Africa, compared to the $3.6 billion that could be achieved by the elimination of tariffs alone.

“The digital transformation of customs and borders in Africa could improve efficiencies in processes, such as administration at customs and borders, and yield trade gains on the continent of $20 billion a year,” the international organisation for public-private cooperation said in a new report it released at its 2022 annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

WEF launched the report in which it is calling for public-private partnerships to drive more integrated digital reforms on the continent.

It noted that inefficient border and customs processes in Africa remain a significant concern, and may result in some countries being unable to realise the full benefits of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Chido Munyati, head of Africa at the World Economic Forum, said, “even after tariffs are lowered, and simplified procedures put in place, the full benefits of the AfCFTA will not be realised unless non-tariff barriers to trade are also addressed. Policy-makers can make a difference by implementing digital solutions.”

The report, “Growing Intra-Africa Trade through Digital Transformation of Customs and Borders”, provides a pragmatic perspective on the non-tariff barriers in border and customs services that can be exponentially improved through digital transformation to increase intra-Africa trade.

Written in collaboration with Deloitte, the report was launched at the convening of the WEF Friends of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), a multistakeholder group that supports implementation of the goals set out by AfCFTA through public-private collaborations. The group comprises Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, Wamkele Mene, secretary-general of the AfCFTA secretariat; Patrice Motsepe, founder and executive chairman, African Rainbow Minerals; and Jim Ovia, chairman, Zenith Bank, among others.

The AfCFTA implementation, which started in January 2021, has the potential to increase intra-African trade from its current 18 percent of total trade to 50 percent by 2030. It also has the potential to lift 30 million people out of extreme poverty. However, achieving its full potential depends on putting in place significant policy reforms and trade facilitation measures.

Kavitha Prag, Africa lead, enterprise technology and performance at Deloitte Africa, said: “The African Free Trade Area agreement can be a great catalyst for Africa’s growth and development, but its full realisation hinges on the introduction of efficiencies, including the improvement of customs processes. Digital transformation of border posts and customs is thus a crucial and necessary step in the implementation of the protocol, especially for many of Africa’s landlocked countries.”

Various countries and the regional economic communities are making efforts to build better trade networks enabled by world-class logistics networks that can withstand recent supply chain shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical tensions.

The WEF report highlights insights from the Logistic Performance Index, as well as key insights from case studies demonstrating the quantifiable value of digital reforms in countries such as Ghana, Kenya and Uganda. The paper is a call to action for more integrated digital reforms that can drive higher impact through public-private partnerships that sets the course for Africa’s post-pandemic recovery and growth.

The report calls on the following policy support to enable digital transformation: legislative support and acceptance that embraces new practices such as e-signatures or the use of drones to monitor cargo; buy-in from the various agencies that enable these operations to embrace digital reforms and embed them in their processes; take action based on demand-driven interventions that lead to higher adoption of rates by all organisations and position intra-Africa trade as more cost- and time-competitive.

Other policy actions recommended are: develop skills of services agents that can maximise the potential of the digital solutions; and better coordination among AfCFTA members to establish Single Customs Territories (SCT).

The World Bank notes that while African exports of goods and services have seen their fastest growth in the past decade, the volumes remain low at just three percent of global trade. The global lender says boosting intra-regional trade requires improvement of physical integration, such as cross-border energy, transport and connectivity infrastructure, strengthening cooperation by harmonising customs rules and procedures, and facilitating business integration through regional electronic settlement systems, an electronic cargo-tracking system, and easing restrictions on services trade.

BY ANITA OKORO

Nigeria’s education sector remains under the shadows of world beating levels despite recent improvements in budgetary allocations from 5.2 percent in 2021 to 7.2 percent in 2022. The percentage allocation falls below countries spending some 15 percent to 20 percent percent of their budgets on education.

For Nigeria to raise its contribution to the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on universal education by 2030, there must be an intensified adoption of insurance plans which play a critical role as functional enablement tools, Olusegun Omosehin, managing director, Old Mutual Nigeria, a general and life insurance solutions firm, has said.

Speaking on the inaccessibility of education to millions of children across the country and its numerous daunting implications on the affected families, Omosehin explained that lack of funding from parents and guardians largely accounts for the inaccessible education by millions of out-of-school children in Nigeria.

“In many cases, these children are either orphans or without a breadwinner capable of uninterrupted funding for their schooling. All too often, we have all heard of a child who dropped out of school following the death of a parent or guardian,” he added.

On how to proactively engender a sustainable and secure financial position to ensure sustainable access to education for Nigerian children, Omosehin opined that by leveraging the numerous benefits of insurance, parents and guardians can be certain that with or without their presence, the futures of their children, wards, and dependents are secure.

He added that with insurance plans, the benefiting children are assured of a sustainable financial protection pipeline that ensures that they complete their education even in the face of unforeseen events such as a breadwinner’s death.

According to the managing director of Old Mutual Nigeria, the company offers an insurance plan known as “Old Mutual Target Savings Plan” that is versatile, and a dependable tool that allows policyholders to save flexibly for their children’s education.

“In case of the unfortunate loss of life of a policyholder, the Old Mutual Target Savings Plan facilitates a premium payout of benefits to the named beneficiary of the savings account, thereby ensuring the continuity of the said beneficiary’s education,” Omesehin explained.

BY MADUABUCHI EFEGADI

The World Economic Forum (WEF) at its ongoing 2022 annual meeting, has released a discussion paper that calls for new collaboration between humanitarian and development organisations, businesses, investors and entrepreneurs to make a difference to the lives of the nearly one billion people living in fragile and conflict-affected settings worldwide.

The paper, “Cultivating Investment Opportunities in Fragile Contexts: Catalysing Market-driven Solutions to Strengthen Community and Economy Resilience,” outlines a practical approach to how organisations can build the capacity and strategic thinking needed to develop a sustainable business case for solutions that have the potential to unlock new sources of finance to reach impact at scale.

It described how new types of partnerships can unlock impact at scale through long-term and market-driven solutions for humanitarian needs.

Børge Brende, president, World Economic Forum, said: “It takes more than a single intervention to unleash transformational change in complex ecosystems. To truly leverage the potential for positive and sustainable social impact while meeting investor demand for returns, new ways of collaboration across sectors are needed.”

According to World Vision, up to two billion people live in places classified as fragile contexts. Also regarded as “some of the world’s most dangerous places to live in,” these communities are marred by conflict and violence. In these places, life can change in an instant due to economic instability, political unrest and food shortages. Chronic instability exposes children and their families to extreme levels of food insecurity, exploitation and violence, making life unbearable and unsafe.

Experts predict that a staggering 80 percent of the world’s poorest people will live in these regions by 2030.

Africa, a continent of 1.3 billion people, sadly hosts the world’s most fragile communities in some of its 55 nations. Examples are: Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Zimbabwe.

World Vision, using data from various sources to determine the Fiscal States Index (FSI) listed the 10 most fragile countries in 2020 as: Yemen, Syria, Somalia, South Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Chad and Zimbabwe.

This year, 2022, the World Population Review and Country Rankings on Fragile States Index listed the fragile countries, with seven of them in Africa: South Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, Syria, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Chad, Afghanistan, and Zimbabwe.

Nigeria, the continent’s largest economy by gross domestic product (GDP) ranking, and still struggling to fully escape the pangs of economic downturns, is listed 14th with 98.5 basis points (bps) from the bottom among the world’s worst liveable countries, otherwise referred to as fragile states. Kuwait, with 3.2 bps has the least fragility vulnerability on the FSI for 2022. Finland, 16.9 bps; Norway, 18bps; and Switzerland, 18.7bps, are among the world’s least fragile states.

The Fragile States Index

The FSI uses 12 factors to measure the level of social, economic and political pressures that each country faces each year. Their vulnerability to conflict or collapse is based on how each nation scores from zero to 10 on the following indicators: security apparatus, factionalized elites, group grievance, economic decline and property, uneven economic development, human flight and brain drain, state legitimacy, public services, human rights and rule of law, demographic pressures, refugees and internally displaced persons, and external intervention.

The joint discussion paper is an evolution of the work initiated by the WEF’s Humanitarian and Resilience Investing (HRI) initiative, which was launched at the WEF annual meeting 2019 in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland.

BY CHARLES ABUEDE

Farmers, manufacturers, electricity distribution companies and exporters were paid the sum of N661.09 billion in April and May by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for various projects and intervention schemes, Godwin Emefiele, CBN governor, disclosed on Tuesday while presenting CBN MPC communiqué following the conclusion of the May 2022 committee meeting at the CBN headquarters in Abuja.

According to the apex bank governor, in a review of the performance of the bank’s intervention schemes targeted at stimulating productivity in agriculture, manufacturing/industries, energy/infrastructure, healthcare, exports, and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), said the sum of N57.91 billion was paid to farmers under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) to 185,972 new projects for the cultivation of rice, wheat, and maize.

Also, it said during the same period, it disbursed the sum of N1.50 billion, under the Accelerated Agriculture Development Scheme (AADS), to one new youth-led project, piloted and funded through the government of Ondo State for the acquisition of assets for oil-palm cultivation and the establishment of poultry farms. This brings the total disbursement under the scheme to N21.23 billion for 10 state-led and three private sector-led projects.

In addition, the CBN released N21.73 billion to finance seven large-scale agricultural projects under the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme (CACS). The funds were utilised for the establishment of a ranch and milk processing facility, procurement of feed and medication for livestock/dairy production; construction of a 300 metric-tonne per day oil mill in Gusau, Zamfara State; acquisition and installation of an agrochemical factory; as well as purchase and stockpiling of homegrown maize for animal feed production. This brings the cumulative disbursement under this scheme to N741.05 billion for 674 projects in agro-production and agro-processing.

Furthermore, under the Paddy Aggregation Scheme (PAS), N6.20 billion was disbursed by the CBN to three new projects for the purchase and mopping-up of home-grown rice paddy. This brings the total funds disbursed to 42 integrated rice millers under the PAS to N106.39 billion.

Elsewhere, under the N1 trillion Real Sector Support Facility (RSSF), the bank disbursed the sum of N436.85 billion to 34 new projects in a bid to support the manufacturing sector. Emefiele noted that the fund was utilised for both greenfield (new) and brownfield (expansion) projects under the COVID-19 Intervention for the Manufacturing Sector (CIMS) and the Real Sector Support Facility from Differentiated Cash Reserve Requirement (RSSF-DCRR). Cumulative disbursement under the RSSF for the financing of 402 real sector projects across the country currently stands at N2.10 trillion.

In the healthcare sector, the CBN said it disbursed N17.70 billion to four healthcare projects under the Healthcare Sector Intervention Facility (HSIF), bringing the cumulative disbursements to N130.49 billion for 126 projects, comprising 58 hospitals, 31 pharmaceuticals and 37 other healthcare services. Meanwhile, it disbursed N55.34 billion, under the 100 for 100 Policy on Production and Productivity (100 for100 PPP), to 44 projects, comprising 24 in manufacturing, 17 in agriculture, 2 in healthcare, and 1 in the services sector.

Also, the CBN released the sum of N21 billion Under the Export Facilitation Initiative (EFI), for three projects in domestic production and value addition of cocoa and sesame seed. This intervention is targeted at further expansion of the economy’s non-oil export basket towards improving foreign exchange revenue earnings for the country. Under the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises Development Fund (MSMEDF), the Bank disbursed N2.79 billion to support youths engaged at various nodes of the agricultural value chain, bringing the total disbursement under this intervention to N98.88 billion to 749 MSME projects across the country.

To support micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), the CBN said it disbursed N1.50 billion to 2,718 new projects through the Agri-Business Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme (AgSMEIS) for activities in fish farming, rice processing, wheat farming, poultry farming, livestock farming, ICT and tailoring amongst others. This brings the cumulative disbursements under AgSMEIS to N136.13 billion.

And in the energy and infrastructure sector, the CBN released N15.71 billion to power sector players including generation companies (GenCos) and gas companies (GasCos), under the Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading Plc – Payment Assurance Facility (NBETPAF), bringing the cumulative disbursement under the facility to N1.30 trillion. The sum of N22.67 billion was also released to Distribution Companies (DisCos) for their Operational Expenditure (OpEx) and Capital Expenditure (CapEx), under the Nigeria Electricity Market Stabilisation Facility – Phase 2 (NEMSF-2). Cumulative disbursement under the NEMSF-2 currently stands at N251.93 billion.

Additionally, under the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP), the CBN said it has disbursed N0.19 billion to DisCos for the procurement of electricity metres, bringing the cumulative disbursement for the procurement and installation of 865,956 metres across the country to N47.82 billion. Interventions in energy/infrastructure are designed to improve investment and develop enabling infrastructure in the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry.

Meanwhile, the CBN also reaffirmed its commitment to continue to provide support to priority sectors as the need arises to support growth until the current upward pressure in price development abates.

The Abdul Samad Rabiu Africa Initiative (ASR Africa), a philanthropic organisation founded by Abdul Samad Rabiu, chairman of BUA Group, in collaboration with the Rebecca Akufo-Addo Foundation (RAAF) of Ghana, has commenced the construction of eight multi-functional libraries in schools across Ghana.

The development is coming a few months after ASR Africa awarded the Rebecca Foundation a $500,000 inaugural Africa-focused basic education infrastructure grant to support its “Learning to Read and Reading to Learn initiative.”

At the sod-cutting ceremony for the construction of the first library situated in Kwahu Bepong community, Kwahu South District of the eastern region in Ghana, Udoh Ubon, managing director of ASR Africa, commended Rebecca Foundation for its role as the implementing partner of the project, and for its commitment towards building a reading culture amongst children in Ghana.

Ubon also thanked the Kwahu Bepong community for providing the land for the construction of the library, noting that the sustainability framework of the project will ensure its sustenance even after it is handed over to the Ghana library board for management.

He further disclosed that construction of the other libraries will commence over the next few weeks in other communities across the West African country.

According to the ASR managing director, the modern library project seeks to provide Ghanaian children a comparative advantage in competing with their peers all over the world.

“This is the beginning of a partnership that will go beyond the library. I can assure you that with what we have seen and with how you have responded to this first grant, we intend to consider future partnerships on other developmental projects,” he assured.

In her remarks, Rebecca Akufo-Addo, the Ghanaian first lady and executive director of the Foundation, thanked Abdul Samad Rabiu and the ASR Africa initiative for supporting the Foundation in constructing the libraries.

Akufo-Addo, who was represented at the ceremony by Akosua Newman, director of operations for the office of the first lady, noted that the Rebecca Foundation since its inception in 2017, had carried out several programmes and infrastructural projects under its “Learning to Read Reading to Learn” initiative in line with the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) which aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

“With our partners from ASR Africa, the Rebecca Foundation looks forward to building more of these libraries in other communities,” she added.

BY ONOME AMUGE

Leadway, one of Nigeria’s foremost insurance companies, has entered a sponsorship agreement with Sporting Lagos Football Club, a debutant in the Nigerian National League (NNL), aimed at advancing the company’s commitment to strengthening youth engagement, deepening sports development, and promoting talents.

According to the renowned insurance services provider, the season-long sponsorship with the Lagos-based football club, aligns with its philosophy of contributing to individual growth, especially the youths, promoting local content, and bolstering economic advancement in its immediate community, the country, and Africa at large.

Olusakin Labeodan, group chief marketing officer, Leadway Holdings, stated that the sponsorship is in line with the company’s corporate objective of strategically creating value by harnessing the talents and potentials of individuals through support to an organisation aimed at advancing lives and promoting economic progress.

“We are delighted to partner with the Sporting Lagos FC team to change the face of sports in Nigeria. It is both an entertainment and a platform for identity and opportunity and an integral part of socio-economic advancement. It is in the light and understanding of the critical role that sports play in pivoting talents towards life-changing emancipation that is the driver and core of this sponsorship,” he explained.

Labeodan further noted that Nigeria, which is ranked the most populous country in Africa, has a youth population of about 65 percent, with about 13.9 million unemployed as of 2022.

In this regard, he said it is ideal that every socially responsible organisation encourages and partners with causes tilted at providing a platform for youths to unbox and unleash their talents.

“We are optimistic that this partnership will steer the discovery of more Nigerian superstars, encourage youth participation and bolster sports development in Nigeria,” he remarked.

Sporting Lagos Football Club was founded by Shola Akinlade, co-founder/CEO of Paystack, Nigeria’s leading online payment platform and a wholly owned subsidiary of Stripe. The football club, according to the founder, is a community effort geared towards building something enduring that creates opportunities for millions of young Nigerians.

Prior to the sponsorship, Leadway has been involved in supporting youth participation in other sporting activities such as lawn and table tennis, basketball, cycling and athletics, working with credible organisations such as Ikoyi Club, Cycology, among others.

The Africa Centre, a leading African institution celebrating contemporary African culture, heritage and thought leadership, is finally set to welcome patrons and supporters to its new location in Southwark, London on June 9, 2022, following a £5.6 million renovation.

The development, which came after years of planning, consultations and a little over 12 months of building and refurbishment, is expected to see the institution improve its significance as a bold and transformative bridge between the continent, Africans, and friends of Africa all over the world from its base in London, one of the world’s most international and exciting cities.

The organisation stated that Southwark was chosen as an ideal location based on its multicultural character and its proximity to several other iconic cultural institutions such as Tate Modern, the Southbank Centre, The Old and Young Vic theatres, Shakespeare’s Globe and the future site of the V&A East.

Spread over four floors, phase one of the redevelopment includes an African restaurant and lounge bar on the ground and first floors and spaces for exhibitions, debates and events on the second.

Phase two, set to follow consequently, will see a whole floor devoted to education, connecting the UK with Africa via interactive education initiatives, teaching African history through the Centre’s digitised archives, as well as offering language classes.

Meanwhile, the fourth floor will be a business suite offering black businesses and individuals the opportunity to mingle, network, and grow.

Commenting on the renovation, Oba Nsugbe, board chair of The Africa Centre, said the organisation which was launched in 1964, has played a key role in being a home away from home for the African diaspora, as well as a safe place and key platform for African activists, intellectuals and artists to discuss and drive the African narrative.

The board chair noted that its mission and purpose have grown through the years, and transformed to not only represent the first generation of Africans, but also the second and third generation of Africans and Afro-Caribbeans.

Nsugbe added that the updated centre goes beyond a focus on arts and culture to having areas dedicated to education and learning and entrepreneurship, aimed at promoting a more wholesome engagement with the community.

Belvin Tawuya, chief marketing manager, The Africa Centre, in his remarks about the Malangatana mural, one of the key attractions of the Centre, which will be unveiled on the opening day, explained that the mural has a special significance as it has ties to the organisation’s original home in Covent Garden, London.

The mural, he explained further, was originally painted by Malangatana Ngwenya, an iconic Mozambican artist in 1987.

Other notable highlights of the event include, the launch of the solo exhibition of Sungi Mlengeya, a Tanzanian visual artist; a panel discussion on the impact of Afrobeats in shaping narratives about Africa; and a festival of community-focused activities featuring performances, market stalls, food and entertainment.