Africa’s social development indicators reveal a paradox: high unemployment and poverty coexisting with robust growth. Industrialization and trade are two key instruments playing a major role in economic growth performance having the potential to structurally transform Africa economies. The goal of trade-induced industrialization must also guide the conduct, negotiations and implementation of trade and investment agreements and arrangements.

In order to provide interested stakeholders with a better understanding of how trade can serve as an instrument of accelerated industrialization and structural transformation in Africa, the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) together with the Institute for Economic Development and Planning (IDEP), has partnered with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) to offer an instructor-led e-Learning course based on ECA’s Economic Report for Africa 2015 (ERA 2015).

The number of participants is limited to 125 persons. Until the registration deadline, participants are accepted to the course free of charge on a rolling basis and subject to availability of slots. A certificate of completion will be issued to all participants who successfully complete the course.

The Edo state governor, Adams Oshiomhole, has criticised governors who fail to pay their workers, saying such act is criminal.

Mr. Oshiomhole said this while delivering a keynote address at a town hall organised by the Kukah Centre on Wednesday.

He said the failure to pay salaries violates the labour law, which stipulates when workers should be paid.

Mr. Oshiomhole said it was immoral for governors and national assembly members who enjoy fixed benefits to complain of resources to pay the national minimum wage.

“One thing I cannot accept is that if you cannot have a decentralized system of compensation for executives, governors, commissioners and local government chairmen, how can these governors turn around and question the wisdom of a national wage structures for workers. It is that selective application of fiscal federalism that I found extremely offensive and unacceptable,” he said.

“Even today I remain firm that we must maintain a national minimum wage and we must find ways to implement and adjust it to reflect the cost of living and it is the duty of government and employers to find the revenue to pay those they hired to work whether in private of government employed. Non-payment of wages is a criminal breach of contract whether in recession or prosperity,” Mr. Oshiomhole said.

“When the minimum wage was enacted, governors said it was not payable. But I said it was not meant to be convenient but that it was a law and that government and governors must be seen to obey the law.

“When the National assembly said they will decentralise the minimum wage, I insisted that it cannot be,” he added.

Mr. Oshiomhole lamented the backlog of unpaid local government workers salaries across the country, , but said state governors should not be held responsible for failure to pay primary school teachers.

“As a governor I do not employ, pay or fire for the local government, so I cannot be responsible for that tier of government,” said Mr. Oshiomhole.

Earlier, former governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke criticised the current administration of the All Progressives Congress for failing to deliver on its promised “change”.

Mr. Duke said politicians were engaged in selfish and fraudulent activities.

“Sadly politicians in our society today are mostly jobbers and budget padders. Advocating for themselves and not the society. They cleverly and surreptitiously apply the word change,” Mr. Duke said.

“I of course being a member of the PDP will not use that word; however improvement is a constant. Not being satisfied with how society is and seeking to better it, we advocate improvement not change.

“Don’t forget in 1966 we had a change, a violent one from a Democracy to Military. So change is not always necessarily the way to go. As for the change ‘we see dey so’, time will tell,” he said.

By Triphomus Muyagu

Following the recent decision made by Burundi to sever trade ties with Rwanda, Rwanda will trade with other regional countries. The remarks have been made by trade minister, Francois Kanimba.

“The Burundian government decided to ban exports to our country but this has little impact on our economy; the products that have been imported from there can be got from Uganda and Tanzania,” Kanimba said.

Kanimba affirmed that Burundi’s decision is a violation of the EAC treaty on common market protocol among member states.

The EAC Common Market protocol was effected on July 1, 2010 following ratification by all the six partner countries.

Rwanda has been exporting manufactured products, maize, cassava flour, milk, potatoes, unprocessed maize flour and wheat flour to Burundi. In turn, it was mainly importing fruits from Burundi such as mangoes and oranges, dried silver fish and palm oil.

Daniel Fred Kidega, the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) Speaker, said the Communications Trade and Investment Committee shall ascertain facts of Burundi’s decision.

“It is important to add that the region is implementing the customs union and the common market. It would be counterproductive for partner states to deprive citizens of the associated benefits,” Kidega said.

Burundi’s economy

Burundi is one of the poorest, smallest, and most densely populated nations in Africa. Its poor transportation system and its distance from the sea have tended to limit its economic growth.

The economy is almost entirely agricultural, especially subsistence farming. Major crops include corn, sorghum, sweet potatoes, bananas and manioc.

Coffee, the country’s chief export, accounts for 80% of its foreign exchange income. Cotton, tea, sugar, and hides are also exported. Cattle, goats, and sheep are raised.

The country’s industries include food processing, manufacturing of basic consumer goods such as blankets and footwear, assembly of imported components and public works construction. Bigger industries are government-owned.

Burundi relies on international aid for economic development and has incurred a large foreign debt. Nickel, uranium, and other minerals are mined in small quantities; platinum reserves have yet to be exploited.

Burundi’s imports (capital goods, petroleum products, and foodstuffs) considerably exceed the value of its exports.

Germany, Belgium, Kenya, and Tanzania make up its chief trading partners. Most exports are sent by ship to Kigoma in Tanzania and then by rail to Dar-es-Salaam on the Indian Ocean.

South African Airlines (SAA) “tried all the tricks in the book”, but the law has finally prevailed and it “serves them right”, Vernon Bricknell former owner and MD of Nationwide Airlines, told Fin24 on Wednesday.

Although he is disappointed that the South Gauteng High Court did not award the full amount Nationwide requested from SAA, Bricknell is satisfied that the national carrier “got what they rightfully deserved”.

Nationwide claimed R171.5m in damages, plus interest calculated from 2010, but the court has now ordered SAA to pay Nationwide R104.6m plus interest as damages for its uncompetitive practices. Nationwide had to stop operations in April 2008 and is currently in liquidation.

The court agreed with the Competition Tribunal that SAA’s behaviour from 2001 to 2005 was the biggest contributing factor to Nationwide’s loss in passenger volumes. The tribunal found that most of SAA’s abuse was due to certain practices relating to the travel agent sector.

Case had been going since 2001

“At least the case has been finalised now. It has been going since 2001. I was determined that the law should prevail and it has, but not to the extent we had hoped for,” said Bricknell.

“SAA had caused us so much harm and hopefully they will now stop doing what they did to every competitive airline in SA. They certainly won’t be allowed to do this in Europe, where states are not allowed to subsidise airlines.”

He believes it is time for aviation regulations in SA to be revised in this regard too.

“SAA needs a lot more than just a change of board. It must start making a profit instead of just killing their competition,” said Bricknell.

“Hopefully the result of our case and Comair’s upcoming one (will make) SAA start to behave itself. I am thankful they got what they deserved. I wonder if SAA could survive after the outcome of the upcoming Comair case. And we would probably have to wait and see if SAA pays us, I guess.”

He emphasised that it is important for SAA to “stop killing competition”.

“Even after we won our first case against SAA, they blatantly continued with with the same behaviour, but now they got a good smack,” said Bricknell. He added that, although Nationwide was awarded a great deal less in damages than it had asked for, SAA must also pay interest on that amount from 2010 when Nationwide won its case but SAA decided to continue with a dispute on the amount to be paid as damages.

“This matter was heard before the South Gauteng High Court in February 2016. The nature of Nationwide’s claim was the second of its kind to be brought in SA law and the third to be litigated, setting a precedent within SA competition law.”

That is why she regards the case as a landmark decision, setting a precedent for future damages claims in SA competition law. The court in the Comair case against SAA, which is based on the same grounds but involves a much longer period of time, will have reference to the Nationwide decision.

“We are not aware whether or not SAA will appeal as it has 15 days to file a notice of appeal,” said Verster.

SAA spokesperson Tlali Tlali told Fin24 on Wednesday that SAA is still considering the matter, and must attach weight to both its implications and possible legal options if there are grounds to pursue such options.

In dollar terms, South Africa is once again the biggest economy on the African continent, a position it reclaimed from Nigeria.

This was attributed to the appreciation of the rand, South Africa’s currency, and the devaluation of the Nigerian naira following the introduction of a flexible foreign exchange regime.

Using the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at the end of 2015 published by the International Monetary Fund, Bloomberg reported that the size of South Africa’s economy was $301 billion at the rand’s current exchange rate, while Nigeria’s GDP was put at $296 billion.

Bloomberg noted that the rand has gained more than 16 per cent against the US currency since the start of 2016, while in contrast, Nigeria’s naira has lost more than a third of its value.

In afternoon trade wednesday, the rand firmed by more than a per cent against the dollar, to R13.29.

Despite the switch, Nigeria and South Africa both face the risk of recession, having contracted in the first quarter of the year, according to Bloomberg.

Nigeria’s economy shrank by 0.4 per cent, while South Africa’s GDP contracted by 0.2 per cent.

Nigeria has suffered amid low oil prices, while South Africa is sensitive to shifts in the commodity cycle.

“More than the growth outlook, in the short term the ranking of these economies is likely to be determined by exchange rate movements,” an economist at Exotix Partners LLP, Alan Cameron said.

He said although Nigeria was unlikely to be unseated as Africa’s largest economy in the long run, “the momentum that took it there in the first place is now long gone”.

Also, the Head of Research, SCM Capital Limited, Mr. Sewa Wusu, told THISDAY that the challenge of naira devaluation has caused a lot of economic challenges to the country, particularly with respect to the GDP.

“This should give policy makers the drive to rectify the forex challenges. Of course they have done their best by introducing a flexible exchange rate, but the issue is beyond that. The issue currently is about our forex earning potential.

“But I think the government is up to the challenge. I think we need a quick fix on the economy. That would help to support the naira and strengthen the currency,” Wusu added.

But the CEO, Cowry Asset Management Limited, Johnson Chukwu, said the priority of the government should be to restore economic growth, saying that if growth is not restored, the naira would continue to depreciate.

“When the economy begins to grow, the currency would adjust appropriately. So the focus of the government should be on whatever it intends to do to restore growth. We are heading into a recession and we should take steps to avoid depression.

“If growth is restored, eventually the economy would grow. There is no magic we can do for the naira to regain strength unless we restore growth,” Chukwu said in a phone interview with THISDAY.

The South African Reserve Bank forecasts zero growth for 2016, while unemployment still remains above 26 per cent. In July, South Africa stepped past Egypt as the continents’ second largest economy in dollar terms, having dropped behind the North African country earlier in the year.

Meanwhile, the naira dipped to N317 to the dollar on the interbank forex market yesterday, lower than the N312.50 from the previous day. On the parallel market, however, the naira firmed up slightly to N394 to the dollar, higher than the N395 on Tuesday.

The Central Bank of Nigeria intervened in the interbank forex market on Tuesday to help support the naira after it hit an all-time low of N350 to the dollar in thin trading on that day, traders had said.

The naira has been under pressure since the central bank floated the currency in June to allow it trade freely on the interbank market. The currency has been hit by a plunge in oil prices, Nigeria’s economic mainstay, which caused foreign investors to flee bond and equities markets.
The central bank last month told international money transfer operators to pay dollar proceeds from customer transfers into local commercial banks in naira, while selling the dollars themselves to bureau de change (BDC) outlets.

On Tuesday the central bank pegged the dollar transactions which banks can carry out with BDCs at $30,000 per week and set a margin for banks to sell dollar to currency outlets at not more than 1.5 per cent over the rate at which they bought.

The CBN hopes the move will help narrow the gulf between the official and black market rates and boost dollar liquidity, traders said.

The central bank set a margin of two per cent over the rate at which BDCs sourced dollars from banks as resale premium to customers and pegged BDC disbursement at $5,000 per transaction to cover travel allowance, medical bills and school fees.

The naira hit N400 against the dollar on the black market last week, weakened partly by dollar demand from individuals travelling abroad for their summer holidays, Reuters reported.

ANALYSISBy Stephanie Wolters

What is evolving in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is not much different from events in neighbouring Burundi. Both presidents are reluctant to respect their constitutional term mandates. While in Burundi the situation has evolved into a full-on crisis, in the DRC it is just starting to escalate.

This week the Burundian government rejected the deployment of a 228-strong UN police force to the country – a compromise solution that took the UN Security Council many months to forge and that most Burundi-watchers agreed was a mere drop in the bucket compared to what is really needed. But the government was not willing to allow a small number of outsiders access to the country, even though this force could have helped end killings on both sides of the political divide.

The time to deal with Burundi was early 2015 – and many would say even earlier. There are now very few options left to persuade Burundi’s President Pierre Nkurunziza to make concessions and return the country to a path of stability and long-term peace.

The impasse in Burundi is proof that when a head of state wants to cling to power, he can, and there is very little the international community can do about it.

Of course there are sanctions, and some countries have already imposed them on Burundi, but these are slow to have an impact, and depending on their nature, often hurt the poor first.

This is a lesson that is growing more acute by the day for those hoping to prevent neighbouring DRC, where presidential elections have been delayed indefinitely, from descending into large-scale violence.

Time to act is quickly running out. The African Union (AU) appointed facilitator, former Togolese prime minister Edem Kodjo, announced his intention to launch preparatory talks on the National Dialogue in late June, but has had to indefinitely postpone them as the largest opposition grouping – the Rassemblement de l’opposition – led by Etienne Tshisekedi, has refused to attend.

The Rassemblement argues that Kodjo determined the date and format of the meeting unilaterally and so violated an understanding he had forged with the opposition in June. Since the Congolese government first mooted the National Dialogue in 2015, the opposition has rejected it as a process whose sole purpose was to rubberstamp the government’s orchestrated election delays.

Presidential elections were due to be held in November this year and President Joseph Kabila’s second and last presidential mandate expires on 19 December. Kodjo, who was appointed by the AU in January upon the Kabila government’s request, has failed to shake off the impression that he is there to do the government’s bidding.

And while the Rassemblement and other opposition groupings have agreed that some sort of dialogue is necessary, they insist they will not participate in a National Dialogue that has been ‘designed’ by Kabila, and in which he may himself participate.

In response to the opposition’s demands that Kodjo accept independent co-facilitators from the UN and the US, and also to speed up the stalled process, the frustrated international community hammered out a new arrangement, announcing in June the formation of a support committee for Kodjo consisting of the UN, the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, and the European Union (EU). These organisations are joined by the Southern African Development Community and the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), of which DRC is a member.

In July the UN Special Envoy to the Great Lakes, Said Djinnit, and the EU Special Envoy to the Great Lakes, Koen Verwaake, accompanied by AU Peace and Security Council Chairperson Smaïl Chergui, travelled to meet representatives of the Rassemblement in Brussels.

Although the constitution of the support committee was a big step forward, and a clear victory for the opposition, the opposition maintains that Kodjo is biased in favour of Kabila and that it will not engage in a dialogue stage-managed by the Congolese government.

The Congolese government is not helping matters. On the one hand it calls the opposition to negotiations, and on the other it cracks down on freedom of expression, responds violently to protests and continues to harass its political opponents.

Last week a judge in the recent criminal case against Moise Katumbi, the former Katanga governor turned opposition figure, who is now outside the country, revealed that several senior government officials pressured her into finding Katumbi guilty. The indictment means Katumbi would be arrested upon his return to the country, and it also makes him ineligible to stand for the presidency.

But the Rassemblement and other opposition parties that refuse to engage with the dialogue also need a reality check. Less than five months before the end of Kabila’s mandate, some sort of political dialogue to chart the way forward has become inevitable. The government has made minor concessions, notably on the support committee to Kodjo and, although largely a token move, it released some political prisoners last week.

However, compromise from the opposition camp also seems unlikely in the near future. After two years in exile, Tshisekedi returned to Kinshasa to a triumphant welcome last week and then summoned tens of thousands of people to a political meeting on 31 July. Bolstered by this show of force, the Rassemblement’s position is unlikely to budge anytime soon. The opposition’s gamble is that it can scare Kabila out of power by demonstrating that the street is behind it.

Both sides are now locked into their positions. In such a context, it is almost impossible to establish the trust and confidence necessary to foster an open and productive political dialogue.

The creation of the support group for Kodjo also seems to have failed to make significant progress. The ICGLR’s recent decision to send Denis Sassou Nguesso, the President of the Republic of the Congo, to help with the talks is also questionable. Sassou recently stage-managed his own domestic political dialogue in order to push through a new constitution that allowed him to stand for another term. He has also mediated in DRC before – in 2014 in another national dialogue that the opposition boycotted because it was dominated by the Kabila government.

Chergui recently said it is not about the facilitator, but in the end, replacing Kodjo is likely to be the only way to restart the process and have an open political dialogue that charts a credible way forward. That is, provided both sides actually want a peaceful resolution.

Stephanie Wolters, Head, Peace and Security Research Programme, ISS Pretoria

By Timothy Olobulu

Narok — Kenyan betting firm SportPesa have this morning announced an extension of their partnership with English Premier League club Arsenal, a deal that will see the company become the North London club’s official betting partner in Africa.

Previously, in a deal signed in January this year, SportPesa brought Arsenal on board as the official betting partner in Kenya.

The new contract was signed in an elaborate ceremony early Friday morning in a hot air balloon hovering around the Maasai Mara National reserve.

The deal is geared towards nurturing grassroots football and supporting SportPesa’s existing sponsorship of the Kenyan Premier League. This will see local talent get exposure to advanced sporting skills as well as capacity building through interaction with Arsenal and other activities across the continent.

Kenyan football coaches benefited from the first of this partnership late May in a coaching clinic conducted in Nairobi by Arsenal’s community coaches.

The partnership with Arsenal will help the company engage with a huge number of supporters across Africa.

SportPesa will have a presence on a match day at Emirates Stadium, with local football talent that the company is looking to develop offered a number of club related benefits such as official merchandise, tickets to matches and the chance to experience the world class hospitality at Emirates Stadium.

As part of the partnership with Arsenal, additional five-day training camps will be carried out by Arsenal-trained coaching staff.

The training camps have been designed to ensure both footballers and coaches learn to incorporate the key principles of ‘playing the Arsenal way’.

Launching the partnership, SportPesa Chief Executive Officer Ronald Karauri said, “Enhancing and expanding our partnership with Arsenal gives us a wonderful opportunity to connect with more people all over Africa, through both our grassroots coaching and also promotional activities with the club and its players.”

Vinai Venkatesham, Arsenal’s Chief Commercial Officer, said: “We are delighted to announce the expansion of our association with SportPesa across Africa following a successful first year of partnership in Kenya.”

The betting firm has been expanding its wings globally, only two weeks ago having signed a contract with English premier League side Hull City as the club’s official sponsors as well as a partnership with Southampton FC which will see the company become the Saints’ official betting partner in the continent