The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on Wednesday said it planned to rehabilitate, revamp and upgrade all the refineries so that there would be no more product import by 2019.

Dr Bello Rabiu, NNPC Chief Operating Officer, (Upstream), said this during a panel discussion session at the West African International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (WAIPEC) organised by the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN) in Lagos.

NAN reports that the session had the topic: “How Nigerian and West African Market can Better Compete in a Weak and Disruptive Oil Market”.

Rabiu, who was represented by Dr Siky Aliyu, the Managing Director, National Engineering and Technical Company (NETCO), said that the corporation was also supporting the concept of condensate refineries to refine more condensates in the country.

According to him, it is imperative to balance high crude output with high refining capacities to reduce imports costs and charges, export charges and subsidy payments.

“This will effectively position us to get more value from the crude fractions as opposed to a single price value for the crude alone.

“It will also ensure that we are less exposed to market fluctuations and then give us control of products marketing and supply.

“As we reduce reliance on imported refined products, we would be more competitive,” Rabiu said.

The NNPC upstream chief said there was need for new investments in refining capacity to grow and sustain internal consumption and promote external trade amongst West African countries.

He said that there were plans to increase capacities in Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Niger Republic with regards to the Nigerian private-sector led Dangote Refinery.

The refinery, Rabiu said that the refinery was proposed as a 650,000bopd refinery located in Lekki, Lagos.

“In terms of economic and trade cooperation amongst ECOWAS countries, the recently proposed Niger-Kaduna refinery crude export pipeline offers a panacea for landlocked West African countries.

“Therefore, it should be promoted as it acts as an alternative source of crude supply to an existing ready market.

“Similar infrastructure running from Chad to Cameroun’s Atlantic coast is in operation,” he said.

Rabiu said that there was need to diversify the West African economic base to be able to handle shocks caused by oil prices.

The NNPC chief called for harmonisation of tariffs on non-ECOWAS goods to promote better economic cooperation with regards to non-oil exports.

He said that harmonisation would expectedly counter the effects of smuggling across the ECOWAS borders.

According to Rabiu, the tariff harmonisation will spur coastal countries to work towards making their ports preferred import destinations to attract greater trade flows and by extension, fiscal revenues.

“It will promote trade amongst West African countries and by extension ECOWAS can forge partnerships with Europe, Asia, etc. for the export of their agricultural produce.

By Francis Mugerwa

Robinah Nantale sits next to a pit. Holding a hammer in her bare right hand, she breaks down hits rocks of multiple colours.

“These stones have been extracted from a vein that has gold,” Ms Nantale, a 39-year-old mother of five, says.

She is among the estimated 50,000 people from all walks of life that have thronged the remote hilly areas of Kitumbi and Bukuya Sub counties, Mubende District, about 172 kilometres west of Kampala, in search of gold.

When she heard of gold prospects in the area, Ms Nantale, who was a peasant farmer in Dingo village, Mubende, abandoned cultivation in February 2013 and moved about 4 kilometres to engage in gold extraction.

She says her adventure has paid off. “We have bought a tipper truck at Shs 33 million and a 17-acre piece of land in Bugangaizi East (Kakumiro District) where our family intends to set up a dairy farm,” she says.

Each of the thousands of people searching for a fortune in gold has a different story to tell on how the business has impacted them.

Congested settlements built haphazardly characterise Kampala, Mukapya, Mukikade, Mukabada, Ewalukwago, Lubaali and Kamusenene gold mines.

The temporary structures are built with white and blue tarpaulins. A handful of permanent structures have been built in recent months.

The miners have hired contractors who have graded for them roads leading to the gold sites and supply thermal power at Shs 20,000 for each business unit per day.

“Majority of the structures are temporary because we operate under uncertainty,” says Ivan Mr Kawuma Male, the project coordinator Singo Artisanal and Small scale Miners Association (SASMA).

The miners are operating without licenses, permits or agreements from the government which regulates the mining industry.

They live in fear that the government may sooner or later evict them.

“Our biggest problem is (lack of) a license. We can operate smoothly if we are legalized,” Male, a university graduate, says.

If the artisanal miners secure a license, argues Mr Male, who with two other graduates mobilized miners into an association, it can be easy to attract investors who can set up schools, hospitals and other social services in the area.

Access to water, medication, education and other social services is a challenge in the gold-rich area that has fertile soils in the low lands.

The Sub County collects market dues while the district collects hawkers’ license fees from businesses operating in the mines. However, the district and Sub County authorities do not collect any other taxes from the gold trade.

The mines are located about 10 kilometres from Bukuya health centre III, the nearest health facility to them. The nearest school is Nazareth Primary School, which is about four kilometres from the mines.

Environmental challenges

Mining has degraded the environment in the area, the Kitumbi Sub county community Development Officer (CDO), Mr Edward Ssenkusu, observes.

The miners have contaminated water sources with mercury and cyanide, he adds.

Mercury and cyanide, some of the heavy metals that are harmful to humans and animals are used by miners to separate gold from soil and other impurities.

Although Uganda signed the Minamata Convention on Mercury in 2013, which aims to curb use of mercury in mining operations, Uganda has not operationalised its provisions.

The miners dispose domestic and human waste in the open due to lack of adequate waste management facilities.

Kampala mine, for example, has three public toilets but accessing them costs between Shs 300 to 500.

The rocky hills have been excavated by miners who have dug hundreds of underground tunnels in search of gold deposits. They use hoes, axes, hammers while others have bought generator-powered demolition hammers for drilling rocks.

The ores are scooped from underground to the surface where they are dried, cleaned of impurities before they are mixed with water and mercury or cyanide, heavy metals that attract gold particles.

The particles are later heated to solidify into gold that is weighed by digital scales before being purchased by readily available buyers who keep hard cash in sacks. A gram of gold is sold between Shs 100,000 to Shs 125,000.

If they are legalized, Mr Ssenkusu says, they will improve on their working methods because they will know that their business is sustainable.

“Currently, the destruction is because they know that they may be forced to leave anytime,” Mr Ssenkusu, a member of Kitumbi-Kayonza miners Association Ltd, says. The association has been extracting and trading gold in Lubaali mines since 2012.

According to Mr Ssenkusu, the association negotiated and got two location licenses covering 80 acres from Gemstone International Ltd, a Ugandan firm with a gold exploration license covering over 207 square kilometres in the area.

The two-year location license, which the association obtained in 2014, expired last year and has since been renewed for two more years.

He claimed that the Association sells its gold to Bank of Uganda, which he said deducts all the required taxes.

Unregulated gold mining here means activities have been done without or minimal supervision, which has left human rights abuses unattended to, says Ms Winnie Ngabiirwe, the executive director of Global Rights Alert (GRA), an advocacy NGO.

She says child labour and exploitation of miners, who operate without safety gear, has persisted in the gold mining areas because the major drive of investors in the area is profit without any regard to human rights standards.

The gold-rich sub counties of Kitumbi and Bukuya run an annual budget ranging from Shs 30 to 50 million per year, says the Mubende Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Charles Kiberu Nsubuga.

He says the gold industry has attracted a cocktail of businesses which include transportation, bars, general merchandise, hotels, prostitution, among others.

“The government has recognized that even if you teargas those people they cannot leave easily,” says Mr Nsubuga. He says before efforts are underway to legalise them.

Registration has been ongoing to identify who are operating there and organise them into Associations to enable government monitor their activities and collect the required payments, said the Mubende Chief accounting officer.

“The nation is losing revenue because the gold is not declared to Government,” Mr Nsubuga added.

He said the district which operates an annual budget of Shs 34 billion recently got Shs 4m from the national treasury as royalties from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development.

The district has not directly got much revenue from the gold industry, Mr Nsubuga argues, with much of the money going into the pockets of individual miners.

Despite its shortcomings, Mr Nsubuga argues, the industry has a huge potential of escalating Mubende’s social-economic development, if it is regulated.

The district is already grappling with the negative social and environmental effects of the industry. Dead bodies of emigrant miners are often dumped at

Bukuya or Kassanda health centres at night and many unclaimed bodies have been buried at cemeteries, Mr Nsubuga said.

Many attracted to the area

At the mines are immigrants from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi and other parts of the world. Many do not want their identities disclosed.

“I am here struggling to get money but do not disclose my identity because I told my family that I had flown abroad for Kyeyo,” a man told this newspaper.

Ms Rose Namate, 36, who was a housewife, left her family in Luweero district to try her luck in the mines.

“Much as I earn over Shs 2 million per month, mercury affects me. I feel intense pains in my eyes and in legs but I have nothing to do. I have to look for money,” says Ms Namate, a mother of six who has spent three years working in the mines.

She buys basins of rock particles believed to have gold deposits and sieves them before mixing in water and mercury to separate gold from impurities.

She hopes to quit the business and set up a super market in her home area after accumulating capital of Shs 15 million.

Case for unlicensed miners

Mr Richard Kaijuka, the vice chairperson Uganda chamber of mines and petroleum, argues that artisanal miners can operate alongside the licensed companies.

He notes, however, that they need to be well organized and regulated “so that they don’t interfere with the work of licensed companies.” Mr Kaijuka also chairs the Africa gold refinery.

The refinery, worth over $15 million, is located near Entebbe Airport and has capacity to process 200 Kilograms of gold and other precious metals per day.

According to Mr Kaijuka, the refined products will include gold bars with purity of 99.9%, small minted bars and granulates.

He says all the refined gold at the facility will have Uganda’s “certificate of Origin”.

Matters of law

The government passed the Mining Policy in 2001, the Mining Act in 2003 and Mining regulations in 2004.

The December 2015 Auditor general’s report on Regulation, Monitoring and promotion of the Mining sector noted that commercialised building materials and artisanal and small scale mining operations produced over 90% of the national mineral output and about 200,000 Ugandans employed remain informal and unregulated.

Whereas the number of issued mining licencees increased from 157 in 2002 to 818 (192%) in 2015, the inspection and monitoring coverage geared towards enforcing compliance with the prescribed conditions and the regulatory framework remained low at only 4%, according to the Auditor general.

“Most of the country’s mineral endowments remain unexploited and the sector’s contribution to GDP remains low at 0.3%”the report stated.

The report added that the Directorate of Geological Survey and Mines(DGSM) has not been effective in administering the mining industry as issues of ASM, commercialized building materials, environmental, health and safety standards, remain inadequately addressed.

Under Section 98(1) and Section 103 of the Mining Act, royalties shall be paid on all minerals obtained or mined in the course of prospecting, exploration, mining or in the process of improving the grade or quality of mineral ores.

Section 70 of the Mining Regulations, 2004 requires all mineral rights holders, except prospecting licenses, to pay mineral rents upon grant of a license and thereafter on every anniversary.

“It was observed that Non-Tax Revenue (NTR) outstanding as at 30th September 2015 totaled to Shs 4.4 billion and this amount related to the period July 2011 to September 2015″the report stated.

Although the Mining Act 2003 provided for a penalty to be charged on unpaid royalties, and also for the Commissioner to prohibit any mineral right holders with unpaid royalties from disposal of minerals exploited from the sites for which they have a license, there was no evidence to show that penalties had been charged or that the Commissioner had taken necessary steps including follow ups to recover the unpaid NTR.

In response to the report, DGSM officials said the Ministry will establish a desk in Uganda Revenue Authority and use electronic system for quick reconciliation of mineral revenue. Previously, the Ministry has been using Manual based system.

In the meantime, Energy Minister Irene Muloni says the proposed mining policy, which is before cabinet provides for regulation of artisanal and small scale miners.

“This will prevent losses which government has been incurring from unregulated mining. The policy will also address conflicts in the mining sector, competing land uses and environmental concerns,” Muloni said.

The same policy should also ensure that Ms Namate and other artisanal miners are protected from mercury and other dangers as they go for gold.

This article was done with facilitation from the African Centre for Media Excellence (ACME).

By Mark Keith Muhumuza

Entebbe — President Museveni has ordered the removal of royalties on gold in order to limit the amount of gold that is smuggled through Uganda unprocessed. He also said he wanted the tax lifted to encourage gold miners to take their gold the newly African Gold Refinery located in Entebbe. He said the tax was encouraging the smuggling of gold out of the country.

“Therefore I am going to remove that royalty. The people of Mubende should bring our gold to the refinery. You were scared of the tax but now we have removed it. The royalty for those in transit has also been removed. There will be no excuse for anybody not to bring their gold to the refinery,” President Museveni said at the launch of the African Gold Refinery on Monday in Entebbe.

President Museveni said that after several demands from industry players who want to see most gold refined and gold bars exported. Uganda at the end of the last financial year exported gold worth Shs700bn, the highest figure in over decade mostly because of the value addition made to the gold. It is now Uganda’s second largest export after coffee.

However, the auditor general queried why the government did not collect royalties worth Shs42bn from the gold that was exported out of the country. Any gold in transit is required to pay royalty fees of about 5 percent of the value. Also, the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) is required to collect royalties from all gold mined in Uganda. That money is distributed to the local governments where the gold is mined.

President Museveni said that artisanal miners, like those in Mubende do not file any returns and would rather sell the gold on the black market than pay the royalty.

Mr. Alain Goetz, a Belgian national and CEO of the African Gold Refinery said the move would allow the firm to invest more in Uganda and reduce the smuggling that affects their business.

“Those who smuggle jobs do not create jobs or even invest directly in this country like we have. Any incentive is an encouragement for them to move from the black market to the formal market,” he said on the sidelines of the launch.

The plant has the capacity to refine up to 300kgs of Gold per week and one tone in a month. The $15m facility employs about 75 people and produces gold bars. Alain also requested the government for an income tax incentive. The refinery already benefits from other incentives.

“Because of the importance we are attaching to this facility, the government has provided for manufacturing under the bond facility, which will help the licensed traders and importers to supply gold to the refinery for refining and export free of taxes. This will facilitate the competitiveness of the refinery,” he said.

Uganda is currently reviewing the mining policy and law to attract private investment and value addition. There are concerns around the refinery though especially the source of the gold. Of all gold refined in the last one year of operation, 90 per cent of it was not from Uganda yet import statistics don’t show any gold entries.

“Uganda’s gold sector is shrouded in mystery – you have to ask who is really benefitting. The gold trade was worth 200 million dollars to the Ugandan economy last year but there are no official figures on where the gold came from or where it is going,” said George Boden, Campaign Leader at Global Witness.

“This raises serious questions about whether gold that may have funded conflict and human rights abuses in Eastern DRC and South Sudan could be entering the international supply chain and whether the right taxes are being paid.”

INTERVIEWBy Mark Keith Muhumuza

In January this year, Hima Cement started construction of a $40m (Shs145 billion) grinding plant in Tororo District that will increase their cement production from 0.9 metrictonnes a year to 1.9 million metric tonnes by June 2018. There are also new players in the market such as Simba Cement and Kampala Cement. Daily Monitor’sMark Keith Muhumuza talked to Mr Daniel Petterson, the country chief executive officer, Hima Cement Uganda, on what this increased production means to the economy. Below are the excerpts:

You are making an entry into Tororo District where there has been one major producer, Tororo Cement. What does your entry signal to the competition?

I believe that we work in a robust way. We develop our people and run a company with Ugandans. We believe in working with Ugandans to increase our production.

We know the trade as a leader of cement production and concrete in the world. So I think we are strong. For me, I know what we need to do here.

The competition must talk for themselves but we do believe that they are strong.

Why would you increase the production capacity considering the slowdown in economic activity that has affected the construction sector?

This new grinding facility will bring on board about 1 million tonnes, which is doubling our capacity. The construction sector in Uganda is rebounding as shown by the sustained increase in demand for cement; currently at 10 per cent per year.

Our capacity expansion drive aims at meeting this demand not only within Uganda but the regional market as well.

The construction sector is expanding and we are also ready to supply cement to the Standard Gauge Railway. All these needed increased capacity.

But why the choice of setting up in Tororo?

We have a strong position in the west so now we are taking a strong position in eastern Uganda. This would give us a good footprint in this country.

The second most important factor is that there are raw materials here such as the pozzolana, which we also have in the western part of Uganda.

This is also a strong base for us to export to South Sudan. It is close to where we have our limestone exploration licences in Karamoja.

How much limestone have you so far discovered and when will the mining process begin?

This is a grinding station. So it is the end face of the industrial process. The clinker is where you take the limestone and burn it.

For that, you have to invest about $150m (Shs536 billion). So you need to make sure that the limestone you need is available.

That is why you have to do heavy exploration before you can set up a clinker line and then you realise that there is not enough limestone. The process of limestone exploration has been ongoing for over a year.

We are now in the final stages of our exploration process. I am optimistic when it is done we will take a final decision and move forward.

Importing clinker is still ongoing by several companies in the market. Also, you have been on the record saying that the clinker imports are making locally produced clinker not competitive. What is your proposal to the government?

For us, this is our business model. If you go to Hima plant, we do not import clinker. That is not how we operate. We believe in value addition of limestone.

We take limestone and then we add value to it and get clinker. Unfortunately, there is no limestone in Tororo.

The limestone is in the northeast, which is why we are exploring for the limestone in that area. Our view as LafargeHolcm is to add value to all raw materials.

We are having discussions with the government on the issue of clinker imports.

What is important is that if the government has a policy of value addition, it is important that the policies are supporting that ambition so that you are not supporting imports while you are placing royalties on the limestone and kaolin that is mined. You have to look at that very carefully, otherwise you will discourage the heavy investments that support value addition.

How will this new investment impact the final price of cement?

We will almost have double the capacity of what the demand is in the market.

We are now about four players in the market, Kampala Cement came in last year and Simba Cement.

We also have imports coming into the country. That means there is more competition and more capacity than the demand.

I can only say that prices will definitely go down.

Cement prices in Uganda still remain relatively high compared to Kenya and Tanzania. Why is that so?

It is a cost factor because this is an inland market. Whatever you are bringing in like some of the competition bringing in clinker they have to transport that from Mombasa all the way to Uganda.

At the Hima plant where we use 40 per cent petroleum products, we have to transport it all the way from Mombasa to Kasese. That is about 1,500 kilometres.

The costs of production are high in Uganda and that for sure is a key factor in the final price. I was very encouraged to hear from the government for the policy of lowering tariffs on electricity for the heavy industry. This is brilliant.

At the end of the day, the competitive advantage that Uganda has is water. There is a lot of water and rightly dams being built but the costs of power is still high.

A lower tariff will encourage investments that will need the power.

So that is a great policy. On average this grinding facility alone will need 10MW.

Daniel Petterson

Mr Daniel Petterson joined the LafargeHolcim in 2006 and has worked for the group in France, DRC and South Africa. He became CEO of the Uganda Unit in 2013. Hima Cement is part of the LafargeHolcim, one of the world’s largest cement producers with a presence in about 60 countries. Hima Cement is the second largest cement producer in Uganda after Tororo Cement.

Dar es Salaam — The value of exports of manufactured goods dropped by $272.4 million (Sh607.5 billion) last year amid a credit crunch, new data shows.

If the trend continues it is likely to hit the endeavour to turn Tanzania into an industrialised middle-income economy as envisioned in the second Five-Year Development Plan whose implementation runs from 2016/17 to 2020/21.

A total of Sh107 trillion – to be sourced from both the public and private sectors – is required to finance the plan.

However, the government believes that what happened last year was nothing unusual.

“Data on exports is always changing according to prevailing circumstances. Sometimes exports increase, sometimes they fall…nothing unusual in this,” Industry, Trade and Investment minister Charles Mwijage told The Citizen yesterday, adding that the government’s industrialisation agenda was still on track.

The value of exports of manufactured goods crossed the $1 billion mark in 2012 to hit $1.037 billion, up from $861 million in 2011.

It further climbed to $1.23 billion and $1.36 billion in 2014 and 2015, respectively, before dropping to $1.09 billion in 2016, according to the Bank of Tanzania (BoT).

BoT says in its January 2017 Monthly Economic Review that there was a marked fall in exports of commodities such as edible oil, plastic goods and ceramic and glassware.

Manufacturers have been taken by surprise and have asked to be given enough time to analyse the trend.

“What we have is a generalised figure. We need to conduct an analysis from the sector’s perspective,” the First Vice Chairman of the Confederation of Tanzania Industries, Mr Jayesh Shah, told The Citizen.

Going by the BoT figures, however, it is clear that the manufacturing sector, like other key areas, has suffered due to a sharp drop in credit as banks adopted a more cautious approach to lending in response to tight liquidity.

The illiquidity was partly attributed to the government’s decision to transfer public institutions’ deposits from commercial banks to BoT and non-performing loans (NPLs).

Total credit to the private sector declined by 7.2 per cent in the year ending December 2016.

NPLs accounted for an average of 9.5 per cent of all loans issued against a target of below five per cent.

The manufacturing sector last year registered a -4 per cent (minus four per cent) growth rate in credit as the entire private sector registered a drop in credit throughout the year.

Interestingly, BoT data, however, shows that there was an 18.5 per cent increase in imports of industrial raw materials in 2016.

The number of new projects may have declined last year as evidenced by a 52 per cent ($618.3 million) drop in the value of capital machinery imports, associated largely with the completion of some major projects, including construction of a cement factory in Mtwara, gas power plants, and exploration activities.

Mr Mwijage told The Citizen yesterday that he was ready visit all major factories in the country and get a first-hand account of challenges faced by manufacturers as part of efforts to boost exports of manufactured goods.

By Haftu Gebrezgabiher

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that the Ethiopian Diaspora Community in different parts of the world raised 2,101,000 USD to back the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

In a press briefing Friday, Ministry Spokesperson Tewolde Mulgeta said the contribution was made during the last six months in the form of bond purchases, donation and other funding mechanisms.

Tewolde added that the ministry met 199 times over the last six months with the diaspora community through various forums. Following this, the Diaspora made active participation in the fund raising and other programs including ICT, health and educational support, according to the Spokesperson.

For its part, the ministry has made supports to 8,400 people in providing legal protection, investment tips as well as settling salary cases, Tewolde noted.

Reports indicate that Ethiopia has over three million diaspora in different parts of the globe, it was learnt.

Palo Alto, California —

• Five DEMO Africa winners join global startups for Startup Grind Conference and the Lions@frica Innovation Tour

African innovation meets Silicon Valley   this week as part of the 2017 edition of the Lions@frica Innovation Tour in California. The five winning startups from DEMO Africa 2016; Sortd,  Solstice ,  MediaBox, Strauss Energy and ConnectMed, will compete alongside Silicon Valley technology startups, and engage the venture ecosystem in Northern California through a series of curated events and activities. Organized by the Silicon Valley based African Technology Foundation, the fifth edition of Lions@frica Innovation Tour is focused on knowledge sharing with leading Silicon Valley stakeholders, and networking opportunities that will yield deeper engagements between the African startups and their target partners in Silicon Valley. Since the inaugural edition in 2013, twenty-five (25) African startups have benefited from this transcontinental program that seeks to bridge knowledge gaps, and enable African technology startups to showcase their innovation on a global scale.

“These five startups have been prepared for the tour through a series of learning activities over a two month long virtual bootcamp”, commented Aliesha Balde, Communications Manager for the Lions@frica program. “We want them to engage the Silicon Valley ecosystem on their own terms, but armed with the right tools and equipped with the necessary resources”.

Over the last five years, DEMO Africa alumni have raised around $16 million in funding and continue to advance the cause for African led innovation on a global scale. Alumni of the tour include Soko, Flowgear, Spacepointe, Zuvaa and Chura.

“After emerging as winners from an application pool of over six hundred startups on the continent, we are eager to ensure that these five companies successfully assume an ambassadorial role for African innovation”, said Stephen Ozoigbo, Managing Partner of the Lions@frica Program. “They are re-inventing Africa’s future, and we are supporting their strategic actions to increase their likelihood of success”.

About the companies

ConnectMed

ConnectMed  is an online medical practice that allows patients to seek treatment from General Practitioners over video for common ailments directly through a web & mobile application.

Country of Origin  — Kenya

Key Executive

Melissa McCoy

MediaBox

MediaBox  is a video-on-demand content aggregation platform that gives viewers the easiest way to watch international and local content, both on demand and live over the internet.

Country of Origin  — South Africa

Key Executives

James Muir

Roeland Van Nieuwkerk

Solstice

Solstice Home Energy Solutions offers a simple multi-energy source management and energy control system for homes and buildings. Solstice uses data from their integrated hardware/software system to provide clean, reliable and affordable energy solutions.

Country of Origin  — Nigeria

Key Executives

Ugwem Eneyo

Cole Stites-Clayton

Strauss Energy

Strauss Energy is a solar energy and manufacturing company that produces innovative BIPV Stima solar roofing tiles. Strauss energy offers a cost-efficient alternative to modern solar roof panels and distributes and sells energy at a significantly reduced price.

Country of Origin  — Kenya

Key Executives

Tony Nyagah

Charity Wanjiku

Sortd

Sortd is a Gmail smartskin that expands the functionality of an email inbox by providing users with the option of organizing emails as a flexible set of lists or tasks.

Country of Origin  — South Africa

Key Executives

Rodney Kuhn

For more information on the Lions@frica Innovation Tour, please visit www.africa.co. You can also follow LIONS@FRICA on Twitter @lionsafrica. For media requests and interviews, contact: aliesha@thea25n.com or call 1 (818)-660–5676.

About LIONS@FRICA

A public-private partnership launched by the U.S. Department of State aimed to enhance and deepen the startup and innovation ecosystems of targeted fast growing African economies through investment in Capacity-building, access to Capital, enhanced Connectivity to global markets, and Credibility, by raising awareness of Africa’s innovation potential.

About African Technology Foundation (ATF)

The African Technology Foundation (ATF) exists to globalize African technologies and introduce global technologies to the African ecosystem. To achieve this, we support a broad range of initiatives around key economic sectors, and we are committed to providing African technology startups and enterprises with the necessary knowledge and resources that empower them to raise the economic profiles of their communities, municipalities and countries.

By Louise Osborne

Renewable energy is becoming increasingly viable worldwide. But how can governments spread the message to the public? In Morocco, the authorities have been looking to religion for the answer.

Revving engines and hooting horns – sounds from Marrakesh’s busy street filter up to the rooftop of one of the Moroccan city’s biggest mosques.

The mosaic-decorated, stone minaret of the Koutoubia Mosque, towers above the flat roof, providing little shelter from the strong sun that beats down onto a row of giant solar panels. That is precisely what Jan-Christoph Kuntze is counting on.

A project manager for GIZ, the German society for international cooperation in Morocco, Kuntze tells DW the panels were only recently installed but are already proving a success.

“It’s basically for covering lighting needs and a couple of other energy needs in the mosque,” he says.

Although the roof panels are not visible from the street, a panel standing in front of the mosque informs passers-by how much electricity is being produced by the solar panels at any given time, and how many carbon emissions have been avoided.

Something old, something new

It’s all part of a scheme being pioneered by Morocco’s Ministry of Islamic Affairs. Of around 50,000 mosques dotted across the country, the ministry is responsible for energy and water in approximately 15,000. The government plans to install electricity producing PV, or photovoltaic panels, LED lighting and solar thermal water heaters at around 600 mosques by 2019 and more after that.

Koutoubia is one of the country’s first mosques to have solar panels installed and one of the most-high profile, says Kuntze.

“This is a very old mosque, one of the oldest in Morocco. There’s a lot of awareness-raising potential via this mosqu,e because it’s so important for Moroccans.”

The changes taking place at mosques are just some of the measures Morocco is taking in developing its renewable energy sector. A frontrunner in the region, the country has already rolled out large wind farm and solar energy projects. In 2015, the King of Morocco announced the country would aim to get more than half its electricity from renewables by 2030.

Getting used to green

The project was showcased at the UN climate conference in Marrakesh in 2016. Said Mouline, general director of AMEE, the National Agency for Energy Efficiency Morocco, told the international community how the mosques can help achieve energy targets and raise public awareness.

“We want to show that even in mosques we can have efficient lamps, we can have solar water heaters, we can have even solar PV,” he told DW. “The big deal is to have people sensitized about energy efficiency – seeing technology in the mosque, and then hoping they will install that technology in their houses.”

Currently, Morocco is heavily dependent on energy imports. AMEE estimates that more than 95 percent of its energy comes from outside the country, which makes it vulnerable to energy price fluctuations.

The government believes that energy efficiency and renewable energy are the key to reducing the country’s dependency and providing people with an affordable source of power, at least in the long run. But the initial costs for installing solar panels or measures to make their energy more efficient are beyond what many Moroccans can afford.

“We are looking for financing for citizens, for implementing energy efficiency. We have to convince them that it’s better… ,” added Mouline.

Calling all Moroccans

The call to prayer echoes across the square outside the Koutoubia mosque. People make their way quickly towards the building to take part in Friday prayers, one of the most important days of the week for Muslims.

Few mosque-goers here seem to be aware of the mosque’s solar panels – not visible from street level. Still, people seem to be optimistic about the future of renewables.

“The good thing about solar energy is that unlike electricity, it is always available. It’s from God,” says one man.

A young girl outside the mosque says that she could imagine using renewable technologies in her own home. “This could be the future for Marrakesh to depend only on solar energy,” she says.

There is still a long way to go before Morocco meets its renewables targets. But the future for Morocco’s mosques at least, is looking decidedly greener.

By Hamisu Muhammad and Francis Arinze Iloani

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has again changed its rules on foreign exchange allocations for manufacturers and travellers in a bid to ease scarcity and ensure enough liquidity.

In the new rules released yesterday, the bank is providing, with immediate effect, direct additional funding to banks to meet the needs of Nigerians for Personal and Business Travel, Medical needs, and school fees.

The CBN expects such retail transactions to be settled at a rate not exceeding 20 percent above the interbank market rate (nearly 366/$1).

The new policy also stopped prioritising manufacturing above other sectors in the allocation or utilisation of the forex.

It added that even though the manufacturing sector would remain the CBN’s strong priority, it will no longer impose allocation/utilisation rules on commercial banks.

Previously, the CBN had directed banks to be allocating 60 percent of the forex to the manufacturing sector, the process that starves other sectors of the needed forex. Nigerian economy has been hit by the scarcity of forex due to the fall in price of crude oil in the international market, leaving virtually all the sectors of the economy contracted in the last two quarters of 2016.

Industries like electricity, pharmaceutical, property, automobile, printing and services that mostly rely on the imported raw materials have suffered heavy consequences, as their operation cost overshot by about 200 percent in some instances.

At the parallel market yesterday the naira fell to 515/$1 even as traders are uncertain about the effectiveness of the new policy.

Shehu Aliyu, a trader in Abuja, said the new rule if implemented would slow down the rate of naira depreciation.

He, however, expressed doubt about its implementation saying that they had witnessed many of such policies in the past by the apex bank, which had been frustrated by the same people in the banking sector.

The Executive Secretary of the National Association of Small and Medium Entrepreneurs (NASMEs), Eke Ubiji, told the Daily Trust that the new policy in the eyes of manufacturers is like “moving from frying pan to fire.”

Ubiji said the policy will “kill” the manufacturing sector and reverse gains achieved since the 60 per cent forex allocation to manufacturers was introduced.

He said those criticising the proportion of forex allocated to manufacturers should consider what necessitated the policy in the first place, which was the importation of machinery for manufacturing purposes.

“Most manufacturers import their machineries from abroad,” Ubuji said. “They need foreign exchange to import. That was why the policy was put in place,” he said.

He said the reversal of the policy will not only hurt manufacturers but would also have adverse effect on the economy and Nigerians in general.

At the 14th Daily Trust Dialogue held recently in Abuja, the Chairman of Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, Mr. Atedo Peterside, tackled the CBN for its “failed” policies on foreign exchange.

Peterside said the disparity in the proportions of forex access allowed by the apex bank for manufacturers and other operators in other sectors of the economy was partly responsibility for forex crisis in the economy.

“The directive to banks to allocate 60 per cent of forex to manufacturers that account for only 10 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product has exacerbated an already bad supply situation. 40 per cent is too small to accommodate the rest of the economy and so all other sectors have been crippled, including the service sector, which accounts for over 50 per cent of the GDP,” the bank executive had said.

“In order to further increase the availability of foreign exchange to all end-users, the CBN has decided to significantly reduce the tenor of its forward sales from the current maximum cycle of 180 days, to no more than 60 days from the date of transaction,” the CBN said.

“In order to further ease the burden of travelers and ensure that transactions are settled at much more competitive exchange rates, the CBN hereby directs all banks to open FX retail outlets at major airports as soon as logistics permit,” it added.

Dar es Salaam-based business magnet Yusuf Manji appeared before the Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court in the city yesterday, accused of abusing drugs.

Before Principal Resident Magistrate Cyprian Mkeha, the accused denied the charge and was released on bail after the prosecution bench, led by Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Oswald Tibabyekomya raised no objection to bail. Senior State Attorney Shadrack Kimaro is assisting in the prosecution.

A Court Clerk, Ms Sara Mulokozi, alleged that Manji committed the offence between February 6 and 9, this year, at Upanga Sea View area in Ilala District.

The accused was charged with consuming Heroine, diacetyl-morphine. He was charged under section 17 (1) (a) of the Drugs Control and Enforcement Act No. 5 of 2005, which upon conviction, provides for a fine of not less than one million shillings, a fiveyear jail term or both sentences. Granting the bail, the magistrate sat two conditions requiring the accused to sign a 10m/- bond and secure one reliable surety who also signed the bond of similar amount.

Young African Sports Club (Yanga) Secretary General Charles Mkwasa was at the court to bail out Manji. With Mkwasa, were hundreds of the club fans who thronged the court premises as early as in the morning to witness the arraignment of the club chairman. Magistrate Mkeha adjourned the case to March 16, when it comes for mention.

Investigations into the matter, according to prosecution, have not been completed. The visibly frail Manji arrived at the court premises at around 2.00pm and was locked up for almost an hour before the arraignment.

Immediately after completing the bail approval procedures, Manji’s leading counsel, Mr Alex Mgongolwa said their client will be immediately taken to hospital, noting that his health condition is unstable. In the trial, Mr Mgongolwa is assisted by advocates Hudson Ndusyepo and Jeremiah Mtobesya to defend the accused.

Manji, among other persons, was implicated in the crime since last week after the Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner, Paul Makonda, named him in the list of suspected drug abusers and dealers.

He was later directed to report to Central Police station for interrogations, the order he complied with. Reports had it that during the interrogations, Manji fell sick and had to be rushed to Muhimbili National Hospital where he was admitted until yesterday when he was arraigned.

Meanwhile, JIMMY LWANGILI reports that video vixen Agnes Waya, Masogange, and 16 other suspects of drug abuse were yesterday taken to the Government Chief Chemist for testing, with the police promising to release the result today. Dar es Salaam Special Zone Police Commander Simon Sir-ro told reporters in the city that Masogange and 349 other suspects were arrested during the ongoing crackdown against drugs.

“After investigations, the suspects may be released, put under police supervision or arraigned,” said Commissioner of Police, adding that nine police officers who had been suspended, pending investigations on their involvement with drugs were yesterday handed over to the Drugs Control and Enforcement Authority (DCEA) for further investigation.

Commissioner Sirro further said the police have arrested a 23-year old Omary Bakari, a former student at the University of Dar es Salaam Computing Centre, over the publication of false statement on social media.

The suspect was arrested on Wednesday night at Mbezi after he published false claims on facebook that Dar es Salaam RC Makonda had mentioned names of prominent figures dealing in narcotic drugs.

“In interrogation, the suspect admitted to have committed the crime and he will be taken to court,” said Sirro, hinting that in the crackdown on drugs from February 1 through 15, the law enforcers arrested 349 suspects, seized 612 pellets of Heroin, 816 bundles and 89 rolls of marijuana and 19 bundles of khat.