By Florence Mugarula

Dodoma — The ongoing Parliamentary sessions are set to be extended till next Wednesday to give Members of Parliament more time to work on three bills as requested by President John Magufuli.

Parliament Speaker Mr Job Ndugai informed MPs yesterday after question-time that the president had officially written to Parliament asking MPs to debate and endorse three bills under a Certificate of Urgency – prompting the House to ex tend its sessions to July 5, this year.

The bills in question include the Written Laws (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act, 2017; the Natural Wealth and Contracts (Review and Renegotiation of Unconscionable terms) Act, 2017; and the Natural Wealth and Resources (Permanent Sovereignty) Act 2017.

According to Mr Ndugai, the Parliamentary Steering Committee met on Wednesday and discussed President Magufuli’s letter, complete with the reasons behind tabling the laws on a Certificate of Urgency Terms and consented.

Mr Ndugai said he had already directed the Parliamentary Constitutional and Legal Affairs Commit tee to immediately start working on one of the bills immediately; the two committees would also start working on the other bills from yesterday, hopefully bringing them safely to harbour this Sunday – and invited other MPs to join these committees to come, listen, learn and gain knowledge from their deliberations.

“The committee will start working on the bills from today till Sunday … debating and (hopefully) endorse the bills between Monday and Wednesday,” the Speaker explained.

However, the proposal to extend parliamentary sessions was challenged by Kibamba MP (Chadema), Mr John Mnyika, who said it was difficult for the MPs to discuss and endorse three bills within such a short time, alleging that the current discussion on bad mining contracts were also a result of endorsing bills under ‘certificates of urgency.’

“In 1997, this House endorsed mining laws on a Certificate of Urgency which have brought us several challenges … including the ongoing mineral concentrates saga. “In 2005, this House also endorsed three bills on Certificate of Urgency … the bills dealt with natural gas and revenues. As a people’s representative, I request that this proposal be debated in this House,” he said.

However, the Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (Policy, Parliamentary Affairs, Labour, Employment, Youth and the Disabled), Ms Jenista Mhagama, countered Mr Mnyika’s statement, arguing that the government had followed all the procedures before bringing the bill to Parliament.

By Elias Mambo and Obey Manayiti

Even though President Robert Mugabe accuses the Chinese of looting US$15 billion in diamond proceeds, we can exclusively reveal that his wife received US$7 million from one of the Chinese mining companies to finance the construction of the Grace Mugabe Junior School.

Anjin Investments, a joint venture between China’s Anhui Foreign Economic Construction (Group) Co Ltd (Afec), and Matt Bronze Enterprises — a front for the Defence ministry and the Zimbabwe Defence Forces through Glass Finish Investments (Pvt) Ltd — built the US$7 million state-of-the-art school, the Zimbabwe Independent has established.

Investigations revealed that Afec’s subsidiary company, Sogecoa Zimbabwe Limited, was used to fund the construction of the school under a US$7 million grant.

According to the loan agreement, the funding was requested in 2008 and the construction commenced on November 4 2011 and was completed in February 2013.

This news article is part of an ongoing ground-breaking investigation into the Marange alluvial diamonds discovery and subsequent plunder at various stages by state and non-state actors. The special series is supported by the Investigative Journalism Fund.

The school in Mazowe is built on a 7 720-square metre plot and features 27 classrooms, a library, an art room, music room, computer room and auxiliary equipment rooms.

The institution has four classes with 24 pupils each from Grade 1 to 7 and caters for orphans drawn from Grace Mugabe Children’s Home.

Anjin used its subsidiary, Sogecoa, to engage in activities outside mining. The company concentrated on investing the mining proceeds in the construction of hotels and shopping malls.

“Money was transferred from Anjin to Sogecoa to be invested in other business ventures other than mining,” the source said.

“Sogecoa facilitated the construction of Peacock Mutare Hotel, Peacock Harare and Long Chen (Plaza) shopping mall.”

Anjin is a joint venture between Afec, a large construction company which sources say is connected to the military-industrial complex in China, and Matt Bronze Enterprises, which was formed by the Defence ministry and the Zimbabwe Defence Forces through Glass Finish Investments (Pvt) Ltd.

The agreement to form a joint venture was signed by Brigadier-General Charles Tarumbwa for Matt Bronze (Pvt) Ltd and Peng Zheng on behalf of Anhui.

Fresh investigations by this paper revealed that government through the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) held 50% shareholding with Afec owning the other 50%.

“The 50% share which government held was composed of the military which had a 30% stake, police (10%), while ZMDC had 10%,” a source said.

As reported by this paper, the military is the biggest local beneficiary of Anjin’s diamond mining revenues. Bank statements seen by this paper show that Anjin and Jinan, both Chinese companies, deposited millions of dollars into the subsidiary company’s account before the money was used and electronically transferred to banks outside Zimbabwe.

The school, built in a record 11 months, opened its doors at the beginning of the year with 97 children and 11 teachers, marking the Grace Mugabe Foundation’s second project in Mazowe after the orphanage which now houses over 50 children.

At the official handover ceremony in January 2013, Mugabe said: “This intervention by the Grace Mugabe Foundation is a welcome complement to government’s plans to build more schools, or at least make those already in existence more accessible.

“As head of state and government, I am naturally pleased that the work which is taking place here places Zimbabwe firmly on the path to addressing some of the challenges given to United Nations member states through the Millennium Development Goals.”

He also commended the Chinese people for the hard work and speed with which they undertook the task, saying Zimbabweans should draw lessons from the Chinese by doing their business timeously and meticulously.

KNAUF Gypsum, which is one of the leading firms in the world in gypsum making, is planning to invest more than 15 million US dollars in Tanzania in the next few years.

Speaking in Dar es Salaam this week, the firm’s Managing Director for East Africa, Zachopoulos Georgios, said that so far they have invested close to 10 million US dollars into their operations and expect to reach 15m US dollars in the next few years.

KNAUF Gypsum started its operation in Tanzania nearly three years ago employing directly more than 150 in which 99 per cent are locals. “KNAUF is operating in more than 200 countries around the world but Tanzania is the first in Sub- Saharan Africa.

We picked Tanzania because of its strategic position in the Great Lakes Region where it has the potential to be door into African hinterland,” he said. He said Tanzania was also an attractive investment destination due to peace and tranquillity and its rapid growing population which will expand the consumer base.

“The country is peaceful and has a huge number of people which is projected to grow even more in the next few years. KNAUF is here to stay for a long time and we expect to be one of the country’s strategic investor very soon,” he said.

According to him most of the raw material is acquired locally and that they mine their own gypsum stone in the South of Tanzania. He said their gypsum products are according to their customer’s taste but said initially, for the East African region, they have earmarked gypsum boards of 9 and 12 mm regular board and 12.5mm for moister resistance and fire resistance system to match the requirements.

According to the MD, they have technology which can replace wood usage in gypsum installation with metal section (metal profile) and the same is produced in Tanzania with the state of art modern facility at Mkuranga of sizes 50mm, 64mm, 75mm and 100mm to construct dry wall to match the customer requirement, furring channel, main channel, GI angle and other accessories for ceiling work.

Other products they are planning for the region are gypsum powder for joint filling and skimming with new improvement Geo Plaster to reach even the low cost housing with an affordable pricing to the user, gypsum Screws with high strength of various sizes 25, 35, 45 and 55mm length and gypsum tape for board to board joint reinforcement.

He said they are also keen in giving back to the community and one of the ways they have done this is though training local construction technicians so they are able to produce the right standards of work required.

“All of them get non accredited certificates that are recognized in most of the countries within construction sector, to ensure competitive advantages for the trainees when they opt overseas employment. The MD urged the government to continue improving the business environment to all investors.

“We are not asking for favours but just a conducive environment which we can operate,” he said, adding that currently they export eight per cent and planning to grow between 20 to 30 per cent in the next few years KNAUF is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of modern insulation materials, dry lining systems, plasters and accessories, thermal insulation composite systems, paints, floor screed, floor systems, and construction equipment and tools.

KNAUF Tanzania is owned by KNAUF Group, a German multinational, familyowned company known for drywall gypsum boards. It operates 150 production facilities and sales organisations in over 60 countries, 26,000 employees worldwide, and sales of 6.27 billion Euro (in 2013)

By Nyemudzai Kakore

Over 90 percent of the country’s close to 100 000km of road network are in bad state with an estimated $5,5 billion required for maintenance and rehabilitation, a Road Conditions and Inventory Report has revealed.

The report noted the existence of 310 000 features on 97 000km of road network, which include road signs, bridges and street lights.

Addressing delegates after receiving the report yesterday, Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Dr Joram Gumbo said road authorities had an obligation to protect the initial investment in the country’s road network.

“It is important to note that a credible database has a direct bearing on the future success of Government in terms of planned necessary interventions. I need not to overemphasise that success or failure in road infrastructure is measured by the impact it has on the economy and upon the lives of the ordinary people,” he said.

“It is my hope that the database will provide an appropriate opportunity for road authorities and Zimbabwe National Roads Authority to interact on the basis of equality, partnership and common good to develop new strategies to steer the institutions in the cause of infrastructural development in line with Zim-Asset Infrastructure Cluster.”

The survey was done by the Zimbabwe Local Government Association (ZILGA) and ZINARA.

It cost an estimated $1,7 million.

The report indicates that the District Development Fund has 25 034km and the Department of Roads 18 431km.

Rural District Councils have 40 205 km, Urban Council 11 333 km while 3 046km was not owner classified.

The report also indicated that 29 100km of the road network is in very poor condition, 37 967 in fair condition, 16 557 km was good condition and 7 913km in very good condition while 6 510km of roads were not computed because of lack of information.

ANALYSIS

On a day when South Africa’s biggest gold mine, Anglo Gold Ashanti, announced that it was considering retrenching some 8,500 workers, miners from North West province marched on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) to demand an end to retrenchments and a fairer share of the economic wealth being extracted by the mining companies operating in the area. By IHSAAN HAFFEJEE.

Sello Seemela estimates that the last time he held formal employment was over 10 year ago. The 40-year-old father of three resides in the town of Bapong in North West. On Wednesday he joined hundreds of fellow miners from mining communities situated along the province’s platinum belt as they embarked on a protest march to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) where they demanded an end to retrenchments.

“These mining companies make promises saying they will employ locals to work in the mines but what we find is that they are bringing in people from far away and the locals are suffering,” said Seemela. “The mining companies are getting rich off the land on which we live but we have nothing. Not even jobs. There is so much unemployment. That is why people could come to this march today – because…

By Lovemore Meya

Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) paid Powertel close to $10 million as commission for selling prepaid electricity to wholesalers, something it could have done itself, Auditor-General Mrs Mildred Chiri has revealed.

The electricity supplier also suffered a financial loss through under billing with some meter readings last conducted in 1984.

In her report on State Enterprises and Parastatals for the financial year ending December 31, 2016, Mrs Chiri notes that ZETDC is a subsidiary of ZESA Holdings and its business is the distribution and retail of electricity to the final user.

She recommends that the company sells electricity directly to wholesalers and that meter readings should be done within a period of three months in accordance to company policy.

“Without qualifying my audit opinion, I draw your attention to the fact that the company incurred a loss before tax of $111 474 084 (2014: $118 312 961) for the year ended December 31, 2015 and as of that date its current liabilities exceeded its current assets by $771 383 372 (2014: $958 567 146).

“The company also had an accumulated loss of $516 649 272 (2014: $438 326 775).

“These conditions along with other matters indicate the existence of a material uncertainty that may cast significant doubt about the ability of the company to continue operating as a going concern,” Mrs Chiri said.

On the distribution of electricity, the Auditor-General said the company sold its prepaid electricity through Powertel, which in turn distributes electricity to 10 wholesalers (super vendors) who also distribute the electricity to sub-vendors.

“The economic rationale of selling through Powertel is not clear as the company has a capacity to sell directly to wholesalers. This eliminates commission paid to Powertel and also improves efficiency of the network and the total amount paid during the year was $9 646, 318,” reads the report.

The auditor concluded that there was financial loss through unnecessary commission costs due to inefficiency of the prepaid metering system network as a result of increased layers of vendors.

There was also financial loss through under billing.

“The company’s policy requires that all meters should have actual readings taken at least once in three months. Some customers, however, had actual meter readings last recorded some years back, for example in 1984, 1991 and 2005. Other clients’ readings took up to 982 days before they were taken,” Mrs Chiri notes in her report.

The report states that 191 162 meters have not been read for over one year, while 15 782 have not been read in two years, 7 372 (three years), 2 795 (four years), 531 (five years) and 1 861 (over five years).

In its response, ZETDC said: “The preferred model is one with multiple aggregators (wholesalers) connecting directly to the ZETDC prepaid platform as recommended by the auditors.

“However, ZETDC adopted a model that was in line with the aspirations enshrined in the Zim-Asset blueprint with Powertel as the sole aggregator and eight State-owned enterprises as super vendors. The company is currently in the process of reviewing the third party vending model to make it more efficient.

“The company is in the process of replacing post-paid meters with prepaid meters. Approximately 130 000 customers are still to be placed on the pre-paid platform and these installations are expected to be completed by year end.”

By Jeffrey Moyo

Harare — Wetlands can ease the impacts of a changing climate by maintaining groundwater levels and protecting areas from the worst impacts of floods by absorbing excess water

Unspooling the rope tied to a metal bucket, Shylet Nhari listens to the repeated clangs of the tin striking the walls of the well as her bucket makes its way down.

When the 46-year-old pulls the container back up, she finds it filled with undrinkable muddy water. Water levels in the well are dwindling fast and not being replenished, she says.

Nhari lives in Westlea, a middle-class suburb of the Zimbabwean capital and an area built on wetlands. Like many residents, she has no piped water and relies on the well, which has become more erratic in the face of longer drought.

“Since 2015, our wells here started having problems in storing groundwater for longer periods as they began to dry up quickly,” she said.

Residents like Nhari, and a growing number of newcomers to Harare, find themselves in a bind. They need somewhere to live, and developers are all too ready to sell them land in wetland areas. But as construction covers more wetlands, water sources are drying up.

Wetlands – which include bogs and swamps – are essential to the well-being of the city, environmentalists say.

They can ease the impacts of a changing climate by helping maintain ground water levels, and protect areas from the worst impacts of floods by absorbing excess water.

By law, anyone intending to build on a wetland must apply for a permit from the government’s Environmental Management Agency (EMA).

In January, EMA threatened to evict wetland residents in Masvingo, one of the country’s oldest towns, saying their homes had been built without government approval.

But in Westlea, Nhari is sceptical about the likelihood of enforcement.

“I have lived here for close to 10 years and have not seen any resident being questioned for building on this so-called wetland,” she said. She added that she doesn’t know how wetlands function and why they are important.

According to EMA spokesman Steady Kangata, 27 wetland areas in Harare and Chitungwiza, a town 25 km (15 miles) from the Zimbabwean capital, have been partially built on.

In Chitungwiza, 14 out of 15 wetlands have been built on, and 13 of Harare’s 29 wetlands have been taken over for construction, Kangata told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“Approximately 60 percent of Harare and Chitungwiza’s wetlands have been invaded or taken over for construction purposes. All these constructions on wetlands are unlawful,” Kangata said.

The Westlea wetland is an area of 123 hectares (304 acres). It has 87 houses, the first of which was built in 2008, according to the Harare Residents Trust, a nongovernmental organisation.

Nhari moved into her home in 2009 with her husband, after he bought a 600-square-metre plot from a private landowner. She says she has a deed of sale to prove it – but what she doesn’t have is water.

Environmental experts say residents like Nhari are the source of their own problems.

“A wetland acts like a sponge which absorbs water and then recharges underground water so that the water table remains high. Construction disrupts this process,” said Sandra Gobvu of Environment Africa, a nongovernmental organisation that works in southern Africa to promote sustainable development.

When wetland areas are concreted over, much less water is absorbed, Gobvu added.

Wetlands also help control flooding by absorbing excess water and releasing it gradually into water bodies, she said.

“If we preserved them in their natural state, wetlands would actually help us adapt to the changing climatic conditions,” said Barnabas Mawire, Environment Africa’s Zimbabwe country director.

He believes that while Zimbabwe’s widespread water problems are due to a number of factors, wetland destruction plays a role.

“Climate change will make future efforts to restore or rehabilitate wetlands more difficult, especially if we continue to destroy them at this rate,” said Mawire.

Environmental activists in Zimbabwe say they are struggling to keep up with the rate of wetlands encroachment.

“It is hard to measure the proportion of construction work occurring on wetlands here because daily we wake up to new building activities emerging around many wetlands,” said Liberty Chiura, a member of the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association.

Meanwhile, landowners say they are not acting illegally by selling wetlands plots.

“We don’t just wake up and start pegging land at wetlands for people without binding permits from local authorities,” said Elton Javangwe, a private landowner based in Harare.

“This is part of a farm I bought and later decided to subdivide before selling housing stands, after local authorities and EMA regularised it,” Javangwe said.

Mawire said that some construction on wetlands is authorised.

“Developers know they have to apply to the Environmental Management Authority for permits to build, and they do get these permits at times,” he said.

“However, there are many other people who invade pieces of land without any knowledge that there are wetlands and start construction. And there are others who know, but deliberately ignore what the law says and go on to build,” Mawire added.

He said that as people migrate from the countryside and demand for land in urban areas increases, new residents are unlikely to be aware of the risks of building on wetlands, to themselves and the broader community.

“The developer might know, but sadly for many people they only realise the consequences once they finish building and start experiencing floods, cracks and collapse of infrastructure,” said Mawire.

Failure to abide by Zimbabwe’s laws governing wetlands can result in a fine of up to $500, imprisonment of up to two years, or both.

Minister of Environment, Water and Climate Oppah Muchinguri has the power to serve a written order to stop development on any wetland.

“As government, we are accountable for handling wetlands and we have to accept accountability where we would have failed,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“We now have an inter-ministerial taskforce to investigate the building of properties on wetlands and take possible action in order to protect our threatened wetlands (which are) crucial to restoring water basins,” Muchinguri added.

By Collins Mwai

President Paul Kagame has said that Rwanda will proceed with the planned phase-out of importation of second-hand clothes despite the threats that it could lead to a review of eligibility to access duty-free access to the American market.

President Kagame made the remarks yesterday while addressing a news conference moments after submitting his nomination papers to the National Electoral Commission (NEC).

Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania’s eligibility to trade with the US is under review, following the region’s move to phase out the importation of used clothes.

The review could see Rwanda and her neighbours lose duty-free access to the American market under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).

Kagame, however, said the situation leads Rwanda to make a choice between continued importation of used clothes and developing the local textile industry.

He said that despite the consequences of being locked out of AGOA, Rwanda is keen on developing its local textile industry.

“Rwanda and other countries in the region that are part of AGOA, have to do other things, we have to grow and establish our industries,” Kagame said.

“We are put in a situation where we have to choose; you choose to be a recipient of used clothes with a threat hanging or choose to grow our textile industries, which Rwandans deserve at the expense of being part of AGOA.

“This is the choice we find that we have to make. As far as I am concerned, making the choice is simple, we might suffer consequences. Even when confronted with difficult choices, there is always a way,” he added.

The President noted that this is not the first time that Rwanda has had to make tough decisions in the interest of citizens.

EAC member countries have moved to phase out the importation of used clothes and shoes across the East African region as part of an industrialisation plan to give rise to the growth of the local textile industry.

As part of the move, Rwanda last year increased taxes on used clothes from $0.2 to $2.5 per kilogramme, while taxes on used shoes will increase from $0.2 to $3 per kilogramme.

Budget focus

In the 2017/18 Budget Estimates, the Government also eased taxes on inputs under the Made-in-Rwanda initiative, which is expected to facilitate the growth of the local textile industry.

President Kagame is one of the African heads of state advocating for improved engagement terms between African countries and Western countries for mutual benefit.

Kagame has said several times that it’s time to consider Africa as an equal partner in development as opposed to a beneficiary requiring donations and aid.

As part of the move to make the continent less dependent on external financing, Kagame was last year asked to spearhead the African Union reforms.

He said he will continue playing the role as requested by the African heads of state to support the reforms process.

Kagame is scheduled to present a progress update at a meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, next month.

The President said that the intention by African leaders to change status quo was a huge step.

“The fact that the leaders of Africa have found it necessary to do things different is a very big step,” he said.

Going forward, he said the move by the continent will reduce the impact of external factors on the continent’s socio- economic progress.

INTERVIEW

Washington, DC —Dr. Akinwumi Adesina is focusing on five areas to achieve the African and global goals for a prosperous continent since becoming president of the African Development Bank – Africa’s largest public financial institution in September 2015. He was a keynote speaker at this month’s Corporate Council on Africa’s U.S.- Africa Business Summit in Washington D.C. and moderated a lively panel with five African government ministers. He also received theGene White Lifetime Achievement Award from the Global Child Nutrition Foundation. This week, he was named the 2017 recipient of the World Food Prize, a prestigious honor that includes a $250,000 award. In an interview in Washington, DC, Adesina discussed the Development Bank’s ambitious agenda and his vision for attracting the growth capital Africa needs. Posting questions for AllAfrica was Noluthando Crockett-Ntonga.

What are your top priorities at the African Development Bank?

At the African Development Bank, we have developed the fast-track ‘high fives’ – to light up and power Africa, to feed Africa, to industrialize Africa, to integrate Africa and to improve the quality of life for the people of Africa. An independent analysis by the United Nations Development Program found that, if Africa focuses on these high fives then Africa will achieve 90% of the sustainable development main goals and 90% of Agenda 2063 set up by the African Union.

We’ve got to light up and to power Africa. You cannot develop in the dark. The kids cannot study and the economies cannot be vibrant if you do not have access to electricity. We decided we’re going to do something about it.

Look, 138 years after Thomas Edison developed the light bulb, many African countries are still struggling to light the bulb. In Africa, you’ve got 645 million people that do not have access to electricity. Does it make sense that 600,000 people die every single year simply trying to cook a meal because [they] don’t have access to cooking energy? So we decided to focus on electricity – to put in $12 billion of our own resources and leverage $45 or $50 billion from the private sector to tackle this issue.

The same thing with agriculture. You have literally 250 million people that do not have access to food and therefore are malnourished. God has blessed Africa with a huge amount of land. You have great sunshine. You’ve got water. But we’re not getting wealth from that because we do not do agriculture as a business. At the African Development Bank, we decided we will invest $24 billion of our own resources in this sector to help to transform our economies, to create a lot of jobs, and to end Africa having to spend $35 billion a year importing food it should be exporting.

Why do you believe, as you have said on several occasions, that political leadership matters more than anything?

I firmly believe that leadership is the currency of development. Our leaders are leaders because people voted for them and they want them to change things. Leaders have to be accountable to the people. When a leader is connecting to the people and doing things that benefit the people, then that means they’re credible. At the end of the day, leaders have to face the challenges that are in front of them.

What do you see as the role of African leaders in creating the environment for investment and energy and agriculture?

Money goes to the place where money is not nervous. The investment environment has to be good for investors to put their money there. You have to have sanctity of contract. There must be peace and security, and there must be policy consistency.

I’m actually quite optimistic, because if you take a look at business regulation environments globally, in 2016 Africa accounted for 30% of all the improvements. The 2017 Doing Business report by the World Bank shows that 34 out of 47 African countries had at least an improvement in one area of business or regulatory environment last year, and five of the 10 countries are top performers.

Africa is a good place to invest because Africa is reforming very fast.

Why are investors here in the United States missing the boat?

When they go to Africa, they’re simply bringing their notebooks. The Chinese bring their checkbooks! Today, China is number one in terms of trade relationship with Africa. The amount of bilateral trade with China and India is about 250% of that of United States. I think that they’re seeing something there. Look at Japan: Japan promised to put 30 billion dollars into Africa. India put $10 billion on export funding towards Africa. South Korea put in $10 billion over five years towards Africa.

What are they seeing? They are seeing Africa from a different lens. They are seeing a continent not just in terms of a development lens, but in terms of an investment lens. They are seeing a continent where you’re going to have the investments rise to $1.4 trillion in the next three years. Business-to-business investments will rise to

43.5 trillion in the next eight years. They’re looking at a continent where the population is going to rise by 40 million young people by 2015. They are seeing Africa as an investment destination.

What is the role of training youth leaders, especially as it relates to agriculture and business?

The youth are the present, and they are also the future of our continent. Africa is going to be the youngest continent in the world by 2050. What we do for them today is going to make Africa ready. We need to prepare them not for the jobs of yesterday but for the jobs of the future.

The future is going to be digital – the fourth industrial revolution. It’s going to be about nanotechnology, robotics, artificial intelligence. It’s going to be about ability to manage knowledge. At the African Development Bank, we have launched ‘Jobs for Africa’s Youth’, and the goal is to help African countries create 25 million jobs in the next 10 years looking at two critical sectors – agriculture and the ICT industry.

I actually think agriculture is really, really cool. We rolled out our program last year with $800 million for a program that’s called ‘Enable Youth’ – to create a new generation of young entrepreneurial farmers. These are going to be the new millionaires and billionaires of Africa.

Sometimes people don’t think agriculture is a very profitable sector. But if it’s not profitable, why are we spending 35 billion dollars to import food? If it’s not profitable, why is it by 2030 that the [value of] food in Africa will be $one trillion? That’s a lot of money to be made. We just have to get people to understand that sometimes they pass gold by; they think gold is dirt. We have to create this new generation of young farmers.

While we’re on agriculture, could you explain the importance of nutrition for Africa’s development?

Nutrition is very, very important for the future of any economy. When people don’t eat well, in particular when children don’t eat well, they become stunted. Stunted children today lead to stunted economies tomorrow. If you look at Africa, the stunting rate is just ridiculously high – 58 million kids are stunted. It means that you’re losing people’s capacity that will affect their life earnings and ability to be competitive in a global world. So we’ve taken all the challenge.

I’m a member of the Global Panel on Food Systems and Nutrition. There must be accountability for the malnutrition and stunting that we have on the continent today. And that’s why the African Development Bank together with Bill Gates and Kofi Annan and former President Kufuor of Ghana launched what is called African Leaders for Nutrition.

We want to get nutritious food to all the kids. We want to make sure that mothers have access to basic things like vitamin A and iron that will reduce the level of anemia that they have. We want to make sure that kids have access to vitamin A that will allow them not to have night blindness.

In addition to humanitarian concerns, you are viewing nutrition as an economic investment to boost GDP.

Absolutely. It’s all about the economy.

The most important infrastructure that you can build is gray matter infrastructure – that is brain cells. When that’s damaged, you can’t repair it. It’s the people that boost your GDP. When kids stay in school, when kids learn and they can perform, they are going to grow up and do great things, right? They become the great innovators. When I was a grad student here in the United States at Purdue University in the early 80’s, I saw what the supplemental nutrition program did for people. The so-called the ‘food stamp program’ reached roughly about 45 million people – half of those children.

I believe that God made stomachs to be filled, not to go empty. We’ve got to make sure that kids are fed because the future of economies depend on it.

You mentioned innovation. What do you see as the role of innovation in positioning Africa?

Innovation drives development. When people have creativity, they have ideas and they are able to make economies grow. Whether you’re looking at innovation in agriculture, bio sciences, or in ICT communications, they are all very, very important. Investment in research and development is critical, and many African countries are spending less than 1% of their GDP on research and development. Most of the countries that have done well spend 3-4% of their GDP on research and development.

The second thing which is very important for the future is the digital economy. The innovations will come from those that have solid grounding in science, technology, education and mathematics. At many African universities, the level of ICT enrollment is only about 2%. People like to study law and economics and social sciences. I don’t have anything against those areas. But the big jobs are going to come from the ICT industry. So, we want to make sure that we are preparing students in Africa for the science, technology, engineering and mathematics that will drive innovation of the future.

That’s why the African Development Bank launched a world-class program for ICT training with the Kigali Institute of Technology. We’re also helping set up centers to train 230,000 Africans to be computer coders so they can take advantage of the cloud technology and actually add a lot of value in terms of ICT industry. That’s what drives innovation.

Tell us about the investment conference you are planning to convene.

We’re launching the Africa Investment Forum this year. Africa needs a lot of private capital to develop. In developed countries where global savings is about $5 trillion, the real rate of returns are negative. In Africa, the rate of return can be high. We’re trying to attract the global pension funds, the sovereign wealth funds and similar institutional investors to invest in infrastructure in Africa. And to do that, the African Development Bank is using its convening power as Africa’s trusted bank to bring other partners – the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation, the European Investment Bank and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and several others – to be on an investment platform.

It’s not going to be a talk shop. Who has time for talking? We just want things done. We want deals done that would make things happen in Africa.  The forum is structured to be totally transactional – to make sure that we can develop the right projects. We want to make sure investors have the right returns for the risk that they are going to be taking. We want to work with governments to offer the right environments for the private sector.

What role do you see for the African diaspora in bringing the investment Africa needs?

The diaspora has a big role. The African American community here plays a big role. If you look at the diaspora community, my goodness, there is a lot of money. Total remittances – well over $65 billion – far exceeds official development assistance.

The issue is how we get people in the diaspora to own a share in companies in Africa, to be able to securitize their remittances and invest in infrastructure and make money. The opportunities are limitless and we are looking very big time into the diaspora.

At the Power Africa Summit in DC early this year, we were told there is a ‘wall of money’ ready to invest in energy. What is holding it back?

People sometimes have the wrong information. Our role is getting people to have the right information. Look at Africa’s GDP growth rate this year – 3.4%. At the African Development Bank, we project it will rise to 4.3% – well above the global averages. But that doesn’t tell you whole story: 12 African countries grew at above 5% last year, and 20 African countries grew at 3% to 5%. The opportunities are there all across Africa

Secondly, when you want to invest, you want to be sure your risks are going to be covered. The African Development Bank works with countries to make sure that they do the right things in term of the regulatory and investment environment. To respect the sanctity of contract; to have arbitration systems and good judicial systems in place. And finally, the African Development Bank also helps to ‘de-risk’ projects.

I’ll give you two quick examples. The largest wind farm in Africa is at Lake Turkana in Kenya. The African Development Bank helped to de-risk that project, as the lead arranger. Today it is going to be putting in roughly 310 megawatts to light up roughly a million households in Kenya. Look, the world’s largest concentrated solar power plant – in Ouarzazate, Morocco, with over 500 megawatts. We help make that happen. That tells you the role that we play in intermediation when it comes to investment.

Africa is already behind. Africa has no time to lose. Everything has to be fast tracked.

We want to go fast, but we need gas in the tank. And so the African Development Bank needs to recapitalize and get the resources that are needed to do more for Africa.

We’re read

By Umberto Bacchi

Rome — Making agriculture “cool” for young people in Africa is key to lifting millions out of poverty and stemming migration to Europe – African Development Bank president

Making agriculture profitable and “cool” for young people in Africa is key to lifting millions out of poverty and stemming migration to Europe, said the president of the African Development Bank (AfDB).

Akinwumi Adesina was named the winner of this year’s World Food Prize on Monday for his decades-long work to boost food production in his native Nigeria, increase access to credit for small farmers across Africa and transform the continent’s agriculture.

Kenneth Quinn, president of the Des Moines, Iowa-based World Food Prize Foundation, said the $250,000 award reflected Adesina’s “breakthrough achievements” as Nigeria’s minister of agriculture and his critical role in the development of the nonprofit Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).

Adesina, 57, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation he was humbled by the award but felt his work to ensure Africa could feed itself was “uncompleted business”.

Almost 30 percent of the 795 million people in the world who do not have enough to eat are in Africa, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

“When I look at Africa today I see that many rural areas unfortunately have become zones of economic misery,” Adesina said in a phone interview ahead of the award’s announcement.

No sector has greater potential to revive those areas than agriculture, but investments are needed to make it attractive for young people, many of whom risk their lives migrating in search of better opportunities in Europe, Adesina said.

“We must make agriculture cool for young people,” he said.

“The key is to make agriculture a business. Agriculture is not a way of life, is not a development activity, it’s a business.”

Africa has 65 percent of the world’s uncultivated arable land but imports food for $35 billion every year, a bill that is expected to swell to $110 billion by 2025, he said.

“It makes no sense. That is food Africa should be producing, processing, selling and exporting,” he said.

“Africa in the future should not only feed itself but it must contribute to feeding the world.”

Toward this end, agriculture must become more industrialised, with farmers gaining better access to seeds, fertiliser, credit, power and infrastructure, he said.

Farmers should be supported to transform from producers of raw materials, such as cocoa and cotton, to manufacturers of finished goods such as chocolate and garments, which have less volatile prices, Adesina said.

To accelerate growth, the AfDB aimed to invest $12 billion in the energy sector, hoping to leverage another $50 billion from the private sector, he said.

Last year, AfDB had invested $800 million to support young agro-entrepreneurs in eight countries and planned to extend the scheme to 30 nations, he added.

Adesina called on governments and institutional investors, such as pension and insurance funds, to “see the gold” in African agriculture and invest in it to unlock its potential.

He said he was convinced the future billionaires of Africa would come from agriculture.

“I don’t believe that the future of African youth lies at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea,” he said.

“The future of African young people lies in a more prosperous and inclusive Africa, and there is no other sector that has greater power to create growth than the agricultural sector.”

Adesina was named winner of the World Food Prize, regarded as the equivalent of a Nobel Prize for agriculture, in a ceremony on Monday at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington.

 – Reporting by Umberto Bacchi @UmbertoBacchi