The Southern African Governors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) have called on the bank to lead the way to faster-paced development of the African Continent.

The AfDB, in a statement on Tuesday, April 11, 2018, said the governors as well as Finance Ministers from Angola, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, and Namibia shared their thoughts at a regional consultation with AfDB in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.

The ministers of Finance and Planning from São Tomé and Príncipe, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe were also present at the meeting.

According to the statement, the governors expressed concern about the Southern African region’s low growth performance in 2017 and the fact that nine out of 10 developing countries would be in Africa by 2030.

They identified the bank as Africa’s trusted partner to lead the way to reverse the situation.

The Minister of Finance and Budget of Madagascar, Mrs Vonintsalama Andriambololona, said many challenges faced by Africa required that the continent sit up in order to develop and to grow.

She commended the bank’s leadership in reducing time lags between project conception and first disbursements, which she noted was faster with the AfDB than with any other multilateral development institution.

“We are grateful to the African Development Bank for anticipating Africa’s funding needs and addressing them now. Africa needs more resources to grow.

“As such, we are favourable to a capital increase for the Bank to help address Africa’s funding needs,” she said.

Meanwhile, the AfDB president, Mr Akinwumi Adesina, said in 2017, the bank accelerated the scale and delivery of its lending and achieved the highest disbursement ever in its history with over $7.2 billion.

“The challenges ahead of Africa are immense, and the need for faster growth is even more urgent than ever before. Therefore, we cannot rest on our oars,” he said.

Adesina called for collective action to scale-up implementation of Africa’s development, noting that a faster-paced development was what the continent needed.

“We have just 12 years to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. This is not a clock ticking, It is an alarm bell for the world and the bell is ringing louder and louder.

“The Sustainable Development Goals will not be achieved by a ‘business as usual’ attitude and they will not be realised globally unless Africa achieves them completely and comprehensively,” he said.

Adesina said all the countries of the Southern region had a great opportunity to accelerate inclusive growth in the next few years and that the AfDB would be with them on this journey.

According to AfDB data, the bank’s operations are transforming the lives of millions of Africans.

According to figures for 2010-2017, 18 million Africans benefitted from new electricity connections and 57 million Africans benefitted from improvements in agriculture.

In the same period, 420,000 small businesses were provided with financial services, while 83 million Africans benefitted from improved access to transport and 49 million Africans benefitted from better access to water and sanitation.

By Rachael Ishaya

The National Population Commission (NPC) has put Nigeria’s current population at 198 million people with urban population growing at an average annual growth rate of about 6.5 per cent

Chairman of NPC, Mr Eze Duruiheoma, stated this in New York while delivering Nigeria’s statement on Sustainable Cities, Human Mobility and International Migration at the 51st Session of Commission on Population and Development.

Duruiheoma said: “Nigeria remains the most populous in Africa, the seventh globally with an estimated population of over 198 million.

“The recent World Population Prospects predicts that by 2050, Nigeria will become the third most populated country in the world.

“Over the last 50 years, the Nigeria’s urban population has grown at an average annual growth rate of more than 6.5 per cent without commensurate increase in social amenities and infrastructure.

“It grew substantially from 17.3 in 1967 to 49.4 per cent in 2017. In addition, the 2014 World Urbanisation Prospects report, predicts that by 2050, most of the population – 70 per cent – will be residing in cities.

“The 2010 human mobility Survey report revealed that 23 per cent of the sampled population were of more females than males”.

He said the category of population mostly engaged in urbanisation and migration were young people of teenage and adolescents’ girls and boys, women of child bearing age and the working age population.

He said existing urbanisation trend coupled with internally displaced persons (IDPs) in cities, pose critical challenges to securing sustainability of our cities, including efforts to make them smart and responsive to human influx.

“The Displacement Tracking Matrix round XXI of January 2018 identified estimated 1.7 million IDPs in over 321,580 households across six states of North-East Nigeria with 40 per cent residing in camp-like settings in urban areas plus 1.4 million returnees.

“The number of IDPs represented 4.5 per cent increase compared to the 1,702,680 identified in Round XX (Dec. 2017).”

Duruiheoma said that, like in other developing countries, Nigerian cities hosted wide spread poverty, under-employment and unemployment at an average of 18.4 per cent, according to the National Bureau of Statistics 2017 report.

The NPC boss bemoaned the insecurity and inadequate and inequitable health care services for adolescents and women of child bearing age.

“Nigeria continues to commit to solving the challenges of insurgents in the Northeast, which has induced a high number of internally displaced persons.

“We acknowledge that women, children and particularly the girl child are often the most vulnerable in these displacements, and in this regard, we remain focused on the wellbeing of these vulnerable parts of our population.

“We are committed to providing adequate health care services, reducing maternal mortality, rebuilding safe schools and empowering our women, ensuring no one is left behind in terms of achieving sustainable development.”

Duruiheoma said these challenges adversely impacted on the quality of life and standards of living of the urban populace.

According to him, Nigeria stays committed to the twin goals of the Habitat Agenda – adequate shelter for all and the development of sustainable human settlements in an urbanising world.

By Prudence Arobani

In view of the discovery of a deep crack in the Rift Valley in Kenya, scientists on Tuesday, April 10, 2018 said it would take millions of years for Africa to divide to two.

The scientists were reacting to reports of a 50-foot deep crack in the earth that began to develop near Nairobi in Kenya on March 18, which they say could be a sign of an impending continental split.

The crack, stretching several kilometres, made a sudden appearance recently in south-western Kenya. The tear, which continues to grow, caused part of the Nairobi-Narok highway to collapse and was accompanied by seismic activity in the area.

However, some scientists think the gully was caused by rains washing away loose soil, nothing more, and suggested fixing the road.

Prof. Mosto Onuoha, the President, Nigerian Academy of Science (NAS), told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that it would take at least 50 million years for such separation to take place.

“We will keep noticing the change in a period of about 100 to 200 years’ measurement.

“But this is about 50 million years from now,” he said.

Onuoha said the rift did not start recently but very many years ago, adding that the process had been on and it would continue.

He said the issue in Kenya could be likened to Madagascar that was part of Africa and later was divided by an ocean.

“Like Madagascar, it was joined to Africa around Mozambique, but there is an ocean now between Mozambique and Madagascar,” he said.

Mr Adewale Bakare, the President, Nigeria Community Association Bradford (NCAB), UK, said the African continent ought not to entertain any panic regarding a crack in Kenya.

“That rift will keep on expanding and getting wider. It is going to take so many millions of years for that to happen.

‘’There is nothing to worry about. It is a geological process and natural phenomenon.

“There is a positive aspect to all the troubles they are having in the East African region, which is generation of geothermal energy.

“The geothermal energy is coming up from the breaking or extension of the land,” he said.

Dr Adeneye Talabi, the Director, Technology Acquisition and Adaption Department, Federal Ministry of Science and Technology (FMST), urged Africans not to be frighten whether the continent would split in two.

According to Talabi, splitting Africa in two via Kenya will not be in this present generation.

He, however, urged the continent to take proactive technology steps to address any incidents that could arise as a result of splitting process.

“Where the crack is now, African countries should be very proactive to apply the appropriate technologies that are already available.

“By installing early warning system devices and equipment that are sensitive enough to detect probable time, location and direction of movement of the crack further from where it is now in Kenya.

“This will allow them to be proactive in determining what to do for any likely occurrence and to reduce to the barest minimum loses that will be incurred,” he said.

The director urged the government to strengthen all parastatals under the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology (FMST) to be able to carry out research and development works capable of determining the effect of the crack in Nigeria.

NAN reports that it has been discovered that Israel also sits along the Rift Valley, which some scientists say can be an impending danger in form of a devastating earthquake for the country.

Dr Ron Avni of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev told Haaretz that “indeed the plate tectonics are tearing Africa into two and we don’t need the crack in Kenya to know that.’’

The Kenyan crack definitely is in the Rift Valley, which starts in Mozambique, passes through most eastern Africa all the way to Israel – the Red Sea, Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee all sit on it.

By Gabriel Agbeja