Africa Briefs
SA's land expropriation unnerves investors
Plans by South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) to change the constitution to allow the expropriation of land without compensation have unnerved investors, a senior World Bank group executive said on Wednesday.
President Cyril Ramaphosa's party has made the acceleration of land redistribution a key issue ahead of 2019 elections, while pledging to carry out land reform in a way that does not threaten food security.
"If you create uncertainty of some aspects of your environment, and land tenure is one of them, that is one aspect that investors will be looking at," Sérgio Pimenta, the vice president for the Middle East and Africa at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank's private investment arm, told Reuters.
"What investors are looking for is certainty," he said on the sidelines of a meeting between the World Bank and member countries in Zambia.
"The land issue is a complex issue," he said. "Whatever the solution the government is looking at, creating an environment that is reliable, that is certain, is important." – Nampa/Reuters
Nigeria’s probe into NNPC deepens
A probe by the Nigerian Senate into whether state oil firm NNPC improperly withdrew money has expanded with the amount under investigation doubling to over US$2.2 billion, a committee said on Wednesday.
The Senate last week voted to probe withdrawals of US$1.05 billion by Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), from NLNG, a venture owned by the state oil firm and foreign energy companies, without approval.
The committee led by senator Bassey Akpan, chairman of the senate committee on gas, said it had found more withdrawals in excess of what it set out to investigate.
Akpan asked NNPC and central bank officials to provide documents to back up the withdrawals, carried out at various periods between 2016 to 2018.
NNPC officials said documents were being assembled ahead of next hearing due on Nov 22 and declined to comment further. – Nampa/Reuters
Plans by South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) to change the constitution to allow the expropriation of land without compensation have unnerved investors, a senior World Bank group executive said on Wednesday.
President Cyril Ramaphosa's party has made the acceleration of land redistribution a key issue ahead of 2019 elections, while pledging to carry out land reform in a way that does not threaten food security.
"If you create uncertainty of some aspects of your environment, and land tenure is one of them, that is one aspect that investors will be looking at," Sérgio Pimenta, the vice president for the Middle East and Africa at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank's private investment arm, told Reuters.
"What investors are looking for is certainty," he said on the sidelines of a meeting between the World Bank and member countries in Zambia.
"The land issue is a complex issue," he said. "Whatever the solution the government is looking at, creating an environment that is reliable, that is certain, is important." – Nampa/Reuters
Nigeria’s probe into NNPC deepens
A probe by the Nigerian Senate into whether state oil firm NNPC improperly withdrew money has expanded with the amount under investigation doubling to over US$2.2 billion, a committee said on Wednesday.
The Senate last week voted to probe withdrawals of US$1.05 billion by Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), from NLNG, a venture owned by the state oil firm and foreign energy companies, without approval.
The committee led by senator Bassey Akpan, chairman of the senate committee on gas, said it had found more withdrawals in excess of what it set out to investigate.
Akpan asked NNPC and central bank officials to provide documents to back up the withdrawals, carried out at various periods between 2016 to 2018.
NNPC officials said documents were being assembled ahead of next hearing due on Nov 22 and declined to comment further. – Nampa/Reuters
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