Africa

1. Oando’s woes
2. Judging the US
3. Ghana’s nuclear dream
4. Passport problems
5. PZ Cussons eyes exit
6. DRC v Apple

Also, we’re marking World Malaria Day.

Hello! Welcome to Semafor Africa. Rwanda has generated global headlines this week due to a controversial deal that will see it take in people seeking asylum in Britain. For me, it was a reminder of Rwanda’s ability to simultaneously present itself as an ally of the West and thought leader among African countries. Kigali is offering to help the UK stem the flow of asylum seekers, just months after the East African country announced it would allow Africans to enter without a visa.

I was reminded of Rwanda’s visa-free stance after reading that visa applications by Africans seeking to enter Europe’s Schengen zone are still far more likely to be rejected than those from other parts of the world. It’s part of a longstanding trend, and is unlikely to surprise readers who have suffered visa application rejections. But the extent to which it remains a common problem experienced by Africans from all walks of life — which we lay out in this edition — is striking.

In an essay widely shared on social media a few weeks back, Sandra Owusu-Gyamfi, a PhD candidate at the University of Ghana, summed up the frustration shared by many after being unable to attend a conference on biodiversity. The experience left her feeling “demoralized, embarrassed and insulted.” Plus the conference was robbed of her insights and those of other speakers from low- and middle-income countries whose applications were turned down.

Understandably, journalists have paid close attention to an eye-catching policy by a UK government desperate to appear tough on undocumented migrants in an election year. But the systemic imbalances that cause the disproportionate rejection of Africans with little or no explanation are worth focusing on too, because they hold back the sharing of ideas, business transactions, and cultural exchanges.

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Oando’s financial challenges are laid bare

How much cash Nigerian oil and gas firm Oando needs to remain operational, according to its delayed 2022 audited financial report. The company, which reported its earnings on Tuesday, said it needs the funds in order to clear its debts and cover its operating costs, or risks collapse. The report reflected the situation in December 2022. It is unclear how much the company, which is listed in Lagos and Johannesburg, has raised since then. Oando’s stock price dipped by 9.8% in Lagos on Tuesday following the release of the earnings report.

How the US is viewed across Africa

Global approval of US leadership declined the most in Uganda and the Gambia in 2023, dropping by at least 20 points in each nation, according to a new survey of 36 countries conducted by Gallup. The drop in Ugandans’ approval of US leadership coincides with the east African country’s exclusion from the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act by the Biden administration, a consequence of the country’s anti-homosexuality law. However, more than half of the countries where approval for US leadership increased significantly were in Africa, Gallup said. Double-digit increases occurred in Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Senegal, Mauritania, Mozambique, and Tunisia, keeping Africa’s mean approval of US leadership at 56%. The lowest approval and highest disapproval figures in Africa for the US leadership are in Libya, sitting at 23% and 63% respectively. Somalia, Tunisia, and Namibia all recorded higher disapproval than approval ratings.

US and Russia are vying for a contract to build Ghana’s nuclear energy plant

ACCRA, Ghana — The United States and Russia are locked in a race against China, France, and South Korea to build the first nuclear power plant in Ghana.

The West African country is among several nations on the continent looking to nuclear power as a low carbon source of energy as they seek to broaden access to electricity.

Ghana is turning to nuclear power to complement its existing mix of hydro, thermal, and renewable energy. The winner of the ongoing bidding process will be announced at the end of 2024 by outgoing president Nana Akufo-Addo, Stephen Yamoah, executive director of Nuclear Power Ghana, which is supervising the project, told Semafor Africa.

Yamoah said Ghana would miss its target to build the plant by 2030 because “we still haven’t settled on a vendor.” Construction is due to begin in 2026 and is expected to take five years.

Ghana is projecting that nuclear energy will make up 5% of the country’s energy mix by 2030 and 35% by 2070, according to Dr. Robert Sogbadzie, deputy director of power at the Ministry of Energy. “Every country is coming in based on its proposal,” he said, stressing that the cost and technology used will be the determining factors, rather than politics.

South Africa has the continent’s only nuclear power plant, but Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya have in the last year announced plans to develop nuclear infrastructure.

Ghana laid out its current nuclear plans in 2015. Electricity demand is estimated to have grown by 7% to 10% a year since 2010, according to Ghana’s energy ministry. As of 2020, 85% of the population had access to electricity.

The current nuclear program took off in 2008 after a nationwide power crisis in 2006 and 2007. The plan then was to have a nuclear power plant by 2018, but that target was revised due to a lack of political and financial commitment from successive governments. “Having an interest in pursuing a nuclear program is one thing, and understanding what it takes to pursue a nuclear program is another thing,” said Yamoah.

Africa leads in European visa rejections

Nearly a third of Africans applying for a visa to Europe’s Schengen Area are rejected — the highest refusal rate of any region, according to a report by migration consultancy firm Henley & Partners. That’s despite the continent submitting the lowest number of applications per capita.

Africa’s applicants had a 30% visa refusal rate. “The rejection rates for African applicants for Schengen visas are generally 10% higher than the global average,” Mehari Taddele Maru, professor at the European University Institute, observed in the report.

Algeria saw the highest rate of refusals, with 46% of its more than 390,000 Schengen visa applications in 2022 rejected. Nigeria, Guinea-Bissau, Ghana, Senegal and Mali all had between 40% and 45% of applications denied.

European states primarily cited “reasonable doubts about the visa applicants’ intention to return home” in their rejections, the report found. The researchers argued the European visa system “clearly demonstrates apparent bias against African applicants,” despite justifications based on security or economic concerns.

The researchers said that with limited visa-free access to wealthy countries and high visa refusal rates, Africans were locked out of numerous opportunities as their ability to engage in multinational trade, network, and explore international business ventures is severely limited.

“Consequently, African entrepreneurs and investors are often left out of lucrative global markets, impeding their potential for economic growth and financial prosperity,” the report notes.

— Martin K.N Siele

UK consumer goods maker mulls Africa exit

British consumer goods company PZ Cussons is considering a sale of its Africa operations, citing adverse economic conditions on the continent, particularly in its largest market Nigeria.

The company said its “significant exposure to Nigeria” — and, specifically, to its currency — is becoming a challenge, leading it to consider options that may include the sale of its African operations, which brought in around 40% of its revenues last year. PZ Cussons said it would delist its Nigeria subsidiary from the stock exchange by paying £23 million ($29 million) to buy its 27% stake, but the country’s securities’ regulator has so far barred the move.

The company’s products in Nigeria range from skincare and sanitary products, like Imperial Leather and Morning Fresh dishwashing liquid, to food items such as Mamador cooking oil. But rising inflation and currency devaluation over the past year have increased production costs in Nigeria. That has led a number of consumer goods companies — including Unilever, GSK, and Procter & Gamble — to consider shutting down or pivoting to only import items. The company’s revenues dropped 23.7% in the first quarter of this year due to the weakening naira. CEO Jonathan Myers said the company has “broader forex impact that we cannot mitigate.”

The conditions that have frustrated these companies still persist. Nigeria’s inflation rose to 33.2% in March, a near-three-decade high. And while the naira has grown stronger in recent weeks, the currency remains weaker than it was before Bola Tinubu became Nigeria’s president last May.

— Alexander Onukwue in Lagos

DRC demands answers from Apple

Lawyers representing the DR Congo have written to Apple CEO Tim Cook demanding answers on the sourcing of minerals used to manufacture the company’s products.

The lawyers shared concerns that Apple’s supply chain may be tainted by blood minerals — those obtained through unethical mining practices — from the DRC.

The group of lawyers, led by Robert Amsterdam of Amsterdam & Partners LLP in Washington DC and William Bourdon of Bourdon & Associés in Paris, also wrote to Apple subsidiaries in France, demanding a response within three weeks.

Amsterdam & Partners said it was appointed to represent DRC in litigation related to “individuals and companies involved in the chain of extraction, supply and commercialization of natural resources and minerals pillaged from the DRC.” The law firm also released a new report on Thursday that repeats accusations that DRC’s neighbor Rwanda is backing militant group M23 in eastern Congo to control lucrative mineral trade routes. Kigali has repeatedly denied the allegations.

“Year after year, Apple has sold technology made with minerals sourced from a region whose population is being devastated by grave violations of human rights,” said Amsterdam. He added that Apple’s claim that it verifies the origins of minerals used in the manufacture of its products “do not appear to be based on concrete, verifiable evidence.”

— Martin

Governance

🇸🇸 South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir and Vice President Riek Machar have “agreed in principle” to postpone the 2024 elections, a senior opposition official told Sudans Post. The official said the two leaders would work on the terms of the agreement, including the timeframe for elections.

🇲🇱 Political parties and civil society organizations in Mali have urged the country’s Supreme Court to annul an order by the ruling junta suspending political activities. Mali’s junta seized power in a coup in 2021 and has yet to organize elections to restore civilian rule.

🇰🇪 Kenya’s environmental authority this week announced a ban on the use of plastic bags for collecting organic waste, which is set to take effect in three months. Kenya banned single-use plastic bags in 2017.

🇨🇬 Congo Brazzaville on Tuesday declared an epidemic of mpox after 19 confirmed cases. The World Health Organization renamed the virus mpox to replace the term monkeypox.

Deals

🇿🇦 A proposal by BHP, the world’s largest mining group, to acquire its rival Anglo American for £31 billion ($39 billion) has been criticized by the latter as an “opportunistic” bid, the Financial Times reported. South African state-owned entity PIC is the biggest shareholder of Anglo American.

🇿🇦 South Africa’s Standard Bank invested in Acre Impact Capital’s Export Finance Fund I with a target raise of $1.7 billion of private capital for renewable energy, health, food, water security, and green transportation projects in Africa.

🇰🇪 Kenya-based FSD Africa Investments will invest $1 million in Linea Capital, a South African investment firm that funds small businesses.

🇳🇬 Stanbic IBTC bank in Nigeria intends to raise 550 billion naira ($458 million) to meet the central bank’s new capital requirements.

Climate

🇰🇪 Kenya-based e-mobility startup BasiGo received orders for 500 electric buses from public service vehicles operators in Nairobi, it said on Tuesday.

🇰🇪🇧🇮 East Africa has been hit by massive flooding following weeks of torrential rainfall. The rains in Kenya have killed at least 32 people and displaced more than 40,000, while Burundi has called for international assistance.

🇹🇿 Tanzania’s prime minister on Sunday flagged off a trial run of the country’s third electric standard gauge railway from the port city of Dar es Salaam to the capital, Dodoma.

Tech

🇨🇩 Telcos in DR Congo — Orange, Vodacom, Airtel and Africell — agreed to collectively pay an extra $5.8 million in taxes per month following a stand-off with the government that threatened their operating licenses, a Bloomberg report reveals.

🇿🇦 A glitch on the app of South African bank FNB exposed personal information of 88 home loan applicants last year, an industry regulator’s preliminary investigation found.

🌍 Three African tech startups — Kola Market, GoBEBA, and New Form Foods — received $200,000 each from Madica Ventures, a US-based Africa focused investor.

Geopolitics

🌍 The US Department of the Treasury on Tuesday imposed sanctions on leaders of militant groups for “hostage-taking and wrongful detention of civilians.” The sanctions affect leaders of the West African branch of al Qaeda and Islamist militant group Al-Mourabitoun.

Energy

🇿🇲 Zambia’s state-owned electricity utility Zesco said on Monday it was considering importing power to plug a potential energy deficit that could affect output. The southern African nation generates 86% of its electricity from hydropower stations, which have been affected by severe drought.

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This year’s World Malaria Day (April 25) comes at a time when scientists are making huge strides in the fight against the disease. Two malaria vaccines will be introduced across Africa this year. The RTS,S and R21 vaccines will be offered to young children, who suffer most acutely from the disease. Developed by Oxford University, the R21 vaccination is the result of 30 years of research at the university, Adrian Hill, director of its Jenner Institute and chief investigator for the vaccine told The Conversation. Malaria is caused by a parasite, rather than a virus or bacterium, meaning that perfecting treatment of it has dogged researchers for years: The “malaria parasite goes through four life cycle stages,” making it “as complex as it gets with infectious pathogens,” Hill said. As we reported last week, one innovative approach involves altering the genetic makeup of mosquitoes.

• Sam Altman’s Worldcoin is running low on orbs.
• Victor Khosla on “toasty” equity.
• Why the new US campus protestors cover their faces.

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— Yinka, Alexis, Alexander Onukwue, Martin Siele, Muchira Gachenge, and Jenna Moon