World's largest power-ships are helping to electrify Africa and other roundups from the dark continent
Source: Borgen
THE CONTINENT
World’s largest powerships are helping to electrify Asia, Africa
A floating power plant isn’t something one sees every day. The massive ships look like plants one would see on land complete with tall exhaust stacks—except these plants are bobbing in the ocean. They might look odd, but for people in growing economies around the world, the ships are a welcome sight. The floating power plants can dock in the harbor, crank up their turbines and start quickly generating electricity for customers on land. Many of these ships can be found in Africa and Asia, where electricity is often more scarce than labor and investments and power outages regularly shut down work. But they could also be used to help supply electricity to the more than 1 billion people who don’t have any. “The transmission speed of the generated electricity has become critical as the world’s demand for energy increases with each passing day,” says Osman M. Karadeniz, chairman of Karpowership, one of the world’s largest powership operators.
The numbers bear out his argument. The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that world energy consumption will increase 48 percent by 2040. Karpowership, an affiliate of Turkey’s Karadeniz Energy Group, is building the kind of massive and mobile equipment that can quickly start meeting that demand. The company is planning to increase its installed capacity to 2.5 gigawatts [GW], enough to power nearly 17 million homes. A key part of that plan is the company’s new Khan class of powerships, the largest such vessels ever built. Each of the vessels is three football fields long. They can generate 486 megawatts [MW], which is more than any previous powerships.
Karpowership recently partnered with GE to supply the transformers for four new Khan-class ship. The transformers send the power the ships generate over wires to local transmission grids, and from there it goes out to end users. GE designed the transformers specifically with the powerships in mind. They have a coating that protects against salt and moisture and can work in temperatures ranging from -20 to 50 degrees Celsius. The devices, which GE makes in Gebze, Turkey, have reinforced mechanical connectors for protection against sea oscillations— a weather phenomenon that’s a result of fluctuations in atmospheric pressure at sea level.
Karpowership’s power plant vessels only require a depth of 5 meters (16 feet) to operate at ports, which make them suitable for multi-island countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines that have long coastlines. Karpowership’s 125 MW Zeynep Sultan ship, for example, is currently berthed and supplying electricity to Amurang, Indonesia, and similar vessels are operating in Africa and the Middle East.
Source: GE Africa (Lagos)
AfDB injects U.S. $ 1 billion to end youth unemployment in Africa
The African Development Bank (AfDB) together with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is embarking on the initiative “Jobs for Youth in Africa”, aimed to put an end to youth unemployment in the continent by creating 8 million agribusiness jobs within five years. The president of the AfDB, a former Nigerian minister of agriculture, Akinwumi Adesina visited the Agripreneurs training centre at IITA on September 27, and reiterated his commitment to the initiative.
Under Adesina’s leadership the AfDB has extended support to African youth through the IITA Youth Agripreneurs program that will be scaling up the model of youth engagement in agribusiness. In recognition of his continuous support and commitment to the cause of African youth, IITA will be preserving Adesina’s legacy by naming after him the state-of-the-art youth training centre at IITA headquarters in Ibadan and in Abuja, Nigeria. The training centres and facilities provided by the AfDB and the IITA will assist African youths to take on work in the agricultural sector. The initiative also seeks to encourage the many unemployed African youths to become involved in agriculture in order to make it a driving force for development in Africa.
Nigeria is not the only African country with high youth unemployment. Youth unemployment in South Africa was estimated at 51.5 percent in 2014; Namibia 40.1 percent; and Algeria 28.4 percent. Three in every five young workers in Sub-Saharan Africa do not have the level of education required for them to compete in the job market.
The AfDB president set forth his five development priorities for the institution when he took office in September 2015. One of these priorities is the ‘Feed Africa’ initiative, an agricultural transformation strategy that aims to unlock Africa’s agricultural potential. The strategy also aims to boost job creation with the view of making the agriculture sector profitable and a starting point for industrialisation. With the ‘Feed Africa’ strategy, Africa would be able to feed itself and reduce net food importation by 2025.
“There is no reason for Africa to spend USD 35 billion importing food when the continent could feed itself, said Adesina, adding Africa must become a global powerhouse in food and agriculture.” And indeed, it could. Africa disposes of some 400 million hectares of agricultural land, waiting to be cultivated. However, different laws, regulations, policies and institutions applying to each African country make it hard for local farmers to access seeds, modern technology and equipment, and to transport their goods in order to sell them on the market.
In order to make the agricultural sector in Africa profitable, it needs to be transformed. African countries need to increase trade amongst each other, maximising their production and getting the food to where it is needed, instead of buying it from outside the continent. Removing barriers to regional trade will benefit farmers, who will make more money from the rising demand, as well as consumers, who are able to buy food cheaper and have more job opportunities by engaging in the growing agriculture sector.
In order to unlock Africa’s large agricultural potential, African governments need to take collective action and produce a set of common rules, standards and taxes. Lifting the barriers to food trade could not only increase Africa’s production, eventually becoming able to feed itself, but could also contribute to decrease the high youth unemployment and give millions of young women and men a future in which they are able to sustain themselves.
Source: IPS
Africa food import bill projected to hit U.S. $ 110 billion in 10 Years
The African Development Bank (AfDB) President, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, has said that Africa is currently importing food worth $35 billion annually and this figure could hit $110 billion by 2025 if concerted efforts are not made by concerned authorities and other stakeholders to halt the unacceptable trend. Dr. Adesina disclosed this on September 27 during a visit to the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Station in Abuja.
The AfDB President did not just stop at pointing out the ugly situation but proffered solution: “The need to feed Africa needs the youths. Our talented youths must be mentored, encouraged and supported to productively engage in agriculture as a business so as to reverse the trend of growing food import bill in Africa,” he advised.
Dr. Adesina said there was a great need to create opportunities for young people as entrepreneurs, especially in agriculture, to lift Africa from hunger and poverty. He said AfDB has already fashioned out a programme known as Enable Youth Programme that creates jobs for African youths, which will make them future millionaires and billionaires in the continent. According to him, the programme which is anchored by the IITA in Nigeria targets training of 37,000 agribusiness entrepreneurs and creating about 185,000 jobs across the country.
Source: Daily Trust (Abuja)
CENTRAL AFRICA
Top court upholds Ali Bongo’s election in Gabon
Gabon’s constitutional court has rejected a challenge by opposition leader Jean Ping. International observers questioned the validity of the results that saw President Ali Bongo re-elected. The court on September 23 threw out Ping’s challenge, thereby declaring Bongo’s re-election legitimate in spite of international criticism.
Bongo (pictured) was declared the winner of the August 27 election, though he won by a narrow margin – around 5,000 votes. Ping subsequently called on the international community to intervene, claiming the election was “stolen.” Results of the election led to riots in the capital of Libreville, as well as other cities around the country. As many as 1,100 people were arrested during the unrest, and at least six people were reported killed.
The government’s justice minister resigned after Bongo’s administration refused to release more detailed election results. Meanwhile, EU election monitors questioned the validity of the results from Haut-Ogooue province, which saw a suspiciously high turnout. “The integrity of the provisional results for this province is consequently put into question,” said Mariya Gabriel, the EU’s chief observer of the polls.
When reviewing the election results, the court refused to see evidence provided by Ping, including vote tally sheets from Haut-Ogooue. Meanwhile, Bongo’s allies submitted evidence countering Ping’s claims. France, the former colonial power of Gabon, also stepped in by calling for a recount. The country has a history of intervening in the affairs of its former colonies, such as when it aided in the removal of Cote d’Ivoire’s President Laurent Gbagbo in 2011.
A UN human rights spokesperson said the organization was concerned by the situation in Gabon. The Bongo family has been in power since the 1960s. Ali Bongo was first elected in 2009 after the death of his father, Omar Bongo.
Source: Deutsche Walle
Government, UN join efforts to empower refugees in Rwanda
The government and the UN’s refugee agency launched a joint strategy on September 26 meant to support economic development of refugees in host communities, at an event attended by different stakeholders, in Kigali. The 2016-2020 strategy, jointly owned by the Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs (MIDMAR) and the UNHCR, envisions that, eventually, all refugees and neighbouring communities are able to fulfill their productive potential as self-reliant members of society ably contributing to the economic development of the host nation.
Seraphine Mukantabana, the Minister for Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs (MIDIMAR), said the launch “has come at an appropriate time” following the recently concluded Refugees Summit at the UN General Assembly to address large movements of refugees and migrants, with the aim of rallying countries behind a more humane and coordinated approach. She said: “This is an opportunity to look back as a nation and with partners at what our country has achieved over the years in finding solutions to the refugee problem, recognise efforts made by all of you here present to make it possible, but also, to identify what could be done and how best to make it happen, together.” “It is our belief in Rwanda that the responsibility put on our nation of receiving refugees and making them as comfortable as humanely possible is more of a moral than humanitarian act.”
The overall objective of the strategy, according to Jacob Oster, livelihoods officer at UNHCR, is for the refugee camps in the country to become places of vibrant social and economic activity with active markets, shops, restaurants, and industries, such as cottage factories, run by refugees together with the host communities. This, he noted, will eventually create jobs even for the host communities within and beyond the districts where refugee camps are situated. To make things happen, the ministry and UNHCR are to work with the Private Sector Federation (PSF) as well as individual companies towards the inclusion of refugee-hosting areas in their value chains. This includes setting up cottage industries for the production of goods and services required by refugees and host communities and ensuring that people with marketable skills in both groups “are employable in their businesses.”
The task at hand, it was explained, is getting to a situation whereby a refugee is free from dependence from humanitarian aid and only relies on MIDMAR and UNHCR for international protection. Taking participants through the joint strategy, Oster presented concrete examples of institutions that are providing refugees in the country opportunities to be self-reliant. He cited the Kimironko-based Kepler University, a non-profit education institution which is helping Rwandan and refugee students, alike, to obtain American university degrees without leaving Rwanda. The UNHCR is partnering with the varsity to ensure that all its refugee students have access to paid internship during their studies and jobs for entrepreneurship after graduation, he said.
Sylivia Uhirwa, the Admissions and Communications Manager at Kepler University, told The New Times that they launched a “reinventing higher education” programme in Kiziba refugee camp, located in the Western Province, last year, with view to taking higher education opportunities “to the most disadvantaged” and in a more easily accessible manner. “People in refugee camps get access to primary and secondary school education but it is usually difficult for them to access university education. Our programme was welcomed with open arms as the students are eager to learn,” Uhirwa said. “The community setting in Kiziba is very organised, being one of the oldest refugee camps in the country. It’s easy to connect with the students there. They are eager and always involved in many things, including teaching in local secondary schools.”
The world’s first American university campus in a refugee camp, she said, has been to various refugee camps in the country to determine the number of interested refugee students who meet requirements for the competitive programme. The university now counts 50 refugee students in Kiziba and is considering an expansion programme to other camps. Other examples presented by Oster include Inyenyeri, a social enterprise that leases high-tech clean cooking stoves to low income households in exchange for either cash or biomass that the firm then turns into fuel pellets for use in stoves.
MIDIMAR and the UNHCR are partnering to enable Inyenyeri to establish markets in refugee camps and include refugees in the value chain as retailers, maintainers, and producers. Rwanda hosts about 160,000 refugees in six refugee camps across the country, namely Kiziba camp in Karongi District; Nyabiheke, Gihembe, Kigeme camps in Nyamagabe District; Mugombwa camp in Gisagara District and Mahama camp in Kirehe District. Almost all the refugees come from neighbours DR Congo and Burundi, that have experienced conflict and political tensions in recent years.
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