News
Oduah Plans ICT Mall to Boost N6.4bn Onitsha Market Turnover
Senator Stella Oduah has said that she would build an Information and Communication Technology Mall in Onitsha that will boost the N6.4 billion turnover of the Market.
In an interview with newsmen on Sunday, the Senator who represents Anambra North in the Senate, said that the mall was part of her plans to empower her constituents.
Oduah explained that the Mall will help give the market and the businessmen a more global presence even while they remain in Onitsha, adding that it would also boost the economy of the state.
She said that the Sky mall will come up after the training of 800 youths from her constituents in ICT, adding that the youths will operate the mall.
“We are setting up various ICT Centres. Very soon this month, we are training 800 in ICT. We are going to develop a Sky Mall for the Onitsha Main Market. “Onitsha is a commercial town that has a turnover of N6.4 billion every day, but it is very unorganized.
“So we want to encourage and grow this commercial trade and do it in a way that it would be cost effective so that they have their trade in one shop but with global presence.
“In doing that the value chain will be huge because we would already have technologists and young ICT agents who will develop their sites for them, develop contents and advertise for them,” she said.
For the women, Oduah added that she was working on attracting industries that will depend on the crops produced by the women. The senator stressed that her major aim in joining politics was to liberate her people from poverty and set them on the path of consistent development.
EFCC
The African Development Bank Group last week approved an investment of €6.5 million in the Saviu II fund in order to support technology start-ups through their seed phase and first institutional fundraising, mainly in French-speaking Central and West Africa.
The Bank will invest €4.5 million as equity and €2 million as a first-loss hedging tranche on behalf of the European Commission, under the Boost Africa Programme.
This participation of the Bank Group will enable the Saviu II fund to give priority to companies with a strong technological or digital component.
Saviu II, the second investment vehicle of Saviu Partners, plans to invest between €500,000 and €3 million in about 20 technology or technology-oriented business-to-business start-ups in the seed phase or carrying out first institutional fundraising.
The Saviu II venture capital fund aims to make at least 60% of its commitments in the French-speaking countries of West and Central Africa: Côte d ‘Ivoire, Cameroon, Benin, Senegal, Togo, Burkina Faso and Mali.
The fund can also co-invest in promising technology companies in East Africa that have a strong team and business model, and whose strategy includes entering the market in French-speaking West African countries and establishing a strong presence there.
In addition, the fund will devote a dedicated envelope to pre-seed investments, focusing on minority equity investments, usually in co-investment with studios, incubators or other ecosystem partners.
Nigerian Government has signed a $1.3 billion Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) via the Solid Minerals Development Fund (SMDF) to fund an alumina refinery, national geoscience mapping, and a strategic investment vehicle for mining growth.
Special Assistant to the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Segun Tomori, said the refinery will process one million tonnes of bauxite yearly using a modern Bayer process, powered by an on-site gas-fired cogeneration plant.
Minister Dele Alake called it a transformative milestone boosting GDP, aligning with reforms that improve investment climate, regulations, and licensing to attract private capital. He directed agencies to fast-track permits.
The 20-year project at 95% utilization eyes 19 million tonnes total output, $1.2 billion annual GDP addition, $25 billion economic impact, and $8 billion forex earnings, per feasibility studies.
SMDF Executive Secretary Fatima Shinkafi termed it the agency’s biggest funding deal, supporting value-addition policy.
The partnership extends to geoscience mapping for mineral data, de-risking exploration, and a joint vehicle for mining assets.
Permanent Secretary Engr. Farouk Yabo praised the reforms. Shinkafi signed for government; AFC’s Franklin Edochie for the corporation, witnessed by AFC CEO Samaila Zubairu.
Tomori positioned it as Nigeria’s largest private mining investment and FDI magnet.
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