By Ziad Hamoui Multilateral Development Banks now account for more than half of Africa’s net financial flows – a 124 percent increase that is fueling one...
By Michele Moscaritoli As foreign direct investment falters and aid budgets shrink, one capital flow has remained remarkably steady. Operators who understand why are building businesses...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In mid-2022, West African heads of state made a pragmatic, if uncomfortable, concession. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) lifted...
By Michele Moscaritoli Nigeria’s slowdown is a reminder that regional growth figures can flatter to deceive – and that smart investors build structure, not just exposure....
By Michele Moscaritoli Africa’s largest economy offers unmatched opportunity – but investors are waiting for the fog to clear. Nigeria should dominate every emerging-market investment ranking....
By Farhia Noor The Sahel is teaching the world a lesson it had forgotten: Africa is neither weak nor helpless. And it is certainly not for...
By Lailla Mutajogera The secret to profitable manufacturing in Africa isn’t capital, risk assessment, or even sector selection – it’s understanding who needs your factory to...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu For decades, Liberia stood as a beacon of stability in West Africa. Then came the late 1980s, when civil war shattered that...
By Michele Moscaritoli West Africa is recalibrating its economic compass – not outward toward traditional global markets, but inward, across its own borders. The shift is...
By Ziad Hamoui Ghana’s president is right to call current trade arrangements neo-colonial. But diagnosis without execution changes nothing. Ghana produces the cocoa. Switzerland pockets US$130...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu The pattern has become grimly familiar across Africa: military coups followed by promises of democratic transition, then a return to authoritarianism. But...
By Mark-Anthony Johnson Can a West African nation plagued by poverty replicate Asia’s most audacious economic miracle? In the pantheon of ambitious national rebranding exercises, few...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu The collapse of the G5 Sahel should serve as a wake-up call: African states cannot defeat violent extremism through fragmented, go-it-alone strategies....
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Southern Africa stands apart. While military coups have swept across West and Central Africa with alarming regularity, the Southern African Development Community...
By Gregory Simpkins Africa is home to 11 of the world’s 20 fastest-growing economies in 2024, with countries like Niger, Senegal and Libya leading the charge....
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Guinea-Bissau’s military has once again seized power, plunging the small West African nation into yet another cycle of political instability. While this...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu If a wall is to be built between West Africa’s coastal states and the encroaching extremism of the Sahel, it cannot be...
By Farhia Noor In African cosmology, the Harmattan is more than a seasonal wind – it is a revealer. It strips away illusion with its dry,...
By Davida Ademuyiwa While headlines often spotlight coups, crises, or commodity booms, one West African nation has been quietly crafting a different narrative – one rooted...
By Des H Rikhotso In an era of global uncertainty, one financial flow remains remarkably resilient – remittances. Across Africa, these cross-border transfers from diaspora communities...
By Godfred Zina In October 2025, two of Africa’s longest-serving leaders – Cameroon’s 92-year-old Paul Biya and Ivory Coast’s 83-year-old Alassane Ouattara – secured yet another...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu When President Bola Ahmed Tinubu announced the sudden removal of Nigeria’s four top military commanders – including the Chief of Defence Staff...
By Godfred Zina After emerging from the ashes of the 2010–11 post-election violence – a crisis that left over 3,000 dead and deepened national fractures –...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Last Friday, I arrived in Lomé for the second edition of the Lomé Peace and Security Forum – an event that has...
By Danilo Desiderio The Alliance of Sahel States (AES) – comprising Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger – has signaled its intent to take a decisive step...
By Dishant Shah In the 1970s, Lagos was a modest coastal city of just 1.5 million people. Today, it’s a sprawling metropolis of over 20 million...
By Ziad Hamoui In Accra last week, the ECOWAS Commission launched the US$10 million West Africa Livestock Marketing Support Programme (PACBAO-2) – a bold, long-term initiative...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In 1963, as African nations emerged from colonial rule, Ghana’s visionary leader Kwame Nkrumah made a bold call: the continent needed a...
By Ziad Hamoui In a landmark move for regional integration, Ghana and Burkina Faso signed a pivotal railway cooperation agreement last Thursday in Accra, setting the...
By Ziad Hamoui In a bold move that could reshape the economic landscape of West Africa, President John Dramani Mahama’s recent address to investors in Singapore...
By Gregory Simpkins The wave of coups in Africa’s western region, including the Sahel, offered hope that Pan-Africanism had taken hold and that neocolonial powers, notably...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Since rejoining the African Union in 2017, Morocco has steadily expanded its influence across the continent, with a particular focus on West...
By Godfred Zina As the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) marks its 50th anniversary, the regional bloc finds itself at a pivotal moment. Despite...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu On Tuesday, February 4, 2025, I had the distinct honor of being a guest speaker at the US Army War College Africa...
By Godfred Zina Despite ongoing diplomatic tensions in Africa, 17 heads of state, including Nigerian President and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Chair Bola...
Festive seasons bring about merrymaking in various homes across the globe. They really provide an avenue for intercultural relations while showing the similarities that exist in...
West Africa has been in the news in recent times due to the security challenges it faces. In the north, east, and the eastern half of...
By Gregory Simpkins France, one of the European colonial powers that divided up the African continent at the infamous Belin Conference of 1885, is on the...
AP | Ghana’s former President John Dramani Mahama is set to return to office in the West African nation’s presidential election after the ruling party candidate,...
By Mary Alorh The shifting dynamics of global power over recent decades have profoundly impacted policies and diplomatic relations, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. African nations are...
Rice holds deep cultural significance in Sierra Leone, where a meal without rice is considered incomplete. However, surging rice prices have forced many to sacrifice other...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In February, I engaged in a discussion about the evolving security landscape in West Africa with an American business executive based in...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In 2022, Mali unilaterally withdrew from the G5 Sahel after the military alliance raised concerns about the country’s internal affairs. This decision...
By Mary Alorh The rising concerns over terrorism in Ghana have led me to reflect on my journey through West Africa, a region where I witnessed...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu The Republic of Niger, the largest country in West Africa by land area and the third largest in the Sahel after Chad...
Liberian President Joseph Boakai has raised concerns over the increasing risk of proxy conflicts in West Africa, calling for measures to prevent the region from becoming...
Bloomberg | Ghana’s economy expanded at its fastest pace in five years in the second quarter, beating economists’ estimates by more than double, after better performances...
The US$20 billion Lagos-based Dangote Refinery is set to begin supplying Premium Motor Spirit (petrol), marking a major shift for Nigeria as it reduces its dependence...
By Godfred Zina Amid growing insecurity and instability in West Africa, Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo unveiled key security strategies at the Second International Defense Exhibition and...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu The Global Terrorism Index, a comprehensive study evaluating the impact of terrorism in 163 countries, covers about 99.7 percent of the world’s...
Bloomberg | Senegal’s government set up a commission to examine natural-resource contracts awarded to foreign investors and establish whether they comply with the West African nation’s...
AFP | Crouched next to a pile of fresh mangoes, Senegalese farmer Mame Abdou Diop shoots a TikTok clip hoping it will be a hit with...
AFP | Lilith Dorsey is an American citizen living in New Orleans, but it is in Benin that she could end her days to “feel closer...
Bloomberg | Lagos-based FCMB Asset Management Ltd. is seeking to raise 100 billion naira (US$63 million) in Nigeria’s first private credit fund to support mid-sized firms...
By Mary Alorh The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a regional organization in West Africa, has recently faced challenges due to the formation of...
By Gregory Simpkins For nearly half a century, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), established with the Treaty of Lagos in 1975, has endeavored...
Reuters | Niger’s junta has agreed to talks with Benin’s government, led by two former Benin presidents, to help restore relations after a coup in Niger...
Nigeria’s new Dangote oil refinery is ramping up gas oil exports to West Africa, capturing market share from European refiners, according to traders and shipping data....
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In 1980, Leopold Senghor, the founding president of Senegal, voluntarily stepped down from power and handed the reins to his prime minister....
By Fidel Amakye Owusu When the United States declared war on global terrorism in 2001, it was equipped with the world’s most powerful military in terms...
Barring any last-minute changes, the US$20 billion Dangote Oil Refinery is set to be listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange by December 2024. Aliko Dangote, the...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu During the Cold War, the West held significant influence in West Africa, particularly through France, which had considerable control over many countries...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In mid-2022, leaders from West Africa convened to lift economic and diplomatic sanctions imposed on Mali and Burkina Faso. These measures were...
By Gregory Simpkins When then-Senegalese president Abdoulaye Wade congratulated his opponent on his victory and peacefully stepped down following the 2012 election, he was internationally praised...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Several months ago, Philip Reynolds, PhD, a friend and former co-editor of The Defence Horizon Journal, with whom I have collaborated on...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu After the military coup in Niger on July 26, 2023, I was sought by various media platforms where I granted several interviews....
Reuters | Senegal’s Constitutional Council on Thursday ruled that parliament’s unprecedented postponement of the February 25 presidential vote was not in line with the constitution, pitching...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In 1980, Senegal’s first president, Léopold Senghor, voluntarily stepped down from power and handed over office to his prime minister, Abdou Diouf....
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Not long after independence, three West African countries decided to form a closer bond. The Ghana-Guinea-Mali Union resulted. After a few years,...
By Gregory Simpkins The African ‘coup train’ keeps on rolling with the latest coup attempt in Sierra Leone. This time, however, the coup was thwarted before...
AFP | After he won last month the nomination as Ghana’s ruling party presidential candidate in the 2024 election, Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia quickly made clear...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Last November, Ghanaian President, Nana Akufo-Addo, raised issues with a possible presence of The Wagner Group in Burkina Faso. He was concerned...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In the 1950s, 60s and 70s, when many countries in West Africa faced political instability and concomitant economic decay, Liberia was one...
AP | Liberian President George Weah conceded defeat late Friday after provisional results from this week’s runoff vote showed challenger Joseph Boakai beating him by just...
Reuters | Ghana’s government has approved its first lithium mine run by a subsidiary of Australia-based Atlantic Lithium Limited, the West African country said on Thursday,...
AP | Liberia’s presidential election Wednesday appeared headed for a run-off, with the top candidates neck and neck and the votes nearly fully counted. President George...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu There is a popular saying that a disease that does not kill you strengthens you. In some cases, this has been scientifically...
AP | Liberian President George Weah is seeking a second term in office Tuesday, hoping that his efforts to pave roads, build hospitals and bring electricity...
The Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Ernest Addison, stated on Monday that recent data suggests the country’s economic growth is more robust than expected. He...
Africa News | Niger’s military coup leaders announced the appointment of Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine as prime minister on Monday evening in a statement read out...
Bloomberg | Liberian President George Weah will face over a dozen opponents when the country votes in a October 10 general election amid mounting anger over...
By Gregory Simpkins The coup virus in Africa continues to infect nations – even those that had seemed somewhat immune. Niger has been considered a beacon...
AFP | Ivory Coast’s former president Henri Konan Bédié has died aged 89 in hospital in Abidjan, a member of his party’s communications team told AFP...
By D. Yaw Atiglo What is the age makeup of Ghana’s population? It is important to look at the trends in the changing population structure. Ghana’s...
AFP | West African heads of state on Sunday chose Nigeria’s new President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to lead their regional bloc for the next year, replacing...
AP | Sierra Leonean President Julius Maada Bio has won a second term in office, receiving 56.17 percent of ballots cast and narrowly clearing the threshold...
Reuters | Ghana’s main opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), voted overwhelmingly on Saturday to retain former president, John Mahama, as its leader for the...
By Gregory Simpkins It was predicted that Nigeria’s 2023 elections would demonstrate significant progress in political plurality in the country. It has not thus far. It...
Reuters | Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday signed an executive order setting up a council to facilitate the transition to a new president who will...
Less than 3 months after Antigua Airways made its inaugural flight emanating from West Africa, the Antigua & Barbuda government has taken a decision to temporarily...
AP | Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has marked the opening of a US$1.5 billion, Chinese-funded deep seaport in the commercial hub of Lagos that authorities hope...
AFP | Sierra Leone passed a law Thursday requiring public and private entities to reserve 30 percent of their jobs for women, in a bid to...
Bloomberg | MTN Group Ltd. is considering divesting some of its smaller operations in West Africa as its focuses on core markets, people familiar with the...
AFP | West African leaders agreed on Sunday to create a regional force to intervene against jihadism and in the event of coups, a senior official...
AFP | President Nana Akufo-Addo on Monday fired Ghana’s junior finance minister over corruption allegations made in an upcoming documentary on illegal gold mining. The president...
The Antigua & Barbuda government has defended the decision to allow for Antigua Airways to operate flights from West Africa directly to the Caribbean country saying...
Reuters | A consortium led by Ethiopian Airlines is the preferred bidder for shares in new Nigerian airline Nigeria Air, the country’s aviation minister said on...
Reuters | Ghana has started a bulk purchase initiative to buy gold locally to raise the gold component of its reserves, Central Bank Governor Ernest Addison...
Reuters | Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) President Alassane Ouattara has named Tiémoko Meyliet Koné, governor of the West African central bank, as his vice president in...
Bloomberg | Nigerian lawmakers have passed a constitutional reform bill that will allow state government’s supply electricity in Africa’s most populous country, breaking the monopoly of...
The recent wave of coups in West Africa reflects both a generational divide and a history of military involvement in African politics.
AFP | Prosecutors on Tuesday called for a 30-year jail term against Burkina Faso’s former president Blaise Compaore for the 1987 murder of his predecessor, revolutionary...
AFP | West African leaders hold a key summit on Thursday as a wave of coups buffet a region struggling with poverty and a long history...
The trains will ease traffic in Lagos, Nigeria’s economic capital
Barrow promises economic progress after he is sworn in for second presidential term
AP | Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, the former president of Mali who took office in a landmark election held after a destabilizing coup only to be ousted...
West African community imposes additional sanctions on Mali
"We are working very hard with the ministry of health to develop vaccines. We shouldn't make noise about it until we succeed." - Muhammadu Buhari
AP | Gambia’s former dictator, Yahya Jammeh, should face prosecution for murder, torture and sexual violence, according to a new report by a truth, reconciliation and...
Non-Ghanaian nationals not fully vaccinated may be denied entry and returned to the point of embarkation at a cost to the airline
AFP | Burkina Faso’s premier and government resigned Wednesday as protests mounted against officials’ inability to combat a wave of jihadist attacks. President Roch Marc Christian...
The Nigeria Country Risk report which has been released by Fitch Solutions has projected the West African country’s economy to grow by 2.8 percent in 2022....
Reuters |West Africa’s main political and economic bloc imposed sanctions on Sunday against Mali’s transitional leaders after they informed the organization they would not be able...
AFP | Guinea’s new prime minister Mohamed Beavogui on Thursday promised to follow a plan to restore civilian rule set out by the West African state’s...
Nigeria, will launch its eNaira digital currency on October 1, while Ghana will trial e-Cedi from this month.
West and Central Africa has seen 4 coups since last year
ECOWAS reaffirmed its opposition to any political changes by unconstitutional means and condemn in strongest terms, this coup.
Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana together account for 65 percent of global cocoa production; Farmers in these two countries earn less than 6 percent of the chocolate...
Group of 15 West African countries have adopted a new road map to launch a single currency in 2027 after previous plans derailed by COVID-19 pandemic.
By Mohammed Momoh Capital markets in Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) region are working towards integration by the first quarter of 2016. The rationale...
The most talented and ambitious entrepreneurs in West Africa are being urged to join a new hackathon program this month in Accra, Ghana, which hopes to...
When Ebola hit Uganda two years ago, the country’s president quickly went on national TV and urged Ugandans to avoid touching each other. Health officials speedily...
The Ebola outbreak in three West African countries is already the deadliest to date with over 500 fatalities, and is expected to be the longest on...
Ebola is continuing to spread in three West African countries and the death toll in the outbreak has risen to more than 330. Health officials are...
The immediate past governor of Nigeria’s Central Bank, Lamido Sanusi, has been named the new emir of the powerful Kano emirate, to succeed late Ado Bayero....
The president of Guinea, Alpha Conde has signed an iron ore deal that has the capacity to lift the country out of poverty. The world’s second-biggest...
Sanusi Lamido Sanusi has said that he has no problem with investigations that are done by the right institutions. The former Central Bank goveror stated, “These...
Boko Haram rebels have released a video purporting to show some of the Nigerian school girls they abducted last month. Their leader says he will free...
Two decades ago Nigeria’s military was seen as a force for stability across West Africa. Now it struggles to keep security within its own borders as...
Recent hotel developments in Africa indicate a divergence in activity as international firms move into the continent. According to Lagos-based consultancy W Hospitality Group’s 2013 survey,...
Private equity and venture capital is one asset class that is still grossly misunderstood in African economies. This is according to Michelle Essomé, CEO of African Private Equity and...
The Republic of Sierra Leone has conducted talks with Mubadala Development Company on investing in the country’s mining sector. “Mubadala is a potential strategic mining partner...
The legal battle between the suspended governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Mallam Sanusi Lamido, and the Federal Government has taken a new twist...
Angel Fair West Africa has begun with the aim of bringing techpreneurs and active investors together to do deals. “The Lagos Angel Fair Network is a...
President Goodluck Jonathan on Saturday said African leaders should prioritize the structural transformation of African economy if they must achieve regional industrialization initiative. Jonathan said this...
West African nations are working to contain an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus suspected to have killed at least 59 people in Guinea, with symptoms...
2013 was a difficult year for the five BRICS countries. China and Brazil faced slowing growth, South Africa and India were hit by currency instability, and...
Payments technology company, MasterCard, is expanding into seven additional markets across Central and West Africa. The company said, in a statement, that it is adding Chad,...
Benin once had a powerful empire within West Africa. Like the Asante people, this was a militaristic empire that was highly disciplined and formed a mighty...
Africa’s richest man, billionaire Alhaji Aliko Dangote paid a courtesy call, on Thursday, to President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf at her Foreign Ministry Office and briefed her...
Otema Yirenkyi Otema Yirenkyi, has been appointed as Microsoft’s first female country manager in Africa to head up the company’s investment in the rapidly growing west...
Dangote Cement’s gross revenues grew by 29 percent to US$1.82 billion for the third quarter 2013, up from US$1.41 billion recorded in the corresponding period in...
The 2013 West Africa Business Expo to be held in Accra, Ghana on September 5th and 6th has been launched under the theme: “Kick Starting and...
(PR Newswire) – Johannesburg – Gold Fields Limited is pleased to announced the appointment of Alfred Baku (pictured), as Head of its West Africa Region, the...
Law makers in Ghana have revised investment laws to rectify the abuse of sectors reserved for citizens of Ghana by foreign investors, particularly in the retail...
The war against al-Qaeda linked militants in northern Mali including the deployment of African troops is expected to dominate talks at the African Union summit in...
Newly inaugurated Ghana President John Dramani Mahama. PHOTO/Issouf Sanogo/AFP John Dramani Mahama became president of Ghana on Monday, sworn in as the opposition continues to dispute...
The interim president of Mali has named a replacement prime minister following the abrupt forced resignation of Cheikh Modibo Diarra. The political crisis has deepened concerns...
Ghana President John Dramani Mahama. PHOTO/Issouf Sanogo/AFP AP – President John Dramani Mahama on Sunday was declared the winner of Ghana’s presidential election, despite widespread technical...
Sierra Leone readied Friday for a high-stakes election in which incumbent Ernest Koroma is seeking a second term in what is billed as a tight race...
Hundreds of jihadist fighters, mainly from Pakistan, Sudan and Western Sahara, arrived in northern Mali over the weekend to support the Islamist groups ahead of a...
Nigeria Navy SBS Commandos prepare for sea exercise. PHOTO/File Nigeria’s navy says it has rescued a Singapore-owned oil tanker hijacked by pirates on Tuesday night. Nigeria...
Security officials in Nigeria have discovered a bomb-making factory on Saturday in Kano, a northern city that has been plagued by the Boko-Haram Islamist insurgency. The...
Nigeria President Goodluck Jonathan on Sunday dismissed as “blackmail” a call on him by the suspected leader of Islamist group Boko Haram to resign and convert...
The new prime minister of Togo has put together a transitional government following months of political turmoil in the tiny West African country. An announcement read...
Former Liberia President Charles Taylor. PHOTO/AFP In a historic ruling, an international court convicted former Liberian President Charles Taylor on Thursday of aiding and abetting war...
The junior officer who overthrew Mali’s democratically elected leader earlier this month and dissolved the nation’s constitution made a public U-turn Sunday, declaring amid enormous international...
DAKAR, Senegal — Activists in the West African nation of Senegal are vowing to keep up their protests unless the president’s son resigns from his government...
