Search Results for: Nigeria

BY EMMA JACKSON, KEITH NUTHALL, ALAN OSBORN, PAUL COCHRANE and BILL CORCORAN

WEST Africa is becoming a key region in the booming trade of illicit cigarettes, counterfeit copies of premium brands and smuggled properly branded and manufactured sticks. So much money is being made by criminals using this often-chaotic region as a hub to receive illicit sticks and then distribute them throughout Africa that this trade is becoming a matter of serious concern to the United Nations and even NATO.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

SIGNIFICANT environmental improvements in Russia and Nigeria have been largely responsible for cutting global gas flaring over the past three years by 22 billion cubic metres (bcm), despite a 5% rise in crude oil production. The World Bank-led Global Gas Flaring Reduction partnership (GGFR) says flaring peaked at 162 bcm in 2005 and declined to 140 bcm in 2008.…

BY GEORGE STONE

GHANA, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are Africa’s latest upstream hotspots as major energy firms seek new provinces outside of regional heavyweight oil producers Nigeria and Angola. But jockeying for position has already led to friction between governments and the industry.…

BY MAKKI MARSEILLES

TOBACCO manufacturing in Greece is alive and well and the industry is looking forward to a very fine future. A ban on smoking in public places introduced this April 1 has had very little effect so far and a reported 6% drop in sales alleged by some retailers has not been substantiated, stressed the Association of Greek Tobacco Industries.…

By Leah Germain, International News Services

Globalisation has created new opportunities for the transfer of people and products across borders, and broadened the scope of many businesses around the world. But it’s not all good news of course: one of the seamier sides of growing international commerce is the abduction and trafficking of human beings. 

The problem is getting worse. Just over a year since the collapse of the global market, countries around the world have reported a significant increase in cases of the exploitation of people for monetary gain. While cases of kidnapping and ransom continue to be common in African and Latin American countries, such as Nigeria and Venezuela, the majority of organized human trafficking cases are actually in Europe.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THERE were more pirate attacks from January to June of this year on crude oil tankers worldwide than in the same period of any year since 2004, the latest report from the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) has shown.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE GLOBAL body helping to fight maritime pirates has advised the paint and coatings industry to look hard at their supply routes and prepare contingency plans in case cargoes sail close to global piracy hotspots. At present, two problem areas stand out: off Somalia, in and out of the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea; and to a lesser extent off western Africa, especially near the Niger Delta.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

MOST people use a post office, so they are an ideal outlet for spreading important public health messages such as about avoiding HIV. As a result, the Universal Postal Union (UPU), UNAIDS, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the UNI Global Union trade union federation are launching a global awareness campaign using post office.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

NIGERIA should divert foreign direct investment from its oil sector and into manufacturing and food processing, the UN Conference on Trade and Development has argued. A policy review says oil investment has not "had a major impact on economic diversification, technological innovation, employment, and poverty reduction."…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AFRICA’S economy has been weakened by an oil industry hit hard by the global recession and OPEC quota cuts, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) African Economic Outlook report has reported. Angola’s economy should contract 7.2%, assuming OPEC quota cuts hit oil production.…