Africa Briefs

Africa Briefs Zuma has no plans for free education

South Africa's President Jacob Zuma has no plans to announce a programme for free higher education until he reviews the report of a commission studying the feasibility of such a programme, his office said in a statement on Sunday.

Zuma's office rejected a report by the Sunday Times that he had planned to announce a R40 billion education plan during his State of the Nation Address last February.

The Mail & Guardian said on Friday the government was considering a range of budget cuts to pay for free tertiary education. Those cuts might include social grants for the most vulnerable and the budgets for housing, infrastructure and the armed forces, the newspaper said. – Nampa/Reuters

Nigerian lawmakers want oil savings account scrapped

Nigerian lawmakers last week called on the government to scrap a sovereign wealth fund that the Natural Resource Governance Institute, an international watchdog, has called one of the world's most opaque and poorly governed.

The Excess Crude Account (ECA), which as of September held US$2.31 billion, is a rainy day fund that in theory takes money from oil sold over and above the finance ministry's benchmark price, and can be used to plug emergency gaps in spending.

The upper chamber of parliament passed a motion calling for the operation of the ECA to be suspended, saying it was in violation of the constitution.

A committee will be set up to investigate the movement of money in and out of the account and identify any infractions, the senate motion said. – Nampa/Reuters

US signs massive compact with Ivory Coast

The Millennium Challenge Corporation, the US government's main development fund, has signed a US$524.7 million investment compact with Ivory Coast to build schools and improve roads around the busy port in the commercial capital Abidjan.

The MCC said its grant funding would help build 84 secondary schools and train teachers to boost education in a country where roughly 40% of the population is under 14.

It said its investments in the Abidjan Transport Project will help rebuild the road network around Abidjan's port, among the busiest in Sub-Saharan African, and reduce transport costs. – Nampa/Reuters

DRC: Election pressure due to foreign 'greed'

The Democratic Republic of Congo last week said foreign "greed" for its cobalt lay behind the "malicious" pressures weighing on the country's electoral process.

The DRC is in the grip of a crisis over plans to hold presidential elections. A mineral-rich country a quarter the size of Europe, but mired in poverty and corruption as well as scarred by ethnic divisions and fighting in its east, DRC is one of Africa's most volatile nations.

Western countries, as well as the influential Roman Catholic church, have led the effort to prevent the crisis over Pres. Joseph Kabila's departure from erupting into bloody violence. – Nampa/AFP