Abuja — Nigeria and other African nations could play a central role in efforts by India to diversify its sources of oil and gas, India's Oil Minister, Mr. Dharmendra Pradhan, said yesterday, as the nation strives to reduce its energy reliance on the Middle East. India, the world's third-biggest oil importer, has asked state refiners to speed up the diversification of oil imports to gradually cut their dependence on the Middle East after the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) decided earlier this month to continue production cuts in April. "As India seeks to further diversify sourcing of crude oil and LNG, Africa has a central role - largely due to its proximity and absence of any choke points in trans-shipments," Pradhan told an industry summit. Reuters reported that India imports over 80 per cent of its oil and has a huge oil import bill.

In 2020, the Coronavirus pandemic hit many economies globally very hard leading to job losses and collapse of businesses.

Africa is expected to recover from its worst recession in half a century and reach 3.4 per cent growth in 2021, the African Development Bank said in its 2021 African Economic Outlook report, launched on Friday.

Africa is not on track to achieve zero hunger by 2030, Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Regional Representative for Africa, Abebe Haile-Gabriel, told a meeting reviewing progress made by the continent towards attaining that goal so far.

Top cocoa producers Ivory Coast and Ghana need to control supplies and join forces with other producing countries if they want to achieve higher prices, the head of the International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO) said.

Kenya’s Debra Mallowah has been appointed as the new Vice president for Coca Cola’s East and Central African franchise, effective February 15, 2021.