China on Wednesday, April 26 secured four oil drilling licences from Nigeria as President Hu Jintao continues his week-long tour of Africa, his second in three years.

In exchange China will invest $4bn (£2.25bn) in oil and infrastructure projects in Nigeria.

China will buy a controlling stake in Nigeria's 110,000 barrel-a-day Kaduna oil refinery and build a railroad system and power stations.

Nigeria, Africa's top oil exporter, has long been viewed by China as a partner.

Exploration blocks

The African nation will offer first right of refusal to China National Petroleum for a quartet of exploration blocks during a licensing round due to be held in Nigeria on 19 May.

The blocks comprise two areas in the oil-producing Niger Delta - one onshore and one in shallow water - and two areas in the higher-risk inland Chad basin, where no oil is produced at present.

Last week Chinese state oil firm CNOOC said it had completed a £2.3bn deal to buy a stake in a Nigerian oil field.

As well as meeting his Nigerian counterpart Olusegun Obasanjo, President Hu will also address a joint session of the Nigerian national assembly.

Factory construction

The visit indicates the importance China is attaching to securing energy and trade deals in the region.
Nigeria has the oil and gas that China wants, but also provides a potential market for Chinese goods.

Several Chinese companies have already constructed factories in Nigeria and more are planned for a free trade zone in the south-east of the country.

President Hu, who previously visited Nigeria in 2004, started his African trip in Morocco where he signed a number of trade deals with King Mohammed VI.

The visit comes in the wake of a series of others to Africa by Chinese ministers and officials.

China on Wednesday, April 26 secured four oil drilling licences from Nigeria as President Hu Jintao continues his week-long tour of Africa, his second in three years.

In exchange China will invest $4bn (£2.25bn) in oil and infrastructure projects in Nigeria.

China will buy a controlling stake in Nigeria's 110,000 barrel-a-day Kaduna oil refinery and build a railroad system and power stations.

Nigeria, Africa's top oil exporter, has long been viewed by China as a partner.

Exploration blocks

The African nation will offer first right of refusal to China National Petroleum for a quartet of exploration blocks during a licensing round due to be held in Nigeria on 19 May.

The blocks comprise two areas in the oil-producing Niger Delta - one onshore and one in shallow water - and two areas in the higher-risk inland Chad basin, where no oil is produced at present.

Last week Chinese state oil firm CNOOC said it had completed a £2.3bn deal to buy a stake in a Nigerian oil field.

As well as meeting his Nigerian counterpart Olusegun Obasanjo, President Hu will also address a joint session of the Nigerian national assembly.

Factory construction

The visit indicates the importance China is attaching to securing energy and trade deals in the region.
Nigeria has the oil and gas that China wants, but also provides a potential market for Chinese goods.

Several Chinese companies have already constructed factories in Nigeria and more are planned for a free trade zone in the south-east of the country.

President Hu, who previously visited Nigeria in 2004, started his African trip in Morocco where he signed a number of trade deals with King Mohammed VI.

The visit comes in the wake of a series of others to Africa by Chinese ministers and officials.

The livelihood of an estimated 5.4 million Kenya’s urban slum dwellers to be improved by between 2005-2020. By Charles.

The Kenya Government will spend Sh880 billion to upgrade slums in the country over the next 14 years.

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki on Tuesday said the Government, in collaboration with the United Nations Habitat, had established the Kenya Slum Upgrading Programme (Kensup).

The program, initiated last year, is in line with the Millennium Development Goals and targets the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers worldwide by 2020.

"This programme seeks to improve the livelihood of an estimated 5.4 million urban slum dwellers between 2005-2020," President Kibaki announced in a statement read on his behalf by Vice President Moody Awori.

He was speaking at the Special Session of the Africa Ministerial Conference on Housing and Development held at Gigiri, Nairobi. The function was attended by the Executive Director UN-Habitat, Dr Anna Tibaijuka, Housing minister Soita Shitanda and Local Government minister Musikari Kombo.

Kensup, of which the President is patron, aims to upgrade the living environment of slum residents by improving accessibility to basic services such as shelter, water, education, health, security and income generating opportunities.

In his statement, the President said Kibera, the largest slum in Kenya, has an estimated 500,000 residents and covers 235 hectares comprising 12 villages.

"With upgrading of Kibera, the lives of over one-fifth or 20 per cent of Nairobi’s population will be improved," the statement read in part.

Works on the Kibera decanting site, which will cost an estimated Sh480 million have already commenced. The upgrading of the existing slums and informal settlements will address the backlog of urban neglect.

"Without significant improvement in the capacities of local Government and the private sector to provide services for the new residents, many of whom are poor, the problem of slum and squatter settlements will pale by comparison," Kibaki said.

The President said due to the high cost of building material and transport, the Government was promoting research on alternative locally available material and technologies.

The Government has already acquired equipment towards the establishment of appropriate building centres in every province, the Head of State said.