African leaders gathered from 10-15 October at the Summit on Maritime Security and safety, held in Lomé within the African Union Assembly of Heads of State and Government. Twenty-two African delegations adopted the African Charter on Maritime Security, Safety and Development. The Charter aims to put into place an African strategy for the protection of its seas and oceans, to ensure peace, security and stability, and to make the African maritime space the key driver for sustainable economic development. Read on

In this opinion piece, published in the Nigerian publication This Day, Simon Kolawole calls for the development of agro-industries saying: “Let us break this whole agric logic into pieces. If we really want to diversify from oil and create proper value, agriculture must give birth to industry. If agriculture currently employs some 5 million Nigerians, agro-allied industry can employ 15 million in the value chain. So why do we spend so much time discussing farming and not industry?” Read on

In this op-ed, Muhammadu Buhari, the President of Nigeria, responds to concerns about Africa's capacity grow economically, by presenting the project he is currently implementing in his country. He said it is time for African countries to lay the foundation for a development that transforms people’s lives and frees them from their dependence on raw materials. The country faces a threatening recession, so its path towards inclusive growth is still long. However, Nigeria’s challenges are not the most important factor, but it is the fact that Nigeria now knows its weaknesses and knows the direction it should it take to make the country’s emergence a reality. Read on

This bulletin from CILSS Agrhymet Regional Centre presents the agro-hydro-pastoral situation in the Sahel from 15-23 August. The rains have been unequally distributed across the region with levels in some areas recording surpluses and in other areas recording rain deficits, particularly in the western Sahel (The Gambia, Mauritania and Senegal). Read on