African press review 15 August 2016

A rejig of the ANC to tackle the South African ruling party's decline and political corruption, Nigeria's suffering economy and the fitness for governing - or not - of Nigeria's president. These are some of today's headlines in the African press.

In one of its main headlines South Africa's Business Day reports that the "ANC takes collective responsibility and will not recall Jacob Zuma" after the ANC announced last night that its national executive committee would be held accountable for the party’s weak performance in the recent government polls. However, there was no question for now of President Jacob Zuma being "recalled", ie removed from office before the end of his term.

According to ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe, the party will "embark on numerous programmes to reverse the decline, including tackling corruption and stabilising state-owned enterprises", reports the paper,and it will "instruct the government to reprioritise the national budget to focus on key economic and social policies".

Speaking in Pretoria, Mantashe said the ANC viewed the results as a "clarion call" and plans to boldly "reengineer" and reenergise the organisation in order to "arrest the electoral decline".

Nigeria struggles with poor-man image

In other news, Business Day says Nigeria is really wrestling with its "suddenly poor" status.

First it was falling oil prices that plagued Nigeria, then came inflation, power shortages and a humanitarian crisis in the north.

By the end of the month the paper tips Nigeria will most likely officially enter a recession.

"Suddenly, we’re a poor country," Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said on Thursday in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

Buhari said before he came to office, petroleum sold for about 100 dollars per barrel. "Then it crashed to 37 dollars and now oscillates between 40 dollars and 45 dollars per barrel."

Adding insult to injury, the paper reports, this week the International Monetary Fund said that South Africa overtook Nigeria as Africa’s biggest economy in dollar terms,  "a result of the anaemic naira" it says of the currency's poor performance.

Both countries are experiencing difficulties but Nigeria is taking longer to recover according to Manji Cheto, a sub-Saharan Africa analyst at London-based Teneo Holdings.

"That’s because Nigeria’s problems, a result of decades of mismanagement, have no easy fix," concludes the report.

Oil exports tumble - armed groups blamed

Just a few months ago, the country was the number one oil exporter on the continent. That's no longer the case.

According to figures released on Friday by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) Nigeria is now producing just 1.5 million barrels per day, compared with Angola which is pumping out 1.7 million.

The report blames "militant attacks on oil infrastructure in the increasingly volatile southern swamplands" for the crisis.

"The Niger Delta Avengers, a new armed group fighting for political autonomy and a bigger cut of oil revenues, have been bombing pipelines since the beginning of 2016," it writes.

Buhari - political star or nepotist? 

Nigeria's Punch meantime carries two opposite side of the coin reports - one claiming that "Buhari will be one of Nigeria’s best presidents", the other blaming nepotism in his government for the problems in the country.

In an opinion column, Garba Shehu, a senior assistant on media and publicity to the president, claims that despite facing the heaviest public criticism since he assumed office on 29 May 2015 in the past fortnight, Buhari is a best president in the making.

Shehu says much of the criticism is "unfair" and a result of unresolved social and economic problems facing the country.

On the other hand in another story, Governor Ayodele Fayose of west Nigeria's Ekiti State, blames Buhari's All Progressives Congress government fair and square for Nigeria's suffering.

The president is surrounding himself with family members because he is "obviously being tormented by fear of the unknown", he claims.

“The country is in the hands of wrong managers," who choose nepotism rather than being helped by "those who know" better.