African press review 28 September 2016

MT is in turmoil as Nigeria prepares to probe the alleged repartriation of 12 billion euros to South Africa.  Meanwhile, Indian Vice President ends Nigerian visit with pledge to pump four billion euros into the economy.

We begin in South Africa where BusinessDay leads with claims by a Nigerian politician that the South African mobile network operator MTN illegally repatriated about 12.5 billion euros from Nigeria over 10 years starting in 2006.

The  newspaper says the Bloomberg report sent the share price down about 3 percent to close at 119.77 Rand (7 euros).

According to a Bloomberg report, Nigeria’s senate said on Tuesday it would investigate the claim by politician Dino Melaye that four prominent banks were involved in the alleged illegal transfers.

BusinessDay

The newspaper says the accusation comes a few months after MTN agreed to pay a fine of almost 900 million euros to the Nigerian government and to list its local unit on the country’s stock exchange, for missing a deadline to disconnect 5.1-million unregistered customers in the country. MTN’s share price has fallen more than 37 percent since the fine was first reported in October, according to the publication.

Vanguard

Meanwhile, the paper welcomes the unveiling by the visiting Indian vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari of a plan by the Indian business community to inject more than 4.4 billion euros into the Nigerian economy.

Ansari spoke after talks with President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja on Tuesday. Vanguard says the package comes on the back of more than 9 billion euros already invested in Nigeria.

According to the newspaper, the Indian Vice President, who is at the head of a business delegation, is looking to expand New Delhi's relations with Abuja in areas of trade, health, education, agriculture, technology and the fight against terrorism.

Daily Nation

The Kenyan newspaper reports that only a handful of leaders flew to Gabon to watch Ali Bongo's swearing in for a new seven year term.

The Nation counted just four heads of state in the guest list, the Presidents of Mali, Niger, Togo and Sao Tome, "most regional heavyweights preferring to stay away", according to the publication.

Daily Nation Bongo's second mandate has received a cool reception from the African Union, the UN and the European Union who all expresed regret that the Constitutional Court's recount of contested ballots had not been transparent.

Ali Bongo defeated opposition leader Jean Ping by 6000 votes earned essential from his home constituency of Haut Egoué where he scored 95 percent of ballots cast.

Ali Bongo Ondimba took over from his father Omar Bongo, who ruled for 41 years until his death in 2009.