The 2018 Careers in Africa Employer of Choice Survey has ranked the African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org) the fourth best company to work with in Africa. Of 100 companies listed, the top four include the World Bank Group, Chevron, Exxon Mobil and the African Development Bank.

Over 20,000 African professionals answered questions about employee engagement and employment conditions. Opportunities to learn new skills, quality of healthcare provisions, leadership and opportunities for advancement emerged as key indicators of great employers.

Commenting on the African Development Bank ranking, Alex Mugan, Managing Director of the Global Career Company and co-author of the survey with UK-based firm Willis Towers Watson said: “The importance of making a positive impact came through strongly in responses to the Study. This, together with the on-going organisational transformation at the African Development Bank, explains the continued high esteem in which the Bank (as an employer) is viewed by many African professionals worldwide.”

Trust in senior leadership, especially leaders that listen, those who set a good ethical example, and who deliver the values of the business, emerged as the top three most important factors in choosing an employer in Africa. “Employees are interested in leaders that push a good mission. Brands whose leaders are very visible doing those things have tended to do well,” Mugan further indicated.

According to Akinwunmi Adesina, President of the Bank, “the ranking is further validation of the work of the Board and Management to accelerate critically needed institutional changes and efforts to attract the best and the brightest to help implement the Bank’s High-5 agenda to Power Africa, Feed Africa, Industrialize Africa, Integrate Africa, and Improve the quality of life of Africans.”

The Bank scored high in attracting top talents from across all Africa. It also retained its position in the top 5 of established corporate and multilateral organizations. The report highlights a shift in the talent landscape with an increased interest in investment finance from job seekers and a quest for digital savvy experts from employers.

Overall, the survey revealed that job security is considered one of the main reasons to remain in an organization. In addition to attraction drivers for men, including skills development, the Report suggests that female professionals have a greater interest in healthcare opportunities, flexible working conditions, work-life balance, and ethics.

More than just a listing, the report seeks to shape the conversation around what makes a great employer in Africa, and through that positively change employee experience across the continent.The 100-list includes banks, oil companies, FMCG brands and mobile phone operators.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Development Bank Group (AfDB).

Cameroon Airlines Corporation (Camair-Co) has resumed flight between Douala and Lagos after some years of absence from the route. At the welcoming ceremony at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, the Consul General of Cameroon in Lagos, Dr Ekorong A. Dong expressed delight to see Camair-Co back to the economic route of Douala-Lagos saying:“Today we are witnessing together a new benchmark, a new landmark between Nigeria and Cameroon.”

Speaking at the event, Nigeria’s Country Manager for the airline, Madam Agnes Ndikum who reinstated the determination of the airline to continuously serve the Lagos-Doula route, declared: “Let me state here that Camair-Co is finally here to stay and provide quality air travel between Nigeria and Cameroon. We appreciate the efforts of APG Nigeria, our General Sales Agent (GSA) for their continuous support in making this relaunch of the Lagos-Doula route a reality”.

Also speaking at the event, the pilot in charge of the flight, Captain Kono Bihina Constant while expressing his delight to return to Nigeria after a long while remarked: “We haven’t flown into Nigeria for a long time. Nigeria is so advance when it comes to aviation, and we are very pleased to be back here. Camair-Co is working so hard round the clock to ensure travellers rely on our airline and not to go elsewhere.”

Source: Nigerian Tribune

Getting an accommodation in Cameroon’s Douala city is a nightmare, as one is required to pay 6 months or even a year’s rent advance. As a result, many young working people who are faced with this harsh reality, prefer to stay longer with their parents.

Socrate Tanleu is a tenant and is frustrated by this practice.

“For example, I have had to pay up to 12 months to get an apartment and for a young person who is just entering the workforce, it is not easy to find 12 months to pay a landlord to get an apartment’‘, Tanleu told Africanews.

The practice is illegal, but many apartment owners are defiant.

“Legally, this practice is not normal because rent is payable after occupation. The rent advance is not legal”, said Cameroonian-based lawyer, Nicolas Ntamag.

But for many homeowners, this practice is a safety net against an unstable labour market.

Bertrand Tashinda owns an apartment in Douala.

“We have the public sector which employs very few people and with the private sector, there is no guarantee of employment. At any time you can lose your job for more misleading reasons than any other. So it makes the landlords think it’s better to take a year and with a year he can even build up a little reserve of money to be able to repair his apartment if necessary”, said Tashinda.

Like Ivory coast, Cameroon wants to put in place a more advanced legal framework for tenants and property owners.

The country plans to limit payment of rent advance and the deposit to two months. It hopes this will facilitate access to housing for many Cameroonians.

Source: Africa News

Ten people were killed and another 10 injured after a dumping site for copper mining waste collapsed in the town of Kitwe in Zambia’s Copperbelt province, police said on Wednesday.

“The incident happened this morning and at least 10 people have been confirmed dead,” Copperbelt police chief Charity Katanga said by phone from Kitwe, 400 km (248 miles) north of the capital Lusaka.

Zambia is Africa’s second largest copper producer and houses operations of many global mining companies including Vedanta, Barrick Gold Corp and Glencore.

Glencore’s Mopani Copper Mines (MCM) has been forced to halt production in recent years due to similar fatal incidents in the copper-rich area, which is also known for illegal mining around the dumpsites.

The latest incident happened at Black Mountain where artisanal miners have taken to re-mining the waste site for copper and other metals.

In February the government’s mining investment arm gave a 10 percent stake in the waste site to small-scale miners to empower surrounding communities riven by unemployment and poverty.

There remain, however, serious concerns about safety measures at the site which continues to suffer periodic collapses.

(Source: Reuters)

The Cameroon Development Corporation, CDC has executed an immediate shut down of 8 of its Estates due to increased insecurity. Cameroon Concord News gathered that these estates include Mbonge, Illoani, Mukonje, Mondoni, Tombel, Malende and Meanja. Our source who is a management staff also hinted that the affected workers would be paid 50% of their salary.

The Director of Human Resources who spoke to our undercover reporter confirmed the company’s decision and further pointed out that the agro industrial plant may be close down completely if the fighting intensifies in Southern Cameroons.

CDC is the second largest employer after the CPDM government. Yaoundé recently ordered an investigation into the management of CDC and reportedly bailout the corporation with the sum of 90 billion FCFA.  Insiders say the Estates will remain shut down for as long as security procedures are not in place for the public and CDC personnel. The shutdown is likely to be indefinite as the crisis in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia is showing no signs of ending.

The shutdown will have a direct impact on the crisis noted a highly placed Cameroon government official contacted by our correspondent in Limbe. The management immediately told the government of its decision to close down some Estates earlier this week. Since the conflict started, the Yaounde government has made one mistake after another. In January 2017, it arrested and jailed Southern Cameroonian leaders who had called for a federal system that would guarantee that the people take ownership of their own development projects.

Barrister Felix Nkongho Agbor-Balla, Dr. Fontem Neba and Mr. Mancho Bibixy were captured and hastily taken to Yaounde in the belief that the population’s anger would be doused. This only inflamed Southern Cameroonians, and things actually took a turn for the worse.

To ensure that its atrocities in the region were not captured on video, the government cut off Internet and other communication systems. In the process, many businesses were killed and the unemployment rate in the region reached alarming rates. Silicon Mountain, a hub for many start-ups in the South West regional headquarters of Buea, was put out of business. The disconnection of the Internet created many Internet refugees and ever since, Silicon Mountain has become a thing of the past.

Rather than seek to appease a people who have been hurting for decades, the Yaounde government proceeded to employing tricks in the hope that it will come out of the conflict victorious. After more than six months in jail for no crime committed, Barrister Felix Nkongho Agbor-Balla, Dr. Fontem Neba and others were released, while Mr. Mancho Bibixy was left in jail. He was later convicted of many flimsy crimes, including terrorism.

Once the leaders were released in 2017, the ruling party’s propaganda immediately kicked in. It portrayed the releases as an act of magnanimity on the president’s part. But the tricks of the past could no longer work the miracles they had produced in the past. The people were sick and tired of the government’s manipulation and trickery. Southern Cameroonians no longer want to have anything to do with their unfortunate past. The calls for federalism have now developed into independence and secession.

By Tina Nene Nganda

Cameroon Concord News Group

The port of Douala, the largest in Central Africa, this week launched an operation to remove wrecks of old boats which hamper its functionality and competitiveness.

“At the operational level, the impacts are even heavier because we are losing docks that should bring us money. It is on the dock that the boat comes to dock to allow exchanges,” said Georges Menye the project manager.

This operation is the first “in 33 years”, according to Cyrus Ngo’o, general manager of the autonomous port of Douala. “The port, the Wouri River is full of a hundred wrecks and we have decided to start with the most dangerous. The first twenty-five wrecks that impede the operation of the port are those that constitute this phase of the project,“ said Mr. Ngo’o.

Fear of pollution

Most of the boats whose frames have been abandoned in the port of Douala are over half a century old and are feared to contain asbestos.

“The majority of these boats are over 50 years old. However, nearly 20 years ago, the construction of boats with asbestos was stopped. Asbestos that has become toxic to humans,” worried Mr. Georges Menye, the project manager.

This contract for the withdrawal of abandoned boats was awarded to an Italian company, Bonifacio, for a sum of 4.7 billion CFA francs (just over 7 million euros).

Work to remove the first 25 wrecks will take eight months.

The main outlet for landlocked Central African countries such as Chad and the Central African Republic, the port of Douala is characterised by its dilapidated infrastructure, congestion, corruption and administrative hassles.

More than 95% of Cameroon’s port traffic passes through Douala.

In February, the French tropical timber trader Rougier designated the “chronic congestion” of the port of Douala as one of the causes of its bankruptcy.

“The bankruptcy of the Rougier group could not be the responsibility of the port of Douala, where the logistics operations of foreign trade are carried out normally”, then reacted Cyrus Ngo’o.

Source: Africa News

The Adamawa and Taraba Area Command of the Nigeria Customs has intercepted a truckload of petroleum products about to be smuggled into Cameroon at Sahuda border post bordering Nigeria and Cameroon in Adamawa State.

Kamardeen Olumoh, the Area Comptroller of the Command, while displaying the seizure before journalists in Yola, said the agency had beamed its searchlight on transborder smuggling of petroleum products which is capable of engendering artificial scarcity of the product.

“These drums here, about 90 of them, contain 20,550 litres of petrol concealed in a truck loaded with assorted household consumables, heading to the Cameroon Republic,” Mr Olumoh said.

“This command has declared zero tolerance to any act capable of undermining the economic strength of our dear country.

“We will not allow unscrupulous elements who are bent on sabotaging the economy of Nigeria to take advantage of the proximity to the border to engage illicit trans-border activities.”

Mr Olumoh said some unpatriotic citizens are bent on sabotaging the system through illegal activities that constituted economic crimes against the nation besides its attendant hardship on innocent citizens.

He said the fuel scarcity experienced in the recent past, especially within the two states, was as a result of the activities of smugglers, adding that the command under his watch has stepped up its game to forestall the movement of unauthorised fuel out of the country.

Mohammed Alaku, DPR Area Comptroller for Adamawa and Taraba Zone, said the cross-border smuggling of petroleum had aggravated the suffering experienced by residents of the two states during the recent fuel scarcity experienced in the country petroleum.

Mr Alaku said business operators willing to explore legitimate means of doing trans-border business would benefit, assuring them that the customs was ready to support only legitimate businesses involved in the import and export trade.

Source: The Premium Times