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Nigeria's Federal Executive Council approved on 28 October the start of procurement for the East and West Super Grids, transmission corridors meant to raise the grid's capacity from about 5,000 megawatts (MW) to 19,000 MW within two years. Power Minister Olasunkanmi Tegbe said one corridor would run from Sokoto through Abuja to the south; he gave no cost or lender. The council approved financing for a super grid in 2025, when the government was negotiating a $2 billion loan with China's Export-Import Bank, and the network still carries only about 5,000 MW of more than 13,000 MW of generating capacity. Wider transmission would let existing plants sell more power to industry. Watch whether the tender names a lender.
Mozambique now requires a licence for every import of ceramic bricks, tiles and similar goods, under a Ministry of Economy order that took effect on 28 October. Importers must register, order two months ahead and pay a fee of one public-sector minimum wage per tonne; the ministry may also set quotas. Local products get preference when priced up to 20% above imports, and unlicensed imports face seizure and fines of 500 minimum wages per tonne. A government import advisory commission backed the mechanism in August. The rules shield domestic tile and brick makers from cheaper imports but may raise building costs; a first review is due within six months.
Tanzania's communications ministry signed a framework memorandum on space cooperation with Russia's space agency Roscosmos on 28 October, at the Russia–Africa summit in Moscow. Roscosmos expects to launch Tanzania's first Earth observation satellite on a Russian rocket in March 2027, Space in Africa reported, and Russia will help set up a national space agency, build ground stations and train specialists. Tanzania adopted a five-year space programme in February and is drafting a space policy and a space law; a separate student CubeSat is being built under a United Nations–Japanese scheme. Satellite data could serve farming, forestry, water and mineral mapping, but the satellite's maker, cost and financing have not been disclosed.
The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) has published draft rules requiring mobile operators to verify the biometric data, such as a fingerprint, of every subscriber. The check would apply to new and existing customers when a number is activated or reactivated and before any SIM swap, and each operator could assign no more than five numbers to one person. ICASA adopted biometric registration in 2023 but never brought it into force; it says most operators check biometrics only for contract customers, while prepaid SIMs dominate. Universal checks would make SIM-swap fraud, used to steal banking passwords, harder, but operators must build them into prepaid sales and respect data-protection law. Comments close 30 days after publication.
BGFIBank Cameroon signed a 23 billion CFA franc (about $41 million) loan agreement on 27 October with Ivorian group Atlantic Group for a cement plant in the Kribi industrial-port zone. The plant will grind imported clinker into one million tonnes of cement a year and employ about 150 people. Atlantic Group signed its investment agreement with the state in 2021 and raised the planned cost in February 2026. The loan moves the project towards construction in a market where industry estimates put capacity near 12 million tonnes against demand of about 8 million, while clinker imports cost Cameroon 97.3 billion CFA francs ($172 million) in 2025, according to the national statistics institute.
Seychelles' cabinet approved on 28 October a locally hosted government cloud spread across two geographically separate data centres, and adopted a Digital and AI Strategy for 2026–2031, State House said. The first phase covers the core cloud and a primary data centre; the second adds a back-up site and expands cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) services. An inter-ministerial committee chaired by the information technology minister will coordinate the strategy, with focal points in every ministry. Hosting state data and services at home would give the island state control over sensitive records and a base for e-government, but the cabinet gave no cost, financing or timetable, which will decide how fast the project moves.
AXIAN Energy, the power arm of Madagascar's AXIAN Group, has joined Guinea's 50-megawatt Khoumagueli solar project and aims to start construction in 2027, its chief executive Benjamin Memmi said. AXIAN replaces France's Solvéo Énergies as partner of InfraCo, the project arm of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG); the plant has held a 25-year power purchase agreement with state utility Électricité de Guinée since 2021. It would generate by day so that the 75-megawatt Garafiri hydropower dam can save water for the evening and dry season. A developer that closed financing for a solar plant with storage in Senegal this year could move the project towards construction after five years without it. No financing for Khoumagueli has been announced.
