With the discovery of a large oil deposits in the isolated northern Turkana region of Kenya by Tullow Oil PLC and British Oil, the east African nation has begun its journey of joining the exclusive club of African oil producing nations.

Africa is becoming the gold rush for oil exploration: Oil and gas exploration spots are crowding African landscape. With already older oil exploration spots in Nigeria, Angola, Sudan , Chad and the most recent discoveries in Ghana, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, the continent is over washing with oil and gas.

Kenyan oil discovery is “good news” as was assured by Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga but he was also right when he emphasized that the country’s administration should remained “cautiously optimistic".   History has proven that African oil producing nations have not done right with their oil revenues.

When oil revenue is properly invested and managed, it becomes the foundation and source for further wealth creation and the building block of an economically prosperous nation. Norway has shown that oil wealth can be used for a nation development and the so-called “oil curse” did not apply to Norway.

But take a look at the  African oil producing nations including Nigeria, Angola, Chad, Sudan and others, their oil revenues have not bring much quantifiable and tangible economic turnaround. Majority of their citizens are still living in penury poverty with abysmal existential indices that indicated that “oil blessing” have eluded these nations.  The social infrastructures are neglected without upgrade while health and educational facilities remained deteriorated, while capital flight becomes imminent.  The gap between rich and poor widens, the richer continues to increase in wealth and poor continues to live in squalor.

Invest in Agriculture, Tourism and Infrastructures

The golden opportunity that comes with oil revenue is enormous if Kenya is willing to do the right thing. Kenya source of foreign exchange is grounded in cash crop exports and tourism. The major exports are tea and coffee together with fresh flower export to Europe. Kenya can develop and invest in modern mechanized agriculture.

Kenya's Prime Minister Raila Odinga  picture: africanreview

Kenya should learn from the mistake that Nigeria made. Before the flowing in of oil revenue into Nigerian coffers, the country was the largest producer of palm oil and among largest exporter of cocoa, groundnuts and millet. But Nigeria delayed on investing in agriculture and when they came around it became nearly impossible because oil revenue has weaken the country’s resolve to develop her agricultural facilities.

Kenya should tackle the problem of food preservation and processing to enhance export, which will give them the leverage to negotiate for higher prices without the concern of crops decay.

Another great thing Kenya can do is to invest in its infrastructure – provides road, health facilities, electric light and improve its primary and secondary schools. When it comes to education Kenya must invest in his people for economic growth and development to be sustainable. Kenya must be careful and do a good job in order to train and develop adequate manpower to supply the skill for running the oil hi-tech industry.

Most importantly, Kenya should subscribe to transparency and accountability, anything short of that is a disaster. Kenya must muster the will power to change the story in Africa on oil mismanagement, thereby opening a new chapter for the continent.

Emeka Chiakwelu is the Principal Policy Strategist at Afripol Organization. Africa Political and Economic Strategic Center (Afripol) is foremost a public policy center whose fundamental objective is to broaden the parameters of public policy debates in Africa. To advocate, promote and encourage free enterprise, democracy, sustainable green environment, human rights, conflict resolutions, transparency and probity in Africa. http://afripol.org. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Nigeria to Begin Operation of $1 Billion Sovereign Fund

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia—Nigeria's $1 billion sovereign-wealth fund is set to start operating in the next few months, said the country's finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, in what would mark a crucial step to help the governement finance the revamping of its ramshackle roads and power grids.

Ms. Okonjo-Iweala, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, said the $1 billion will be pulled from Nigeria's Excess Crude Account, which also funds the country's fuel subsidy.

Ms. Okonjo-Iweala, who was recently in the spotlight for her unsuccessful bid for the World Bank presidency, said the fund's management team will be selected in the next few weeks.

The sovereign-wealth fund will be overseen by a governing council, made up of members of civil society including representatives from media and academics, that will review its decisions to ensure that the money is transparently invested, she said.

Sanusi & Okonjo-Iweala

The fund is a major component in Nigeria's attempt to hedge against budget volatility, build infrastructure, combat unemployment and provide economic growth.

"We want this growth to be inclusive and job creating because as of now there are not going to be enough jobs. We want to focus on the diversification of the economy," Ms. Okonjo-Iweala said.

Separately, she said Nigeria's move to convert 10% of its foreign currency reserves from U.S. dollars to Chinese yuan last year is "prudent and sensible" given the increasing trade with China.

Buoyed by low external debt of less than 3 percent and high petroleum prices, sub-Saharan Africa's biggest crude oil exporter grew 7.4% last year and is forecasting a growth of 7% to 8% in the budget for 2012.

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South Africa has less than seven weeks to “significantly reduce” its oil exports from Iran, or face possible US sanctions and an oil shortage, Beeld reported on Friday.

The government, oil companies and banks that paid for oil from Iran, had to lodge an official undertaking before June 28 with the USA to scale down on the imports and apply the change visibly.

At least 26 percent of South Africa's crude oil was imported monthly from Iran.

SA Petroleum Industry Association executive director Avhapfani Tshifularo told Beeld: “This is not a business decision for us. It involves a political decision about political pressure.”

If South Africa did not drastically cut its imports, it would have to expedite requests to the USA for a postponement and temporary exemption from economic sanctions.

An Iranian worker rests in front of a huge portrait of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on a wall near a university during Friday prayers in Tehran February 24, 2012   Reuters

Although diplomatic sources in the department of mineral and energy affairs confirmed that “extremely sensitive” talks were underway, a postponement request had not yet been lodged with the USA, it was reported.

“We expect a Cabinet decision by the end of the month, and we will allow ourselves to be guided by that,” Tshifularo said.

The USA has claimed that Iran's banking sector, including its central bank, “finances terrorism”, and through money laundering, poses a threat to the international monetary system. - Sapa

Britain's Surprise Shopaholics: Nigerians.    As a group, Nigerians spend more than Americans ...Visitors from the U.S. are the sixth-largest shopping contingent.

Nigerian businessman Godwin Patrick took a three-week holiday to the U.K. this month to visit cousins. It wasn’t the only reason. “I’m here to shop,” the 38-year-old says as he strolls down London’s Oxford Street, clutching bags from Marks & Spencer (MKS) and Associated British Foods’ (ABF) Primark containing trousers for himself and dresses for his family in Lagos.

London retailers are big fans of Nigerian shoppers such as Patrick. The African country was the fourth-biggest contributor to overseas tax-free shopping in the U.K. last year, behind only China, Russia, and the Middle East, according to Global Blue U.K., a company that helps foreign shoppers claim a refund of Britain’s 20 percent value-added tax. (Foreigners get the break on most purchases if they take them outside the European Union.) A growing Nigerian population in the U.K. and more frequent direct flights between the countries has led to an influx of visitors who have more to spend because of the former British colony’s booming oil-driven economy.

“Nigerian travelers are very particular to the U.K.; you’d never see them as a top 10 nationality in other markets,” says Global Blue Vice President Richard Brown. As a group, Nigerians spend more than Americans do, he says. (Visitors from the U.S. are the sixth-largest shopping contingent.) Foreigners account for a third of spending in London’s high-end shopping district of Bond Street, Oxford Street, and Regent Street and will spend more than £2 billion ($3.2 billion) this year, according to the New West End, an organization of 600 retailers in the area. Spending by Nigerians in British shops rose 32 percent last year, according to Global Blue.

Russian and Middle Eastern tourists mostly seek luxury goods in Britain, like those sold at tony merchants such as Harrods or Burberry (BRBY). Nigerian visitors also spend heavily at mass-market chains such as Marks & Spencer and Debenhams (DEB) that have more selection, higher-quality products, and better prices than stores back home. “In Nigeria, there is very little formal retail,” says Siemon Scamell-Katz, global consulting director at researcher TNS. “So in terms of retail, Primark and Marks & Spencer is quite something if you haven’t come across much retail before.” Patrick agrees. “We don’t have the same standard of retailing,” he says.

Nigerian visitors spend an average of about £450 per individual transaction, compared with more than £1,000 by Middle Eastern customers, Global Blue says. At a Debenhams store on London’s Oxford Street, Nigerians provide the biggest source of overseas spending as they seek out perfume and moisturizer gift sets, British-themed products such as a Union Jack-printed teapot for £20, clothing, and shoes, according to company spokeswoman Ruth Attridge. One sign of how important the African shoppers have become: Multilingual signs advertising discounts at Debenhams are printed not only in Chinese and Arabic but also Hausa, a language spoken in Nigeria.

The popularity of Britain as a shopping destination for Nigerians partly reflects the growth in the number of people from the country living in the U.K. About two-thirds of shoppers are on holiday or visiting family and friends, while a third are traveling for business, according to Global Blue. The U.K. Office for National Statistics estimates that 174,000 Nigerians lived in the U.K. from July 2010 to June 2011, the ninth-largest nationality. That’s an increase of 34,000 compared with three years earlier.

Daily flights from the capital, Lagos, to London on British Airways and starting on May 16 on Air Nigeria are also fueling shopper journeys. The carriers know their customers: BA allows Nigeria-bound passengers to check an additional 23-kilogram suitcase gratis unlike the majority of its flights, leaving plenty of extra space for all those purchases.

The bottom line: Thanks to their nation’s oil wealth, Nigerians are the fourth-largest group of foreign shoppers in Britain. Each spends $725 on average.

Sarah Shannon is a reporter for Bloomberg News in London.

Bloomberg News

ConocoPhillips, the stronghold United States oil company is ceasing from oil exploration in Nigeria and thereby to dispose its asset in the country. ConocoPhillips is to raise about $2.5 billion, if not more from the sale of its Nigerian Assets.

ConocoPhillips will hold on to its investment in Brass Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project, while selling off its onshore and offshore oil and gas fields in Nigeria.

The state oil company, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) disputed the prevailing news that the company was divesting from the country as a result of social unrest and political instability. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) reiterated that far from the truth that Nigeria remains the place to be as far as oil and gas exploration is concerned.

In the report by The Nation Newspaper, Emeka Ugwuanyi wrote that Dr. Levi Ajuonuma,  Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Department, NNPC stated that “ConocoPhillips’ decision to sell its assets in Nigeria was not as a result of internal business issues or adverse operating environment, noting that Nigeria remains the destination of choice for investment.”

According to The Nation Newspaper, Dr. Ajuonuma was quoted:

“I confirm that ConocoPhillips their assets in Nigeria but the sale is not as a result of adverse operating environment or internal business issues. You know Nigeria remains Africa’s oil and gas hub and destination of choice for investors.

“They (ConocoPhillips) are re-organising in line with a new business model approved by their board of directors. They are streamlining their assets not only in Nigeria but across the world where they operate.

“Their interest in the Brass LNG project is not affected. They will retain their interest in the project. But if they decide to divest it, there are many investors that will gladly jump to it.”

The Nation further reported that ConocoPhillips “has hired BNP Paribas to help sell the planned assets adding that Nigerian companies that are showing interest to acquire the assets include Conoil and Oando as well as China’s Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) of India and Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC).”

Nigerian government and NNPC have to do a better job in the dissemination of the information that the problems of insecurity and social unrest are not effecting oil and gas exploration in the country. This is important in order to discourage the fight of capital and cold feet of investing in the industry.

Kenya, Japan state firms join to survey for oil

The state oil companies of Japan and Kenya have signed an agreement to survey the east African country, which has become a hot spot for exploration after the discovery of oil, and assess its petroleum reserves onshore, officials said on Wednesday.

National Oil Corporation of Kenya (NOCK) and Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) agreed to jointly conduct geophysical surveys to help evaluate whether there are commercially viable hydrocarbons in Kenya.

Geophysical surveys help exploration companies determine the areas where drilling is likely to have the most chance of success.

The deal, which will run for an initial year and a half, underlines the interest of international oil companies in East Africa and the Horn of Africa following several major oil and natural gas finds in the region.

In 2006 companies discovered oil reserves in neighbouring Uganda, and this year explorers found large natural gas deposits off the coast of Mozambique. At the end of March, Anglo-Irish explorer Tullow Oil and its partner Africa Oil Corp discovered oil in northern Kenya for the first time.

Tullow and Africa Oil have yet to determine whether their find is commercially viable.

Tullow said on Monday, however, that the thickness of the oil reservoir was greater than initially expected and that it had only drilled to the most shallow depths of the planned well - a significant sign for Kenya's potential as an oil producer.

About two dozen other companies are exploring for oil and gas onshore and offshore Kenya, including NOCK, which is actively exploring the 14T block in the southern part of the country's Magadi Basin. It acquired the block in November 2010.

NOCK and JOGMEC's first survey on 14T, known as a full tensor gravity gradiometry, is planned for June 2012. NOCK also said the companies would complete 2D seismic surveys and electromagnetic studies. It does not have immediate plans to drill on the block.

Companies exploring for oil and gas often sign joint ventures, such as the one between NOCK and JOGMEC, because the cost of surveying and drilling is high, sometimes reaching up to $50 million onshore.

In addition to NOCK's exploration efforts, it operates more than 100 petrol stations, sells its own petroleum products and is charged with helping develop an infrastructure plan to position Kenya as a global oil and gas trading hub.

France, Greece are electing politicans that have rejected austerity policies which African leaders gladly accepted in 80s and 90s.

"In all the capitals, beyond government leaders and state leaders, there are people who, thanks to us, are hoping, are looking to us, and want to put an end to austerity,” with these liberating words the newly elected president of France, Socialist François Hollande assured French people and the rest of debt-ridden Eurozone that the delving austerity measures are not welcomed in the economic landscape of Eurozone.

With the defeat of pro-austerity President Nicolas Sarkozy, the newly elected president of France Hollande and the changing Greece parliament have rejected austerity measures and structural adjustment programs.

African leaders were quick to accept austerity measures for their respective countries when they were overloaded with foreign debts that were accumulated from mismanagement and manipulation of interest rates together with the surged arrears. That was in 1980s and 1990s when many African countries were experiencing economic downturn similar to Eurozone.

The architectural model for bailing-out nations in Eurozone that was enshrined with austerity measures was fabricated by Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel. International monetary Fund (IMF) endorsed the prescription and maintained that a healthy economic reform is necessary for Eurozone to move away from anemic growth and recession. IMF participated in the bail-out for Greece by providing the funds but at same time insisting that spending must be cut significantly and that stringent economic reforms must be implemented.

Wall Street Journal reported that Standard and Poor's was not favourable to stringent austerity policies: "Real risk facing the euro zone is if its member countries are pushed too hard to accept austerity measures that result in economic malaise and social unrest.”Challenges facing the periphery will take time to fix," said Moritz Kraemer, head of sovereign ratings for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Standard & Poor's Corp. "The real risk is if you push them too hard," Kraemer said while speaking at a Euromoney conference in London a day after lowering Greece's sovereign debt rating to selective default, the first ever default rating in the currency bloc."

Many of these nations in Eurozone especially Greece whose debt to GDP ratio of 165 percent in 2011 was compelled to accept austerity measures for her debt restructuring to be feasible. This entails that the bloated public sector and richly endowed social programs should be surgically curtailed and drastically reduced.

Even the first class nation like France, struggling with huge debt and deficit was recommended to trim down mountainous public sector, thus cutting down on spending in order to stimulate her economy and to remain competitive in the global market.

IMF and Merkel’s Germany oversight is becoming futile as economic troubled European nations were reluctant to swallow the bitter pills of austerity measures that African nations imbibed in 80s and 90s which comes with adverse consequences. That was why the voting public in France and Greece chose new directions and rejected austerity measures with election of anti-austerity politicians.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron at a news conference as part of a meeting at the chancellery in Berlin, on November 18, 2011. The German and British leaders met amid tensions over efforts to resolve the eurozone debt crisis and the future of the European Union.  AP

Many of the African leaders were not matured and advanced in the global politics of international finance and geo-politics of negotiation. They were quick to accept rules and prescriptions coming from IMF and foreign entities without having the negotiating skills and sophistication to handle IMF officials and creditors.

In placating those entities at the expense of their people, they negate their sovereignty and foremost responsibility which is to protect the interest of their citizens. The structural adjustment program as it was favorably called to mask it deadly austerity measures did more harm than good. For in the first place, African nations do not have economic structures to be adjusted. Even with its noble and naïve attempt to cure the infected patient, austerity prescriptions ended up prolonging the ailment. The local citizens were disoriented and economic dislocation was apparent. The poor became poorer and rich got richer while capital flight was entrenched.

The respective currencies of those African counties were substantially devalued and importation of essential commodities and raw materials for production were banned. Moreover the public sectors sacked many of their employees and high unemployment became the order of the day. Poverty and hopelessness quadrupled while economic activities came to screeching halt. IMF could not point to any African nation that austerity measures have any positive and intended results.

Implementation of mild austerity measures that implies the trimming of spending may be necessary in some cases. The paradigm of investing in human capital and provision of fund to loosen liquidity should become the uttermost goal. But the draconian implementation of austerity policies that turns a nation upside down, impairing their sense and sensibility has proven to be unacceptable and self-defeating.

Emeka Chiakwelu is the Principal Policy Strategist at Afripol Organization. Africa Political and Economic Strategic Center (Afripol) is foremost a public policy center whose fundamental objective is to broaden the parameters of public policy debates in Africa. To advocate, promote and encourage free enterprise, democracy, sustainable green environment, human rights, conflict resolutions, transparency and probity in Africa. http://afripol.org. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

.

Sudan said on Wednesday the Heglig oilfield, scene of intense fighting with South Sudan last month, has been repaired and has started pumping the oil that is the lifeblood of the north's economy.

The two countries have been embroiled in weeks of fighting along their 1,800 km (1,200 mile) border, threatening to tip the region, which sits on one of Africa's most significant oil deposits, into a full-blown conflict.

The United Nations Security Council approved a resolution that threatens both countries with sanctions if they do not stop fighting and resume negotiations within two weeks, as demanded by the African Union.

China, which has close trade relations with both countries, and Russia supported the resolution after several days of negotiations with council members during which they resisted the Western push for a threat of sanctions.

"The fighting must stop, and stop now," the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice told the council. At the same time, Sudan said it agreed "in principle" with an African Union plan to end the crisis with the south. The AU demanded on April 24 that Sudan and South Sudan resume talks within two weeks, warning both it would issue its own binding rulings if they fail to strike deals on a series of disputes within three months.

The AU has spearheaded mediation efforts between the two foes in the past with the backing of the United Nations, the United States and other major powers. South Sudan committed to the AU road map last month. South Sudan's army, the SPLA, said it killed 27 Sudanese army soldiers in a clash in Unity state on Tuesday.

But despite the persistent clashes in the border region, the two countries have stopped short of all-out war, with their positions broadly the same as before the south seized Heglig.

Sudan accused South Sudan of launching several attacks over the past week on its territory. It said the SPLA had occupied a border village in Bahr al-Arab as well as the disputed areas of Kafn Dubai and Kafya Kenji. South Sudan seized the contested Heglig oilfield last month before withdrawing shortly afterwards. The field is vital to Sudan's economy because it produced almost half of the country's output of 115,000 barrels per day.

President Bashir pic:ctpost

"This oilfield was producing 55,000 barrels per day," Sudanese Petroleum Minister Awad Ahmed al-Jaz said at the oilfield, accompanied by oil engineers and military officers.

"Now as we said ... we plan to produce more than that, besides the production of other oilfields which will follow," he said, as he opened one the oil valves.

PUMPING OIL

Jaz said the oilfield had started pumping oil at 10 p.m. (1900 GMT) on Monday. He did not indicate how much Heglig was currently producing.

"We can say the oil has now reached the Khartoum refinery."

Sudan lost three-quarters of its output when South Sudan became independent in July last year. Both countries are at loggerheads over how much the southern landlocked nation should pay to export its crude through the north. The conflict has shut down nearly all oil production in the region, strangling both countries' oil-dependent economies.

In January, South Sudan shut down its entire output of 350,000 bpd to stop Khartoum taking some oil for what it calls unpaid transit fees.

Satellite images showed a key part of the oil infrastructure in Heglig was destroyed in the fighting. An earlier trip to Heglig showed damaged pipelines that were leaking oil.

On Wednesday, reporters saw pipelines that had been repaired, but which still bore the effects of damage. Jaz said the power plant as well as rooms that manage the collecting, refining and storage of the oil had been damaged. "Those who came here and saw the damage said that the repairs could not be completed in six months," Jaz told reporters taken on an official trip to the oilfield.

"Those who were optimistic suggested it would take four months to repair the damage. But the repair only took one week."

Jaz said four foreigners, whom Khartoum said they arrested on Saturday for illegally entering Heglig and for being spies for the SPLA, had "participated in the destruction".

The four, a Briton, South African, Norwegian and South Sudanese, are U.N.-affiliated workers.

The United Nations rejected the accusations.

"All four personnel were carrying out formal demining activities in Paryang, in Unity State," a spokeswoman for the U.N. mission in South Sudan, Josephine Guerro, said. Heglig is operated by Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Co (GNPOC), a consortium of Chinese, Malaysia, Indian and Sudanese companies. Parts of the border area around the Heglig field in Block 2 are still in dispute.

South Sudan has agreed to an immediate end to hostilities in accordance with an African Union road map, which is meant to bring the former civil war foes back to the negotiating table.

But fighting along the border has continued.

The SPLA's spokesman, Philip Aguer, said the ground attack in Hofra on Tuesday, had later been accompanied by air strikes by a Sudanese Antonov and MiG-27 fighter jets.

"The SPLA killed 27 SAF soldiers, including a major that was commanding the force," Aguer said on Wednesday. "(The SPLA) ... captured five trucks mounted with heavy machine guns. They fled towards Heglig."

Sudan's army spokesman did not answer phone calls to verify the SPLA's claims. Limited access to the remote border areas make it difficult to verify the often contradictory statements from both sides.

(Additional reporting and writing by Yara Bayoumy; Editing by David Clarke and Giles Elgood)

Zuckerberg Facebook IPO to Make Him Richer Than Ballmer

Facebook Inc. (FB)’s $11.8 billion initial public offering will cement the status of 27-year-old Mark Zuckerberg as one of the world’s richest men and put his social network among the highest-valued companies in the U.S. Facebook is offering about 337.4 million shares for $28 to $35 each, according to a regulatory filing yesterday. At the upper end of that range, the co-founder’s stake would be $17.6 billion, making him richer than Microsoft Corp.’s Steve Ballmer and Russian steel billionaire Vladimir Lisin, who are both twice his age, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Zuckerberg, who began the service for Harvard University classmates as a 19-year-old in his dorm room, built Facebook into the most popular social-networking site in the world, topping 900 million users last quarter. Now he has to prove he has the leadership skills to deliver enough growth to justify the company’s valuation, said Paul Saffo, managing director at Discern Analytics in San Francisco.

“The whole story about the Silicon Valley is hard-working, entrepreneurial tech geeks getting big payoffs,” said Saffo, whose firm provides analytics to institutional investors. “The challenge he has is: Can Mark grow as quickly as his company has grown? And can Mark grow faster than his company has grown? Because, of course, that’s what a leader must do.”

Mark Zuckerberg

Passing MySpace

Zuckerberg, who has developed a reputation for introducing new products quickly, helped the company supplant MySpace as the most popular social service while also navigating competitive threats from Google Inc., Twitter Inc. and other social-media sites. The company has expanded its appeal by enabling developers to build applications on top of the platform, offering users music, movies, e-commerce options and other extras.

“They stayed nimble, like a startup of a smaller size,” said Jeremiah Owyang, an analyst at Altimeter Group. “The culture encouraged them to experiment and innovate on a regular basis, even when they had the lead.”

Facebook’s IPO would value the company at as much as $96 billion. It is offering 180 million of the shares, while existing owners such as Accel Partners and Digital Sky Technologies are offering 157.4 million shares, according to the filing. Zuckerberg is offering 30.2 million of his 533.8 million shares. The majority of his net proceeds will be used to pay taxes associated with exercising a stock option.

Majority Control

He may control about 57 percent of the voting power of Facebook’s capital stock outstanding after the offering, according to the filing.

Zuckerberg has shown patience in bringing Facebook to the brink of an IPO. After starting the company in 2004, he rolled it out to other college campuses, reaching 1 million users by the end of the year. Zuckerberg also received a key investment from Peter Thiel, who made much of his wealth as a co-founder of online-payments service PayPal, later sold to EBay Inc.

It wasn’t until 2006 that Zuckerberg opened up the service so anyone could join. Facebook accumulated 12 million users by the end of 2006.

Zuckerberg was able to woo other investors along the way to handle the growing user base. That included software company Microsoft (MSFT), Accel and Russian investor Digital Sky.

Facebook, while preparing for the IPO, has remained active on other fronts. After being sued by Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) in March for patent infringement, the company has been looking to buy intellectual property from other owners of it. Facebook plans to spend $550 million on some of the patents Microsoft had earlier said it would purchase from AOL Inc.

Microsoft CEO Ballmer's net worth was $15.4 billion as of yesterday, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index

BLOOMBERG

Nigeria was not invited to the month of May's G8 Gathering in United States

Ethiopia, Ghana, Tanzania and Benin presidents were officially invited to the forthcoming G8 Summit later this month in the United States by U.S. President Barack Obama. United States will be hosting the next G8 summit and with the tradition of the event, the host nation can invite other world leaders that have issues that can enhanced the gathering. Nigeria, an oil rich nation with a powerful and recognized influence in Africa has always receive invitation to the august meeting. But this time around invitation card was not extended to her.

According to Voice of America: " White House spokesman Jay Carney says Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, Ghana's President John Mills, Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete and Benin President Yayi Boni, who is the current chairman of the African Union, will attend the summit for a discussion of food security on May 19 at the U.S. president's mountain retreat – Camp David in Maryland.”

There is no African nation that is a member of the esteemed G8 Group that includes the United States, Canada, Japan, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Russia. The G8 nations are characterized with developed and industrialized economies, open societies and intimidating Gross Domestic Products. The G8 are member nations of the world's largest economies but having one of the largest economies are not only the criteria for membership for China and Brazil with large economies by any standard have not made it to the well respected group.

G8 leaders pic:White House

Voice of America, further reported, "The Group of Eight holds a summit each year of the leaders of eight of the world's largest economies – the United States, Canada, Japan, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Russia. The host of each year's summit frequently invites other leaders for an expanded discussion of specific issues. Last month, the United States announced it is providing nearly $200 million in additional humanitarian aid to the Horn of Africa, where a lack of rain is again threatening food supplies.  Last year, the Horn suffered through a severe drought that triggered famine conditions in parts of southern Somalia. Thousands of Somalis died and tens of thousands more fled to camps in Mogadishu or refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya, in search of food and water. The United States says it has provided more than $1.1 billion in humanitarian aid to the Horn since the crisis began in 2011."

Nigeria has enjoyed the privileged of being invited to G8 meeting until this time despite not even being a member nation of G20. South Africa is the only African nation that has both memberships in G20 and BRICS nations.