Archive
Stories Shem has written for publications around the world, with his own analysis for this site. Headlines from other publications link to the publisher, who owns and hosts the full article.
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Shem Oirere · shem@shemoirere.com
Independent reporting on construction, energy, agriculture and transport across Africa.
shem@shemoirere.com© 2026 Shem Oirere. Articles written for other publications belong to those publications and are linked, not reproduced.
Agriculture
A government-driven farm revival lets Ethiopia claim wheat self-sufficiency, while flour millers complain about what they pay for local grain.
Agriculture
Nigeria's main wheat states are projected to grow about 140,000 tonnes in 2026-27 against demand above 6.8 million tonnes, pushing imports toward 7.2 million tonnes.
Buildings
Building safety in African cities: regulators, engineers and developers call for harmonized lift standards, stronger enforcement and lifecycle maintenance.
Buildings
Energy-efficient lifts in a new Rwandan mall and a planned green city.
Buildings
Kenya's affordable housing program and what it means for the lift industry.
Agriculture
Cutting post-harvest losses could reduce Egypt's wheat import dependency by 37% and save about $1.1 billion.
Agriculture
Africa imports roughly 40 million tonnes of wheat a year, worth $15 billion, according to the AfDB.
Buildings
A Zambian property investor's acquisitions reshape the region's real-estate and lift market.
Energy
A 30-year PPP to finance, build and run 171 miles of transmission lines and three substations, starting with the 400-kV Gilgil–Thika–Malaa–Konza line.
Energy
How Africa's petrochemical expansion gets financed against an infrastructure funding gap of $130B–$170B.
Energy
Political upheaval may delay Algeria's offshore exploration, but it opens a chance to reform the hydrocarbons sector and restructure Sonatrach.
Energy
South Sudan holds some of sub-Saharan Africa's largest proven oil reserves, but unrest is holding back its refining plans.
Agriculture
What is driving demand for crop protection products across North Africa.
Agriculture
Nigeria's domestic wheat output is small next to a market worth $1.5 billion in 2017.
Buildings
South Africa's Zero2One tower and the high-rise ambitions of Cape Town.
Energy
Insecurity and low oil prices have hurt investment across Nigeria's oil chain, and with it petrochemicals growth.
Energy
How African refineries will pay for upgrades to make low-sulfur marine fuel ahead of the IMO deadline.
Energy
Why East Africa's coordinated fuel standards, developed from January 2015, are hard to put into practice.
Energy
Africa produced about 7.9 MMbpd of crude in 2016, yet refining capacity investment lags.
Agriculture
With Mugabe out, a push for higher farm output opens openings for seed suppliers and agrochemical makers.