Wealth accumulated by the richest one per cent will exceed that of the other 99 per cent in 2016, the Oxfam charity said today, ahead of the annual meeting of the world's most powerful at Davos, Switzerland.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to launch a female-focused version of the Davos economic forum, as part of a wider push to boost the number of women in the workforce at home, he said in an interview published on Tuesday.

The World Economic Forum on Africa kicks off in Abuja on Wednesday in the shadow of security fears and mounting global concern about the plight of more than 200 schoolgirls abducted by Islamist militants.