A Nigerian designer is redefining cultural narratives by crafting stunning clothing from raffia, a palm tree fiber once tied to West African spiritual practices like juju. Breaking free from stereotypes, her innovative designs have gained widespread acclaim, captivating audiences and gracing runways worldwide.
Thursday, May 15, 2025
Video - Nigerian designer transforms raffia palm fiber into global fashion
A Nigerian designer is redefining cultural narratives by crafting stunning clothing from raffia, a palm tree fiber once tied to West African spiritual practices like juju. Breaking free from stereotypes, her innovative designs have gained widespread acclaim, captivating audiences and gracing runways worldwide.
Awoniyi out of coma as Osimhen and Iwobi lead support for Nigeria star
According to BBC Sport, Nigeria and Nottingham Forest forward Taiwo Awoniyi has woken from an induced coma after having surgery for a serious abdominal injury.
Awoniyi was taken to hospital on Monday, having collided with a goalpost in the closing stages of the 2-2 draw against Leicester City on Sunday. He had collided with the post in the 88th minute at the City Ground, as he attempted to reach a cross from Anthony Elanga.
He came back on and completed the match despite appearing to be in discomfort, and was subsequently taken to hospital after complications were discovered by club medical staff.
The news spread like bushfire, with his Super Eagles team-mate Victor Osimhen, who plays for Turkish side Galatasaray, posting a heartfelt message on his social media pages, quoting a scripture and saying: “Prayers up for you brother. God will never leave you.”
Nigerian legend John Obi Mikel also took to social media, writing: “Praying for Taiwo.”
Awoniyi, who moved to the Premier League outfit from Bundesliga side Union Berlin in June 2022, was on the pitch for only five minutes, having come on as a late substitute for Ibrahim Sangare.
Awoniyi was taken to hospital on Monday, having collided with a goalpost in the closing stages of the 2-2 draw against Leicester City on Sunday. He had collided with the post in the 88th minute at the City Ground, as he attempted to reach a cross from Anthony Elanga.
He came back on and completed the match despite appearing to be in discomfort, and was subsequently taken to hospital after complications were discovered by club medical staff.
The news spread like bushfire, with his Super Eagles team-mate Victor Osimhen, who plays for Turkish side Galatasaray, posting a heartfelt message on his social media pages, quoting a scripture and saying: “Prayers up for you brother. God will never leave you.”
Nigerian legend John Obi Mikel also took to social media, writing: “Praying for Taiwo.”
Awoniyi, who moved to the Premier League outfit from Bundesliga side Union Berlin in June 2022, was on the pitch for only five minutes, having come on as a late substitute for Ibrahim Sangare.
By Dennis Kegengo, Pan-Africa Football
Nigeria's Aliko Dangote 'comfortable' with impact of Trump tariffs on urea exports
LAGOS (Reuters) -Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote said on Thursday he was "comfortable" with the impact President Donald Trump's tariffs would have on his urea exports to the U.S. because major competitor Algeria had been slapped with a higher levy.
Trump imposed a 14% tariff on imports from Nigeria, Africa's largest oil exporter, as part of widespread trade measures introduced last month, later paused for 90 days.
Dangote told an investment conference in Lagos that Dangote Fertiliser, which began commercial operations in 2022, shipped 37% of its 3 million metric tonnes of urea production to the United States.
He said he was initially worried by Trump's tariff on Nigeria, which also exports crude to the U.S.
"But when I checked who we are really competing with, we are competing with Algeria. So luckily for us Algeria were slapped with 30%," said Dangote. "So it actually makes us a bit comfortable."
Dangote, who built Africa's largest petroleum refinery, said he expected revenues from Dangote Group, also a major cement producer, to grow to more than $30 billion next year from about $25 billion projected in 2025.
Trump imposed a 14% tariff on imports from Nigeria, Africa's largest oil exporter, as part of widespread trade measures introduced last month, later paused for 90 days.
Dangote told an investment conference in Lagos that Dangote Fertiliser, which began commercial operations in 2022, shipped 37% of its 3 million metric tonnes of urea production to the United States.
He said he was initially worried by Trump's tariff on Nigeria, which also exports crude to the U.S.
"But when I checked who we are really competing with, we are competing with Algeria. So luckily for us Algeria were slapped with 30%," said Dangote. "So it actually makes us a bit comfortable."
Dangote, who built Africa's largest petroleum refinery, said he expected revenues from Dangote Group, also a major cement producer, to grow to more than $30 billion next year from about $25 billion projected in 2025.
Nigeria has a food security problem as water for crops is harder to find
KWALKWALAWA, Nigeria (AP) — After two decades of working his farm in northwestern Nigeria, Umaru Muazu now struggles to find water for his crops.
A murky puddle is all that remains of a river near his 5-hectare farm and those of others in this community in arid Sokoto state. Because the 62-year-old Muazu can’t afford to dig a well to keep crops like millet and maize from withering, he might abandon farming.
“Before, with a small farm, you could get a lot,” he said.
Climate change is challenging agriculture in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country. With long dry spells and extreme heat, water bodies are drying because the arid season is becoming longer than usual. The wet season, though it can dump excessive rain, is short.
It’s fresh pain in a country where the World Food Program says 31 million people already face food insecurity. Efforts to recover from one climate shock are overlapped by the next, said WFP spokesperson Chi Lael.
The challenges faced by farmers in the north, who account for most of what Nigeria eats, are affecting food prices and availability in the booming coastal south that’s home to the megacity of Lagos.
More than 80% of Nigeria’s farmers are smallholder farmers, who account for 90% of the country’s annual agricultural production. Some work their fields with little more than a piece of roughly carved wood and their bare hands.
Farmers are facing low yields because the government has failed to develop infrastructure like dams to help mitigate the effects of climate change, said Daniel Obiora, national president of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria.
There is little data available on the drying-up of smaller water bodies across the north. But farmers say the trend has been worsening.
In Adamawa state, water scarcity caused by higher temperatures and changing rain patterns has affected over 1,250 hectares (3,088 acres) of farmland, disrupting food supply and livelihoods, Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency said last year.
Over-extraction of water and deforestation are other factors contributing to northern Nigeria’s drying rivers, according to Abdulsamad Isah, co-founder of local Extension Africa nonprofit that often works with farmers.
Elsewhere in Sokoto state, Nasiru Bello tilled his farm to cultivate onions without assurance of a meaningful harvest. With nearby rivers and wells drying up, he has resorted to pumping groundwater for the farm that provides the sole income for his family of 26. But the cost of pumping amid soaring gas prices has become unbearable.
“The plants do not grow well as it did,” he said.
Nigeria is forecast to become the world’s third most populous nation by 2025, alongside the United States and after India and China.
With Nigeria’s population expected to reach 400 million by 2050, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization has been encouraging climate-smart agriculture to help ensure food security, including drip irrigation, which delivers water slowly and directly to roots and helps conserve water, instead of traditional irrigation systems that flood entire fields.
“There should be more orientation for farmers about climate change,” said Yusuf Isah Sokoto, director of the College of Environmental Science at Sokoto’s Umaru Ali Shinkafi Polytechnic.
At least two-thirds of the trees in the state have been lost due to deforestation, contributing to rising temperatures, Sokoto said.
Data from the government-run statistics agency show that local agriculture contributed 22% of Nigeria’s GDP in the second quarter of 2024, down from 25% in the previous quarter. While the trend has fluctuated in recent years, experts have said agricultural production still does not reflect growing government investment in the sector.
Household food imports, meanwhile, rose by 136% from 2023 to 2024, government statistics show.
The decreasing farm yields are being felt elsewhere in Nigeria, especially the south.
In Lagos, the price of several items grown in the north have nearly doubled in the last two years, partly due to decreasing supplies. A head of cabbage grown in the north is selling for 2,000 naira ($1.2), nearly double its price a year ago and more than five times the price in Sokoto.
Nigerian authorities acknowledge the problem. Many farmers who once harvested up to 10 tons are hardly able to get half that these days, agriculture minister Aliyu Abdullahi said earlier this year.
Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu and his government have touted agriculture as a means for economic prosperity. Shortly after he took office in May 2023, Tinubu’s government declared a food security state of emergency and announced plans to activate 500,000 hectares of farmland in Nigeria’s land banks, which are mostly in the north.
The land banks, however, are yet to be activated.
A murky puddle is all that remains of a river near his 5-hectare farm and those of others in this community in arid Sokoto state. Because the 62-year-old Muazu can’t afford to dig a well to keep crops like millet and maize from withering, he might abandon farming.
“Before, with a small farm, you could get a lot,” he said.
Climate change is challenging agriculture in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country. With long dry spells and extreme heat, water bodies are drying because the arid season is becoming longer than usual. The wet season, though it can dump excessive rain, is short.
It’s fresh pain in a country where the World Food Program says 31 million people already face food insecurity. Efforts to recover from one climate shock are overlapped by the next, said WFP spokesperson Chi Lael.
The challenges faced by farmers in the north, who account for most of what Nigeria eats, are affecting food prices and availability in the booming coastal south that’s home to the megacity of Lagos.
More than 80% of Nigeria’s farmers are smallholder farmers, who account for 90% of the country’s annual agricultural production. Some work their fields with little more than a piece of roughly carved wood and their bare hands.
Farmers are facing low yields because the government has failed to develop infrastructure like dams to help mitigate the effects of climate change, said Daniel Obiora, national president of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria.
There is little data available on the drying-up of smaller water bodies across the north. But farmers say the trend has been worsening.
In Adamawa state, water scarcity caused by higher temperatures and changing rain patterns has affected over 1,250 hectares (3,088 acres) of farmland, disrupting food supply and livelihoods, Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency said last year.
Over-extraction of water and deforestation are other factors contributing to northern Nigeria’s drying rivers, according to Abdulsamad Isah, co-founder of local Extension Africa nonprofit that often works with farmers.
Elsewhere in Sokoto state, Nasiru Bello tilled his farm to cultivate onions without assurance of a meaningful harvest. With nearby rivers and wells drying up, he has resorted to pumping groundwater for the farm that provides the sole income for his family of 26. But the cost of pumping amid soaring gas prices has become unbearable.
“The plants do not grow well as it did,” he said.
Nigeria is forecast to become the world’s third most populous nation by 2025, alongside the United States and after India and China.
With Nigeria’s population expected to reach 400 million by 2050, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization has been encouraging climate-smart agriculture to help ensure food security, including drip irrigation, which delivers water slowly and directly to roots and helps conserve water, instead of traditional irrigation systems that flood entire fields.
“There should be more orientation for farmers about climate change,” said Yusuf Isah Sokoto, director of the College of Environmental Science at Sokoto’s Umaru Ali Shinkafi Polytechnic.
At least two-thirds of the trees in the state have been lost due to deforestation, contributing to rising temperatures, Sokoto said.
Data from the government-run statistics agency show that local agriculture contributed 22% of Nigeria’s GDP in the second quarter of 2024, down from 25% in the previous quarter. While the trend has fluctuated in recent years, experts have said agricultural production still does not reflect growing government investment in the sector.
Household food imports, meanwhile, rose by 136% from 2023 to 2024, government statistics show.
The decreasing farm yields are being felt elsewhere in Nigeria, especially the south.
In Lagos, the price of several items grown in the north have nearly doubled in the last two years, partly due to decreasing supplies. A head of cabbage grown in the north is selling for 2,000 naira ($1.2), nearly double its price a year ago and more than five times the price in Sokoto.
Nigerian authorities acknowledge the problem. Many farmers who once harvested up to 10 tons are hardly able to get half that these days, agriculture minister Aliyu Abdullahi said earlier this year.
Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu and his government have touted agriculture as a means for economic prosperity. Shortly after he took office in May 2023, Tinubu’s government declared a food security state of emergency and announced plans to activate 500,000 hectares of farmland in Nigeria’s land banks, which are mostly in the north.
The land banks, however, are yet to be activated.
Related story: Video - Nigeria food crisis deepens
Wednesday, May 14, 2025
Danone doubles down on Nigeria investment
French food giant Danone is doubling down on its plans to invest in Nigeria, even as other multinationals have pulled out of the continent’s largest consumer market in the last two years.
“We are convinced about the potential of Nigeria,” Christian Stammkoetter, Danone’s head of Asia, Middle East, and Africa, told Semafor on the sidelines of the Africa CEO Forum in Abidjan.
Procter & Gamble, GSK, and Unilever, are among the multinationals that have either severely cut back their presence in Nigeria or pulled out, typically citing currency devaluations and rampant inflation after President Bola Tinubu’s administration applied tough economic policies soon after coming to office nearly two years ago.
But Danone has long been operating in Nigeria, where it is best known for its Fan Milk brand, and recently invested in developing milk distribution capacity in the country’s north to help lower operational costs. Stammkoetter said the company will “continue doubling down through innovation and expansion of its routes to market.”
By Yinka Adegoke, Semafor
“We are convinced about the potential of Nigeria,” Christian Stammkoetter, Danone’s head of Asia, Middle East, and Africa, told Semafor on the sidelines of the Africa CEO Forum in Abidjan.
Procter & Gamble, GSK, and Unilever, are among the multinationals that have either severely cut back their presence in Nigeria or pulled out, typically citing currency devaluations and rampant inflation after President Bola Tinubu’s administration applied tough economic policies soon after coming to office nearly two years ago.
But Danone has long been operating in Nigeria, where it is best known for its Fan Milk brand, and recently invested in developing milk distribution capacity in the country’s north to help lower operational costs. Stammkoetter said the company will “continue doubling down through innovation and expansion of its routes to market.”
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