Thursday, April 26, 2018
Video - Nigerian government aims to end malaria deaths by 2020
Nigeria is the country worst affected by malaria. The World Health Organisation estimates around 8,500 people are infected by the mosquito-borne disease every week. The government has stepped up efforts to treat patients -- and aims to ensure that no Nigerian dies of malaria by 2020.
Video - Nigerian Muslims may be forced to miss Hajj pilgrimage
Thousands of Nigerian Muslims could be prevented from taking part in the annual Hajj pilgrimage. This is after Saudi Arabian authorities said they may block them from entering the country due to a deadly Lassa fever outbreak in their country. It's the worst outbreak of the haemorragic fever on record in the West African nation.
Video - Nigerian lawmakers miss another deadline to pass 2018 budget
There has been yet another delay in passing Nigeria's 2018 budget. The National Assembly has missed a self-imposed deadline for a third time. Lawmakers have repeatedly pushed back the date for approving the 2018 spending plan -- claiming it's heavily padded and riddled with inaccuracies.
Baby factory raided in Lagos, Nigeria
More than 160 children have been rescued from a "baby factory" and two unregistered orphanages in Nigeria's main city, Lagos, an official has said.
Some of the babies and children had been sexually abused, Agboola Dabiri added.
It is not uncommon for Nigerian authorities to raid "baby factories".
In some cases, unmarried pregnant women are promised healthcare, only for their children to be taken away. In others, women are raped and made pregnant.
The babies can be sold for adoption, used for child labour, trafficked to Europe for prostitution or killed for ritual purposes.
In February, Lagos police told local media they had uncovered a case where a pregnant woman went to a private home to have her baby delivered - only for the baby to be taken away and sold.
Speaking after the latest raids, Mr Dabiri, the Commissioner for Youths and Social Development in Lagos State, said 100 girls and 62 boys had been rescued.
"The children and teenagers rescued from the 'baby factory' and homes were placed at government-approved homes for care and protection," he added.
In 2013, 17 pregnant teenagers and 11 babies were rescued from a house in south-eastern Imo state. The girls said they had been raped by one man.
In 2012, a UK judge raised concerns about "desperate childless parents" being caught up in baby-selling scams in Nigeria.
There was evidence that women were going to Nigeria seeking fertility treatment, then being sold unwanted babies, the judge said.
Some of the babies and children had been sexually abused, Agboola Dabiri added.
It is not uncommon for Nigerian authorities to raid "baby factories".
In some cases, unmarried pregnant women are promised healthcare, only for their children to be taken away. In others, women are raped and made pregnant.
The babies can be sold for adoption, used for child labour, trafficked to Europe for prostitution or killed for ritual purposes.
In February, Lagos police told local media they had uncovered a case where a pregnant woman went to a private home to have her baby delivered - only for the baby to be taken away and sold.
Speaking after the latest raids, Mr Dabiri, the Commissioner for Youths and Social Development in Lagos State, said 100 girls and 62 boys had been rescued.
"The children and teenagers rescued from the 'baby factory' and homes were placed at government-approved homes for care and protection," he added.
In 2013, 17 pregnant teenagers and 11 babies were rescued from a house in south-eastern Imo state. The girls said they had been raped by one man.
In 2012, a UK judge raised concerns about "desperate childless parents" being caught up in baby-selling scams in Nigeria.
There was evidence that women were going to Nigeria seeking fertility treatment, then being sold unwanted babies, the judge said.
Wednesday, April 25, 2018
Video - Attack on church in Nigeria leaves 19 dead
At least 19 people were killed Tuesday after gunmen opened fire at a church in Nigeria's Middle Belt, police said.
Two priests and 17 worshippers were killed when armed men, believed to be cattle herders, stormed a Catholic church during early morning Mass on Tuesday in a remote village in Benue state.
State police spokesman Terver Akase told CNN the attackers, thought to be Fulani herdsmen, set many homes on fire.
"The herdsmen burnt nearly 50 houses during the attack and sacked the entire community, " Akase told CNN. "We expect arrests to be made because they (attackers) are becoming more brazen," he added.
According to Akase, 10 residents were killed by armed men a few days before Tuesday's attack.
Violent clashes between the Fulani herdsmen, who are mostly Muslims, and farmers, who are predominantly Christians, in the central state dates to 2013, according to local media reports.
Cattle herders have evicted farmers by initiating deadly attacks in Nigeria's Middle Belt, media reports say.
At least 72 people were killed in January following weeks of clashes between nomadic herdsmen and farmers in the central part of the West African country.
Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari who visited the state last month to console families and communities that suffered from violent clashes, vowed those involved in Tuesday's attack will be apprehended and brought to justice.
"This latest assault on innocent persons is particularly despicable. Violating a place of worship, killing priests and worshippers is not only vile, evil and satanic, it is clearly calculated to stoke up religious conflict and plunge our communities into endless bloodletting," Buhari said in a tweet.
A local Benue group expressed concerns over the increased spate of killings, calling for an "end to senseless slaughter of unarmed defenseless people" in the country.
"We call on all humane persons and groups around the world to come to the aid of our farming and worship communities and end these terror attacks across Nigeria and especially in Benue, our food basket, which also threatens our collective food security," the Benue Valley Professional Network said in a statement.
Video - Nigerian braided wigs offer hairstylists a share in the hair market
And to the fashion industry, African women spend billions of dollars annually on hair products. Nigeria is one of the biggest spenders in the continent. The west Africa giant spends more than $400 million but with hardly any product to sell in the lucrative beauty market. But the emergence of locally made braided wigs could offer a rare chance for Nigerian hairstylists to earn a share of the hair market.
Tuesday, April 24, 2018
Pirates in Nigeria kidnap 12 crew members on Dutch vessel
Suspected pirates kidnapped 12 of 14 crew members on board Dutch cargo vessel FWN Rapide near the southern Nigerian city of Port Harcourt, Ships & Ports reported, citing vessel owner ForestWave Navigation BV.
The incident occurred April 21 as the vessel was nearing Port Harcourt in Nigeria’s oil region, the online publication reported on its website Tuesday.
The ship owner is working with domestic and international authorities to contact the missing crew and secure their return, while the two other members are safe, it said.
The incident occurred April 21 as the vessel was nearing Port Harcourt in Nigeria’s oil region, the online publication reported on its website Tuesday.
The ship owner is working with domestic and international authorities to contact the missing crew and secure their return, while the two other members are safe, it said.
Monday, April 23, 2018
Video - Nigeria authorities fire 4,500 teachers due to incompetence
The Nigerian government has sacked 4,500 teachers, recently recruited in the north-western state of Kaduna. Authorities say they are incompetent and not qualified to teach primary school pupils. Nigeria's local government has been trying to reform the education sector over the past year.
Video - Young Nigerians document their lives to reunite with families
Thousands of children in Nigeria are living in special camps after being separated from their parents during the ongoing violence in the country. They are using photography to document their lives -- in a bid to be reunited with their families.
Video - Nigeria's amputee team prepares for World Cup after ban is lifted
Nigeria's amputee national team could make their first appearance at the 2018 World Cup, after the World Amputee Football Federation lifted a 5-year ban. The team have already begun preparing for the championship, even though they have yet to receive a formal invitation.
Friday, April 20, 2018
Video - Police recover Senate's stolen ceremonial mace in Abuja
There's been drama in Nigeria's Senate. On Wednesday, a suspended lawmaker led a group of protesters to steal the Senate's ceremonial mace. Outraged, the Senate dubbed Ovie Omo-Agege's actions treasonous. The mace has since been recovered in the capital, Abuja.
Related story: Armed men steal mace from Nigeria's senate
Thursday, April 19, 2018
Video - Nigerians in urban areas living in dire conditions demand reform
Nigeria's capital is one of the most highly modernised cities in Africa. But the original residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of Abuja continue to live in humble mud homes without the most basic life amenities. Without an elected mayor or governor, or local council or minister, FCT people say they feel out of the power equation, which on the ground means economic deprivation.
Video - President Buhari to discuss security, corruption with Donald Trump
Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari is also attending the Commonwealth Summit. Earlier this week he met with Theresa May. But the visits don't stop there. The Nigerian president is also due in Washington at the end of the month -- to meet with U.S. president Donald Trump.
Video - 90% of Nigeria oil spills were caused by oil theft in 2017
Moving on to Nigeria now, oil giant Shell says, it suffered 50% increase in loss of crude oil from its pipeline networks in 2017. The oil company said in its sustainability report, 90% of the spills from its pipeline were caused by sabotage and oil theft.
Armed men steal mace from Nigeria's senate
The men were allegedly led by suspended lawmaker Ovie Omo-Agege who seized the symbol of authority from the upper legislative chambers sitting in Nigeria's capital Abuja, the Senate said.
The incident was branded "an act of treason" by Aliyu Abdullahi, a Senate spokesman who said the lawmaker was trying to overthrow a branch of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
"This action is an affront on the legislature," he said in a statement.
"Security agencies must stand on the side of due process and immediately mobilize their personnel to retrieve the mace and apprehend the perpetrators of this act," Abdullahi said.
Laws cannot be passed by Nigeria's Senate in the absence of the mace, a symbol of authority binding decisions taken on the Senate floor.
Despite the incident, sessions continued Wednesday in the 109-member assembly with a spare mace, Shehu Sani, a senator representing Kaduna Central said.
"I and others insisted that the Senate must not adjourn. I removed my waist belt and lay to serve as a mace for us to continue."
"My colleagues seconded. Then a spare mace brought in and the session continued," Sani added.
The lawmaker who condemned the attack on Facebook called the incident an attempted coup that could fester if not addressed.
"Those who sanctioned,organized and supported this will someday do that to the Presidency or the judiciary," he added.
Nigeria's ruling party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, has called Wednesday's incident an attack on the country's democracy and called for arrests.
"The APC hereby condemns this action and views it as an attack on our democracy and a desecration of the hallowed institution of the National Assembly, " Bolaji Abdullahi, a spokesman for the party, said in a statement.
"We therefore call on security agencies to take all necessary actions to recover the stolen mace and ensure that the perpetrators and their sponsors are brought to justice," he added.
Violent outbursts are common in Nigeria's parliament but tensions rose last month over the proposed amendment of an electoral act that seeks to shift the presidential election date until after legislators and other branches have been elected.
Omo-Agege, a member of the ruling party was reported to have objected to the move which led to his suspension from the Senate.
President Buhari is seeking for re-election next year and tensions are set to rise ahead of the polls.
Nigerians are clamoring for change in areas including: security, the economy and corruption- promises made by President Buhari during his campaign before he took office in 2015.
Four years on, Buhari has faced criticism over increasing attacks by terror group Boko Haram in Nigeria's northeast, frequent attacks from Fulani herdsmen in the central region of the country and a growing separatist movement in the east of the country.
Free food in school scheme changing education in Nigeria
Dozens of children cheer at the Baptist Nursery and Primary School compound in Bode-Ijaiye suburb of Abeokuta city, the capital of Ogun state, as their friends try to outpace each other on a 100-metre dash in a dusty field.
Ogun state inter-school football and track-and-field competitions are just around the corner, and teachers want to prepare the children physically and mentally for the task ahead.
Away from the laughter and shouts of encouragement on the field, four female cooks with aprons on top of traditional indigo-dyed adire gowns ladle porridge mixed with vegetables and fish into hundreds of stainless steel bowls with lids.
As the cooks ambled into a nearby classroom and began to place bowls on wooden desks, the 64 pupils remained quiet. After the dish was served, the students stood and began to sing "Bless this food O Lord for Christ sake Amen." Then they sat down and began to eat.
"I want to say a big thank you to the federal government of Nigeria and the Ogun state government for providing food for us," 10-year-old Ramon Samuel told Al Jazeera before opening the lid on his bowl.
Samuel and his classmates receive free meals every school day thanks to a national programme, which aims to provide nutritious meals to young schoolchildren in order to increase enrolment, help them stay in school, and reduce malnutrition, particularly among children from low-income families.
The Home Grown School Feeding initiative, a movement launched in 2003, is driven by national governments to improve the lives of schoolchildren and farmers alike. It is practised across the continent, including in Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Ethiopia, Namibia, Botswana, Ivory Coast, and South Africa.
The concept is not confined just to the continent as Brazil, Japan, and Italy have similar programmes aimed at keeping children fed while promoting local agriculture.
Though the scheme began in December 2016 in Nigeria, it is not entirely new here. Nigeria's former President Olusegun Obasanjo launched a pilot programme in 13 states in September 2005, but after a few years, only southwestern Osun state maintained it.
The plan was reintroduced by President Muhammadu Buhari in December 2016 as part of his administration's multi-million dollar National Social Investment Programmes to address poverty, hunger and unemployment in Nigeria.
The school programme operates in 20 out of Nigeria's 36 states and has fed nearly seven million pupils in about 40,000 public schools, the programme's manager Abimbola Adesanmi told Al Jazeera. She said more than 68,800 jobs have also been created through the initiative.
Deworming
Nigeria's programme also offers health services including deworming children in public primary schools across 17 states. Adesanmi said worms affect the health of schoolchildren, potentially causing anaemia, malnourishment, and the impairment of mental and physical development.
"In the short term, children with worms may be too sick or tired to attend school or to concentrate. Basically, we do not want to feed worms, rather children," she said.
Teachers in Ogun say the programme is not only helping young students stay in school, but also attracting those from private schools. Ogunkola Adefunke Deborah, headteacher of Baptist Nursery and Primary School, said her pupils now "come to classes regularly" and are "very punctual".
"We have over 80 new pupils, most of them came from private schools," she said. "Before you hardly see parents coming here, but now they come to ask us why their kids beg to be brought to school early and why they always return home with their pocket money."
Deborah shared an anecdote of a boy who refused to go home even when he was sick because he didn't want to miss a meal.
Rebecca Faronbi, 72, was devastated when her son died and left her with four grandchildren to take care of. Her three-year-old granddaughter now receives the free meals at school.
"Until the feeding programme started I was struggling to feed the children. My granddaughter wakes me up before 7am and tells me she wants to go to school because she will get free food there," Faronbi said in the Yoruba language, which is widely spoken in southwestern Nigeria.
Rampant malnutrition
Research has shown that 42 percent of schoolchildren in Nigeria suffer malnutrition, and this has caused a high rate of absenteeism.
UNICEF estimates about 2.5 million Nigerian children under the age of five suffer from severe malnutrition each year, with about half a million children dying from it.
With a quality assurance tracking system known as #TrackWithUs, the programme handlers have urged Nigerians to visit nearby schools to check if meals meet the required standards and report any cooks who aren't serving proper food.
Several cooks were fired in southern Cross River state last November for serving biscuits in lieu of meals.
"The campaign has helped us track activities in schools and strengthened our existing monitoring and supervision mechanism," Adesanmi said. "Since there is a reward and sanction system in place we have been able to name and shame cooks who do not comply with our standards."
A major barrier to the programme's success is the inability of state governments to scale up the meals to senior classes in elementary schools. The federal government caters to pupils from Grades 1 to 3, but with many states struggling to pay salaries, pupils in higher grades are not being fed.
Experts hope the government will not repeat the same mistakes made a decade ago when a combination of inadequate funding, poor logistics, and corruption crippled the scheme.
"We need to promote community participation, community ownership, community implementation, community monitoring, strong institutional arrangements and multi-sector partnerships," Adesanmi said.
Ogun state inter-school football and track-and-field competitions are just around the corner, and teachers want to prepare the children physically and mentally for the task ahead.
Away from the laughter and shouts of encouragement on the field, four female cooks with aprons on top of traditional indigo-dyed adire gowns ladle porridge mixed with vegetables and fish into hundreds of stainless steel bowls with lids.
As the cooks ambled into a nearby classroom and began to place bowls on wooden desks, the 64 pupils remained quiet. After the dish was served, the students stood and began to sing "Bless this food O Lord for Christ sake Amen." Then they sat down and began to eat.
"I want to say a big thank you to the federal government of Nigeria and the Ogun state government for providing food for us," 10-year-old Ramon Samuel told Al Jazeera before opening the lid on his bowl.
Samuel and his classmates receive free meals every school day thanks to a national programme, which aims to provide nutritious meals to young schoolchildren in order to increase enrolment, help them stay in school, and reduce malnutrition, particularly among children from low-income families.
The Home Grown School Feeding initiative, a movement launched in 2003, is driven by national governments to improve the lives of schoolchildren and farmers alike. It is practised across the continent, including in Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Ethiopia, Namibia, Botswana, Ivory Coast, and South Africa.
The concept is not confined just to the continent as Brazil, Japan, and Italy have similar programmes aimed at keeping children fed while promoting local agriculture.
Though the scheme began in December 2016 in Nigeria, it is not entirely new here. Nigeria's former President Olusegun Obasanjo launched a pilot programme in 13 states in September 2005, but after a few years, only southwestern Osun state maintained it.
The plan was reintroduced by President Muhammadu Buhari in December 2016 as part of his administration's multi-million dollar National Social Investment Programmes to address poverty, hunger and unemployment in Nigeria.
The school programme operates in 20 out of Nigeria's 36 states and has fed nearly seven million pupils in about 40,000 public schools, the programme's manager Abimbola Adesanmi told Al Jazeera. She said more than 68,800 jobs have also been created through the initiative.
Knock-on effect
Adeleke Adewolu is the commissioner of special duties and inter-governmental affairs in Ogun state. He said the meals are not only nutritious but also serve as a "social safety net" for low-income households.
"If children eat nutritious food it will enhance their learning ability and this will have a knock-on effect on their cognitive development and help to encourage enrolment and retention," Adewolu said.
The programme provides income for thousands of people, including farmers, cooks recruited from local communities, and those involved in the processing and transportation of food, he said.
In Ogun, the coordinating team collaborated with the ministries of education, health, agriculture, women's affairs and community development to divide farmers into cooperative groups and link them to about 3,000 cooks who were trained and deployed to more than 1,500 schools. Farmers received training in seed quality and fertilisers to grow enough food to meet demand.
The cooks - who are responsible for procuring ingredients for the daily meals - are given a budget of 70 naira ($0.23) per child each day. With help from the state government, they received 57,000 naira ($188) in loans to purchase water drums, pots, bowls, uniforms, and cooking utensils.
"It gives me great joy to help in feeding the children in Baptist Primary School," said Omole Imoleayo, who left a career in banking to join the programme. "We receive our payment without delays and I have more time for my family now."
Sourcing foods locally helps millions of small farmers who produce up to 90 percent of Nigeria's food but are mired in grinding poverty.
"This has created a well-structured market for the farmers since they now know how much to produce and when it is needed," said Tinuola Shopeju, Ogun's programme manager.
Shopeju said the initiative is a "perfect model" for addressing food insecurity and improving local agricultural production in Nigeria, which imports about $20bn worth of food annually.
The menu differs daily and every state adopts its own meal schedule. In Ogun, schoolchildren get rice, stewed fish, and beans but also delicacies such as Ikokore - a dish made from water yam.
Adeleke Adewolu is the commissioner of special duties and inter-governmental affairs in Ogun state. He said the meals are not only nutritious but also serve as a "social safety net" for low-income households.
"If children eat nutritious food it will enhance their learning ability and this will have a knock-on effect on their cognitive development and help to encourage enrolment and retention," Adewolu said.
The programme provides income for thousands of people, including farmers, cooks recruited from local communities, and those involved in the processing and transportation of food, he said.
In Ogun, the coordinating team collaborated with the ministries of education, health, agriculture, women's affairs and community development to divide farmers into cooperative groups and link them to about 3,000 cooks who were trained and deployed to more than 1,500 schools. Farmers received training in seed quality and fertilisers to grow enough food to meet demand.
The cooks - who are responsible for procuring ingredients for the daily meals - are given a budget of 70 naira ($0.23) per child each day. With help from the state government, they received 57,000 naira ($188) in loans to purchase water drums, pots, bowls, uniforms, and cooking utensils.
"It gives me great joy to help in feeding the children in Baptist Primary School," said Omole Imoleayo, who left a career in banking to join the programme. "We receive our payment without delays and I have more time for my family now."
Sourcing foods locally helps millions of small farmers who produce up to 90 percent of Nigeria's food but are mired in grinding poverty.
"This has created a well-structured market for the farmers since they now know how much to produce and when it is needed," said Tinuola Shopeju, Ogun's programme manager.
Shopeju said the initiative is a "perfect model" for addressing food insecurity and improving local agricultural production in Nigeria, which imports about $20bn worth of food annually.
The menu differs daily and every state adopts its own meal schedule. In Ogun, schoolchildren get rice, stewed fish, and beans but also delicacies such as Ikokore - a dish made from water yam.
Deworming
Nigeria's programme also offers health services including deworming children in public primary schools across 17 states. Adesanmi said worms affect the health of schoolchildren, potentially causing anaemia, malnourishment, and the impairment of mental and physical development.
"In the short term, children with worms may be too sick or tired to attend school or to concentrate. Basically, we do not want to feed worms, rather children," she said.
Teachers in Ogun say the programme is not only helping young students stay in school, but also attracting those from private schools. Ogunkola Adefunke Deborah, headteacher of Baptist Nursery and Primary School, said her pupils now "come to classes regularly" and are "very punctual".
"We have over 80 new pupils, most of them came from private schools," she said. "Before you hardly see parents coming here, but now they come to ask us why their kids beg to be brought to school early and why they always return home with their pocket money."
Deborah shared an anecdote of a boy who refused to go home even when he was sick because he didn't want to miss a meal.
Rebecca Faronbi, 72, was devastated when her son died and left her with four grandchildren to take care of. Her three-year-old granddaughter now receives the free meals at school.
"Until the feeding programme started I was struggling to feed the children. My granddaughter wakes me up before 7am and tells me she wants to go to school because she will get free food there," Faronbi said in the Yoruba language, which is widely spoken in southwestern Nigeria.
Rampant malnutrition
Research has shown that 42 percent of schoolchildren in Nigeria suffer malnutrition, and this has caused a high rate of absenteeism.
UNICEF estimates about 2.5 million Nigerian children under the age of five suffer from severe malnutrition each year, with about half a million children dying from it.
With a quality assurance tracking system known as #TrackWithUs, the programme handlers have urged Nigerians to visit nearby schools to check if meals meet the required standards and report any cooks who aren't serving proper food.
Several cooks were fired in southern Cross River state last November for serving biscuits in lieu of meals.
"The campaign has helped us track activities in schools and strengthened our existing monitoring and supervision mechanism," Adesanmi said. "Since there is a reward and sanction system in place we have been able to name and shame cooks who do not comply with our standards."
A major barrier to the programme's success is the inability of state governments to scale up the meals to senior classes in elementary schools. The federal government caters to pupils from Grades 1 to 3, but with many states struggling to pay salaries, pupils in higher grades are not being fed.
Experts hope the government will not repeat the same mistakes made a decade ago when a combination of inadequate funding, poor logistics, and corruption crippled the scheme.
"We need to promote community participation, community ownership, community implementation, community monitoring, strong institutional arrangements and multi-sector partnerships," Adesanmi said.
Wednesday, April 18, 2018
Video - Shrinking Goronyo dam threatens livelihood of millions in Nigeria
The lives and livelihoods of two million people in Nigeria are under threat because of a lack of water.
Video - Nigeria urges citizens to sign up for medical insurance
This year the World Health Organisation is focusing on universal health coverage. In Nigeria, the government is focusing on medical insurance to improve the country's healthcare system. It's urging citizens to join the health insurance scheme so that all Nigerians have access to affordable medical care.
Tuesday, April 17, 2018
Gunmen kill police escort and kidnap German in Nigeria
Gunmen in the northern Nigerian state of Kano killed a policeman and abducted a Germany citizen on Monday as they travelled to a construction site, police said.
The gunmen’s motive was unclear. Kidnapping for ransom is common in parts of Nigeria.
Five gunmen ambushed a vehicle carrying construction workers and opened fire on them along Sabon Titi Madobi road at around 7:45 a.m. (0645 GMT), a police spokesman said. The road is on the outskirts of the state’s capital city, also called Kano.
The vehicle was carrying staff of Dantata & Sawoe Construction Company, a Nigerian firm, to a building site, Kano police said in a statement. A police sergeant, who was part of a protection unit escorting the group, was killed and the German man was abducted, the statement added.
The “manhunt of the abductors is ongoing,” said Kano state police in a statement. The German embassy in Nigeria declined to comment. The company also did not immediately respond to calls and an email requesting comment.
The gunmen’s motive was unclear. Kidnapping for ransom is common in parts of Nigeria.
Five gunmen ambushed a vehicle carrying construction workers and opened fire on them along Sabon Titi Madobi road at around 7:45 a.m. (0645 GMT), a police spokesman said. The road is on the outskirts of the state’s capital city, also called Kano.
The vehicle was carrying staff of Dantata & Sawoe Construction Company, a Nigerian firm, to a building site, Kano police said in a statement. A police sergeant, who was part of a protection unit escorting the group, was killed and the German man was abducted, the statement added.
The “manhunt of the abductors is ongoing,” said Kano state police in a statement. The German embassy in Nigeria declined to comment. The company also did not immediately respond to calls and an email requesting comment.
Monday, April 16, 2018
Video - Nigerian company Neconde accuses Shell of illegally exporting crude
A Nigerian energy company Necode is dragging Royal Dutch Shell to British court of arbitration for illegally exporting crude oil from an oil well whose lease had already been sold.
Kenya Airways fires 86% of staff from Nigeria
Kenya Airways, weekend , sacked 22 out of its 26 Nigerian employees, representing 86.4 per cent of its Nigerian workers. Only four Nigerian staff are currently retained by the management of the airline after the exercise. Those retained are Country Manager, Mr. Afeez Balogun, the Station Manager, and two other staff.
According to the source within the airline, “the sacked staff were issued the disengagement letters at the airline’s office in Lagos in the presence of stern looking police officers who were engaged by the airline to scare away the affected staff and prevent possible breakdown of law and order”.
The source also said that the “affected staff were only given four weeks wages on disengagement by the management”. And that the abrupt sack of the Nigerian workers “happened when the airline was still negotiating a new condition of service with the industry unions.
According to the source within the airline, “the sacked staff were issued the disengagement letters at the airline’s office in Lagos in the presence of stern looking police officers who were engaged by the airline to scare away the affected staff and prevent possible breakdown of law and order”.
The source also said that the “affected staff were only given four weeks wages on disengagement by the management”. And that the abrupt sack of the Nigerian workers “happened when the airline was still negotiating a new condition of service with the industry unions.
The management took the decision without taking into consideration the Nigeria labour laws, which kicks against unilateral decision by employers when disengaging workers”. While confirming the sack of the 22 workers, the General Secretary of the National Union of Air Transport Employees, NUATE, Comrade Olayinka Abioye said that the unilateral sack of the workers by the airline would not be allowed to stand by the industry’s unions.
Abioye said: “We have been agitating for the review of terms and conditions of employment in Kenya Airways for about two years. We started the process and somewhere along the line, the management of Kenya Airways said they were doing restructuring exercise because of the financial conditions of the airline. In the meantime, we have even agreed to certain reviews approved by both parties and only waiting for implementation.
“That was one of the reasons we embarked on the picketing we did last December. Then, after the picketing, we were invited and we concluded the review after the review, we discovered that our Nigerian staff were being owed about 26 months monetary benefits.
They claimed that they won’t be able to pay all, but after the consultations, we agreed for 16 months to be paid the workers. “In between, they introduced a new shift into the discussion, saying that going forward they want to replace all business plans with new business plans called General Sales Agent (GSA), which means they want to engage a travelling agency to handle the ticket sales and reservation and all the workers would be sacked.
“We as unions, didn’t like that and we expressed our dissatisfaction and they said it was not just only Nigeria that would be affected, but throughout the continent. Then, we just said we have formed a consortium of GSA so that the workers would still be retained, but they informed us that we were too late and as they have engaged another GSA already,” he revealed.
He further said that the unions had informed the Director-General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt. Muhtar Usman of its intent to picket the operations of the airline any moment from now.
Friday, April 13, 2018
Video - Boko Haram Huntress
Among the thousands of hunters enlisted by the Nigerian army to track and capture Boko Haram fighters, one stands out from the crowd.
Video - Nigerian authorities battle to contain spread of cholera
Nigeria is also battling a cholera outbreak. Authorities in the north-eastern state of Yobe say at least 13 people have died of the disease so far. More than 150 cases have been reported in the town of Gashua, which is worst affected.
Video - Over $320 million recovered from former Nigeria president's Abacha's Swiss accounts
One area where Nigeria is doing well is in the recovery of looted funds.The government has received more than 320-million dollars allegedly stolen by former president Sani Abacha. The Finance Ministry says the money has been deposited in a special account in the central bank.
Thursday, April 12, 2018
Video - W.H.O. director in Nigeria to launch new vaccine initiative
The director of the World Health Organisation has been in Nigeria. Dr Tedros Adhanom has officially launched a new vaccination campaign for yellow fever. Cases have been on the rise and sub-Saharan Africa is most at risk.
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