Embattled Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan Wednesday sought parliamentary approval to borrow up to $1 billion (730 million euros) in foreign loan to fight an insurgency by Boko Haram militants which has claimed thousands of lives in the past five years.
In separate letters to both houses of the national assembly, Jonathan said there is an "urgent need" to upgrade the equipment, training and logistics of the armed forces and security services help them "confront this serious threat".
Citing the "ongoing and serious security challenges which the nation is facing, as typified by the Boko Haram terrorist threat," Jonathan said he is seeking to borrow up to $1 billion.
No date has been set yet for a debate on the president's request and there is no indication of where Nigeria could borrow from.
Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima said last February that Boko Haram was "better armed and better motivated" than government forces, a statement rejected by the military.
Borno in the northeast has been under a state of emergency, along with neighbouring Yobe and Adamawa states since May last year.
The Islamist rebels seized 276 girls from a secondary school in the Borno town of Chibok more than three months ago, triggering global outrage. Fifty-seven of them escaped while 219 others are still missing.
AFP
Related stories: Death toll of civilians killed in Boko Haram attacks in Nigeria this year reach 2,053
Video - The state of Nigerian governance and Boko Haram
Thursday, July 17, 2014
Nigeria FIFA rankings improve to 34th after 2014 World Cup
The Super Eagles have risen up ten places in the latest global rankings released on Thursday following their second round finish in Brazil
Nigeria rose up ten spots to 34th place in the Fifa rankings released on Thursday, courtesy of the Super Eagles' second round finish at the World Cup in Brazil.
The Eagles are now the third-ranked African side behind Algeria and Cote d'Ivoire who finished in the 24th and 25th positions.
World champions Germany (1) climbed to the top of the pile after defeating Argentina (2) in the showpiece final on July 13. The South Americans are now in second place.
The Netherlands who won bronze at the World Cup rose twelve places to finish 3rd on the rankings as Colombia were also rewarded with a 4th position.
Belgium (5) and Uruguay (6) follow but hosts Brazil dropped four places to finish 7th after a disastrous end to their campaign saw them concede 10 times in two matches.
Former world champions Spain fell from first place to 8th spot as they crashed out in the group stage. Switzerland dropped three places to finish 9th while France climbed up seven places to the 10th spot.
England dropped ten places to finish in 20th place after their first round elimination.
In Africa, Ghana dropped one place to finish in 38th place and fifth in Africa with Egypt holding onto the 36th spot and fourth in the region.
Cameroon moved up three places to 53rd depsite losing all three matches at the World Cup. They are now the eighth highest-ranked African side behind Tunisia (42) and Guinea (51) while Burkina Faso (58) and Mali (60) round up the top ten.
Goal
Related stories: Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger gives opinion on why Nigeria under achieved in the 2014 FIFA World Cup
FIFA suspends Nigeria from all international football
Nigeria rose up ten spots to 34th place in the Fifa rankings released on Thursday, courtesy of the Super Eagles' second round finish at the World Cup in Brazil.
The Eagles are now the third-ranked African side behind Algeria and Cote d'Ivoire who finished in the 24th and 25th positions.
World champions Germany (1) climbed to the top of the pile after defeating Argentina (2) in the showpiece final on July 13. The South Americans are now in second place.
The Netherlands who won bronze at the World Cup rose twelve places to finish 3rd on the rankings as Colombia were also rewarded with a 4th position.
Belgium (5) and Uruguay (6) follow but hosts Brazil dropped four places to finish 7th after a disastrous end to their campaign saw them concede 10 times in two matches.
Former world champions Spain fell from first place to 8th spot as they crashed out in the group stage. Switzerland dropped three places to finish 9th while France climbed up seven places to the 10th spot.
England dropped ten places to finish in 20th place after their first round elimination.
In Africa, Ghana dropped one place to finish in 38th place and fifth in Africa with Egypt holding onto the 36th spot and fourth in the region.
Cameroon moved up three places to 53rd depsite losing all three matches at the World Cup. They are now the eighth highest-ranked African side behind Tunisia (42) and Guinea (51) while Burkina Faso (58) and Mali (60) round up the top ten.
Goal
Related stories: Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger gives opinion on why Nigeria under achieved in the 2014 FIFA World Cup
FIFA suspends Nigeria from all international football
German kidnapped in Nigeria
Gunmen kidnapped a German national on Wednesday in the northeast Nigerian town of Gombi, German broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported.
Gombi is close to an area that has been plagued by Islamist Boko Haram insurgents for the past year.
The German foreign ministry said it knew about the case but
gave no details. Nigerian police had no comment and
officials at the German embassy in Nigeria could not immediately be reached.
Deutsche Welle, quoting a witness, said the attackers forced the man out of his a car at around 7 a.m., then took him away on one of their motorbikes. He had been teaching at a technical college, the broadcaster reported, without naming him.
The town in the northern part of Adamawa state lies in an area which suffers periodic attacks by the militants, who are based in the Sambisa forest 200 km (125 miles) to the north. Adamawa, along the Cameroon border, has been under a state of emergency since May last year.
Though it was not clear who was behind the abduction, Boko Haram or criminal groups linked to them primarily fund their operations from kidnapping, security officials say, targeting local business people, politicians and sometimes Europeans.
They claimed the kidnapping of a French family in January 2013, and a French priest in November that year. Two Italian Priest and Canadian nun were kidnapped by suspected Boko Haram gunmen in April this year.
Nobody admitted paying any ransoms, although security sources suspect all fetched multi-million dollar prices.
West African nations are increasingly concerned that Boko Haram, which has killed thousands in a fight to carve out an Islamic state in Nigeria, poses a threat to the entire region.
Boko Haram, whose name means 'Western education is sinful' in the Hausa language, stirred an international outcry by kidnapping more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls in northern Nigeria on April 14. The girls remain in captivity.
Reuters
Related story: Video - Search continues for the 200 kidnapped schoolgirls
Gombi is close to an area that has been plagued by Islamist Boko Haram insurgents for the past year.
The German foreign ministry said it knew about the case but
gave no details. Nigerian police had no comment and
officials at the German embassy in Nigeria could not immediately be reached.
Deutsche Welle, quoting a witness, said the attackers forced the man out of his a car at around 7 a.m., then took him away on one of their motorbikes. He had been teaching at a technical college, the broadcaster reported, without naming him.
The town in the northern part of Adamawa state lies in an area which suffers periodic attacks by the militants, who are based in the Sambisa forest 200 km (125 miles) to the north. Adamawa, along the Cameroon border, has been under a state of emergency since May last year.
Though it was not clear who was behind the abduction, Boko Haram or criminal groups linked to them primarily fund their operations from kidnapping, security officials say, targeting local business people, politicians and sometimes Europeans.
They claimed the kidnapping of a French family in January 2013, and a French priest in November that year. Two Italian Priest and Canadian nun were kidnapped by suspected Boko Haram gunmen in April this year.
Nobody admitted paying any ransoms, although security sources suspect all fetched multi-million dollar prices.
West African nations are increasingly concerned that Boko Haram, which has killed thousands in a fight to carve out an Islamic state in Nigeria, poses a threat to the entire region.
Boko Haram, whose name means 'Western education is sinful' in the Hausa language, stirred an international outcry by kidnapping more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls in northern Nigeria on April 14. The girls remain in captivity.
Reuters
Related story: Video - Search continues for the 200 kidnapped schoolgirls
FIFA gives Nigeria new deadline to reinstate NFF board
Nigeria have been given a 17 July deadline to reinstate the sacked board of the Nigeria Football Federation after Fifa extended it by two days.
Fifa last week suspended Nigeria from all international football because of alleged government interference.
But the government insists the removal of the NFF board from office was a ruling from a state high court.
It says a new court hearing is required but a judiciary workers' strike this week has led to it being delayed.
As things stand, Nigeria face exclusion from the Under-20 Women's World Cup that starts in August in Canada and there is also a threat to the men's under-17 side's participation in an African Championship qualifier this weekend.
On Monday, BBC Sport learned the inability of a regional court to hear the case against the NFF was stalling efforts to have it withdrawn or quashed.
"It's a frustrating scenario because of the ongoing strike," said a Nigerian official who preferred not to be named.
"There was no court sitting on the original date of hearing [11 July] which has stalled efforts."
The Nigeria sports minister is also waiting for a brief from a delegation headed by ex-Fifa executive committee member Amos Adamu that travelled to Brazil to explain the situation of things in the country's football to Fifa.
"The minister is waiting for feedback from the delegation to Brazil. He needs that before approaching the president who is also waiting for a brief and update," the official added.
The NFF was dissolved last week and replaced by a sole administrator - a move the government said was essential while legal proceedings against the country's football authority were ongoing.
But Fifa, which prohibits government intervention in football, suspended the country and originally set a 15 July deadline for elected officials to be reinstated and for the court case to be quashed.
African champions Nigeria reached the second round of the World Cup in Brazil for only the third time in their history, after they also did so in 1994 and 1998.
The West Africans are expected to defend their African Cup of Nations title when qualifying matches start in September. The tournament kicks off next January in Morocco.
BBC
Related story: FIFA suspends Nigeria from all international football
Fifa last week suspended Nigeria from all international football because of alleged government interference.
But the government insists the removal of the NFF board from office was a ruling from a state high court.
It says a new court hearing is required but a judiciary workers' strike this week has led to it being delayed.
As things stand, Nigeria face exclusion from the Under-20 Women's World Cup that starts in August in Canada and there is also a threat to the men's under-17 side's participation in an African Championship qualifier this weekend.
On Monday, BBC Sport learned the inability of a regional court to hear the case against the NFF was stalling efforts to have it withdrawn or quashed.
"It's a frustrating scenario because of the ongoing strike," said a Nigerian official who preferred not to be named.
"There was no court sitting on the original date of hearing [11 July] which has stalled efforts."
The Nigeria sports minister is also waiting for a brief from a delegation headed by ex-Fifa executive committee member Amos Adamu that travelled to Brazil to explain the situation of things in the country's football to Fifa.
"The minister is waiting for feedback from the delegation to Brazil. He needs that before approaching the president who is also waiting for a brief and update," the official added.
The NFF was dissolved last week and replaced by a sole administrator - a move the government said was essential while legal proceedings against the country's football authority were ongoing.
But Fifa, which prohibits government intervention in football, suspended the country and originally set a 15 July deadline for elected officials to be reinstated and for the court case to be quashed.
African champions Nigeria reached the second round of the World Cup in Brazil for only the third time in their history, after they also did so in 1994 and 1998.
The West Africans are expected to defend their African Cup of Nations title when qualifying matches start in September. The tournament kicks off next January in Morocco.
BBC
Related story: FIFA suspends Nigeria from all international football
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Death toll of civilians killed in Boko Haram attacks in Nigeria this year reach 2,053
The Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram killed at least 2,053 civilians in the first six months of this year in an increasing number of attacks that may constitute crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch said.
Boko Haram carried out 95 attacks that included bombings on more than 70 towns and villages in northeastern Nigeria, New York-based Human Rights Watch said today in a statement. The figures were based on analysis of media reports and field investigations, it said.
“Boko Haram is effectively waging war on the people of northeastern Nigeria at a staggering human cost,” Corinne Dufka, West Africa director at Human Rights Watch, said in the statement. “Atrocities committed as part of a widespread attack on civilians are crimes against humanity, for which those responsible need to be held to account.”
Boko Haram has been fighting since 2009 to impose Islamic law on Africa’s biggest oil producer. In April, it kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls in the town of Chibok in the northeastern state of Borno. Boko Haram detonated at least three bombs this year in the capital, Abuja, killing more than 100 people, and claimed responsibility for a June explosion in Lagos, the country’s commercial hub.
“There has been a dramatic increase during 2014 in the numbers of casualties from bomb blasts, including several apparent suicide bombings,” Human Rights Watch said.
Intensifying Attacks
President Goodluck Jonathan imposed emergency rule last year in the three northeastern states where the group is most active.
“The pace of attacks has dramatically intensified in remote villages since May 2013, when the federal government imposed a state of emergency in the northern states of Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe,” Human Rights Watch said. The death toll in Borno state alone reached 1,446 people, it said.
Human Rights Watch did not give a comparative death toll for 2013. In May, Bath, U.K.-based risk analysis company Maplecroft said the number of people who died in “terrorist attacks” in Nigeria almost doubled to 3,058 in the 12 months to May 19 this year, from the previous 12-month period.
Jonathan canceled what was to be his first-ever meeting with parents of girls kidnapped from Chibok and five young women who escaped from the militants, his spokesman, Doyin Okupe, said in an e-mailed statement.
Yesterday he held talks with Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl who survived a Taliban gun attack two years ago to become a global advocate for girls’ education.
Police arrested a man suspected to be a senior member of Boko Haram in Bauchi state on July 12, spokesman Frank Mba said today.
Bloomberg
Related stories: Boko Haram claim bomb blast in Lagos, Nigeria
Video - Bomb blast in the capital Abuja, Nigeria - At least 21 confirmed dead
Video - The state of Nigerian governance and Boko Haram
Boko Haram carried out 95 attacks that included bombings on more than 70 towns and villages in northeastern Nigeria, New York-based Human Rights Watch said today in a statement. The figures were based on analysis of media reports and field investigations, it said.
“Boko Haram is effectively waging war on the people of northeastern Nigeria at a staggering human cost,” Corinne Dufka, West Africa director at Human Rights Watch, said in the statement. “Atrocities committed as part of a widespread attack on civilians are crimes against humanity, for which those responsible need to be held to account.”
Boko Haram has been fighting since 2009 to impose Islamic law on Africa’s biggest oil producer. In April, it kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls in the town of Chibok in the northeastern state of Borno. Boko Haram detonated at least three bombs this year in the capital, Abuja, killing more than 100 people, and claimed responsibility for a June explosion in Lagos, the country’s commercial hub.
“There has been a dramatic increase during 2014 in the numbers of casualties from bomb blasts, including several apparent suicide bombings,” Human Rights Watch said.
Intensifying Attacks
President Goodluck Jonathan imposed emergency rule last year in the three northeastern states where the group is most active.
“The pace of attacks has dramatically intensified in remote villages since May 2013, when the federal government imposed a state of emergency in the northern states of Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe,” Human Rights Watch said. The death toll in Borno state alone reached 1,446 people, it said.
Human Rights Watch did not give a comparative death toll for 2013. In May, Bath, U.K.-based risk analysis company Maplecroft said the number of people who died in “terrorist attacks” in Nigeria almost doubled to 3,058 in the 12 months to May 19 this year, from the previous 12-month period.
Jonathan canceled what was to be his first-ever meeting with parents of girls kidnapped from Chibok and five young women who escaped from the militants, his spokesman, Doyin Okupe, said in an e-mailed statement.
Yesterday he held talks with Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl who survived a Taliban gun attack two years ago to become a global advocate for girls’ education.
Police arrested a man suspected to be a senior member of Boko Haram in Bauchi state on July 12, spokesman Frank Mba said today.
Bloomberg
Related stories: Boko Haram claim bomb blast in Lagos, Nigeria
Video - Bomb blast in the capital Abuja, Nigeria - At least 21 confirmed dead
Video - The state of Nigerian governance and Boko Haram
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