Northern Nigeria's riot police training academy has been overrun by Boko Haram Islamist militants, a witness in Borno state has told the BBC.
Shots were heard after the militants arrived in three armoured vehicles and on dozens of motorcycles, he said.
A police spokesman confirmed the attack while a senior security source said it had not been possible to communicate with the academy since Wednesday.
The Liman Kara college is near Gwoza town, seized by Boko Haram this month.
Thousands have been killed across north-eastern Nigeria since Boko Haram launched its violent campaign for an Islamic state in 2009.
The militants have stepped up their attacks after being pushed out of their bases in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, and have been targeting towns and villages in deadly raids.
In recent weeks, the militants have been moving from their rural camps and taking over substantial towns.
'Residents fled'
The militants have been in control of Gwoza, which had a population of about 50,000, since the beginning of August.
They apparently retreated about 100km (62 miles) to Gwoza after losing control of Damboa - both large towns in Borno state.
But attempts by the security forces to retake Gwoza have failed - and a group of about 40 soldiers is now refusing to fight, saying they are too poorly equipped to take on the heavily armed insurgents.
BBC
Related stories: Some Nigerian soldiers refuse to fight Boko Haram until given new weapons
Video - The state of Nigerian governance and Boko Haram
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Nigeria plays Germany in women's under 20 World Cup final
Asisat Oshoala scored four goals to lift Nigeria to a 6-2 victory over North Korea at the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup semifinal at Moncton Stadium on Wednesday.Nigeria will face Germany, which beat France 2-1 in the other semi on Wednesday in Montreal, in the championship match on Sunday (CBC, CBCSports.ca, 6 p.m. ET).
Oshoala scored in the 24th minute to give Nigeria a 2-0 advantage, and added her other three goals in a 25-minute span in the second half. Courtney Dike and Uchechi Sunday also scored for the winning side.
Jon So Yon, on a penalty kick in the 62nd minute, and Ri Un Sim replied for North Korea. The North Koreans will play France in the third-place match on Sunday.
At Montreal's Olympic Stadium, Lena Petermann's goal in the 81st minute stood up as the winner as Germany edged France in the later semifinal match.
Pauline Bremer scored in the 12th minute to give Germany a 1-0 edge, but Griedge Mbock Bathy replied for France to tie the game in the 45th.
CBC
Fire destroys Nigeria Football Federation headquarters in Abuja
A huge fire has ripped through the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) building in the capital Abuja on Wednesday.
Flames were spotted coming out of the building at about 1000 local time and it took fire fighters almost two hours to extinguish the blaze.
Nigerian Fire Service official Eyo Ime said it is suspected an electrical fault caused the fire.
"The fire started from the chief accountant's office as I was told," said NFF general secretary Musa Amadu.
"I just arrived at the office and saw the smoke and was not allowed to go upstairs, obviously, for safety reasons.
"Staffers would have been able to reduce the impact of the damage, but could not gain access into his office and as such could not quell or trace where the smoke was coming out from.
"But we must not engage in blame games and thank God that no life was lost. But this is sad and unfortunate."
The disaster is another blow for the NFF, coming at a time when it is locked in a bitter leadership crisis which has seen president Aminu Maigari sacked and reinstated twice.
The African champions are also without a coach as the football authority continues to negotiate with Stephen Keshi, whose contract ran out in June, over his return to the job.
However, Keshi told BBC Sport he "cannot wait much longer", adding "it should only take the 24 hours or 48 hours to agree a contract; this is taking too much time".
BBC
Related story: FIFA gives Nigeria new deadline to reinstate NFF board
Flames were spotted coming out of the building at about 1000 local time and it took fire fighters almost two hours to extinguish the blaze.
Nigerian Fire Service official Eyo Ime said it is suspected an electrical fault caused the fire.
"The fire started from the chief accountant's office as I was told," said NFF general secretary Musa Amadu.
"I just arrived at the office and saw the smoke and was not allowed to go upstairs, obviously, for safety reasons.
"Staffers would have been able to reduce the impact of the damage, but could not gain access into his office and as such could not quell or trace where the smoke was coming out from.
"But we must not engage in blame games and thank God that no life was lost. But this is sad and unfortunate."
The disaster is another blow for the NFF, coming at a time when it is locked in a bitter leadership crisis which has seen president Aminu Maigari sacked and reinstated twice.
The African champions are also without a coach as the football authority continues to negotiate with Stephen Keshi, whose contract ran out in June, over his return to the job.
However, Keshi told BBC Sport he "cannot wait much longer", adding "it should only take the 24 hours or 48 hours to agree a contract; this is taking too much time".
BBC
Related story: FIFA gives Nigeria new deadline to reinstate NFF board
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Some Nigerian soldiers refuse to fight Boko Haram until given new weapons
A group of soldiers in north-eastern Nigeria is refusing to fight Islamist Boko Haram militants until they receive better equipment, one of the mutineers has told the BBC.
The soldier, who requested anonymity, said at least 40 of his colleagues would refuse orders to deploy.
A defence ministry spokesman said the incident was being investigated.
A state of emergency that was declared in three north-eastern states last year has failed to curb the insurgency.
Boko Haram is fighting to create an Islamic state in Nigeria - and has stepped up its attacks after being pushed out of its bases in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, targeting towns and villages in deadly raids.
'Sacrificing soldiers'
"Soldiers are dying like fowl," the soldier, who said he and his colleagues were just outside Maiduguri, told the BBC Hausa service.
"The Nigerian army is not ready to fight Boko Haram," he said, explaining that soldiers were not being given enough weapons and ammunition to take them on.
"Boko Haram are inside the bush, everywhere," he said "They [senior commanders] are sacrificing soldiers," he said.
Defence ministry spokesman Gen Chris Olukolade told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme that he could not confirm the reports of a mutiny but would investigate.
He denied that soldiers were being "sent to die".
"We may not have all it takes but we are improving on it [equipment] regularly," he said.
Even the vehicles the soldiers were expected to use were old armoured cars that were not up to the job, he added.
A general in the army, who asked not to be named, told the BBC that he was unable to confirm the mutiny, but said "cowardice" was not uncommon in times of war - and any mutineers would be punished.
When the solder was asked if he feared being court-martialled for taking part in the mutiny, he said that a soldier could only be taken to task for refusing to go to war.
"I joined the army to defend my country", but you cannot defend it without being equipped to do so, he said.
In April, Boko Haram caused global outrage by abducting more than 200 girls from a boarding school in the remote town of Chibok in Borno state.
The group has also carried out a wave of bombings and assassinations, including that of moderate Muslim leaders opposed to its ideology.
BBC
Related stories: Wives of Nigerian soldiers protest the lack of resources troops have to combat Boko Haram
Boko Haram suspected of kidnapping about 50 men and boys in Northern Nigerian villages
The soldier, who requested anonymity, said at least 40 of his colleagues would refuse orders to deploy.
A defence ministry spokesman said the incident was being investigated.
A state of emergency that was declared in three north-eastern states last year has failed to curb the insurgency.
Boko Haram is fighting to create an Islamic state in Nigeria - and has stepped up its attacks after being pushed out of its bases in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, targeting towns and villages in deadly raids.
'Sacrificing soldiers'
"Soldiers are dying like fowl," the soldier, who said he and his colleagues were just outside Maiduguri, told the BBC Hausa service.
"The Nigerian army is not ready to fight Boko Haram," he said, explaining that soldiers were not being given enough weapons and ammunition to take them on.
"Boko Haram are inside the bush, everywhere," he said "They [senior commanders] are sacrificing soldiers," he said.
Defence ministry spokesman Gen Chris Olukolade told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme that he could not confirm the reports of a mutiny but would investigate.
He denied that soldiers were being "sent to die".
"We may not have all it takes but we are improving on it [equipment] regularly," he said.
Even the vehicles the soldiers were expected to use were old armoured cars that were not up to the job, he added.
A general in the army, who asked not to be named, told the BBC that he was unable to confirm the mutiny, but said "cowardice" was not uncommon in times of war - and any mutineers would be punished.
When the solder was asked if he feared being court-martialled for taking part in the mutiny, he said that a soldier could only be taken to task for refusing to go to war.
"I joined the army to defend my country", but you cannot defend it without being equipped to do so, he said.
In April, Boko Haram caused global outrage by abducting more than 200 girls from a boarding school in the remote town of Chibok in Borno state.
The group has also carried out a wave of bombings and assassinations, including that of moderate Muslim leaders opposed to its ideology.
BBC
Related stories: Wives of Nigerian soldiers protest the lack of resources troops have to combat Boko Haram
Boko Haram suspected of kidnapping about 50 men and boys in Northern Nigerian villages
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
International community applauds Nigeria for Ebola containment efforts
In the midst of the gloomy news that Nigeria is often associated with comes a ray of hope that the country can indeed get things right when its officials and people put their hearts to work.
This is the story emerging from the handling of Ebola outbreak in West Africa, where Nigeria’s officials have been able to contain its spread in Africa’s most populous country with over 168 million people.
This response has received huge commendations from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the international community.
Following fear and anxiety the lethality of the Ebola outbreak has generated since it came into the country through late Patrick Sawyer, a Liberian-American, on July 20, 2014, Nigeria is racing to halt Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) from spreading, including tracing individuals known to have had contact with confirmed cases, training health care professionals to identify EVD, and raising public awareness of symptoms.
This cheery news comes as contact tracing in Nigeria has resulted in a range of between 94 percent and 98 percent of contacts of EVD cases being identified and followed up, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
With Nigeria recording 12 confirmed EVD cases, this development comes as a relief and provides a window to wipe out the disease before it gets out of control, as it has in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, claiming 1,066 lives, with 1,963 EVD cases confirmed since the outbreak began in December 2013.
Onyebuchi Chukwu, minister of health, had announced yesterday that four additional confirmed cases of EVD who had been managed successfully and were now disease-free had been discharged.
“The four persons include two male medical doctors and one female nurse. The three participated in the treatment of the index case, while the fourth person was a female patient at the time the index case was on admission,” a statement from the ministry said.
This brings to five the total number of patients diagnosed with EVD who have now been discharged from hospital.
On the Federal Government’s containment efforts, Chukwu told BusinessDay that state governments were urged to institute a communication strategy to ensure mass awareness creation and sensitisation for individuals and communities on EVD in a bid to halt the spread of the disease.
Federal and state ministries of health and the human services secretariat of the FCT administration were also directed to provide adequate incentives to health workers participating in the management of EVD patients, he said.
Chukwu said Nigeria’s partnership with WHO, UNICEF, the United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), local authorities and international partners in the area of technical capacity, health facilities for isolation of EVD patients and other containment efforts was aimed at halting EVD spread.
“The Ministry of Health is procuring isolation tents to quicken the pace of providing isolation wards in all states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory. We are also setting up a special team to provide counselling and psychosocial support to patients, identified contacts and their families,” Chukwu explained.
“189 persons are under surveillance in Lagos and six persons under surveillance in Enugu. All the persons under surveillance were secondary contacts. All the patients under treatment have now moved to the new 40-bed capacity isolating ward provided by the Lagos State government. Additional equipment has also been made available to the new isolating ward by the Federal Government,” he said.
Chika Mordi, CEO, National Competitiveness Council of Nigeria, said Nigeria has done creditably well in containing the spread of EVD in the country. While Nigeria is perceived in the international community not to have functional institutions, Mordi said the case management of EVD in Nigeria has proven that the nation has functional institutions.
He said “If you compare the way Nigeria have handled the case of EVD outbreak when compared to other Ebola affected countries within the West-African sub-region, you will agree that we have done an excellent job. We can also improved upon the success.
“You may remember that the outbreak started in Guinea and then spread to neighbouring Sierra Leone and Liberia. Remember that the index case who brought EVD into Nigeria was visibly ill when he stopped over in Togo and yet Togo said they dont have any case of EVD. Ivory Coast which borders Guinea say they dont have EVD cases.
Don’t forget that in the last few months, Nigeria has been on the front burner on CNN and other news channels in the area of insecurity, suggesting that we don’t have functional institutions. The way we have effectively managed EVD in Nigeria suggests that the country has functional systems in place which could be improved upon.”
Another impressed observer of Nigeria’s handling of the Ebola outbreak narrated his experience at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos yesterday. He said, “I was at the airport this morning (yesterday) to see off a relation and as she went in to board, she and other passengers were screened by health officials who not only checked their temperature but asked questions like how they felt, where they had been and it was damn effective. A rare case of us doing the right thing. I was so impressed and it shows how far we can go if we do the right things.
Babatunde Fashola, Lagos State governor, said the government was not shying away from its primary purpose of protecting and saving lives, as the state House of Assembly had approved additional expenditure to fund efforts at containing the spread of the disease.
“My view of the fact that we are gaining control is informed by verifiable facts that I receive daily from our health workers that all the cases of those who have either unfortunately died, or those who are sick, and those who are contacts under surveillance are directly traceable to the imported case. This is encouraging news from which our containment strategy can profit greatly; because it means that we do not have any case of unknown origin, which will raise the risk of an epidemic,” Fashola said.
Adebayo Onajole, director of communication and community mobilisation for Ebola in Nigeria, said the country had been able to contain the spread through increased surveillance at the country’s borders (air, land and sea), increased awareness and less of disinformation of the disease in the country.
Onajole, who is also a consultant public health physician, noted that universal health precautions and personal hygiene were currently being encouraged, a situation that would halt the spread of the disease.
“Efforts are currently ongoing to scale up and strengthen all aspects of response, including contact tracking, public information and community mobilisation, case management and infection prevention and control, and coordination,” he said.
“There is now increased disease surveillance system in a bid to monitor, control, and prevent any occurrence of the disease,” he added.
Five committees have been put in place in the country to halt the spread of the disease, BusinessDay investigation reveals. These committees include contact tracing (responsible for tracing contacts of infected person), case management unit (responsible for managing established cases), and point of entry unit, which is charged with the responsibility of examining persons entering Nigeria from various borders.
Besides the Federal Government’s N1.9 billion Ebola Intervention Plan announced by President Goodluck Jonathan, Aliko Dangote, chairman, Dangote Group, announced the donation of over N150 million from Dangote Foundation for the establishment of a National Ebola Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) at Yaba, Lagos.
The EOC is a key part of Nigeria’s response to the outbreak of Ebola on its shores. Headed by Faisal Shuaib, a US-trained public health expert with extensive international experience, the centre serves as the engine room of national response, providing a coordinating mechanism for prevention, surveillance, patient care, tracking, data analysis and containment of the spread of the virus.
It also facilitates coordination of partners, serves as a platform to link to the medical community across the country and also internationally, especially with countries also battling the virus in West Africa.
Public health experts believe EVD can be stopped through maintaining high effective control mechanism and communication within communities on proper hygiene practice.
“We do know how to stop Ebola. Its old-fashioned plain and simple public health: find the patients, make sure they get treated, find their contacts, track them, educate people and do infection control in hospitals,” said Thomas Frieden, director, United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.
Business Day
Related stories: 5 have recovered from 12 Ebola cases
Nigeria approves use of experimental Ebola drug
This is the story emerging from the handling of Ebola outbreak in West Africa, where Nigeria’s officials have been able to contain its spread in Africa’s most populous country with over 168 million people.
This response has received huge commendations from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the international community.
Following fear and anxiety the lethality of the Ebola outbreak has generated since it came into the country through late Patrick Sawyer, a Liberian-American, on July 20, 2014, Nigeria is racing to halt Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) from spreading, including tracing individuals known to have had contact with confirmed cases, training health care professionals to identify EVD, and raising public awareness of symptoms.
This cheery news comes as contact tracing in Nigeria has resulted in a range of between 94 percent and 98 percent of contacts of EVD cases being identified and followed up, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
With Nigeria recording 12 confirmed EVD cases, this development comes as a relief and provides a window to wipe out the disease before it gets out of control, as it has in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, claiming 1,066 lives, with 1,963 EVD cases confirmed since the outbreak began in December 2013.
Onyebuchi Chukwu, minister of health, had announced yesterday that four additional confirmed cases of EVD who had been managed successfully and were now disease-free had been discharged.
“The four persons include two male medical doctors and one female nurse. The three participated in the treatment of the index case, while the fourth person was a female patient at the time the index case was on admission,” a statement from the ministry said.
This brings to five the total number of patients diagnosed with EVD who have now been discharged from hospital.
On the Federal Government’s containment efforts, Chukwu told BusinessDay that state governments were urged to institute a communication strategy to ensure mass awareness creation and sensitisation for individuals and communities on EVD in a bid to halt the spread of the disease.
Federal and state ministries of health and the human services secretariat of the FCT administration were also directed to provide adequate incentives to health workers participating in the management of EVD patients, he said.
Chukwu said Nigeria’s partnership with WHO, UNICEF, the United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), local authorities and international partners in the area of technical capacity, health facilities for isolation of EVD patients and other containment efforts was aimed at halting EVD spread.
“The Ministry of Health is procuring isolation tents to quicken the pace of providing isolation wards in all states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory. We are also setting up a special team to provide counselling and psychosocial support to patients, identified contacts and their families,” Chukwu explained.
“189 persons are under surveillance in Lagos and six persons under surveillance in Enugu. All the persons under surveillance were secondary contacts. All the patients under treatment have now moved to the new 40-bed capacity isolating ward provided by the Lagos State government. Additional equipment has also been made available to the new isolating ward by the Federal Government,” he said.
Chika Mordi, CEO, National Competitiveness Council of Nigeria, said Nigeria has done creditably well in containing the spread of EVD in the country. While Nigeria is perceived in the international community not to have functional institutions, Mordi said the case management of EVD in Nigeria has proven that the nation has functional institutions.
He said “If you compare the way Nigeria have handled the case of EVD outbreak when compared to other Ebola affected countries within the West-African sub-region, you will agree that we have done an excellent job. We can also improved upon the success.
“You may remember that the outbreak started in Guinea and then spread to neighbouring Sierra Leone and Liberia. Remember that the index case who brought EVD into Nigeria was visibly ill when he stopped over in Togo and yet Togo said they dont have any case of EVD. Ivory Coast which borders Guinea say they dont have EVD cases.
Don’t forget that in the last few months, Nigeria has been on the front burner on CNN and other news channels in the area of insecurity, suggesting that we don’t have functional institutions. The way we have effectively managed EVD in Nigeria suggests that the country has functional systems in place which could be improved upon.”
Another impressed observer of Nigeria’s handling of the Ebola outbreak narrated his experience at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos yesterday. He said, “I was at the airport this morning (yesterday) to see off a relation and as she went in to board, she and other passengers were screened by health officials who not only checked their temperature but asked questions like how they felt, where they had been and it was damn effective. A rare case of us doing the right thing. I was so impressed and it shows how far we can go if we do the right things.
Babatunde Fashola, Lagos State governor, said the government was not shying away from its primary purpose of protecting and saving lives, as the state House of Assembly had approved additional expenditure to fund efforts at containing the spread of the disease.
“My view of the fact that we are gaining control is informed by verifiable facts that I receive daily from our health workers that all the cases of those who have either unfortunately died, or those who are sick, and those who are contacts under surveillance are directly traceable to the imported case. This is encouraging news from which our containment strategy can profit greatly; because it means that we do not have any case of unknown origin, which will raise the risk of an epidemic,” Fashola said.
Adebayo Onajole, director of communication and community mobilisation for Ebola in Nigeria, said the country had been able to contain the spread through increased surveillance at the country’s borders (air, land and sea), increased awareness and less of disinformation of the disease in the country.
Onajole, who is also a consultant public health physician, noted that universal health precautions and personal hygiene were currently being encouraged, a situation that would halt the spread of the disease.
“Efforts are currently ongoing to scale up and strengthen all aspects of response, including contact tracking, public information and community mobilisation, case management and infection prevention and control, and coordination,” he said.
“There is now increased disease surveillance system in a bid to monitor, control, and prevent any occurrence of the disease,” he added.
Five committees have been put in place in the country to halt the spread of the disease, BusinessDay investigation reveals. These committees include contact tracing (responsible for tracing contacts of infected person), case management unit (responsible for managing established cases), and point of entry unit, which is charged with the responsibility of examining persons entering Nigeria from various borders.
Besides the Federal Government’s N1.9 billion Ebola Intervention Plan announced by President Goodluck Jonathan, Aliko Dangote, chairman, Dangote Group, announced the donation of over N150 million from Dangote Foundation for the establishment of a National Ebola Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) at Yaba, Lagos.
The EOC is a key part of Nigeria’s response to the outbreak of Ebola on its shores. Headed by Faisal Shuaib, a US-trained public health expert with extensive international experience, the centre serves as the engine room of national response, providing a coordinating mechanism for prevention, surveillance, patient care, tracking, data analysis and containment of the spread of the virus.
It also facilitates coordination of partners, serves as a platform to link to the medical community across the country and also internationally, especially with countries also battling the virus in West Africa.
Public health experts believe EVD can be stopped through maintaining high effective control mechanism and communication within communities on proper hygiene practice.
“We do know how to stop Ebola. Its old-fashioned plain and simple public health: find the patients, make sure they get treated, find their contacts, track them, educate people and do infection control in hospitals,” said Thomas Frieden, director, United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.
Business Day
Related stories: 5 have recovered from 12 Ebola cases
Nigeria approves use of experimental Ebola drug
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