Monday, July 27, 2015
Video - The struggle of buying a house in Abuja, Nigeria
Many Nigerians aren't able to own their homes, as very few banks there offer mortgages. But it's hoped that new government initiatives will be able to boost the rates of home ownership.
Related story: Video - Nigeria's housing scarcity issue
Video - Housing crisis in Abuja, Nigeria
Sunday, July 26, 2015
10 year old female suicide bomber kills 19 in Nigeria
A blast set off by a female suicide bomber tore through a crowded market in the northeastern Nigerian city of Damaturu on Sunday, killing 19 people and wounding 47, the emergency response agency said.
No one claimed responsibility for the explosion but it is the latest attack in the last few weeks that bear the hallmarks of militant Islamist group Boko Haram.
Hundreds of people have been killed in bombings and shootings across northern Nigeria since Muhammadu Buhari, who has promised to crush the group, was inaugurated as president on May 29.
"The death toll has gone up to 19 dead and 47 injured," National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) spokesman Mohammed Kanar said.
The attack took place six days after a suicide bomber killed three policemen at a checkpoint on the outskirts of the city.
And earlier this month at least nine people were killed in the city by a female suicide bomber as worshippers gathered to mark the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr.
Boko Haram controlled a swathe of land around the size of Belgium at the end of 2014 but have been pushed out of most of that territory by Nigerian troops in the last few months, with military help from neighbouring Chad, Niger and Cameroon.
Since then the militants have carried out attacks in the north and neighbouring countries.
At least 19 people were killed in a suicide bombing in the northern Cameroonian town of Maroua on Saturday.
Since becoming president, Buhari has made a number of changes aimed at tackling the insurgency, including the replacement of his defence chiefs.
He moved Nigeria's defence command centre to Maiduguri, the birthplace of the jihadi sect, and has worked with counterparts in neighbouring countries to set up a multinational force with headquarters in Chad's capital, N'Djamena.
Reuters
No one claimed responsibility for the explosion but it is the latest attack in the last few weeks that bear the hallmarks of militant Islamist group Boko Haram.
Hundreds of people have been killed in bombings and shootings across northern Nigeria since Muhammadu Buhari, who has promised to crush the group, was inaugurated as president on May 29.
"The death toll has gone up to 19 dead and 47 injured," National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) spokesman Mohammed Kanar said.
The attack took place six days after a suicide bomber killed three policemen at a checkpoint on the outskirts of the city.
And earlier this month at least nine people were killed in the city by a female suicide bomber as worshippers gathered to mark the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr.
Boko Haram controlled a swathe of land around the size of Belgium at the end of 2014 but have been pushed out of most of that territory by Nigerian troops in the last few months, with military help from neighbouring Chad, Niger and Cameroon.
Since then the militants have carried out attacks in the north and neighbouring countries.
At least 19 people were killed in a suicide bombing in the northern Cameroonian town of Maroua on Saturday.
Since becoming president, Buhari has made a number of changes aimed at tackling the insurgency, including the replacement of his defence chiefs.
He moved Nigeria's defence command centre to Maiduguri, the birthplace of the jihadi sect, and has worked with counterparts in neighbouring countries to set up a multinational force with headquarters in Chad's capital, N'Djamena.
Reuters
Friday, July 24, 2015
Video - One year marked without polio in Nigeria
Nigeria has made a vital step towards being declared polio free, after marking a year without a recorded case.
It can now be taken off the list of countries where the disease is endemic, if the World Health Organization (WHO) confirms the results.
Nigeria had struggled to contain polio since some northern states imposed a ban on vaccinations in 2003.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only countries to record cases in 2015.
Global health experts are hoping polio can become only the second human infectious disease to be eradicated, after smallpox.
Nigeria will still have to wait a further two years without a recorded case to be certified as polio free.
Polio can only be prevented by vaccination as there is no cure.
The 2003 immunisation ban in some northern states followed allegations by some state governors and religious leaders in the mainly Muslim north that vaccines were contaminated by Western powers to spread sterility and HIV among Muslims.
Independent tests ordered by the Nigerian government in 2004 declared that the vaccines were safe.
But there was still some hostility in a few areas to vaccination drives, with violent attacks against health workers.
The last attack was in 2013 when nine polio vaccinators were shot dead at health centres in the northern Nigerian city of Kano.
BBC
Related story: Video - Nigeria reaching a landmark of 6 months without a single case of polio
Video - Bill Gates partners with Nigeria to erradicate Polio
Nigeria rejects degrees from Online Universities
The National Universities Commission, NUC, on Thursday called on Nigerians to stop patronising online universities and other degree awarding institutions operating online.
Speaking at a press conference, the NUC’s Public Relations officer, Ibrahim Yakasai, said that degrees obtained online are not accepted in the country.
“Nigeria will not recognize online degrees. Online degrees are not accepted in Nigeria at the moment,” he said.
Mr. Yakasai warned Nigerian students and parents against patronising Maryam Abacha American University in Niger Republic.
“We wish to restate that as the only quality assurance agency for universities in Nigeria, the NUC is maintaining its stand that degrees from Maryam Abacha University will not be accepted in Nigeria” he said
He noted that the Commission has been inundated with enquiries from some Nigerian students who had been offered admission to the university.
He said the concerned students were offered admissions on part-time basis with a graduation time of four semesters for programmes like Nursing, Medical Laboratory Science, Public Health among others.
Mr.Yakasai explained that in Nigeria the duration for a fulltime degree programme is not less than three years for direct entry and at least six years for part-time.
He said professional programmes in Science, Engineering and Health Sciences including Nursing, Medical Laboratory Science and Public Health are not offered on part-time basis in Nigeria.
He added that all part- time cross border education in Nigeria are not allowed.
Mr. Yakasai said the Maryam Abacha University admits Nigerian students who do not have the basic requirements to gain admission into the nation’s tertiary institutions in addition to running courses such as Nursing, Medical Laboratory Science on part-time basis which, according to him, is not acceptable.
Mr. Yakasai said all countries are at liberty to accept any qualification they wish to.
Many Nigerians enroll annually in online schools based in the United States and the United Kingdom, and other countries.
Premium Times
Speaking at a press conference, the NUC’s Public Relations officer, Ibrahim Yakasai, said that degrees obtained online are not accepted in the country.
“Nigeria will not recognize online degrees. Online degrees are not accepted in Nigeria at the moment,” he said.
Mr. Yakasai warned Nigerian students and parents against patronising Maryam Abacha American University in Niger Republic.
“We wish to restate that as the only quality assurance agency for universities in Nigeria, the NUC is maintaining its stand that degrees from Maryam Abacha University will not be accepted in Nigeria” he said
He noted that the Commission has been inundated with enquiries from some Nigerian students who had been offered admission to the university.
He said the concerned students were offered admissions on part-time basis with a graduation time of four semesters for programmes like Nursing, Medical Laboratory Science, Public Health among others.
Mr.Yakasai explained that in Nigeria the duration for a fulltime degree programme is not less than three years for direct entry and at least six years for part-time.
He said professional programmes in Science, Engineering and Health Sciences including Nursing, Medical Laboratory Science and Public Health are not offered on part-time basis in Nigeria.
He added that all part- time cross border education in Nigeria are not allowed.
Mr. Yakasai said the Maryam Abacha University admits Nigerian students who do not have the basic requirements to gain admission into the nation’s tertiary institutions in addition to running courses such as Nursing, Medical Laboratory Science on part-time basis which, according to him, is not acceptable.
Mr. Yakasai said all countries are at liberty to accept any qualification they wish to.
Many Nigerians enroll annually in online schools based in the United States and the United Kingdom, and other countries.
Premium Times
Thursday, July 23, 2015
Suicide bombings kill 29 in Gombe, Nigeria
Explosions at two bus stations in the northeastern town of Gombe on Wednesday night killed 29 people, officials said. Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency called for urgent blood donations to treat a further 105 people injured in the assaults.
The bombings represent the latest in a series of attacks by the insurgent group in Nigeria and across the country’s borders. In neighboring Cameroon on Wednesday, two suicide bombers killed at least 18 people at a marketplace near the border, officials said.
Nigerian authorities have come under increasing pressure to confront the threat of Boko Haram, a group that has waged a brutal campaign against civilians as it seeks to carve out a separate state in northern Nigeria.
More than 2,600 people have been killed by the group since January, according to the Council of Foreign Relation’s Nigeria security tracker.
Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari returned to the capital, Abuja, on Thursday following a four-day visit to the United States. During his visit, he was warmly received by President Barack Obama but failed to get all he wanted.
“Buhari returns to Abuja, with no weapons sale from USA,” said a headline in Nigeria's The News.
Buhari told policymakers at the U.S. Institute for Peace on Wednesday that Nigeria's armed forces are “largely impotent” because they do not possess the appropriate weapons to fight Boko Haram.
He urged the U.S. president and Congress to find ways around the Leahy Law, which prohibits sales of certain weapons to countries whose military are accused of gross human rights violations.
Amnesty International says Nigeria's military is responsible for the deaths of 8,000 detainees — twice as many as Boko Haram's victims in the first four years of its 6-year-old insurgency.
“The application of the Leahy law ... has aided and abetted the Boko Haram terrorist group in the prosecution of its extremist ideology and hate, the indiscriminate killings and maiming of civilians, in raping of women and girls, and in their other heinous crimes,” Buhari said.
Aljazeera
The bombings represent the latest in a series of attacks by the insurgent group in Nigeria and across the country’s borders. In neighboring Cameroon on Wednesday, two suicide bombers killed at least 18 people at a marketplace near the border, officials said.
Nigerian authorities have come under increasing pressure to confront the threat of Boko Haram, a group that has waged a brutal campaign against civilians as it seeks to carve out a separate state in northern Nigeria.
More than 2,600 people have been killed by the group since January, according to the Council of Foreign Relation’s Nigeria security tracker.
Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari returned to the capital, Abuja, on Thursday following a four-day visit to the United States. During his visit, he was warmly received by President Barack Obama but failed to get all he wanted.
“Buhari returns to Abuja, with no weapons sale from USA,” said a headline in Nigeria's The News.
Buhari told policymakers at the U.S. Institute for Peace on Wednesday that Nigeria's armed forces are “largely impotent” because they do not possess the appropriate weapons to fight Boko Haram.
He urged the U.S. president and Congress to find ways around the Leahy Law, which prohibits sales of certain weapons to countries whose military are accused of gross human rights violations.
Amnesty International says Nigeria's military is responsible for the deaths of 8,000 detainees — twice as many as Boko Haram's victims in the first four years of its 6-year-old insurgency.
“The application of the Leahy law ... has aided and abetted the Boko Haram terrorist group in the prosecution of its extremist ideology and hate, the indiscriminate killings and maiming of civilians, in raping of women and girls, and in their other heinous crimes,” Buhari said.
Aljazeera
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)