Nigeria's lower house has voted to offer Gambian President Yahya Jammeh asylum if he steps down, according to Gambian MPs.
The House of Representatives approved a motion on Thursday for President Muhammadu Buhari to offer Jammeh asylum if he hands over power to Adama Barrow, who won The Gambia's December 1 elections.
The motion is not binding on the government and there was no immediate response from Buhari, who is expected to travel to Banjul on Friday for talks.
The MPs said "the clock is ticking fast" for The Gambia and there was a need to step up diplomacy, as the possibility of violence and mass displacement threatened West African stability.
They called on Jammeh to "respect the will of the people" who voted for opposition candidate Adama Barrow in the elections.
Buhari, who is leading the regional diplomatic effort, should "extend Nigeria's readiness to offer ... Jammeh safe haven in Nigeria to live securely as a way of ending the political stalemate in The Gambia", they added.
'Violence should be avoided'
Buhari's foreign minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, said on Tuesday that "violence should be avoided but nothing is ruled out" by regional bloc ECOWAS to ensure The Gambia's constitution is upheld.
Jammeh has taken legal action against the election result and said he will not step down until his complaint is heard.
That has raised the prospect of months of political deadlock because The Gambia lacks Supreme Court judges to handle the case.
Nigeria has previously given asylum to a number of African political leaders, including the Liberian rebel-turned-president Charles Taylor.
Buhari is due to travel with other West African leaders to The Gambia on Friday to try to persuade Jammeh to accept the election results, which he has rejected so far.
Friday, January 13, 2017
Thursday, January 12, 2017
Video - Nigeria oil union suspends 3 day strike over job cuts at oil companies
Nigeria's National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers called off its three-day nationwide warning strike on Wednesday at a meeting with Nigeria's Minister of Labour and Employment.
The oil union had announced on Tuesday that they would begin a nationwide shutdown of gas stations, fuel depots and loading bays, over job cuts at oil companies, including local units of Chevron and Exxon Mobil.
Union officials now say that every issue raised has been addressed. Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, urged all oil companies that entered into the collective agreement to ensure its implementation.
Nigeria's oil unions have protested against job cuts by oil companies in recent weeks. They suspended a plan to strike just last week at a lubricant facility operated by Total's local unit, after reaching an agreement with the company. The minister gave the oil companies two weeks to resolve all outstanding issues.
China to invest $40b in Nigeria
China is investing additional $40 billion in Nigerian economy, its Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr Wang Yi, said on Wednesday at a bilateral meeting with his Nigerian counterpart, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama, in Abuja.
The Minister said China has already invested up to the tune of $45 billion in the Nigerian economy.
“Nigeria and China are strategic partners; our relations have been developing well. China has already invested or financed a total number of $22billion projects here in Nigeria, another $23billion projects are on-going.
“In addition, we are also following up another over $40billion of investments which is in the pipeline.
“Compare with the size, population and market of our two countries, our cooperation still have large potential to be deepened,” he said.
According to him, in order to achieve further development and prosperity of the two countries, we need to strengthen our political mutual trust, deep complementary between our developments.
He stressed on the need to further expand practical cooperation and deepen strategic partnership between the two countries.
He expressed confidence that his visit would be a successful one and play a dual role in further strengthening the strategic partnership between China and Nigeria.
Yi said the purpose of his visit to Nigeria was to implement the important agreements and cooperation reached between the Chinese and Nigerian presidents.
He said the visit was also to help work closely with Nigeria to ensure that the outcome of the Forum for China Africa Cooperation summit are well implemented here in Nigeria.
Onyeama had earlier commended the existing relationship between Nigeria and China noting that the relationship had been strong for many years.
“I think the level of cooperation with China is extremely high and Chinese government is investing amount of money in Nigeria and probably is going up to $60 to $80 billion and we are extremely happy for that
He said that at the last meeting in South Africa and the government of China made available the total of $60 billon for Africa and a number of countries including Nigeria.
The Minister said that he would want to key in and see how much of that could be used to assist in the various projects that we have in this country.
He explained that President Muhammadu Buhari was in China in 2016 and had a discussion with Chinese Government on various cooperation.
“We know that in the area of infrastructure which is one of the priority areas and diversification the Programme of this government from oil .
“Chinese government has been showing a lot of cooperation with us in this area especially in the area of transportation,” he said
Minister of Transport, Mr Rotimi Amaechi was part of the meeting.
The Minister said China has already invested up to the tune of $45 billion in the Nigerian economy.
“Nigeria and China are strategic partners; our relations have been developing well. China has already invested or financed a total number of $22billion projects here in Nigeria, another $23billion projects are on-going.
“In addition, we are also following up another over $40billion of investments which is in the pipeline.
“Compare with the size, population and market of our two countries, our cooperation still have large potential to be deepened,” he said.
According to him, in order to achieve further development and prosperity of the two countries, we need to strengthen our political mutual trust, deep complementary between our developments.
He stressed on the need to further expand practical cooperation and deepen strategic partnership between the two countries.
He expressed confidence that his visit would be a successful one and play a dual role in further strengthening the strategic partnership between China and Nigeria.
Yi said the purpose of his visit to Nigeria was to implement the important agreements and cooperation reached between the Chinese and Nigerian presidents.
He said the visit was also to help work closely with Nigeria to ensure that the outcome of the Forum for China Africa Cooperation summit are well implemented here in Nigeria.
Onyeama had earlier commended the existing relationship between Nigeria and China noting that the relationship had been strong for many years.
“I think the level of cooperation with China is extremely high and Chinese government is investing amount of money in Nigeria and probably is going up to $60 to $80 billion and we are extremely happy for that
He said that at the last meeting in South Africa and the government of China made available the total of $60 billon for Africa and a number of countries including Nigeria.
The Minister said that he would want to key in and see how much of that could be used to assist in the various projects that we have in this country.
He explained that President Muhammadu Buhari was in China in 2016 and had a discussion with Chinese Government on various cooperation.
“We know that in the area of infrastructure which is one of the priority areas and diversification the Programme of this government from oil .
“Chinese government has been showing a lot of cooperation with us in this area especially in the area of transportation,” he said
Minister of Transport, Mr Rotimi Amaechi was part of the meeting.
Wednesday, January 11, 2017
Video - Activists mark 1000 days calling for swift government action in rescuing kidnapped Chibok girls
A thousand days have now elapsed since several schoolgirls were taken captive from Chibok in the North East of the Country. Activists continue a series of campaigns to push the government to effect a speedy rescue.
Mounting pressure on Nigerian government to rescue Chibok girls kidnapped by Boko Haram
Chibok, Nigeria/DAKAR (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Nigeria is facing mounting pressure to find some 200 schoolgirls abducted 1,000 days ago in Boko Haram's most infamous attack after the rescue of 24 girls raised hopes that they are alive.
For more than two years there was no sign of the girls who were kidnapped by the Islamist fighters from a school in Chibok in northeast Nigeria one night in April 2014, sparking global outrage and a celebrity-backed campaign #bringbackourgirls.
But the discovery of one of the girls with a baby last May fueled hopes for their safety, with a further two girls found in later months and a group of 21 released in October in a deal brokered by Switzerland and the International Red Cross
For parents like Rebecca Joseph the return home of the group of 21 girls at Christmas was a bitter-sweet celebration.
Her daughter, Elizabeth, is one of an estimated 195 girls still held captive by the jihadist group, which has tried to force some of them to convert to Islam and to marry their captors.
"I am happy that some of the girls are returning home even though my own daughter is not among them," Joseph told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in the town of Chibok in Borno state.
"My prayer is that my daughter and the rest of the girls will be rescued and returned to their families safe."
With last weekend marking 1,000 days since the girls were abducted, President Muhammadu Buhari said he remained committed to ensuring the abducted schoolgirls are reunited with their families "as soon as practicable".
"We are hopeful that many more will still return," said Buhari, who came to power in 2015 and replaced a government criticized for not doing enough to find the missing girls.
"The tears never dry, the ache is in our hearts," he said in a statement.
STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM
The Nigerian government said last month that it was involved in negotiations aimed at securing the release of some of the girls as the army captured a key Boko Haram camp, the militant group's last enclave in the vast Sambisa forest.
The exact number of Chibok girls still in captivity is believed to be 195 but it has been hard to pin down an exact number since the girls went missing.
Academics and security experts say it may be a huge challenge to obtain the girls' freedom given the significance of the abduction for Boko Haram, which has killed about 15,000 people in its seven-year insurgency to set up an Islamic state.
"Outside Nigeria, the Chibok girls have come to symbolize the Boko Haram conflict," said Sola Tayo, an associate fellow at the London-based think tank Chatham House.
"The global outrage generated by their captivity has added to their value to the insurgents," she added, adding that they were also significant to Buhari because he made their release a key campaign pledge before his 2015 election.
The government said in October that it had not swapped Boko Haram fighters or paid a ransom for the release of the 21 girls but several security analysts said it was implausible that the Islamist group would have let the girls go for nothing.
"To secure the release of the remaining girls would require concessions by the Nigerian government, which could reverse significant gains it has made against Boko Haram," said Ryan Cummings, director of risk management consultancy Signal Risk.
"In addition to detainees, Boko Haram may also demand supplies, weapons, vehicles and even money which they could use to recalibrate and invigorate their armed campaign against the Nigerian state."
DEEP DIVISIONS
One of the major obstacles to securing the release of all of the Chibok girls who remain in captivity is the deep divisions emerging within Boko Haram, said Freedom Onuoha, a security analyst and lecturer at the University of Nigeria in Nsukka.
The militants split last year with one faction moving away from the group's established figurehead Abubakar Shekau over his failure to adhere to guidance from Islamic State to which Boko Haram pledged allegiance in 2015.
It is unclear how many Chibok girls are held by the main faction led by Shekau, thought to be based in the Sambisa, and by the Islamic State-allied splinter group - headed by Abu Musab al-Barnawi and believed to operate in the Lake Chad area.
"It will be difficult to release most of the remaining girls as each faction will maintain a strong hold on them and would negotiate with state officials on their own terms," said Onuoha.
While the deal to free the 21 girls was seen as a huge boost for the government's assertions that it would soon bring home the others, a lack of progress since then has seen public hopes dwindle and frustrations arise, academics said.
Although Nigeria has driven Boko Haram out of most of the territory it held, its battle against the militants will not be considered over until the fate of all of the Chibok girls is made clear, said Nnamdi Obasi of the International Crisis Group.
"From various indications, it is most unlikely that all the remaining girls will come home alive, but the government owes their parents and the public the fundamental responsibility of accounting for every one of them," the Nigeria analyst said.
"In the long run, that's the only way to bring closure to this sad episode."
For more than two years there was no sign of the girls who were kidnapped by the Islamist fighters from a school in Chibok in northeast Nigeria one night in April 2014, sparking global outrage and a celebrity-backed campaign #bringbackourgirls.
But the discovery of one of the girls with a baby last May fueled hopes for their safety, with a further two girls found in later months and a group of 21 released in October in a deal brokered by Switzerland and the International Red Cross
For parents like Rebecca Joseph the return home of the group of 21 girls at Christmas was a bitter-sweet celebration.
Her daughter, Elizabeth, is one of an estimated 195 girls still held captive by the jihadist group, which has tried to force some of them to convert to Islam and to marry their captors.
"I am happy that some of the girls are returning home even though my own daughter is not among them," Joseph told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in the town of Chibok in Borno state.
"My prayer is that my daughter and the rest of the girls will be rescued and returned to their families safe."
With last weekend marking 1,000 days since the girls were abducted, President Muhammadu Buhari said he remained committed to ensuring the abducted schoolgirls are reunited with their families "as soon as practicable".
"We are hopeful that many more will still return," said Buhari, who came to power in 2015 and replaced a government criticized for not doing enough to find the missing girls.
"The tears never dry, the ache is in our hearts," he said in a statement.
STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM
The Nigerian government said last month that it was involved in negotiations aimed at securing the release of some of the girls as the army captured a key Boko Haram camp, the militant group's last enclave in the vast Sambisa forest.
The exact number of Chibok girls still in captivity is believed to be 195 but it has been hard to pin down an exact number since the girls went missing.
Academics and security experts say it may be a huge challenge to obtain the girls' freedom given the significance of the abduction for Boko Haram, which has killed about 15,000 people in its seven-year insurgency to set up an Islamic state.
"Outside Nigeria, the Chibok girls have come to symbolize the Boko Haram conflict," said Sola Tayo, an associate fellow at the London-based think tank Chatham House.
"The global outrage generated by their captivity has added to their value to the insurgents," she added, adding that they were also significant to Buhari because he made their release a key campaign pledge before his 2015 election.
The government said in October that it had not swapped Boko Haram fighters or paid a ransom for the release of the 21 girls but several security analysts said it was implausible that the Islamist group would have let the girls go for nothing.
"To secure the release of the remaining girls would require concessions by the Nigerian government, which could reverse significant gains it has made against Boko Haram," said Ryan Cummings, director of risk management consultancy Signal Risk.
"In addition to detainees, Boko Haram may also demand supplies, weapons, vehicles and even money which they could use to recalibrate and invigorate their armed campaign against the Nigerian state."
DEEP DIVISIONS
One of the major obstacles to securing the release of all of the Chibok girls who remain in captivity is the deep divisions emerging within Boko Haram, said Freedom Onuoha, a security analyst and lecturer at the University of Nigeria in Nsukka.
The militants split last year with one faction moving away from the group's established figurehead Abubakar Shekau over his failure to adhere to guidance from Islamic State to which Boko Haram pledged allegiance in 2015.
It is unclear how many Chibok girls are held by the main faction led by Shekau, thought to be based in the Sambisa, and by the Islamic State-allied splinter group - headed by Abu Musab al-Barnawi and believed to operate in the Lake Chad area.
"It will be difficult to release most of the remaining girls as each faction will maintain a strong hold on them and would negotiate with state officials on their own terms," said Onuoha.
While the deal to free the 21 girls was seen as a huge boost for the government's assertions that it would soon bring home the others, a lack of progress since then has seen public hopes dwindle and frustrations arise, academics said.
Although Nigeria has driven Boko Haram out of most of the territory it held, its battle against the militants will not be considered over until the fate of all of the Chibok girls is made clear, said Nnamdi Obasi of the International Crisis Group.
"From various indications, it is most unlikely that all the remaining girls will come home alive, but the government owes their parents and the public the fundamental responsibility of accounting for every one of them," the Nigeria analyst said.
"In the long run, that's the only way to bring closure to this sad episode."
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