Friday, January 13, 2017
Video - Villages in North East Nigeria rebuild by embracing solar energy
People in Nigeria's northern part of the country are gradually rebuilding their lives, after attacks by Boko Haram two years ago left their homes destroyed and infrastructure ruined. Uche Okoronkwo takes a look at a small village where residents have embraced solar energy in an effort to improve their lives.
Nigeria offers asylum to Gambian President Yahya Jammeh
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.
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.
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.
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