Six children kidnapped from their school in Lagos, Nigeria

Nigerian police are searching for six children abducted from their school on the outskirts of the main city, Lagos.

The abductors freed four other children after "profiling" their parents, police said, apparently referring to the fact that they were not regarded as wealthy.

The men came through a swampy forest bordering the state-run Model College school, and cut a hole in the fence to enter, police said.

Schools in Lagos have been hit by several kidnappings for ransom.

Four children were abducted from the same school in October 2016, and three from another school in Lagos in March this year. They were later freed.

Lagos police spokesman Olarinde Famous-Cole condemned the abductions as "dastardly" and said an operation was under way to rescue the girls and apprehend the kidnappers.

BBC

May 29 to become public holiday in Nigeria to celebrate Democracy Day

The Federal Government has declared Monday, May 29, as Public Holiday to celebrate the 2017 Democracy Day.

The Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau, made the ‎ declaration in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.

The minister‎ congratulated Nigerians for witnessing yet another Democracy Day, marking the second year anniversary of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government.

‎Mr. Dambazau assured Nigerians of the government’s continued efforts at achieving its three main targets of guaranteeing security, revitalising the economy and tackling corruption.

“While a lot has been achieved in the areas of security, particularly in the North-East, and in tackling corruption, recent statistics released by the National Bureau of Statistics have shown tremendous improvement of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

“‎No doubt, the nation is closer to getting out of recession, particularly with the recently inaugurated Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), which seeks to revitalise the nation’s economy soonest.

“Following the recently signed Executive Orders on Ease of Doing Business, we have opened our doors wider for both domestic and foreign investors,’’ said Mr. Dambazau. ‎

He wished all Nigerians a happy Democracy Day celebration and enjoined them to join hands with the government in building a peaceful and enduring democratic legacy.

Premium Times

Nigeria to shut down five emabassies

The Federal Government has approved the closure of five foreign missions and embassies, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama said.

Mr. Onyeama told journalists in Abuja on Thursday that the process for closure was underway and was also subject to the approval of the president.

He did not name the affected embassies or missions.

“We do not want to indicate the embassies that will be closed yet because we are in the process of submitting the proposals, the cost analysis and also the political analysis we did to the president.

“When he sees that, he may or may not want to close some, so we have not yet reached the stage of closing some,” he said.

The minister said closing missions abroad was “extremely expensive”.

“The expense, costs of closing embassies is so high and prohibitive but in the long run it will more economical.”

The minister, on April 10, told NAN the closure of Nigerian missions abroad is inevitable.

Mr. Onyeama said the reduction of Nigeria’s foreign missions remains on the agenda of the Muhammadu Buhari administration.

Mr. Buhari had said at the inception of his administration that the Federal Government would reduce the number of missions to save cost.

Nigeria currently has 119 foreign missions.

Mr. Onyeama said: “The government is following up on that and we have sort of pre­pared the roadmap; we have started the implementation of that and made also recom­mendations in that context.

“Paradoxically, closing missions is extremely expensive. At first sight it seems ob­vious that you close it you are saving cost but you will actually find that the cost of closing is almost prohibitive.

“But in the long run it will be cheaper, but in the imme­diate and short term it is ex­pensive but we have started the process,” he said.

Premium Times

Video - Nigerian troupe wins world record for longest theatre performance

A group of Nigerian performers have staged the longest marathon theatre performance on record. To break the record it took five days of open air non-stop performances.

Video - Oil production in Nigeria could reach 2.2 mln barrels per day by end of June

The worst disruptions in Nigeria's oil-producing Delta region are over, and production could reach 2.2 million barrels per day by the end of June. According to authorities the long-closed Forcados oilfield could be back to capacity by the end of June, enabling a return to nearly full production from what is typically Africa's largest oil exporter. Attacks in the Niger Delta had pushed production to just over 1 million bpd at certain points last year, which were the lowest in decades, but attacks have abated since the start of the year. The first Foracdos cargo from the main Trans Forcados export line loaded last week, though operator Royal Dutch Shell has said force majeure remains in place.