British hostage killed in Nigeria, three others freed

A British national kidnapped in Nigeria’s southern Delta state was killed and three others released, the BBC reported, citing the U.K.’s Foreign Office.

The four were reportedly abducted on October 13, according to the BBC. The state is part of the country’s oil-producing Niger River region, where armed militants have kidnapped foreigners and Nigerians in the past, demanding ransoms for their release.

The British High Commission and Nigerian authorities negotiated the release of the three hostages who survived and the kidnapping is being investigated, a spokesperson for the British Foreign Office, whose name was not given, was quoted as saying.

Bloomberg

Militant group Niger Delta Avengers to end ceasefire in Nigeria

Nigerian militant group Niger Delta Avengers said on Friday its ceasefire on attacks in the country’s southern oil-rich region was at an end.

“We can assure you that every oil installation in our region will feel the warmth of the wrath of the Niger Delta Avengers,” the group said in a statement on its website.

Attacks on oil facilities in the Niger Delta in 2016 cut Nigeria’s oil production to its lowest level in at least 30 years. 

Reuters

Nigerians in Chinese prisons request transfer to Nigerian prisons

Many prisoners have inundated Nigeria, asking to be transferred from Chinese prisons, but such transfers are impossible for now.

Transfer of prisoners from China to Nigeria can only be possible if there is a signed treaty to the effect by the two countries.

There is no treaty between the countries for prisoners’ transfer, when that exists the transfer of prisoners would be possible, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has said.

Dabiri-Erewa said at the seminar on Nigeria-China relations in Abuja on Thursday that, “We get a lot of appeals and some prisoners say they want to move from one prison there to another, it is not going to happen”.

“We have been talking to them but their law is their law. My appeal to Nigerians is to obey the laws of that country because it is getting tougher; they have sanctions and they follow through.”

She also said that Nigerian businesses were thriving in China.

Dabiri-Erewa urged Nigerian citizens in China to abide by the laws of that country.

She said that there were about 500 Nigerians in Chinese prisons for various offences.

She also refuted claims that there were thousands of Nigerians detained in Chinese prisons.

“You hear 2000 but that is exaggerated. I think we have less than 500 Nigerians in Chinese prisons.

She urged Nigerians to learn from the Chinese culture of discipline and persistence in promoting national development.

“Discipline and leadership are what we should learn from China; they have a plan for the next 20 years, even the young ones in schools are being groomed for that plan.

“They also have we can do spirit, it is working for them.

She also called for continuous support for the current administration’s effort in the fight against corruption.

PUNCH

Video - Nigeria child mortality due to pollution-related illnesses rises

The deaths of children in Nigeria from pollution-related illnesses are on the increasing.

And oil operations in the Niger Delta region are being blamed.

Researchers say 16,000 infants died in 2012 - but that figure continues to grow with greater contamination of food, air and water.

Grazing ban put in place to stop cattle wars in Nigeria

Nigeria has implemented a controversial ban on cattle grazing they say will bring peace to the area, but opponents have decried as a recipe for anarchy.

The ban, in the south-eastern Benue state, follows years violent and often deadly clashes between nomadic Fulani herdsman and local farmers.

The herders accuse farmers of killing their cattle while the farmers say the animals are destroying their crops.

The new law would require everyone to keep their livestock on ranches.

Those breaking the law face the possibility of a five year jail sentence.

The Fulani herdsman say it unfairly targets their nomadic way of life, but the Benue state government says its aim is to restore peace, reports the BBC's Chris Ewokor from the capital, Abuja.

Destruction of communities

The herders have been forced from their more traditional grazing lands in the north by the Boko Haram insurgency, and the encroaching desert.

It has put them in direct conflict with local farmers, resulting in death and the destruction of entire communities.

The Global Terrorism Index says Fulani militants were responsible for almost 1,800 deaths during 2014 and 2015, leading to the government ordering a crackdown on the herders.

It considers the herders' raids as the second-biggest threat to peace in the country after the Islamist Boko Haram militants.

However, the Fulani insist they are only trying to defend themselves and preserve their way of life.

BBC