Monday, January 22, 2018
Video - Boko Haram still staging deadly attacks despite Nigeria's military assurances
Nigeria's biggest threat to the its security is the Boko Haram militant group. Both government and the military claim the insurgency is over. But the group recently released a video showcasing its strength.
2 Canadians and 2 Americans rescued from kidnappers in Nigeria
Two Americans and two Canadians who were kidnapped in Nigeria's north-central Kaduna state on Tuesday have been freed and are in good condition, police said Saturday.
Police and a special anti-kidnapping squad rescued the foreigners in the Kagarko local government area Friday night after a massive manhunt, state police commissioner Agyole Abeh said.
"No ransom was paid. It was the efforts of the police through the directives of the Inspector General of Police that led to their release," he said.
One suspect was arrested in connection with the kidnapping and police were on the trail of remaining suspects, Abeh said. The foreigners have been taken to the capital, Abuja, Kaduna state police spokesman Mukhtar Aliyu said.
"They are in good condition but due to trauma they have to undergo medical observation." Aliyu said.
Gunmen ambushed the foreigners Tuesday as they traveled from Kafanchan in Kaduna state to Abuja. Two police escorts were killed in what police called a "fierce gun battle." They were ambushed in a forested area, the BBC reports.
The Americans and Canadians have not been publicly identified. Aliyu earlier said they are investors setting up solar stations in villages around Kafanchan.
Kidnapping for ransom is common in Nigeria, especially on the Kaduna to Abuja highway. Two German archaeologists were seized at gunpoint last year less than 100 kilometers northeast of Abuja and later freed unharmed. Sierra Leone's deputy high commissioner was taken at gunpoint on the highway in 2016 and held for five days before he was let go.
In October, four Britons were abducted in the Niger Delta region, the BBC reports. Three were released and one was killed.
Victims typically are released unharmed after ransom is paid, though security forces have rescued a few high-profile abductees. A number of bandits, including herdsmen, have been arrested.
Police and a special anti-kidnapping squad rescued the foreigners in the Kagarko local government area Friday night after a massive manhunt, state police commissioner Agyole Abeh said.
"No ransom was paid. It was the efforts of the police through the directives of the Inspector General of Police that led to their release," he said.
One suspect was arrested in connection with the kidnapping and police were on the trail of remaining suspects, Abeh said. The foreigners have been taken to the capital, Abuja, Kaduna state police spokesman Mukhtar Aliyu said.
"They are in good condition but due to trauma they have to undergo medical observation." Aliyu said.
Gunmen ambushed the foreigners Tuesday as they traveled from Kafanchan in Kaduna state to Abuja. Two police escorts were killed in what police called a "fierce gun battle." They were ambushed in a forested area, the BBC reports.
The Americans and Canadians have not been publicly identified. Aliyu earlier said they are investors setting up solar stations in villages around Kafanchan.
Kidnapping for ransom is common in Nigeria, especially on the Kaduna to Abuja highway. Two German archaeologists were seized at gunpoint last year less than 100 kilometers northeast of Abuja and later freed unharmed. Sierra Leone's deputy high commissioner was taken at gunpoint on the highway in 2016 and held for five days before he was let go.
In October, four Britons were abducted in the Niger Delta region, the BBC reports. Three were released and one was killed.
Victims typically are released unharmed after ransom is paid, though security forces have rescued a few high-profile abductees. A number of bandits, including herdsmen, have been arrested.
Nigerians beating bitcoin scams
Depending on your feelings about Bitcoin, it may seem appropriate that Nigeria’s love for the cryptocurrency began with a scam. Mavrodi Mondial Moneybox (MMM), a 30-year-long global Ponzi scheme that began in Russia, roped in millions of Nigerians from late 2015 to the end of 2016 with promises of 30 percent returns in as little as 30 days. When the government began to crack down on bank accounts linked to the scheme, MMM’s operators cut the banks out and started requiring victims to use Bitcoin. By the time MMM suspended its payouts, shortly before Christmas 2016, it had robbed an estimated 3 million people in Nigeria—where the per capita annual income is less than $3,000—of $50 million.
It had also convinced many of them that, the scam notwithstanding, Bitcoin was the future. “It was MMM that made Nigerians understand how Bitcoin worked,” says Lucky Uwakwe, co-founder of Blockchain Solutions Ltd., a cryptocurrency consulting firm in Lagos. Today, Nigerians are trading about $4.7 million in Bitcoin a week, Uwakwe says, up from about $300,000 per week a year ago. That’s No. 23 globally, according to researcher CryptoCompare—far below the more than $1 billion traded daily in U.S. dollars or Japanese yen, but comparable to the volume of activity in Chinese yuan or Indian rupees. “The growth has been crazy,” says David Ajala, who runs NairaEx, one of about a dozen digital currency exchanges in Nigeria. “It took us two years to get 10,000 customers. Within the last year, we’ve added 90,000.”
The scams have kept pace. Phony traders have flooded Nigeria’s cryptocurrency exchanges, messaging apps, and even the streets of Lagos and other cities, promising people fast money and disappearing once they’ve taken theirs. “A lot of people have had their fingers burned,” says Adeolu Fadele, founder of the Cryptographic Development Initiative of Nigeria, a group that aims to educate regulators and the public about digital currency.
The scams follow a pattern familiar to anyone who’s ever received a message from a supposedly beleaguered Nigerian prince: The target is asked to wire over naira, the local currency, in exchange for Bitcoin. In some cases the scammer uses the name and photo of a real dealer and creates a trading profile on a local exchange that’s good enough to pass a cursory background check, a technique known as cloning. Others will make an offer not of Bitcoin, but of “billion coin” or some other nonexistent cryptocurrency. “Everybody I know has been scammed in one way or another,” says Bashir Aminu, a digital-security expert and Bitcoin enthusiast in Lagos.
So Nigeria, unlike other Bitcoin hubs, has begun to develop informal groups of traders who take an old-school approach to verifying transactions. After several friends of Aminu’s lost thousands of dollars to scammers between them, they set up an informal exchange on the messaging app Telegram, trading among themselves. When other friends sought to join the group, Aminu would review their identification and banking documents—comparing passports and papers with the faces in front of him. Sometimes he’d even act as a trusted broker, holding a buyer’s money in escrow until the seller came through with the Bitcoin transfer. Over the past year, he says, his group has grown to almost 800 members. There are dozens of similar networks, Aminu says, with varying degrees of security procedures. Some arrange face-to-face meetings in homes, the backs of small shops, and other private places, where a buyer hands over hard cash and watches the seller make the Bitcoin transfer on a smartphone.
This sort of facilitator is essentially a digital aboki, the kind of black-market money-changer who lurks outside high-end Nigerian hotels to swap plastic sacks full of weather-beaten naira for stacks of $100 bills and euros. As these informal Bitcoin-centric networks grow and multiply, Aminu says, they’re increasingly populated by people who trade digital currency as a full-time occupation. Because of all this informal trading, the size of Nigeria’s market is probably much bigger than what the public exchanges report, says Uwakwe, the consultant.
Aminu says the occasional scammer still sneaks into his Telegram network, and he recently booted more than 100 people he deemed untrustworthy. For many, the potential profit is too good to pass up, says “Ambassador” Smart Oluwadola, a cryptocurrency peddler in Kano, a desert city in the north. In August a friend persuaded Oluwadola to ditch a job hawking health supplements for a suspiciously pyramidal Philippine “business club” and buy a couple hundred dollars’ worth of Bitcoin. Now he’s an evangelist, with thousands of dollars’ worth, a local radio ad urging others to buy Bitcoin, and a series of investing seminars at a local hotel. “If you don’t take a risk, you can’t get anything,” he says. “And if it’s going to be the future of currency, then you better start now.”
Thursday, January 18, 2018
Video - Nigeria's Government to review tax compliance records of all its contractors
The Nigerian government has started reviewing a tax compliance record of its contractors within all ministries and agencies. The Federal Inland Revenue Service also known as FIRS is responsible for customs and excise and says these steps are necessary to improve the country's revenues.
Nigeria to participate in five 2018 World Cup friendlies
Nigeria will play friendly internationals against Poland, Serbia, DR Congo, England and Czech Republic as preparation for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Gernot Rohr's side will face Poland on 23 March and Serbia four days later, before the home fixture against DR Congo in Abuja on 28 May.
World Cup-bound England will be Nigeria's opponents on 2 June at Wembley ahead of the final warm-up fixture against Czech Republic on 6 June.
Jairo Pachon of Eurodata Sport, Nigeria Football Federation (NFF)'s official match agent, said much planning had gone into the fixtures.
"We've worked closely with the coach and the great support of the NFF to finalise these games," Pachon told BBC Sport.
"Coach (Rohr) stressed the importance of playing teams with a similar style to their World Cup opposition and we've got two going to Russia from eastern Europe.
"The game against DR Congo in May will afford the fans, media and everyone the opportunity to see the Super Eagles play before they fly out to Europe to conclude preparations," Pachon added.
Nigeria have chosen the eastern European oppositions Poland, Serbia and Czech Republic with the hope that they will provide ideal preparation for their opening Group D game against Croatia in Russia on 16 June.
"The opening game is the most important match and we hope to prepare for it - against opponents similar to Croatia," Rohr had confirmed to the BBC.
Nigeria will then face Iceland on 22 June before finishing with Argentina four days later.
The Super Eagles will be making a sixth appearance at the World Cup tournament in Russia.
They reached the round of 16 in 1994, 1998 and 2014 but exit the 2002 and 2010 tournaments in the group stages.
Gernot Rohr's side will face Poland on 23 March and Serbia four days later, before the home fixture against DR Congo in Abuja on 28 May.
World Cup-bound England will be Nigeria's opponents on 2 June at Wembley ahead of the final warm-up fixture against Czech Republic on 6 June.
Jairo Pachon of Eurodata Sport, Nigeria Football Federation (NFF)'s official match agent, said much planning had gone into the fixtures.
"We've worked closely with the coach and the great support of the NFF to finalise these games," Pachon told BBC Sport.
"Coach (Rohr) stressed the importance of playing teams with a similar style to their World Cup opposition and we've got two going to Russia from eastern Europe.
"The game against DR Congo in May will afford the fans, media and everyone the opportunity to see the Super Eagles play before they fly out to Europe to conclude preparations," Pachon added.
Nigeria have chosen the eastern European oppositions Poland, Serbia and Czech Republic with the hope that they will provide ideal preparation for their opening Group D game against Croatia in Russia on 16 June.
"The opening game is the most important match and we hope to prepare for it - against opponents similar to Croatia," Rohr had confirmed to the BBC.
Nigeria will then face Iceland on 22 June before finishing with Argentina four days later.
The Super Eagles will be making a sixth appearance at the World Cup tournament in Russia.
They reached the round of 16 in 1994, 1998 and 2014 but exit the 2002 and 2010 tournaments in the group stages.
Nigeria World Cup friendlies
Nigeria vs Poland (23 March in Poland)
Nigeria vs Serbia (27 March in the UK)
Nigeria vs DR Congo (28 May in Abuja)
Nigeria vs England (2 June in London)
Nigeria vs Czech Republic (6 June in Austria)
Nigeria vs Poland (23 March in Poland)
Nigeria vs Serbia (27 March in the UK)
Nigeria vs DR Congo (28 May in Abuja)
Nigeria vs England (2 June in London)
Nigeria vs Czech Republic (6 June in Austria)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)