Friday, September 20, 2019
Video - Dambe: martial art form from Nigeria
Originally practiced by Hausa butchers in Nigeria, this form of martial arts known as Dambe is growing in popularity across the West African country. Anthony Okeleke and Chidi Anyina have now created Dambe Warriors, to organize fights, produce them and share them online. With over 100,000 subscribers and interest across the world, their work of taking the sport global seems to be well on its way.
Video - Nigerian returns bitcoins worth $80,000
A Nigerian man who found $80,000 worth of bitcoin had been mistakenly transferred to him, returned them to the owner. Keith Mali Chung woke up to find 7.8 bitcoins in his account.
That is the equivalent of $80,000 or €72,302. He immediately began trying to track down the owner of the bitcoins. Bitcoin is the original digital currency that is exchanged between users online. "I trade in bitcoin, but never such a high amount," Mali Chung explains on the phone from the Nigerian capital, Abuja and continues, "I knew it had to be a mistake so I posted an announcement via some WhatsApp groups to track down the owner."
Three days passed and no-one responded, so Mali Chung took to Twitter. That prompted a response from someone who had the correct encryption code for the transaction.
The owner of the bitcoins mistakenly transferred to Mali Chung is a Nigerian politician who has asked to remain anonymous. Nigeria is plagued by political cronyism, and consistently ranks among the lowest 20 percent on Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index. In June, the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force announced that cryptocurrency firms will be subjected to rules to prevent the abuse of digital coins such as bitcoin for money laundering.
The move by FATF, which groups countries from the United States to China and bodies such as the European Commission, reflects growing concern among international law enforcement agencies that cryptocurrencies are being used to launder the proceeds of crime.
Potential of bitcoin
Crypto currencies are becoming increasingly popular in Nigeria where bank charges are high. On Tuesday 17 September, the Central Bank of Nigeria introduced a 2 percent charge on cash deposits over 500,000 Naira (€1250) in several states, and 3 percent on withdrawals of the same amount.
Although these charges are aimed making Nigeria a cashless society, they are also pushing people to find other ways to transfer money digitally. Mali Chung travels around Nigeria giving free workshops about the potential of bitcoin and other crypto currencies.
"People are especially interested in learning about international transfers to avoid bank fees," Mali Chung has observed. "People in the Diaspora use it to send money home, and people here also transfer bitcoin to relatives abroad."
The Central Bank of Nigeria has yet to regulate crypto currency transactions. Mali Chung's benevolent act has sparked a debate about the potentially positive and the negative use of crypto currencies in a country with an ominous reputation for online fraud and political corruption.
By Rosie Collyer
RFI
Nigeria shuts down Action Against Hunger aid group for feeding Boko Haram
Nigeria's army has stopped the work of international NGO Action Against Hunger accusing it of supplying a militant Islamist group with food and drugs.
The army said it had warned the NGO against "aiding and abetting" Boko Haram in north-east Nigeria.
Action Against Hunger, which denies the accusations, says its "life-saving assistance" to vulnerable people has now been put "into jeopardy".
Boko Haram's 10-year campaign of terror has left more than 30,000 people dead.
More than two million people have also been displaced.
A network of NGOs is assisting the government in helping those who have been forced from their homes.
In 2018, the military accused the UN's children's agency, Unicef, of spying for the militants. It banned the organisation, which denied the allegations, but hours later lifted the ban.
In a statement, Action Against Hunger said it "delivers neutral, impartial and independent humanitarian aid to millions of people in Borno state by providing basic services to the most vulnerable people, especially women and children".
It said it had been told by soldiers without any notice to close its office in the capital of Borno state, Maiduguri.
In July, the Paris-based charity said six of its aid workers had been kidnapped in Nigeria.
The six abductees appeared on a video, with one of them calling on the Nigerian government and international community to intervene. Their whereabouts are still unknown.
No group has said it was behind the kidnapping.
In 2015, Boko Haram seized control of much of Borno state, and spread its activities to neighbouring countries.
A counter-insurgency by the army led to much of that territory being recaptured. But the militants have come to rely more on suicide bombings and kidnappings in recent years.
One of its most notorious attacks was on a school in Chibok, north-east Nigeria, when 276 schoolgirls were kidnapped. Many of them have been freed, but the whereabouts of more than 100 are still unknown.
Since 2013, Boko Haram are thought to have kidnapped more than 1,000 people.
BBC
The army said it had warned the NGO against "aiding and abetting" Boko Haram in north-east Nigeria.
Action Against Hunger, which denies the accusations, says its "life-saving assistance" to vulnerable people has now been put "into jeopardy".
Boko Haram's 10-year campaign of terror has left more than 30,000 people dead.
More than two million people have also been displaced.
A network of NGOs is assisting the government in helping those who have been forced from their homes.
In 2018, the military accused the UN's children's agency, Unicef, of spying for the militants. It banned the organisation, which denied the allegations, but hours later lifted the ban.
In a statement, Action Against Hunger said it "delivers neutral, impartial and independent humanitarian aid to millions of people in Borno state by providing basic services to the most vulnerable people, especially women and children".
It said it had been told by soldiers without any notice to close its office in the capital of Borno state, Maiduguri.
In July, the Paris-based charity said six of its aid workers had been kidnapped in Nigeria.
The six abductees appeared on a video, with one of them calling on the Nigerian government and international community to intervene. Their whereabouts are still unknown.
No group has said it was behind the kidnapping.
In 2015, Boko Haram seized control of much of Borno state, and spread its activities to neighbouring countries.
A counter-insurgency by the army led to much of that territory being recaptured. But the militants have come to rely more on suicide bombings and kidnappings in recent years.
One of its most notorious attacks was on a school in Chibok, north-east Nigeria, when 276 schoolgirls were kidnapped. Many of them have been freed, but the whereabouts of more than 100 are still unknown.
Since 2013, Boko Haram are thought to have kidnapped more than 1,000 people.
BBC
Nigeria orders firm that won $9bn to forfeit assets
A company that was awarded more than nine billion dollars in an arbitration case against Nigeria has been ordered by a court in the capital city of Abuja to forfeit its local assets to the government.
The order comes after two men linked to the company, Process & Industrial Developments (P&ID), pleaded guilty to charges of fraud and tax evasion on its behalf, the court said on Thursday.
The impact on the British Virgin Islands-based firm and its international arbitration award, now worth some 20 percent of Nigeria's foreign reserves, was not immediately clear.
Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) brought 11 individual charges against P&ID and its local subsidiary. The two men, Muhammad Kuchazi and Adamu Usman, plead guilty to all the charges on behalf of the company.
The men, both Nigerians, were not personally charged and freely left the court.
In a statement, P&ID said the EFCC investigation had not afforded basic human rights to those involved and called on the government to "accept its responsibilities under the law."
"None of the individuals involved are current employees or representatives of P&ID," the spokesman said. "P&ID itself has received no communication from any Nigerian authority about the investigation or today's hearing. There has been no evidence produced, no defence allowed, no charges laid, no due process followed," it said.
The EFCC described Kuchazi as commercial director and Usman as director of the company's local subsidiary.
The men could not immediately be reached for comment.
P&ID was set up to execute a 2010 deal with the Nigerian government to build and operate a gas-processing plant in the southeastern port city of Calabar. When the deal collapsed, P&ID took the government to arbitration, eventually winning a $6.6bn award that has been accruing interest since 2013.
Last month, a judge in London said he would grant P&ID the right to convert the award to a judgment, which would allow it to seek to seize assets from the Nigerian government to collect the award.
The government has said the deal was designed to fail and called the award "an assault on every Nigerian and unfair."
The ruling in Abuja would not necessarily affect P&ID's efforts to seize assets. A Lagos court ordered in 2016 that the entire arbitration be set aside, but the arbitration tribunal rejected the court's jurisdiction to rule on the matter - a decision affirmed by last month's London ruling.
With interest payments, the arbitration award now tops nine billion dollars.
Al Jazeera
The order comes after two men linked to the company, Process & Industrial Developments (P&ID), pleaded guilty to charges of fraud and tax evasion on its behalf, the court said on Thursday.
The impact on the British Virgin Islands-based firm and its international arbitration award, now worth some 20 percent of Nigeria's foreign reserves, was not immediately clear.
Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) brought 11 individual charges against P&ID and its local subsidiary. The two men, Muhammad Kuchazi and Adamu Usman, plead guilty to all the charges on behalf of the company.
The men, both Nigerians, were not personally charged and freely left the court.
In a statement, P&ID said the EFCC investigation had not afforded basic human rights to those involved and called on the government to "accept its responsibilities under the law."
"None of the individuals involved are current employees or representatives of P&ID," the spokesman said. "P&ID itself has received no communication from any Nigerian authority about the investigation or today's hearing. There has been no evidence produced, no defence allowed, no charges laid, no due process followed," it said.
The EFCC described Kuchazi as commercial director and Usman as director of the company's local subsidiary.
The men could not immediately be reached for comment.
P&ID was set up to execute a 2010 deal with the Nigerian government to build and operate a gas-processing plant in the southeastern port city of Calabar. When the deal collapsed, P&ID took the government to arbitration, eventually winning a $6.6bn award that has been accruing interest since 2013.
Last month, a judge in London said he would grant P&ID the right to convert the award to a judgment, which would allow it to seek to seize assets from the Nigerian government to collect the award.
The government has said the deal was designed to fail and called the award "an assault on every Nigerian and unfair."
The ruling in Abuja would not necessarily affect P&ID's efforts to seize assets. A Lagos court ordered in 2016 that the entire arbitration be set aside, but the arbitration tribunal rejected the court's jurisdiction to rule on the matter - a decision affirmed by last month's London ruling.
With interest payments, the arbitration award now tops nine billion dollars.
Al Jazeera
Thursday, September 19, 2019
Video - The effect of Saudi oil refinery crisis on Nigeria
As unfortunate as the attacks on Saudi Arabia's oil facilities might be, for some oil producing countries, it's an opportunity to ramp up production and take advantage of the current global spike in price of oil. It's especially so for oil producers in Africa, whose national budgets have been threatened by low oil prices.
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