Nigeria will ban travellers coming from India, Brazil and Turkey because of concerns about the rampant spread of coronavirus in those countries, a presidential committee said on Sunday.
"Non-Nigerian passport holders and non-residents who visited Brazil, India or Turkey within Fourteen (14) days preceding travel to Nigeria, shall be denied entry into Nigeria," Boss Mustapha, chairman of the presidential steering committee on COVID-19, said in a statement.
The ban will take effect from May 4, the statement said.
Nigeria announced 43 confirmed new coronavirus cases on Saturday, bringing its total to 165,153, with 2,063 deaths.
Indian hospitals, morgues and crematoriums have been overwhelmed as the country has reported more than 300,000 daily cases for more than 10 days straight. Many families have been left on their own to find medicines and oxygen.
In Brazil, new coronavirus cases have fallen off a late-March peak, but remain high by historical standards. Total deaths in the country are second only to the United States.
Turkey imposed a nationwide "full lockdown" on Thursday, lasting until May 17, to curb a surge in coronavirus infections and deaths, with the world's fourth highest number of cases and the worst on a per-capita basis among major nations.
Monday, May 3, 2021
Nigeria bans travellers from India, Brazil, Turkey over COVID-19 fears
Friday, April 30, 2021
Cameroon Military Says It Pushed Boko Haram Fighters into Nigeria
YAOUNDE, CAMEROON - Cameroon's military said Wednesday its troops pushed back about 80 terrorists from Fotokol, a town on the border with Nigeria.
The statement said the Boko Haram fighters were from the Nigerian town of Wulgo in Borno State.
Cameroon's military said it killed several fighters in clashes this week, but Boko Haram escaped with all but two of the bodies. The military said it destroyed six war jeeps and seized a large arsenal, including machine guns and assault rifles.
The military said Monday's operation was led by troops of the Multinational Joint Task Force of the Lake Chad Basin Commission.
A military spokesperson, Navy Captain Atonfack Guemo Cyrille Serge, said the operation freed several civilians who had been abducted by the militants.
Nineteen-year-old Zumbaisi Babale, who witnessed the abductions, said the fighters took away his elder sister and a man with whom she was seeking refuge in their village church. He said he hid under a bench until the fighters left, then the military took him to their base for protection.
Midjiyawa Bakari, governor of Cameroon's Far North region, said Boko Haram fighters are still lurking near the border, and civilians should report strangers in their towns and villages.
He said via a messaging app from the northern town of Maroua that the military has been mobilized to be alert all along Cameroon's border with Nigeria and Chad. All travelers and their goods will be checked to protect Cameroon's territory from Boko Haram and any rebel group that attempts to penetrate, Bakari added.
Monday's attack came a week after Chad announced the death of its president, Idriss Deby.
Conflict resolution specialist Joseph Vincent Ntouda Ebode of the University of Yaounde said the terrorists may have mobilized thinking that Chad had called back its troops and there were fewer soldiers fighting Boko Haram.
He said the terrorists know that Chad, which contributes a significant number of troops to combat Boko Haram, is now concentrating on stopping its internal security threats. For that reason, he said, Cameroon and Nigeria should remobilize their troops because Boko Haram terrorists will intensify attacks since they are aware that Chad has other priorities.
It is not known if the Transitional Military Council in Chad will be as devoted as Chad's late president in fighting Boko Haram, Ebode added.
There are about 8,000 troops in the multinational joint task force fighting Boko Haram.
The task force has not indicated whether Chad withdrew its troops.
By Moki Edwin Kindzeka
Nigeria's central bank sacks entire board of First Bank of Nigeria
Nigeria's central bank on Thursday sacked the entire board of First Bank of Nigeria and appointed new directors, the regulator said in a statement, citing the previous board's "sweeping changes" without alerting regulatory authorities.
First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) did not respond to calls seeking comment.
The bank had been in "grave financial condition" when the regulator become involved in its management "to maintain financial stability" in 2016, giving it authority over FBN's operations, the central bank said.
The sacking of the board on Thursday was done "in order to preserve stability of the bank, so as to protect minority shareholders and depositors," said the regulator.
"The actions being taken are meant to strengthen the bank and position it as a banking industry giant," it said.
Nigeria's central bank has powers to remove bank executives and used them during the 2008/2009 global financial crisis when it sacked nine CEOs at banks that were under-capitalised.
The regulator in 2016 sacked top executives of Skye Bank over capital adequacy issues, having in 2015 given three commercial banks time to recapitalise after they failed to hit a minimum capital adequacy rate of 10%.
By Chijioke Ohuocha
Wednesday, April 28, 2021
Nigerian lawmakers demand action on security crisis
Nigeria's parliament called on the presidency, armed forces and police to address the country's mounting security crisis on Tuesday, with the lower house urging President Muhammadu Buhari to declare a state of emergency.
The resolutions come as a wave of violence and lawlessness sweeps across Africa's largest economy. Security forces, including the military deployed across most of Nigeria's states, have shown little ability to stem the tide.
"The president should immediately declare a state of emergency on security so as to fast track all measures to ensure the restoration of peace in the country," said a resolution passed by the lower house.
In the northwest, gunmen have kidnapped more than 700 schoolchildren since December, as militants pillage communities in the region. read more
In the northeast, the armed forces are still struggling in a 12-year war with Boko Haram and Islamic State's West Africa branch. On Sunday, more than 30 soldiers died in an attack, soldiers and a resident said.
"The nation is on fire," said Smart Adeyemi, a senator in Buhari's ruling party. "The president must rise to the occasion and bring in people to save this country or else we will be consumed. We cannot keep quiet any longer."
The senate upper house called for "massive recruitment" for the military and police and procurement of new equipment for security forces.
Meanwhile, the senate also resolved for its leadership to meet Buhari to discuss the insecurity, and invite Nigeria's army chief and other commanders and intelligence chiefs to speak on the matter.
The military did not immediately respond to calls and messages seeking comment. A presidency spokesman declined to comment.
Earlier on Tuesday, Rivers state, in Nigeria's oil-producing heartland, said it will ban people crossing its borders at night due to insecurity.
Friday, April 23, 2021
Nigeria's Buhari condemns killing of 'tens' of villagers
Local residents said as many as 60 people could have been killed in Wednesday's rampage in about a dozen villages in the state but only nine bodies had been recovered.
Police and government officials could not immediately confirm the death toll.
Heavily-armed criminal gangs known locally as "bandits" have become a growing security challenge in northwest Nigeria, ransacking villages and carrying out mass abductions for ransom.
In a statement late Thursday, Buhari said "such wanton disregard for life will be brought to an end sooner than later."
He ordered security forces to rid the region of "frequent and horrifying bandit activities."
"The violence against poor villagers who are struggling with poverty and other severe economic challenges is not going to be tolerated by this administration," he said.
"Let's not give these criminals any opportunity to succeed by taking the war to their own camps and stop them in their tracks before they even have the time to respond under our massive fire power."
Local residents said motorcycle-riding gunmen stormed 13 villages in Magami district of Zamfara state on Wednesday, shooting residents, looting and burning homes.
- Gunmen on motorbikes -
The villages included Kangon Farimana, Ruwan Dawa, Madaba, Arzikin Da, Mairvairai, Gidan Maza, Unguwa Malam and Katohin.
"These are neighbouring villages and the bandits rode in motorcycles, shooting anyone at sight," resident Halliru Bala told AFP.
"Most of those killed were volunteers who mobilised to help fend off the attacks," he said.
"We buried nine people yesterday (Wednesday) here in Magami but we are still looking for 51 others," he said.
"We believe they were killed and their bodies are lying in the villages which have been deserted following the attacks."
Another resident, Babangida Ilu said villagers had fled the communities.
"We are still afraid to go into our villages to pick the dead because the bandits are still around nearby bushes and would attack whoever goes back," he said.
"Only nine out of the 60 people we lost in the attacks were recovered and buried. The rest are still scattered in the villages. We are afraid to go there because of the bandits."
Ilu said the gunmen looted food supplies and burnt homes during the attacks.
"The bandits went from village to village on a killing spree which made people to flee," said Altine Musa, another resident.
Zamfara has been the hardest hit by bandits in the volatile northwest despite a government offer of amnesty in exchange for renouncing violence and surrendering their weapons.
Nigerian police said on Tuesday they had killed 30 gunmen after the criminals raided some villages and slaughtered 10 people in the state.
Criminal gangs have recently targeted schools and colleges for kidnapping attacks, hoping to get ransom payments out of the authorities.
On Tuesday, some students were seized from private Greenfield University in Kaduna state while a member of staff was killed, in the fifth such attack since December.
AFP