NAIJAFEED

Thursday, December 8, 2022

D'banj arrested in Nigeria for youth fund fraud

Nigerian Afrobeats star D'banj has been arrested over allegations of fraud after millions of dollars meant to help unemployed youths start businesses was reported missing.

The artist, who has claimed to be the brand ambassador for the scheme, has turned himself in.

The N-Power initiative was launched in 2016 by President Muhammadu Buhari.

But many beneficiaries have complained for months that they were not receiving their grants.

Nigeria's anti-corruption agencies said in a statement on Wednesday that "billions of naira" had been diverted.

Lawyers representing D'banj - whose real name is Oladapo Daniel Oyebanjo - have denied a claim by the anti-corruption agency that their client had ignored multiple summons.

They said the artist willingly turned himself in on Tuesday and that he will cooperate with the investigation.

More than two million Nigerians aged between 18 and 35 have benefited from the N-Power scheme since it was launched, according to the government.

At least 280bn naira ($629m; £516m) was distributed in 2019 to beneficiaries who started small businesses, the authorities said.

Ten other people, as well as D'banj are being investigated, the anti-corruption agency said.

"The investigation will be all-encompassing and also be extended to other collaborators of the fraud and the banks where the beneficiaries' accounts are domiciled," a statement read.

The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, which oversees N-Power, said it had no official engagement with the artist and that his claims to be an ambassador for the scheme was misleading.

D'banj's 2012 hit Oliver Twist won him fans across the continent and in the diaspora.

Two years ago his one-year-old son drowned in a pool at his home in the commercial city of Lagos.

BBC, by Nkechi Ogbonna

Video - D'Banj talks new album and Kanye West

Reuters expose Nigerian military abortion programme

A Reuters investigation published on Wednesday revealed that the Nigerian Army has run a secret, systematic and illegal abortion programme in the country's northeast since at least 2013.

The programme has involved terminating at least 10,000 pregnancies among women and girls, many of whom had been kidnapped and raped by Islamist militants, according to dozens of witness accounts and documentation reviewed by Reuters.

Here are some reactions to the report:

NED PRICE, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON

"My reaction to it in the first instance was a personal one in that I read it and was deeply disturbed by it. It was a harrowing report ... It's a concerning report, and for that reason we are seeking further information."

ALICIA KEARNS, CHAIR OF UK PARLIAMENT FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

"The stories in this report are heartbreaking and - if verified - represent a large-scale, and deeply concerning, abuse of human rights.

"It is the responsibility of UK authorities to ensure that their support of the Nigerian military does not aid human rights abuses and we expect the Government to take these allegations seriously.

"The Committee will do its part and will continue to follow this story closely as part of ongoing scrutiny of the UK's relationship with Nigeria."

JIM RISCH, LEADING REPUBLICAN ON U.S. SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE

"This is a deeply disturbing report. Nigeria’s government, and our government, must investigate these troubling allegations. Swift action must be taken against those found to have carried out this policy of murder and violation of rights.”

CHRIS SMITH, REPUBLICAN MEMBER OF U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

“The credible reports by Reuters implicating Nigerian officials in systematic forced abortions performed on women and girls who were kidnapped and raped by Islamic militants shock the conscience.

“The United States must stand with these victims and ensure that those involved in planning and carrying out this heinous abuse are held to account.

"Provisions I authored that were enacted into law (PL 106-113) give the Secretary of State the authority to sanction any foreign national directly involved in forced abortion.

"Secretary (of State Antony) Blinken must immediately investigate this egregious violation of human rights and take action against any Nigerian official involved or complicit in this atrocity pursuant to my legislation."

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL NIGERIA ON TWITTER

"Amnesty International is deeply concerned by the findings of an investigative report by Reuters news agency, which reveals that the Nigerian army has carried out secret, systematic and forced abortions terminating at least 10,000 pregnancies of women and girls.

"Many of the women and girls affected had been kidnapped and raped by Islamist militants. Such forced abortions constitute gender-based violence that may amount to torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

"Nigeria as a State party to the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is responsible for acts of its agents, including those by the Nigerian Army that constitute gender-based violence against women.

"Amnesty International is hereby calling on the Nigerian authorities to:

1. Promptly, thoroughly and impartially investigate this report of forced abortions committed by the Nigerian Army.

2. Prosecute and ensure appropriate legal and disciplinary sanctions on all those found culpable.

3. Provide effective reparations to all victims of forced abortion committed by the Nigerian Army."

Reuters

Cash withdrawals in Nigeria limited to $225 a week to curb ransom payments

Nigeria’s central bank has imposed restrictions on weekly cash withdrawals to limit the use of cash in an apparent bid to curb counterfeiting and discourage ransom payments to kidnappers.

Under a new policy announced late on Tuesday, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said that weekly cash withdrawals for individuals had been slashed to 100,000 Nigerian naira ($225) from 2.5 million naira ($5,638).

A majority of Nigerians have no bank accounts and use informal markets where cash is preferred. This move aims to bring more people into the banking system, and will take effect on January 9, the CBN said.

“The maximum cash withdrawal per week via automated teller machine shall be 100,000 naira subject to a maximum of 20,000 naira ($45) cash withdrawal per day,” it said.

Only denominations of 200 naira and less will be loaded into ATMs, it said.

For businesses, the weekly limit has been cut to 500,000 naira ($1,128) from the current daily limit of three million naira ($6,766).

“Withdrawals above these limits shall attract processing fees of five percent and 10 percent, respectively,” the CBN said.

But in compelling circumstances individuals and businesses could withdraw a maximum of five million naira ($11,277) and 10 million naira ($22,553) respectively once a month, it added.

The central bank warned commercial lenders against violating the new cash limits, which it said were in line with its policy to promote cashless transactions.

The bank has expressed concerns in the past over currency counterfeiting, the volume of money outside the banking system and huge ransom payments to kidnappers and bandits.

Last month, Nigeria launched newly designed currency notes, another move the central bank said would help curb inflation and money laundering.

More than 80 percent of the 3.2 trillion naira ($7.2bn) in circulation in Nigeria are outside the vaults of commercial banks and in private hands, CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele said when he unveiled the new notes.

“The currency redesign will also assist in the fight against corruption as the exercise will rein in the higher denomination used for corruption and the movement of such funds from the banking system could be tracked easily,” he explained at the time.

The new notes – denominations of 200, 500 and 1,000 naira – come into use on December 15, but Nigerians have until January 31 to turn in old notes when they will cease to be legal tender.

Al Jazeera

New bank note launched in Nigeria to help curb corruption

Nigeria gunmen kidnap 'nurses and infants' from hospital

Video - Nigeria kidnappings: Parents of abducted students of Kaduna plead for help

Wednesday, December 7, 2022

Faces of 108 missing Chibok girls sculpted in Clay in Nigeria Art Project

The faces of 108 Nigerian girls who are still missing eight years after they were kidnapped by Islamist insurgents have been sculpted in clay in a collaboration between an artist, a group of potters and university students.

The artwork, titled "Statues Also Breathe" and conceived by French artist Prune Nourry, consists of 108 life-size clay heads, made by 108 students from all over Nigeria, and now on display at an art gallery in Lagos.

Boko Haram militants abducted around 270 teenage girls from a school in the northeastern town of Chibok in 2014.

The mass kidnapping initially prompted worldwide outrage, with the slogan #BringBackOurGirls trending on social media and prominent figures including then U.S. first lady Michelle Obama pressing for their return.

Since then, about 160 of the girls have been released, some after years of captivity, but the story has faded from the headlines.

Nourry collected photos of the missing girls from their families and passed the images on to the students who created the sculptures at a one-day outdoor workshop on the campus of Obafemi Awolowo University in Ife, southwest Nigeria.

A small group of women who were among the abducted girls and were later released took part, as did some parents of the missing women.

Nourry said it was a cathartic experience for all involved.

"For the students, for all of us who felt so useless when something so incredible happened and you cannot do anything about it, the fact of being able to at least give a little thing through sculpture, through what we know how to do, was healing," she said.

The young artists took inspiration from photos of Ife heads - terracotta sculptures made in the region centuries ago and considered to be among Nigeria's most significant cultural artefacts.

They used clay from the Ife area - the substance that, according to the Yoruba ethnic group's creation myth, was used to form humans - sourced by a community of local female potters, who also contributed to the creative process.

"These girls have been in distress for eight years," said Habiba Balogun, coordinator of the Bring Back Our Girls campaign in Lagos.

"I am really happy that a project like this has come up that is really going to elevate the level of discourse and understanding, and have a permanent record in the history of this our country about something tragic like this."

Reuters, by Estelle Shirbon

Video - Freed schoolboys arrive in Nigeria’s Katsina week after abduction

Two kidnapped Chibok girls freed in Nigeria after eight years

Video - Parents of kidnapped schoolgirls being used to identify suicide bomber

Chibok girl kidnapped by Boko Haram found with baby

Tuesday, December 6, 2022

Service resumed for Abuja-Kaduna train service attacked by gunmen

Nigeria's state railway company on Monday resumed a popular train service between the capital Abuja and the northern state of Kaduna, suspended since in March after gunmen killed passengers and kidnapped several dozen.

Africa's most populous nation is battling insecurity in the north from armed gangs who attack villages and highways and kidnap people for ransom, and a long running insurgency that has killed thousands and displaced millions more.

The Nigerian military in October secured the release of the remaining 23 hostages from the train attack. President Muhammadu Buhari's government had said the train service would only start once all hostages were freed.

"We are starting afresh and I pray we will not have a re-occurrence of that ugly incidence by God's grace," said Ganiyat Adesina-Uthman, a lecturer who was travelling to Kaduna for the first time since March.

Passengers were required to provide national identification numbers, while armed security were on board the train.

Reuters, by Abraham Archiga

More than 160 passengers still missing from train attacked in Nigeria

Video - Rail staff killed in ‘unprecedented’ attack on train in Nigeria