At least two dozen Nigerian security operatives have died in total after a helicopter conveying dead and wounded soldiers from an evacuation mission in Niger state, 249km (155 miles) north of Abuja, crashed on Monday.
The evacuation mission had been to retrieve soldiers wounded or killed in an ambush by armed bandits in Chukuba village in the Shiroro local government area of Niger state.
The figures were given by a spokesperson for the Nigerian military, Major General Edward Buba, during a press briefing in Abuja on Thursday. He said there were 14 soldiers and seven wounded ones aboard the aircraft when it crashed, alongside two pilots and two crew members.
Buba said an investigation is under way to determine the cause of the crash.
Authorities have yet to disclose the details of the evacuation mission or any more information about the crash, including whether there were any survivors.
“These officers and men were answering the call of duty while on an evacuation mission. In their dedicated service to our beloved country, they paid the ultimate price,” President Bola Tinubu said in a statement on Tuesday.
“We will forever remember them, not just as servicemen, but as national heroes who gave their all for the peace and security of our country,” Tinubu said.
Local news outlet Leadership reported that the helicopter was evacuating the bodies of security operatives killed by bandits before crashing in Chukuba. The newspaper said sources confirmed the armed men carried sophisticated weapons that could bring a helicopter down.
The helicopter took off from Kaduna Airfield to Minna but lost contact with control towers from both Kaduna and Minna, Leadership reported.
Dogo Gide, the notorious leader of a group of bandits that has been a source of terror across parts of northwestern Nigeria bordering the countries of Niger and Chad, has claimed responsibility for the attack, according to Premium Times, another local outlet.
The warlord, an ethnic Fulani from Niger state, has been linked to Ansaru, a faction of Boko Haram that drifted westwards from the restive northeast.
Al Jazeera could not independently verify the claim at the time of this report.
Friday, August 18, 2023
Two dozen Nigerian soldiers die in air crash and evacuation mission gone awry
Nigeria gives $235 million to states to buy rice, maize to ease food shortages
Nigeria has approved a total of 180 billion naira ($235 mln) for its 36 states to procure rice and maize to cushion the effects of food shortages across the country and hardship caused by reforms, Borno state governor Babagana Zulum said on Thursday.
President Bola Tinubu has embarked on Nigeria's boldest reforms in decades, including scrapping a popular but costly petrol subsidy and devaluing the naira, a move he hopes will boost growth.
But the actions have stoked inflation which climbed to an 18-year high in July. Food prices have soared due to widespread insecurity, flooding in farming areas, a weaker currency and higher transport cost, worsening a cost of living crisis in the country.
Nigeria will release its second-quarter growth data on Aug. 25, the first after Tinubu initiated reforms.
Zulum said 5 billion naira will be given to each state as partly a grant and a 2-year loan to buy 100,000 trucks of rice and 40,000 trucks of maize, he said after a National Economic Council (NEC) meeting headed by the vice president in Abuja.
"NEC ... expressed serious concerns regarding increasing costs of food items, increasing costs of transportation, amongst others as a result of subsidy removal," Zulum told reporters.
Tinubu is under pressure from unions to offer relief to households and businesses. Labour unions have criticised his ending of the fuel subsidy without measures to mitigate rising prices.
Last month, Tinubu announced a 500 billion naira package to boost employment and directed the release of more than 200,000 metric tons of grains to families to ease hardship.
Tinubu has said subsidy savings will be used to set up a fund to build infrastructure. The government plans to deploy mass transit buses powered by natural gas and electric vehicles with charging points in Nigeria to reduce transport cost.
By Felix Onuah, Reuters
Related story: President Tinubu Unveils Broad Plan to Ease Cost of Living Pain
Thursday, August 17, 2023
President Tinubu Names Ex-Investment Banker as new Finance Minister of Nigeria
Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu named Wale Edun, who served as his senior adviser on monetary policy, as finance minister.
A former chair of Lagos-based investment bank Chapel Hill Denham Group, Edun has played a key role in the West African nation’s market-pleasing moves away from the unorthodox methods of the central bank under its suspended governor Godwin Emefiele.
Nigeria’s dollar bonds due in 2027 erased earlier losses on the news, gaining 0.4 cents to 84.5 cents on the dollar, according to indicative pricing data collected by Bloomberg.
Read More: Nigeria Eurobonds Lead Emerging-Market Losses for Second Day
Edun will be responsible for boosting government revenues, which are among the lowest in the world as a proportion of the economy. That’s essential to help narrow a budget deficit expected to reach 5% of gross domestic product this year while reducing debt service payments, which in 2022 amounted to a staggering 96% of government revenue.
His track record is promising. Edun served as commissioner of finance in Nigeria’s commercial capital Lagos between 1999 and 2007, when Tinubu was governor, and was credited with more than doubling the state’s revenues on his watch.
Since the president’s inauguration on May 29, Tinubu has taken significant steps to repair the country’s fiscal situation. He scrapped a fuel subsidy that had been a long-standing burden on government finances, costing $10 billion last year, and reformed Nigeria’s widely criticized exchange rate system that also sapped revenues.
Read More: Nigeria Forecasts Record $9.5 Billion of Taxes in Second Half
The benefits are already visible. Federal tax collection totaled 1.65 trillion naira ($2.1 billion) in June — a record for a single month — and are projected to reach 7.5 trillion naira in the second half, versus 5.5 trillion naira in the previous six months.
That will take total tax collection this year to 13 trillion naira compared to 10.1 trillion last year, with the Nigerian authorities projecting revenues will surge to 25 trillion naira in 2024, buoyed by the reforms and improved tax collection.
S&P Global Ratings on Aug. 4 raised Nigeria’s credit outlook to stable from negative on the basis of the reforms, which have also been welcomed by investors, leading to a rally in bond yields and sending stocks to a 15-year high.
Still, Africa’s most populous country — where 40% live in extreme poverty — faces significant economic challenges amid slow economic growth and the rate of inflation at an almost 18-year high.
In addition to picking his finance minister, Tinubu selected 45 other ministers, including seven women. Heineken Lokpobiri was named minister of petroleum and Adebayo Adelabu, a former deputy governor at the Central Bank of Nigeria, will be the minister of power.
Anthony Osae-Brown and Ruth Olurounbi, Bloomberg
Related stories: Senate okays president Tinubu Cabinet nominees
President Tinubu Unveils Broad Plan to Ease Cost of Living Pain
Wednesday, August 16, 2023
Medical tourism spending by Nigerians rises by over 40 percent
Nigerians spent at least 1 million U.S. dollars on medical tourism in the first few months of 2023. Medical experts attribute the increase to the mass exodus of medical personnel abroad and poor healthcare systems at home. Those experts say Nigeria's government needs to increase its spending on the health sector to encourage more people to get treatment in the country.
20,000 to be trained by Google for digital skills in Nigeria
Nigeria plans to create digital jobs for its teeming youth population, Vice President Kashim Shettima told Google Africa executives during a meeting in Abuja. Shettima did not provide a timeline for creating the jobs.
Google Africa executives said a grant from its philanthropic arm in partnership with Data Science Nigeria and the Creative Industry Initiative for Africa will facilitate the programme.
Shettima said Google's initiative aligned with the government's commitment to increase youth participation in the digital economy. The government is also working with the country's banks on the project, Shettima added.
Google director for West Africa Olumide Balogun said the company would commit funds and provide digital skills to women and young people in Nigeria and also enable startups to grow, which will create jobs.
Google is committed to investing in digital infrastructure across Africa, Charles Murito, Google Africa's director of government relations and public policy, said during the meeting, adding that digital transformation can be a job enabler.
By Felix Onuah, Reuters