In a sparsely decorated room in Nigeria's capital city of Abuja, seven women are seated in a row, their backs turned to the assembled media to remain anonymous.
One after the other, the women recount horrific physical and sexual abuse they say they were subjected to following their arrests on April 27 by officers of a special task force that raided hotels and nightclubs in Abuja.
"They forced us, they raped us," one of the women shouted into the microphone at the media conference, which was recorded on video and seen by CNN.
The 65 women who were arrested say they were beaten and harassed by officers, who forced them into their vans and drove them to the police station, their lawyers and NGOs told CNN. The seven women in the video say they were sexually assaulted as well.
They said the officers, part of a task force targeting prostitution, demanded bribes in return for some of the women's release. Those who couldn't pay were forced to have sex with the officers, the women said during the media conference.
"'Where is your money?' they asked, and if you say you don't have, then it is your turn to have sex with them," one of the women said in the video of the news conference. The event was organized by activists calling for the officers involved in the raid to be arrested.
Police investigating allegations
Abuja police spokesman Gajere Tanimu said in a statement that the department is taking the rape allegations against the task force seriously and investigations are under way.
"The command wishes to assure members of the public of its zero tolerance for unprofessional disregard to human rights and stiff punishments will be meted out to erring officers," the statement read.
"A high-powered team was constituted to investigate the veracity of the allegation" against police, he wrote. "In this regard invitations were sent out to relevant individuals that may assist in getting to the root of the matter."
In all, 65 women were arrested by a task force comprising officers from the city's environment and social development agency and local police, Tanimu told CNN.
Twenty-seven of them were arraigned and charged with prostitution, said their lawyer, Jennifer Ogbogu.
The women said they were coerced into confessing and had no legal counsel at the time to contest the allegations against them, their lawyer said.
"They threatened they would be sentenced to six months in jail and they won't have access to their family. They were scared and they had no lawyer at the time," she told CNN.
Those who pleaded guilty were sentenced to a month in jail and given an option to pay a fine of 3,000 naria (less than $10) for an immediate release, said their lawyer. An NGO paid the fines to secure the women's release, Ogbogu said.
Women say arrests are arbitrary
The FCT (Federal Capital Territory) Joint Task Force frequently conducts raids on institutions or establishments suspected of violating city laws, including prostitution. They regularly clear beggars from streets.
But Nollywood actress Ada Akunne said she was in her car to go out with friends to celebrate a cousin's graduation from medical school when police officers accosted them on the night of the raid.
Akunne, 44, said the officers threatened to seize their phones and accused them of being inappropriately dressed.
"They said we dressed provocatively and since there was no man in the car we must be prostitutes looking for clients. They called their colleagues to come and arrest us," she told CNN.
She was not arrested. She said the police officers only released them after passersby gathered around.
Some women arrested in the raids said that they were randomly selected in nightclubs and detained at the Utako police station, where police sexually assaulted them, according to a coalition of over 70 activist groups and individuals protesting the arrests.
Tanimu, the police spokesman, said, "We know some of the women were arrested and released by the task force even before they got to the police station. Some were also charged to court, we are investigating all these allegations and questioning all those who went on the raids."
Groups want the raids to stop
The allegations of rape and extortion at the hands of law enforcement officers have provoked widespread anger, with many calling for a shutdown of the task force.
Hundreds of women and rights groups organized two demonstrations in the capital in the space of a week calling for the shutdown of the task force.
Rights group Amnesty International said the raids were "unconstitutional" and also called for an end to the continued harassment of women in the city.
Osai Ojigho, Amnesty International's Nigeria director, said the raid violated the women's rights of free movement and expression.
"This adds another layer to the insecurity women already face," Ojigho said. "A woman now fears to go out in the evening because she can be picked up and labeled a prostitute while shopping or jogging."
Nigerian actress Dorothy Njemanze knows only too well the consequences of being falsely arrested and labeled a prostitute in conservative and highly religious Nigeria, where some people believe that "decent" women do not walk on the streets after midnight.
"We need to address this preconceived notion that any woman out at night and wearing what the police thinks is not decent is a prostitute. We are saying we have had enough," Njemanze told CNN.
In 2012, she was arrested by officers of the task force and accused of prostitution alongside three other women. She was never formally charged and she challenged the arrest in a lawsuit against the Nigerian government.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) ruled in 2017 that the arrest was unlawful and violated her right to freedom of liberty.
Njemanze was awarded 6 million naira in damages (approximately $16,000).
"Seeing this happening all over after again, after all I have gone through and lost is very traumatizing," Njemanze told CNN.
CNN
Tuesday, May 14, 2019
Friday, May 10, 2019
Widespread attacks by armed gangs in Nigeria
There is a growing concern in northern Nigeria where violence has increased significantly. More than 100 people have been killed in the past month by armed gangs. What began as a conflict between farmers and cattle herders a decade ago has now turned into regular killings and kidnappings.
Tracking movie box office earnings to become easier in Nigeria
The latest boost local movie industries in Africa are getting is data.
Comscore, the US-based media analytics company known for providing box office measurement data, is expanding operations to nine African countries where it will “capture more than 95% of all revenue and admissions.” The company’s operations on the continent will focus on West and southern African countries including Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Namibia, South Africa, eSwatini, Zambia Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
As expected, Nollywood, Nigeria’s high-profile movie sector, has proven a big draw. With investment in cinema outlets spiking over the past decade (and with more on the way), movie earnings have grown steadily in tandem. And this growth has not been limited to Hollywood blockbusters as Nollywood hits are also earning big box office returns with an increased focus on quality rather than quantity.
But the rising box office earnings have also created the need for more accurate data on movie earnings in an industry that’s long had a culture of opacity. A long-running piracy problem has usually meant that it’s unclear how much profit, if any, filmmakers and producers earn. But with cinemas now opening up an important revenue stream in comparison to other existing earning models like DVD and VCD releases, the need for industry data is even more apparent.
While local bodies like the Cinema Exhibitors’ Association of Nigeria currently track box office earnings, they lack the credibility of a global independent player like Comscore. There has also been some skepticism from industry insiders who suggest that earnings by local Nollywood movies may be inflated especially as earnings are typically declared by filmmakers and production companies rather than independent box office data sources. Indeed, last December, Genevieve Nnaji, veteran actress and director of Lionheart, Netflix’s first original Nollywood film, accused local cinema chains of manipulating numbers to maintain a “false imagery of making box-office hits.”
While Comscore is currently focused only on West and Southern Africa, there’s a chance it might look farther across the continent as more investors make plays to build cinema infrastructure. For instance, Orange, the dominant telecoms player in the region has partnered with CanalOlympia, the cinema network owned by French media giants Vivendi, to open a chain of twenty 300-seater cinemas.
By Yomi Kazeem
Quartz
Comscore, the US-based media analytics company known for providing box office measurement data, is expanding operations to nine African countries where it will “capture more than 95% of all revenue and admissions.” The company’s operations on the continent will focus on West and southern African countries including Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Namibia, South Africa, eSwatini, Zambia Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
As expected, Nollywood, Nigeria’s high-profile movie sector, has proven a big draw. With investment in cinema outlets spiking over the past decade (and with more on the way), movie earnings have grown steadily in tandem. And this growth has not been limited to Hollywood blockbusters as Nollywood hits are also earning big box office returns with an increased focus on quality rather than quantity.
But the rising box office earnings have also created the need for more accurate data on movie earnings in an industry that’s long had a culture of opacity. A long-running piracy problem has usually meant that it’s unclear how much profit, if any, filmmakers and producers earn. But with cinemas now opening up an important revenue stream in comparison to other existing earning models like DVD and VCD releases, the need for industry data is even more apparent.
While local bodies like the Cinema Exhibitors’ Association of Nigeria currently track box office earnings, they lack the credibility of a global independent player like Comscore. There has also been some skepticism from industry insiders who suggest that earnings by local Nollywood movies may be inflated especially as earnings are typically declared by filmmakers and production companies rather than independent box office data sources. Indeed, last December, Genevieve Nnaji, veteran actress and director of Lionheart, Netflix’s first original Nollywood film, accused local cinema chains of manipulating numbers to maintain a “false imagery of making box-office hits.”
While Comscore is currently focused only on West and Southern Africa, there’s a chance it might look farther across the continent as more investors make plays to build cinema infrastructure. For instance, Orange, the dominant telecoms player in the region has partnered with CanalOlympia, the cinema network owned by French media giants Vivendi, to open a chain of twenty 300-seater cinemas.
By Yomi Kazeem
Quartz
Nigeria police publish guidelines on how to survive their checkpoints
Smile, be polite, and avoid fighting an officer. These are some of the tips to improve drivers' experience during a police roadblock in Nigeria, according to the force's Twitter account.
It is not clear what prompted them to share the 16 guidelines, but a recent embarrassing viral video of an officer hassling a driver at a checkpoint for a bribe might be behind it.
In it, an officer is captured asking for a bribe of 4,000 naira ($10; £7) because the initial offer was, according to him, not enough.
Such incidents have reportedly ended in motorists being shot dead after drivers refused to oblige.
The police do not address the issue of bribe solicitation in their "tips for safe and cordial relationship at checkpoints".
So, just in case you're wondering how to comply with the guidelines, here's what a motorist should do:
Slow down as you approach the checkpoint, ensure the car's interior lights are on, if it's at night, and keep your hands visible to avoid spooking police officers. Lowering the volume of the car radio would be greatly appreciated. The police also felt it was necessary to warn about the potentially fatal consequences of fighting an armed police officer.
Most Nigerians don't trust the police because they see them as unprofessional and corrupt, according to BBC Nigeria editor Aliyu Tanko.
They often complain about the ubiquitous checkpoints, which many feel have been set up purely to extort bribes.
Nigerian police are among the worst paid and ill equipped in the world, our reporter says.
The police, however, see bad interactions with the public as being a result of misunderstandings.
The guidelines are being seen as part of efforts by the police service to burnish its image. It comes after the police held a public engagement event on social media.
The reaction on Twitter to the police checkpoint guidelines has been mixed:
"As you've given us these tips. Also educate your officers on how to behave. Not when one follow these tips and at the end your officers start saying 'leave those talk', pay me and go'. Let's be guided and play our respective parts." @Shilorine
"The only thing missing here is what citizens should expect of policemen they meet on the roads. Do we not have any rights, or expectations of courteous service from people who are supposed to be providing service. It is all one way." @rotilaw
"Sir I am I highly impressed with this information and as you are informing and guiding us also try to inform your boys too". @_Tee90papi
"All the policemen along Abakpa to Nsukka road know me and can recognise my vehicle from miles away. Why? Whenever I see a check point, I slow down, hail the officer on duty, ask him how his day is going and tell him well done. I've never had an incident. They're human beings too" @crayziggy
BBC
It is not clear what prompted them to share the 16 guidelines, but a recent embarrassing viral video of an officer hassling a driver at a checkpoint for a bribe might be behind it.
In it, an officer is captured asking for a bribe of 4,000 naira ($10; £7) because the initial offer was, according to him, not enough.
Such incidents have reportedly ended in motorists being shot dead after drivers refused to oblige.
The police do not address the issue of bribe solicitation in their "tips for safe and cordial relationship at checkpoints".
So, just in case you're wondering how to comply with the guidelines, here's what a motorist should do:
Slow down as you approach the checkpoint, ensure the car's interior lights are on, if it's at night, and keep your hands visible to avoid spooking police officers. Lowering the volume of the car radio would be greatly appreciated. The police also felt it was necessary to warn about the potentially fatal consequences of fighting an armed police officer.
Most Nigerians don't trust the police because they see them as unprofessional and corrupt, according to BBC Nigeria editor Aliyu Tanko.
They often complain about the ubiquitous checkpoints, which many feel have been set up purely to extort bribes.
Nigerian police are among the worst paid and ill equipped in the world, our reporter says.
The police, however, see bad interactions with the public as being a result of misunderstandings.
The guidelines are being seen as part of efforts by the police service to burnish its image. It comes after the police held a public engagement event on social media.
The reaction on Twitter to the police checkpoint guidelines has been mixed:
"As you've given us these tips. Also educate your officers on how to behave. Not when one follow these tips and at the end your officers start saying 'leave those talk', pay me and go'. Let's be guided and play our respective parts." @Shilorine
"The only thing missing here is what citizens should expect of policemen they meet on the roads. Do we not have any rights, or expectations of courteous service from people who are supposed to be providing service. It is all one way." @rotilaw
"Sir I am I highly impressed with this information and as you are informing and guiding us also try to inform your boys too". @_Tee90papi
"All the policemen along Abakpa to Nsukka road know me and can recognise my vehicle from miles away. Why? Whenever I see a check point, I slow down, hail the officer on duty, ask him how his day is going and tell him well done. I've never had an incident. They're human beings too" @crayziggy
BBC
Tuesday, May 7, 2019
Candidates to head Central Bank of Nigeria
Nigeria’s central bank governor for the next five years will have to balance fighting inflation and propping up the currency against pressure to boost an economy that’s expanding slower than emerging-market peers.
Godwin Emefiele’s first five-year term ends in June and he could be reappointed. But with less than a month to go, the top post has also been linked to the regulator’s most senior female official and other potential candidates at institutional and development banks.
Below are some of the possible candidates to oversee monetary policy in Africa’s most-populous nation and largest oil producer. That is, unless President Muhammadu Buhari elects a governor that markets didn’t expect, as his predecessor did five years ago in Emefiele.
Godwin Emefiele
Since being appointed, Emefiele raised the key interest rate to a record high to contain price growth and bolster the naira, despite sluggish growth. His decisions to implement currency controls by restricting importers of around 40 items from buying foreign exchange, and his defiance of calls to devalue the naira, may be viewed favorably by Buhari, who’s keen to boost local production and wants a strong currency. The 57-year-old banker would want a second term if he is offered, a person close to the matter has said.
While Emefiele has forged a good working relationship with Buhari, no central bank governor has served more than one term since the end of Nigerian military rule in 1999.
Emefiele’s decision to float the naira and his reluctance until March to reduce interest rates while the Buhari government was pushing for looser policy to support its borrowing plans and stimulate the economy may count against him, Michael Famoroti, an economist and partner at Stears Business, said by phone from Lagos.
Aishah Ahmad
Ahmad was appointed by Buhari as deputy governor in March 2018 and oversees financial-systems stability. Her banking experience, at the former Diamond Bank Plc, Zenith Bank Plc and Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, may be welcomed by business. At the January Monetary Policy Committee meeting she called for increased lending to small- and medium-sized enterprises. If picked for the post, Ahmad would be the first permanent female governor.
Ahmed Kuru
Kuru heads the Asset Management Corp. of Nigeria which was set up by the West African nation to buy bad debt following a banking crisis in 2009. AMCON’s books expanded rapidly during Kuru’s tenure as non-performing loans spiked after the economy contracted in 2016. If appointed, Kuru could boost the central bank’s focus on banking reforms and strengthening the financial sector.
Mansur Muhtar
Muhtar is a former Nigerian finance minister and was director-general of the nation’s Debt Management Office from 2003 until 2007. Currently a vice president at the Saudi Arabia-based Islamic Development Bank, he’s also served as executive director on the board of the World Bank, as co-chairman of the United Nations Inter-Governmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Finance, and executive director at the African Development Bank.
By Solape Renner with assistance of PaulWallace
Bloomberg
Godwin Emefiele’s first five-year term ends in June and he could be reappointed. But with less than a month to go, the top post has also been linked to the regulator’s most senior female official and other potential candidates at institutional and development banks.
Below are some of the possible candidates to oversee monetary policy in Africa’s most-populous nation and largest oil producer. That is, unless President Muhammadu Buhari elects a governor that markets didn’t expect, as his predecessor did five years ago in Emefiele.
Godwin Emefiele
Since being appointed, Emefiele raised the key interest rate to a record high to contain price growth and bolster the naira, despite sluggish growth. His decisions to implement currency controls by restricting importers of around 40 items from buying foreign exchange, and his defiance of calls to devalue the naira, may be viewed favorably by Buhari, who’s keen to boost local production and wants a strong currency. The 57-year-old banker would want a second term if he is offered, a person close to the matter has said.
While Emefiele has forged a good working relationship with Buhari, no central bank governor has served more than one term since the end of Nigerian military rule in 1999.
Emefiele’s decision to float the naira and his reluctance until March to reduce interest rates while the Buhari government was pushing for looser policy to support its borrowing plans and stimulate the economy may count against him, Michael Famoroti, an economist and partner at Stears Business, said by phone from Lagos.
Aishah Ahmad
Ahmad was appointed by Buhari as deputy governor in March 2018 and oversees financial-systems stability. Her banking experience, at the former Diamond Bank Plc, Zenith Bank Plc and Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, may be welcomed by business. At the January Monetary Policy Committee meeting she called for increased lending to small- and medium-sized enterprises. If picked for the post, Ahmad would be the first permanent female governor.
Ahmed Kuru
Kuru heads the Asset Management Corp. of Nigeria which was set up by the West African nation to buy bad debt following a banking crisis in 2009. AMCON’s books expanded rapidly during Kuru’s tenure as non-performing loans spiked after the economy contracted in 2016. If appointed, Kuru could boost the central bank’s focus on banking reforms and strengthening the financial sector.
Mansur Muhtar
Muhtar is a former Nigerian finance minister and was director-general of the nation’s Debt Management Office from 2003 until 2007. Currently a vice president at the Saudi Arabia-based Islamic Development Bank, he’s also served as executive director on the board of the World Bank, as co-chairman of the United Nations Inter-Governmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Finance, and executive director at the African Development Bank.
By Solape Renner with assistance of PaulWallace
Bloomberg
Monday, May 6, 2019
Video - Nigerian fashion a source of national pride
Nigerian attires have come to be loved worldwide. They are not only fashionable, but also easy to spot anywhere. But the different Nigerian attires serve different purposes.
Video - Slum youth in Nigeria take on music scene after talent show success
Two young artists who grew up in a shanty town are Nigeria's latest singing sensations. After being discovered on a local talent show, they are working to establish their music careers. Their success has even inspired the launch of a record label that taps into emerging talent from disadvantaged communities.
Video - Calling on Nigerian government to help boost ceramics trade
For centuries, women in Nigeria have led the way in the local production of ceramics. But now the ancient craft is almost becoming extinct as it struggles to adapt to the modern world. Experts are calling on the government to help boost trade and earnings in the ceramics industry as well as preserve the traditional culture.
Video - Nigerian radio host combats Boko Haram ideology on air
A radio station host is defying high odds to battle Boko Haram's extremist ideology. With programming in the local Ka-nuri and Hausa languages, Dandal Kura radio station seeks to inform communities around the Lake Chad basin, in spite of possible dire consequences.
Video - Tiwa Savage signs global music deal
Nigerian singer-songwriter Tiwa Savage recently landed a global deal with Universal Music Group. She becomes the first African artist to sign the major deal. As one of the world's leading Afrobeats artists, Tiwa says the recording agreement will propel African music further.
Friday, May 3, 2019
Widows of executed activists in Nigeria win case against Shell
The widows of nine Nigerian activists executed in 1995 got a major boost on Wednesday when a Dutch court ruled that it had jurisdiction to determine whether Royal Dutch Shell was complicit in the Nigerian government’s execution of their husbands.* The men who came to be known as the Ogoni Nine, were environmental activists who fought against widespread pollution in the Niger Delta.
The four widows accuse Shell of instigating a deadly crackdown by the military government of the time against peaceful protesters in Ogoniland, in the Niger Delta, the most valuable oil-producing region in Nigeria.
Shell denies any responsibility.
Africa News
Thursday, May 2, 2019
Two Agusta helicopters for Air force part of Nigeria military upgrade
Nigeria's air force has received two new military grade helicopters -- during celebrations to mark the country's 55th independence anniversary in the capital, Abuja. The Agusta helicopters are part of air power upgrades, which Nigeria has put in place to combat widespread security threats.
UK considering boosting military support to help Nigeria defeat Boko Haram
Britain is considering stepping up its military efforts to help the Nigerian government defeat Boko Haram, following a rise in terrorist activity in the country’s north-east in the past year, Jeremy Hunt has said after a visit to the region.
The UK foreign secretary said on Wednesday that he will be discussing what more the British government can do in terms of aid and military support to combat the terrorist group, warning the crisis had the potential to trigger a humanitarian catastrophe on the scale of that in Yemen.
Britain provides £240m in aid to Nigeria, of which £100m goes to the north-east, making it the second-largest donor after the US, and giving the UK a sizeable stake in what happens in the region.
Boko Haram and Islamic State in west Africa have terrorised the region for several years, but their activities came to the world’s attention when hundreds of Nigerian schoolgirls were kidnapped in 2014.
British military personnel in Abuja and the wider region are giving strategic advice to Nigerian forces on how to run counterinsurgency operations, with their advice focused on combining humanitarian and military activities.
The Nigerian military has been repeatedly criticised by humanitarian groups for running brutal campaigns that make little effort to win over hearts and minds.
The 120,000-strong army is structured on very traditional lines but sends troops to highly hostile areas for as long as four years. Operating on a small budget, soldiers are often underpaid and morale is low.
Speaking on a visit to Maiduguri as part of a week-long trip to Africa, Hunt said: “It has got all the hallmarks of something that if you do not nip in the bud, it will get a lot worse. Conversely, it feels like a situation that it is something that could be dealt with if there was appropriate action by the government of Nigeria with international support.”
He said the crisis had spread to Niger, Chad and Cameroon. “There is a potential solution here … Nigeria is huge country and it is very stretched,” Hunt added.
Asked if he supported an increase in military action in the region, the UK foreign secretary said: “I think the crucial deciding factor is the willingness and enthusiasm of the Nigerian government and the Nigerian army to work closely with us – we would like to support and help them, but they are a sovereign nation and they have got to want our help.”
He said Britain wanted to bring holistic solutions, suggesting by implication that the Nigerian army has focused too heavily on militaristic solutions. “I think our approach is potentially a very significant one, because we could bring not just the British army but also DfID [the Department for International Development] and our experience in holistic solutions to these kind of situations,” Hunt added.
“This is a region of Africa that is being massively destabilised by conflict. These things can escalate quite quickly and get out of control. We know from Sri Lanka that Daesh [Isis] are looking to make their presence felt now they have lost their territory. We have to be vigilant.”
He said Sri Lanka was not on anyone’s radar, and showed how threats can escalate. Nigeria was “an area where all the warning signs are there”, he said, adding that not all the conflict was driven by religion.
“The feedback I got from NGOs on the ground is that lack of trust between the authorities and local people is one of the things that is fuelling the problem at the moment. The Nigerian army strategy is largely about herding people into towns and saying if you are not in a secure area, we are going to assume you are Boko Haram and/or Islamic State west Africa,” he said.
“Such an approach was understandable in the short term, but the long-term risk is that you are depriving people of their livelihoods and their farms. There are 2 million people displaced living there at the moment in pretty horrific circumstances.
“Both NGOs and military analysts fear the recent increase in violence reflects changes in the terrorist leadership, and a failure by the Nigerian military to establish humanitarian plans to follow the military clearances of areas. The brutal methods only lead to a loss of support for the military.”
The Guardian
The UK foreign secretary said on Wednesday that he will be discussing what more the British government can do in terms of aid and military support to combat the terrorist group, warning the crisis had the potential to trigger a humanitarian catastrophe on the scale of that in Yemen.
Britain provides £240m in aid to Nigeria, of which £100m goes to the north-east, making it the second-largest donor after the US, and giving the UK a sizeable stake in what happens in the region.
Boko Haram and Islamic State in west Africa have terrorised the region for several years, but their activities came to the world’s attention when hundreds of Nigerian schoolgirls were kidnapped in 2014.
British military personnel in Abuja and the wider region are giving strategic advice to Nigerian forces on how to run counterinsurgency operations, with their advice focused on combining humanitarian and military activities.
The Nigerian military has been repeatedly criticised by humanitarian groups for running brutal campaigns that make little effort to win over hearts and minds.
The 120,000-strong army is structured on very traditional lines but sends troops to highly hostile areas for as long as four years. Operating on a small budget, soldiers are often underpaid and morale is low.
Speaking on a visit to Maiduguri as part of a week-long trip to Africa, Hunt said: “It has got all the hallmarks of something that if you do not nip in the bud, it will get a lot worse. Conversely, it feels like a situation that it is something that could be dealt with if there was appropriate action by the government of Nigeria with international support.”
He said the crisis had spread to Niger, Chad and Cameroon. “There is a potential solution here … Nigeria is huge country and it is very stretched,” Hunt added.
Asked if he supported an increase in military action in the region, the UK foreign secretary said: “I think the crucial deciding factor is the willingness and enthusiasm of the Nigerian government and the Nigerian army to work closely with us – we would like to support and help them, but they are a sovereign nation and they have got to want our help.”
He said Britain wanted to bring holistic solutions, suggesting by implication that the Nigerian army has focused too heavily on militaristic solutions. “I think our approach is potentially a very significant one, because we could bring not just the British army but also DfID [the Department for International Development] and our experience in holistic solutions to these kind of situations,” Hunt added.
“This is a region of Africa that is being massively destabilised by conflict. These things can escalate quite quickly and get out of control. We know from Sri Lanka that Daesh [Isis] are looking to make their presence felt now they have lost their territory. We have to be vigilant.”
He said Sri Lanka was not on anyone’s radar, and showed how threats can escalate. Nigeria was “an area where all the warning signs are there”, he said, adding that not all the conflict was driven by religion.
“The feedback I got from NGOs on the ground is that lack of trust between the authorities and local people is one of the things that is fuelling the problem at the moment. The Nigerian army strategy is largely about herding people into towns and saying if you are not in a secure area, we are going to assume you are Boko Haram and/or Islamic State west Africa,” he said.
“Such an approach was understandable in the short term, but the long-term risk is that you are depriving people of their livelihoods and their farms. There are 2 million people displaced living there at the moment in pretty horrific circumstances.
“Both NGOs and military analysts fear the recent increase in violence reflects changes in the terrorist leadership, and a failure by the Nigerian military to establish humanitarian plans to follow the military clearances of areas. The brutal methods only lead to a loss of support for the military.”
The Guardian
Wednesday, May 1, 2019
Two shell oil workers kidnapped in Nigeria rescued
Two Royal Dutch Shell oil workers who were kidnapped in Nigeria’s southern Niger Delta region last week have been rescued, a police spokesman and Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) said on Tuesday.
Kidnappings for ransom occur in much of Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil producer, but are particularly prevalent in the Niger Delta which produces the majority of the country’s crude oil.
The pair were attacked in southern Rivers state last week while returning from an official trip to Bayelsa state.
“The tactical team of the command rescued the victims in the early hours of Tuesday,” said Nnamdi Omoni a spokesman for Rivers state police force.
A spokesman for SPDC also said the pair were free. “They are well and being supported after their ordeal,” said SPDC spokesman Michael Adande.
Reuters
Kidnappings for ransom occur in much of Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil producer, but are particularly prevalent in the Niger Delta which produces the majority of the country’s crude oil.
The pair were attacked in southern Rivers state last week while returning from an official trip to Bayelsa state.
“The tactical team of the command rescued the victims in the early hours of Tuesday,” said Nnamdi Omoni a spokesman for Rivers state police force.
A spokesman for SPDC also said the pair were free. “They are well and being supported after their ordeal,” said SPDC spokesman Michael Adande.
Reuters
Student from Nigeria arrested for drug trafficking in Saudi Arabia freed
A Nigerian student who was arrested last year for alleged drug trafficking in Saudi Arabia has been freed, the Nigerian government says.
Zainab Aliyu was accused of smuggling 2,000 packs of a strong pain killer.
The Nigerian authorities later found that the drugs had been planted in her luggage by a criminal gang.
Drug trafficking is a capital offence in Saudi Arabia, which practices conservative Islam. Those found guilty are executed.
This was the fate earlier this month of a Nigerian woman, who was beheaded in the city of Mecca, along with two Pakistani men and a Yemeni man.
Ms Aliyu's detention sparked protests and with supporters in Nigeria using the hashtag #FreeZeinab to call for her release.
Her freedom comes as hundreds of her fellow students gathered at Maitama Sule University in the northern city of Kano on Tuesday to demand her release.
On Monday, President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the attorney general to intervene in the matter.
His aide tweeted the news of Ms Aliyu's release using the popular hashtag #FreeZeinab.
Ms Aliyu was arrested at her hotel in Medina by Saudi police last December, shortly after arriving for the lesser hajj with her family - and remained in detention until Tuesday.
The Saudi authorities had accused her of trafficking 2,000 packs of Tramadol in a bag tagged with her name that had been left at the airport.
Recently, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency of Nigeria (NDLEA) said it had uncovered a criminal gang that had been planting illicit drugs in travellers' luggage.
An investigation was launched after Ms Aliyu's father reported the case to the police and it led to the arrest of six officials at Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport.
They have been accused at a federal high court of framing Ms Aliyu and have not commented on the charges.
BBC
Zainab Aliyu was accused of smuggling 2,000 packs of a strong pain killer.
The Nigerian authorities later found that the drugs had been planted in her luggage by a criminal gang.
Drug trafficking is a capital offence in Saudi Arabia, which practices conservative Islam. Those found guilty are executed.
This was the fate earlier this month of a Nigerian woman, who was beheaded in the city of Mecca, along with two Pakistani men and a Yemeni man.
Ms Aliyu's detention sparked protests and with supporters in Nigeria using the hashtag #FreeZeinab to call for her release.
Her freedom comes as hundreds of her fellow students gathered at Maitama Sule University in the northern city of Kano on Tuesday to demand her release.
On Monday, President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the attorney general to intervene in the matter.
His aide tweeted the news of Ms Aliyu's release using the popular hashtag #FreeZeinab.
Ms Aliyu was arrested at her hotel in Medina by Saudi police last December, shortly after arriving for the lesser hajj with her family - and remained in detention until Tuesday.
The Saudi authorities had accused her of trafficking 2,000 packs of Tramadol in a bag tagged with her name that had been left at the airport.
Recently, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency of Nigeria (NDLEA) said it had uncovered a criminal gang that had been planting illicit drugs in travellers' luggage.
An investigation was launched after Ms Aliyu's father reported the case to the police and it led to the arrest of six officials at Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport.
They have been accused at a federal high court of framing Ms Aliyu and have not commented on the charges.
BBC
Tuesday, April 30, 2019
Video - Nigeria you've probably never seen before revealed
Nigeria has long been known as the giant of Africa for its abundant resources, exploding population, and cultural influence. In this informational documentary; PenresaTV takes you on a journey to discover the vast potential of the nation's thriving industries and wondrous beauty.
Biafra dream lives on in underground radio broadcasts in Nigeria
Every evening as five o’clock approaches, the clogged, perpetually dusty streets of this industrial city in southeast Nigeria begin to empty.
Groups of men just off work go inside, shut their doors and tune their radios to 102.1 FM.
Then an anthem begins to play, and a voice says “Kedu” — “how are you” in the Igbo language — to welcome listeners to the daily broadcast of Radio Biafra.
For the next 90 minutes, hosts and various guests proselytize for the revival of an old dream: the creation of an independent state called Biafra.
The broadcasts, conducted live from an undisclosed location in Nigeria, are illegal, and the group behind them — the Indigenous People of Biafra, or IPOB — has been classified by the government as a terrorist organization since 2017. Its leaders say they eschew violence and want a peaceful settlement of the issue through a national referendum.
Activists say people caught listening to the station have been arrested or beaten. But many residents here say they are willing to take the risk.
Radio Biafra is a daily reminder of the bloody civil war that ravaged Nigeria between 1967 and 1970. The conflict started when a Nigerian military general, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, declared an independent state of Biafra. It ended after more than a million deaths, mostly from starvation after the government imposed a food blockade on the region.
Ultimately, the rebels surrendered and the area was reintegrated into Nigeria under the government motto “No Victor, No Vanquished.”
But the memory of the brutal war looms large in Aba, feeding enthusiasm for the broadcasts despite extremely long odds that Biafra will ever come to be.
The main host is a man who goes by the name Emma Powerful and dedicates much of his airtime to railing against the government and organizing protests such as a short-lived boycott of national elections earlier this year.
Stay home “to make an everlasting impression on the world stage that we Biafrans are prepared to sacrifice everything,” he instructed listeners. “Anybody or family found outside on election day will perpetually suffer the ignominy of being labeled a traitor.”
Much of the radio station’s wrath is directed at President Muhammadu Buhari, who was reelected in February and has said that Nigeria’s unity is not negotiable, shutting the door on any discussions about a referendum.
Buhari is from the Muslim-dominated north.
The supporters of Biafran independence are from the southeast, mostly from the Igbo ethnic group, which numbers about 29 million people, or about 14% of the the country’s population.
Many Igbo people feel marginalized by the government far away in the capital, Abuja, and resent the heavy military presence in the region.
In 2016, Amnesty International accused the Nigerian military of embarking on a “chilling campaign of extrajudicial executions and violence” that resulted in the death of at least 150 peaceful pro-Biafra protestors over the course of a year.
The Nigerian military denied the claims, with Brig. Gen. Rabe Abubakar calling the report part of “a series of spurious fabrications aimed at tarnishing the good image of the Nigerian military.”
Outside experts and some locals suggested in interviews that tensions were on the rise.
“We feel like slaves in our own land,” says Victor Smith, a 23-year-old university student living in the city of Enugu. “It’s only a matter of time until [the army] pushes and people push back. We are getting stretched to the limit.”
Smith, who studies political science, said he listens to Radio Biafra, but has mixed feelings about it. He said he would like more discussion of the concrete policies he thinks will be necessary for a new state to function.
“What about policy discussions? Trade agreements?” he said. “We are making plans to leave, but where are we going. How are we going?”
A frequent voice on Radio Biafra is its founder, 51-year-old Nnamdi Kanu, who is patched in from London. The station first aired in 2009, only to close because of financial difficulties. It was revived three years later, when Kanu founded IPOB.
In 2015, after Kanu told a conference in Los Angeles that his group needed guns and bullets, he was arrested by the Nigerian government and charged with criminal conspiracy, intimidation and membership of an illegal organization. Kanu’s lawyers said his comments were political rhetoric and not an actual call to arms, according to the Telegraph newspaper in London.
Kanu spent 19 months in prison without trial before being released on bail in 2017. Later that year, according to IPOB, the Nigerian army raided his palatial home in Abia state, where Aba is located, and killed several of his supporters. The army denied that the raid ever took place.
This January, Kanu tweeted that he was in Britain. He holds citizenship there and in Nigeria.
The Nigerian government at various points has claimed to have blocked Radio Biafra broadcasts by shutting down radio frequencies and seizing transmitters.
But any successes were short-lived, and the efforts have become fodder for more ridicule of the government, including criticism that it is failing in its fight against Boko Haram, which nobody disputes is a terrorist organization.
“The government is insistent on spending scarce resources on tracing and jamming Radio Biafra while northern Nigeria is terrorized by Boko Haram daily,” Powerful said in an interview.
Gauging support for the cause of Biafra is difficult, as is determining how many people tune into the radio broadcasts.
One listener is Julius Nwokorocha, who at age 21 was drafted by Ojukwu’s army to fight in the war and served until he was injured in an explosion.
Today at 72, he lives in a tiny cement bungalow in Aba and never misses a broadcast.
Nwokorocha doesn’t agree with everything he hears, but he believes that there needs to be a national conversation about independence for Biafra.
“We still don’t feel like a part of Nigeria,” he said. “The army said, ‘No victor, no vanquished,’ but look at the federal roads here in the east. Most of them are bad. It feels like we are punished every day.”
“Kanu says a lot of things that are impossible,” he said. “But if Biafra happens tomorrow, it will be one of the greatest countries in the world.”
The end of each broadcast means his day is complete.
Life begins to return to the city as listeners emerge from their homes and shops. In the beer parlors, arguments can be heard about the day’s show.
By OLUWATOSIN ADESHOKAN and KRISTA MAHR
LA TIMES
Groups of men just off work go inside, shut their doors and tune their radios to 102.1 FM.
Then an anthem begins to play, and a voice says “Kedu” — “how are you” in the Igbo language — to welcome listeners to the daily broadcast of Radio Biafra.
For the next 90 minutes, hosts and various guests proselytize for the revival of an old dream: the creation of an independent state called Biafra.
The broadcasts, conducted live from an undisclosed location in Nigeria, are illegal, and the group behind them — the Indigenous People of Biafra, or IPOB — has been classified by the government as a terrorist organization since 2017. Its leaders say they eschew violence and want a peaceful settlement of the issue through a national referendum.
Activists say people caught listening to the station have been arrested or beaten. But many residents here say they are willing to take the risk.
Radio Biafra is a daily reminder of the bloody civil war that ravaged Nigeria between 1967 and 1970. The conflict started when a Nigerian military general, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, declared an independent state of Biafra. It ended after more than a million deaths, mostly from starvation after the government imposed a food blockade on the region.
Ultimately, the rebels surrendered and the area was reintegrated into Nigeria under the government motto “No Victor, No Vanquished.”
But the memory of the brutal war looms large in Aba, feeding enthusiasm for the broadcasts despite extremely long odds that Biafra will ever come to be.
The main host is a man who goes by the name Emma Powerful and dedicates much of his airtime to railing against the government and organizing protests such as a short-lived boycott of national elections earlier this year.
Stay home “to make an everlasting impression on the world stage that we Biafrans are prepared to sacrifice everything,” he instructed listeners. “Anybody or family found outside on election day will perpetually suffer the ignominy of being labeled a traitor.”
Much of the radio station’s wrath is directed at President Muhammadu Buhari, who was reelected in February and has said that Nigeria’s unity is not negotiable, shutting the door on any discussions about a referendum.
Buhari is from the Muslim-dominated north.
The supporters of Biafran independence are from the southeast, mostly from the Igbo ethnic group, which numbers about 29 million people, or about 14% of the the country’s population.
Many Igbo people feel marginalized by the government far away in the capital, Abuja, and resent the heavy military presence in the region.
In 2016, Amnesty International accused the Nigerian military of embarking on a “chilling campaign of extrajudicial executions and violence” that resulted in the death of at least 150 peaceful pro-Biafra protestors over the course of a year.
The Nigerian military denied the claims, with Brig. Gen. Rabe Abubakar calling the report part of “a series of spurious fabrications aimed at tarnishing the good image of the Nigerian military.”
Outside experts and some locals suggested in interviews that tensions were on the rise.
“We feel like slaves in our own land,” says Victor Smith, a 23-year-old university student living in the city of Enugu. “It’s only a matter of time until [the army] pushes and people push back. We are getting stretched to the limit.”
Smith, who studies political science, said he listens to Radio Biafra, but has mixed feelings about it. He said he would like more discussion of the concrete policies he thinks will be necessary for a new state to function.
“What about policy discussions? Trade agreements?” he said. “We are making plans to leave, but where are we going. How are we going?”
A frequent voice on Radio Biafra is its founder, 51-year-old Nnamdi Kanu, who is patched in from London. The station first aired in 2009, only to close because of financial difficulties. It was revived three years later, when Kanu founded IPOB.
In 2015, after Kanu told a conference in Los Angeles that his group needed guns and bullets, he was arrested by the Nigerian government and charged with criminal conspiracy, intimidation and membership of an illegal organization. Kanu’s lawyers said his comments were political rhetoric and not an actual call to arms, according to the Telegraph newspaper in London.
Kanu spent 19 months in prison without trial before being released on bail in 2017. Later that year, according to IPOB, the Nigerian army raided his palatial home in Abia state, where Aba is located, and killed several of his supporters. The army denied that the raid ever took place.
This January, Kanu tweeted that he was in Britain. He holds citizenship there and in Nigeria.
The Nigerian government at various points has claimed to have blocked Radio Biafra broadcasts by shutting down radio frequencies and seizing transmitters.
But any successes were short-lived, and the efforts have become fodder for more ridicule of the government, including criticism that it is failing in its fight against Boko Haram, which nobody disputes is a terrorist organization.
“The government is insistent on spending scarce resources on tracing and jamming Radio Biafra while northern Nigeria is terrorized by Boko Haram daily,” Powerful said in an interview.
Gauging support for the cause of Biafra is difficult, as is determining how many people tune into the radio broadcasts.
One listener is Julius Nwokorocha, who at age 21 was drafted by Ojukwu’s army to fight in the war and served until he was injured in an explosion.
Today at 72, he lives in a tiny cement bungalow in Aba and never misses a broadcast.
Nwokorocha doesn’t agree with everything he hears, but he believes that there needs to be a national conversation about independence for Biafra.
“We still don’t feel like a part of Nigeria,” he said. “The army said, ‘No victor, no vanquished,’ but look at the federal roads here in the east. Most of them are bad. It feels like we are punished every day.”
“Kanu says a lot of things that are impossible,” he said. “But if Biafra happens tomorrow, it will be one of the greatest countries in the world.”
The end of each broadcast means his day is complete.
Life begins to return to the city as listeners emerge from their homes and shops. In the beer parlors, arguments can be heard about the day’s show.
By OLUWATOSIN ADESHOKAN and KRISTA MAHR
LA TIMES
Monday, April 29, 2019
Video - Group nurtures young Nigerian girls into tech
While science and technology is still widely considered a man's field, a group in Nigeria is getting more girls into the sector, helping achieve gender parity in education and work environments. These young Nigerian girls have fallen in love with the technical education and are hoping to influence their environments positively with the education.
Video - Nigerian libraries look to engage more readers
Nigeria lags behind globally in having a vibrant reading culture, despite producing several internationally acclaimed authors like Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe.
British army trains Special Forces of Nigeria to combat terrorism
The Nigerian Air Force confirms that the British Military Assistant Training Team has assisted the Service in the training of Regiment personnel as well as over 2,000 Special Forces to enhance Force Protection capabilities of the Nigerian Air Force.
Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, made this known during the NAF Day 2019 Lecture on Saturday in Abuja. The Lecture is one of the activities lined up by the NAF to celebrate its 55th anniversary. The air chief noted that the Service has grown in size, spread, and equipment holding in a bid to fulfill its statutory obligations of protecting and defending the territorial integrity of Nigeria from the air. ”In the area of force protection, the British Military Assistant Training Team has assisted the Nigerian Air Force in the training of Regiment personnel as well as over 2,000 Special Forces to enhance Force Protection capabilities of the Nigerian Air Force,” he said.
Abubakar noted that the service was also doing so much in further developing and improving her capacity for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance missions. “This era also had the Nigerian Air Force expanding its reach through establishment of units in many of the troubled areas such as Zurmi Local Government of Zamfara, Nguroje in Taraba, Agatu in Benue among others.
Albeit, these efforts may not yield expected results if proper integration with sister Services; which form the Land and Sea components of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, is not achieved. The air chief said that the chosen theme is apt, relevant and timely in view of contemporary challenges the nation is facing.’ He thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for his continued show of uncommon commitment to meeting the needs of the Nigerian Air Force.
In his remarks, the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali, represented by Peter Ashibe, the Director Air Force, in the ministry of Defence, said the NAF had transformed over the years. Dan-Ali said “Appraising NAF activities in retrospect while keeping current realities in mind, it gives me great joy to note the speedy rate at which the NAF has metamorphosed into an efficient arm of the Armed Forces of Nigeria.’’
‘’ Its fortunes have steadily improved operationally and administratively to the extent that the Nigerian Air Force of today is progressively building capacity and capabilities to effectively respond to internal security challenges, while efficiently projecting air power in defence of Nigeria’s territorial integrity,’’ he said.
Army Recognition
Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, made this known during the NAF Day 2019 Lecture on Saturday in Abuja. The Lecture is one of the activities lined up by the NAF to celebrate its 55th anniversary. The air chief noted that the Service has grown in size, spread, and equipment holding in a bid to fulfill its statutory obligations of protecting and defending the territorial integrity of Nigeria from the air. ”In the area of force protection, the British Military Assistant Training Team has assisted the Nigerian Air Force in the training of Regiment personnel as well as over 2,000 Special Forces to enhance Force Protection capabilities of the Nigerian Air Force,” he said.
Abubakar noted that the service was also doing so much in further developing and improving her capacity for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance missions. “This era also had the Nigerian Air Force expanding its reach through establishment of units in many of the troubled areas such as Zurmi Local Government of Zamfara, Nguroje in Taraba, Agatu in Benue among others.
Albeit, these efforts may not yield expected results if proper integration with sister Services; which form the Land and Sea components of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, is not achieved. The air chief said that the chosen theme is apt, relevant and timely in view of contemporary challenges the nation is facing.’ He thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for his continued show of uncommon commitment to meeting the needs of the Nigerian Air Force.
In his remarks, the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali, represented by Peter Ashibe, the Director Air Force, in the ministry of Defence, said the NAF had transformed over the years. Dan-Ali said “Appraising NAF activities in retrospect while keeping current realities in mind, it gives me great joy to note the speedy rate at which the NAF has metamorphosed into an efficient arm of the Armed Forces of Nigeria.’’
‘’ Its fortunes have steadily improved operationally and administratively to the extent that the Nigerian Air Force of today is progressively building capacity and capabilities to effectively respond to internal security challenges, while efficiently projecting air power in defence of Nigeria’s territorial integrity,’’ he said.
Army Recognition
Kidnapped Chinese workers freed in Nigeria
Two Chinese construction workers, who were abducted in Nigeria’s southeastern Ebonyi state last Wednesday, have been freed, police said on Monday.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Loveth Odiah, police spokeswoman for the state, said the Chinese workers -- Sun Zhixin and Wang Quing Hu -- were released on Saturday.
They were kidnapped by masked armed gunmen on Wednesday in Ohaozara area of the state where they were constructing a bridge.
Odiah did not say whether any ransom had been paid or that their abductors were arrested.
She urged expatriates in the area to seek security cover to avoid such incidents in the future.
Meanwhile, the army has confirmed the kidnapping of two foreign oil workers at an oil rig in Abua-Odua area of southern River state.
Local media, quoting sources, said the abductees are a Canadian and a Scot, who were taken away on Saturday.
"The joint military task force has launched a manhunt for the kidnappers with a view to free the oil workers," army spokesman Ibrahim Abdullahi told Anadolu Agency on Monday.
He said the kidnappers were yet to contact the firm the expatriates work for, urging the oil companies to always provide extra security to their workers in the volatile area.
AA
Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Loveth Odiah, police spokeswoman for the state, said the Chinese workers -- Sun Zhixin and Wang Quing Hu -- were released on Saturday.
They were kidnapped by masked armed gunmen on Wednesday in Ohaozara area of the state where they were constructing a bridge.
Odiah did not say whether any ransom had been paid or that their abductors were arrested.
She urged expatriates in the area to seek security cover to avoid such incidents in the future.
Meanwhile, the army has confirmed the kidnapping of two foreign oil workers at an oil rig in Abua-Odua area of southern River state.
Local media, quoting sources, said the abductees are a Canadian and a Scot, who were taken away on Saturday.
"The joint military task force has launched a manhunt for the kidnappers with a view to free the oil workers," army spokesman Ibrahim Abdullahi told Anadolu Agency on Monday.
He said the kidnappers were yet to contact the firm the expatriates work for, urging the oil companies to always provide extra security to their workers in the volatile area.
AA
Women and Children face sexual violence in prisons in Nigeria
An Amnesty International investigation has exposed sexual violence against children and women by security agents and inmates at two high-security prison facilities in Borno State, Nigeria.
The harrowing violations took place at Maiduguri Maximum Security Prison and Giwa Barracks, where thousands of civilians arrested due to claimed links to the Boko Haram armed group are being held. Amnesty’s research also found that scores of children are being unlawfully detained alongside adults in Maiduguri Prison.
“This is another sad and disturbing case of human rights violations against civilians caught up in the Boko Haram crisis in northeast Nigeria,” said Osai Ojigho, Amnesty International’s Nigeria Director.
“It is inexcusable that children are subjected to such vile treatment under government care, and likewise it is intolerable that women are once again bearing the brunt of abuse by the Nigerian security forces that are meant to protect them.”
An Amnesty International research team visited Maiduguri earlier this month to investigate claims made by inmate Charles Okah – first documented by Sahara Reporters – that children were being abused and unlawfully detained in Maiduguri Prison.
Okah alleged that three children detained on death row in Maiduguri were among the many victims of sexual abuse.
Amnesty International has obtained court documents confirming that at least 68 children are being held in Maiduguri Prison. The organization also spoke to former Giwa Barracks child detainees who identified 39 of these children as their former cellmates at Giwa; a list that included names of the three young boys detained in the same area with death row inmates mentioned in Okah’s report.
The findings confirm that dozens of children are being held in the maximum security prison in connection with the Boko Haram crisis. According to Amnesty International’s findings, the 68 boys held in Maiduguri Prison were first detained without charge by the Nigerian military in Giwa Barracks before they were transferred between late 2016 and early 2017.
“The government has so far failed in its duty to protect these children and violated its obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child,” said Osai Ojigho.
“The Nigerian government must ensure the immediate transfer of all children from Maiduguri prison and those who have not been charged with a recognizable criminal offence must be released. Children suspected of criminal responsibility should only be detained in children’s facilities. The detention of children in the same cells with adults is unacceptable.”
Amnesty International interviewed a Maiduguri Prison detainee as well as a former prison warder who both confirmed that sexual abuse of children was widespread in the prison. The detainee said he had observed the abuse of children by adult inmates.
“It is not a secret in the prison what is happening with the little boys,” said the detainee, who spoke to Amnesty International via a contact to protect his identity.
The source also told Amnesty that it was sometimes possible to hear what was happening in the stalls, and this confirmed his understanding that sexual assault was occurring.
“Sometimes, you see that a little boy goes into the toilet and immediately, an adult detainee goes after them, and when the boy comes out, you don’t need to be told what has happened to him.”
The Maiduguri Prison former warder, who was also too afraid to meet Amnesty International in person, confirmed that he had been aware of sexual abuse of children.
According to the former warder: “The condition there [in the prison] is not good for children and it is difficult to stop what is going on with the boys. The only way is for them to be taken out of there. What do you expect when you keep children with grown up men?”
Amnesty International also documented the sexual assault of a 16-year-old boy by an adult inmate in Giwa Barracks in or around January 2018, six months before all children were released from the facility.
At the time, children were being detained in a cell next to adult cells, making interactions with adult inmates inevitable. A former detainee told Amnesty International he had witnessed an adult inmate “trying to take the trousers off” a sleeping boy.
“A boy who saw it woke the boy that was being assaulted and, in the morning, it was reported to the soldiers,” said the eyewitness. It is understood the adult inmate was subsequently transferred a different cell, although no other steps were taken to protect the boys. This incident was confirmed to Amnesty International by the boy who had been assaulted, along with 15 male former detainees.
Immediately after Okah’s report was published, the Borno State governor announced he had set up a panel to investigate and submit its findings and recommendations within a week. However, there has been no word on its progress. Amnesty International called the Borno State Attorney General on phone but there was no response. A text message sent to his phone was not replied to. The organization also sent an email and text message to the spokesperson of the Borno State governor but no response was received.
“To detain children with adults in the full knowledge that they may be abused is despicable. Far from protecting these children from this abuse, the Nigerian authorities have created the enabling environment for it to thrive,” said Osai Ojigho.
“The authorities must ensure that the investigation into these allegations is prompt, independent and impartial, and that any prison officials or military members found responsible for human rights violations are brought to justice.”
Women raped at Giwa Barracks
Amnesty International researchers in Nigeria also uncovered fresh allegations that soldiers have raped women in the Giwa Barracks detention facility.
Three former female detainees independently said they had witnessed such attacks and identified 10 of the male soldiers responsible - including five who worked in the detention centre’s health clinic. Two of these former detainees were women who said they had been sexually violated themselves.
According to the eyewitnesses, at least 15 former female detainees were victims of rape, with soldiers demanding sex in exchange for food, soap, basic necessities and the promise of freedom.
One female former detainee told Amnesty International: “We knew them, all the women befriended by soldiers. They always had things we did not have, like soap, detergent and wrappers [clothing items]. Some of the women… had as many as 15 wrappers each [given by soldiers]. The soldiers also bought bread, beverages and other food for their ‘girlfriends’.”
A victim and former detainee explained that while the soldiers did not use physical force to make women have sexual relationships with them, it was not possible to refuse sex due to their circumstances. One woman told us she had a soldier “boyfriend” to survive her time in detention and access additional food. She said she knew of others.
Another former detainee said soldiers promised to get women released if they agreed to sex, such as in the case of a woman who became pregnant by a soldier.
“Since [the soldiers] were the ones that would call the names of those to be released, it was easy for them to substitute some names. The women knew that the soldier’s girlfriend was two months pregnant. So a night before they released some women, the soldier did documentation for her and the next morning her name was called among those to be released,” the former detainee said.
Last year, female former detainees at Giwa Barracks told Amnesty International about sexual violence in the detention centre. Amnesty International called for an investigation into these allegations in May 2018, but it is unclear if one has been carried out.
“Even in cases where detained women apparently consented, these acts constitute rape as the soldiers took advantage of a coercive environment in which the detainees had little choice but to have sex with them,” said Osai Ojigho.
“The soldiers held massive power over the women; they controlled much of women’s daily life in detention, they held the power to mete out arbitrary punishments on the one hand, or to provide desperately needed food and medicine on the other. And yet some abused this power. This is despicable behavior and the soldiers involved must be held accountable.”
“These latest testimonies follow a pattern of violation we have repeatedly documented in Nigeria’s prisons. It is time for President Buhari to act.”
Background
On 23 March 2019, Sahara Reporters revealed details of a 30-page eyewitness report by Charles Okah which described a pattern of sexual violence perpetrated against women and young boys in the prison. According to the media report, there are at least 106 young boys aged between 11 and 17 in detention in the prison.
A Borno State government committee visited the prison shortly after its inauguration to investigate the allegations in the Okah report. Some prison officials were arrested but released the following day. Nothing has been heard of the committee since. Amnesty International is calling on the Borno State government to make public the committee’s findings.
The Nigerian Prisons Service denied the allegations of sexual violence at the Maiduguri Prison, saying a committee set up to investigate the allegations did not find evidence of sexual violence.
The Public Relations Officer of the Nigerian Prisons Service said the service would not share the report with the organization for security reasons because the report contains other security concerns.
The official, however, suggested that children were being detained in the same area with adult inmates at the Maiduguri Prisons.
According to the official: “Because of the nature of the crime, you may have people who are not supposed to be where they are. Maiduguri is an unusual situation due to the Boko Haram crisis.”
In April 2019 Amnesty International interviewed one adult detainee and one former prison warder at Maiduguri Prison, along with 18 former Giwa Barracks detainees, 15 boys and three women. It also spoke with relatives of detainees in Maiduguri Prison, court officials and sources with inside knowledge of Maiduguri Prison, including a former prison official.
Amnesty International
The harrowing violations took place at Maiduguri Maximum Security Prison and Giwa Barracks, where thousands of civilians arrested due to claimed links to the Boko Haram armed group are being held. Amnesty’s research also found that scores of children are being unlawfully detained alongside adults in Maiduguri Prison.
“This is another sad and disturbing case of human rights violations against civilians caught up in the Boko Haram crisis in northeast Nigeria,” said Osai Ojigho, Amnesty International’s Nigeria Director.
“It is inexcusable that children are subjected to such vile treatment under government care, and likewise it is intolerable that women are once again bearing the brunt of abuse by the Nigerian security forces that are meant to protect them.”
An Amnesty International research team visited Maiduguri earlier this month to investigate claims made by inmate Charles Okah – first documented by Sahara Reporters – that children were being abused and unlawfully detained in Maiduguri Prison.
Okah alleged that three children detained on death row in Maiduguri were among the many victims of sexual abuse.
Amnesty International has obtained court documents confirming that at least 68 children are being held in Maiduguri Prison. The organization also spoke to former Giwa Barracks child detainees who identified 39 of these children as their former cellmates at Giwa; a list that included names of the three young boys detained in the same area with death row inmates mentioned in Okah’s report.
The findings confirm that dozens of children are being held in the maximum security prison in connection with the Boko Haram crisis. According to Amnesty International’s findings, the 68 boys held in Maiduguri Prison were first detained without charge by the Nigerian military in Giwa Barracks before they were transferred between late 2016 and early 2017.
“The government has so far failed in its duty to protect these children and violated its obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child,” said Osai Ojigho.
“The Nigerian government must ensure the immediate transfer of all children from Maiduguri prison and those who have not been charged with a recognizable criminal offence must be released. Children suspected of criminal responsibility should only be detained in children’s facilities. The detention of children in the same cells with adults is unacceptable.”
Amnesty International interviewed a Maiduguri Prison detainee as well as a former prison warder who both confirmed that sexual abuse of children was widespread in the prison. The detainee said he had observed the abuse of children by adult inmates.
“It is not a secret in the prison what is happening with the little boys,” said the detainee, who spoke to Amnesty International via a contact to protect his identity.
The source also told Amnesty that it was sometimes possible to hear what was happening in the stalls, and this confirmed his understanding that sexual assault was occurring.
“Sometimes, you see that a little boy goes into the toilet and immediately, an adult detainee goes after them, and when the boy comes out, you don’t need to be told what has happened to him.”
The Maiduguri Prison former warder, who was also too afraid to meet Amnesty International in person, confirmed that he had been aware of sexual abuse of children.
According to the former warder: “The condition there [in the prison] is not good for children and it is difficult to stop what is going on with the boys. The only way is for them to be taken out of there. What do you expect when you keep children with grown up men?”
Amnesty International also documented the sexual assault of a 16-year-old boy by an adult inmate in Giwa Barracks in or around January 2018, six months before all children were released from the facility.
At the time, children were being detained in a cell next to adult cells, making interactions with adult inmates inevitable. A former detainee told Amnesty International he had witnessed an adult inmate “trying to take the trousers off” a sleeping boy.
“A boy who saw it woke the boy that was being assaulted and, in the morning, it was reported to the soldiers,” said the eyewitness. It is understood the adult inmate was subsequently transferred a different cell, although no other steps were taken to protect the boys. This incident was confirmed to Amnesty International by the boy who had been assaulted, along with 15 male former detainees.
Immediately after Okah’s report was published, the Borno State governor announced he had set up a panel to investigate and submit its findings and recommendations within a week. However, there has been no word on its progress. Amnesty International called the Borno State Attorney General on phone but there was no response. A text message sent to his phone was not replied to. The organization also sent an email and text message to the spokesperson of the Borno State governor but no response was received.
“To detain children with adults in the full knowledge that they may be abused is despicable. Far from protecting these children from this abuse, the Nigerian authorities have created the enabling environment for it to thrive,” said Osai Ojigho.
“The authorities must ensure that the investigation into these allegations is prompt, independent and impartial, and that any prison officials or military members found responsible for human rights violations are brought to justice.”
Women raped at Giwa Barracks
Amnesty International researchers in Nigeria also uncovered fresh allegations that soldiers have raped women in the Giwa Barracks detention facility.
Three former female detainees independently said they had witnessed such attacks and identified 10 of the male soldiers responsible - including five who worked in the detention centre’s health clinic. Two of these former detainees were women who said they had been sexually violated themselves.
According to the eyewitnesses, at least 15 former female detainees were victims of rape, with soldiers demanding sex in exchange for food, soap, basic necessities and the promise of freedom.
One female former detainee told Amnesty International: “We knew them, all the women befriended by soldiers. They always had things we did not have, like soap, detergent and wrappers [clothing items]. Some of the women… had as many as 15 wrappers each [given by soldiers]. The soldiers also bought bread, beverages and other food for their ‘girlfriends’.”
A victim and former detainee explained that while the soldiers did not use physical force to make women have sexual relationships with them, it was not possible to refuse sex due to their circumstances. One woman told us she had a soldier “boyfriend” to survive her time in detention and access additional food. She said she knew of others.
Another former detainee said soldiers promised to get women released if they agreed to sex, such as in the case of a woman who became pregnant by a soldier.
“Since [the soldiers] were the ones that would call the names of those to be released, it was easy for them to substitute some names. The women knew that the soldier’s girlfriend was two months pregnant. So a night before they released some women, the soldier did documentation for her and the next morning her name was called among those to be released,” the former detainee said.
Last year, female former detainees at Giwa Barracks told Amnesty International about sexual violence in the detention centre. Amnesty International called for an investigation into these allegations in May 2018, but it is unclear if one has been carried out.
“Even in cases where detained women apparently consented, these acts constitute rape as the soldiers took advantage of a coercive environment in which the detainees had little choice but to have sex with them,” said Osai Ojigho.
“The soldiers held massive power over the women; they controlled much of women’s daily life in detention, they held the power to mete out arbitrary punishments on the one hand, or to provide desperately needed food and medicine on the other. And yet some abused this power. This is despicable behavior and the soldiers involved must be held accountable.”
“These latest testimonies follow a pattern of violation we have repeatedly documented in Nigeria’s prisons. It is time for President Buhari to act.”
Background
On 23 March 2019, Sahara Reporters revealed details of a 30-page eyewitness report by Charles Okah which described a pattern of sexual violence perpetrated against women and young boys in the prison. According to the media report, there are at least 106 young boys aged between 11 and 17 in detention in the prison.
A Borno State government committee visited the prison shortly after its inauguration to investigate the allegations in the Okah report. Some prison officials were arrested but released the following day. Nothing has been heard of the committee since. Amnesty International is calling on the Borno State government to make public the committee’s findings.
The Nigerian Prisons Service denied the allegations of sexual violence at the Maiduguri Prison, saying a committee set up to investigate the allegations did not find evidence of sexual violence.
The Public Relations Officer of the Nigerian Prisons Service said the service would not share the report with the organization for security reasons because the report contains other security concerns.
The official, however, suggested that children were being detained in the same area with adult inmates at the Maiduguri Prisons.
According to the official: “Because of the nature of the crime, you may have people who are not supposed to be where they are. Maiduguri is an unusual situation due to the Boko Haram crisis.”
In April 2019 Amnesty International interviewed one adult detainee and one former prison warder at Maiduguri Prison, along with 18 former Giwa Barracks detainees, 15 boys and three women. It also spoke with relatives of detainees in Maiduguri Prison, court officials and sources with inside knowledge of Maiduguri Prison, including a former prison official.
Amnesty International
Foreign workers kidnapped from oil rig in Nigeria
A Canadian and a Scottish oil worker were kidnapped by armed men off a rig in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta over the weekend, a military spokesperson told CNN on Monday.
The foreign nationals were seized by the gunmen who attacked an oil rig owned by Niger Delta Petroleum Resources in the southern Rivers State around 8am local (3aET) on Saturday, Major Ibrahim Abubakar, a spokesman for the Niger Delta Military operations said.
"We have sent troops to the area, but we have not been able to locate the abductors and abductees," said Abubakar, adding that the military has extended the search for the nationals beyond the area where the incident occurred.
Abubakar added that no ransom has been demanded yet for the workers, who have not been named.
This latest kidnapping comes after two Shell workers were abducted and their police escorts killed on Thursday, a Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria spokesman said.
Those two Shell workers have not been named nor their nationalities released.
Nigeria's oil-rich Delta region produces the bulk of the country's crude oil but has been hit by violence from militia and armed gangs.
Kidnapping for ransom is common in Nigeria and foreign workers and prominent Nigerians are often targets.
Last year, British missionary Ian Squires was killed after being abducted with three others in the Delta area.
CNN
The foreign nationals were seized by the gunmen who attacked an oil rig owned by Niger Delta Petroleum Resources in the southern Rivers State around 8am local (3aET) on Saturday, Major Ibrahim Abubakar, a spokesman for the Niger Delta Military operations said.
"We have sent troops to the area, but we have not been able to locate the abductors and abductees," said Abubakar, adding that the military has extended the search for the nationals beyond the area where the incident occurred.
Abubakar added that no ransom has been demanded yet for the workers, who have not been named.
This latest kidnapping comes after two Shell workers were abducted and their police escorts killed on Thursday, a Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria spokesman said.
Those two Shell workers have not been named nor their nationalities released.
Nigeria's oil-rich Delta region produces the bulk of the country's crude oil but has been hit by violence from militia and armed gangs.
Kidnapping for ransom is common in Nigeria and foreign workers and prominent Nigerians are often targets.
Last year, British missionary Ian Squires was killed after being abducted with three others in the Delta area.
CNN
Friday, April 26, 2019
Nigeria plans to double oil output and triple refining
Nigeria plans to almost double oil production and triple its refining capacity within six years, reviving previous pledges that turned out to be too ambitious.
The OPEC member is looking to pump 4 million barrels a day by 2025 and increase refining capacity to 1.5 million barrels daily, Maikanti Baru, managing director of state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corp., said at a conference Thursday in the capital, Abuja. “Nigeria needs to unlock new barrels as quickly as possible,” he said.
Africa’s biggest oil producer pumps 2.2 million barrels a day and previously set a 4-million target for 2010, before successively delaying it. The country, where output peaked near 2.5 million barrels a day in the middle of the last decade, has grappled with militant attacks, leakages and theft at its oil installations.
“Targets such as these are not new to NNPC,” said Cheta Nwanze, an analyst at Lagos-based SBM Intelligence. “Nigeria has not met a single production target for at least a decade now, in many cases because of security concerns.”
Self-Reliant
Nigeria also wants to be self-reliant in meeting its fuel demand and cut imports that put a strain on foreign reserves. Oil Minister Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu told the BBC in 2017 that he’d step down if the country doesn’t achieve that goal by the end of this year. The target is likely to be missed as the four state-owned refineries struggle to fully utilize their combined 445,000 barrel-a-day capacity following years of neglect and mismanagement.
Baru said part of the additional refining would come from a 650,000 barrel-a-day complex being built near Lagos by Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest person. NNPC is working with private investors for the remainder, Baru said.
“The desperate need for an improvement in local refining capacity has been obvious for decades,” Nwanze said. The 2025 plan is “extremely optimistic.”
NNPC, which pumps crude from the country’s fields in partnership with international companies like Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Exxon Mobil Corp., returned to profit in 2018 after reporting losses in at least the three previous years, according to statements on its website. That was mainly due to the strong performance of its oil and gas production unit. Its refineries had a $365 million operating loss.
Written by Paul Wallace and Elisha Bala-Gbogbo
Bloomberg
The OPEC member is looking to pump 4 million barrels a day by 2025 and increase refining capacity to 1.5 million barrels daily, Maikanti Baru, managing director of state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corp., said at a conference Thursday in the capital, Abuja. “Nigeria needs to unlock new barrels as quickly as possible,” he said.
Africa’s biggest oil producer pumps 2.2 million barrels a day and previously set a 4-million target for 2010, before successively delaying it. The country, where output peaked near 2.5 million barrels a day in the middle of the last decade, has grappled with militant attacks, leakages and theft at its oil installations.
“Targets such as these are not new to NNPC,” said Cheta Nwanze, an analyst at Lagos-based SBM Intelligence. “Nigeria has not met a single production target for at least a decade now, in many cases because of security concerns.”
Self-Reliant
Nigeria also wants to be self-reliant in meeting its fuel demand and cut imports that put a strain on foreign reserves. Oil Minister Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu told the BBC in 2017 that he’d step down if the country doesn’t achieve that goal by the end of this year. The target is likely to be missed as the four state-owned refineries struggle to fully utilize their combined 445,000 barrel-a-day capacity following years of neglect and mismanagement.
Baru said part of the additional refining would come from a 650,000 barrel-a-day complex being built near Lagos by Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest person. NNPC is working with private investors for the remainder, Baru said.
“The desperate need for an improvement in local refining capacity has been obvious for decades,” Nwanze said. The 2025 plan is “extremely optimistic.”
NNPC, which pumps crude from the country’s fields in partnership with international companies like Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Exxon Mobil Corp., returned to profit in 2018 after reporting losses in at least the three previous years, according to statements on its website. That was mainly due to the strong performance of its oil and gas production unit. Its refineries had a $365 million operating loss.
Written by Paul Wallace and Elisha Bala-Gbogbo
Bloomberg
Nigeria becomes first African country to win world curling championship match
It was a curling celebration unlike any other.As France's rock careened wide to end Thursday afternoon's mixed doubles game, Nigerian curlers Tijani and Susana Cole quickly shook their opponents hands and then started jumping up and down wildly.
They hugged. They yelled. They threw their hands in the air.
For the first time ever, an African nation had won a curling game at a world championship.
Nigeria defeated France 8-5 Thursday afternoon in Stavanger, Norway at the 2019 mixed doubles world curling championship.
"Nigeria we did it for you," Tijani said. "I'm over over-the-top happy, elated, excited."
The fans inside Sormarka Arena erupted in applause. Even some of the curlers started clapping too.
"All of our hard work has paid off. We did it," Susana said.
Tijani and his wife Susana live together in Denver where they started curling for the first time three years ago.
Tijani's family comes from the south-central Nigerian city of Onitsha. His love of sport and love of country has been an integral part of his life — so when he found out there was an opportunity to compete on the world stage in a sport, he jumped at the opportunity to curl.
"Watching it on the Olympics over the years was motivating for me and my wife. We're both athletes and competitors," he said.
The two have been training relentlessly over the past year for this world championship. They so badly wanted to win at least one game for Nigeria — and in their final game of the event they did it. And when it happened, there was an outpouring of emotion.
"What a great dream to share this with your best friend, my wife," Tijani said. "You go through so many trials and tribulations. It's been a long journey."
At times throughout the world curling championship there have been a lot of frustrating times on the ice, including a 20-0 loss to the Czech Republic.
But they were able to put all of their valuable learning lessons into practice to defeat France.
"To all of my friends in Nigeria and the entire Nigerian Curling Federation, thank you so much," Tijani said.
His wife echoed Tijani's praise for those who helped them achieve this first-ever win.
"Thank you for believing in us," Susana said.
Sweet victory for Canadian coach
At the end of the on-ice celebration after their victory, Tijana and Susana then turned to the bench behind them to salute their coach.
Ellery Robichard is a Canadian curler and coach based in Moncton, N.B. He holds a yearly summer curling clinic and that's how he first connected with Tijana and Susana.
It's been a long, challenging learning process for the Nigerian curlers but the victory Thursday made it all worth it for Robichaud.
"It's as if I won the Brier. For them it's quite an achievement," Robichaud said.
"You saw how happy there were. I don't see people win the Brier and be as happy as them. You get the feeling from there. The energy from them."
Robichaud says Nigeria's victory over France is one of top moments in his curling career — he's spent his life at curling rinks.
"It's a reward for the headaches of coaching," he said. "It can be frustrating sometimes. The rewarding part of today was they got it. They placed the rocks. They put it together."
Tijani couldn't stop raving about Robichaud after the victory.
"We have one of the greatest coaches in the world," Tijani said. "He knows our temperaments. He knows how to communicate. And he believes in us."
And maybe now after this first-ever curling victory Nigerians believe just a little bit more about their future on the pebbled ice.
"Even before the victory we had already won being here," Susana said.
CBC
Wednesday, April 24, 2019
Video - Abuja-Kaduna railway: 1000 days in operation
The Abuja-Kaduna railway line has just marked its one thousandth day in operation. Commencing in 2016, the train service has transported over 1.5 million passengers. It's part of China's Belt and Road Initiative in Nigeria to boost economic and social development.
157 children rescued from slavery by Interpol in Nigeria
Up to 216 human trafficking victims have been rescued from forced labour and prostitution in a major operation in Benin and Nigeria, Interpol said on Wednesday.
Operation Epervier II involved 100 police officers across the two countries who rescued 157 child slaves, said the global police organisation, which coordinated the raids in early April.
Many of the children were working in markets peddling goods, carrying heavy loads or fetching water, while others worked as housemaids or were forced into prostitution, Interpol said. Of the minors rescued, 36 were boys and 121 were girls.
“This is about organised crime groups who are motivated by money,” Stanfield told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
“It is challenging (to stop them) in the region because of lack of resources,” he said, adding that countries are nonetheless becoming better equipped and more prepared.
Child slaves
The children rescued were between the ages of 11 and 16 and came from Benin, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria and Togo.
The youngest was a boy forced to smuggle heavy goods such as bags of rice across the Benin-Nigeria border, Interpol said.
Most were subject to beatings and abuse, including death threats and warnings they would never see their parents again. They are now in the care of national agencies or charities, and in some cases returned to their parents.
Dealing with perpetrators
Investigations are underway to dismantle the crime networks active in Benin and Nigeria, which are source, transit and destination countries for human trafficking, said Paul Stanfield, Interpol’s director of organised and emerging crime.
Police arrested 47 suspected traffickers and seized vehicles, cash, phones and computers in the operation, which targeted markets in the countries’ capitals as well as airports, seaports and border areas, said Interpol.
About 1.4 million people, or 0.8 percent of the population, are estimated to live as slaves in Nigeria, according to the 2018 Global Slavery Index published by human rights group Walk Free Foundation. Benin has an estimated 58,000 slaves out of a population of 11 million.
“These crimes can only be tackled collectively and through interagency cooperation,” said Dominic Asogwa, Comptroller of Nigeria’s Immigration Service in the Seme border region, in a statement.
Interpol will continue working to identify hot spots for modern slavery in West Africa with a focus on mobilizing countries to address the issue themselves, Stanfield said.
“I think we’ll be here for the long-term, but we don’t want to be in charge of leading it,” he said.
Reuters
Operation Epervier II involved 100 police officers across the two countries who rescued 157 child slaves, said the global police organisation, which coordinated the raids in early April.
Many of the children were working in markets peddling goods, carrying heavy loads or fetching water, while others worked as housemaids or were forced into prostitution, Interpol said. Of the minors rescued, 36 were boys and 121 were girls.
“This is about organised crime groups who are motivated by money,” Stanfield told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
“It is challenging (to stop them) in the region because of lack of resources,” he said, adding that countries are nonetheless becoming better equipped and more prepared.
Child slaves
The children rescued were between the ages of 11 and 16 and came from Benin, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria and Togo.
The youngest was a boy forced to smuggle heavy goods such as bags of rice across the Benin-Nigeria border, Interpol said.
Most were subject to beatings and abuse, including death threats and warnings they would never see their parents again. They are now in the care of national agencies or charities, and in some cases returned to their parents.
Dealing with perpetrators
Investigations are underway to dismantle the crime networks active in Benin and Nigeria, which are source, transit and destination countries for human trafficking, said Paul Stanfield, Interpol’s director of organised and emerging crime.
Police arrested 47 suspected traffickers and seized vehicles, cash, phones and computers in the operation, which targeted markets in the countries’ capitals as well as airports, seaports and border areas, said Interpol.
About 1.4 million people, or 0.8 percent of the population, are estimated to live as slaves in Nigeria, according to the 2018 Global Slavery Index published by human rights group Walk Free Foundation. Benin has an estimated 58,000 slaves out of a population of 11 million.
“These crimes can only be tackled collectively and through interagency cooperation,” said Dominic Asogwa, Comptroller of Nigeria’s Immigration Service in the Seme border region, in a statement.
Interpol will continue working to identify hot spots for modern slavery in West Africa with a focus on mobilizing countries to address the issue themselves, Stanfield said.
“I think we’ll be here for the long-term, but we don’t want to be in charge of leading it,” he said.
Reuters
Tuesday, April 23, 2019
British aid worker killed in Nigeria by kidnappers
A British aid worker and a Nigerian man were shot dead after being kidnapped with three other people in an attack at a resort in Nigeria on Friday, officials said.
The British High Commission said in a statement Sunday that Faye Mooney, 29, was killed when gunmen attacked the Kajuru Castle holiday resort in Kaduna state, located in the north-central part of Nigeria.
Mooney worked as a communications specialist for the aid group Mercy Corps, and was one of 12 tourists traveling to Kaduna from Lagos, according to Kaduna state police spokesman Yakubu Sabo.
The 29-year-old, who has lived in Nigeria for nearly two years, was attending a party before the incident, Sky News reported.
Mercy Corps said in a statement it was "utterly heartbroken" by the killing.
"Faye was a dedicated and passionate communications and learning specialist who had worked with Mercy Corps for almost two years, devoting her time to making a difference in Nigeria, supporting our teams and the communities we work with to tell their stories of impact, and leading efforts to counter hate speech and violence," the group said.
Sabo told reporters the gunmen kidnapped three other people but officials did not release details of their nationalities. Officers have not yet named the other person killed in the incident.
No individuals or groups have claimed responsibility for the killings, and police have yet to identify the kidnappers.
Northern Nigeria has been dealing with violence from Islamic militants affiliated with Boko Haram and ISIS, in addition to clashes between farmers and herders, in which hundreds have died.
The region has seen a spate of kidnappings by armed men in recent months, according to Sky News.
Earlier this month, an American tourist and her safari guide were kidnapped by gunmen in Uganda’s Queen Elizabeth National Park. Kimberly Sue Endicott and her guide, Jean-Paul Mirenge Ramezo, were eventually found alive in Congo, where their kidnappers had taken them after abducting them.
The kidnappers had demanded a $500,000 ransom after abducting the two at gunpoint. Ugandan officials say no ransom was paid, but a tourism operator said that money was paid to secure Endicott's release.
Fox News
The British High Commission said in a statement Sunday that Faye Mooney, 29, was killed when gunmen attacked the Kajuru Castle holiday resort in Kaduna state, located in the north-central part of Nigeria.
Mooney worked as a communications specialist for the aid group Mercy Corps, and was one of 12 tourists traveling to Kaduna from Lagos, according to Kaduna state police spokesman Yakubu Sabo.
The 29-year-old, who has lived in Nigeria for nearly two years, was attending a party before the incident, Sky News reported.
Mercy Corps said in a statement it was "utterly heartbroken" by the killing.
"Faye was a dedicated and passionate communications and learning specialist who had worked with Mercy Corps for almost two years, devoting her time to making a difference in Nigeria, supporting our teams and the communities we work with to tell their stories of impact, and leading efforts to counter hate speech and violence," the group said.
Sabo told reporters the gunmen kidnapped three other people but officials did not release details of their nationalities. Officers have not yet named the other person killed in the incident.
No individuals or groups have claimed responsibility for the killings, and police have yet to identify the kidnappers.
Northern Nigeria has been dealing with violence from Islamic militants affiliated with Boko Haram and ISIS, in addition to clashes between farmers and herders, in which hundreds have died.
The region has seen a spate of kidnappings by armed men in recent months, according to Sky News.
Earlier this month, an American tourist and her safari guide were kidnapped by gunmen in Uganda’s Queen Elizabeth National Park. Kimberly Sue Endicott and her guide, Jean-Paul Mirenge Ramezo, were eventually found alive in Congo, where their kidnappers had taken them after abducting them.
The kidnappers had demanded a $500,000 ransom after abducting the two at gunpoint. Ugandan officials say no ransom was paid, but a tourism operator said that money was paid to secure Endicott's release.
Fox News
Monday, April 22, 2019
Video - Trade volume increase between Nigeria and China
Trade volume between Nigeria and China has expanded by 10% in the last year-yielding more than 15 billion dollars in value. Nigeria is among China's important trading partners in Africa. Both countries are forecasting a significant rise in trade volumes in coming years as various trade deals get concluded.
Friday, April 19, 2019
Questions after deadly collapse in Nigeria
A building collapse in Nigeria last month that killed as many as 20 children is raising questions about construction safety standards. Many are now asking questions about safety standards and what can be done to prevent similar incidents.
Chief justice in Nigeria banned from holding public office
Nigeria's top judge has been sacked by a tribunal that found him guilty of falsely declaring his assets.
Chief Justice Walter Onnoghen was banned from office for 10 years on Thursday and ordered to forfeit any assets he could not account for to the state.
Onnoghen's suspension in January by Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, just weeks before a presidential election, prompted allegations of interference in judicial matters.
The chief justice holds a key role in determining the outcome of Nigerian elections if the results are appealed by a candidate and a tribunal is formed.
A request to remove the chief justice usually requires the approval of two-thirds of the Senate, but Buhari did not follow that process.
Onnoghen was tried for failing to divulge cash in five foreign bank accounts in contravention of rules governing the declaration of assets by public officials.
"The defendant has clearly contravened the code of conduct for public officers, and he is hereby convicted," said Danladi Umar, chairman of the country's ethics court.
Umar ordered that any cash found in Onnoghen's foreign bank accounts be taken by the treasury.
"The money in the five accounts, which the defendant has failed to declare and disclose its source, is hereby confiscated, seized and forfeited to the federal government," Umar said.
After the ruling, Onnoghen's lawyer, Okon Efut, said the process had not been fair.
He decried what he called the "unconstitutional" suspension of the judge in January, claiming it was the first step in what he said was a "premeditated" decision.
"Judgment had been passed before today," Efut said.
As head of the Supreme Court, Onnoghen could have ruled on any disputes relating to the election, which saw Buhari, of the All Progressives Congress, win a second term of office.
Atiku Abubakar of the main opposition group, Peoples Democratic Party, who lost to Buhari has launched a legal challenge to the result, after calling the election a "sham".
Al Jazeera
Chief Justice Walter Onnoghen was banned from office for 10 years on Thursday and ordered to forfeit any assets he could not account for to the state.
Onnoghen's suspension in January by Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, just weeks before a presidential election, prompted allegations of interference in judicial matters.
The chief justice holds a key role in determining the outcome of Nigerian elections if the results are appealed by a candidate and a tribunal is formed.
A request to remove the chief justice usually requires the approval of two-thirds of the Senate, but Buhari did not follow that process.
Onnoghen was tried for failing to divulge cash in five foreign bank accounts in contravention of rules governing the declaration of assets by public officials.
"The defendant has clearly contravened the code of conduct for public officers, and he is hereby convicted," said Danladi Umar, chairman of the country's ethics court.
Umar ordered that any cash found in Onnoghen's foreign bank accounts be taken by the treasury.
"The money in the five accounts, which the defendant has failed to declare and disclose its source, is hereby confiscated, seized and forfeited to the federal government," Umar said.
After the ruling, Onnoghen's lawyer, Okon Efut, said the process had not been fair.
He decried what he called the "unconstitutional" suspension of the judge in January, claiming it was the first step in what he said was a "premeditated" decision.
"Judgment had been passed before today," Efut said.
As head of the Supreme Court, Onnoghen could have ruled on any disputes relating to the election, which saw Buhari, of the All Progressives Congress, win a second term of office.
Atiku Abubakar of the main opposition group, Peoples Democratic Party, who lost to Buhari has launched a legal challenge to the result, after calling the election a "sham".
Al Jazeera
Thursday, April 18, 2019
Video - Online house cleaning service in Nigeria
An online house cleaning service is promising to create millions of jobs for Nigerians. Kureen is an online service that pairs house cleaners with home owners in need of cleaning services in three major Nigerian cities.
Tuesday, April 16, 2019
Video - Nigeria to diversify economy away from oil
Nigeria is Africa's largest oil producer but more than half of its population lives in extreme poverty. In his recent election campaign, President Muhammadu Buhari promised to diversify the economy away from oil. But Nigeria is even struggling to grow its own food.
Monday, April 15, 2019
Video - Nigeria's Chibok schoolgirls: Five years on, 112 still missing
It has been five years since hundreds of schoolgirls were abducted in north-eastern Nigeria by Boko Haram fighters. While a total of 164 girls have been found or released as part of a deal between the Nigerian government and the armed group, 112 are still missing. In Nigeria's capital, there are renewed calls for the search to continue. The international outcry sparked the Bring Back Our Girls movement, which continues to this day. Despite the pain, one mother still hopes she will once again see her daughter alive.
President Buhari still promises to bring back Chibok students five years after kidnapping
Some of the young women are thriving at a new school. Some have returned home to their family farms. But the fates of more than 100 other students who were kidnapped from a school in northeastern Nigeria are unknown, five years after militants from Boko Haram abducted them.
On Sunday, the fifth anniversary of the kidnappings from the village of Chibok, President Muhammadu Buhari reiterated a pledge he had made years ago to bring back all of the students.
“We will not rest until all the remaining girls are back and reunited with their families,” he said on his official Twitter account. “I made this promise when I became President, and I will keep it.”
In 2014, Boko Haram militants stormed a girls’ school in Chibok and made off with over 200 girls who were boarding there to take exams the next day — an act that gained widespread attention across the world with the social media hashtag #BringBackOurGirls advocating their release.
Mr. Buhari’s message came after months of silence on the topic, which barely registered in campaign discourse during a heated presidential election this year. The kidnappings, which riveted a global audience at the time, seem all but forgotten by the outside world.
Protesters who once marched daily at Unity Fountain in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, have been quiet. Activists both locally and globally who had held signs and tweeted have mostly gone silent.
Yet the missing students remain constantly on the minds of their parents, who gathered Sunday at the site of the school in Chibok to offer prayers for their return.
“They are losing hope,” said Allen Manasa, a spokesman for the village, adding that in five years the government had yet to brief the parents about their missing daughters.
He said the community urged “mounting pressure on the Nigerian government to explore all available means to rescue these girls.”
Mr. Buhari’s message on Sunday sought to reassure Nigerians that he hadn’t forgotten.
“We will never give up on our missing daughters,” Mr. Buhari wrote on Twitter, also citing other hostages taken by Boko Haram. “In the last four years our security agencies have successfully rescued thousands of captives, and they will not relent until every captive is free.”
Yet critics say it defies belief that the students remain missing.
“It is a global failure of monumental proportion that the whereabouts of hundreds of girls who went to school remain unknown in an age of intrusive technology,” said Oby Ezekwesili, a former education minister who has been a leading advocate for the students’ release.
For the past decade, Nigeria’s northeast has been ravaged by a war with Islamist militants from Boko Haram who have made kidnapping innocent villagers one hallmark of their brutality.
A video that the militants released in 2014 of the sad-looking girls from Chibok, dressed in dark hijabs and sitting on the ground at a militants’ hide-out, caught the attention of celebrities and Michelle Obama, who was photographed holding a #BringBackOurGirls placard.
When Mr. Buhari assumed the presidency in 2015, he made progress in the fight against militants, chasing them from forest hide-outs and killing scores of fighters. But in past months the militants have regrouped, and simultaneously fractured while boasting about ties to the Islamic State, which they pledged loyalty to several years ago.
Boko Haram fighters have carried out suicide bombings and stepped up attacks across the border in Niger and Chad. One faction circulated a video of a violent attack on a military installation in Nigeria.
Last week, amid threats of an attack in the countryside, Nigerian soldiers rounded up community members in the middle of the night and herded them into a camp for displaced people, prompting outrage from residents who unexpectedly had to leave their homes.
Last year, the fighters carried out kidnappings eerily similar to the one in Chibok, taking dozens of girls in the community of Dapchi before returning most of them several days later. At least one student, Leah Sharibu, is still being held, reportedly because she is a Christian and refused to convert to Islam.
Mr. Buhari has negotiated for the release of about half of the students from Chibok, who are now in their late teens or early 20s. Many of them are studying at the American University of Nigeria in Yola, where a special program was designed to catch them up with their studies and advance them to university work if they choose. The government is picking up the tab.
On Sunday, the local news outlet This Day published an editorial calling for the remaining students to be rescued and saying that their continued absence “represent a blur on our collective humanity.”
“Until all the abducted girls can be accounted for,” the editorial said, “the promise of the constitution, that the welfare of Nigerians shall be the primary purpose of government, will continue to ring hollow.”
The New York Times
On Sunday, the fifth anniversary of the kidnappings from the village of Chibok, President Muhammadu Buhari reiterated a pledge he had made years ago to bring back all of the students.
“We will not rest until all the remaining girls are back and reunited with their families,” he said on his official Twitter account. “I made this promise when I became President, and I will keep it.”
In 2014, Boko Haram militants stormed a girls’ school in Chibok and made off with over 200 girls who were boarding there to take exams the next day — an act that gained widespread attention across the world with the social media hashtag #BringBackOurGirls advocating their release.
Mr. Buhari’s message came after months of silence on the topic, which barely registered in campaign discourse during a heated presidential election this year. The kidnappings, which riveted a global audience at the time, seem all but forgotten by the outside world.
Protesters who once marched daily at Unity Fountain in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, have been quiet. Activists both locally and globally who had held signs and tweeted have mostly gone silent.
Yet the missing students remain constantly on the minds of their parents, who gathered Sunday at the site of the school in Chibok to offer prayers for their return.
“They are losing hope,” said Allen Manasa, a spokesman for the village, adding that in five years the government had yet to brief the parents about their missing daughters.
He said the community urged “mounting pressure on the Nigerian government to explore all available means to rescue these girls.”
Mr. Buhari’s message on Sunday sought to reassure Nigerians that he hadn’t forgotten.
“We will never give up on our missing daughters,” Mr. Buhari wrote on Twitter, also citing other hostages taken by Boko Haram. “In the last four years our security agencies have successfully rescued thousands of captives, and they will not relent until every captive is free.”
Yet critics say it defies belief that the students remain missing.
“It is a global failure of monumental proportion that the whereabouts of hundreds of girls who went to school remain unknown in an age of intrusive technology,” said Oby Ezekwesili, a former education minister who has been a leading advocate for the students’ release.
For the past decade, Nigeria’s northeast has been ravaged by a war with Islamist militants from Boko Haram who have made kidnapping innocent villagers one hallmark of their brutality.
A video that the militants released in 2014 of the sad-looking girls from Chibok, dressed in dark hijabs and sitting on the ground at a militants’ hide-out, caught the attention of celebrities and Michelle Obama, who was photographed holding a #BringBackOurGirls placard.
When Mr. Buhari assumed the presidency in 2015, he made progress in the fight against militants, chasing them from forest hide-outs and killing scores of fighters. But in past months the militants have regrouped, and simultaneously fractured while boasting about ties to the Islamic State, which they pledged loyalty to several years ago.
Boko Haram fighters have carried out suicide bombings and stepped up attacks across the border in Niger and Chad. One faction circulated a video of a violent attack on a military installation in Nigeria.
Last week, amid threats of an attack in the countryside, Nigerian soldiers rounded up community members in the middle of the night and herded them into a camp for displaced people, prompting outrage from residents who unexpectedly had to leave their homes.
Last year, the fighters carried out kidnappings eerily similar to the one in Chibok, taking dozens of girls in the community of Dapchi before returning most of them several days later. At least one student, Leah Sharibu, is still being held, reportedly because she is a Christian and refused to convert to Islam.
Mr. Buhari has negotiated for the release of about half of the students from Chibok, who are now in their late teens or early 20s. Many of them are studying at the American University of Nigeria in Yola, where a special program was designed to catch them up with their studies and advance them to university work if they choose. The government is picking up the tab.
On Sunday, the local news outlet This Day published an editorial calling for the remaining students to be rescued and saying that their continued absence “represent a blur on our collective humanity.”
“Until all the abducted girls can be accounted for,” the editorial said, “the promise of the constitution, that the welfare of Nigerians shall be the primary purpose of government, will continue to ring hollow.”
The New York Times
Friday, April 12, 2019
Entire town in Nigeria evacuated to screen out Boko Haram militants
Up to 10,000 civilians have been forcibly relocated because of a military operation against Boko Haramin northeast Nigeria, the United Nations said on Thursday, calling for better protection.
At least 2,000 people were initially said to have been moved the 40km from Jakana to the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, on Tuesday. But the UN said five times as many were forced to flee.
"The military ordered the immediate departure and forced the relocation of up to 10,000 civilians in the middle of the night, without prior warning," it said in a statement.
"The entire town of Jakana was emptied, and people were forced to move to Maiduguri with very little time to collect personal belongings," added UN Humanitarian Coordinator Edward Kallon. "Some people said they arrived in Maiduguri with nothing, not even with shoes on their feet."
The northeast is the battleground in Nigeria's decade-long fight against the armed group of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and Boko Haram.
A surge in attacks in December in which towns and military bases were overrun saw tens of thousands of civilians fleeing into Maiduguri and swelling the population of existing camps.
Humanitarian concerns
The armed groups have in the last few weeks been hit by intensive air and ground offensives from coalition forces involving Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon in the Lake Chad region, according to military sources and armed fighters.
But there are fresh concerns about the effects of the conflict on civilians after nearly 10 years of fighting, more than 27,000 deaths and 1.8 million made homeless.
Previous mass displacements of civilians have forced them into already overcrowded camps for the internally displaced in Maiduguri, putting pressure on the authorities.
"The United Nations is urging the government to urgently provide safety, shelter, food, water and medical care to the displaced civilians, in addition to information about when they will be allowed to return home," said Kallon.
Jakana lies on a known crossing route for ISWAP fighters moving between their camps in the Benisheikh forest area of Borno and their hideouts in the Buni Yadi area of Yobe.
In January, ISWAP sent letters to Jakana and Mainok residents telling them to vacate their homes for an impending raid on the military.
Al Jazeera
At least 2,000 people were initially said to have been moved the 40km from Jakana to the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, on Tuesday. But the UN said five times as many were forced to flee.
"The military ordered the immediate departure and forced the relocation of up to 10,000 civilians in the middle of the night, without prior warning," it said in a statement.
"The entire town of Jakana was emptied, and people were forced to move to Maiduguri with very little time to collect personal belongings," added UN Humanitarian Coordinator Edward Kallon. "Some people said they arrived in Maiduguri with nothing, not even with shoes on their feet."
The northeast is the battleground in Nigeria's decade-long fight against the armed group of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and Boko Haram.
A surge in attacks in December in which towns and military bases were overrun saw tens of thousands of civilians fleeing into Maiduguri and swelling the population of existing camps.
Humanitarian concerns
The armed groups have in the last few weeks been hit by intensive air and ground offensives from coalition forces involving Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon in the Lake Chad region, according to military sources and armed fighters.
But there are fresh concerns about the effects of the conflict on civilians after nearly 10 years of fighting, more than 27,000 deaths and 1.8 million made homeless.
Previous mass displacements of civilians have forced them into already overcrowded camps for the internally displaced in Maiduguri, putting pressure on the authorities.
"The United Nations is urging the government to urgently provide safety, shelter, food, water and medical care to the displaced civilians, in addition to information about when they will be allowed to return home," said Kallon.
Jakana lies on a known crossing route for ISWAP fighters moving between their camps in the Benisheikh forest area of Borno and their hideouts in the Buni Yadi area of Yobe.
In January, ISWAP sent letters to Jakana and Mainok residents telling them to vacate their homes for an impending raid on the military.
Al Jazeera
Thursday, April 11, 2019
Pirate attacks in Nigeria fall by 36%
Piracy attacks off Nigeria’s coast fell to 14 in the first quarter from 22 a year ago after the navy improved its response to incidents, the International Maritime Bureau said.
“These results confirm the Nigerian navy’s increased efforts to actively respond to reported incidents by dispatching patrol boats,” the London-based body that tracks attacks on sea vessels said. “Despite these efforts, Nigerian waters remain risky for vessels, especially the port of Lagos where four incidents have been reported.”
The Gulf of Guinea retained its notoriety for piracy with 22 incidents reported during the period. The region accounted for all the crew kidnappings reported globally in the three months, after 21 of them were taken in five separate attacks, the IMB said. Incidents were reported off the coast of Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria and Togo in the first quarter, it said.
Bloomberg
“These results confirm the Nigerian navy’s increased efforts to actively respond to reported incidents by dispatching patrol boats,” the London-based body that tracks attacks on sea vessels said. “Despite these efforts, Nigerian waters remain risky for vessels, especially the port of Lagos where four incidents have been reported.”
The Gulf of Guinea retained its notoriety for piracy with 22 incidents reported during the period. The region accounted for all the crew kidnappings reported globally in the three months, after 21 of them were taken in five separate attacks, the IMB said. Incidents were reported off the coast of Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria and Togo in the first quarter, it said.
Bloomberg
Wednesday, April 10, 2019
Video - More than 11,000 youths complete government skills training in Nigeria
In Nigeria, more than 11,000 young people have received start-up Kits. This is after completing Government-sponsored Skills Development Training. Nigeria has a record 26 million unemployed people -- and the government is exploring ways to change this.
The town in Nigeria known for multiple twin births
Sights like this can be seen everywhere in Igbo Ora, where a banner welcomes visitors to the “twins capital of the world”.
Twins are common in the Yoruba ethnic group that dominates this part of Nigeria. A 1970s study by a British gynecologist found that around 50 sets of twins were born out of every 1,000 births in the southwest - one of the highest rates of twin births in the world.
In Yoruba culture twins are so common that they are traditionally given specific names. They are called either Taiwo or Kehinde depending on whether they were born first or second.
But even for Yoruba people, Igbo Ora is considered to be exceptional. Among the nearly 100 secondary school children assembled at the end of their break there were nine sets of twins.
“There are so many twins because of the okra leaf that we eat,” said 15-year-old Kehinde Oyedepo, one of the twins, repeating a view commonly held in the town.
The leaves are used to make a stew that is popular in Igbo Ora.
Others have pointed to the popularity of Amala - a local dish made from yams and cassava flour. One theory is that yams prompt the production of gonadotropins, a chemical agent that stimulates the production of eggs.
Ekujumi Olarenwaju, an obstetrician gynecologist based in Lagos, around 100 miles (160 km) away, believes the causes of the phenomenon lie elsewhere because the same kind of yam is eaten elsewhere in the world without the same result.
“Thus far scientifically, no one can say this is the reason,” said Olarenwaju. “One of the plausible reasons is the hereditary aspect of it because maybe over the years they inter-marry, they now have that gene being pooled and concentrated in that environment,” he said.
But the women who sell piles of okra leaves at a town market are quick to disagree.
They said local traditions over how the leaves are consumed were crucial. For example, a stew made from the leaves should be eaten immediately and never stored.
Oyenike Bamimore, who sells the bread, said she was living proof that the diet was the cause. “Because I eat okra leaves a lot, I gave birth to eight sets of twins,” she said.
Reuters
Parliament in Nigeria proposes tax rise on luxury goods
Nigeria’s parliament has asked the government to consider increasing taxes on luxury goods to boost revenues, it said on Tuesday.
An expenditure plan approved by the Senate on Tuesday showed Nigeria is expected to generate 172.47 billion naira ($564 mln) from privatisation proceeds this year.
The budget deficit for 2019 is estimated at 1.86 trillion naira ($6.1 bln), according to the plan. Lawmakers said the deficit would covered via borrowing, privatisation proceeds and loans secured for specific projects.
Reuters
An expenditure plan approved by the Senate on Tuesday showed Nigeria is expected to generate 172.47 billion naira ($564 mln) from privatisation proceeds this year.
The budget deficit for 2019 is estimated at 1.86 trillion naira ($6.1 bln), according to the plan. Lawmakers said the deficit would covered via borrowing, privatisation proceeds and loans secured for specific projects.
Reuters
Tuesday, April 9, 2019
Video - Nigeria suspends mining in Zamfara state plagued by gang violence
Nigeria has suspended mining activities in Zamfara and has ordered foreigners engaged in the work to leave the northern state within 48 hours. The move comes after a surge in crime in the state. The military, police and the state security forces have been deployed in recent weeks to tackle criminal gangs behind a spate of killings and kidnappings. The government says the suspension begins with immediate effect. Any operators who defy the order will have their licences revoked. Al Jazeera's Ahmed Idris has more from the capital, Abuja.
Video - Will Nigeria crackdown on crime in Zamfara state work?
Nigeria has suspended mining in one of its northern states and ordered all foreigners engaged in mining activities to leave. The move comes after a surge in crimes, including kidnappings and killings, in Zamfara state. Ahmed Idris has more from the capital, Abuja.
Crypto currency traders in Nigeria accuse Paxful of fraud
Cryptocurrency exchange Paxful is in hot water in Nigeria after crypto traders in the country claimed the firm has been closing down their accounts illegally, causing them to lost tens of millions of dollars.The traders have filed the petition with Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), accusing Paxful of robbery, fraud, and breaching its terms and conditions. The EFCC is the country’s financial services law enforcement agency. According to a report by local outlet Punch Nigeria, the traders were joined on the petition by United Global Resolve for Peace, a non-governmental organization.
The petition claims that Paxful falsely accused Nigerian traders of being involved in fraudulent activities. It then allegedly used this excuse to close down thousands of accounts belonging to Nigerian traders. Traders who owned cryptos when their accounts were closed lost those cryptos.
Part of the petition stated:
“A few days ago, our organization was approached by some Nigerians who complained bitterly that Paxful Incorporated, the company that owns the online cryptocurrency trading and exchange platform, ‘https://paxful.com’ has been ripping them of their life investment in cryptocurrency by suspending their accounts, deactivating their wallets and refusing to return the value in their accounts to them even after investigation and finding that they were not involved in any fraudulent activities.”
The petition also gave some background on the immense success that the Estonia-based Paxful has had with Nigerian users. In 2018, the exchange made $20 million in profits from its operations worldwide. But it was Nigeria that contributed the bulk of this profit, making up over 40% of the total.
The petition further revealed how Paxful has used the opportunity to rob Nigerian traders. It stated:
“The respondent has, through willful disregard for contract and rules of commercial transaction, done a lot to rob Nigerians of their hard-earned money by its unrestrained activities of blocking their accounts and stating that investigation will be conducted. At the end of the investigation, the respondent always comes out to say the vendor has done nothing wrong and thereafter release their accounts without the funds in it.”
The report by Punch Nigeria also quoted some of the traders whose accounts have been drained under the guise of investigations. One of them is Samuel Olanrewaju, a trader who lost over 21 million Nigerian naira ($60,000) to the scam. Olanrewaju alleges that Paxful confiscated his Bitcoin Core (BTC) stash in November 2018. Paxful accused him of having a false online profile, a charge he still insists he is innocent of. Olanrewaju claimed Paxful is stereotyping all Nigerians as scammers. He told the news outlet, “We have about three million Nigerians trading on Paxful platform and they accounted for 40 per cent of its revenue. Despite this, the leadership of the firm was always referring to Nigerians as scammers.”
Paxful responded to the accusations in an email, denying any wrongdoing. According to the company, only accounts found to be engaging in fraud were suspended. Part of the statement said, “All accounts that have been shut down have a reason for it. We will not shut down any account unless they violate our TOS (Terms of Service).”
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (SegWit) chain are referenced as BTC coins; tokens on the Bitcoin Cash ABC chain are referenced as BCH, BCH-ABC or BAB coins.
Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (BSV) is today the only Bitcoin project that follows the original Satoshi Nakamoto whitepaper, and that follows the original Satoshi protocol and design. BSV is the only public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin and will massively scale to become the world’s new money and enterprise blockchain.
COINGEEK
Monday, April 8, 2019
Video - Nigeria experiencing extended hot temperatures
Nigeria has been experiencing very harsh weather since March. Temperature have gone as high as 40 degrees celcius. The weather has had a huge impact on the lives of ordinary Nigerians, and experts have warned that the weather pattern will continue for some time.
Nigeria suffering from medical brain drain
In March, hundreds of Nigerian doctors gathered at a hotel in Abuja, the capital, and another in Lagos, the country's commercial centre, to take a test conducted by the Saudi Arabian health ministry.
In a symbol of the Nigerian medical "brain drain", those yet to migrate must complete foreign exams in order to get work placements abroad.
Weeks before the attempt by Saudi Arabia to lure Nigeria's greatest medical talents, dozens had sat the regular Professional Linguistic Assessments Board (PLAB) exams at the British Council. Once they pass, it will enable them to work in the UK.
According to some estimates, about 2,000 doctors have left Nigeria over the past few years.
Doctors have blamed the mass exit on poor working conditions - only four percent of Nigeria's budget is allocated to health.
While the annual healthcare threshold per person in the US is $10,000, in Nigeria it is just $6.
"More than half of those seeking visas to [India] are going for medical care that is not available here in Nigeria. Indigent Nigerians would be at the mercy of the dilapidated health infrastructure," Onwufor Uche, consultant and director of the Gynae Care Research and Cancer Foundation in Abuja, told Al Jazeera.
"It has become worse; a doctor [in Nigeria] earns N200,000 monthly ($560), necessitating moving to countries where they can be better paid for their services … This ultimately means that eight of 10 Nigerians are presently receiving substandard or no medical care at all."
Middle-class and wealthy Nigerians often travel for healthcare. Even the septuagenarian Nigerian president, Muhammadu Buhari, seeks medical care in London.
British, American, South African, Emirati and Saudi Arabian agencies operate in Nigeria to recruit the best doctors.
Nigeria's polling agency, NOI Polls, in partnership with Nigerian Health Watch in 2017, found that most doctors seek work abroad.
"The trend of doctors emigrating to other countries is at an all-time high," Chike Nwangwu, head of NOIPolls, told Al Jazeera in Abuja. "Our survey … showed that 88 percent of doctors are considering work opportunities abroad."
Reasons for emigrating include better facilities and work environment, higher salaries, career progression and an improved quality of life.
One doctor in 5,000
Medical schools and residencies are subsidised by government funds, an investment that is now benefiting other countries.
With an estimated population of over 180 million, there is one doctor per 5,000 people in Nigeria, according to Isaac Folorunso Adewole, the health minister, compared with the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation of one per 600 people.
There are 72,000 doctors registered with the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN); over half practise outside the country.
"Nine in every 10 doctors are considering work opportunities outside Nigeria. And it is projected to keep rising as doctors continue to face systemic challenges," said NOIPolls' Nwangwu. "I actually think [Nigeria] is already at the state of emergency with the availability of medical doctors."
The country's worsening health sector also grapples with strikes by health workers.
The government is often in conflict with the Nigerian Medical Association, an umbrella union of doctors, over working conditions. The union argues that government officials fail to stick to agreements, leading to industrial action.
When asked last year why Nigerian doctors had to wait a long time to get residency training, Adewole appeared to make light of the issue, saying: "It might sound selfish, but we can't all be specialists; we can't. Some will be farmers; some will be politicians … The man who sews my gown is a doctor. He makes the best gown. And some will be specialists, some will be GPs, some will be farmers."
As well as angering some doctors, the apparent failure to act seriously also affects patients.
"The government needs to urgently start addressing the issues and concerns of the medical workers and especially the doctors. The truth is, most of these doctors leave for better working conditions and you can't blame them," said Mariam Abdullahi, a 38-year-old patient at a hospital in Abuja.
"I am being referred to strange faces and different doctors almost at each of my bi-monthly visits and I'm always told the last doctor left the country. As a patient I feel heartbroken anytime my doctors leave, but what can I do when the system treats them poorly?"
By Mercy Abang
Al Jazeera
In a symbol of the Nigerian medical "brain drain", those yet to migrate must complete foreign exams in order to get work placements abroad.
Weeks before the attempt by Saudi Arabia to lure Nigeria's greatest medical talents, dozens had sat the regular Professional Linguistic Assessments Board (PLAB) exams at the British Council. Once they pass, it will enable them to work in the UK.
According to some estimates, about 2,000 doctors have left Nigeria over the past few years.
Doctors have blamed the mass exit on poor working conditions - only four percent of Nigeria's budget is allocated to health.
While the annual healthcare threshold per person in the US is $10,000, in Nigeria it is just $6.
"More than half of those seeking visas to [India] are going for medical care that is not available here in Nigeria. Indigent Nigerians would be at the mercy of the dilapidated health infrastructure," Onwufor Uche, consultant and director of the Gynae Care Research and Cancer Foundation in Abuja, told Al Jazeera.
"It has become worse; a doctor [in Nigeria] earns N200,000 monthly ($560), necessitating moving to countries where they can be better paid for their services … This ultimately means that eight of 10 Nigerians are presently receiving substandard or no medical care at all."
Middle-class and wealthy Nigerians often travel for healthcare. Even the septuagenarian Nigerian president, Muhammadu Buhari, seeks medical care in London.
British, American, South African, Emirati and Saudi Arabian agencies operate in Nigeria to recruit the best doctors.
Nigeria's polling agency, NOI Polls, in partnership with Nigerian Health Watch in 2017, found that most doctors seek work abroad.
"The trend of doctors emigrating to other countries is at an all-time high," Chike Nwangwu, head of NOIPolls, told Al Jazeera in Abuja. "Our survey … showed that 88 percent of doctors are considering work opportunities abroad."
Reasons for emigrating include better facilities and work environment, higher salaries, career progression and an improved quality of life.
One doctor in 5,000
Medical schools and residencies are subsidised by government funds, an investment that is now benefiting other countries.
With an estimated population of over 180 million, there is one doctor per 5,000 people in Nigeria, according to Isaac Folorunso Adewole, the health minister, compared with the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation of one per 600 people.
There are 72,000 doctors registered with the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN); over half practise outside the country.
"Nine in every 10 doctors are considering work opportunities outside Nigeria. And it is projected to keep rising as doctors continue to face systemic challenges," said NOIPolls' Nwangwu. "I actually think [Nigeria] is already at the state of emergency with the availability of medical doctors."
The country's worsening health sector also grapples with strikes by health workers.
The government is often in conflict with the Nigerian Medical Association, an umbrella union of doctors, over working conditions. The union argues that government officials fail to stick to agreements, leading to industrial action.
When asked last year why Nigerian doctors had to wait a long time to get residency training, Adewole appeared to make light of the issue, saying: "It might sound selfish, but we can't all be specialists; we can't. Some will be farmers; some will be politicians … The man who sews my gown is a doctor. He makes the best gown. And some will be specialists, some will be GPs, some will be farmers."
As well as angering some doctors, the apparent failure to act seriously also affects patients.
"The government needs to urgently start addressing the issues and concerns of the medical workers and especially the doctors. The truth is, most of these doctors leave for better working conditions and you can't blame them," said Mariam Abdullahi, a 38-year-old patient at a hospital in Abuja.
"I am being referred to strange faces and different doctors almost at each of my bi-monthly visits and I'm always told the last doctor left the country. As a patient I feel heartbroken anytime my doctors leave, but what can I do when the system treats them poorly?"
By Mercy Abang
Al Jazeera
Wednesday, April 3, 2019
Call to shut down controversial police unit in Nigeria after deadly shooting of a man
Kolade Johnson was shot by officers with Nigeria's anti-cultism police unit during a raid in Lagos on Sunday, according to a statement from the Nigerian Police Force. Members of the unit were searching for a suspect and at one point fired into the air, Johnson's family and lawyer told CNN.
The 36-year-old father and a friend were leaving a soccer viewing center in the area, where they had gone to watch a Premiership league match, when a stray bullet hit and killed Johnson, his family and lawyer said.
Johnson died at the hospital while waiting for treatment, according to his sister Toluwani Lukman.
Lukman said her brother was dedicated to his family and had just returned from South Africa, where he had lived for five years to focus on his music career.
"He had saved up some money while working in South Africa and he returned to Nigeria to start his own music label. He was just getting back on his feet. I can't believe he is gone," Lukman told CNN.
Johnson's killing provoked widespread anger among Nigerians, who said the police unit had gone rogue and should be disbanded immediately.
High-profile Nigerians including Nollywood actors, politicians and celebrities took to social media, calling for justice.
Police in Lagos said the officers who fled the scene after the shooting were identified with the help of eyewitnesses.
"Members of the team suspected to be involved in the shooting have since been arrested and are currently in police custody undergoing interrogation," Lagos police spokesman Bala Elkana.
Nigeria's Presidency sent its condolences to the family in a post on Twitter and said the Nigerian police have assured the government that the members of the unit involved in the shooting were under arrest and were facing disciplinary measures.
Lagos State Commissioner Zubairu Muazu also paid a condolence visit to the family Tuesday and assured them their would be justice.
Nigeria's police force also shared photos of two police officers wanted in connection to the shooting.
But this has not stopped the growing calls by citizens and rights groups for a shutdown of the police unit.
In August 2018, Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo ordered an overhaul of the country's Anti-Robbery Police Squad (SARS), which was accused of torture, extortion, widespread brutality and even murder.
Osinbajo, who is also a law professor, promised a total reform of the controversial police unit and vowed to prosecute those found guilty after investigations.
Amnesty International Nigeria, which has long campaigned for the disbandment of the SARS police unit, said Monday the vice president's reforms have been "ineffective."
The rights group alleged that the police unit was still torturing many citizens and restructuring was not enough to stop their atrocities.
"Police torture is a stain on Nigerian society that must be addressed with clear orders to law enforcement officers not to inflict torture or other ill-treatment on detainees under any circumstances," Amnesty International Nigeria said.
A spokesman for Osinbajo, Laolu Akande, said it was hasty to describe the ongoing police reforms as ineffective.
"We are firmly committed to ensuring these reforms are fruitful. In the particular instance, we will ensure that justice is served," Akande told CNN.
CNN
Tuesday, April 2, 2019
Video - Lagos-based firm opens design hub & innovation center in Kigali
African cities like Nairobi, Cape Town and Lagos could be ahead of the game when it comes to digital innovations. Kigali is catching up. Recently, a Lagos-based tech hub opened a design and innovation center in the Rwandan capital. CGTN's Hlonela Lupuwana caught up with the company's Project Manager Tomi Jaiyeola. Here are excerpts from their conversation.
Monday, April 1, 2019
Nigerian journalist arrested at gunpoint
Unidentified armed men have taken away a Nigerian journalist in the southern Bayelsa state, according to witnesses and watchdog groups, just months after his release from a two-year stint in state custody.
Jones Abiri, editor and publisher of the Weekly Source newspaper, was accosted by armed men as he was meeting six colleagues at the Bayelsa Federated Newspaper Publishers Association on Saturday, witnesses said.
Eric Eweke, secretary-general of the publishers' association, told AFP news agency on Sunday that the men arrived in vehicles belonging to Nigeria's intelligence agency, Department of State Security (DSS).
"Two DSS vehicles ... stormed the office" of the publishers' association in Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa, around lunchtime, Eweke said.
"They threatened that if [he] tries to run, they would shoot at him," he said.
Abiri's whereabouts were not known on Sunday.
Peter Afunanya, DSS spokesman, told local media he did not have any information on the incident.
Austin Bodo, another witness, told Nigeria News Agency that the men who accosted Abiri were "carrying the type of guns used by DSS operatives".
Sahara Reporters, a US-based independent news website that covers Nigerian affairs, quoted an unnamed witness as saying: "The men jumped out of the vehicles in a gestapo fashion while he [Abiri] was chatting with his friends and shouted at him that he was under arrest.
"While he was demanding to know his offence, he was forcefully pushed into a waiting vehicle at gunpoint."
Abiri was previously held by the DSS for two years without trial, over alleged links to rebels in the Niger Delta in the country's southeast. He was also accused of threatening oil companies.
He had no access to a lawyer or his family during this time, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Abiri was freed in August last year following a campaign by rights organisations.
Angela Quintal, CPJ Africa programme coordinator, said the press freedom group was "deeply worried" about Abiri's arrest.
"We call on federal and state authorities in Nigeria to disclose where Abiri is being detained and the reasons for his arrest, and urge that they ensure that his rights are not violated yet again and that due process is respected."
Amnesty International also expressed concern over the arrest "by armed men suspected to be DSS operatives". It added in a Twitter post: "The humiliating manner of his arrest is unacceptable."
Nigeria is ranked 119th out of 180 countries on Reporters Without Borders' World Press Freedom Index.
The global press freedom group says journalists in Nigeria "are often threatened, subjected to physical violence, or denied access to information by government officials, police, and sometimes the public itself."
Al Jazeera
Jones Abiri, editor and publisher of the Weekly Source newspaper, was accosted by armed men as he was meeting six colleagues at the Bayelsa Federated Newspaper Publishers Association on Saturday, witnesses said.
Eric Eweke, secretary-general of the publishers' association, told AFP news agency on Sunday that the men arrived in vehicles belonging to Nigeria's intelligence agency, Department of State Security (DSS).
"Two DSS vehicles ... stormed the office" of the publishers' association in Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa, around lunchtime, Eweke said.
"They threatened that if [he] tries to run, they would shoot at him," he said.
Abiri's whereabouts were not known on Sunday.
Peter Afunanya, DSS spokesman, told local media he did not have any information on the incident.
Austin Bodo, another witness, told Nigeria News Agency that the men who accosted Abiri were "carrying the type of guns used by DSS operatives".
Sahara Reporters, a US-based independent news website that covers Nigerian affairs, quoted an unnamed witness as saying: "The men jumped out of the vehicles in a gestapo fashion while he [Abiri] was chatting with his friends and shouted at him that he was under arrest.
"While he was demanding to know his offence, he was forcefully pushed into a waiting vehicle at gunpoint."
Abiri was previously held by the DSS for two years without trial, over alleged links to rebels in the Niger Delta in the country's southeast. He was also accused of threatening oil companies.
He had no access to a lawyer or his family during this time, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Abiri was freed in August last year following a campaign by rights organisations.
Angela Quintal, CPJ Africa programme coordinator, said the press freedom group was "deeply worried" about Abiri's arrest.
"We call on federal and state authorities in Nigeria to disclose where Abiri is being detained and the reasons for his arrest, and urge that they ensure that his rights are not violated yet again and that due process is respected."
Amnesty International also expressed concern over the arrest "by armed men suspected to be DSS operatives". It added in a Twitter post: "The humiliating manner of his arrest is unacceptable."
Nigeria is ranked 119th out of 180 countries on Reporters Without Borders' World Press Freedom Index.
The global press freedom group says journalists in Nigeria "are often threatened, subjected to physical violence, or denied access to information by government officials, police, and sometimes the public itself."
Al Jazeera
Friday, March 29, 2019
Video - Physically challenged tricyclist finds ways to overcome challenges in Nigeria
It's estimated that there are over 27 million people with physical challenges in Nigeria. While many can be seen begging for alms on the streets of Lagos, there is one of them who has decided to stand out. Deji Badmus has his story.
Video - Nigerian-American teen feted for her girls' education campaign
Nigerian-American teen activist Zuriel Oduwole has been honoured by the Nelson Mandela Foundation for her work on girls' education in Africa. Before the age of 10, Oduwole started campaigning to keep girls in school. CGTN's Julie Scheier caught up with Oduwole, while she was in Johannesburg.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)