A Liberian man has been taken to hospital in Nigeria after he developed sysmptoms of the deadly disease Ebola, which has killed hundreds in West Africa in the biggest recorded outbreak.
Nigerian officials said on Thursday that the man was being tested in Lagos, and it was not clear if he was infected with the disease, which has killed 660 people across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since an outbreak began in February.
If confirmed, the case would be the first on record in Nigeria, Africa's most populous state with a population of 170 million.
The 40-year-old Monrovia man arrived in Lagos on Sunday and was taken to hospital on Tuesday suffering from severe vomiting and diarrhoea, said Yewande Adesina, the special adviser on health for the Lagos state government.
"Results are still pending. Presently the patient's condition is stable and he is in recovery… The diarrhoea and vomiting have stopped. He is still under isolation."
A third laboratory outside Nigeria must also test the samples before a final determination on Ebola can be reached, Adesina said.
The patient travelled from the Liberian of Monrovia to Lagos via Togo's capital Lome.
The WHO has recorded more than 900 cases of Ebola in the epidemic that has raged across West Africa in recent months. Liberia has recorded 172 cases of the disease, including 105 deaths.
Aljazeera
Friday, July 25, 2014
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Kaduna hit by two deadly explosions
Two explosions have ripped through the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna, killing at least 40 people, police say.
The first explosion targeted moderate Islamic cleric Dahiru Bauchi while the second one targeted senior opposition leader Muhammadu Buhari, a BBC reporter in the city says.
Both escaped unhurt.
Militant Islamist group Boko Haram has carried out a wave of bombings and assassinations in Nigeria since it launched a brutal insurgency in 2009.
It often targets Muslim leaders opposed to its militant ideology. Curfew imposed
Body parts and damaged vehicles lay on the busy Alkali Road in the city centre where the bomb targeting Mr Bauchi exploded, reports the BBC's Abdullahi Kaura Abubakar from the scene.
Kaduna police chief Shehu Umar said at least 25 people were killed and 14 wounded in that blast, apparently caused by a suicide bomber.
Another 15 were killed in the second blast, he said, while an emergency worker put the number at 19.
Mr Bauchi had completed a preaching session in the nearby Murtala Muhammed square, and was driving through the area in an open-roofed vehicle, greeting thousands of well-wishers when he was targeted.
Followers of the renowned cleric reacted angrily, throwing stones at the security forces and accusing them of failing to protect Nigerians, our reporter says.
The security forces retaliated by firing tear gas.
About 90 minutes after the first attack, a second explosion ripped through the crowded Kawo area, targeting the motorcade of Gen Buhari, a former military ruler of Nigeria and a senior member of the All Progressive Congress opposition party.
Gunmen rammed a vehicle into his convoy, firing shots at it, our reporter says, adding that two of Gen Buhari's bodyguards were slightly wounded in the attack.
The state government has now imposed a 24-hour curfew in the city and surrounding areas.
"The measure is aimed at forestalling a breakdown of law and order," said government spokesman Ahmed Maiyaki.
In May, the emir of the northern area of Gwoza, Shehu Mustapha Idris Timta, was shot dead in an attack blamed on Boko Haram.
In January 2013, the then-emir of Kano, Al Haji Ado Bayero, survived an assassination attempt.
BBC
Related stories: Death toll of civilians killed in Boko Haram attacks in Nigeria this year reach 2,053
The first explosion targeted moderate Islamic cleric Dahiru Bauchi while the second one targeted senior opposition leader Muhammadu Buhari, a BBC reporter in the city says.
Both escaped unhurt.
Militant Islamist group Boko Haram has carried out a wave of bombings and assassinations in Nigeria since it launched a brutal insurgency in 2009.
It often targets Muslim leaders opposed to its militant ideology. Curfew imposed
Body parts and damaged vehicles lay on the busy Alkali Road in the city centre where the bomb targeting Mr Bauchi exploded, reports the BBC's Abdullahi Kaura Abubakar from the scene.
Kaduna police chief Shehu Umar said at least 25 people were killed and 14 wounded in that blast, apparently caused by a suicide bomber.
Another 15 were killed in the second blast, he said, while an emergency worker put the number at 19.
Mr Bauchi had completed a preaching session in the nearby Murtala Muhammed square, and was driving through the area in an open-roofed vehicle, greeting thousands of well-wishers when he was targeted.
Followers of the renowned cleric reacted angrily, throwing stones at the security forces and accusing them of failing to protect Nigerians, our reporter says.
The security forces retaliated by firing tear gas.
About 90 minutes after the first attack, a second explosion ripped through the crowded Kawo area, targeting the motorcade of Gen Buhari, a former military ruler of Nigeria and a senior member of the All Progressive Congress opposition party.
Gunmen rammed a vehicle into his convoy, firing shots at it, our reporter says, adding that two of Gen Buhari's bodyguards were slightly wounded in the attack.
The state government has now imposed a 24-hour curfew in the city and surrounding areas.
"The measure is aimed at forestalling a breakdown of law and order," said government spokesman Ahmed Maiyaki.
In May, the emir of the northern area of Gwoza, Shehu Mustapha Idris Timta, was shot dead in an attack blamed on Boko Haram.
In January 2013, the then-emir of Kano, Al Haji Ado Bayero, survived an assassination attempt.
BBC
Related stories: Death toll of civilians killed in Boko Haram attacks in Nigeria this year reach 2,053
PayPal signs "tens of thousands" in first week of launch in Nigeria
E-commerce remains in its infancy in most of Africa but is growing exponentially with the advent of online retailers such as Jumia, partly owned by South African phone operator MTN, and a growing middle class with money to spend.
Citizens of Africa's most populous nation could not buy goods directly from foreign merchants before the launch by PayPal, the payments unit of online auctioneer eBay Inc.
"We have seen great uptake by Nigerians ... in terms of coverage," Malvina Goldfeld, PayPal's head of business development for sub-Saharan Africa, said in Lagos on Tuesday.
PayPal entered Nigeria and 10 other nations last month, providing online payment alternatives for consumers via mobile phones or PCs in markets often blighted by financial fraud. The new markets bring the number of countries PayPal serves to 203.
Goldfeld said that Paypal secured a few deals with electronics suppliers in China and Dubai ahead of its launch and that it had partnered with Nigerian lender First Bank, which has more than 10.5 million customers.
ELECTRONICS AND FASHION
PayPal launched its platform in South Africa four years ago, Kenya last year and now Nigeria, Goldfeld said, giving the company access to shoppers across 40 sub-saharan African countries.
Goldfeld said the biggest interest has been in products from the United States, Britain and China, adding: "People are buying everything ... (but) there's definitely a concentration in electronics and fashion."
Online retailer Jumia told Reuters in April it had 100,000 Nigerian customer accounts and sales were increasing by 15 percent a month
However, worries over internet security and online fraud have held back e-commerce growth in Nigeria, where 63 million people have active internet data subscriptions but only 1 percent of them make online transactions, First Bank said, noting that online purchases are expected to reach $1 billion this year.
Though challenges remain - including abysmal infrastructure, port delays, other supply chain woes and the task of persuading shoppers to trust websites with their bank details - Goldfeld says PayPal's reach will help to speed improvements.
"A lot of the merchants that we work with ... already ship to Nigeria. I think that the growth of e-commerce will push the logistics customers to up their game," she said.
Reuters
Related stories: PayPal coming to Nigeria
Western Union launches online service in Nigeria
Bitcoin interest grows in Nigeria
11 parents of some of the kidnapped schoolgirls now dead
In the three months since Islamic extremists kidnapped more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls, 11 of their parents have died, town residents say.
The town where the girls were kidnapped, Chibok, is cut off by militants, who have been attacking villages in the region.
Seven fathers of kidnapped girls were among 51 bodies brought to the Chibok hospital after an attack on the nearby village of Kautakari this month, said a health worker who insisted on anonymity for fear of reprisals by the extremists.
At least four more parents have died of heart failure, high blood pressure and other illnesses that the community blames on trauma due to the mass abduction 100 days ago, said community leader Pogu Bitrus, who provided their names.
"One father of two of the girls kidnapped just went into a kind of coma and kept repeating the names of his daughters, until life left him," said Bitrus.
President Goodluck Jonathan met Tuesday with parents of the 219 kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls and some classmates who managed to escape from Islamic extremists. Jonathan pledged to continue working to see the girls "are brought out alive," said his spokesman of the meeting which press were not permitted to attend. The parents showed no emotion after the meeting, but some shook hands with the president.
Chibok, the town where the girls were kidnapped, is cut off because of frequent attacks on the roads that are studded with burned out vehicles. Commercial flights no longer go into the troubled area and the government has halted charter flights.
Through numerous phone calls to Chibok and the surrounding area, The Associated Press has gathered information about the situation in the town where the students were kidnapped from their school.
More danger is on the horizon.
Boko Haram is closing in on Chibok, attacking villages ever closer to the town. Villagers who survive the assaults are swarming into the town, swelling its population and straining resources. A food crisis looms, along with shortages of money and fuel, said community leader Bitrus.
On the bright side, some of the young women who escaped are recovering, said a health worker, who insisted on anonymity because he feared reprisals from Boko Haram. Girls who had first refused to discuss their experience, now are talking about it and taking part in therapeutic singing and drawing -- a few drew homes, some painted flowers and one young woman drew a picture of a soldier with a gun last week.
Girls who said they would never go back to school now are thinking about how to continue their education, he said. Counselling is being offered to families of those abducted and to some of the 57 students who managed to escape in the first few days, said the health worker. He is among 36 newly trained in grief and rape counselling, under a program funded by USAID.
All the escapees remain deeply concerned about their schoolmates who did not get away.
A presidential committee investigating the kidnappings said 219 girls still are missing. But the community says there are more because some parents refused to give the committee their daughters' names, fearing the stigma involved.
Boko Haram filmed a video in which they threatened to sell the students into slavery and as child brides. It also showed a couple of the girls describing their "conversion" from Christianity to Islam.
At least two have died of snake bites, a mediator who was liaising with Boko Haram told AP two months ago. At that time he said at least 20 of the girls were ill -- not surprising given that they are probably being held in an area infested with malarial mosquitoes, poisonous snakes and spiders, and relying on unclean water from rivers.
Most of the schoolgirls are still believed to be held in the Sambisa Forest -- a wildlife reserve that includes almost impenetrably thick jungle as well as more open savannah. The forest borders on sand dunes marking the edge of the Sahara Desert. Sightings of the girls and their captors have been reported in neighbouring Cameroon and Chad.
In Chibok, the town's population is under stress.
"There are families that are putting up four and five other families," local leader Bitrus said, adding that food stocks are depleted. Livestock has been looted by Boko Haram so villagers are arriving empty handed. Worst of all, no one is planting though it is the rainy season, he said.
"There is a famine looming," he warned. Chibok and nearby villages are targets because they are enclaves of staunch Christians in predominantly Muslim north Nigeria.
The number of soldiers guarding Chibok has increased from 15 to about 200 since the kidnapping but they have done little to increase security in Chibok, said Bitrus. The soldiers often refuse to deploy to villages under attack though there is advance warning 90 per cent of the time, he said.
Last month the extremists took control and raised their black flags over two villages within 30 kilometres of Chibok. Last week they ordered residents of another village just 16 kilometres away to clear out, Bitrus said. Every village in the neighbouring Damboa area has been attacked and sacked, and all the villages bordering Cameroon have been burned and are deserted, Bitrus said, quoting residents who fled.
The attacks continue despite the fact the military placed the area under a state of emergency in May 2013. Residents feel so abandoned that they appealed this month for the United Nations to send troops to protect them. The UN has repeatedly urged Nigeria's government to live up to its international responsibility to protect citizens.
President Goodluck Jonathan insists his government and military are doing everything possible to ensure the girls' release. The Defence Ministry says it knows where they are but fears any military campaign could lead to their deaths.
Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau in a new video released this week repeated his demands that Jonathan release detained extremists in exchange for the girls -- an offer Jonathan has so far refused.
After three months, few Chibok residents believe all the schoolgirls will ever return home.
CTV
Related stories: Boko Haram attacks the same town it kidnapped the schoolgirls from
Video - Aljazeera speaks with Nigerian military about kidnapped schoolgirls
Video - The state of Nigerian governance and Boko Haram
The town where the girls were kidnapped, Chibok, is cut off by militants, who have been attacking villages in the region.
Seven fathers of kidnapped girls were among 51 bodies brought to the Chibok hospital after an attack on the nearby village of Kautakari this month, said a health worker who insisted on anonymity for fear of reprisals by the extremists.
At least four more parents have died of heart failure, high blood pressure and other illnesses that the community blames on trauma due to the mass abduction 100 days ago, said community leader Pogu Bitrus, who provided their names.
"One father of two of the girls kidnapped just went into a kind of coma and kept repeating the names of his daughters, until life left him," said Bitrus.
President Goodluck Jonathan met Tuesday with parents of the 219 kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls and some classmates who managed to escape from Islamic extremists. Jonathan pledged to continue working to see the girls "are brought out alive," said his spokesman of the meeting which press were not permitted to attend. The parents showed no emotion after the meeting, but some shook hands with the president.
Chibok, the town where the girls were kidnapped, is cut off because of frequent attacks on the roads that are studded with burned out vehicles. Commercial flights no longer go into the troubled area and the government has halted charter flights.
Through numerous phone calls to Chibok and the surrounding area, The Associated Press has gathered information about the situation in the town where the students were kidnapped from their school.
More danger is on the horizon.
Boko Haram is closing in on Chibok, attacking villages ever closer to the town. Villagers who survive the assaults are swarming into the town, swelling its population and straining resources. A food crisis looms, along with shortages of money and fuel, said community leader Bitrus.
On the bright side, some of the young women who escaped are recovering, said a health worker, who insisted on anonymity because he feared reprisals from Boko Haram. Girls who had first refused to discuss their experience, now are talking about it and taking part in therapeutic singing and drawing -- a few drew homes, some painted flowers and one young woman drew a picture of a soldier with a gun last week.
Girls who said they would never go back to school now are thinking about how to continue their education, he said. Counselling is being offered to families of those abducted and to some of the 57 students who managed to escape in the first few days, said the health worker. He is among 36 newly trained in grief and rape counselling, under a program funded by USAID.
All the escapees remain deeply concerned about their schoolmates who did not get away.
A presidential committee investigating the kidnappings said 219 girls still are missing. But the community says there are more because some parents refused to give the committee their daughters' names, fearing the stigma involved.
Boko Haram filmed a video in which they threatened to sell the students into slavery and as child brides. It also showed a couple of the girls describing their "conversion" from Christianity to Islam.
At least two have died of snake bites, a mediator who was liaising with Boko Haram told AP two months ago. At that time he said at least 20 of the girls were ill -- not surprising given that they are probably being held in an area infested with malarial mosquitoes, poisonous snakes and spiders, and relying on unclean water from rivers.
Most of the schoolgirls are still believed to be held in the Sambisa Forest -- a wildlife reserve that includes almost impenetrably thick jungle as well as more open savannah. The forest borders on sand dunes marking the edge of the Sahara Desert. Sightings of the girls and their captors have been reported in neighbouring Cameroon and Chad.
In Chibok, the town's population is under stress.
"There are families that are putting up four and five other families," local leader Bitrus said, adding that food stocks are depleted. Livestock has been looted by Boko Haram so villagers are arriving empty handed. Worst of all, no one is planting though it is the rainy season, he said.
"There is a famine looming," he warned. Chibok and nearby villages are targets because they are enclaves of staunch Christians in predominantly Muslim north Nigeria.
The number of soldiers guarding Chibok has increased from 15 to about 200 since the kidnapping but they have done little to increase security in Chibok, said Bitrus. The soldiers often refuse to deploy to villages under attack though there is advance warning 90 per cent of the time, he said.
Last month the extremists took control and raised their black flags over two villages within 30 kilometres of Chibok. Last week they ordered residents of another village just 16 kilometres away to clear out, Bitrus said. Every village in the neighbouring Damboa area has been attacked and sacked, and all the villages bordering Cameroon have been burned and are deserted, Bitrus said, quoting residents who fled.
The attacks continue despite the fact the military placed the area under a state of emergency in May 2013. Residents feel so abandoned that they appealed this month for the United Nations to send troops to protect them. The UN has repeatedly urged Nigeria's government to live up to its international responsibility to protect citizens.
President Goodluck Jonathan insists his government and military are doing everything possible to ensure the girls' release. The Defence Ministry says it knows where they are but fears any military campaign could lead to their deaths.
Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau in a new video released this week repeated his demands that Jonathan release detained extremists in exchange for the girls -- an offer Jonathan has so far refused.
After three months, few Chibok residents believe all the schoolgirls will ever return home.
CTV
Related stories: Boko Haram attacks the same town it kidnapped the schoolgirls from
Video - Aljazeera speaks with Nigerian military about kidnapped schoolgirls
Video - The state of Nigerian governance and Boko Haram
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Boko Haram attacks the same town it kidnapped the schoolgirls from
At least eleven of the parents of the more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped 100 days ago have died, as their hometown of Chibok is under siege, residents have reported.
Seven fathers of kidnapped girls were among 51 bodies brought to Chibok hospital after an attack on the nearby village of Kautakari this month, a health worker told AP news agency on Tuesday.
The worker asked for anonymity for fear of reprisals by Boko Haram, an Islamic armed group that claimed responsibility for the mass abduction of the girls.
At least four more parents have died of heart failure, high blood pressure and other illnesses that the community blames on trauma due to the abductions, said community leader Pogu Bitrus.
"One father of two of the girls kidnapped just went into a kind of coma and kept repeating the names of his daughters, until life left him," Bitrus told AP.
Chibok is cut off because of frequent attacks on the roads that are studded with burned out vehicles.
Commercial flights no longer go into the troubled area and the government has halted charter flights.
Boko Haram is closing in on Chibok, attacking villages closer to the town, and villagers who survive the attacks are seeking refuge in the town, heightening food and water shortages.
Some of the young women who escaped are recovering, with girls who at first refused to discuss their experience, now talking about it and others thinking of returning to school.
Counselling is being offered to families of those abducted and to some of the 57 students who managed to get away from the kidnappers in the first few days, said a health worker.
A presidential committee investigating the kidnappings said 219 girls still were missing. But the community says there are more because some parents refused to give the committee their daughters' names, fearing the stigma involved.
'Conversion'
Following the mass abduction in April, Boko Haram released a video in which they threatened to sell the students into slavery and as child brides.
It also showed a couple of the girls describing their "conversion" from Christianity to Islam.
Residents and parents have criticised the Nigerian government's efforts to recover the girls, but President Goodluck Jonathan insists his government and military are doing everything possible to ensure their release.
The Defence Ministry says it knows where they are but fears any military campaign could lead to their deaths.
Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau in a new video released this week repeated his demands that Jonathan release detained members in exchange for the girls, an offer Jonathan has so far refused.
AP
Related stories: Video - Aljazeera speaks with Nigerian military about kidnapped schoolgirls
Video - The state of Nigerian governance and Boko Haram
Seven fathers of kidnapped girls were among 51 bodies brought to Chibok hospital after an attack on the nearby village of Kautakari this month, a health worker told AP news agency on Tuesday.
The worker asked for anonymity for fear of reprisals by Boko Haram, an Islamic armed group that claimed responsibility for the mass abduction of the girls.
At least four more parents have died of heart failure, high blood pressure and other illnesses that the community blames on trauma due to the abductions, said community leader Pogu Bitrus.
"One father of two of the girls kidnapped just went into a kind of coma and kept repeating the names of his daughters, until life left him," Bitrus told AP.
Chibok is cut off because of frequent attacks on the roads that are studded with burned out vehicles.
Commercial flights no longer go into the troubled area and the government has halted charter flights.
Boko Haram is closing in on Chibok, attacking villages closer to the town, and villagers who survive the attacks are seeking refuge in the town, heightening food and water shortages.
Some of the young women who escaped are recovering, with girls who at first refused to discuss their experience, now talking about it and others thinking of returning to school.
Counselling is being offered to families of those abducted and to some of the 57 students who managed to get away from the kidnappers in the first few days, said a health worker.
A presidential committee investigating the kidnappings said 219 girls still were missing. But the community says there are more because some parents refused to give the committee their daughters' names, fearing the stigma involved.
'Conversion'
Following the mass abduction in April, Boko Haram released a video in which they threatened to sell the students into slavery and as child brides.
It also showed a couple of the girls describing their "conversion" from Christianity to Islam.
Residents and parents have criticised the Nigerian government's efforts to recover the girls, but President Goodluck Jonathan insists his government and military are doing everything possible to ensure their release.
The Defence Ministry says it knows where they are but fears any military campaign could lead to their deaths.
Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau in a new video released this week repeated his demands that Jonathan release detained members in exchange for the girls, an offer Jonathan has so far refused.
AP
Related stories: Video - Aljazeera speaks with Nigerian military about kidnapped schoolgirls
Video - The state of Nigerian governance and Boko Haram
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