Friday, February 5, 2016
Video - Hijacked oil tanker recovered from separatists in Nigeria
An oil tanker hijacked by Nigerian separatists has been recovered. Nigeria's navy say the Greek-owned MT Leon Dias is now anchored off the coast of Benin. There's no confirmation yet on the fate of the crew or the hijackers. They seized the ship last week. And threatened to blow it up - unless authorities freed a Biafran separatist leader. The incident has fuelled tensions around the ongoing calls for an independent Biafran state.
Related story: Militants in Nigeria hijack merchant ship and demand release of activist
Nigeria rises in FIFA rankings
Sunday Oliseh’s men were ranked 66 in the January edition of the monthly rankings.
Yesterday’s result means the win against Niger and draw with Tunisia at the soccer championship for home-based national team players have improved the country’s rating in the latest FIFA rankings.
Not only that, the win over Cote d’Ivoire and draw with Angola in warm-up matches for the tournament in Rwanda have also added more points to the Super Eagles.
However, they are now 12th in Africa with Cote d’Ivoire still the best ranked African team as they are 28th in the world.
Nigeria’s AFCON 2017 rivals Egypt are now 55th in the world and eighth in Africa.
The FIFA rankings are expected to be one of the things to consider when the draw for the final round of the qualifying tournament for the 2018 World Cup is done in June.
Teams will be drawn in five groups to play on home and away basis with the overall group winners qualifying for the World Cup in Russia.
The other top ranked teams in Africa are Cape Verde, Algeria, Ghana, Senegal, Tunisia, Congo, Egypt, DR Congo, Guinea and Cameroon.
Belgium remain atop the pile beating Argentina to the second position with reigning world champions Germany dropping to fourth place.
Former world champions Spain are unmoved at number three while Euro 2016 hosts France climbed up one place to the 24th spot.
The three most impressive teams for February’s ranking all come from Asia: Palestine (110, plus 21), Saudi Arabia (55, plus 20) and Korea DPR (95, plus 18) enjoyed the biggest advances since the last world ranking.
The next FIFA world ranking will be published on March 3, 2016.
Daily Trust
Girl rescued from Boko Haram wants to rejoin militant husband who kidnapped her
Almost a year after she was rescued from Boko Haram captivity by the Nigerian army, Zara John is still in love with one of the militants who abducted her.
She was delighted to discover that she was pregnant with his child following a urine and blood test carried out by a doctor in the refugee camp to which she was taken after her rescue.
“I wanted to give birth to my child so that I can have someone to replace his father since I cannot reconnect with him again,” said 16-year-old Zara, one of hundreds of girls kidnapped by Boko Haram militants during a seven-year insurgency in north-east Nigeria.
But any decision over the baby was taken out of her hands.
Her father drowned during flooding in 2010 so her uncles intervened. Some were adamant they did not want a Boko Haram offspring in their family and insisted on an abortion. Others felt the child should not be blamed for its father’s crimes.
In the end, the majority carried the vote and Zara was allowed to keep her child, a son she named Usman who is now about seven months old.
“Everybody in the family has embraced the child,” Zara told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, asking that her location remain undisclosed. “My uncle just bought him tins of Cerelac [instant cereal] and milk.”
Zara was 14 when Boko Haram militants fighting to establish a caliphate raided her village of Izge, in north-east Nigeria, in February 2014.
They razed homes in the village, slaughtered men, and loaded women, girls and children into lorries.
Two of Zara’s brothers were out of town when the militants struck in one of a wave of hit-and-run attacks on villages as well as suicide bombings on places of worship or markets.
Zara’s mother fell off one of the overloaded lorries but tried to chase after the vehicle that was ferrying away her only daughter and her four-year-old son but was unable to keep up as the lorry headed on the 22-kilometre journey to Bita.
At the time, Bita and other surrounding towns close to the Sambisa forest, were in Boko Haram control.
“As soon as we arrived, they told us that we were now their slaves,” Zara recalled.
Her days were spent doing chores and learning the tenets of her new religion, Islam. Two months later she was given away in marriage to Ali, a Boko Haram commander, and moved into his accommodation.
“After I became a commander’s wife, I had freedom. I slept any time I wanted, I woke up any time I wanted,” she said.
“He bought me food and clothes and gave me everything that a woman needs from a man,” adding that he also gave her a mobile phone with his number plugged in and tattooed his name on her stomach to mark her as a Boko Haram wife.
Ali assured her that the fight would soon be over and they would return to his hometown of Baga where he intended his new wife to join his fishing business.
He told her that he had abandoned his fisherman trade and joined the militant group after his father and elder brother, both fishermen like himself, were killed by Nigerian soldiers.
In a June 2015 report based on years on research and analysis of evidence, Amnesty International said the Nigerian army was guilty of gross human rights abuse and extra judicial killing of civilians in parts of north-east Nigeria, calling for an investigation into war crimes.
Ali was not at home when the Nigerian army stormed Bita in March 2015 and rescued Zara and scores of other women, taking them to a refugee camp in Yola in north-east Nigeria.
The raid came as international scrutiny on Nigeria increased after the high profile abduction of 200 schoolgirls from Chibok in northern Nigeria in April 2014 which caused outrage internationally and sparked the global campaign #bringbackourgirls. Those girls are yet to be found.
But Zara and Ali stayed in touch by phone until Nigerian soldiers realised some of the girls in the camp were still in touch with their abductors, seized their phones and moved them to another camp until they were reunited with their families.
Zara now lives with her extended family and son in a town far away from Izge.
Back with her family, Zara’s male relatives took over control of her life again, with requests for interviews fielded by them and all of her movements monitored by her family.
But asked her opinion, she said she would rather be with her Boko Haram husband.
“If I had my way, I would retrieve the phone number he gave me,” she said, regretting not committing his number to memory.
But Zara is realistic and knows the possibility of being reunited with Ali is very slim.
Instead she wants to return to school when Usman stops breastfeeding and maybe then run her own business.
“I want to do a business that is suitable for a woman, something that will not take me out of the house,” she said.
Reuters
She was delighted to discover that she was pregnant with his child following a urine and blood test carried out by a doctor in the refugee camp to which she was taken after her rescue.
“I wanted to give birth to my child so that I can have someone to replace his father since I cannot reconnect with him again,” said 16-year-old Zara, one of hundreds of girls kidnapped by Boko Haram militants during a seven-year insurgency in north-east Nigeria.
But any decision over the baby was taken out of her hands.
Her father drowned during flooding in 2010 so her uncles intervened. Some were adamant they did not want a Boko Haram offspring in their family and insisted on an abortion. Others felt the child should not be blamed for its father’s crimes.
In the end, the majority carried the vote and Zara was allowed to keep her child, a son she named Usman who is now about seven months old.
“Everybody in the family has embraced the child,” Zara told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, asking that her location remain undisclosed. “My uncle just bought him tins of Cerelac [instant cereal] and milk.”
Zara was 14 when Boko Haram militants fighting to establish a caliphate raided her village of Izge, in north-east Nigeria, in February 2014.
They razed homes in the village, slaughtered men, and loaded women, girls and children into lorries.
Two of Zara’s brothers were out of town when the militants struck in one of a wave of hit-and-run attacks on villages as well as suicide bombings on places of worship or markets.
Zara’s mother fell off one of the overloaded lorries but tried to chase after the vehicle that was ferrying away her only daughter and her four-year-old son but was unable to keep up as the lorry headed on the 22-kilometre journey to Bita.
At the time, Bita and other surrounding towns close to the Sambisa forest, were in Boko Haram control.
“As soon as we arrived, they told us that we were now their slaves,” Zara recalled.
Her days were spent doing chores and learning the tenets of her new religion, Islam. Two months later she was given away in marriage to Ali, a Boko Haram commander, and moved into his accommodation.
“After I became a commander’s wife, I had freedom. I slept any time I wanted, I woke up any time I wanted,” she said.
“He bought me food and clothes and gave me everything that a woman needs from a man,” adding that he also gave her a mobile phone with his number plugged in and tattooed his name on her stomach to mark her as a Boko Haram wife.
Ali assured her that the fight would soon be over and they would return to his hometown of Baga where he intended his new wife to join his fishing business.
He told her that he had abandoned his fisherman trade and joined the militant group after his father and elder brother, both fishermen like himself, were killed by Nigerian soldiers.
In a June 2015 report based on years on research and analysis of evidence, Amnesty International said the Nigerian army was guilty of gross human rights abuse and extra judicial killing of civilians in parts of north-east Nigeria, calling for an investigation into war crimes.
Ali was not at home when the Nigerian army stormed Bita in March 2015 and rescued Zara and scores of other women, taking them to a refugee camp in Yola in north-east Nigeria.
The raid came as international scrutiny on Nigeria increased after the high profile abduction of 200 schoolgirls from Chibok in northern Nigeria in April 2014 which caused outrage internationally and sparked the global campaign #bringbackourgirls. Those girls are yet to be found.
But Zara and Ali stayed in touch by phone until Nigerian soldiers realised some of the girls in the camp were still in touch with their abductors, seized their phones and moved them to another camp until they were reunited with their families.
Zara now lives with her extended family and son in a town far away from Izge.
Back with her family, Zara’s male relatives took over control of her life again, with requests for interviews fielded by them and all of her movements monitored by her family.
But asked her opinion, she said she would rather be with her Boko Haram husband.
“If I had my way, I would retrieve the phone number he gave me,” she said, regretting not committing his number to memory.
But Zara is realistic and knows the possibility of being reunited with Ali is very slim.
Instead she wants to return to school when Usman stops breastfeeding and maybe then run her own business.
“I want to do a business that is suitable for a woman, something that will not take me out of the house,” she said.
Reuters
Thursday, February 4, 2016
Video - Nigeria president Muhammadu Buhari still promises to rescue the 276 kidnapped schoolgirls
Nigeria's president Muhamadu Buhari said his government was doing everything necessary to rescue the Chibok girls. Speaking to the European Parliament Buhari reiterated his commitment to finding the girls alive and returning them to their families. .Its been almost two years since some 276 were kidnapped by militants in Nigeria's northern town of Chibok .Despite worldwide condemnation and campaign to have the girls released their whereabouts still remains unknown.
Supercar sellers in Nigeria hit by economic slow-down
Nigeria's wealthy elite would be hard pushed to find a clear road in this traffic-clogged city that would allow them to floor the pedal and get anywhere near approaching top speed.
But now sales of luxury sports cars have slumped as Africa's biggest economy and largest oil producer is battered by the fall in global crude prices.
A Porsche showroom in Lagos is full of top-of-the-range models selling from $100,000 (£70,000) and upwards.
In the good times, high-spending Nigerians would roll into the garage with fat wallets and drive out in a Porsche - now the showroom is deserted.
The managing director, Parvin Singh, told me that sales were down 50% last year compared to 2014. He blames the crash on the crude oil crisis.
While gas and oil sales only account for around 15% of the country's GDP - "Nigeria is not Saudi Arabia," as one analyst put it to me - the industry has a disproportionate effect on the economy as a whole.
Oil revenues account for 75-80% percent of the government's budget and if it does not have cash, it cools overall spending.
"The government is Nigeria's biggest spender," says Mr Singh. "When the government stops spending, it has a cascading effect on the corporate sector."
Nigeria's new government - elected last year - has grand plans to diversify the economy. It wants to invest in infrastructure such as power plants, roads and bridges, to boost growth.
But without oil revenues, the money is not there for this investment, even if government officials say that they will claw back cash by cracking down on corruption.
President Muhammadu Buhari finds himself battling rising inflation, a currency that has collapsed to record lows on the parallel market, a stock market slump, and the slowest pace of economic growth in more than a decade.
The government has started talks with the World Bank and African Development Bank with the hope of raising some money to help it fund a forecast $11bn (£7.7bn) budget deficit.
All this means this nation of entrepreneurs will continue doing business while battling against extraordinary odds.
One of them is Gbolahan Eyiowuawi, who runs a catering company after studying at a cooking school in the UK.
In order for Mr Eyiowuawi to run his business he needs a generator for his fridges because of power cuts.
He must constantly explain to furious customers they have to pay more because of fluctuating prices. And, then, when he has cooked the food, he needs to negotiate Lagos' notorious traffic.
His worst disaster: He turned up at a wedding two hours late.
"The person hiring our services got really mad as people were already leaving," he told me.
"At first I couldn't face the bride but then I gave her a vacuum cleaner and water dispenser and she seemed OK."
The hungry bride may have been happy with her vacuum cleaner but many Nigerians are not happy with their lot.
Millions live in poverty and an astonishing two million young people are entering the job market every year.
Economist Bismarck Rewane says the government faces enormous challenges.
"If the youth see some hope and direction they will put their energies to positive use," he said. "But if they see hopelessness and despair then you will have militancy, insurgency and social breakdown."
"It's either you win big or you lose big time."
It is a stark warning. Oil may have once buoyed Nigeria but now the slump in global prices is proving extremely painful to Africa's largest economy.
BBC
But now sales of luxury sports cars have slumped as Africa's biggest economy and largest oil producer is battered by the fall in global crude prices.
A Porsche showroom in Lagos is full of top-of-the-range models selling from $100,000 (£70,000) and upwards.
In the good times, high-spending Nigerians would roll into the garage with fat wallets and drive out in a Porsche - now the showroom is deserted.
The managing director, Parvin Singh, told me that sales were down 50% last year compared to 2014. He blames the crash on the crude oil crisis.
While gas and oil sales only account for around 15% of the country's GDP - "Nigeria is not Saudi Arabia," as one analyst put it to me - the industry has a disproportionate effect on the economy as a whole.
Oil revenues account for 75-80% percent of the government's budget and if it does not have cash, it cools overall spending.
"The government is Nigeria's biggest spender," says Mr Singh. "When the government stops spending, it has a cascading effect on the corporate sector."
Nigeria's new government - elected last year - has grand plans to diversify the economy. It wants to invest in infrastructure such as power plants, roads and bridges, to boost growth.
But without oil revenues, the money is not there for this investment, even if government officials say that they will claw back cash by cracking down on corruption.
President Muhammadu Buhari finds himself battling rising inflation, a currency that has collapsed to record lows on the parallel market, a stock market slump, and the slowest pace of economic growth in more than a decade.
The government has started talks with the World Bank and African Development Bank with the hope of raising some money to help it fund a forecast $11bn (£7.7bn) budget deficit.
All this means this nation of entrepreneurs will continue doing business while battling against extraordinary odds.
One of them is Gbolahan Eyiowuawi, who runs a catering company after studying at a cooking school in the UK.
In order for Mr Eyiowuawi to run his business he needs a generator for his fridges because of power cuts.
He must constantly explain to furious customers they have to pay more because of fluctuating prices. And, then, when he has cooked the food, he needs to negotiate Lagos' notorious traffic.
His worst disaster: He turned up at a wedding two hours late.
"The person hiring our services got really mad as people were already leaving," he told me.
"At first I couldn't face the bride but then I gave her a vacuum cleaner and water dispenser and she seemed OK."
The hungry bride may have been happy with her vacuum cleaner but many Nigerians are not happy with their lot.
Millions live in poverty and an astonishing two million young people are entering the job market every year.
Economist Bismarck Rewane says the government faces enormous challenges.
"If the youth see some hope and direction they will put their energies to positive use," he said. "But if they see hopelessness and despair then you will have militancy, insurgency and social breakdown."
"It's either you win big or you lose big time."
It is a stark warning. Oil may have once buoyed Nigeria but now the slump in global prices is proving extremely painful to Africa's largest economy.
BBC
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