Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Video - Nigeria puts restriction on cattle trade to curb Boko Haram's income
The Nigerian government is restricting the movement of cattle in the north east.
The armed group Boko Haram has been stealing livestock and using the proceeds to fund its attacks.
Oil pipeline explosion kills three in Bayelsa, Nigeria
The explosion of a crude oil pipeline operated by Eni's wholly owned subsidiary Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC) in Bayelsa has killed three people and injured seven.
The blast is believed to have occurred during repair work on the oil pipeline in Nigeria's southern Delta region.
Bodies were recovered after the fire was brought under control.
Those dead were maintenance workers who were working on the oil pipeline when it caught fire.
National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency director general Peter Idabor told media sources the accident occurred as safety procedures had been breached, while carrying out repair works.
Idabor said: "I am going to report the matter officially to the minister of environment today."
The news follows attacks on the Nigerian Agip Oil Company's crude oil pipelines in Bayelsa by suspected militants in February.
The attacks were made after an arrest warrant was issued in January against former militant leader Government Ekpemupolo, also known as Tompolo.
Hydrocarbons Technology
The blast is believed to have occurred during repair work on the oil pipeline in Nigeria's southern Delta region.
Bodies were recovered after the fire was brought under control.
Those dead were maintenance workers who were working on the oil pipeline when it caught fire.
National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency director general Peter Idabor told media sources the accident occurred as safety procedures had been breached, while carrying out repair works.
Idabor said: "I am going to report the matter officially to the minister of environment today."
The news follows attacks on the Nigerian Agip Oil Company's crude oil pipelines in Bayelsa by suspected militants in February.
The attacks were made after an arrest warrant was issued in January against former militant leader Government Ekpemupolo, also known as Tompolo.
Hydrocarbons Technology
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Kidnapped Nigerian Colonel Samaila Inusa found dead
The Nigerian Army on Tuesday said its officer kidnapped on Sunday has been killed by his abductors.
“The Nigerian Army wishes to regrettably inform the public that Colonel Samaila Inusa, who was kidnapped on Sunday 27th March 2016, was found dead today at about 6.00pm,” spokesperson for the Army, Sani Usman, said in a statement.
“Preliminary investigation revealed that most likely the late senior officer was killed same day he was kidnapped by his abductors. This is because the body was found already decomposing around Ajyaita village off Eastern Bypass Kaduna, Kaduna State.
“Arrangements are in progress to move the body to 44 Nigerian Army Reference Hospital, Kaduna. May His soul rest in peace, Amen."
“We wish to state in unmistakeable terms that whoever is behind his abduction and murder would be fished out to face the full wrath of the law.”
Mr. Inusa, a colonel, was seized in his Mercedes-Benz car by gunmen around Kamazo, along Kaduna Refinery Road, in Chikun local government area of Kaduna State on Sunday.
A statement by the 1 Division of the Army had said “the abductors dropped off Colonel Inusa’s wife and left with him in his car. The car headed towards Abuja.”
On Sunday, the Army offered a N500,000 reward for anyone with useful information that could lead to the rescue of Mr. Inusa.
The following day, army authorities raised the reward offer to one million naira, promising to give adequate protection to anyone who provide useful information, and that such tip-off would be treated with utmost confidentiality.
There were reports in Thisday newspaper on Sunday quoting an intelligence officer as saying the abduction of the officer might be a revenge mission by the Shiite Islamic sect against the Army over the deadly clash with the group in Zaria last year.
But the group swiftly responded, denying responsibility for the abduction of the Colonel.
In a statement on Monday by Ibrahim Musa, the President, Media Forum of the group, said the report linking the Shiites to the abduction was “false, unsubstantiated and mischievous claim, that looks more like a planned operation aimed at painting the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) black.”
Mr. Musa added, “We wish to categorically state here that the Islamic Movement in Nigeria under the leadership of His Eminence, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky has never, is not and will never engage in any form of crime to meet any of its objectives. Crime and criminal activities are fundamentally sinful and are not in our character.
“The Islamic Movement knows that due to official administrative ineptitude and official negligence of constituted authority, a lot of crimes including kidnapping are prevalent in the country.”
Premium Times
“The Nigerian Army wishes to regrettably inform the public that Colonel Samaila Inusa, who was kidnapped on Sunday 27th March 2016, was found dead today at about 6.00pm,” spokesperson for the Army, Sani Usman, said in a statement.
“Preliminary investigation revealed that most likely the late senior officer was killed same day he was kidnapped by his abductors. This is because the body was found already decomposing around Ajyaita village off Eastern Bypass Kaduna, Kaduna State.
“Arrangements are in progress to move the body to 44 Nigerian Army Reference Hospital, Kaduna. May His soul rest in peace, Amen."
“We wish to state in unmistakeable terms that whoever is behind his abduction and murder would be fished out to face the full wrath of the law.”
Mr. Inusa, a colonel, was seized in his Mercedes-Benz car by gunmen around Kamazo, along Kaduna Refinery Road, in Chikun local government area of Kaduna State on Sunday.
A statement by the 1 Division of the Army had said “the abductors dropped off Colonel Inusa’s wife and left with him in his car. The car headed towards Abuja.”
On Sunday, the Army offered a N500,000 reward for anyone with useful information that could lead to the rescue of Mr. Inusa.
The following day, army authorities raised the reward offer to one million naira, promising to give adequate protection to anyone who provide useful information, and that such tip-off would be treated with utmost confidentiality.
There were reports in Thisday newspaper on Sunday quoting an intelligence officer as saying the abduction of the officer might be a revenge mission by the Shiite Islamic sect against the Army over the deadly clash with the group in Zaria last year.
But the group swiftly responded, denying responsibility for the abduction of the Colonel.
In a statement on Monday by Ibrahim Musa, the President, Media Forum of the group, said the report linking the Shiites to the abduction was “false, unsubstantiated and mischievous claim, that looks more like a planned operation aimed at painting the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) black.”
Mr. Musa added, “We wish to categorically state here that the Islamic Movement in Nigeria under the leadership of His Eminence, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky has never, is not and will never engage in any form of crime to meet any of its objectives. Crime and criminal activities are fundamentally sinful and are not in our character.
“The Islamic Movement knows that due to official administrative ineptitude and official negligence of constituted authority, a lot of crimes including kidnapping are prevalent in the country.”
Premium Times
Nigeria Super Eagles fail to qualify for AFCON 2017 after defeat to Egypt
Nigeria have failed to qualify for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations after falling to a 1-0 defeat in Egypt in their Group G match on Tuesday.
With just one game remaining and only the group winners to qualify, Nigeria cannot make up their five-point deficit to table-toppers Egypt.
Ramadan Sobhy's 65th-minute winner puts Egypt on the verge of qualification.
Egypt face Tanzania in June and will book their place in Gabon with any result better than a 3-0 defeat.
Nigeria won the Nations Cup in 2013 but have now suffered back-to-back eliminations in qualifying.
They threw everything forward to find an equaliser on Tuesday and came close when West Ham winger Victor Moses crashed a shot against the post in the 84th minute.
The match in Alexandria became a virtually all-or-nothing tie for Nigeria after Chad withdrew from the group on Sunday, citing financial difficulties, and all results from their matches were erased.
That left only three teams in Group G and in accordance with the rules of the Confederation of African Football only the winner would qualify for the finals.
Egypt have seven points with one match to play, against bottom club Tanzania, who have only one point but two games remaining.
To have any chance of qualification Tanzania would need to beat Egypt by a better scoreline than the 3-0 defeat they suffered in Egypt last June because head-to-head records would come into effect if the sides finished level on points.
Tanzania would still have to beat Nigeria in their final match in September.
BBC
With just one game remaining and only the group winners to qualify, Nigeria cannot make up their five-point deficit to table-toppers Egypt.
Ramadan Sobhy's 65th-minute winner puts Egypt on the verge of qualification.
Egypt face Tanzania in June and will book their place in Gabon with any result better than a 3-0 defeat.
Nigeria won the Nations Cup in 2013 but have now suffered back-to-back eliminations in qualifying.
They threw everything forward to find an equaliser on Tuesday and came close when West Ham winger Victor Moses crashed a shot against the post in the 84th minute.
The match in Alexandria became a virtually all-or-nothing tie for Nigeria after Chad withdrew from the group on Sunday, citing financial difficulties, and all results from their matches were erased.
That left only three teams in Group G and in accordance with the rules of the Confederation of African Football only the winner would qualify for the finals.
Egypt have seven points with one match to play, against bottom club Tanzania, who have only one point but two games remaining.
To have any chance of qualification Tanzania would need to beat Egypt by a better scoreline than the 3-0 defeat they suffered in Egypt last June because head-to-head records would come into effect if the sides finished level on points.
Tanzania would still have to beat Nigeria in their final match in September.
BBC
Nigeria plans to send a man to space by 2030
It might sound like the set-up for some kind of email scam, but it’s not: Nigerian Minister of Science and Technology Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu has announced that his country plans to send its first astronaut into space before the year 2030.
The announcement comes roughly a month after a highly-circulated email con claiming that a Nigerian astronaut was after secretly being sent to space in 1989, according to the Toronto Sun. The email went on to claim that this astronaut had been kept alive thanks to care packages, but now really wants to come home and needs financial assistance to do so.
Of course, none of that is true, but Nigeria does actually have a space program, and as Channels TV and Quartz reported over the weekend, they want to join the US, India, China, Japan, Russia, Canada and the member states of the European Space Agency as governing bodies that have sent humans beyond the Earth’s atmosphere and the Karman Line (62 miles above sea level).
During a meeting with the Nigerian Defense Space Agency in Abuja last week, Dr. Onu said that spaceflight was “very important for a country like Nigeria” and that the government was working to create the infrastructure needed to pull off a manned mission, according to Channels TV.
He added that space was “a major asset which nations like Nigeria must also be involved in for the purposes of protecting national interest,” and that the ministry would need to “work very hard in the years ahead... to ensure that the nation plays a role” in space travel in the near future.
As Quartz pointed out, however, a Nigerian astronaut actually has already traveled into space – sort of. In 2006, the website explained, the country sent a 17-year-old girl named Stella Felix to an altitude of six miles (10 km), during which time she experienced 30 seconds of weightlessness and was called the first Nigerian to experience a “space flight,” according to BBC News.
Semantics aside, the plan seems to be to launch an astronaut using rockets developed by Nigerian engineers and built domestically through their own space program, which was originally founded in 2001 and launched its first satellite in 2003. It may sound like a tall order, but experts with the program have been working with China to help launch their satellites in exchange for training.
Dr. Onu, for one, is confident that he and his colleagues can pull off the feat, telling This Day, “on or before 2030, we can do it before with the program and infrastructure that we have,” and that all the funding needed to implement was a program had been included in a recently-passed budget.
“We have developed the capacity to design” and “assemble” spacecraft, he continued. “The last stage is the capacity to launch and we believe very strongly that with the support from President Muhammadu Buhari, we will utilize whatever limited resources that we have in a very efficient manner to make sure that we make the nation proud.”
Red Orbit
The announcement comes roughly a month after a highly-circulated email con claiming that a Nigerian astronaut was after secretly being sent to space in 1989, according to the Toronto Sun. The email went on to claim that this astronaut had been kept alive thanks to care packages, but now really wants to come home and needs financial assistance to do so.
Of course, none of that is true, but Nigeria does actually have a space program, and as Channels TV and Quartz reported over the weekend, they want to join the US, India, China, Japan, Russia, Canada and the member states of the European Space Agency as governing bodies that have sent humans beyond the Earth’s atmosphere and the Karman Line (62 miles above sea level).
During a meeting with the Nigerian Defense Space Agency in Abuja last week, Dr. Onu said that spaceflight was “very important for a country like Nigeria” and that the government was working to create the infrastructure needed to pull off a manned mission, according to Channels TV.
He added that space was “a major asset which nations like Nigeria must also be involved in for the purposes of protecting national interest,” and that the ministry would need to “work very hard in the years ahead... to ensure that the nation plays a role” in space travel in the near future.
As Quartz pointed out, however, a Nigerian astronaut actually has already traveled into space – sort of. In 2006, the website explained, the country sent a 17-year-old girl named Stella Felix to an altitude of six miles (10 km), during which time she experienced 30 seconds of weightlessness and was called the first Nigerian to experience a “space flight,” according to BBC News.
Semantics aside, the plan seems to be to launch an astronaut using rockets developed by Nigerian engineers and built domestically through their own space program, which was originally founded in 2001 and launched its first satellite in 2003. It may sound like a tall order, but experts with the program have been working with China to help launch their satellites in exchange for training.
Dr. Onu, for one, is confident that he and his colleagues can pull off the feat, telling This Day, “on or before 2030, we can do it before with the program and infrastructure that we have,” and that all the funding needed to implement was a program had been included in a recently-passed budget.
“We have developed the capacity to design” and “assemble” spacecraft, he continued. “The last stage is the capacity to launch and we believe very strongly that with the support from President Muhammadu Buhari, we will utilize whatever limited resources that we have in a very efficient manner to make sure that we make the nation proud.”
Red Orbit
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