Niger Delta Avengers announce ceasefire

The Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), known for its attacks on Nigeria’s oil installations, has announced a ceasefire, saying it will support the notion of holding talks with the government in Abuja.

The group said in a message on its website late Saturday that it would support efforts to negotiate with “the federal government of Nigeria, representatives from the home countries of all multinational oil corporations and neutral international mediators.”

It said NDA would “observe a cessation of hostilities” and will honor its pledge “unless the ruling political APC (All Progressives Congress party) continues ... to arrest, intimidate, invade and harass innocent citizens and invade especially Ijaw communities.”

The Ijaw ethnic people are the dominant militant group in the southern Niger Delta region. They have vowed to resume fighting if the current window for talks expires and the government fails to address their demands.

“We promise to fight more for the Niger Delta, if this opportunity fails,” the NDA said in its message.

Attacks on Nigeria’s oil pipeline and facilities have left a devastating impact on the African country’s economy. Reports say Abuja has lost a third of its oil income as a result of the militancy affecting its oil facilities.

The government blamed two such attacks on Friday on the DNA while a second group, identifying itself as the Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate (NDGJM), carried out another attack on the state-owned pipeline on the same day.

The DNA has yet to comment on reports that it has been holding talks with government representatives in Abuja over the past weeks. The group has also refused to publicly support efforts by community figures from the Niger Delta region to resolve the conflict. 

PressTV

Sun International to exit Nigeria

Sun International Ltd. plans to exit Nigeria after the South African casino and hotel operator’s earnings in the country plunged amid a weakening economy and a dispute involving the company’s local partners.

Sun International bought 49 percent of the Nigerian Stock Exchange-listed Tourist Company of Nigeria 10 years ago, giving it part-ownership of the Federal Palace hotel in Lagos, one of the main hotels used by businessmen traveling to the commercial capital. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization at the Nigerian operations fell 58 percent in the 12 months through June, Sun said in a statement on Monday. Occupancy rates at the property fell to 42 percent.

“The Federal Palace continues to operate in a difficult environment with the Nigerian economy facing a number of crises including the low oil price,” the Johannesburg-based company said in the statement. The Islamist insurgency led by the Boko Haram group and a weakening naira also hurt trading, while an “ongoing shareholder dispute has frustrated all attempts to develop and improve the property,” the company said.

Other South African companies to have left Nigeria include retailers Woolworths Holdings Ltd. and Truworths International Ltd., citing tough regulation and rising costs. Johannesburg-based MTN Group Ltd., Africa’s biggest mobile-phone provider, agreed to pay a 330 billion naira ($957 million) regulatory fine in the country earlier this year, leading to its first-ever half-year loss.

Sun has been drawn into a “long-standing family dispute” between fellow shareholders in Nigeria, the company said earlier this year, after workers, including South African expatriates, were detained without charges by Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crime Commission. The employees have still not had their passports returned to them, while no charges have been laid against them or the company, Sun said on Monday.

The process of exiting Nigeria is likely to be “protracted,” as Sun seeks to ensure it receives fair value for the investment, the company said. The hotelier said in May it plans to sell minority interests in properties in countries including Zambia, Botswana and Namibia for 394 million rand ($29 million) to reduce debt.

The shares were 0.4 percent lower at 91.76 rand as of 2:02 p.m. in Johannesburg, valuing the company at 10 billion rand.

Sun, owner of the Sun City resort northwest of Johannesburg, said full-year diluted adjusted earnings per share excluding one-time items fell 20 percent to 6.28 rand, while sales gained 15 percent to 12.2 billion rand. The final dividend was cut to 1.35 rand a share from 1.75 rand the previous year.

Bloomberg

Japanese plastic surgeon gives Nigeria’s Olympics football team $390,000 for coming third

After defeating Honduras in the third place match at the Olympics soccer event on Saturday (Aug. 20), Nigeria’s players ended up with bronze medals on their necks and thousands of dollars in their pockets—thanks to Katsuya Takasu, a Japanese plastic surgeon.

The grinning Takasu flew into Rio to rewarded the team with $390,000 for their bronze medal win at the Rio Games after being impressed by the team’s resilience despite the haphazard planning and poor conditions before and during the Games.

After the Nigerian team was left stranded in Atlanta, USA, ahead of the Games because their flights had not been paid for, their plight made headlines. Eventually, the team landed in Rio just seven hours ahead of their first game, against Japan. But despite the less than ideal circumstances, the team served up an impressive performance to beat the Japan and eventually finished top of their group. But the money troubles didn’t end there. Hours before the quarterfinal match against Denmark, Nigeria’s players threatened to boycott the game in protest over unpaid allowances. After reading the team’s financial struggles, Takasu said he “felt the need to make a big contribution.”

Takasu donated $200,000 to the team to “cover bonuses and allowances” and also donated $10,000 to all members of the 18-man team as well as the team manager for winning bronze. Takasu flew to Rio to personally deliver cheques to the team.

“I had traveled from Tokyo prepared to reward them anyway, and to watch them win the bronze inside the stadium was very fulfilling,” he told BBC.

“This team showed resilience and fought the hardest to achieve success despite all their problems. Some people would have given up but they didn’t,” Takasu is reported to have said.

Takasu’s donation was briefly the subject of corruption allegations as officials of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) were forced to deny reports that they planned to make Takasu give the money to the federation rather than to the players. “To say NFF has ‘hijacked’ the money is outright mischief,” Amaju Pinnick, NFF president, said. “Nigeria is a sovereign nation and such a donation must go through a process. If we get a go-ahead, it will go directly to the team.” Reports had suggested the NFF planned to use the donation to offset salaries of members of the coaching staff who have not been paid for the last five months.

Takasu’s gesture was a positive turn in an otherwise poor Olympics outing for Nigeria. Despite lofty targets set by the country’s sports minister, the bronze medal won by the soccer team was the only medal recorded by the entire Olympics contingent.

Quartz

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African athletes are making their mark at these Games, especially on the track. There have already been newly-minted world records thanks to Ethiopia's Almaz Ayana and South Africa's Wayde van Niekerk. But not all performances are about gold medals or world records. Some athletes like Aruna Quadri are making history by breaking new ground.

Militant group Niger Delta Avengers want to break up Nigeria

The Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) have again threatened to withdraw the oil-producing region from Nigeria.

The militant group, which has been blowing up oil pipelines since February, said that it hoped Nigeria would strike oil in the north of the country “so they can let the Niger Delta go,” accusing President Muhammadu Buhari of dividing the country.

“The Buhari-led government has failed Nigerians with their misdirected policies that have divided the country, as such [that] nobody wants to be part of that failed state, not even the Niger Delta,” said the NDA in a statement on Thursday.

The majority of Nigeria’s oil is concentrated in the Niger Delta, a region of southern swamplands. Militant groups including the NDA have periodically risen up and demanded a fairer share of the country’s oil wealth for impoverished communities in the Delta. The oil sector accounts for more than 90 percent of the value of Nigeria’s exports and 70 percent of government revenue.

Attacks by the NDA and other groups have slashed Nigeria’s oil production by several hundred thousand barrels per day (bpd) in 2016, and the Nigerian government has said it is negotiating a settlement with the militants. But the NDA have denied entering any negotiations and threatened secession from Nigeria.

“The October 1 declaration of independence is still sacrosanct. If the Nigerian government fails to retrace its steps by restructuring this country,” said the NDA. October 1 marks the anniversary of Nigeria’s independence from colonial Britain, which was achieved in 1960.

Elsewhere, ex-Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan has again denied any links with militant groups in the Niger Delta. Nigeria’s Premium Times reported on Thursday that the Nigerian Presidency had ordered a probe into alleged links between Jonathan and his wife Patience with the groups, including the NDA. A similar allegation had been made by a little-known militant group calling itself the Reformed Niger Delta Avengers earlier in August.

In a statement issued by his spokesman, Jonathan’s camp denied the report and said such allegations were the work of people with grievances against the former president. “There is no doubt that there exist such people who may have scores to settle with the former president,” said the statement, reported by Nigeria’s Pulse news site.

Newsweek