Thursday, November 24, 2016
Video - Nigeria's Nollywood recognised on an international platform
The Africa International Film Festival has wrapped up in Nigeria's commercial capital of Lagos. Celebrities like Nollywood stars Rita Dominic and Ramsey Noah graced the red carpet, much to the delight of fans.
Nigeria military killed 150 pro-Biafra protesters since 2015
Nigeria's security forces have killed more than 150 peaceful protesters since August 2015, a human rights group has claimed.
Amnesty International said the military used live ammunition and deadly force against pro-Biafra protesters who were campaigning for an independent state in the south-east.
Nigeria's police denies allegations that it used unnecessary force.
The country's army said Amnesty was trying to tarnish its reputation.
Amnesty's report is based on interviews with almost 200 people, alongside more than 100 photographs and 87 videos.
Among the allegations contained in the report are what Amnesty called "extrajudicial executions", when 60 people were shot and killed in south-eastern Onitsha city, in the two days surrounding Biafra Remembrance Day in May 2016.
"This reckless and trigger-happy approach to crowd control has caused at least 150 deaths, and we fear the actual total might be far higher" said Makmid Kamara, Amnesty's interim director for Nigeria.
Other victims detailed in the report include a 26-year-old man who was shot in Nkpor, but hid in a gutter, still alive. He said when soldiers found him, they poured acid over him, and told him he would die slowly.
Another woman said she had been speaking to her husband on a mobile phone when he told her he had been shot in the abdomen. He was calling from a military vehicle, she said, and she heard gunshots. She later found his body in a morgue with two more wounds in his chest, leading her to believe he had been executed after the call.
Amnesty International said the military used live ammunition and deadly force against pro-Biafra protesters who were campaigning for an independent state in the south-east.
Nigeria's police denies allegations that it used unnecessary force.
The country's army said Amnesty was trying to tarnish its reputation.
Amnesty's report is based on interviews with almost 200 people, alongside more than 100 photographs and 87 videos.
Among the allegations contained in the report are what Amnesty called "extrajudicial executions", when 60 people were shot and killed in south-eastern Onitsha city, in the two days surrounding Biafra Remembrance Day in May 2016.
"This reckless and trigger-happy approach to crowd control has caused at least 150 deaths, and we fear the actual total might be far higher" said Makmid Kamara, Amnesty's interim director for Nigeria.
Other victims detailed in the report include a 26-year-old man who was shot in Nkpor, but hid in a gutter, still alive. He said when soldiers found him, they poured acid over him, and told him he would die slowly.
Another woman said she had been speaking to her husband on a mobile phone when he told her he had been shot in the abdomen. He was calling from a military vehicle, she said, and she heard gunshots. She later found his body in a morgue with two more wounds in his chest, leading her to believe he had been executed after the call.
'Unimaginable atrocities'
The human rights organisation said pro-Biafra protests had been "largely peaceful" despite occasional incidents of protesters throwing stones and burning tyres - and one occasion when someone shot at police.
"Regardless, these acts of violence and disorder did not justify the level of force used against the whole assembly."
But army spokesman Sani Usman that "the military and other security agencies exercised maximum restraints despite the flurry of provocative and unjustifiable violence".
The two main secessionist groups in the south-east, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra, had committed "unimaginable atrocities", he said.
This included burning and killing people from other parts of Nigeria and forcing them to flee, Col Usman added.
In the past year there has been a series of protests to demand the creation of the state of Biafra in the south-east, home to the Igbo people.
Prominent IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu has been detained without trial since October 2015, with the government defying a court order to release him.
The mention of Biafra continues to trigger powerful emotions in Nigeria - and memories of the country's darkest chapter.
In 1967, nationalists attempted to create the independent state of Biafra in the south-east. It was to be a homeland for the Igbo people, one of the country's largest ethnic groups.
But the bid for independence plunged the nation into a three-year civil war that killed at least a million people.
Almost 50 years on and the bitterness of that period still lingers. Many Igbos claim they are still being punished for the conflict.
In the past year that anger has manifested itself in a younger generation who have staged a wave of protests, fuelled, in part, by high unemployment and anger about official corruption - issues that are hardly unique to the Igbos.
But IPOB appears to have gained momentum after the Nigerian authorities detained Mr Kanu, accusing him of treason.
It is this heavy-handed approach, say human rights groups, that is inflaming the tensions.
The human rights organisation said pro-Biafra protests had been "largely peaceful" despite occasional incidents of protesters throwing stones and burning tyres - and one occasion when someone shot at police.
"Regardless, these acts of violence and disorder did not justify the level of force used against the whole assembly."
But army spokesman Sani Usman that "the military and other security agencies exercised maximum restraints despite the flurry of provocative and unjustifiable violence".
The two main secessionist groups in the south-east, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra, had committed "unimaginable atrocities", he said.
This included burning and killing people from other parts of Nigeria and forcing them to flee, Col Usman added.
In the past year there has been a series of protests to demand the creation of the state of Biafra in the south-east, home to the Igbo people.
Prominent IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu has been detained without trial since October 2015, with the government defying a court order to release him.
The mention of Biafra continues to trigger powerful emotions in Nigeria - and memories of the country's darkest chapter.
In 1967, nationalists attempted to create the independent state of Biafra in the south-east. It was to be a homeland for the Igbo people, one of the country's largest ethnic groups.
But the bid for independence plunged the nation into a three-year civil war that killed at least a million people.
Almost 50 years on and the bitterness of that period still lingers. Many Igbos claim they are still being punished for the conflict.
In the past year that anger has manifested itself in a younger generation who have staged a wave of protests, fuelled, in part, by high unemployment and anger about official corruption - issues that are hardly unique to the Igbos.
But IPOB appears to have gained momentum after the Nigerian authorities detained Mr Kanu, accusing him of treason.
It is this heavy-handed approach, say human rights groups, that is inflaming the tensions.
Wednesday, November 23, 2016
Video - Nigeria's Central Bank Governor approves crackdown on currency dealers
The Central Bank of Nigeria approved a recent crackdown of currency hawkers by the country's secret police, the Department of State Security. CBN governor Godwin Emefiele says it is illegal to traffic in foreign currency and commended the Security agents for the raid. Officials of the DSS last week raided currency black markets in Lagos, Abuja and other major cities over alleged arbitrary sale of foreign exchange.
Shell sued for decades of oil spills in Nigeria
Emere Godwin Bebe Okpabi, leader of Nigeria's Ogale people, unpacked four bottles of water from his homeland and lined them up on a table to show why his subjects are suing Royal Dutch Shell in a London court.
The Nigerian water is contaminated with oil and cancer-causing compounds such as benzene. It is what his people drink every day.
Lawyers for more than 40,000 Nigerians are demanding action from Shell to clean up oil spills.
Britain's High Court began hearing lawsuits on Tuesday filed by the Ogale and Bille people alleging that decades of oil spills have fouled the water and destroyed the lives of thousands of fishermen and farmers in the Niger River Delta, where a Shell subsidiary has operated since the 1950s.
They brought their fight to Shell's home base because they say the Nigerian courts are too corrupt.
"Let the shareholders of Shell who are residents of the advanced world, like Britain, let them see a representative of a kingdom that is being destroyed for them to have money," he told The Associated Press news agency on the eve the hearing. "That's blood money."
The Anglo-Dutch oil giant argues the case should be heard in Nigeria, pointing out it involves its Nigerian subsidiary SPDC, which runs a joint venture with the government, and Nigerian plaintiffs.
London law firm Leigh Day is handling the cases after it won a landmark agreement from Shell to pay $83.5m in compensation to the Bodo community for damage caused by oil spills in 2008 and 2009.
Shell originally offered $50,000 before the Bodo took their case to the same UK court.
The new lawsuits were brought by two communities located in Ogoniland, part of the oil-rich southern Niger River Delta.
They want to hold Shell, incorporated in the UK, responsible for the actions of its Nigerian subsidiary, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd, or SPDC.
The subsidiary said it has produced no oil or gas in the region since 1993.
The area is heavily affected by crude oil theft, pipeline sabotage and illegal refining.
It is arguing in court that the legal challenge is speculative and full of "legal and evidential weaknesses".
SPDC said it will challenge the jurisdiction of the UK courts in this case - arguing it concerns Nigerian plaintiffs in dispute with a Nigerian company over issues in Nigeria.
"If the Claimants' lawyers are correct as to the existence of this novel duty of care, [Shell] and many other parents of multinational groups will be liable to the many hundreds of millions of people around the world with whom their subsidiaries come into contact in the ordinary course of their various operations," the company said in its court argument.
"That would constitute a radical if not historic expansion of the law and open the floodgates to litigation on an unprecedented scale."
The Ogale and Bille communities account for only a small portion of the millions of Nigerians that human rights activists say have been injured by contamination they say would never have been allowed in the home countries of the multinational oil companies that operate in partnership with the Nigerian government.
Shell was the first oil company to operate in Nigeria, starting production in 1958.
In the 1990s, the military government sent armed troops to put down protests by the Ogoni people, turning the oil-producing south into a war zone.
One of the leaders of those protests was Ken Saro-Wiwa, a writer and environmental activist whose opposition helped stop Shell's production in Ogoniland.
He and eight others were hanged by the government of military dictator Sani Abacha in November 1995 in a case the US condemned.
President Muhammadu Buhari has promised a clean-up of Ogoniland, which was supposed to start in June but has been delayed.
The new lawsuits come at a time when Shell is pivoting towards other areas, such as Brazil.
It recently bought BG Group Plc for $52.4bn, increasing its proven reserves of oil and gas by 25 percent. And like other oil companies, it is also slashing jobs and postponing investments to adjust to lower oil prices.
But Shell is still seen as having deep pockets, said David Elmes, course director of the Warwick Business School's Global Energy Research Network.
While Shell would argue its settlement with the Bodo community shows its willingness to provide compensation for problems it caused, the new cases involve damage arising from what Shell says is sabotage and theft, Elmes said.
And as Shell looks to move to other countries, "people who feel they have a case against the company are looking to take action now", he said.
In a 2011 report, the UN said in at least 10 communities in Ogoniland, public health was "seriously threatened" by drinking water contaminated with hydrocarbons.
In one area, the water contained the carcinogen benzene at levels 900 times higher than what the World Health Organisation says is safe.
While the report recognised that oil production in the region had ceased, it criticised Shell's oversight of the remaining facilities.
The report recommended emergency measures to provide adequate drinking water. But so far nothing has been done, said Okpabi who describes himself as the paramount ruler of the Ogale people.
He brought the bottles of water to his lawyer's office in London just to make the point.
Removing his hat and leaning forward, he argues his people have been made poorer by the destruction of an ecosystem.
He is angry at Shell, arguing it called the shots for its Nigerian subsidiary and so should be held accountable in Britain.
"My system cannot give me justice," Okpabi said. "There is only one place that can give me justice. That is why I am here."
The Nigerian water is contaminated with oil and cancer-causing compounds such as benzene. It is what his people drink every day.
Lawyers for more than 40,000 Nigerians are demanding action from Shell to clean up oil spills.
Britain's High Court began hearing lawsuits on Tuesday filed by the Ogale and Bille people alleging that decades of oil spills have fouled the water and destroyed the lives of thousands of fishermen and farmers in the Niger River Delta, where a Shell subsidiary has operated since the 1950s.
They brought their fight to Shell's home base because they say the Nigerian courts are too corrupt.
"Let the shareholders of Shell who are residents of the advanced world, like Britain, let them see a representative of a kingdom that is being destroyed for them to have money," he told The Associated Press news agency on the eve the hearing. "That's blood money."
The Anglo-Dutch oil giant argues the case should be heard in Nigeria, pointing out it involves its Nigerian subsidiary SPDC, which runs a joint venture with the government, and Nigerian plaintiffs.
London law firm Leigh Day is handling the cases after it won a landmark agreement from Shell to pay $83.5m in compensation to the Bodo community for damage caused by oil spills in 2008 and 2009.
Shell originally offered $50,000 before the Bodo took their case to the same UK court.
The new lawsuits were brought by two communities located in Ogoniland, part of the oil-rich southern Niger River Delta.
They want to hold Shell, incorporated in the UK, responsible for the actions of its Nigerian subsidiary, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd, or SPDC.
The subsidiary said it has produced no oil or gas in the region since 1993.
The area is heavily affected by crude oil theft, pipeline sabotage and illegal refining.
It is arguing in court that the legal challenge is speculative and full of "legal and evidential weaknesses".
SPDC said it will challenge the jurisdiction of the UK courts in this case - arguing it concerns Nigerian plaintiffs in dispute with a Nigerian company over issues in Nigeria.
"If the Claimants' lawyers are correct as to the existence of this novel duty of care, [Shell] and many other parents of multinational groups will be liable to the many hundreds of millions of people around the world with whom their subsidiaries come into contact in the ordinary course of their various operations," the company said in its court argument.
"That would constitute a radical if not historic expansion of the law and open the floodgates to litigation on an unprecedented scale."
The Ogale and Bille communities account for only a small portion of the millions of Nigerians that human rights activists say have been injured by contamination they say would never have been allowed in the home countries of the multinational oil companies that operate in partnership with the Nigerian government.
Shell was the first oil company to operate in Nigeria, starting production in 1958.
In the 1990s, the military government sent armed troops to put down protests by the Ogoni people, turning the oil-producing south into a war zone.
One of the leaders of those protests was Ken Saro-Wiwa, a writer and environmental activist whose opposition helped stop Shell's production in Ogoniland.
He and eight others were hanged by the government of military dictator Sani Abacha in November 1995 in a case the US condemned.
President Muhammadu Buhari has promised a clean-up of Ogoniland, which was supposed to start in June but has been delayed.
The new lawsuits come at a time when Shell is pivoting towards other areas, such as Brazil.
It recently bought BG Group Plc for $52.4bn, increasing its proven reserves of oil and gas by 25 percent. And like other oil companies, it is also slashing jobs and postponing investments to adjust to lower oil prices.
But Shell is still seen as having deep pockets, said David Elmes, course director of the Warwick Business School's Global Energy Research Network.
While Shell would argue its settlement with the Bodo community shows its willingness to provide compensation for problems it caused, the new cases involve damage arising from what Shell says is sabotage and theft, Elmes said.
And as Shell looks to move to other countries, "people who feel they have a case against the company are looking to take action now", he said.
In a 2011 report, the UN said in at least 10 communities in Ogoniland, public health was "seriously threatened" by drinking water contaminated with hydrocarbons.
In one area, the water contained the carcinogen benzene at levels 900 times higher than what the World Health Organisation says is safe.
While the report recognised that oil production in the region had ceased, it criticised Shell's oversight of the remaining facilities.
The report recommended emergency measures to provide adequate drinking water. But so far nothing has been done, said Okpabi who describes himself as the paramount ruler of the Ogale people.
He brought the bottles of water to his lawyer's office in London just to make the point.
Removing his hat and leaning forward, he argues his people have been made poorer by the destruction of an ecosystem.
He is angry at Shell, arguing it called the shots for its Nigerian subsidiary and so should be held accountable in Britain.
"My system cannot give me justice," Okpabi said. "There is only one place that can give me justice. That is why I am here."
Jordon Ibe wants to play for Nigeria after England snub
Former Liverpool ace Ibe initially turned down pleas to play for the Super Eagles when approached by former Eagles gaffer, Sunday Oliseh, but is now ready to make a U-turn.
A source close to the Nigerian Football Federation said: “Jordon is willing to listen to what we have to offer.
“We are hoping he finds the project enticing enough to dump England where he is a youth international and play for Nigeria at senior level.”
Ibe has played for England at all levels from u-18s and has four u-21 caps.
The Cherries star was reportedly a victim of a £25,000 robbery earlier this month.
The ex-Liverpool winger was understood to have been hit by a vehicle containing four men, who threatened Ibe with a knife before taking off with his watch on November 6.
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