Trump promises President Buhari weapons to fight Boko Haram

U.S. President Donald Trump has promised to “cut a new deal” to sell more weapons to Nigeria to fight the extremist Boko Haram militia, a Nigerian spokesman says.

The promise came in a telephone conversation on Monday between Mr. Trump and Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari – the first official conversation between Mr. Trump and a sub-Saharan African leader since he took office last month.

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“President Trump assured the Nigerian president of U.S. willingness to cut a new deal in helping Nigeria in terms of military weapons to combat terrorism,” a Nigerian presidential spokesman said after the phone call.

The planned weapons sales will be controversial. In the past, the United States has often refused to sell weapons to Nigeria because of deep concerns over human-rights abuses by the Nigerian military.

In 2014, for example, the United States blocked the sale of U.S.-made Cobra attack helicopters by Israel to Nigeria because of concerns that the Nigerian army was failing to protect civilians during military operations. The Nigerian government, furious over the blocked sale, made diplomatic protests in Washington.

Many human-rights groups have documented atrocities by the Nigerian military in its battle against Boko Haram, a radical Islamist militia. Last month, a Nigerian warplane dropped two bombs on a refugee camp in northeastern Nigeria, killing more than 100 people, mostly women and children. In other well-documented incidents, the Nigerian military killed hundreds of Shia Muslims in northern Nigeria, bombed and strafed several hundred detainees who had escaped in a jailbreak, allowed thousands of detainees to die of starvation and torture at a military prison, and was reprimanded for the use of child soldiers in a government-sponsored militia.

Congressional rules have restricted U.S. arms sales to countries such as Nigeria where the military has a poor human-rights record. But last year, there were preliminary signs that the United States might be loosening these restrictions. The two countries have been discussing the sale of U.S. attack aircraft to Nigeria since last May, although the deal has not been finalized.

In their Monday phone conversation, Mr. Trump and Mr. Buhari “discussed ways to improve co-operation in the fight against terrorism through provision of necessary equipment,” the Nigerian spokesman said.

He said Mr. Trump invited Mr. Buhari to Washington and praised the Nigerian President for “the strides being taken by the Nigerian military.” The U.S. President also lauded the release in October of 21 of the schoolgirls from Chibok who were kidnapped by Boko Haram, the spokesman said.

The phone conversation between the two leaders has sparked controversy in Nigeria, where many people have been angered by Mr. Buhari’s mysterious disappearance from the country for the past three weeks.

Mr. Buhari travelled to London last month on what was initially reported as a vacation. Later, his office acknowledged that the 74-year-old President was receiving medical treatment for an undisclosed condition, and Nigeria was consumed by rumours that he was severely ill or even dead.

When news of the Trump-Buhari conversation broke on Monday, many Nigerians said Mr. Buhari should provide as much openness to the Nigerian people as he has to Mr. Trump.

Mr. Buhari’s office said he spoke to Mr. Trump from London, but some Nigerians said they wanted to see video evidence of the call to evaluate their president’s health, especially because Nigeria has a past history of leaders concealing their illnesses. In 2010, former president Umaru Yar’Adua died after a long illness that was covered up by the government.

Shortly after speaking to the Nigerian President, Mr. Trump spoke by telephone to South African President Jacob Zuma. A statement by Mr. Zuma’s office said they discussed trade and security issues, including “the quest for peace and stability on the African continent.”

Mr. Trump has said almost nothing about his Africa strategy so far. But from questions given by his staff to the U.S. State Department, it is clear that Mr. Trump has little interest in U.S. foreign aid to Africa. Instead, he sees Africa primarily through the lens of security issues, especially the fight against Islamist radical groups. Stability and security issues dominated his phone calls with both African leaders on Monday.

The Globe and Mail

Nigeria - Authorities in Nigeria recover more than $160m dollars in anti-graft drive

Nigeria's government has announced the recovery of more than $160 million dollars in stolen state funds in less than two months as part of an anti-graft drive. Government officials say the money was recovered for four people including a former head of the state oil company. The largest amount, about $136 million was stashed in a commercial bank using a fake account name. In December last year the west African nation launched a whistle-blower scheme entitling those who help find stolen assets to up to five percent of the recovered sums. Graft, particularly in the oil sector on which Nigeria relies, has taken large sums from the country's coffers. Several former government officials, including army generals, are on trial for corruption.

Video - Boko Haram reportedly battling financial crisis and internal split

Boko Haram is reportedly struggling to survive. The United Nations maintains the group is broke and facing an internal split. CGTN's Kelechi Emekalam has more on what a financial crisis could mean to the militants' survival.

Nigerian seeks ban reversal from EU for beans export

Plans are in top gear by the Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS) to get the European Union EU lift its ban on exportation of beans from Nigeria to its member countries.

The Coordinating Director of the agency, Dr. Vincent Isegbe, who disclosed this at the opening of a two- day training workshop on Plant Health Inspection and Certification of Vegetables for exporters and farmers, said all hands are on deck to ensure that the EU lifts the ban before 2019.

Noting that the EU ban on Nigerian beans has severely affected the economy, Isegbe said there was a need to avoid future rejection of Nigeria’s agricultural commodities even as he pointed out that the agency is doing its best to revert the situation.

According to him, the EU has promised to reverse the ban if necessary measures were put in place before 2019.

“We have had issues in the past concerning beans where the European

Union suspended Nigeria for three years from beans export. That is not good for us because it means that all the farmers who are producing beans can no longer export the quantity that they used to export.

“All the traders in between, the warehouse people, the transporters and we, who are involved in the inspection and certification, that aspect has been broken down because they cannot generate any revenue along the value chain anymore.

“The good news is that the EU said if we can put the process in place earlier than 2019, they will reverse their decision. So that is where we are,” he said.

Isegbe, said NAQS is fully committed to ensuring that the country agriculture produce meets international standards and export quality.

He said the training is centered on vegetables because it is one of Nigeria’s most exported commodity.

According to him, because of the sensitive processes involved in the handling of vegetables, there is a need to put in place stringent inspection and certification procedures that will sustain its export especially at a time the government is placing emphasis on non-oil exports.

“Vegetables are a delicate product and because it is almost ready to eat, it needs more stringent inspection and certification procedures since most times we eat it fresh as salad. So, such ready to eat commodity will need special attention.

“Now that the revenue from oil is falling, we need to go back to our first love which is agriculture. We were doing well in that area in the 1960,s and early 70’s but in the 80’s, upward, there has been a reduction in agricultural produce for export. That is why we are emphasising that the process that will enable our commodities to be accepted internationally, we have to put it in place,” he said.

Also speaking, Zonal Coordinator, South West Zone S. A. Ikani S.A said in recent times, vegetables from Nigeria are been intercepted by the importing countries especially United States of America due to the menace of White Flies (Bemisia Tabacci).

He said the constant interception is fast becoming an embarrassment to the agency and the nation as a whole hence, the need to organise the training for farmers and exporters to be more experienced in the process involved in the production and handling of vegetables from the farm down to the port of exit.

Guardian

Video - Nigerian soldiers caught on camera beating up disabled man

Two Nigerian soldiers have been arrested and charged with assault after they were filmed beating a disabled man with sticks in a busy street.

The army said the reason for the assault, in Onitsha in Anambra state on Tuesday, appeared to be because the man was wearing a camouflage shirt.

It said the soldiers had been charged "in line with our zero tolerance for acts of indiscipline".

Many Nigerians complain that soldiers are rarely punished for excesses.

Human rights groups have persistently accused Nigeria's military of abuses against civilians, especially in north-east Nigeria, where it has been fighting a long-running insurgency by militant Islamist group Boko Haram.

Wearing camouflage clothing is a sensitive issue in Nigeria because militants and criminals have often worn camouflage clothing either to carry out attacks or impersonate soldiers for other criminal purposes.

Section 110 of the Nigerian criminal code says it is an offence to unlawfully wear uniform of the armed forces or dress "having the appearance... of such uniforms".

Footage of the assault on the disabled man in Onitsha, in southern Nigeria, had been circulating on social media before the army commented.

It said the "ugly incident" was "an isolated case which is not [a] true reflection of the Nigerian army".

News of the soldiers being charged came a week after another soldier was jailed for seven years for shooting dead a civilian at a market in the city of Maiduguri, in the north-east, last year.

The soldier, who was not identified, was found guilty of manslaughter.

In court, he argued that he acted in self-defence after the man he killed, named as Umar Alkali, tried to wrestle his rifle from him. The military court rejected this argument, deciding that he had used disproportionate force.

BBC