Video - Nigerian Teacher who helped Boko Haram schoolgirls’ release wins UN award

The founder of a school for orphaned children in Nigeria has won a top United Nations award. The UNHCR’s Nansen Refugee Award honours people who dedicate their lives to helping victims of war. 

Zannah Mustapha has helped children whose parents were killed by the armed group Boko Haram. He also helped secure the deal to release schoolgirls held by the armed group. Al Jazeera's Catherine Soi reports from Maiduguri in northeastern Nigeria.

Video - Hope for release of more Chibok girls

In Nigeria, there's renewed hope that the remaining Chibok girls may be released by Boko Haram militants. They were taken more than three years ago. Now, Nigeria's Minister For Women's Affairs says major progress has been made in ongoing talks.

Nigeria gets first DNA laboratory in Lagos

The Lagos State Government on Sunday said it had completed the construction of the first ever high-powered DNA Forensic Laboratory in Nigeria.

Adeniji Kazeem, the State’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, who disclosed this in a statement said skeletal work had already commenced in the lab known as the Lagos State DNA Forensics Centre (LSDFC), and that it would be formally commissioned in coming weeks.

The State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, had last year approved the construction of the DNA forensic lab as part of the criminal justice sector reforms designed to solve crime through technology and fulfil an unmet need for DNA profiling in the country.

Speaking at a press briefing in Lagos to announce activities lined up by the state government to commemorate the 2017 United Nations International Day of Peace, Mr. Kazeem said DNA laboratory “just opened this month.”

The state’s Attorney General, who was represented at the briefing by Funlola Odunlami, the State’s Solicitor General and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice, said the lab, among other initiatives of the state government, was part of efforts geared toward enhancing peace in the State.

“We are yet to commission it but it has been opened and it is a DNA crime forensic lab and at the same time, it is going to deal with other DNA matters like paternity issue,” said Mr. Kazeem.

He recalled that since 2007, the state government through the Citizens’ Mediation Centre (CMC), an agency under the Ministry of Justice, commenced collaborations with the United Nations Information Office to mark the International Day of Peace as an annual event to propagate the ethos of peaceful co-existence among residents in the State, thereby educating and sensitizing the public on the need for peaceful co-existence and respect for human dignity to engender socio-economic growth.

Mr. Kazeem said the laboratory is one of the mechanisms put in place by the government to promote investment and economic activities in the state.

Speaking on activities to mark the 2017 edition of the day tagged “Together For Peace: Respect, Safety and Dignity For All,” Mr. Kazeem said on September 18, there would be a Walk for Peace/Legal Clinic on Ikorodu Road precisely from Funsho Williams Avenue through Ojuelegba to Yaba, while on September 19, a second Walk for Peace/Legal Clinic will hold at Jubilee Under-bridge in Ajah through Ibeju Lekki Expressway and back to the bridge.

On the same day, Mr. Kazeem said the CMC would hold a Legal Clinic at both venues where free legal services and mediation services will be rendered to residents of the state, while on September 21, the 18th Stakeholders’ Conference and Book Launch would hold at the Adeyemi Bero Auditorium in Alausa to mark the day.

Every year, September 21 is observed as the International Day of Peace as declared by the General Assembly of United Nations as a day devoted to strengthening ideals of peace, both within and among all nations and peoples.

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Nigerian wins top UN award

A teacher who takes in orphans of both Islamist fighters and Nigerian army soldiers has won this year's UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award.

"They are the best of friends," Zannah Mustapha says of his pupils. "This should be a template for world peace."

Mr Mustapha is the founder of one of the few remaining primary schools in Nigeria's troubled city of Maiduguri.

He also negotiated the release of 82 so-called Chibok girls, kidnapped by Boko Haram.

A former barrister, Mr Mustapha played a crucial role mediating between the Nigerian government and the Islamists for the release of the abducted schoolgirls.

More than 100 of the 276 girls kidnapped from their school in Chibok in 2014 are still unaccounted for, and are presumed to still be in the custody of Boko Haram.

At Future Prowess Islamic Foundation School, the volunteer teacher provides the students with a free education, as well as free meals, uniforms and healthcare.

The UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award honours those who give "extraordinary service to the forcibly displaced".

Previous winners include Graça Machel, Luciano Pavarotti and Eleanor Roosevelt.

"Education is one of the most powerful tools for helping refugee children overcome the horrors of violence and forced displacement," said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.

"The work [Mr] Mustapha and his team are doing is of the utmost importance."

Mr Mustapha will be presented with his award at ceremony in the Swiss city of Geneva on 2 October.

BBC

Video - eCommerce in Nigeria

When it comes to eCommerce on the continent, Nigeria is arguably ahead of the pack in several respects. Last year, what's now known as the Jumia Group raised over $300 million in funding, getting a $1 billion valuation in the process. Tencent, and other firms invested $1.3 million last December in the payments processing firm, Paystack. Earlier this year, the Cars45, raised $5 million in funding. Clearly, on cash alone there's a lot more equity flowing into West Africa, than the Silicon Savannah in the East. 

Ahead of the WCA Summit in October, CGTN's Ramah Nyang spoke to the CEO of Cars45, Etop Ikpe, to find out what makes Nigeria's eCommerce sector tick.