Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Suicide attacks kill 15 in Nigeria

At least 15 people were killed on Monday when two female suicide bombers attacked an aid distribution point in northeastern Nigeria.

A rescue worker said the first blast happened at 11:10am local time (10:10 GMT) in Mashalari village of the Konduga area, about 40km from Borno state capital Maiduguri.

"[It] killed 15 people and left 43 others injured," he told AFP news agency. "It happened during aid distribution by an NGO, when people had gathered to receive donations."

"Twelve minutes later, another bomber struck, but luckily only she died," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The rescue worker said both bombers were women but did not specify which NGO was distributing aid.

Babakura Kolo, from the Civilian Joint Task Force, a militia assisting the military with security, confirmed the rescue worker's account.

"We have dispatched out a team to the scene," he said.

Bello Dambatta, head of rescue operations for Borno state's Emergency Management Agency, said women were the majority of those killed in the morning attack and the death toll was likely to rise.

No immediate claim of responsibility came for the attack, but the Boko Haram armed group has carried out similar bombings in the past in the region.

Northeastern Nigeria is in the grip of a humanitarian crisis caused by Boko Haram violence, which has left at least 20,000 people dead and displaced more than 2.6 million since 2009.

The violence has devastated farming, leading to chronic food shortages and leaving hundreds of thousands of people on the brink of starvation and dependent on aid agencies for help.

Nigeria's military and government maintain that Boko Haram is a spent force as a result of a sustained counterinsurgency campaign over the last two years.

But continued attacks, particularly in hard-to-reach rural areas of Borno, suggest claims of outright victory are premature.

On Saturday, at least 28 people were killed and more than 80 wounded when three female suicide bombers detonated their explosives outside a camp for displaced people in Konduga.

This month, Boko Haram fighters fired a rocket-propelled grenade into a camp for internally displaced persons near the border with Cameroon, killing seven.

Amnesty International says Boko Haram attacks since April have killed nearly 400 people in Nigeria and Cameroon - double the figure of the previous five months.

The UN children's fund said last month 83 children had been used as suicide bombers this year, four times as many as in all of 2016.

Amina Yuguda from Nigeria wins BBC World News Komla Dumor award

A journalist from north-eastern Nigeria has won the third BBC World News Komla Dumor Award.

Amina Yuguda is a news presenter on local network Gotel Television, where she has reported on high-profile news stories, including the Boko Haram insurgency.

She will start a three-month placement at the BBC in London in September.

The award was created to honour Komla Dumor, a presenter for BBC World News, who died suddenly aged 41 in 2014.

Ms Yuguda said her win was a "huge honour".

"I was overwhelmed with joy. Storytellers have always had an important role in Africa... this is what defines us. Today journalists are taking on that responsibility."

She impressed the panel with her story-telling and her ability to convey complex ideas in a way that resonates with a wide audience.

She is excited to work at the BBC, given her understanding of the corporation's impact among pastoralists in her hometown, saying in her application:

"With little or no formal education, my countrymen can hold their own in a variety of topics, including the Trump presidency in America, North Korea's defiance, Russia's foreign relations under Putin, and more."

BBC World Service Group Director Francesca Unsworth said Ms Yuguda was a worthy winner:

"To find someone who possesses many of Komla's qualities is something for us to celebrate, and we are very excited about working with Amina."

Previous winners of the Komla Dumor Award were Ugandan news anchor Nancy Kacungira and Nigerian business journalist Didi Akinyelure.

Monday, September 18, 2017

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.