Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Video - Nigeria's growing film industry



Nollywood, Nigeria's celebrated film industry, is booming. Allow actor Ramsey Nouah and filmmaker Don Omope to talk you through its success.

Video - Lack of infrastructure affects ginger industry in Nigeria



Kaduna State in north-western Nigeria is home to the country's ginger farms. The state produces the bulk of the spice, which is consumed internally and exported. But Kaduna has no functional ginger processing plant and it's seriously affecting the profitability of the industry.

Russia to build nuclear power plant for Nigeria

Russia has signed agreements with Nigeria to build and operate a nuclear power plant in the oil-rich West African nation that has a deficit of reliable power and faces security challenges by Islamist militants in the far northeast.

Feasibility studies for the plant and a research center construction will include site screening, capacity, financing, and time frames of the projects, state-owned Russian nuclear company Rosatom said in an emailed statement. Representatives from the firm and the Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission signed the deal.

The nations in 2009 signed an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in the field of the peaceful usage of nuclear technologies. Nigeria in 2015 was in talks with Rosatom to build as many as four nuclear power plants costing about $20 billion, the Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission said at the time.


Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, distributes an average of 4,500 megawatts of electricity. Half the output of the Egbin power plant, the nation’s biggest, is lost because of inadequate transmission infrastructure, its chief officer said last month.

Rosatom is seeking to build nuclear power plants in other countries on the continent including South Africa.

Nigerian government to pay victims of civil war $288 million

A court on Monday ordered Nigeria to pay 88 billion naira ($288 million) in damages to victims of the 1967 civil war for failure to fully de-mine and clear the land of other weaponry after the end of hostilities.

The ruling calls on the government to pay 50 billion naira directly to war victims in 11 states and put 38 billion naira toward de-mining and the construction of schools, courts, churches and mosques in the affected areas.

A judge for the Economic Community of West African States Court of Justice ruled that there remain “large quantities” of live bombs deprived communities of farmland since the civil war ended in 1970.

Sovereign states do not have to respect the court’s rulings and there is no framework for making them binding. The office of President Muhammadu Buhari did not immediately comment on the ruling.

A million people died in the 1967-70 civil war over the short-lived Republic of Biafra.

Monday, October 30, 2017

Video - Nigerians call for government to take tougher stance on corruption



Nigeria where a civil movement's call to curb corruption has been gaining momentum. Transparency International ranks the country as one of the most corrupt in the world -- but analysts say it can get better.