Friday, March 16, 2018

Video - Nigerian youth activists look to lower age limit for political office



Activists in Nigeria are seeking to lower the age limit required for political office. Over 1 thousand young people marched to the Presidential Villa looking for President Buhari to sign the bill. Here's more on that story.

Thursday, March 15, 2018

President Buhari vows 'no rest' until girls kidnapped by Boko Haram are free

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari vowed Wednesday his government will never give up until the schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram militants go free.

"There will be no rest till the last girl, whether from Chibok and (or) Dapchi, is released," Buhari said in a statement, referring to the towns where the terror group has struck in the past four years.

The Nigerian leader spoke Wednesday while visiting the Government Girls Science Technical College in Dapchi, a town in Nigeria's Yobe state where Boko Haram abducted 110 schoolgirls in a February 19 raid. It marked his first trip there since last month's attack.


In April 2014, Boko Haram sparked international outrage when it kidnapped 276 girls from a boarding school in Chibok, a town in Borno state. More than 100 of these girls remain in captivity, and their whereabouts.

In Dapchi, Buhari met Wednesday with families of the missing girls, saying his administration has remained resolute in fighting terrorism and ensuring the students are returned safely.

"We have re-equipped our armed forces, security and intelligence services," Buhari said, adding that Nigeria's air force is maintaining aerial surveillance of the area.

Buhari said the government was investigating circumstances that led to the girls' abduction and warned that "any agency, person or group found to have been negligent or culpable" would be punished.

He said he is confident that all the missing girls will be rescued or released and returned safely to their families.

"The government, under my watch, will continue to maintain normalcy and ensure that incidents of this nature are stopped," Buhari said.

Bashir Manzo, who attended the meeting, told CNN that he and other parents are anxious but are patiently waiting for the girls' rescue. Manzo's daughter, Fatima, 16, is among the missing.
"We want our girls back, but we will give them the time they need to find them," says Manzo, who was elected head of a parents' association for the missing Dapchi schoolgirls.

The Nigerian leader last month called the abductions a "national disaster."

He has said Nigeria is working with international organizations and negotiators to ensure the girls go free unharmed.

"Our resolve (is) to negotiate for the unconditional release of the girls," Buhari said in a statement Wednesday.

"Doing so is safer ... and will not endanger the lives of our young girls who are in harm's way," he said.

The government last year freed five top Boko Haram commanders in exchange for the release of 82 of the Chibok schoolgirls.

Nigerian army spokesman John Agim told CNN last week that one of those freed commanders, Shuibu Moni, would be apprehended again after he taunted the military in a recent propaganda video from the militant Islamic group.

Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Video - Nigerian entrepreneur makes clothes out of plastic waste



Now to Nigeria where one entrepreneur is recycling plastic water sachets into rain coats, school bags and even shoes. He says he is doing his part to fight pollution and encourage reuse and recycling while making a practical fashion statement.

25 dead in herdsmen attack in Nigeria

There appears to be no let up in the gruesome bloodletting in the Benue-Plateau region in North-central Nigeria, as yet another 25 persons were reportedly killed in the wee hours of Tuesday in an attack on Dundu village in the Kwal District of Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State.

Confirming the attack, the President of Irigwe Development Association (IDA), Hon. Sunday Abdu, said the suspected Fulani herdsmen swooped on the community Monday night and raided it for hours, leaving at least 25 persons dead in the aftermath.

While the 25 were being buried in a mass grave in the village, Abdu said the search for bodies was still ongoing since some of the residents who tried to escape the bloody raid were killed in the surrounding bushes and may not have been discovered yet.

Also confirming the killings, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr Tyopev Terna, placed the death toll from the latest attack at 25, adding that his men were drafted to the village to take charge of the situation.

But the spokesman of the military Special Task Force (STF) on Security in the state, Major Umar, had initially said eight persons were shot at, adding that seven died on the spot while the eighth victim who was rushed to the hospital eventually died, bringing the fatalities to eight.

Umar, however, called back Tuesday to say that the death toll had risen from eight to 21.

He also said that when the STF received a distress call concerning the attack, they quickly drafted soldiers to rescue the villagers, but the assailants had fled before they got there.

He added that the Dundu terrain was a very difficult one, spanning over 11 kilometres from the village.

Rev. Jerry Datim, a local cleric who conducted the mass burial, said the bodies brought for burial were 25, and lamented that the state government had abandoned the villagers to their fate.

He was critical of the state governor, Simon Lalong, saying that while the latter was making merry with President Muhammadu Buhari during the president's visit, suspected Fulani raiders were killing more people in the villages.

He called on the state government to stop giving false reports on the existing peace in the state when the reverse was the case.

Meanwhile, a mass burial for about 10 other persons who were recently slain in Miango village had been slated for Tuesday before the latest killings. Miango is a stone throw from Dundu.

Tuesday, March 13, 2018

Nigeria plans to negotiate with Boko Haram for the release of 110 kidnapped girls

Nigeria's presidency said on Monday it plans to negotiate for the release of 110 girls abducted from a school in the northeastern town of Dapchi last month, rather than use a military operation to free them by force.

The kidnapping is one of the largest since the jihadist group Boko Haram abducted more than 270 schoolgirls from the northeastern town of Chibok in 2014. Some of the Chibok girls have been freed after what security sources say were ransom payments; around 100 are still being held.

Nigeria is grappling with an insurgency by Boko Haram that has killed at least 20,000 people since 2009. Members of the group are suspected of the latest kidnapping, on Feb. 19, in the state of Yobe.


President Muhammadu Buhari, a 75-year-old former military ruler, discussed the use of negotiations during a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in the capital, Abuja, the presidency said.

"Nigeria prefers to have schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram from Chibok and Dapchi back alive, and that is why it has chosen negotiation, rather than a military option," Buhari's office said in an emailed statement issued by the president's spokesman.

"President Buhari added that Nigeria was working in concert with international organizations and negotiators, to ensure that the girls were released unharmed by their captors," the presidency statement said.

The issue of security has become politically charged in Nigeria less than a year before a presidential election. Buhari is touring areas hit by security problems and this week will visit the state where the schoolgirls were abducted, the statement said.

Tillerson was in Nigeria for the last stop in a week-long tour of African countries, his first trip to the continent as Secretary of State, during which he has emphasized security partnerships. He visited Ethiopia, Kenya, Djibouti and Chad before arriving in Nigeria's capital.

The emailed statement also said Buhari thanked the U.S. for assistance rendered in the fight against Boko Haram, noting that Nigerian forces are good but need assistance with training and equipment.