Friday, September 13, 2019
Video - Nigerians repatriated from South Africa after attacks
Nigeria began repatriating more than 600 of its citizens from South Africa following a wave of deadly xenophobic attacks that frayed relations among neighbouring nations. Private Nigerian airline Air Peace volunteered to fly people for free back to the commercial capital Lagos on Wednesday. It was not immediately clear how many people boarded the flight, but Nigeria's government said it estimated 313 people were on their way home. A second flight departs on Thursday or Friday with 640 Nigerians in total fleeing the country. The repatriation came after riots in Pretoria and Johannesburg killed at least 12 people as 1,000 foreign-owned businesses were targeted. The nationalities of those killed have not been announced but Nigerians, Ethiopians, Congolese, and Zimbabweans were attacked, according to local media.
Related stories: Video - Hundreds of Nigerians sign up for voluntary evacuation from South Africa
Nigeria to repatriate 600 Nigerians from South Africa due to xenophobic violence
Video - Thousands of Nigerian businesses attend event in Lagos
About a hundred Chinese Manufacturers and suppliers are in Nigeria's commercial capital, Lagos for the China Trade Week. It's everything construction under one roof. The Big 5 as it's called, is attracting thousands of Nigerian businesses from across the country.
Ex-coach Samson Siasia mother still missing in Nigeria 2 months after kidnap
Beauty Ogere Siasia,80, was abducted in her house on July 15 in Odoni in Sagbama area in oil rich Bayelsa State, southern Nigeria.
Now having spent more than seven weeks in captivity, family members are now worried about her health.
Siasia’s younger brother, Dennis Siasia, said the abduction had brought distress to the family as they are unable to raise the $230,000 ransom demanded by the kidnappers.
Mrs Ogere had initially been kidnapped in November 2015 but was released 12 days after a ransom was paid.
Last month, the world's football governing body slapped Siasia with a life ban and a 50,000 Swiss Francs ($50,000, 46,000 euros) fine after finding him guilty of taking bribes to fix matches.
By Mohammed Momoh
The East African
22,000 Nigerians missing since Boko Haram crisis began
At least 22,000 people are missing in Nigeria due to the decade-long conflict with the Boko Haram group, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said.
In a statement, ICRC President Peter Maurer said nearly 60 percent of those missing were children and that it was the highest number of missing persons registered with the organisation in any country.
"They were minors when they went missing, meaning thousands of parents don't know where their children are and if they are alive or dead," he said on Thursday at the end of his five-day trip to Nigeria.
"Every parent's worst nightmare is not knowing where their child is. This is the tragic reality for thousands of Nigerian parents."
Nigeria is faced with multiple conflicts, including attacks by the Boko Haram and the frequent clashes between the nomadic herders and the farmers.
Boko Haram - whose name roughly translates to "Western education is forbidden" - wants to establish an Islamic state based on a strict interpretation of the Islamic law.
The United Nations estimates that more than 27,000 people have been killed and an estimated two million others displaced in Nigeria's northeast because of the violence by the Boko Haram.
Meanwhile, in Nigeria's central states, clashes between farmers and nomadic herders over dwindling arable land have also killed thousands and displaced tens of thousands.
'We have no hope'
In 2015, the Nigerian military launched "Operation Lafiya Dole" to force the Boko Haram out of the country's northeast.
But it is the families of those missing, mainly in the urban centres of Borno state in Nigeria's northeast, who are forced to deal with the trauma.
"My father is traumatised. He goes out looking for my brother from time to time, hoping he will be found," 43-year-old Noami Abwaku told Al Jazeera about her brother Yerima Abwaku, a civil servant who disappeared on October 30, 2015.
She said her 53-year-old brother worked in a government school in Maiduguri, the epicentre of Boko Haram attacks.
"At this point, we have no hope because many like Yerima went missing around that time and they've not been found," Noami Abwaku said. "Three of my colleagues in office also went in the same period."
Boko Haram still occupies large expanses of the Nigerian countryside, mainly in the northeast and has a stronghold around the Lake Chad region bordering Cameroon and Niger.
Analyst Cheta Nwanze told Al Jazeera that the number of missing persons is not surprising and blamed it on a "notoriously lax" administration.
"It is a logical consequence of the fact that we consistently report not the names of the people missing, but just the numbers. To solve this, we must improve the accountability system," he said.
By Mercy Abang
Al Jazeera
In a statement, ICRC President Peter Maurer said nearly 60 percent of those missing were children and that it was the highest number of missing persons registered with the organisation in any country.
"They were minors when they went missing, meaning thousands of parents don't know where their children are and if they are alive or dead," he said on Thursday at the end of his five-day trip to Nigeria.
"Every parent's worst nightmare is not knowing where their child is. This is the tragic reality for thousands of Nigerian parents."
Nigeria is faced with multiple conflicts, including attacks by the Boko Haram and the frequent clashes between the nomadic herders and the farmers.
Boko Haram - whose name roughly translates to "Western education is forbidden" - wants to establish an Islamic state based on a strict interpretation of the Islamic law.
The United Nations estimates that more than 27,000 people have been killed and an estimated two million others displaced in Nigeria's northeast because of the violence by the Boko Haram.
Meanwhile, in Nigeria's central states, clashes between farmers and nomadic herders over dwindling arable land have also killed thousands and displaced tens of thousands.
'We have no hope'
In 2015, the Nigerian military launched "Operation Lafiya Dole" to force the Boko Haram out of the country's northeast.
But it is the families of those missing, mainly in the urban centres of Borno state in Nigeria's northeast, who are forced to deal with the trauma.
"My father is traumatised. He goes out looking for my brother from time to time, hoping he will be found," 43-year-old Noami Abwaku told Al Jazeera about her brother Yerima Abwaku, a civil servant who disappeared on October 30, 2015.
She said her 53-year-old brother worked in a government school in Maiduguri, the epicentre of Boko Haram attacks.
"At this point, we have no hope because many like Yerima went missing around that time and they've not been found," Noami Abwaku said. "Three of my colleagues in office also went in the same period."
Boko Haram still occupies large expanses of the Nigerian countryside, mainly in the northeast and has a stronghold around the Lake Chad region bordering Cameroon and Niger.
Analyst Cheta Nwanze told Al Jazeera that the number of missing persons is not surprising and blamed it on a "notoriously lax" administration.
"It is a logical consequence of the fact that we consistently report not the names of the people missing, but just the numbers. To solve this, we must improve the accountability system," he said.
By Mercy Abang
Al Jazeera
Thursday, September 12, 2019
Video - Hundreds of Nigerians sign up for voluntary evacuation from South Africa
Nigeria will begin repatriating its citizens from the country on Wednesday. Two planes belonging to Nigerian carrier Air Peace will take the first group of returnees to Nigeria Officials say 600 Nigerians in South Africa have registered to return home following xenophobic violence.
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