Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday inaugurated an updated security plan to tackle emerging threats in the most populous African nation.
The National Security Strategy, a document revised every five years, covers details on how to enhance the capacity of Nigeria's military and other security agencies.
Speaking at the inauguration of the document in Abuja, Buhari said the government remains committed to enhancing the social security of Nigerians as a means of improving physical security.
He said the numerous security challenges facing the country made it necessary to come up with a comprehensive and coordinated response involving all segments of the society.
"As we continue to work towards completely ending insurgency in the northeast and laying the foundation of sustainable peace and development in the region, we are also addressing conflicts between farmers and herders, banditry and various forms of security challenges," Buhari said.
He said security is about bottom-to-top operation, and failure at any level will lead to a serious lapse in overall security.
"The task that now lies before us is the execution of the strategy and the achievement of a safer and more secure nation," Buhari said. "It is a task to which this administration remains fully and unreservedly committed."
Speaking earlier, Babagana Monguno, Nigeria's national security adviser, noted both internal and external security threats globally are attributable to organized crimes across borders.
"As we consolidate on the successes of peace-building in the northeast and the Niger Delta, the clear lesson for all of us here is that the key to sustainable peace and development is to guarantee security both in terms of economy and social status for everybody," he said.
Xinhua
Thursday, December 5, 2019
Cardi B to perform in Nigeria for the first time
The star shared a post on her Instagram page of her dancing in excitement in a private jet as she set off for the concert.
"1:03am drop my KK in NY on my way to Afrriiiiicaaaaaaaaaa baybeeeee!!!!!!," she wrote in the post.
Last month she announced that she would be performing at the Livespot X Festival in Lagos, Nigeria and Accra, Ghana.
"Africa. I'm coming! Nigeria and Ghana," she wrote at the time.
Cardi B (real name Belcalis Almanzar), broke into the music scene in 2017 with her hit single 'Bodak Yellow.'
She will be performing at the two-day festival alongside top African artists from both countries.
Organized by Livespot 360, a digital agency based in Lagos, the festival will feature Tiwa Savage, Burna Boy, Shatta Wale, R2bees among others.
Immense popularity
Darey Art Alade, a Nigerian singer and creative director of Livespot 360 says Cardi B was picked to headline the festival because of her immense popularity.
"She is one of the biggest artists in the world... It's really about her uniqueness, her star power. She has got great music and she is the girl next door character that everybody loves," he told CNN.
Cardi B has won multiple awards including a Grammy Award, seven Billboard Music Awards, and four BET Awards.
Alade, who will also perform at the festival, says bringing Cardi B to Africa has been in the works since 2018.
According to him, his team has been in conversation with her for months to make her trip to the continent smooth. "Getting Cardi B to come is a lot because there are many moving parts. She is specific about everything," he said.
The festival has organized the lighting, stage, and design of the venues in Accra and Lagos to suit the rapper's preferences.
Social media excitement
Meanwhile, social media is buzzing as fans share their excitement ahead of Cardi B's first Africa performance.
Darey Art Alade says he is hoping for a "hitch-free" concert. In the past, Alade has hosted celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Kelly Rowland in Lagos, Nigeria's commercial center.
"I am hoping people are looking forward to having a good time with Cardi B. We are looking forward to a hitch-free festival, no incidents," he said.
"We are looking forward to this further cementing us on the world map in terms of our tourism potential."
Ghana's 'Year of Return'
The artist's visit to the continent comes at a time where Ghana is pushing for a more united Africa.
In 2018, the West African country declared and formally launched the "Year of Return, Ghana 2019," marking 400 years since the first enslaved Africans arrived in North America.
The campaign encourages people of African descent, whose ancestors were victims of slave trade, to return to Ghana and invest in the continent.
Alade, says part of extending the Livespot X Festival to Accra, Ghana's capital city is to spread love across the continent through music.
"We want to spread the love, we have Nigerians performing in Ghana and we have Ghanians performing in Lagos as well. It's a bit of a symbiotic relationship about love and unity," he said.
It also creates an environment for international artists like Cardi B to share the stage with some of Africa's favorite music stars, Alade said.
Africa to the world
Cardi B's visit to Africa is one of many from A-list music artists. Over the past years, stars like Beyonce, Jay Z, Skepta, Kelly Rowland, and Toni Braxton have performed in different countries on the continent.
There has also been a rise in international collaborations with African artists. Drake and Nigerian musician, Wizkid teamed up on 2016 hit "One Dance" making Wizkid the first Nigerian artist to top the US Billboard Hot 100.
In July, Beyonce teamed up with multiple African acts including Ghana's Shatta Wale, Cameroon's Salatiel and South Africa's Busiswa and Moonchild Sanelly on her 'The Lion King: The Gift' album.
Toye Sokunbi, a Nigerian music analyst says the internet and social media are part of why more people are paying attention to the continent's music scene.
According to him, it is faster to access and share African music compared to many years ago.
"The internet, for example, has made the world smaller. This also means the synergy between African diaspora and Africans in Africa is strengthening," he told CNN.
"So, the communication between those two arms means there is a more unified African consciousness which expands the possibilities of music," he added.
Sokunbi, who is also the Editor-at-large for a Nigerian pop culture magazine, says the attention on the music scene can also be associated with an ongoing trend for African creativity and culture.
Over the past years, there have been movies, food, and fashion collaborations from outside the continent.
In August, Swedish retail giant, H&M, partnered with South African brand Mantsho in its first-ever collaboration with an African designer.
By Aisha Salaudeen
CNN
Croatia 'wrongly deports' two Nigerian table tennis players to Bosnia
Croatian police have deported two Nigerian table-tennis players to Bosnia and Herzegovina, claiming they were in the country illegally, despite the pair having arrived in Croatia with valid visas.
Abie Uchenna Alexandra and Kenneth Chinedu, students from Owerri Technical University in Nigeria, arrived in Zagreb on November 12 to participate in the sport's World University Championships in Pula, according to Hina, the government-owned national news agency.
Following the table tennis tournament, they headed from Pula to Zagreb, scheduled to fly back to Nigeria via Istanbul on November 18.
The pair settled into a hostel on November 16 and the following day went to explore the city, reported the Sarajevo-based Zurnal. They were stopped by police as they got off a tram, and arrested as they were not carrying their documents with them.
"They took us to the police station. We tried to explain who we were and that we had left our documents in the hostel. They didn't pay attention to what we were saying," said Chinedu.
He said police officers then put them in a van and said they were "taking them to Bosnia". They drove the pair to the border, along with several others, and dumped them on the Bosnian side, near a forested area.
"I refused to go into the woods," said Chinedu. "The officer told me he would shoot me if I didn't move."
After being chased, they reached the Miral Camp near Velika Kladusa in Bosnia.
That was two weeks ago.
Legal stay in Croatia
Chinedu said they immediately contacted one of their fellow students who had stayed back in Zagreb, and asked him to send them their passports. However, they now faced a new problem: they were stuck in a camp and their Croatian visas were due to expire when they were due to get their flight home.
The students complained to representatives of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which runs the Miral Camp, where it was confirmed that the students had been staying in Croatia legally.
Dean Sinkovic from the Faculty of Economics and Tourism in Pula confirmed to Al Jazeera that the students were competing in the table tennis tournament, that they had visas and an invitation letter from the university.
Emir Prcanovic, director of the Your Rights Organization, which is currently providing legal aid to the Nigerian students, told Al Jazeera that the documentation from the Croatian consulate proves the students' legal status.
Alberto Tanghetti, a representative of the Inter-University Sports Committee and the organiser of the competition in Pula, said there were a total of five participants from Nigeria - four students and a professor - and confirmed they all had valid visas.
"The two students were participating in the competition, they had a Croatian visa, return plane tickets from Zagreb to Istanbul and from Istanbul to Lagos," Tanghetti said.
Opposition outrage
Hina, meanwhile, announced "the Ministry of Interior does not know how these students ended up in Bosnia", adding "their legal departure from Croatia has not been recorded".
Ranko Ostojic, an opposition leader who chairs the Committee on Internal Policy and National Security, demanded the police explain themselves.
The students were on Wednesday, December 12 transferred to a field office of the Bosnian Foreign Service in Bihac, reported Al Jazeera's Boris Gagic. After five hours, they were released, accompanied by police officers, and made no statements to the media.
It is understood they are being returned to the Miral camp in Velika Kladusa, where they are currently accommodated with refugees and migrants.
"Those people are victims of illegal acts of the Croatian side," said Dragan Mektic, Bosnia and Herzegovina's minister of security. "Respecting legal procedures, we now have to take them back to Croatia … It is obvious that they have Croatian visas, that they are in B&H illegally. From their statements, it is obvious that Croatian police forcibly displaced them and we have to bring them back there."
Al Jazeera
Abie Uchenna Alexandra and Kenneth Chinedu, students from Owerri Technical University in Nigeria, arrived in Zagreb on November 12 to participate in the sport's World University Championships in Pula, according to Hina, the government-owned national news agency.
Following the table tennis tournament, they headed from Pula to Zagreb, scheduled to fly back to Nigeria via Istanbul on November 18.
The pair settled into a hostel on November 16 and the following day went to explore the city, reported the Sarajevo-based Zurnal. They were stopped by police as they got off a tram, and arrested as they were not carrying their documents with them.
"They took us to the police station. We tried to explain who we were and that we had left our documents in the hostel. They didn't pay attention to what we were saying," said Chinedu.
He said police officers then put them in a van and said they were "taking them to Bosnia". They drove the pair to the border, along with several others, and dumped them on the Bosnian side, near a forested area.
"I refused to go into the woods," said Chinedu. "The officer told me he would shoot me if I didn't move."
After being chased, they reached the Miral Camp near Velika Kladusa in Bosnia.
That was two weeks ago.
Legal stay in Croatia
Chinedu said they immediately contacted one of their fellow students who had stayed back in Zagreb, and asked him to send them their passports. However, they now faced a new problem: they were stuck in a camp and their Croatian visas were due to expire when they were due to get their flight home.
The students complained to representatives of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which runs the Miral Camp, where it was confirmed that the students had been staying in Croatia legally.
Dean Sinkovic from the Faculty of Economics and Tourism in Pula confirmed to Al Jazeera that the students were competing in the table tennis tournament, that they had visas and an invitation letter from the university.
Emir Prcanovic, director of the Your Rights Organization, which is currently providing legal aid to the Nigerian students, told Al Jazeera that the documentation from the Croatian consulate proves the students' legal status.
Alberto Tanghetti, a representative of the Inter-University Sports Committee and the organiser of the competition in Pula, said there were a total of five participants from Nigeria - four students and a professor - and confirmed they all had valid visas.
"The two students were participating in the competition, they had a Croatian visa, return plane tickets from Zagreb to Istanbul and from Istanbul to Lagos," Tanghetti said.
Opposition outrage
Hina, meanwhile, announced "the Ministry of Interior does not know how these students ended up in Bosnia", adding "their legal departure from Croatia has not been recorded".
Ranko Ostojic, an opposition leader who chairs the Committee on Internal Policy and National Security, demanded the police explain themselves.
The students were on Wednesday, December 12 transferred to a field office of the Bosnian Foreign Service in Bihac, reported Al Jazeera's Boris Gagic. After five hours, they were released, accompanied by police officers, and made no statements to the media.
It is understood they are being returned to the Miral camp in Velika Kladusa, where they are currently accommodated with refugees and migrants.
"Those people are victims of illegal acts of the Croatian side," said Dragan Mektic, Bosnia and Herzegovina's minister of security. "Respecting legal procedures, we now have to take them back to Croatia … It is obvious that they have Croatian visas, that they are in B&H illegally. From their statements, it is obvious that Croatian police forcibly displaced them and we have to bring them back there."
Al Jazeera
Video - Nigeria's multi-billion dollar adult film industry
Despite the conservative nature of the Nigerian society, the adult film industry continues to boom with porn stars racking multi-million dollar every year. Though not yet regulated in Nigeria, there's a potential revenue stream for the government if the industry is backed with some legal frameworks.
In the United States, the porn industry is estimated to generate up to $10 billion, according to the National Research Council Report, 2002. No official record for Nigeria.
Edet Mareme, an adult entertainer, tells Business Insider SSA that pornstars make up to $10,000/month depending on the role.
“In a month, porn star can make from $3,000 to $10,000 and more. “Girls are paid more than their male counterparts in the industry," Mareme says.
Against societal narratives, Mareme said porn acting porn doesn't stop a woman from having a happy life and home. “A woman can decide to go into porn acting and stop after a while and go and marry. Nobody can stop you.”
Nigerian societal settings stigmatise against porn actors and women are castigated from society for engaging in porn or its related industries.
Changing the narrative about the porn industry
Mareme said people are mistaking the porn industry for commercial sex or prostitution, claiming they are quite different.
“People mistake me for a sex worker, I am a porn actress. Because you watched my video from an x-rated website doesn't mean I have sex with everybody I meet,” she explains.
She added that in the porn industry, so many protocols are followed before an actor or actress can participate, including conducting tests.
How the porn industry make money
The Nigerian porn actress said videos are posted on x-rated websites to generate views and per-click cost. She said videos are also sold to other x-rated websites. All these complement the amount paid for acting in a porn scene.
She called for a professional porn industry in Nigeria that would be able to compete with the international industry.
By Aderemi Ojekunle
Pulse
Pirates kidnap 19 crew members from Supertanker off Nigeria
Pirates boarded a fully loaded supertanker off the coast of Nigeria, an act that is sure to ring alarm bells for insurers about the risk of collecting oil from Africa’s biggest producer.
Nineteen crew were kidnapped and remain missing, a spokeswoman for Navios, the ship’s owner said by phone Wednesday. The incident happened late Tuesday about 77 nautical miles from Bonny Island, a key loading point for Nigerian crude. The vessel had only recently collected its cargo.
The waters of the Gulf of Guinea have suffered from sporadic incidents of piracy for a few years, but an attack on a supertanker is a rare event. Nigeria suffered a spate of militancy that crippled its oil industry in 2016, but it rarely strayed into shipping.
Out of 95 attacks worldwide where hijackers boarded the vessel in the first nine months of 2019, 17 took place in Nigerian waters, according to data from the International Maritime Bureau, a piracy watchdog. As a region, the Gulf of Guinea accounts for for almost 82% of the crew kidnappings globally.
The crew that didn’t get kidnapped were able to sail the vessel to a safe location, the Navios spokeswoman said, adding that the company’s priority is the safe return of those who are missing.
The vessel, the Nave Constellation, can carry 2 million barrels of oil. It was full when it was hijacked and there was no damage.
By Olivia Konotey-Ahulu
Bloomberg
Nineteen crew were kidnapped and remain missing, a spokeswoman for Navios, the ship’s owner said by phone Wednesday. The incident happened late Tuesday about 77 nautical miles from Bonny Island, a key loading point for Nigerian crude. The vessel had only recently collected its cargo.
The waters of the Gulf of Guinea have suffered from sporadic incidents of piracy for a few years, but an attack on a supertanker is a rare event. Nigeria suffered a spate of militancy that crippled its oil industry in 2016, but it rarely strayed into shipping.
Out of 95 attacks worldwide where hijackers boarded the vessel in the first nine months of 2019, 17 took place in Nigerian waters, according to data from the International Maritime Bureau, a piracy watchdog. As a region, the Gulf of Guinea accounts for for almost 82% of the crew kidnappings globally.
The crew that didn’t get kidnapped were able to sail the vessel to a safe location, the Navios spokeswoman said, adding that the company’s priority is the safe return of those who are missing.
The vessel, the Nave Constellation, can carry 2 million barrels of oil. It was full when it was hijacked and there was no damage.
By Olivia Konotey-Ahulu
Bloomberg
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