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
Thursday, December 5, 2019
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
Wednesday, December 4, 2019
Nigeria says on course to win fight against polio
Nigeria's National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) on Tuesday said the country is on course to win the fight against polio in the shortest possible time.
At a summit in Abuja to review the routine immunization against polio in Nigeria, the agency said three years and counting without the wild poliovirus in the most populous African country was nothing short of a milestone.
"The toward a polio-free Nigeria has begun. However, there's a need for health workers to access insecure areas in Borno and some parts of the northeast region," said Faisal Shuaib, head of the NPHCDA.
Experts attending the two-day summit in Abuja are expected to review Nigeria's efforts toward polio eradication and identify gaps.
According to Shuaib, progress has been recorded on reaching inaccessible children, sustaining communication and social mobilization, strengthening routine immunization and vaccine management and accountability.
"Together, we can finish the job of flushing polio out of the country," the official said, further expressing the optimism that Nigeria will soon obtain a polio eradication certificate.
He said health officials in the country had worked tirelessly with a very strong surveillance system.
As recently as 2012, Nigeria had accounted for more than half of all polio cases worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.
Nigeria's last polio case was recorded in August 2016, making it the last country in Africa to record wild polio virus infections.
Xinhua
At a summit in Abuja to review the routine immunization against polio in Nigeria, the agency said three years and counting without the wild poliovirus in the most populous African country was nothing short of a milestone.
"The toward a polio-free Nigeria has begun. However, there's a need for health workers to access insecure areas in Borno and some parts of the northeast region," said Faisal Shuaib, head of the NPHCDA.
Experts attending the two-day summit in Abuja are expected to review Nigeria's efforts toward polio eradication and identify gaps.
According to Shuaib, progress has been recorded on reaching inaccessible children, sustaining communication and social mobilization, strengthening routine immunization and vaccine management and accountability.
"Together, we can finish the job of flushing polio out of the country," the official said, further expressing the optimism that Nigeria will soon obtain a polio eradication certificate.
He said health officials in the country had worked tirelessly with a very strong surveillance system.
As recently as 2012, Nigeria had accounted for more than half of all polio cases worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.
Nigeria's last polio case was recorded in August 2016, making it the last country in Africa to record wild polio virus infections.
Xinhua
Monday, December 2, 2019
Video - Nigeria's Oshoala gunning for record-equalling 4th player award
FC Barcelona women's striker Asistat Oshoala leads Super Falcons teammates Chia-maka Nna-dozie and Uchenna Kanu in the shortlist for the 2019 African Women's Player of the Year award. The 25 year-old is aiming to win the prize for a record-equalling fourth time.
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