ABUJA, NIGERIA - Computer specialist Michael Kundun left for work early Monday, as Nigeria's coronavirus lockdown eased at 6 a.m.
Kundun had not been to his shop in Abuja’s Nyanya Market since late March, when authorities announced the lockdown. When he opened, he had to clean and dust to get ready for business.
"It is going to be gradual," he said. "It's not going to be as it was from the beginning, but by the grace of God it will pick up. Business will pick up with time."
Nigeria relaxed its 35-day lockdown in Abuja, Lagos and Ogun states following President Muhammadu Buhari's order, given last week during his national address.
Harm to economy
Buhari concedes the lockdown has hurt the Nigerian economy, especially in non-essential sectors that depend on daily income for survival.
Much like Kundun’s business.
"The lockdown affected my business drastically," he said. "In fact, I found it difficult to work. I found it difficult to meet my customers."
But the decision to relax the lockdown came as Nigeria's number of coronavirus cases has been increasing.
Daily figures publicly reported by Nigeria's Center for Disease Control doubled in the last week, reaching more than 2,500 on Monday. By Thursday, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University in the U.S., the total had climbed past 3,100.
This is why critics like Abuja resident Abubakar Ahutu have challenged the president’s position.
"I'm not happy about the planned relaxation of the lockdown," Ahutu said. "If the federal government or the president in particular is having good advisers, I think it is very bad for them at this point in time to start thinking about reopening the lockdown."
Before easing lockdowns for certain areas, authorities issued new regulations, including an overnight curfew, the mandatory use of face masks in public and strict social distancing restrictions.
But thousands across Abuja city on Monday flooded marketplaces and banks, thereby violating the physical distancing orders.
Look at Ghana
Economic analyst Audu Siyaka had this warning:
“Ghana tried to ease their lockdowns, and what happened was not palatable." They had to reverse their initial decision. I'm not saying that may happen to Nigeria, but it's a likelihood, because of our population."
Only 17,000 people have so far been tested for the coronavirus in Nigeria — an exceptionally small number when compared with figures in other African nations. But Buhari has promised aggressive testing and contact tracing in the coming weeks.
Critics will hold him by his words.
By Timothy Obiezu
VOA
Friday, May 8, 2020
Thursday, May 7, 2020
Nigeria extends flight ban amid pandemic
Airports in Nigeria will remain closed for an additional four weeks as part of the measures to control the spread of the novel coronavirus, the government said on Wednesday.
The extension is the second since March 23 when the Nigerian government suspended all of its commercial flights.
Boss Mustapha, secretary to the government of the federation, said the federal government decided to extend the flight ban after due consultation.
"We have assessed the situation in the aviation industry and have come to the conclusion that given the facts available to us and based on the advice of experts, the ban on all flights will be extended for an additional four weeks," Mustapha said.
The Nigeria Center for Disease Control announced on Wednesday that the country has recorded 3,145 case of COVID-19 with 103 deaths.
Xinhua
The extension is the second since March 23 when the Nigerian government suspended all of its commercial flights.
Boss Mustapha, secretary to the government of the federation, said the federal government decided to extend the flight ban after due consultation.
"We have assessed the situation in the aviation industry and have come to the conclusion that given the facts available to us and based on the advice of experts, the ban on all flights will be extended for an additional four weeks," Mustapha said.
The Nigeria Center for Disease Control announced on Wednesday that the country has recorded 3,145 case of COVID-19 with 103 deaths.
Xinhua
Coronavirus: Nigeria's death penalty by Zoom 'inhumane'
The sentencing to death of a Nigerian driver via Zoom is "inherently cruel and inhumane", Human Rights Watch has said.
It comes after Nigeria issued a death penalty ruling using the video chat app because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Lagos judge Mojisola Dada sentenced Olalekan Hameed to death by hanging for the murder of his employer's mother.
The hearing lasted almost three hours and was virtually attended by lawyers, including the attorney general.
They all participated in Monday's session from different locations as part of efforts to stop the spread of Covid-19.
It was the first day of the easing of lockdown restrictions in Lagos, allowing people to go back to work - although all but urgent court sittings have been suspended.
The judge was in the Lagos High Court in Ikeja, Hameed was at Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison, and the lawyers joined from elsewhere.
Hameed had pleaded not guilty to killing 76-year-old Jolasun Okunsanya in December 2018.
"The sentence of this court upon you, Olalekan Hameed, is that you be hanged by the neck until you be pronounced dead and may the Lord have mercy upon your soul. This is the virtual judgment of the court," Justice Dada is quoted as saying.
It is not clear if Hameed will appeal against the sentence.
'Archaic punishment'
The BBC's Celestina Olulode says under Nigerian law, state governors must approve death sentences before they can be carried out.
The death penalty is not commonly carried out in Nigeria - although courts continue to impose the sentence.
According to Amnesty International, there are still more than 2,000 people on death row and the last three executions took place in 2016.
Human Rights Watch told the BBC the creation of the virtual court during the coronavirus outbreak showed a commitment to accessing justice.
However, the judiciary was moving in the wrong direction by sentencing a person to death by hanging, it said.
"The irreversible punishment is archaic, inherently cruel and inhuman, it should be abolished," Human Rights Watch said.
Nigeria has recorded just under 3,000 coronavirus cases and nearly 100 deaths.
BBC
It comes after Nigeria issued a death penalty ruling using the video chat app because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Lagos judge Mojisola Dada sentenced Olalekan Hameed to death by hanging for the murder of his employer's mother.
The hearing lasted almost three hours and was virtually attended by lawyers, including the attorney general.
They all participated in Monday's session from different locations as part of efforts to stop the spread of Covid-19.
It was the first day of the easing of lockdown restrictions in Lagos, allowing people to go back to work - although all but urgent court sittings have been suspended.
The judge was in the Lagos High Court in Ikeja, Hameed was at Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison, and the lawyers joined from elsewhere.
Hameed had pleaded not guilty to killing 76-year-old Jolasun Okunsanya in December 2018.
"The sentence of this court upon you, Olalekan Hameed, is that you be hanged by the neck until you be pronounced dead and may the Lord have mercy upon your soul. This is the virtual judgment of the court," Justice Dada is quoted as saying.
It is not clear if Hameed will appeal against the sentence.
'Archaic punishment'
The BBC's Celestina Olulode says under Nigerian law, state governors must approve death sentences before they can be carried out.
The death penalty is not commonly carried out in Nigeria - although courts continue to impose the sentence.
According to Amnesty International, there are still more than 2,000 people on death row and the last three executions took place in 2016.
Human Rights Watch told the BBC the creation of the virtual court during the coronavirus outbreak showed a commitment to accessing justice.
However, the judiciary was moving in the wrong direction by sentencing a person to death by hanging, it said.
"The irreversible punishment is archaic, inherently cruel and inhuman, it should be abolished," Human Rights Watch said.
Nigeria has recorded just under 3,000 coronavirus cases and nearly 100 deaths.
BBC
Wednesday, May 6, 2020
Jersey £241m seizure returned to Nigeria
More than £241m ($300m) seized from Nigeria's former dictator has been returned to the country from Jersey, the Reuters news agency reports.The money was stolen by Sani Abacha in the 1990s, before it was laundered through the US and hidden in a Jersey bank account.
The sum was recovered in June 2019 from the account of shell company Doraville.
It was returned by the US following a tripartite agreement between the three nations in February.
The money is part of an estimated $5 billion stolen by the military ruler during his presidency between 1993 and his death in 1998.
As part of the repatriation Jersey will retain $5m (£3.8m) and the US is eligible for the same, the US Department of Justice said.
Jersey's Attorney General Mark Temple QC confirmed the island had transferred $314,305,568.54 to the US on 2 March.
Infrastructure projects
The Justice Minister for Nigeria, Abubakar Malami, said the money had been moved to a recovery account held by the Central Bank of Nigeria and would be paid to the National Sovereign Investment Authority within 14 days.
The money is to be spent on infrastructure projects in the country, including the building of roads and bridges.
Mr Malami said the recovered funds "further consolidates" the government's record on repatriating stolen money.
Swiss authorities have already returned $300m (£230m) to Nigeria as part of the seizures.
A further $30m (£23m) from Britain and $144m (£111m) from France is expected to be recovered, according to the US Department of Justice.
BBC
'I had no choice': the desperate Nigerian women who sell their babies
Two months after 17-year-old Ebere fell pregnant last year, she considered having an abortion. But she was told by a doctor that such a process – eight weeks into her pregnancy – could lead to complications.
Going home to her parents after visiting the doctor wasn’t an option for Ebere, who feared her strict father would beat her and shame her in their neighbourhood. The father of the baby had denied all responsibility and threatened to kill her if she ever tried to contact him again.
A nurse, who saw the troubled young girl sitting in the hospital, approached her to find out what was wrong. Ebere explained her situation and the nurse showed her a Facebook page of a man she said was a social worker who helped pregnant women in her position. She told her to call the phone number.
“When I called and explained my situation, he asked me to meet him at a popular restaurant in town,” says Ebere, speaking to the Guardian in her home city of Enugu, in south-eastern Nigeria. “When we met, he offered to take me to his home and care for me until I gave birth, but only if I was willing to sell the baby to him.”
With no other options, Ebere accepted his offer. She moved in with the man without telling her family. For her, it was the best way to escape the trouble she’d have faced had she returned home, and she could make some money at the same time.
“I didn’t even ask him what he wanted to do with my baby,” Ebere says. “All I wanted was to get rid of the baby and take my money.”
After Ebere gave birth to a boy, the man she’d been living with sold the baby to a married couple. He gave the young girl 70,000 naira (about £140). Ebere returned to her family, telling them she had been kidnapped by traffickers who took her to a remote village and forced her to work as a domestic slave before freeing her.
“Everyone felt sorry for me,” says Ebere. “My parents wanted to inform the police but I convinced them not to do so by giving them the impression I didn’t want to be reminded about the trauma of my captivity.”
Ebere is one of many young girls in south-eastern Nigeria that the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (Naptip) says have been drawn into a lucrative trade in baby trafficking. According to the agency, girls involved in the trade are known as “social mothers”. Impoverished young women with nowhere else to turn and who have no access to abortion or antenatal care are being targeted.
Traffickers pose as social workers, offering help to pregnant women who need support. In reality, Naptip says they are frontmen and women in the business of selling babies to couples or to middlemen. They typically charge $1,500 (£1,200) for a baby girl and $2,000 (£1,600) for a boy.
“Many young girls are being impregnated by their boyfriends but because they don’t want their families to know about their pregnancy, they meet baby sellers who hide them until they give birth,” says Comfort Agboko, head of Naptip’s south-east office. “Their babies are then sold by these baby sellers who only give them a token of maybe 50,000 naira (about £100).”
Stories of baby trading are not uncommon in Nigeria, where at least 10 children are reportedly sold across the country every day. Each year several children – including nearly two dozen freed in February – are rescued by security forces from traffickers, most of whom operate in the south of the country. The majority of those trafficked are children of young women held captive until their babies are born and then released, their babies sold on. Naptip says cases involving social mothers are increasing in the region.
“Baby sellers see the business as a normal trade and that is why they act as if they are selling any other goods,” says Agboko. “In some cases, the child passes through up to five buyers.”
Authorities have struggled to deal with human trafficking due to inadequate funding and a lack of cooperation between the police and Naptip. When cases do reach court, a sluggish judicial system allows trials to drag on for years, denying timely justice for victims.
“We are being frustrated by court processes,” complains Agboko, who says Naptip has apprehended a number of baby traffickers in recent months. “Many times we go to court, we are told that the judges are in tribunal [for local election petitions] or have gone for one assignment or the other.”
While those challenges remain, traffickers continue to use every available avenue to trade babies, including contacting expectant mothers via social media.
“About half a dozen single mothers we have supported financially in the south-east have said they had been in touch with baby traffickers in a bid to market their infants,” says Abang Robert, public relations head of Caprecon Development And Peace Initiative, an NGO providing support for victims of human trafficking and single mothers. “In most cases, the deal fell through because the traffickers offered so little.”
For mothers such as Ebere who have sold their babies using traffickers, there is no way back.
“My father would have killed me if he saw that I was pregnant with a man I wasn’t married to,” says Ebere. “I had no choice but to let the baby go.”
The Guardian
Related stories: Survivors of Nigeria's 'baby factories' share their stories
Baby factory raided in Lagos, Nigeria
Denmark bans adopting babies from Nigeria
Going home to her parents after visiting the doctor wasn’t an option for Ebere, who feared her strict father would beat her and shame her in their neighbourhood. The father of the baby had denied all responsibility and threatened to kill her if she ever tried to contact him again.
A nurse, who saw the troubled young girl sitting in the hospital, approached her to find out what was wrong. Ebere explained her situation and the nurse showed her a Facebook page of a man she said was a social worker who helped pregnant women in her position. She told her to call the phone number.
“When I called and explained my situation, he asked me to meet him at a popular restaurant in town,” says Ebere, speaking to the Guardian in her home city of Enugu, in south-eastern Nigeria. “When we met, he offered to take me to his home and care for me until I gave birth, but only if I was willing to sell the baby to him.”
With no other options, Ebere accepted his offer. She moved in with the man without telling her family. For her, it was the best way to escape the trouble she’d have faced had she returned home, and she could make some money at the same time.
“I didn’t even ask him what he wanted to do with my baby,” Ebere says. “All I wanted was to get rid of the baby and take my money.”
After Ebere gave birth to a boy, the man she’d been living with sold the baby to a married couple. He gave the young girl 70,000 naira (about £140). Ebere returned to her family, telling them she had been kidnapped by traffickers who took her to a remote village and forced her to work as a domestic slave before freeing her.
“Everyone felt sorry for me,” says Ebere. “My parents wanted to inform the police but I convinced them not to do so by giving them the impression I didn’t want to be reminded about the trauma of my captivity.”
Ebere is one of many young girls in south-eastern Nigeria that the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (Naptip) says have been drawn into a lucrative trade in baby trafficking. According to the agency, girls involved in the trade are known as “social mothers”. Impoverished young women with nowhere else to turn and who have no access to abortion or antenatal care are being targeted.
Traffickers pose as social workers, offering help to pregnant women who need support. In reality, Naptip says they are frontmen and women in the business of selling babies to couples or to middlemen. They typically charge $1,500 (£1,200) for a baby girl and $2,000 (£1,600) for a boy.
“Many young girls are being impregnated by their boyfriends but because they don’t want their families to know about their pregnancy, they meet baby sellers who hide them until they give birth,” says Comfort Agboko, head of Naptip’s south-east office. “Their babies are then sold by these baby sellers who only give them a token of maybe 50,000 naira (about £100).”
Stories of baby trading are not uncommon in Nigeria, where at least 10 children are reportedly sold across the country every day. Each year several children – including nearly two dozen freed in February – are rescued by security forces from traffickers, most of whom operate in the south of the country. The majority of those trafficked are children of young women held captive until their babies are born and then released, their babies sold on. Naptip says cases involving social mothers are increasing in the region.
“Baby sellers see the business as a normal trade and that is why they act as if they are selling any other goods,” says Agboko. “In some cases, the child passes through up to five buyers.”
Authorities have struggled to deal with human trafficking due to inadequate funding and a lack of cooperation between the police and Naptip. When cases do reach court, a sluggish judicial system allows trials to drag on for years, denying timely justice for victims.
“We are being frustrated by court processes,” complains Agboko, who says Naptip has apprehended a number of baby traffickers in recent months. “Many times we go to court, we are told that the judges are in tribunal [for local election petitions] or have gone for one assignment or the other.”
While those challenges remain, traffickers continue to use every available avenue to trade babies, including contacting expectant mothers via social media.
“About half a dozen single mothers we have supported financially in the south-east have said they had been in touch with baby traffickers in a bid to market their infants,” says Abang Robert, public relations head of Caprecon Development And Peace Initiative, an NGO providing support for victims of human trafficking and single mothers. “In most cases, the deal fell through because the traffickers offered so little.”
For mothers such as Ebere who have sold their babies using traffickers, there is no way back.
“My father would have killed me if he saw that I was pregnant with a man I wasn’t married to,” says Ebere. “I had no choice but to let the baby go.”
The Guardian
Related stories: Survivors of Nigeria's 'baby factories' share their stories
Baby factory raided in Lagos, Nigeria
Denmark bans adopting babies from Nigeria
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