Boko Haram militants kill five hostages kidnapped in Nigeria's northeast, UN says

Boko Haram militants have killed five hostages, including four aid workers, who were abducted last month in northeastern Nigeria, a UN spokeswoman told CNN on Thursday.

The aid workers belonged to different humanitarian agencies, and a security personnel member working with the team was among the hostages, said Eve Sabbagh, spokeswoman for the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance.

The UN said it had been trying to secure the release of the workers since June -- when they were abducted at a roadblock while traveling between Monguno town and Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state.

Edward Kallon, UN agency coordinator in Nigeria, said that aid workers were increasingly becoming the target of armed groups in the region's violent attacks.

"I strongly condemn all violence targeting aid workers and the civilians they are assisting. I am also troubled by the number of illegal vehicular checkpoints set up by non-state armed groups along main supply routes," Kallon said in the statement.

'Barbaric act'

The International Rescue Committee said it was deeply saddened by the news, and that one of its staff was among those killed.

"We condemn this barbaric act," the agency said, calling on the killers to return the worker's remains to his family.

President Muhammadu Buhari has also sent his sympathies to the workers' families and the agencies, his media aide Garba Shehu said in a statement.

Buhari said the workers were killed by Boko Haram members and promised that his administration was working to "wipe out" the militants from the country's northeastern region.

"He assures them that security agencies in the state will work closely with their organizations to implement measures to ensure that no such kidnapping of staff occurs again," Shehu said.
Boko Haram militants and jihadist groups operating in northeastern Nigeria have killed and abducted aid workers during more than a decade of violence.

According to international NGO Action Against Hunger, an armed group claimed they had executed five humanitarian workers held captive by militants for many months in 2019.

In 2018, two nurses with the International Committee of the Red Cross were executed by Boko militants after failed negotiations with the Nigerian government for their release.

CNN

Pandemic travel restrictions leave Nigerian mother stranded in Dubai with newborn quadruplets

A Nigerian mother and her quadruplets remain in Dubai because of coronavirus travel restrictions that have prevented them from traveling home, her husband told CNN.
Tijani Abdulkareem, 32, said his wife, Suliyah, 29, gave birth to the babies -- two boys and two girls -- on July 1.
The couple, who live in Dubai, began making plans to relocate his wife to Nigeria to give birth when they found she was having quadruplets in January.
They share a hostel accommodation with others, and it would have been difficult to rent a bigger place with their combined income, according to Abdulkareem, who works as a cook at a restaurant in the city.

But the government banned all commercial international flights when the pandemic struck in Nigeria in March, shortly after it recorded its first case.

Only diplomatic and essential flights are currently permitted into Nigeria's airspace and Abdulkareem says the travel restrictions, had frustrated their plans.

Although repatriation flights to Nigeria from Dubai are taking place, they are few and far between.
Abdulkareem said the couple hoped that the travel restrictions would ease ahead of her planned departure to Nigeria in May, a few months before her August delivery date.

"We thought the travel situation would improve ... but the lockdown made it difficult to get flights," he said.

Mounting medical bills

While they were still making arrangements for her travel to Nigeria, Abdulkareem said his wife went into premature labor and had the babies via an emergency C-section at the Latifah Women and Children hospital in Dubai.

The babies' early arrival has also unsettled the couple's finances.
Abdulkareem said his wife stopped work as a hospital cleaner some months ago and their meager income was not enough to get health insurance.

The family has incurred thousands of dollars in medical debt since the babies were born and the bill is mounting as doctors say the quadruplets may remain for another six weeks at the hospital before they can go home, Abdulkareem said.

The couple owe around $120,000 and are incurring daily charges of $5000 to keep the babies in separate incubators.
The father told CNN they have been relying on the goodwill of the hospital and the generosity of the Nigerian community in Dubai. "The hospital has really helped us.
They discharged my wife and are doing all they can to ensure that the babies are doing well. The Nigerian community has also been like a family to us," Abdulkareem said.

'It is still a miracle'

The community, with contributions from some UAE residents and other nationals who read the news on local media, have been able to raise (AED) 30,000 (around $8000) to pay part of the family medical bills, Abdul-Hakeem Anifowoshe, a member of the diaspora community in Dubai told CNN.

They have also secured rent for two months at a bigger apartment for the couple for when the babies are discharged from the clinic, Anifowoshe said.

"We're keen on ensuring the family gets ongoing support towards the welfare of the mother and the quadruplets even when they get back to Nigeria," Anifowoshe said.

Chairwoman of the Nigerians in the Diaspora Commission Abike Dabiri-Erewa, whose agency has been evacuating citizens stuck abroad, said the country's embassy in Dubai had contacted the family.
"The mission is on top of the matter and is in constant touch with the family," Dabiri-Erewa said.

The new father says he's anxious to resettle his family back in Nigeria where he believes there will be more family members to help out with caring for the babies. However, they may have to wait a little longer.

Nigeria's airspace remains closed indefinitely to international travel, and authorities have not announced when commercial flights will resume.

For now, the family is reveling in the joy of the new arrivals.

"I never expected to have quadruplets. It is still a miracle," Abdulkareem said. "And I believe that can happen again to get my family to Nigeria," he added.

CNN

Video - Nigeria's hospitality industry reels from COVID-19 impact

The hospitality industry in Nigeria has been left on life-support as a result of the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hotels, night clubs and lounges have all been hit hard with millions losing their jobs and worsening an already grim unemployment situation in the country. Here is CGTN’s Deji Badmus with more on that story.

Nigeria Targets Processed Cocoa Exports With $10 Million Plant

Nigeria’s southeastern Cross River state is setting up a 4-billion naira ($10-million) cocoa-processing plant to start operations in August and target the export market, an official said.

Cross River, which accounts for about 30% of Nigeria’s output, has negotiated with chocolate companies based in Italy to receive supplies from the grinder, Peter Egba, the commissioner for industry, said in a phone interview from Calabar, the state capital.

The factory will receive raw material from local growers as well as farmers in neighboring Cameroon, across the nearby border, Egba said. The government also plans to distribute 10 million seedlings of a cocoa variety that matures in three years to farmers to increase output.

Nigeria is the world’s fifth-biggest producer of the chocolate ingredient, with the Cocoa Association of Nigeria expecting the 2020 main harvest between October and December to yield 148,750 tons. There’s a smaller harvest between April and June. The investment comes at a time Nigeria is seeking to diversify its economy away from oil by boosting agricultural production and processing.

By Emele Onu

Bloomberg

Nigerian Official Collapses During Televised Niger Delta Corruption Hearing

A Nigerian official collapsed on Monday during a televised parliamentary hearing held as part of an investigation into allegations of mismanagement at an organisation with a remit to foster economic development in the oil-rich Niger Delta region.

Daniel Pondei, acting managing director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), was taken to hospital after slumping forward in his chair during the session, in which he gave evidence to the panel.

Lawmakers in the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of parliament, are investigating alleged corruption around procurement at the NDDC, a government body, over 20 years. The probe was ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari in October.

Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta heartland remains impoverished despite providing most of the oil produced in Africa's biggest crude exporter. Oil is Nigeria's main export and the mainstay of its economy, the continent's largest.

Earlier, Pondei told the panel: "There is no money missing in NDDC since I took over in February this year. Everything we have done are in accordance with the laid-down procedures."

After he fainted, people around Pondei rushed to sit him upright, using handkerchiefs as fans and forcing his mouth open in an apparent attempt to ensure he was not choking.

"I have asked my doctor to follow, go to the hospital where he is and report back," House of Representatives Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila later told the panel.

Giving evidence to the panel for the first time, Minister for Niger Delta affairs Godswill Akpabio said Nigeria's Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP) had given its approval for an audit by international firm Ernst & Young.

(Reporting by Camillus Eboh in Abuja and Alexis Akwagyiram in Lagos; Writing by Alexis Akwagyiram; Editing by Catherine Evans)

The New York Times