Nigeria's senate to consider oil overhaul bill on Thursday

Nigeria's senate presented a long-awaited oil overhaul bill to the full chamber for passage on Tuesday and will consider it by the end of the week, according to an order paper and the senate president.

President Muhammadu Buhari sent the bill to the National Assembly in September last year. The senate package is the result of months of consultations between national assembly members and oil companies, local communities and other stakeholders.

Senate President Ahmad Lawan said the chamber would "commence passage" of the bill on Thursday.

"Every senator must have a copy today," Lawan said. "We would be considering the report on Thursday."

The bill aims to modernise Nigeria's petroleum industry and attract a shrinking pool of global fossil fuel investment dollars. Observers had hoped the political alignment of the presidency and the National Assembly would break a cycle of failure that has stalked overhaul efforts for 20 years.

But the House has not updated its timeline for considering the bill, and sources told Reuters the chamber could be a bigger obstacle to quick passage.

There are pending demands for big changes to the bill, including from community leaders seeking an increased share of revenue.

This week, national assembly leaders from northern Nigeria pressed for a greater share of oil revenue for "frontier" communities where there is petroleum exploration. Meetings with key leaders continued into Monday evening without resolution, and a failure to reach a deal with those leaders could scupper passage before the summer recess, pushing its earliest approval to September.

By Libby George

Reuters 

Biafra separatist leader arrested and extradited to Nigeria

The fugitive leader of a prominent Biafra secessionist group has been arrested and extradited to Nigeria to face trial, in a move likely to inflame separatist unrest in south-east Nigeria.

Nnamdi Kanu, a British national who has lived in south London, had been wanted by Nigerian authorities since 2015, when he was charged with terrorism offences and incitement, after broadcasts aired on Radio Biafra, a digital station he founded and ran from his home in Peckham.

Nigeria’s attorney general, Abubakar Malami, said on Tuesday that Kanu had been extradited to the capital Abuja, after cooperation between Nigerian intelligence services and Interpol.

“He has been brought back to Nigeria in order to continue facing trial after disappearing while on bail,” Malami said. He accused Kanu of “engaging in subversive activities” and also alleged that Kanu was responsible for armed attacks.

Malami did not say where Kanu was extradited from, although British government officials have said he was not arrested in the UK. British MPs have in the past raised concerns for Kanu’s wellbeing while held in detention in Nigeria.

A lawyer for Kanu confirmed the arrest. “He was brought before the Federal High Court … today on an 11 count charge, though without our knowledge,” Ifeanyi Ejiofor said in a statement.

Kanu is the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob), a secessionist group which has been proscribed as a terrorist organisation in Nigeria. In recent months, police have blamed Ipob for a series of arson attacks and killings targeting police units and civil authorities across southern Nigeria.

Kano was first arrested in Nigeria in 2015, and was granted bail on medical grounds in 2017 before fleeing the country.

His prominence in Nigeria has soared in recent years, as secessionist sentiment for an independent country of Biafra in south-east Nigeria has seen a marked rise.

Secessionist sentiment was inflamed by the 2015 election of President Muhamadu Buhari who was a brigade major during the Biafra civil war, one of the darkest chapters in Nigerian history where an attempt to form an independent Biafran state was quelled.

Millions of people in south-east Nigeria died, many from starvation after a government blockade of the region prevented food supplies and humanitarian support.

Earlier this month, Twitter deleted a post by Buhari for violating its rules on abuse, after he referred to the civil war in a threat against armed Biafran groups.

“Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand,” the president said, drawing mass condemnation.

In retaliation for the deletion, the government soon after banned Twitter in Nigeria.

The legacy of the war is still bitter. Authorities censor cultural depictions of the conflict and the war is not taught in most schools.

Since 2015, secessionist protests have met a brutal response by Nigerian security forces. More than 150 people were killed at pro-Biafra rallies between August 2015 and August 2016 according to Amnesty International.

Security operations in south-east Nigeria, a largely ethnically Igbo region, have received allegations of rights abuses against civilians. Armed attacks blamed on pro-Biafran groups have soared this year.

Since fleeing Nigeria, Kanu had been sighted in different countries including Israel.

His fierce monologues on Radio Biafra, taunting President Buhari, targeting ethnic groups and calling for armed uprising have drawn an international following – and also the ire of Nigerian authorities.

The Guardian

By Emmanuel Akinwotu 

Unpicking Twitter boss's passion for Nigeria

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is no stranger to controversy but in Nigeria he has become embroiled in the battle between the country's tech-savvy youths and a ruling class that is seen to be out-of-touch with their thinking.

His Twitter platform was used to galvanise support for last year's #EndSars protests, which began as a movement against police brutality and morphed into a confrontation between the political class and Nigeria's youth.

But Twitter is now blocked in the country after a recent tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari, 78, was deleted.

Many Nigerians adore Mr Dorsey. His ideals of open internet, freedom of expression and economic rights resonate with those who feel marginalised by their government.

Far from being intimidated by the Twitter ban, Mr Dorsey has kept tweeting about Nigeria and has captivated many here.

As the nation marked Democracy Day on 12 June and protests were held in different cities calling for a reversal of the block on Twitter, he tweeted the Nigerian flag with an emoji of a handshake and "#bitcoin".

The next day he retweeted an article calling for the Nigerian government to pursue a Bitcoin standard, and quoted a tweet with the caption "the people of Nigeria will lead #bitcoin".

Some analysts say this shows Mr Dorsey is a businessman looking after his interests.

While he is more famous as the CEO of Twitter, Mr Dorsey is also the founder of Square and Cash 

App, two payment processing platforms with interests in cryptocurrencies, especially Bitcoin.

 

Cryptocurrencies targeted

Nigeria's cryptocurrency market is the largest in Africa.

High inflation and a weak national currency has led millions to turn to digital currencies, which some see as safer and more reliable.

"There will always be room for products and solutions that help Nigerians save, invest and hedge in currencies other than in naira [the local currency]," said Faith Babafemi, a cryptocurrencies expert in Lagos.

She said there was space in the Nigeria cryptocurrencies market for services like trading that Mr Dorsey's financial apps can provide.

However, Nigeria's crypto-market is under regulation after the central bank placed restrictions in February.

Concerned by the growing adoption of digital currencies and what it saw as the harm it posed to the Nigerian economy, the government barred financial institutions from dealing in them.

But the regulation has had the opposite effect as investors have seen an increase in activity.

Much like the way people have got around the Twitter ban, there has been a surge in cryptocurrency transactions between individuals that bypass the financial institutions.

"When you look at the Twitter ban and you look at the cryptocurrency ban, it really draws from the same government-driven fear which is: 'To what extent can we allow Nigerian youths to exercise freedom on the internet?'," said Senator Ihenyen, head of Nigeria's blockchain and cryptocurrencies association.

Mr Dorsey's defenders argue that while he is advancing his business interests, he also appears to be genuinely interested in Nigeria - even though he overlooked it for Twitter's Africa headquarters, preferring Ghana instead.

One-stop shop for everything

Mr Dorsey visited Lagos as part of his tour of Africa in November 2019, and a Nigerian, Uche Adegbite, is among the social media giant's senior directors.

Nigeria's former Finance Minister and current World Trade Organisation head, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had also previously served on Twitter's board.

The founder of the Co-Creation Hub in Lagos, Bosun Tijani, who met Mr Dorsey during his visit, said the Twitter CEO left with a strong belief that the platform was having a real impact in Nigeria.

"It's a country that is typically hierarchical but Twitter is one of the platforms that gives opportunity for people, regardless of who you are, to have conversations that naturally in the Nigerian context you never get to have," he said.

In fact, Twitter in Nigeria is more than a platform. It is a one-stop shop for everything - from job openings, to a missing persons portal, and a civic space to hold public officials to account.

It made its biggest political impact during last year's #EndSars demonstrations, when it became the platform of choice for the young demonstrators. They succeeded in forcing the president to scrap the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (Sars), a notorious police unit that was known for its brutality.

However, the peaceful protests were then hijacked by thugs who damaged public buildings across Nigeria.

For that, the government says it holds Mr Dorsey "liable", with some officials going as far as to accuse him of being part of a campaign to remove President Buhari from office.

 

Buhari's controversial tweet

Information Minister Lai Mohammed has alleged that Mr Dorsey raised funds through Bitcoin to sponsor one of the protest groups , and Twitter - which created a special emoji in support of the demonstrations - was used to stoke the crisis. Mr Dorsey has not commented on the allegations.

Relations hit a new low last month when the government blocked Twitter, alleging that the micro-blogging site was being used to undermine "Nigeria's corporate existence" through the spreading of fake news that had "violent consequences".

This came after Twitter deleted a tweet by President Buhari about the security issues in south-east Nigeria. He said "those misbehaving today" would be dealt with in "the language they will understand".

The president faced a massive backlash from users who saw this as a threat of violence. As a result Twitter accused accusing Mr Buhari of violating its rules and removed the tweet.

The government was furious and accused Twitter of double standards. It highlighted messages by Nnamdi Kanu, the exiled leader of a banned group calling for secession from Nigeria, which it argued encouraged the killing of police officers.

Those tweets were subsequently deleted by Twitter.

The Twitter founder has largely stayed out of politics in other African countries, fuelling suspicion among his critics that he not only has a business interest in Nigeria, but also a political interest.

But Mr Tijani simply sees Mr Dorsey as representing a new breed of CEOs.

"He's not the generation of Bill Gates. He's part of the generation that doesn't rely on the government," he said.

Moreover, Nigeria's youth are using his invention to push for political and economic change, worrying a government that does not have a good grasp of technology.

"[Government leaders] are beginning to see that this technology can be used to challenge them in ways that people have never been able to challenge them," Mr Tijani added.

By Nduka Orjinmo

BBC

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Digital art thrives among crypto-curious Nigerian artists

 

At only 29, Nigerian pop-artist Osinachi has sold paintings on Microsoft Word for several thousand euros, or the equivalent amount in ether, a cryptocurrency often used to buy digital art.

One of his works, Becoming Sochukwuma, shows a black dancer wrapped in a tutu made of African fabric, dreadlocks tied in a bun, swirling on a computer screen.

But what makes the painting truly unique is its endorsement with an NFT (Non-Fungible Token) -- a set of data stored in a blockchain that is used as a certificate of ownership.

The digital painting was sold in April for $80,000 worth of virtual money on the crypto-art market, a growing business in Africa's most populous country.

Worldwide, NFTs, which serve as a unique identifier, have reassured collectors when buying online art and propelled digital artists to stardom. Between January and May, NFTs generated around $2.5 billion worth of transactions according to the website NonFungible.com sparking the interest of global auction houses Christie's and Sotheby's.

Osinachi's pieces have done very well on this emerging market and in just a few months the young man has become the most famous African crypto-artist.

He was already using Microsoft Word to paint when he was at university but "gallerists didn't care about digital art" until recently, he told AFP.

It was in 2017 that he discovered he could sell his artwork directly to buyers using a blockchain - where a record of NFT ownership can be stored.

In the past six months, as crypto-currencies and NFTs have boomed, digital art like Osinachi's has thrived.

"Now, galleries are after him," said Oyindamola Fakeye, creative director at the Center for Contemporary Art in the country's cultural capital Lagos.

"He has a very positive influence on other African digital artists."

Blockchain, cryptocurrency, NFTs, are terms that are no longer foreign to Osinachi, who spends a lot of time in person and online explaining what they are to other artists.

Many creative minds and entrepreneurs in Nigeria are inspired by his success.

It's a "revolution in the art space", said fellow crypto-artist Niyi Okeowo, whose afro-futurist work combines photography, 3D and graphic design.

Nigeria has about "a hundred" digital artists, Okeowo says, and "most have been inspired by Osinachi".

With its large, youthful, creative and connected population, the West African nation has "the potential to lead" when it comes to NFTs, Osinachi believes.

"We have plenty of talents here. The creative energy in Lagos alone is baffling among young people."

Nigerians are also fond of cryptocurrencies, contributing to the success of NFTs.

In times of economic crisis, with a devalued naira, a growing number in the country are chosing to invest in digital currency.

Last year, more than $400 million were exchanged in cryptos, making Nigeria the third-largest user of digital money worldwide, behind the US and Russia, according to Statista, a German company specialising in market and consumer data.

Entrepeneur Uyi Omokaro was an early believer in the potential of NFT in Nigeria.

This month, he launched Wearmasters, a platform to sell Africa-made NFT art, where he hopes to bring on some of Nigeria's most talented emerging artists like 23-year-old painter Daniel Pengrapher

"Our ambition is to give them international visibility through NFT."

For now, NFT collectors are few in the country. One of them is Michael Ugwu, director of a digital studio in Lagos.

"I'm one of the only ones," says Ugwu.

He started investing in cryptocurrencies in 2017, after several devaluations of the naira, before discovering his real passion: the crypto-art market.

"The traditional art space can be a little bit snobbish," said Ugwu. On the crypto-art market, he says he "found a community, so welcoming, so interactive".

He owns about "a hundred" NFTs he says proudly, but he also considers them investments.

Ugwu has used NFTs as insurance to obtain loans on the crypto-finance market, a process that would take months in the traditional banking system.

Ugwu remains confident, despite recent crypto crashes that automatically devalue his collections.

"Most of my friends think that I'm crazy... Let's wait and see in 10 years."

AFP

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