Nine people were killed after a gas cylinder explosion led to the collapse of a building close to a popular market in Nigeria’s northern state of Kano, the national emergency service and witnesses said.
The incident happened on Tuesday in the Sabon Gari area of the city, mostly populated by people who moved to Kano from elsewhere.
Mustapha Habib Ahmed, head of the National Emergency Management Agency, said a gas cylinder in a welding shop exploded, killing nine people. Emergency responders pulled bodies from the rubble during a search and rescue operation.
At a nearby school, parents rushed to pick up their children after hearing news of the blast, witnesses said. There were no reported injuries among the school children.
Kano, renowned for centuries as a centre for Islamic scholarship and a commercial hotspot in trans-Saharan trade, is the capital of the eponymous Nigerian state in the northwest region of the country.
Wednesday, May 18, 2022
Nine dead after explosion in Kano
Nigeria’s treasury chief arrested over multimillion-dollar fraud
The head of Nigeria’s treasury has been arrested for alleged involvement in fraud and money laundering worth 80 billion naira ($190m), the country’s anti-graft agency said.
Ahmed Idris, Nigeria’s accountant-general, was arrested on Monday “after failing to honour invitations” to respond to the allegations, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said.
The EFCC said Idris “raked off the funds through bogus consultancies and other illegal activities using proxies, family members and close associates”.
The proceeds were invested by Idris in real estate in the capital Abuja and in his home state of Kano in northern Nigeria, it said in a statement issued late Monday.
Idris has not commented on the accusations.
President Muhammadu Buhari came to power in 2015 on a pledge to end endemic graft, but has barely made a dent in corruption on a national scale.
Under his watch, the EFCC has secured a string of high-profile convictions, including ministers, state governors, senior public servants and prominent political figures.
But last week, the president announced a pardon for two ex-governors jailed for corruption, despite public outcry.
Last year, the agency said it had recovered 714 million euros ($750m) that had been plundered from the nation’s coffers.
The government has been accused of targeting the opposition in its anti-corruption drive, an allegation it denies.
Monday, May 16, 2022
Video - Court stops Central Bank of Nigeria Governor's bid to run for a political seat
The court in Nigeria has dismissed the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor's bid to run for political ambitions.
Nigeria, others witness lunar eclipse today
Centre Director, Dr. Bonaventure Okere, stated that the lunar eclipse would be visible from across the nooks and crannies of Nigeria, as well as in several other countries of Africa, North and South America, Europe and parts of Asia.
He added that the lunar eclipse has remained one of the most interesting astronomical events/phenomena for sky-watchers globally over the years.
The natural phenomenon, according to him, occurs “when the Earth blocks the Sun’s light, which otherwise would have struck and reflect off the moon’s surface. In other words, the moon passes into the umbra/deep shadow of the Earth.
“When this happens, the short-wavelength light from our planet is scattered/absorbed while the light of longer wavelength (red colour) is refracted around the edges of the atmosphere while falling upon the moon’s surface, thereby turning the moon reddish in colour (the Blood Moon).”
Friday, May 13, 2022
Video - Nigeria Food Festival: fans enjoy roasted plantain in Abuja
Nigeria is a culturally diverse country known for various delicacies, this has seen food lovers converge for the Bole Food Festival, where there was some roasted plantain on cards.