Nigeria police free 35 teenage girls from prostitution ring

At least 35 teenage girls held captive and forced to work in a prostitution ring in southeastern Nigeria have been rescued after police raided a hotel where they were being held, police said.

The girls between the ages of 14 and 17 were found by police acting on a tipoff in Nkpor town in Anambra state, according to a statement issued by Tochukwu Ikenga, Anambra police spokesman.

The girls were being used for prostitution and some were impregnated so their babies could be sold, said the statement. Four of the girls rescued are pregnant, police said.

Three suspects were arrested in connection with the incident, the police statement said. Rifles and 877,500 naira ($2,112) cash were also recovered, police said.

“The suspects arrested are being interrogated with a view to eliciting information on their involvement and unmasking other gang members,” said the police spokesman. The suspects arrested will be charged at the end of investigations, he said.

The girls freed will be handed over to Nigeria’s National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons for their care while, said the statement.

This is not the first time that police in Nigeria’s southeast have freed young girls who were being held captive and were sexually exploited and forced to have babies that were then sold.


A child trafficking syndicate was uncovered last month in Ebonyi state after it was discovered that a baby had been sold for 355,000 naira ($855), police said. Some babies have in the past been sold for as low as 70,000 naira ($168), police said.

By Chinedu Asadu 

AP

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Nigerians may arm themselves

Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State, yesterday, warned the Federal Government that its inability to secure lives and property would soon force Nigerians to arm themselves in self-defence.

Akeredolu, in his keynote address at the meeting of the Attorneys-General of the 36 states of Nigeria, in Lagos, said the Police were overwhelmed.

The governor asked the Police to ‘close shop’ if the Federal Government could not meet its equipment needs.

Akeredolu insisted that the Police have failed in their constitutional role of protecting Nigerians and that if the situation does not improve, citizens would be left with no other option but to arm themselves in self-defence.

Akeredolu stated: “The current spate of insecurity in the country leaves us with no room for equivocation on the rights of the states to maintain law and order through the establishment of State Police. The growing distrust in the polity is a direct result of the disconnect between Federal Government and the constituent units of the country. The economic adversity currently experienced in the country points directly at the defective political structure.

“A unitary system cannot work, successfully, in a country like Nigeria. The 1999 Constitution has been amended twice. There is another promise of further amendments arising from the manifest irregularity in many provisions.

“This has compelled many lawyers and educated citizens to insist on having a new Constitution which will reflect the agitations of the various groups which make up the country. The law is becoming increasingly less certain under these circumstances.

“The crises created by the 1999 Constitution, as amended, have been unending. There have been agitations that the Exclusive Legislative List in this Constitution is limited to Nigeria’s external trade, customs duties, export duties, tax on incomes, profits and capital gains, interstate commerce, external borrowing, mining rents and royalties from mineral resources, among others.

“The Federal Government has, consistently, rejected this suggestion, presumably, because of the humongous 52 percent revenue allocation to it while the 36 States and the 774 Local Governments share the remaining 48 percent.”

Akeredolu challenged states to restructure the country by, among others, setting up their anti-graft agencies.

However, in his address, Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami , SAN, said governors cannot continue to agitate for restructuring and state police when they are responsible for the compromise and mismanagement of the current system.

Malami also stated that “State police will not work because state governors would abuse it, look at the way they treat local government, imagine what will happen if they control the police.“

The AGF advised the governors to utilise the existing structures through the National Assembly to press on with their demands for restructuring and other constitutional amendments.

By Innocent Anaba 

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The Confucius Institute in Nigeria commemorated the 2022 Dragon Boat Festival. Chinese cultural enthusiasts gathered to witness the event which celebrates patriotism and classical poetry. CGTN's Kelechi Emekalam reports.

Nigeria prepares 5G technology for digital economy

Nigeria has made some significant success in the drive towards enthroning the national digital economy for the country.

This was disclosed by the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (EVC/CEO) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, in his keynote address at the 2022 Nigeria DigitalSENSE Forum series on ‘5G: Enthroning Internet Governance for Digital Economy’ held in Lagos.

DigitalSENSE Africa, a project of ITREALMS Media Group, puts Nigeria DigitalSENSE Forum on Internet Governance for Development together.

Buttressing his position, the EVC, who was represented by a Deputy Director and Head of Spectrum Database Management at NCC, Abraham Oshadami, while dwelling specifically on “5G: Enthronement in Nigeria’s Telecom Sector” outlined some 11 points to drive home his assertion.

Some of these steps, he said, include the creation of a full-fledged department of Digital Economy in NCC with a mandate amongst others, to ensure that the programmes and targets set in the NNBP 2020-2025 and NDEPS 2020 – 2030 are rigorously pursued, tracked, and attained; INFRACO companies have been licensed to deploy fibre on an open access basis in six geo-political zones of the country and Lagos State. Approval to commence rollout was given in April 2021.

According to him, they have developed and secured the Federal Executive Council’s approval on Nigerian 5G Policy to guide deployments of 5G services nationwide, while acknowledging efforts of the Minister of Communication & Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami.

In addition, he said, NCC had successfully licensed two lots of 100 MHz bandwidth in the 3.5 GHz Spectrum band for 5G deployment in December 2021, just as they set up and expanded the Internet Exchange Point capacity of 930 MB/s for Abuja to Lagos Route, 620 MB/s for Abuja to Kano Route, 310 MB/s for Lagos to Port Harcourt route, bolstering landed total offshore broadband capacity of 50.74 TB comprising 40TB Submarine and 10.74 TB of Satellite and the figures are already set for increase.

Equally, he said, NCC followed up on the global industry trends on 5G spectrums such as the 26 GHz, 38 GHz and 42 GHz bands harmonized in World Radio Conference 2019 (WRC-19), and has updated the National Frequency Allocation Table (NFAT) to reflect the outcome of the WRC-19 through opening up the 60 GHz V-band; Opened up the 70/80GHz E-band for both point-to-point and point-to-multi-points deployments; and developed and published the Spectrum Trading Guidelines amongst other benefits.

These, he said, are evident in the efforts of the commission being demonstrated in the smooth update of previous technologies such as 2G, 3G and the 4G; and the one that is now being implemented to ensure the deployment and adoption of 5G infrastructure and services in Nigeria.

Equally speaking, the Director-General (DG), National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Mallam Balarabe Musa said that in the past few days, digital technology usage around the world have improved including raising the bar on credibility of election results across the continent.

Balarabe, who was represented by a delegation led by the Lagos Zonal Director, Dr. Chibuike Ogwumike, charged stakeholders including various regulatory organs, industries, network operators, service-technology providers, public and private partnership organisations to synergise and be in continued dialogue to address the challenges that may face the widespread 5G deployment worldwide. 

By Adeyemi Adepetun 

The Guardian

JPMorgan wins London oil trial in which Nigeria sought $1.7 bln

JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N) has won a London High Court battle against Nigeria, which was seeking $1.7 billion in damages over the U.S. bank's role in a disputed 2011 oilfield deal.

JPMorgan said the judgment reflected its commitment to acting with high professional standards everywhere it operates, while Nigeria said it was disappointed and would review the judgment carefully before considering its next steps.

The civil case, which was heard earlier this year, relates to the purchase by Shell (SHEL.L) and Eni (ENI.MI) of Nigeria's OPL 245 offshore oilfield.

Nigeria had alleged JPMorgan was "grossly negligent" in its transfer of funds paid by the energy majors to a company linked to the country's disgraced former oil minister Dan Etete, as per instructions received from Nigerian government officials.

Nigeria now says those officials were party to a fraudulent scheme.

According to Nigeria's legal argument, the transactions put JPMorgan in breach of its Quincecare duty, which obliges banks to disregard a customer's instructions if following those instructions might facilitate a fraud against that customer.

JP Morgan rejected the legal argument, putting the emphasis on its primary duty to comply promptly with payment instructions from its customer, and also contested some of the factual elements put forward by Nigeria.

London High Court Judge Sara Cockerill said in a 137-page ruling issued on Tuesday that no Quincecare breach had occurred.

JPMorgan said the outcome reflected "how we are prepared to robustly defend our actions and reputation when they are called into question".

The Nigerian government said it would continue its fight against fraud and corruption and work to recover funds for the people of Nigeria.

Campaign group Spotlight on Corruption described the ruling as "a huge setback in the fight against corruption", saying it gave a "free pass" to banks who ignored red flags.

The damages sought included cash sent to Etete's company Malabu Oil and Gas, around $875 million paid in three instalments in 2011 and 2013, plus interest, taking the total to over $1.7 billion.

Nigerian military ruler Sani Abacha had awarded licence OPL 245 to a company Etete owned in 1998.

Subsequent Nigerian administrations had challenged Etete's rights to the field over many years until a deal to resolve the impasse via a sale to Shell and Eni was struck in 2011.

The transaction is also at the centre of ongoing legal action in Italy.

By Sinead Cruise and Estelle Shirbon

Reuters