According to the World Health Organization, about 200,000 people die of malaria every year in Nigeria. That's about 31 percent of global malaria deaths. And as the world marks World Malaria Day 2023, health experts urge the Nigerian government to do more to prevent malaria's spread.
Related story: Regulators in Nigeria Grant Approval to Oxford's Malaria Vaccine
Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) resumed operations at its facilities in Nigeria after resolving a labour dispute over pay and conditions with its in-house union, a company spokesperson said on Thursday.
The industrial action had forced Exxon to declare force majeure on oil liftings at its terminals in the country.
A spokesperson for Exxon said in email responses that its three ventures, Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited, Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited, and Esso Exploration and Production (Offshore East) Limited were now operating at normal levels.
"This follows the discontinuation of the industrial action earlier embarked upon by our in-house workers union," the spokesperson said.
Earlier, Nigeria's state-owned oil firm NNPC Ltd said in a statement it had helped end the labour dispute at Exxon after a pay adjustment acceptable to the union and Exxon was agreed.
NNPC, which runs joint ventures with oil majors, including Exxon, said the dispute was "effectively constraining 300,000 barrels of oil production daily".
Nigeria is targeting 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) by year-end from 1.6 million bpd.
By MacDonald Dzirutwe, Reuters
Gunmen killed 15 villagers and abducted five aid workers in separate attacks in Nigeria’s troubled northern region, authorities said Thursday.
The assailants arrived in Benue state’s Apa area and opened fire on villagers in their homes, according to David Olofu, a senior state government official. He said military personnel were among those shot in the attack and many houses were razed as villagers fled to safety.
The incident in Benue is the latest in a spiral of violent attacks in which armed groups are targeting remote communities across Nigeria’s northwest and central regions, often defying government and security measures.
More than 80 people have been killed in Benue in the past month in such attacks. No group has claimed responsibility for the killings, though authorities have blamed Fulani herdsmen, a group of mostly young pastoralists from the Fulani tribe caught up in Nigeria’s conflict between host communities and herdsmen over limited access to water and land.
In northeastern Nigeria, meanwhile, Islamic extremists abducted five aid workers in Ngala, Borno state, where an insurgency against the government has raged on for more than a decade.
The aid workers included three staff members and two contractors of the international non-government organization FHI 360, all “working to provide lifesaving medical care to the people of Nigeria,” the organization said Thursday, without further details on the incident.
FHI 360 condemned the abduction of the workers and called for their “unconditional, immediate and safe return,” according to a statement from Iorwakwagh Apera, the NGO’s director in Nigeria. “Our priority at this time is to support our team and their families,” said Apera.
The Boko Haram extremist group has been waging a bitter war against Nigeria since 2009, and the insurgency has spread over the years to the neighboring countries of Cameroon, Niger and Chad. A breakaway faction of the group formed in 2016 and became known as the Islamic State in West Africa Province and is notorious for targeting security forces and aid workers.
By Chinedu Asadu And Haruna Umar, AP
The Nigerian government has taken several measures to improve the generation and distribution of electricity in the country. Despite some gains from the measures, the overall state of power supply has not significantly improved and experts say the government must change its approach.
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A magistrate’s court in Abuja, on Tuesday, rescheduled the trial of a pastor of the House on the Rock Refuge Church, Uche Aigbe, who faces charges of illegal possession of firearms.
The court adjourned the case until 2 May due to the absence of a defence lawyer, who had sent in a letter to request permission to be away.
The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) police command had in February arrested Mr Aigbe, after a video clip of him carrying a gun during a Sunday church service went viral on social media platforms.
The images of the pastor showing him welding an AK-47 rifle on the church pulpit caused a stir with many commentators expressing safety concerns about the pastor’s action.
The police subsequently charged the pastor alongside Promise Ukachukwu and Olakunle Ogunleye with criminal conspiracy, illegal possession of prohibited firearms, inciting disturbance and criminal intimidation which they pleaded not guilty to.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that at the resumed trial at the magistrate’s court in Zuba, FCT, Abuja on Tuesday, the magistrate, Abdulaziz Ismail, drew attention to a letter by a defence lawyer, Uche Uzukwu, seeking an adjournment of the trial.
Mr Ismail noted that the adjournment was at the instance of the defence counsel who was absent, citing a matter he had at the election tribunal.
He then adjourned the case until 2 May for hearing.
NAN reports that the police alleged that the defendants, all of House on the Rock Refuge Church, Wuye, Abuja, conspired with an illegal possession of an AK-47 rifle on 12 February.
The prosecution counsel, James Idachaba, said the defendants got the firearm from Musa Audu, a police inspector, attached to Wuye Division and posted on guard duty at the church.
He added that the defendants used the firearm for an illustration while preaching a sermon about faith in the church.
The prosecution counsel said the defendants made inciting and intimidating statements to the church congregation that could cause alarm and breach of peace.
The offence, he said, is punishable under Section III of the Firearms Act CAP F28, LFN 2004 and contravened Section 97, 114 and 397 of the Penal Code.
