Video - Analysts in Nigeria call for increased new foreign investments

Nigeria faces forex shortage due to reduced capital investments, with capital importation dropping to 650 million U.S. dollars in the third quarter of 2023, prompting analysts to call for increased foreign investment efforts.

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Dead evangelist TB Joshua accused of sexual abuse

 Before his death in 2021 at the age of 57, TB Joshua was one of Africa's most influential televangelists.

The Christian preacher attracted followers from all over the world by claiming to perform miracles, like curing blindness and HIV.

However, an investigation by the BBC has uncovered more than a decade of allegations of rape and torture by him inside his compound in Lagos.


Joshua amassed great wealth throughout his career, possessing a fleet of cars and travelling via private jet.

But his beginnings were far more humble. Born Temitope Balogun Joshua to a poor family on 12 June 1963, he was raised by a Muslim uncle after his Christian father died.

One of the claims he made was that he had been in his mother's womb for 15 months.

He also said that during his early days, he experienced a three-day trance in which he was called to serve God.

"I am your God. I am giving you a divine commission to go and carry out the work of the heavenly father," Joshua declared.

It was then that he started the Synagogue, Church of All Nations (Scoan), with eight members.

Joshua and Scoan rose to prominence in the late 1990s, amid an explosion of "miracle" programmes performed by pastors on Nigerian TV.

Tens of thousands of followers from Nigeria and around the world would regularly attend his services in Lagos, Nigeria's biggest city, in an attempt to be healed and hear the preacher's "prophecies".

Joshua also took his ministry on tour, visiting other African countries, the UK, US, and nations in South America.

In testament to his vast reach, the Lagos state government turned to Joshua in an effort to control the spread of Ebola during the 2014 outbreak in other West African countries.

Officials asked Joshua to tell infected followers in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone - the worst affected countries - not to travel to Joshua's Lagos church for healing.

He agreed to suspend some of the church's healing programmes but is also said to have sent 4,000 bottles of "anointing water" to Sierra Leone, falsely claiming they could cure the disease.

Joshua's anointing water was always in high demand - in 2013 a rush for the bottles at his church in Ghana led to the death of four people in a stampede.

Many criticised the preacher following the incident but police in Ghana said it was difficult to apportion blame.

In an even deadlier case the following year, one of Joshua's churches collapsed in Lagos, killing at least 116 people.

The preacher never faced charges, despite a coroner in a Lagos court saying that "the church was culpable because of criminal negligence".

Although thousands packed his churches, Joshua always struggled to be accepted by his peers.

Ostracised by both the Christian Association of Nigeria (Can) and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), he was described as an "impostor" who belonged to a group of "occults" that had infiltrated Christianity.

"He was rough. He was crude. His methods were unorthodox," Abimbola Adelakun, assistant professor in the African Studies Department at the University of Texas, told the BBC in 2021.

While the growth of the internet and social media helped him spread his message, it also revealed increasing opposition to Joshua and other wealthy mega-church pastors.

Some critics took issue with Joshua - known as "the prophet" by his followers - claiming to have predicted numerous events, from the death of Michael Jackson, to the disappearance of the Malaysian plane MH370 in 2014.

Before Jackson's death in 2009, TB Joshua told his congregation : "In his own area he is famous. He is known everywhere. Great. Too great. Because I see something will begin to happen to that star and that will likely end in him to pack his load and go to the journey of no return but I don't know when that journey [is]."

Six months later, Joshua used the star's shock death as proof that he could supposedly see the future.

Despite making such outlandish claims, Joshua had numerous high-profile followers.

South African politician Julius Malema, Malawi's former President Joyce Banda, long-time Zimbabwe opposition leader, the late Morgan Tsvangirai and the former president of Ghana, the late John Atta Mills, are among the prominent Africans who paid homage to Joshua while he was alive.

Joshua career really took off when he began preaching on Emmanuel TV, a television station run by Scoan.

Along with being a platform for his sermons, the station broadcast accounts of people who said their lives were changed for the better because of the preacher's ministry.

Testimonies included stories about financial prosperity, inexplicable recoveries from illness and even people supposedly being awakened from the dead.

Joshua was also known for his charity work, for which Nigeria's former president, the late Umaru Yar'Adua, awarded him the Order of the Federal Republic, one of the country's highest honours.

When the preacher died - of a cause that was never made public - mourners travelled from across the globe to Lagos for his burial service.

His wife, Evelyn Joshua, took over as head of the the church. They had three children.

But that legacy now lies in tatters.

BBC

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Nigeria central bank pays nearly $2 billion towards Foreign Exchange backlog

Nigeria's central bank has paid nearly $2 billion in outstanding foreign exchange forwards in the last three months in a bid to clear a backlog of dollars, a spokesperson has said, but forex shortages continue to hobble the country's naira currency.

Africa's biggest economy has nearly $7 billion in forex forwards that have matured, a major concern for investors, but the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has promised to pay up to boost confidence in the foreign exchange market.

"In the past three months, the CBN has also redeemed outstanding forward liabilities amounting to almost USD 2 billion," acting spokesperson Hakama Sadi Ali said in a statement late on Sunday.

"This underscores the Bank's commitment to the resolution of pending obligations and a functional foreign exchange market."

Nigeria's foreign currency shortages have been worsened by declining oil production, which is the country's largest export, accounting for more than 90% of dollar inflows.

Ali said the CBN had recently paid $61.64 million to foreign airlines, who sold tickets in the local naira currency but have not been able to get their money out of the country.

Foreign airlines were owed more than $700 million at the end of November.

"These payments signify the CBN's ongoing efforts to settle all remaining valid forward transactions, with the aim of alleviating the current pressure on the country's exchange rate," Ali said.

President Bola Tinubu has promised to boost foreign currency inflows into Nigeria by attracting new investment, ramping up oil production and reforming the foreign exchange market. 

By Camillus Eboh, Reuters

Video - More security personnel deployed to Plateau state in Nigeria after December attacks

The additional deployment follows attacks by gunmen who invaded communities in Plateau state on Christmas Eve, killing over 150 people. Analysts believe the government needs to employ more than just a heavy hand to bring peace to the area.

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Port Harcourt oil refinery to complete test run this month

Nigerian state-owned oil firm NNPC Ltd will complete test runs at the Port Harcourt refinery in the south this month, in a major step towards resuming operations five years after the plant was shut, the company said on Thursday.

"Testing will conclude shortly, ensuring the refinery's efficient operation. That phase will be completed this month," NNPC spokesperson Femi Soneye said.

The refinery, which is undergoing an upgrade, will begin by processing 60,000 barrels per day, and NNPC expects to operate at the full capacity of 210,000 barrels per day later this year.

Port Harcourt is among Nigerian state-owned refineries that have been mothballed for years, but which the government is trying to revive to end the country's reliance on imported refined products. 

By Isaac Anyaogu, Reuters