The Duchess of Cornwall has become patron of Nigeria's first sexual assault referral center

Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, has been named patron of Nigeria's first sexual assault referral center in Lagos, the country's largest city.

The Duchess, 74, has long campaigned against domestic abuse and sexual violence and said she is "delighted to become Patron of the Mirabel Center in Lagos," which was founded in 2013 to support survivors of sexual assault.

"It is a truly trailblazing organization, supporting survivors of rape and sexual assault as they seek healing and justice," she added. "Their vital work means that women need no longer suffer in silence and I am deeply grateful to all Mirabel's wonderful staff and volunteers."

The Duchess will be working with Nigerian and British Nigerian women to find ways to help the Mirabel Centre over the coming months, Clarence House said.

The center's founder, Itoro Eze-Anaba, told CNN Tuesday the Mirabel Center provides free medical and psychosocial support services to survivors of sexual violence and has assisted over 6,000 people since it started eight years ago.

She said the youngest survivor they have helped was a 3-month-old baby and the oldest, an 80-year-old woman.

Eze-Anaba added that having the duchess as patron will, among other things, enable the organization to boost the work it does for survivors of sexual violence, who are often too afraid to speak out.

"It will raise awareness about the center, and the issue of rape in Nigeria. When we started in 2013, we were seeing between 20 to 30 clients in a month. Now we see at least 70, sometimes more than 100 clients in a month. This means that more people are having the confidence to speak out," she said.

The Duchess of Cornwall became patron of the UK domestic abuse charity SafeLives last year.
"Sexual violence in Nigeria is rampant but shrouded in secrecy because of the stigma that is associated with it," Eze-Anaba said.

A report by UN Women found that 30 percent of women and girls aged between 15 and 49 have experienced sexual abuse in Nigeria.

The report also found that gender-based violence had worsened during the Covid crisis.
Last month, the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team (DSVRT) said at least 1,617 cases of sexual assault were recorded in the state between January and June this year.

The DSVRT further stated that more than 10,000 cases involving men, women, and children had been handled by the agency in the last two years.

"The current COVID-19 pandemic has further revealed the endemic nature of sexual violence. We have seen a huge number of children and women coming forward to report cases of sexual assault and rape," Eze-Anaba said. 

CNN

Video - Is Nigeria's kidnapping crisis out of control?

Nigeria’s government is struggling to tackle criminal gangs who have stepped up concerted attacks against village communities, schools, and colleges in northern states over the last eight months. Gang members popularly characterised as ‘bandits’ have kidnapped more than 1,000 students alone since they began abducting civilians for ransom payments in greater numbers in December. 

While some children and young adults have been freed through mediation, in many cases families and school administrators have paid the attackers to secure their release. With the central government of President Muhammadu Buhari and some state governors refusing to pay the gangs and many families unable to meet the ransom demands themselves, hundreds of people remain hostage. 

The gangs have launched increasingly bold attacks as central and state authorities try to tackle them. In an unexpected raid on an elite military academy in Kaduna on August 24, suspected gang members killed two officers and kidnapped another. In this episode of The Stream, we will look at how people in northern Nigeria are coping amid the advance of the gangs and what can be done to improve security and safety.

Schools in Nigerian state shut after mass kidnapping of students by gunmen

Schools in Nigeria's northwestern Zamfara State have been ordered closed after scores of students were kidnapped by gunmen on Wednesday.

At least 73 students were abducted from a state-run high school in Zamfara's Maradun district, local police said in a statement, adding that the high school was targeted by "armed bandits."
"The abduction followed the invasion of the school by a large number of armed bandits," according to Zamfara State Police Command.

"A search and rescue team has been deployed to work with the military to locate and rescue the abducted children... Security has also been beefed up at Kaya Village and environ to forestall further attacks on the communities," the statement added.

Zamfara's Information Commissioner, Ibrahim Dosara, told CNN on Thursday that schools in the state have been closed down to avoid further attacks.

"We have closed primary and secondary schools in the state," Dosara said, adding "but schools currently writing examinations are asked to stay behind until they finish their examinations... Heavy security presence will be provided to protect those writing exams."

The latest kidnapping comes days after 91 schoolchildren earlier abducted in north-central Niger State were released by their captors after thousands of dollars were paid by their families as ransom.
Peter Hawkins, UNICEF's representative in Nigeria told CNN the Zamfara kidnapping "highlights the fragility of education and security" in the state.

"The bandits have reached a stage now where all schools in Zamfara state have been closed down through their actions. The impact this will have on children who want to learn will be profound — not only on those 73 children whose lives are at stake for purposes of extortion, but for all children in Zamfara who are prevented from being able to go to school and learn," said Hawkins, who added that an estimated 1.3 million Nigerian children have been affected by frequent raids on schools by gunmen.
Kidnapping for ransom has become one of the major security challenges in Nigeria, with Zamfara and other neighbouring northwestern states being hit with several mass kidnappings this year.

Prominent among the string of kidnappings in Zamfara was the abduction of over 200 schoolgirls in the town of Jangebe in February. The students have since been freed, with authorities insisting no ransom was paid to secure their release.

Between June 2011 and the end of March 2020, an estimated $18.34 million was paid in ransoms, Lagos-based SBM Intelligence said in a report last year titled "The economics of the kidnap industry in Nigeria."

Amnesty International has described this latest incident in Zamfara as "disturbing," saying in a tweet that "attacks on schools and abductions of children are war crimes."

"The children abducted are in serious risk of being harmed. Nigerian authorities must take all measures to return them to safety," Amnesty added. 

By Nimi Princewill and Sarah Dean 

CNN 

Related stories: Gunmen release some students in northern Nigeria months after kidnapping

Bandits release 15 students after parents pay ransom

Kidnapped Nigeria Chibok girl free after seven years

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation is considering an initial public offer of its shares after declaring profit for the first time in its 44 years of operation in the 2020 financial year. This comes after President Muhammadu Buhari, signed into law the Petroleum Industry Act, which enables the state-owned oil giant to offer its shares to the public. Listing of NNPC's shares will draw on the experience of the Saudi Arabian oil giant, Aramco, which listed its shares in 2019. The news of the proposed sales of NNPC shares to the public and its subsequent listing on the Nigerian exchange limited is expected to help improve transparency and accountability at the oil firm which had been bedeviled with large scale corruption.

Nigeria and Russia Sign Military Cooperation Agreement

The Nigerian Embassy in Moscow announced last week the signing of a legal framework agreement that would provide for Russia to supply Nigeria with military equipment and training. The Agreement on Military-Technical Cooperation also provides for “after-sales services, training of personnel in respective educational establishments, and technology transfer.” Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari reportedly raised the possibility of such an agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2019.

Media sees the agreement as related to U.S. congressional hesitancy to authorize the sale to Nigeria of certain military equipment because of human rights concerns. Indeed, ​Nigerian desire to buy such materiel—and American reluctance to sell, often on human rights grounds—is a perennial irritant to the bilateral relationship. Nigeria already uses military equipment from Russia and other military suppliers as well as the United States.

The just-signed agreement is a legal framework only; Nigeria has not entered into a new agreement actually to make new purchases. With respect to Nigeria, Russia is likely to be “transactional”—can its companies make money? Any accompanying increase in political influence Moscow will regard as a secondary dividend. 

By John Campbell 

CFR

Video - Nigerian Medics Seek Greener Pastures In Saudi Arabia

Nigerian medics are moving to the Middle East in search of greener pastures amid resident doctors' strike.

Tiger Brands becomes latest SA company to exit Nigeria

South African company Tiger Brands, owner of brands like All Gold, Black Cat and Koo, agreed to sell its 49% minority shareholding in UAC Foods to parent UAC of Nigeria.

The purchase is expected to be completed in September, UAC of Nigeria said in a filing published on the website of the Nigerian Exchange Group. UAC of Nigeria currently owns 51% of UAC Food's shares.

Tiger Brands acquired a minority state in UAC Foods in 2011, following a joint venture agreement with the Nigerian firm to manufacture and distribute some sausage, ice cream and water brands. It is exiting Nigeria about two months after another South African firm, Shoprite Holdings, sold its operations in the West African country to local investors.

Also, Tiger Brands in 2015 sold its shareholding in Dangote Flour to Nigerian parent Dangote Industries, three years after buying it.

By Emele Onu

Bloomberg

Video - Gunmen kill 36 villagers in Nigeria's divided Plateau state

Attackers shot dead at least 36 people and destroyed buildings in a night raid on a village near the central Nigerian city of Jos, officials said, in an area hit by repeated ethnic clashes.

The gunmen went house to house killing residents in Yelwa Zangam late on Tuesday, a military spokesman said. Troops struggled to get to the area as a bridge had been destroyed, he added.
Jos is the capital of Plateau State - part of Nigeria's so-called Middle Belt which has seen regular fighting between the Hausa-Fulani group, who dominate the whole of northern Nigeria, and a number of much smaller local ethnic groups.

Plateau State Governor Simon Lalong described the attack as a "barbaric act", and said security forces had arrested 10 suspects and were pursuing others.
He said he was reinstating a 24-hour curfew on the surrounding area to prevent further loss of life and property. Authorities had only recently relaxed a curfew imposed after attackers killed 22 commuters in the same area on Aug 14.

One local resident said the attackers were Fulanis from a nearby area involved in a feud with the Yelwa Zangam community. Reuters could not independently verify this.
A registrar at a hospital in Jos told Reuters that 36 bodies had been brought in from the village.

Upsurge of violence

The whole of Nigeria has been experiencing an upsurge of violence this year, with abductions for ransom and armed robberies commonplace in several states.

The underlying cause of much of the tension is poverty which intensifies competition for resources and jobs and, in the Middle Belt, exacerbates a complex inter-section of ethnic and religious rivalries.
The Hausa-Fulani, who number tens of millions across Nigeria and are mostly Muslim, are seen as a threat by some of the smaller Middle Belt groups, who are predominantly Christian. 

CNN

Gunmen release some students in northern Nigeria months after kidnapping

Gunmen have released some of the children kidnapped from a school in northern Nigeria back in May, some of whom were as young as five years old, the school's head teacher said late Thursday.

Abubakar Garba Alhassan told The Associated Press that the freed students were on their way to the state capital, Minna, but added he could not confirm the exact number freed.

Authorities have said that 136 children were abducted along with several teachers when gunmen on motorcycles attacked the Salihu Tanko Islamic School in Niger state. Other preschoolers were left behind as they could not keep pace when the gunmen hurriedly moved those abducted into the forest.

Alhassan did not provide details of their release, but parents of the students have over the past weeks struggled to raise ransoms demanded by their abductors. There was no immediate comment from police of the Niger governor's office.

The release, though, came a day after local media quoted one parent as saying six of the children had died in captivity.

More than 1,000 students have been forcibly taken from their schools during those attacks, according to an Associated Press tally of figures previously confirmed by the police. Although most of those kidnapped have been released, at least 200 are still held by their abductors.

The government has been unable to halt the spate of abductions for ransom. As a result, many schools have been forced to close due to the concerns about the kidnapping risk.

After one abduction at a university in Kaduna state earlier this year, gunmen demanded hundreds of thousands of dollars in ransom. They killed five other students to compel the students' parents to raise the money, and later released 14 others.

CBC

Related story: Bandits release 15 students after parents pay ransom

Nigeria approves Sinopharm COVID vaccine, expects 7.7 mln doses

Nigeria has recently approved China's Sinopharm (1099.HK) vaccine against COVID-19, the head of the country's primary healthcare agency said on Tuesday.

Nigeria has been allocated 7.7 million doses of the vaccine through the COVAX scheme aimed at providing vaccines to developing countries.

Dr. Faisal Shuaib, head of Nigeria's National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, did not say when the Sinopharm doses would arrive or be administered.

Cases are rising in Nigeria with daily new infections increasing 10 fold from levels seen in July, according to a Reuters tally.

Nigeria, Africa's most populous country with some 200 million people, has vaccinated only a small fraction of them, largely due to lack of supply. So far, some 2 million people, or 1% of the population, have received one dose of vaccine while fewer than 1 million have received two.

The rollout of vaccines, which had been halted on July 9 because supplies had run out after a first phase, resumed on Aug. 16. read more

During the first phase, Nigeria used doses of AstraZeneca's (AZN.L) vaccine received through COVAX. It has since received supplies of Moderna's (MRNA.O) vaccine donated by the United States, which are being used for the second phase.

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) shots purchased by Nigeria via an African Union scheme are also expected to be used.

Nigeria has recorded 187,588 cases of COVID-19 and 2,276 deaths since the start of the pandemic, according to official data, although the figures could be much higher given that only 2.7 million samples have been tested. 

Reuters 

Related story: Unpaid doctors strike in Nigeria amid new COVID-19 surge

Officers killed in attack on Nigeria’s elite military academy

Gunmen have attacked Nigeria’s elite military academy, killing two officers and kidnapping another in a brazen assault on a symbol of the armed forces.

The raid on Tuesday on the Nigerian Defence Academy, the country’s main officer training school, is a major blow for a military already struggling with an armed uprising and heavily armed criminal gangs.

“The security architecture of the Nigerian Defence Academy was compromised early this morning by unknown gunmen,” said Major Bashir Muhammad Jajira, spokesman for the academy in the northwestern state of Kaduna.

“We lost two personnel and one was abducted.”

Various army units and security agencies were pursuing the attackers and trying to rescue the kidnap victim, Jajira said.

The high-security base, located just outside the state capital Kaduna, trains Nigerian officers and also cadets from other African militaries.

No group claimed responsibility, but Nigeria is facing a threat from rebels and large criminal gangs that raid villages, steal cattle and carry out mass kidnappings for ransom.

Attacks and kidnappings have surged in recent months, especially in north-central and northwest Nigeria, partly driven by economic hardship linked to disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and by the impunity enjoyed by most perpetrators.

Kaduna state, located north of the federal capital Abuja, has been the scene of mass abductions at schools and other acts of violence against communities, along with other states such as Niger, Zamfara and Katsina.

The Nigerian government has said it is winning the battle against the criminals it describes as bandits.

However, many Nigerians have stopped travelling through rural areas for fear of being abducted, many pupils have dropped out of school, and many parents are driven to desperate measures to raise ransoms to have their kidnapped children freed.

Al Jazeera

Related stories: Kidnapped Nigeria Chibok girl free after seven years

Video - Nigeria looking to dominate the 2021 FIBA AFROBASKET

In just three day's time, Africa's premier basketball tournament, the Afrobasket- will kick off in the Rwandan capital, Kigali. 16 top nations from around Africa will take part in the two-week competition. Olympic Games finalists and the tournament's top team, D'Tigers from Nigeria, head to Kigali with one mission- to claim the title and assert themselves as the number one ranked men's basketball team on the continent. Here's CGTN's Deji Badmus with more.

Bandits release 15 students after parents pay ransom

Bandits have released 15 more students kidnapped last month from a Baptist school in northwest Nigeria, officials said.

School administrator Reverend John Hayab told Reuters news agency on Sunday that parents had raised and paid an undisclosed ransom to free the students, who were among more than 100 taken on July 5 from the Bethel Baptist High School.

“The students are already being released and would be handed over to their parents any moment from now,” Hayab said.

Hayab had previously said the abductors were seeking 1 million naira ($2,430) per student.

So far, 56 of the kidnapped Bethel students have been released or escaped from their abductors.

“We still have 65 more of our students with the bandits and we are working to see they can be freed,” Hayab told the AFP news agency on Sunday.

Kaduna state’s commissioner for internal security, Samuel Aruwan, confirmed the release but did not immediately comment on the ransom payment.

The Bethel abduction was part of a string of kidnappings by armed gangs known locally as bandits who have long terrorised northwest and central Nigeria, looting, stealing cattle and kidnapping for ransom.

About 1,000 students have been kidnapped since December after gangs started to target schools and colleges. Most have been released after negotiations.

But many hostages remain captive, including more than 136 children abducted in June from an Islamic seminary in Tegina in central Niger State, four of whom have died in captivity.

On Friday, the gangs asked the seminary to send clothing for the schoolchildren who have been in the same clothes for months, according to one of the parents.

“They phoned the head of the school and told him to ask parents to send the children new clothes as the ones they have been wearing are in shreds,” Maryam Mohammed, whose seven children are among the hostages, told AFP.

Last week, nine pupils of an Islamic seminary were also seized by motorcycle-riding attackers in Katsina State, the second such incident in as many months.

President Muhammadu Buhari in February called on state governments to stop paying bandits, and Kaduna Governor Nasir el-Rufai publicly refuses to pay.

But desperate parents and communities often raise and pay ransoms themselves.

Al Jazeera

Related story: Kidnapped Nigeria Chibok girl free after seven years

Video - President Buhari signs historic oil overhaul into law

 

President Muhammadu Buhari has signed into law long-awaited legislation to overhaul the oil and gas industry in Africa's biggest crude producer. A harmonised version of the Petroleum Industry Bill completed its passage through both houses of parliament on 16 July, nearly two decades after it was first introduced. The law aims to provide a clearer framework, and simplify taxes and royalties for oil companies working in Africa's top oil producer. For a more detailed look into this, CGTN's Ramah Nyang' had a chat with Dauda Garuba, a Natural Resource Governance Expert.

Nigeria Near Agreement to Resume Twitter Service

Twitter Inc. agreed to most of the conditions set by the Nigerian government to resume operations in the West African country, Information Minister Lai Mohammed said.

The social media giant “has met almost 70% of the government’s terms and conditions, many of them quite fundamental and important,” Mohammed said in an interview Wednesday with Bloomberg Television. “We are working on a few more.”

A spokesman for the San Francisco-based company declined to comment.

President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration blocked access to Twitter’s services in Africa’s most populous country on June 5, after the company deleted one of his tweets for violating its rules. The dispute added to other controversies Twitter has faced with government leaders, including its decision in January to ban former U.S. President Donald Trump and a clash with Indian authorities over posts on its app.

Buhari, who was briefly a military dictator during the 1980s, ran afoul of Twitter’s rules when he issued a threat to crack down on separatists he accuses of waging a rebellion in the southeast of the country.

The Nigerian government didn’t shutter Twitter because of the removal of Buhari’s tweet, Mohammed said. Rather, it was because of the use of the U.S. microblogging site by the Indigenous People of Biafra, he said.

Buhari’s government has proscribed IPOB, which wants to establish an independent nation in southeastern Nigeria, as a terrorist organization and blames the group for a series of deadly attacks this year on security forces. The group’s leader, Nnamdi Kanu, was captured in June and returned to Nigeria to continue a treason trial he fled in 2017.

“Twitter became the platform of choice for a group that was targeting policemen, killing policemen, killing the military and promoting the interest of one ethnic group against another,” Mohammed said. “For national security, we suspended the operations.”

IPOB maintains that it’s a self-determination movement committed to creating its own state for the Igbo ethnic group through non-violent means. It accuses the government of “abducting” Kanu abroad in violation of international law.

Twitter officials last met with representatives of the Nigerian government “about a week ago,” according to Mohammed. “It’s been quite encouraging.

By Annmarie Hordern and William Clowes

Bloomberg

Video - 22 people killed in ambush in Nigeria's Plateau state

In Nigeria, security officials are reporting that 22 people have been killed in an armed attack in the nation's Plateau state. 14 others were injured when a convoy of five buses ferrying Muslim followers was ambushed along Rukuba road in Jos. The victims were heading to Ikare town in Ondo state after attending prayers in Bauchi state. Authorities say they have arrested six suspects in connection with the attack. CGTN spoke to Phil Ihaza in Abuja for more details on this story.

Netflix first original series from Nigeria drops highly anticipated trailer

It is one of the most anticipated Nollywood films of all time and the trailer for King Of Boys: The Return Of The King was released Monday amid frenzy from fans of the crime and political thriller, who call themselves the KOB Army.

The seven-part project is Netflix's first Original Series from Nigeria and a sequel to the highly acclaimed 2018 King of Boys movie directed by leading director Kemi Adetiba.

Fans can now take a peek at what to expect, as formidable businesswoman Eniola Salami, played by Nollywood veteran Sola Sobowale, returns to Nigeria after a five-year exile eager to mete out blood-curdling punishments to her adversaries.

Following the success of the first installation, which made over N450 million ($1M) at the box office, Adetiba announced a sequel was in the works.

After a two-year wait, she revealed that the sequel initially intended to be a movie will be a Netflix Original limited series.

The KOB Army

The KOB Army has shown immense support for the franchise since the first movie, with fans making plans for viewing parties and special outfits when it premieres on August 27 on Netflix.

As the release day for the sequel draws nearer, the anticipation runs high as many wait with bated breath to see The Return Of The King. But fans are not the only ones eager; Adetiba describes the weight of the expectation as "awaiting a report card for the last year and a half of my life."

"My anxiety these days ranges from numb to severe...so I too am on tenterhooks, she says. "But I'm mostly absolutely thrilled by the love and support of the KOB ARMY. It's been so overwhelming. The massive anticipation simply shows us how well-loved KOB 1 is."

The King of Boys has been a stand-out movie for modern Nollywood. It was the sophomore film by Adetiba, whose directorial debut, The Wedding Party, was the unopposed Nollywood movie of the year 2016, being the highest-grossing film until January 2021 and spotlighting Adetiba, who already made her mark in the music and television industry, as a filmmaker of note.

The new installment will see old characters from the original, including actor Toni Tones, who reprises her role as a young Eniola Salami and musician Reminisce as Makanaki.

It also introduces new characters who have a bone to pick with Salami. Among them are seasoned actors Nse Ikpe-Etim and Nollywood heartthrob Richard Mofe Damijo.

King of Boys is a departure from the cheery, bright romcom of The Wedding Party into the dark crime-filled world of Eniola Salami, whose quest for power leaves a trail of dead bodies in her wake.
It was a wager which paid off in an industry known of late for primarily producing comedies to meet the audience's demand. Of the top 10 highest-grossing Nollywood movies, King of Boys is the sole thriller on the list.

Trusting the audience

Adetiba says the successful outing taught her not to cage her audience.

"I remember once in film school, an instructor said, 'If you treat your audience as if they were intelligent, they'll love you for it,'" she says.

"Yes, I was told that the audience wasn't ready for a film like KOB." Still, Adetiba and her brother, Remi Adetiba, who co-produces the franchise, persisted in bringing the project to light.

"Running on blind faith, we were all, "Go Big Or Go Home." It was our very own 'Do It Afraid' moment, but we jumped in the deep end, and our amazing audience, aka KOB ARMY, thanked us with their massive support. Just as my instructor said."

Not only was the genre a deviation from the norm in modern Nollywood, but her lead figure was complex in a way that is rarely done in the industry, where characters are usually portrayed as either good or evil.

Adetiba says it was vital for her to highlight this complexity because it mirrors real life.
"I love my characters to be relatable...There are many facets to you and I. Understanding this then creating a character that is one-dimensional is an injustice."

"So when I'm creating a character like Eniola Salami ... I'm interested in who s(he) is to all those different people. In Eniola's life, we have her family, those she encounters in everyday life, her legit business customers, then her interactions... in the 'underworld.'"

Adetiba says the production has been a real labor of love and promises a great time.
"We threw everything into this production... including the kitchen sink. We gave everything we had, so it's a product of REAL love, blood, sweat and tears. Most important of all, it's a great story."

By Anita Patrick

CNN

Related stories: Netflix involvement in Nollywood

Netflix Unveils Nigerian Original Series, Three Films

3 Nigerians selected for Netflix Development Lab to engender more local African content

Nigeria's Buhari signs historic oil overhaul bill into law

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari signed into law an oil overhaul bill that has been in the works for nearly two decades, a presidential spokesman said on Monday.

The package overhauls nearly every aspect of the country's oil and gas production. The legislature cleared it for his signature last month.

The bill has been in the works since the early 2000s, but the sensitivity of potential changes affecting Nigeria's key source of revenue and foreign exchange has undermined all previous attempts at an overhaul.

Major fuel marketers and other observers had been alarmed by a provision that they said could give Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote, an effective monopoly on fuel sales in Nigeria while the communities where oil and gas is produced had pressed for a larger share of oil money.

Analysts say the bill's approval this year was essential to attracting a shrinking pool of capital for fossil fuel development.

Amendments to the package allowed a series of concessions for oil companies to lure investment.

Reporting by Libby George, Tife Owolabi and Felix Onuah Editing by David Goodman

Reuters

Gunmen kill seven at Shell gas project site in Nigeria

Gunmen killed a police officer and six employees of a Nigerian oil and gas services contractor during an attack on buses transporting workers to a Shell project site in the southeastern state of Imo, police said on Tuesday.

Attacks on oil and gas facilities have long been a problem in Nigeria, where the multi-billion dollar industry sits alongside impoverished communities that have seen little benefit from it. In this case, the motive was unclear.

The Nigerian arm of Shell, SPDC, confirmed that unknown gunmen had attacked a convoy of buses taking staff of its contractor, Lee Engineering, to its Assa North Gas development project site in the Ohaji area of Imo State on Monday morning.

"We have since shut down the project site while the incident has been reported to the police for investigation. SPDC is working with the contractor and supporting the police through a thorough investigation of the incident and to prevent a recurrence," it said in a statement.

Imo State police spokesman Michael Abattam said efforts were ongoing to arrest the perpetrators.

"The command has put in measures to guard the workers in the area since it is prone to attack," he said.

Lee Engineering could not be reached for comment.

The company is involved in the installation and construction of a gas primary treatment facility and the supply of a gas turbine generators and a waste heat recovery system, according to its website.

Nigeria is struggling with a rise in different types of violence. Kidnappings for ransom and armed robberies are rife, as is armed conflict between herders and farmers and between certain communities. In the northeast, 12 years of war between Islamist insurgents and government forces have killed 350,000 people, according to a U.N. estimate.

The oil and gas industry, located in the Niger Delta in the south of the country and offshore in the Gulf of Guinea, has been a focal point for violence for several decades. The region has a history of kidnappings, inter-communal conflicts, armed insurgency, piracy and oil smuggling.

Reporting by Tife Owolabi and Libby George, writing by Estelle Shirbon, editing by Giles Elgood

Reuters

Nigeria Says Taliban Victory Puts Africa in Terror Spotlight

With the Taliban's swift takeover in Afghanistan, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari this week warned that the "war on terror" is not over but is shifting to Africa. Writing in the Financial Times newspaper, Buhari said Africa needs more than U.S. military assistance to defeat terrorism – it needs investment.

The Nigerian president warned in his opinion piece that the U.S. departure from Afghanistan did not mean the so-called war on terror was winding down. He said said the threat is merely shifting to a new frontline - in Africa.

He cited the rising threat of terrorist groups in Africa, from Boko Haram in Nigeria and the Sahel region to al-Shabab in Somalia and a rising insurgency in Mozambique.

But Buhari lamented that Western allies, “bruised by their Middle East and Afghan experiences,” were not prioritizing Africa.

The president's spokespeople could not be immediately reached for comment.

But expert Kabiru Adamu of Beacon Security agrees with the president's opinion.

"It is very likely that the developments in Afghanistan could definitely spur terrorist groups within Africa. It will embolden them, it will make them look at the bigger picture, which is the fact that resilience and a continuation of their efforts could lead to victory," Adamu said.

But while Buhari praised U.S. airstrikes in July against al-Shabab in Somalia, he emphasized that U.S. military forces on the ground in Africa is not what is needed.

He said what Africa needs most is U.S. investment in infrastructure to help provide jobs and economic opportunities for the rapidly growing population.

The Nigerian president said that Africa’s population has nearly doubled since 2001, the start of the U.S.-led war on terror.
And he conceded that Nigeria’s own home-grown terror group, Boko Haram, was first agitated by lack of opportunities.

Buhari also noted the recent attacks in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado region are centered around a profitable natural gas project that provided few jobs for locals.

But founder of the Global Sentinel security magazine, Senator Iroegbu, says that Africa’s terrorist groups are not driven by economics alone.

"You know, there's a subtle competition among these jihadist groups to outdo each other. Since Taliban has recorded this success, other like the al-Qaida, ISIS, may try to also show their own hands," Iroegbu said.

In his opinion piece, Buhari wrote if Afghanistan taught us a lesson, it was that although sheer force can blunt terror, removal of that force can cause the threat to return.

Nigeria has been fighting Boko Haram since 2009, with the conflict spilling into neighboring Cameroon, Chad, and Niger.
More than 30,000 people are estimated to have been killed and millions displaced in the conflict.

African nations have been working together more to fight insurgents, from the G-5 Sahel to the Southern African Development Community’s troops sent, for the first time in July, to Mozambique.

But ultimately, wrote Buhari, Africans need not swords but plowshares to defeat terror.

The boots they need on the ground, he said, are those of constructors, not the military. 

By Timothy Obiezu 

VOA

Anger as Nigerian diplomat manhandled in Indonesia

The Nigerian government is demanding punishment for Indonesian immigration officials who were filmed assaulting a Nigerian diplomat.

Footage circulating on social media showed Abdulrahman Ibrahim, a consular officer based in Jakarta, being held down in a vehicle by several men.

Nigeria called it "an egregious act of international delinquency by the Indonesian state".

It vowed to review bilateral relations with the south-east Asian nation.

The video showed one of the officials putting his hand on the diplomat's head and pushing it back against a seat.

Between yells of protest, Mr Ibrahim repeated: "I can't breathe."

Later in the one-minute-and-30-second clip Mr Ibrahim was heard saying: "My neck, my neck."

Mr Ibrahim had been detained on a street in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.

The incident has caused anger in Nigeria, with many saying it shows the disdain that other countries hold for Nigerians. Some are calling for a full explanation from the Indonesian government.

Nigeria's foreign ministry had previously sent a letter of protest to the Indonesian government saying the mistreatment Mr Ibrahim endured was "against international law and the Vienna Conventions governing diplomatic and consular relations between states".

Indonesia's envoy to Nigeria was also summoned on Monday over the incident and apologised on behalf of his government, the foreign ministry said.

Immigration officials had also apologised to Nigeria's ambassador to Indonesia, it added.

Meanwhile Nigeria's ambassador in Jakarta has been called home to give a full report to the government, and the foreign ministry says consultations will continue.

By Chris Ewokor

BBC

Unpaid doctors strike in Nigeria amid new COVID-19 surge

Dr. Olaniyi Olaoye and the other resident doctors at the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital in Nigeria haven't been paid at all for five months.

Since the pandemic began, there have been many months when they've only received 60% of their salaries, bringing at least six of them to resign.

Now Olaoye and some 19,000 other doctors across Africa's most populous nation are on strike for the fourth time since the pandemic began, leaving government-run hospitals and COVID-19 treatment centers short-staffed.

The latest work stoppage comes as Nigeria confronts an avalanche of new COVID-19 cases blamed on the delta variant first detected here in early July.

Doctors who are lucky have wives who work and are depending on their income, he said. "Life is difficult for those who are not," he said.

Already Nigerian media outlets are reporting that patients — some with COVID-19 symptoms — are being turned away at short-staffed hospitals. Other patients have been discharged into the streets or left to languish in hospital beds without being diagnosed or receiving treatment.

At the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, The Associated Press witnessed two patients turned away shortly after they arrived at the emergency room last week.

“We cannot admit — resident doctors are on strike," a doctor on duty was overheard telling one of the patients. "When they call off the strike, you come back.”

Uyilawa Okhuaihesuyi, president of the National Association of Resident Doctors, said the federal health ministry has sent him a letter warning that the country's 19,000 medical residents don't have the right to strike.

“Imagine a doctor not paid for 16 months in some states,” Okhuaihesuyi told The Associated Press. "How does he even provide food for his family?”

Nigerian Health Minister Dr. Osagie Ehanire and the Federal Ministry of Health both declined to comment and said a briefing would be held at a later date.

The strike is the fourth work stoppage by medical residents since the pandemic began, the longest of which lasted 10 days.

While the current work stoppage does not affect specialist doctors or nurses, medical residents make up the bulk of health care workers at government hospitals throughout Nigeria, and they also staff most of the government-run treatment facilities for COVID-19.

The striking doctors worry about their patients but place the blame on the federal government, saying it failed to honor an earlier agreement reached after the last strike in April.

“We don’t get paid enough for what we do; we have a diminished workforce, a lot of people are overworked," said Egbekun Ethel, a resident doctor at the Lagos Orthopedic hospital where patients were discharged into the streets to wait for the strike's end. “And it is not only the resident doctors who are disgruntled — the entire health sector is.”

For her, it has been a “vicious cycle" of always returning to work with “little or no rest" and a meager salary.

Some resident doctors say they have not started to receive the reviewed monthly minimum wage of N30,000 ($73) for doctors, according to the association that represents them.

Nigeria's health minister has said that he is "committed' to getting the resident doctors back to work, though he has said that most of their demands are issues to be solved by state governments, not his ministry.

Nigeria's public health sector has not been sufficiently funded for years despite the country having one of Africa's biggest economies, budget documents show.

In 2021, funding for the Federal Ministry of Health was only 4% of the entire budget, or 549.8 billion naira ($1.34 billion). An additional 70.2 billion naira ($171.6 million) was provided because of the pandemic but that allocation remains a fraction of the African Union's recommendation that governments spend an additional 15% for healthcare during the pandemic.

Critics, meanwhile, point to the vast disparity between the government hospitals treating most Nigerians and the medical care abroad that is available to the country's elite. Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has had at least 200 days of medical care in the United Kingdom since he was elected president in 2015.

“You cannot go to any hospital in the country that has all the basic infrastructure and adequate manpower to treat patients,” said Okhuaihesuyi. “That is why most people that are in government that have money do not want to receive treatment in Nigeria.”

Dr. Agwu Nnanna at the Federal Medical Center in Nigeria's Kogi state said his colleagues are trapped in “a very unfortunate situation.”

“A doctor needs to take care of himself adequately to be able to cater to his patients as well,” he said.

By Chinedu Asadu

AP

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The Nigeria Customs Service has seized a huge haul of rare pangolin scales and ivory that were to be smuggled out of the country. The seizure was made in the Nigerian commercial capital of Lagos last month but the Customs Service has only just revealed it.

Kidnapped Nigeria Chibok girl free after seven years

One of the Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram militants more than seven years ago is free and has been reunited with her family, a state governor's office said on Saturday.

Nearly 300 schoolgirls, most aged between 12 and 17, were abducted by Boko Haram in April 2014 from Chibok in northeast Nigeria, sparking an international outcry and the #BringBackOurGirls campaign for their release.

Over the years, many of the girls were released or found by the military, but more than 100 are still missing, Amnesty International said in April to mark the seven year anniversary of the abduction.

Borno State Governor Babagana Umara Zulum said in a statement that Ruth Ngladar Pogu surrendered to the military last month along with a person she said she had married.

"I am extremely excited both as Borno's Governor and father of all sons and daughters of the state, and also as a father to daughters," the statement said.

"I know the feeling of families of those still under captivity but we have to remain hopeful especially with today's development."

The governor's office said she had surrendered to the military on July 28. But officials had not announced the development earlier to give them time to contact her parents and other Chibok families.

Nigeria's armed forces are still fighting to end the 12-year jihadist insurgency in the country's northeast, a conflict that has left 40,000 people dead and displaced more than two million others.

Mass kidnappings in Nigeria have again made international headlines this year as heavily armed criminal gangs have targeted schools and colleges to abduct students for ransom.

Nearly 1,000 pupils have been snatched in mass abductions since December, mostly in the country's northwestern and central states.

Most have been released but some are still being held after months in captivity.

Africa News

Related stories: Kidnapped Nigeria school girls forced to join Boko Haram

Global media's Nigeria abductions coverage 'wrong'

Home-brewers thrive in northern Nigeria despite trouble with religious police

In Nigeria's northern Kano state, Janet Peter stirs a thick and frothy brown liquid inside a large cast iron pot, worrying all the while that religious police will come and chase her from the restaurant where she operates.

Peter is among many local people carrying on the tradition of brewing "burukutu", a popular homemade beer with a vinegar-like flavour made with sorghum.

Brewers like her are a target for the Hisbah, the religious police who enforce Islamic sharia law that is in place in 12 northern states.

But Peter, and those who consume burukutu, say it is healthy, natural and part of local tradition. Thick and heavy, burukutu is widely consumed as food in rural parts of the north.

"I grew up watching my mother and members of my family do the formulation back in my village," Peter told Reuters in the Hausa language. "I moved to town and could not find a job and I decided to start making this."

A four-litre bucket costs 500 naira ($1.22) - far cheaper than commercially brewed beer - and the 48-year-old mother of two sells between 40 to 80 litres a day.

Brewing - from sorting the sorghum to washing, fermenting, blending and cooking - takes five days. Burukutu typically has an alcohol content of 3% to 6%.

"We are pleading to the government to leave us to continue with this business," Peter said. "People love it and enjoy it."

Religious police chased her from her last brewing site and she now works from a restaurant that provides cover from the Hisbah, for now.

Sulaiman Ali, a security guard, said burukutu is filling and free of the chemicals he said are found in bottled beer and ogogoro, a local gin.

"This one is a natural thing, cooked and it is okay," he said as he sipped from a wooden bowl.

$1 = 411 Naira 

Writing by MacDonald Dzirutwe, Editing by Libby George and Angus MacSwan

Reuters