The refinery recently received its first shipment of crude oil and several more are on the way. The first batch of processed oil products from the refinery is projected to roll out sometime in January 2024.
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Dangote refinery receives first crude cargo in Nigeria
Victor Osimhen’s goals helped Napoli win the Italian Serie A last season. The 24-year-old scored 31 goals in all competitions during the season and ended the club's 33-year wait for a Scudetto. Barcelona forward Asisat Oshoala took the Women's Player of the Year award for a record-extending sixth time.
Related story: Victor Osimhen named African football player of the year
At least four Nigerian soldiers were killed while two South Koreans were abducted during an attack by gunmen in Nigeria’s oil-rich southern Rivers state, authorities said.
The gunmen ambushed a convoy escorting the Koreans on a work trip in the Ahoada East council area, resulting in a shootout, Maj. Jonah Danjuma, an army spokesman, said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Troops are currently combing the general area to fish out the perpetrators of this dastardly act. Additionally, efforts are ongoing to ensure that the unaccounted oil workers are found,” Danjuma said.
Abductions for ransom are common in parts of Nigeria, but it has been especially widespread in Rivers and other parts of the oil-rich Niger Delta region where many foreign companies in the oil and engineering sectors operate. The region also struggles with high poverty and hunger despite its natural resources.
Hostages are usually released after the payment of large ransoms, though security forces in the past have succeeded in freeing some.
Danjuma urged locals to provide any intelligence that would help in making arrests.
By Chinedu Asadu, Reuters
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Osimhen, who led Napoli to win the Italian League title last season, beat Paris Saint-Germain’s Morocco right-back, Achraf Hakimi and Liverpool’s Egypt winger, Mohamed Salah, to win the top award.
“It’s a dream come true for me,” Osimhen said.
“I appreciate Nigerians for their support. I appreciate Africa for putting me on the map, encouraging me, and defending me, regardless of my shortcomings,” the 24-year-old added.
Osimhen excelled last season for Napoli, after scoring 31 goals in all competitions and contributing to them winning the Italian League title after a drought that lasted 33 years.
Napoli estimate Osimhen’s market value at approximately 200 million euros ($215 million).
Osimhen was spotted by European scouts at the 2015 edition of the under-17 World Cup in Chile and joined German outfit Wolfsburg.
He was loaned to Charleroi and later joined the Belgian club permanently. His next move was to French side Lille in 2019, where he scored 13 goals in 27 appearances.
Napoli signed him one year later for 70 million euros ($75 million), but he contracted Covid-19 during a visit to Nigeria and later suffered a head injury and a fractured skull and eye socket.
Those injuries led Osimhen to wear a protective mask and sections of the media called him the « masked assassin ».
He missed the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon due to the injuries, and Nigeria suffered a shock last-16 loss to Tunisia.
Injury prone
Osimhen was the leading scorer with 10 goals in qualifying for the 2024 Cup of Nations, which the Ivory Coast will host from January 13.
His total included four in a 10-0 rout of Sao Tome e Principe – a record winning margin for a qualifier in the competition.
Injury-prone Osimhen was sidelined again two months ago after suffering a hamstring injury in a friendly match against Saudi Arabia.
The regular absences of the Nigerian angered Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis, who reacted by saying he would sign no more Africans unless they agreed to skip the Cup of Nations.
Morocco last year became the first African and Arab country to reach the World Cup semi-finals and goalkeeper Yassine Bounou, his teammates and coach Walid Regragui were honoured in Marrakesh.
Bounou was named goalkeeper of the year, Regragui coach of the year and Morocco the national team of the year.
Barcelona forward Asisat Oshoala completed a Nigerian double by winning the African Women’s player of the year for a record-extending sixth time.
Born in Ikorodu, north-east of commercial capital Lagos, her previous successes came in 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2022.
After playing for Nigerian clubs Robo and Rivers Angels, she had spells with Liverpool, Arsenal and Dalian Quanjian before an initial loan move to Barcelona became permanent four years ago.
Oshoala scored in a win over co-hosts Australia that helped Nigeria reach the 2023 Women’s World Cup round of 16, where they lost to England on penalties.
Efforts to tackle food security crisis have made some progress in Nigeria. However, analysts believe the country will struggle to cope with the effects of conflict, climate and economic downturns unless its agricultural sector modernizes.
Nigeria's recent crude oil revenue boom is making headlines, and experts attribute it to bold moves like subsidy removal and the devaluation of the local currency. The West African nation has witnessed an extraordinary 80 percent surge in oil earnings, fueled by enhanced production and a crackdown on oil theft.
Heads of State from the West African Economic Block, ECOWAS, have congregated in Abuja, Nigeria's capital, for a crucial summit aimed at tackling pressing regional issues, security threats and breached sanctions.
For the past five years, Nigerian actor, producer, and director Ibrahim Yekini has released most of his movies exclusively on YouTube. In November, he posted two of the biggest films of his career on the platform, which have garnered over 1.5 million views in total so far. Yekini — who starred in one of Netflix’s most successful Nigerian originals, Jagun Jagun, in 2023 — told Rest of World he has earned thousands of dollars from his YouTube releases.
“We moved to YouTube to escape CD piracy, which has now reduced,” he said.
Another popular Nigerian filmmaker, Seun Oloketuyi, decided to start releasing his movies on YouTube in 2022, after battling piracy for years. “All it takes is just one person going to the market to buy one copy of the CD and send it to the U.K. and the U.S.,” he told Rest of World. “The person in these countries makes multiple copies and sends them to multiple African stores.”
Oloketuyi has since released six films exclusively on YouTube, and plans to release two more before the end of 2023.
He and Yekini are among a growing crop of filmmakers in Nigeria — home to Nollywood, Africa’s largest film industry with around 2,500 films produced annually — who are using YouTube as a movie streaming platform. They told Rest of World they consider it a more democratic alternative to Netflix, Prime Video, and Showmax. Uploading their content on YouTube allows them to control the distribution of their work, without fear of piracy.
Selling movies to Netflix, Prime Video, and Showmax can be challenging as these platforms are too picky, Oris Aigbokhaevbolo, a Nigerian film critic, told Rest of World. “For low-budget productions, YouTube has had the most impact. For those who have built a following on the platform, there’s no real revenue sharing, [unlike] cinemas,” he said. “There are also lower expectations of quality — something Nollywood loves. You don’t have to shoot in multiple locations, even if your script calls for it. Low costs, dollars, obscure revenue sharing. What’s not to love?”
Its popularity among filmmakers has made YouTube a bigger streaming service in Nigeria compared to platforms like Netflix, Godwin Simon, who researches streaming media and the platform economy at the Queensland University of Technology, told Rest of World. “So many of them now produce direct-to-YouTube films so that they could make money and also pay the cast and crew,” he said. Nigeria reportedly has around 31.6 million YouTube users, and about 169,600 Netflix subscribers. YouTube did not respond to Rest of World’s request for comment.
Some filmmakers sell their movies to YouTube channels that aggregate content from the country. These aggregators operate just like streaming platforms, acquiring content or striking profit-sharing partnerships with filmmakers to exclusively release content on their channels.
Some YouTube channels also commission original content made exclusively for them. Rest of World found at least 10 Nigerian film channels on YouTube that post new releases at least once a week.
“We have a lot of people submitting their content, but we have a policy of screening all the content and making sure they are all on par with what our subscribers will want to watch,” Lekan Wasiudeen, a network engineer-turned-film producer who runs the Libra TV channel on YouTube, told Rest of World. Libra TV, launched in August 2015, now has more than 550,000 subscribers, and over 100 million views across 400-plus videos. The channel uploads at least three new movies each week.
ApataTV+, a Nigerian YouTube film channel with 1.69 million subscribers, has racked up more than 479 million views since its launch in September 2015, creator Olusola Akinyemi told Rest of World. “We publish and delete [movies] based on the contracts with our partners,” he said. “We procure movies and also do profit-sharing with our producers.”
Oloketuyi said the prospect of earning in U.S. dollars makes YouTube attractive to Nigerian filmmakers. He said he once made a film with a budget of 1 million naira ($1,200), and received $3,500 in his first check from YouTube.
But earnings from YouTube are still limited, Oloketuyi said.
In Nigeria, YouTube ads are not very sought-after, according to Olawale Adetula, founder of TNC Africa, a Lagos-based film production company. TNC Africa started out by making drama series for YouTube, and now produces original content for Netflix.
YouTube makes money from the ads that run before, during, and after videos, and shares those earnings with creators. For premium users who don’t see ads, YouTube shares a fraction of the viewers’ subscription fees with creators. Some Nigerian creators are now looking for ways to target YouTube viewers in the U.S. and the U.K. as they believe that would improve their earnings.
“If I make a video and … get a million views and all my viewers are from Nigeria … I’ll probably get paid $1,000 or maybe $1,500,” Nigerian YouTuber Tayo Aina told Rest of World. “If that same video had 1 million views from America, [I would] probably make like $10,000 to $15,000.” Anita Eboigbe, a Nollywood critic and co-founder of trade publication Inside Nollywood, believes targeting global audiences will give local filmmakers more room to diversify their income on YouTube. “You need to create demand for your content so people are going to stumble on it,” she told Rest of World. “It comes down to expanding your market, which is now equal to influence, money, and impact at a bigger scale than what you’d have if you limit it to just Nigeria.”
The shift to YouTube has helped Nigerian filmmakers fight piracy, which is rampant in the country. The illegal distribution of movies is so widespread that there are organized groups controlling the industry, Adetula said. Before YouTube became a popular option, producers often had no alternative but to sell their films at cheaper rates to piracy platforms. “[Those were] some of the compromises producers were making back then because of the limitation of distribution channels,” Adetula said. “Platforms like YouTube reduce piracy.”
By Damilare Dosunmu, Rest of World
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The Dangote oil refinery in Nigeria on Friday received its first cargo of 1 million barrels of crude oil from Shell International Trading and Shipping Co (STASCO), bringing the start of operations closer after years of delays.
Once fully running, the 650,000 barrel-per-day refinery funded by Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote will turn oil powerhouse Nigeria into a net exporter of fuels, a long-sought goal for the OPEC member that almost totally relies on imports.
Dangote Group said in a statement seen by Reuters on Friday that the cargo of 1 million barrels of crude from Agbami - a deep water field run by Chevron (CVX.N) - was the first of 6 million barrels that would enable an initial run of the refinery.
That will kick-start output of diesel, aviation fuel and Liquefied Petroleum Gas, before the refinery later starts producing Premium Motor Spirit.
A Dangote Group spokesperson said the STASCO cargo arrived on a chartered vessel and was discharged into the refinery's crude oil tanks.
The next four cargoes will be supplied by state oil firm NNPC in two to three weeks and a final cargo will come from ExxonMobil (XOM.N), Dangote Group's statement said.
Nigeria's state oil firm NNPC Ltd signed an agreement in November to supply the Dangote refinery with up to six cargoes of crude starting this month. NNPC has a 20% stake in the refinery.
Despite being Africa's biggest oil producer, Nigeria experiences repeated fuel shortages. It spent $23.3 billion last year on petroleum product imports and consumes around 33 million litres of petrol a day.
"Our focus over the coming months is to ramp up the refinery to its full capacity," Dangote was quoted as saying in the statement.
Nigeria commissioned the refinery in May, after it ran years behind schedule. At a cost of $19 billion, the massive petrochemical complex is one of Nigeria's single largest investments.
By Macdonald Dzirutwe, Reuters
Video - Aljazeera speaks with Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote
Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote is building the world's largest refinery in Nigeria
Dangote oil refinery to help solve fuel shortage in Nigeria
Nollywood may be the heart of the Nigerian film industry, but it's not just local talent that has fallen in love with the vibrant landscapes and rich culture of Nigeria. In recent times, foreign filmmakers have also been drawn to this country to capture its beauty and authenticity on the big screen.
If you're a movie enthusiast and want to explore Nigeria from a different perspective, here's a list of foreign movies that you shouldn’t miss.
Foreign Movies Filmed in Nigeria
Black Is King
Black Is King was written and directed by Beyoncé. This 2020 American musical movie was filmed in Lagos, Nigeria and five other countries. The film received praise for its cinematography and depicts the story of an African prince.
After his father died, the prince was exiled from his kingdom. Later, as he grows into a man, he receives guidance from an ancestor, played by Beyoncé.
Nigerian Prince
NFL fans may be reminded about the Kansas City Chiefs’ offensive tackle Prince Tega Wanogho when reading the title of this movie. While watching Wanogho’s journey from Delta State, Nigeria to Alabama might have been fun, this movie from director Faraday Okoro focuses instead on a Nigerian-American teenager sent to Nigeria by his mother.
While there, he joins his cousin, who is operating an online scamming business, to get enough money to fly back to the United States. This movie was filmed in Nigeria and the US.
The Mark of the Hawk
This 1957 American drama film stars Earl Cameron in the lead role. Partially shot on location in Nigeria, it tells the story of the brother of an indigenous resistance leader who gets caught in a hostile environment when African villagers decide to reclaim their land from British colonists.
The Price
The Price is a 2017 American drama movie focusing on a young Nigerian-American man struggling with prescription drug dependency. While he has high ambitions, he chooses to follow a criminal path, leading him in the wrong direction.
It was filmed in Nigeria and the United States and received positive reviews from critics after its initial release.
Mister Johnson
Mister Johnson is said to be the first American movie to be shot on location in Nigeria. Based on the 1939 novel by Irish author Joyce Cary, this movie was released in 1990 and stars Maynard Eziashi as Mr. Johnson.
The film explores the challenges faced by Mr. Johnson due to his African heritage while working for the British.
Foreign Movies that Depict Nigeria But Were Filmed Elsewhere
Tears of the Sun
Tears of the Sun, released in 2003, stars Bruce Willis as a Navy SEAL officer sent to Nigeria on a rescue mission to retrieve an American doctor. She operates a mission hospital, which is located in the Nigerian jungle.
Contrary to expectations, this movie was not filmed in Nigeria. It was mainly shot in Hawaii, with some parts shot in Los Angeles and Virginia. The movie depicts the horrors of war.
Black Panther
Black Panther is an American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character. It debuted in 2018, starring Denzel Washington. Filmed in the United States, it is set in the fictitious African area known as Wakanda.
However, while the location isn't real, several inspirations for the movie were taken from Nigeria. In many scenes, specific text appears on the screen, which is inscribed on walls in a throne room. The text’s script is derived from Nsibidi writing which comes from an area in southeast Nigeria.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a 2009 superhero film that is part of the X-Men film series. Directed by Gavin Hood, the movie serves as a prequel to the X-Men series and explores the backstory of one of its most iconic characters, Wolverine, also known as Logan, played by Hugh Jackman.
Lagos, Nigeria is depicted in the movie's first scenes when Major William Stryker travels to the area. However, it isn't the actual city. The production primarily utilized Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, as a stand-in for Lagos. Additionally, some scenes were shot in New South Wales, Australia.
Captain America: Civil War
Captain America: Civil War is the third instalment in the Captain America film series and a crucial chapter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The movie explores the complex dynamics within the superhero community and the moral dilemmas that arise when the Avengers are divided over the Sokovia Accords, a government initiative designed to regulate and oversee their activities.
In one of the scenes, the action appears to be happening in a market in Lagos, Nigeria. However, keen viewers will recognize that it was shot elsewhere (apparently in downtown Atlanta and Puerto Rico).
Summary
These foreign movies offer a fresh perspective on Nigeria’s diverse culture, history, and landscapes. From intense war dramas to gripping thrillers, poignant historical narratives, and action-packed adventures, each film provides a unique cinematic experience.
Grab some popcorn, immerse yourself in these captivating stories and take a virtual journey through the heart of Africa's most populous nation.
In northern Nigeria, climate change is reshaping the landscape. More frequent heat waves as well as heavier and prolonged rainfall have led to increased challenges for the locals. Climate activists want the government and other stakeholders to devise a plan to address the issue.
The Nigerian authorities must promptly, thoroughly, independently, impartially, transparently and effectively investigate the killing of more than 120 civilians in two military air strikes on Sunday, instead of engaging in attempts to cover up the crime, said Amnesty International Nigeria.
At around 10pm on 3 December, the Nigerian military launched an air strike on a religious gathering at Tudun Biri – a village near Kaduna northern Nigeria. A second air strike was launched around 30 minutes later, killing dozens, including those who rushed to the scene to rescue victims of the initial strike.
The Nigerian military has since put out two contradictory explanations. An initial statement by the Nigerian army in Kaduna said the air strike was a mistake. This was followed by a statement from Nigeria’s Defence Headquarters claiming that suspected bandits had embedded with civilians.
The victims were buried in two mass graves on 4 December 2023.
“The Nigerian military’s recklessness is a result of the authorities’ consistent failure to hold them to account for a long list of such atrocities. These unlawful killings of civilians cannot be swept under the carpet,” said Isa Sanusi Director Amnesty International Nigeria.
“The President Bola Tinubu administration must promptly set up an independent inquiry into Tudun Biri village air strike and, where these investigations indicate criminal responsibility, ensure that those suspected to be responsible are brought to justice in fair trials. Victims and their families must be provided with access to justice and effective remedies.”
Amnesty International found that 77 people were buried in one of the two mass graves and over 17 people from nearby village who attended the religious ceremony were also buried. Dozens severely injured are currently receiving treatment at Kaduna’s main hospital.
“The contradictory explanations offered by the Nigerian military so far show their complete disregard for civilian lives and suggest attempts by the authorities to cover-up these grave human rights violations. Air strikes with deadly consequences for civilians are becoming routine. This is completely unacceptable,” said Isa Sanusi
On 18 December 2022 an air strike by the Nigerian Air Force killed 64 people in Mutumji village in Zamfara state. On 24 January 2023 a military air strike killed more than 40 herders in Doma region of Nasarawa state. And, in January 2023, dozens of vigilantes were killed by a military air strike in Galadima Kogo in Niger state, central Nigeria.
The Nigerian military has consistently failed to thoroughly, independently, impartially, transparently and effectively investigate these incidents.
“The Nigerian authorities’ persistent failure to hold the military to account is encouraging impunity and increasingly endangering the lives of the civilians the military is supposed to be protecting. The result is that the military is routinely carrying out air strikes that end up killing civilians,” said Isa Sanusi
This is the deadliest air strike since the 2017 air strike on Rann village which killed 115 civilians.
Related story: Accidental Military drone strikes kill dozens in Nigeria
At least 85 civilians were killed when an army drone attack erroneously targeted a religious gathering in northwest Nigeria, officials confirmed Tuesday, as the president ordered an investigation into the latest in a series of such deadly mistakes in Nigeria’s conflict zones.
The strike took place Sunday night in Kaduna state’s Tudun Biri village while residents observed the Muslim holiday marking the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, government officials said. The military believed it was “targeting terrorists and bandits,” officials said.
At least 66 people also were injured in the attack, the National Emergency Management Agency said in a statement. Eighty-five bodies, including of children, women and the elderly, have been buried so far, as a search continues for any additional victims, the agency said.
Nigeria’s army chief, Lt. Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, apologized for the drone strike during a visit to the village Tuesday and said it had been carried out “based on the observation of some tactics usually employed by bandits.”
“Unfortunately, the reports we got revealed it was innocent civilians that the drone conducted a strike on,” Lagbaja said.
Since 2017, some 400 civilians have been killed by airstrikes that the military said were targeting armed groups in the deadly security crisis in the country’s north, according to the Lagos-based SBM Intelligence security firm.
“The incidence of miscalculated airstrikes is assuming a worrisome dimension in the country,” said Atiku Abubakar, Nigeria’s former vice-president and the main opposition presidential candidate in this year’s election.
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu ordered “a thorough and full-fledged investigation into the incident.” However, such investigations and their outcomes are often shrouded in secrecy.
Nigeria’s military often conducts air raids as it fights the extremist violence and rebel attacks that have destabilized Nigeria’s north for more than a decade, often leaving civilian casualties in its wake, including in January when dozens were killed in Nasarawa state and in December 2022 when dozens also died in Zamfara state.
Maj. Gen. Edward Buba, a spokesman for Nigeria’s Defense Headquarters, said in a statement Tuesday that terror suspects often “deliberately embed themselves within civilian population centers,” though he wasn’t speaking specifically about Sunday’s holiday gathering.
Analysts have in the past raised concerns about the lack of collaboration among Nigerian security agencies as well as the absence of due diligence in some of their special operations in conflict zones.
One major concern has been the proliferation of drones within Nigerian security agencies such that “there is no guiding principle one when these can be used,” according to Kabir Adamu, the founder of Beacon Consulting, a security firm based in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja.
“The military sees itself as a little bit over and above civilian accountability as it were,” Adamu said.
In the incident in Nasarawa in January, when 39 people were killed, the Nigerian air force “provided little information and no justice” over the incident, Human Rights Watch said.
Such incidents are enabled by a lack of punishment for erring officers or agencies, according to Isa Sanusi, Amnesty International’s director in Nigeria.
“The Nigerian military is taking lightly the lack of consequences ... and the civilians they are supposed to protect are the ones paying the price of their incompetence and lack of due diligence,” Sanusi told The Associated Press.
By Chinedu Asadu, AP
Nigeria has until December 8 to comply with the World Anti-Doping Code or risk having its athletes disqualified from the Paris 2024 Olympics and other global sporting competitions. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) says the country's Anti-Doping Organization will also not receive any funding unless the country complies.
For sharing a message among her co-workers that criticised a mob action last May, Rhoda Ya’u Jatau has spent the last year in police detention on charges of blasphemy towards Islam.
The healthcare administrator with the Warji local government in Bauchi, northeastern Nigeria was arrested a few days after forwarding the video condemning the burning to death of Deborah Yakubu, a university student in Sokoto, another state, over alleged blasphemy.
Prosecutors allege that by sharing the video, Jatau, then 45, committed multiple offences of inciting disturbance, contempt” for religious creed, and cyberstalking.
Last Monday, a Bauchi state high court rejected her “no-case submission”. Kola Alapinni, lead counsel at Abuja-based nonprofit Foundation for Religious Freedom who is familiar with the case, told Al Jazeera that the defence team is expected to make a case when the court sits again in December.
If found guilty, Jatau, a mother of five and Christian, could be sentenced to a few years in prison, he said.
The court’s decision has sparked public outrage in parts of Nigeria, a country with a history of religious extremism.
“This really shows how far extremism has permeated deeply into our institutions,” said Ndi Kato, politician and executive director of Dinidari, an advocacy group for women’s rights in the Middle Belt region, as central Nigeria is often referred to. “You will lock a person for just forwarding a message because you don’t think that it favours what you believe in? I don’t think that has any place in our society today.”
‘Highly restricted’
Half of Nigerians are Muslims and a slightly smaller proportion – 45 percent – of their compatriots are Christians but Nigeria is officially a secular country whose constitution allows for freedom of speech and religious association. For decades, religious tensions have found their way into many facets of life in what is also an ethnically diverse country. This is most pronounced in northern Nigeria where many states have adopted variations of the conservative Islamic law since the country’s return to democracy in 1999.
Before and after the law, dissenting beliefs and opinions or actions deemed to be blasphemy have routinely sparked riots, mob action, or jail sentences in the region. Across the north, judgements critics of Islamic law consider harsh, including death by stoning, have been handed out repeatedly.
This has also been the case in Bauchi, one of Nigeria’s 36 states, which is wedged between the predominantly Christian Middle Belt and the mostly Muslim northeast. The state adopted Islamic law in 2001.
Nigeria is one of the 12 countries in the world that still criminalises blasphemy and one of the seven where it is punishable by death, according to Alapinni.
Isa Sanusi, country director for Amnesty International in Nigeria, said blasphemy or accusations of blasphemy are now a tool for gross human rights violations or even for “settling personal scores”.
“Repeatedly, Nigerian authorities failed to uphold and protect human rights by making sure that people are not either killed or attacked for expressing their opinions,” he told Al Jazeera.
Wakili Mathew Laslimbo, the general secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria in Bauchi, said the minority Christian community in the state is unhappy about Jatau’s arrest. He told Al Jazeera that the association had tried everything possible to help, including trying to meet the state governor, to no avail.
“The arrest prove[s] to us that the freedom of speech and religion is highly restricted … the church continues to pray for her during gatherings,” her pastor Rev Ishaku Dano Ayuba told Al Jazeera.
The Bauchi state government did not respond to a request for comments. Temitope Ajayi, a presidential spokesperson, told Al Jazeera that the federal government had no knowledge of the case.
A pattern of extremism
There have also been other high-profile cases of blasphemy in recent years.
Mubarak Bala, an atheist and president of the Humanist Association of Nigeria who was arrested on the allegation of a blasphemous post on his Facebook account, has been in detention since 2020. Similarly, Yahaya Sharif-Aminu, a Sufi (Islamic) gospel artist, was sentenced to death on the charge of sharing blasphemous song lyrics on WhatsApp. The case is still in court.
Amnesty International has called for their immediate and unconditional release, as well as protection of their rights afterwards.
“Nigerian authorities must wake up to their national and international legal obligations to protect and promote human rights, including the right to freedom of religion,” Amnesty director Sanusi said.
In August, the United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief released a statement on the issue.
“We express concern over the criminalisation of blasphemy in Nigeria contrary to international human rights law and standards and the rising episodes of violence relating to accusations of blasphemy targeting religious minorities in Nigeria,” it said.
According to Sanusi, the latest case underscores the need for justice through a fair trial of all people suspected of responsibility for mob violence to deter would-be perpetrators.
After Yakubu’s lynching in Sokoto, the arrested perpetrators were let off the hook due to the negligence of the prosecution who refused to show up at the court hearing. In contrast, since Jatau was arrested by the police, she has been denied bail and her family has been in hiding for fear of violence against them.
Jatau’s ongoing ordeal, Dindari’s Kato said, is part of a pattern that signals that women in the north and Nigeria as a country are not safe.
“A person who was complaining about this injustice is the person that is going to jail,” she said. “Extremism takes out women and it is just disheartening. This means that women are not safe and we need to speak.”
Last August, the sultan of Sokoto, considered the leader of all Muslims in Nigeria, told new recruits in the one-year mandatory national youth service programme that Islamic law would not apply to non-Muslims among them.
Alapinni agrees, pointing out that Nigeria’s Court of Appeal had indeed ruled in two earlier cases that Islamic law is limited to Islamic personal law which includes succession, inheritance, and marriage.
“There is no room under the constitution for Sharia criminal law,” he said. “The sultan [of Sokoto] is right when he says the Sharia law is not supposed to affect non-Muslims. In fact, the Sharia criminal law should not have been promulgated in the first place … [it] has no place … in a country multicultural, diverse and multireligious like Nigeria,” he said.
By Pelumi Salako, Al Jazeera
Related stories: Nigerian accused of blasphemy stoned to death
Nigerian authorities say national defense, internal security and economic stability are the top priorities in the 2024 budget that President Bola Tinubu delivered to lawmakers on Wednesday.
Improving security is a major challenge for Tinubu's government as it desperately seeks to attract foreign investments to grow the country's struggling economy.
Under the new $35 billion budget, authorities allocated about $4 billion or 12% of the total budget to defense and security — the largest single allocation to any sector.
In his first budget speech since taking office, Tinubu told lawmakers that security is important to safeguard lives, property and investments across the country.
Tinubu said he will overhaul Nigeria's internal security architecture to boost performance operations and achieve better results.
But experts say Nigerian authorities have consistently increased military spending in recent years without making Nigerians safer or more secure.
Kabiru Adamu, an analyst for consulting firm Beacon Security in Abuja, cites the previous budget as an example.
"In the 2023 budget, security enjoyed the largest allocation and in this current budget that is submitted to the National Assembly there's almost about 30% to 40% increase in the provision but unfortunately we haven't seen remarkable improvements to equate this attention the government is giving,” he said. “So, what's the challenge? I think it has to do with accountability and monitoring the performance of the security sector."
Africa's largest economy faces many security problems, including a 14-year Islamist insurgency in the northeast, separatist violence in the south, often deadly clashes between pastoralists and farmers, and proliferation of kidnap-for-ransom gangs in the Northwest and central regions.
Tinubu, who embarked on bold economic reforms including the scrapping of fuel subsidies and removal of foreign exchange restrictions, promised to fix security problems if elected.
But this week, local residents in northwest Zamfara state, said they're still reeling after armed gangs last Friday attacked their villages and kidnapped more than 100 residents.
The gangs are demanding about $236,000 for the captives’ freedom.
Security analyst Senator Iroegbu says corruption is the reason the increased military spending is not yielding results.
"Do they have the capacity to actually maximize this budget?” he asked. “Then the issue of corruption, how's this money expended? Is it rightly used for what's it's supposed to be used for? Then there's the issue of political will and interest of conflict merchants."
In October, Tinubu signed a what he called a performance bond with cabinet members. The agreement allows authorities to review the performance of serving officials and hold those underperforming accountable.
But Adamu says he's worried about one thing.
"What we're hoping is that that [the] performance bond would be implemented in a manner that we will see an improvement in security,” he said. “Security personnel do not willingly submit themselves to civilian administration. I worry a little bit."
Meanwhile, Nigerian authorities predict the economy will grow by 3.76% next year — well above the global average.
In recent weeks, the president has been meeting with foreign officials and business leaders with the aim of attracting more investments to Nigeria. In one notable deal, Saudi Arabia agreed to rehabilitate Nigeria’s non-functioning oil refineries.
Timothy Obiezu, VOA
Asthma sufferers among those rationing drugs amid shortages and high prices after the pharmaceutical company ceased business in Nigeria this year.
Salamat Olashile takes a tablet from a white-and-green sachet. Five minutes later, her breathing is still laboured. “It will soon come down,” she says. She used to have an inhaler, which would have eased her asthma attack faster, but prices have increased dramatically since GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) “exited” the country. She is now reliant on a slower-working tablet called Araminol.
GlaxoSmithKline Nigeria, the country’s subsidiary of the British pharmaceutical firm, first announced in June that Nigeria’s economic problems and foreign currency crisis were severely affecting its work. In August, it said that it would be shutting down operations.
A GSK Global spokesperson said the company was not exiting, but pivoting to a “third-party distributorship”, which it is still processing. “In common with many companies operating in Nigeria, the significant challenge in accessing foreign currency in recent years impacted our local operations and has affected our ability to maintain consistent supply of medicines and vaccines in the market,” the spokesperson said.
Nigerians are now familiar with the resulting shortage of medications – and a spike in cost for inhalers such as Ventolin and Seretide Diskus, antibiotics such as Amoxil, as well as allergy relief drugs, an antimalarial drug and even over-the-counter painkiller, Panadol.
“I’ve been using Ventolin inhalers for eight years now,” says Jalaalah Shittu, a university student first diagnosed with asthma in 2015. “With Ventolin, there’s a hope I can still live a normal life. It provides an almost immediate relief.” But that relief has proved difficult for patients like Olashile and Shittu to replicate with other drugs.
Last week, Olashile’s father went out to get her Ventolin inhaler and came back with Araminol tablets. After a week of her asthma getting worse, he found an inhaler for 9,000 naira (£9), almost four times its usual price.
Olashile says: “My symptoms were worse because of the harmattan – a season characterised by harsh dusty winds and low humidity.” She has stopped going out and is trying to preserve the Ventolin for emergencies.
Shittu, meanwhile, is suffering unpleasant side-effects from alternative drugs. “I start to feel very weak and have a faster heartbeat and shaky body until the drug wears off, and that can take hours,” she says.
Oluwakemi Ebire of Famasi Africa, a digital health platform, says the situation is forcing people to ration medications of all kinds. “The ripple effect of these circumstances on patients is deeply concerning. For those without access to the right information, financial constraints can push them towards counterfeit medication, risking drug-adverse effects, drug resistance, treatment failure and even death.”
Nigeria has an estimated 13 million asthma sufferers, one of the highest rates in Africa. Ebire says: “I spearhead the care and management of chronic patients who depend on these medications for the rest of their lives, and I can tell you that these past few months have been very difficult for our patients, both financially and emotionally.”
In October, Famasi Africa registered a 15% drop in medication adherence rate among diabetic patients under its care, accompanied by a 10% increase in blood sugar levels.
The spokesperson for GSK said none of the medications supplied by the company is considered to be medically critical, and all have generic alternatives. It hoped that new third-party distribution plans could mean some drugs returning to the market early next year.
By Olatunji Olaigbe, The Guardian
Gunmen kidnapped at least eight people in an attack on the Dan Honu community in Nigeria's northern Kaduna state, residents said on Thursday.
Kidnapping for ransom is rife in northwest Nigeria where armed gangs, often referred to locally as bandits, have targeted schools, villages and travellers, making it unsafe to travel by road or to farm in some areas.
Kaduna police spokesperson Mansur Hassan said the police are investigating the incident, which occurred late Tuesday in Chikum local government area of the state.
Mohammed Danjuma, a resident who was spared, told Reuters about 16 people were taken but eight managed to get away.
"As they were busy trying to break into my apartment, one of the vigilantes in the community fired a shot into the air, which made the bandits uncomfortable and left," he said.
Malam Suleiman, another resident who was kidnapped, managed to escape while being led into the bushes. His teenage sons were taken by the bandits.
Attacks in northern Nigeria are part of widespread insecurity in the country that include a 14-year Islamist insurgency in the northeast and deadly clashes between farmers and herders in the central region.
By Garba Muhammad, Reuters
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Nigeria's president has delivered his first budget since taking office, as the country faces a deepening cost of living crisis.
He announced government plans to spend 27.5 trillion naira ($34.85bn; £27bn) in the new financial year.
Bola Ahmed Tinubu said the plans would attract investment, offering "renewed hope" during tough economic times.
Mr Tinubu had called for patience after inflation skyrocketed following an ambitious set of reform policies.
After winning disputed elections with 37% of the vote back in May, he shocked many Nigerians in his inaugural address when, in an off-the-cuff remark, he scrapped a decades-old fuel subsidy.
The move led to a sharp rise in the price of fuel and other goods, worsening the cost of living crisis for many.
Mr Tinubu also scrapped foreign exchange controls, which also contributed to pushing up inflation to its highest levels in nearly two decades, at 25%.
The value of the naira fell, increasing the cost of imports and making it more difficult to pay off international loans.
But Mr Tinubu stood by his decision, saying the fuel subsidy had proven to be "harmful" to the economy.
He insisted the budget's impact on the cost of living crisis would be temporary and has repeated calls for patience, saying the moves would benefit the country in the long term and attract more foreign investment.
Mr Tinubu said his "Budget of Renewed Hope" would guarantee macro-economic stability, lead to "job-rich" growth and reduce the budget deficit.
The government's spending priorities included improving security and infrastructure, as well as taking measures to ease the cost of living crisis, he added.
Mr Tinubu projected higher oil production and tax collection would boost government revenues and allow his administration to borrow less.
He added that the economy was expected to grow by at least 3.76% in 2024, and inflation would be at around 21.4%.
It stood at 27.3% in October, up from 26.72% in September, according to official statistics.
The economic crisis in Nigeria has led to a huge exodus of young professionals who have struggled to find jobs.
The budget will have to be approved by lawmakers before it comes into effect.
By Danai Nesta Kupemba, BBC
Nigeria has one of the highest unemployment rates globally. College and university graduates regularly find a job market with few opportunities in the West African nation. However, rather than wait for opportunities, many are now starting their own businesses.
A British-Nigerian man has confessed in a US court to defrauding and stealing more than $6m (£4.7m) over seven years.
Idris Dayo Mustapha, 33, was part of a hacking ring that infiltrated email and brokerage accounts of US firms between 2011 and 2018, causing losses worth $6m (£4.7m), officials said.
A dual national of the UK and Nigeria, Mustapha was extradited from the UK in August, two years after his arrest.
His crimes carry a jail term of up to 20 years.
He has not yet been sentenced.
Mustapha pleaded guilty plea at a court in Brooklyn, New York, on Tuesday to four charges: computer intrusion, securities fraud, wire fraud and access device fraud.
Authorities say Mustapha and his ring hacked into the computer servers of financial institutions in the US to access confidential user data, such as users' personal identifying information.
They then used the stolen information and passwords to wire funds and transfer securities from the accounts of their victims to accounts under their control.
They also used the hacked accounts to conduct stock trades without the knowledge of the account holder.
US authorities had been pursuing Mustapha for several years.
By Gloria Aradi, Reuters
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The inaugural Confederation of Africa Canoe Sprint and Para Canoe qualifiers for the 2024 Olympic games in Paris begun in Nigeria. Nearly 15 nations are competing for Olympic berths, with the International Canoe Federation hailing the continent for the enthusiastic turnout.
Nigeria's cabinet has approved a $1 billion concessionary loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to support financing the budget and improve foreign exchange supply, Finance Minister Olawale Edun said on Monday.
The AfDB loan will fetch an interest rate of 4.2% for 25 years with eight-year moratorium, Edun told reporters after a cabinet meeting in the capital city, Abuja.
Nigeria's cabinet on Monday revised the country's 2024 budget upwards by 1.5 trillion naira to 27.5 trillion naira ($32.76 billion), after increasing the oil price benchmark and lowering the naira exchange rate assumption.
"(Federal Executive Council) approved a $1 billion concessionary loan for general budget support and to be used to improve forex availability in the country," Edun said.
"The $1 billion loan from AfDB is a budget support fund for ongoing economic reforms. It is to support government programs ... in power sector, social inclusion and the fiscal policy reforms as a whole sector policy initiative."
The cabinet approved a limit of 2 trillion naira for use to refinance expensive government debt and save on debt servicing cost, Edun said. Nigeria has been spending the bulk of its revenue on debt service due to low tax collection.
"The view is that there will be an opportunity to save about 50 billion naira or more in debt servicing over time by giving back expensive debt, refinancing it with cheaper funding," Edun said.
President Bola Tinubu has embarked on Nigeria's boldest reforms in decades by scrapping a popular but costly subsidy on petrol and a system of multiple exchange rates that had kept the currency artificially strong, curbing trade and growth.
Tinubu is trying to rebuild Nigeria's economy and attract investors to revive growth, which has been sluggish for almost a decade, tackle a high debt burden, and lower double-digit inflation.
By Felix Onuah, Reuters
Media in Nigeria reported that nearly 100 people were abducted in Zamfara state, in the northwestern part of the country. Bandits are said to have raided four villages, where they kidnapped residents for allegedly failing to pay protection levies imposed on the communities.
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Dozens kidnapped by motorcycle 'bandits' in Nigeria
At least 100 people have been abducted by gunmen in Nigeria's northwest, residents have said.
Locals told the BBC that armed men on motorcycles stormed villages in Zamfara state.
The residents were kidnapped after the villages failed to pay a "tax" imposed on them by the gunmen, witnesses said.
In recent years, kidnapping for ransom has become rife in north-western Nigeria.
Armed gangs, referred to locally as bandits, target villages, schools, and travellers, demanding millions of naira in ransom.
According to the Reuters news agency, a local village head said one resident was killed in Friday's attack.
The BBC heard from a resident from the village of Mutunji, who said he was abducted by the gunmen but managed to escape.
"We are trying to collect the money... but suddenly the bandits came in and robbed people. They took more than 100 people - most of them were women and young people," the resident said.
Locals told the BBC the gunmen's leader is named "Damana".
They said Damana controls most of the region in the absence of state security forces.
"The terrorists are in control of the area - they send us to the forest to work as agricultural labourers, and when we come back they come into the town to eat meat, tea and bottled goods without paying," one villager complained.
Nigeria faces multiple security challenges: the jihadist insurgency in the north, deadly clashes between animal herders and farmers, a separatist insurgency in the southeast as well as militants in the Niger Delta demanding a greater share of oil profits.
President Bola Tinubu, who took office in May, has yet to detail how he will tackle the insecurity. During his election campaign, Mr Tinubu's office acknowledged the challenge, touting his experience as governor of north-eastern Borno state, home to many Islamist militant groups and the Boko Haram insurgency.
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