77 year old widow opens her doors to refugees

 When the insecurity in Cameroon’s restive western region forced Susan Agbo to leave her home, she did not know what lay ahead. All she knew was that she needed to get her eight grandchildren to a safer place. She found that safer place in Nigeria.

“When I came to Nigeria, I had no place to stay,” says Susan, who fled Cameroon nearly two years ago.

She struggled with homelessness for months, relying on the goodwill of the local Nigerian community for shelter.

“I was staying with people for a few weeks here and there and then I would leave and stay somewhere else for a month,” explains Susan, who is in her 60s.

Escalating violence in Cameroon has displaced hundreds of thousands of people within the country’s borders and forced about 37,000 more like Susan to seek safety in Nigeria.

The constant movement from one place to another, with her grandchildren in tow, was exhausting for the sickly grandmother who longed for a lasting solution to her situation.

Lucia Ikuru, who lives near Agbokim Waterfalls on the border with Cameroon, sympathized with Susan’s predicament and offered her shelter without a second thought.

“I saw she had run away and had no place to stay,” says the 77-year-old Nigerian widow. “I gave her a house and told her to stay there.”

Lucia’s large compound has several rooms that she has turned into shelters for other Cameroonian refugees including Susan.

“I try to help them, and whatever little I have, I give them,” adds Lucia.

Susan is grateful for the shelter, solace and friendship that she has found here and is especially grateful for the food that Lucia provides her grandchildren.

“When she cooks, she feeds my grandchildren and they eat. I am happy,” says Susan, adding that she has no means of supporting them herself.

She explains that due to the conflict, their parents’ whereabouts is unknown – a constant source of worry for her.

“I don’t know where they are since they ran away so now the children are here with me,” she says.

To keep her worries at bay, she talks to Lucia often, sitting with her in the courtyard and carving wooden sticks into toothbrushes and toothpicks to sell at the local market.

“I’m happy that I have her staying here with me,” says Lucia. “If something happened to her, I wouldn’t feel happy.”

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has launched an urgent appeal to increase support for displaced Cameroonians who have survived nearly two years of ongoing violence. But of the US$184 million required for UNHCR’s operations in Cameroon and Nigeria – including US$35.4 million needed urgently for critical life-saving assistance to newly displaced Cameroonians – just four per cent has been raised.

The majority of the refugees - over 50 per cent of the population - live in host communities in over 47 villages along the border. The support they receive from kind Nigerians like Lucia is crucial and reflective of the sense of solidarity that most refugees experience from their Nigerian hosts.

Susan hopes that the situation back home will improve so that she can return. But for now, she continues to adjust to life here and is grateful for Lucia’s kindness and that of the Nigerian people.

“I don’t know where I would have been,” she says. “I am happy because we are like friends.”

UNHCR continues to seek funding to provide basic assistance to refugees and carry out projects that empower the host communities, also in need.

UNHCR

Nigeria Women's World Cup squad protest due to unpaid wages

The World Cup journey for Nigeria is only partially over after being eliminated from the tournament by Germany in the round of 16 on Saturday.

Nigeria’s athletes had refused to leave their hotel and head home until all players have been paid their outstanding wages — including daily allowances while competing in France as well as bonuses owed from two years ago. According to ESPN, the members of the Nigerian team had previously only been paid half of the nearly $5,600, or two million Nigerian naira, owed from matches that took place in 2016 and 2017.

A deal was finally brokered between the Nigeria Football Federation and the women’s team that brought the sit-in to an end, however a complete resolution is still pending.

“They paid us 1 million [naira] and said that is all. We want them to pay the balance,” one player told ESPN before the team agreed to leave the hotel. “Part of that money is from two years ago, the other is from three years ago. And they are also owing us five days' daily allowance here in France.”

The Nigeria Football Federation previously disputed the claims, saying the players have been paid “everything they are being owed”, per president Amaju Pinnick, with the exception of the World Cup participation fee, which the tournament organizers are scheduled to pay out in September.

To end the protest, the team agreed to begin heading home as long as they received their bonuses on Monday.

Nigeria’s women’s team has protested over unpaid wages and bonuses on multiple occasions in the last two decades. In 2016, the team held a public rally in the Nigerian capital of Abuja due to unpaid allowances, while in 2004 the team held a similar sit-in at their hotel in South Africa until their allowances were paid. Both protests came after the team won the Africa Women Cup of Nations.

The athletes attempted to avoid another conflict on the world stage before traveling to France, telling ESPN they asked for a meeting with the federation to discuss bonuses as the men’s team did in 2018, however their letter was “ignored”.

This tournament marked the eighth World Cup appearance for the Nigerian women, with their best finish coming as a quarter finalist in 1999.

By Blake Schuster

Yahoo

Former minister's son freed from kidnappers in Nigeria

Authorities in Nigeria on Thursday confirmed the release of Dayo Adewole, the son of a former minister of health Isaac Adewale, who was kidnapped on Tuesday by unknown gunmen in Nigeria's southwest Oyo State.

Oyo police chief Shina Olukolu, who disclosed this to Xinhua, declined to give a detailed account of the release but simply said the abducted former minister's son was freed "unhurt" by his abductors had been reunited with his family.

It is still unclear if any ransom was paid to secure the release of the kidnapped victim.

Dayo was kidnapped at about 6 p.m., local time at gunpoint on his farm in Iroko town of Akinyele area of the state.

The police chief added that the only suspects arrested so far in connection with the incident were three of the victim's farm workers.

Xinhua

President Buhari appoints new head of NNPC

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari appointed a new head of the country's under-performing oil company on Thursday, amid plans to resume searching for oil in Lake Chad, an area wracked by the Boko Haram insurgency.

Mele Kolo Kyari, a geologist from the volatile northeastern Borno state, will take over as group managing director of the state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) from Maikanti Baru, who was appointed in 2016, the company said in a statement.

Seven other senior officials were also appointed to head NNPC's subsidiaries.

Until his new appointment Kyari, 54, was group general manager of the NNPC's crude oil marketing division and has represented Nigeria in the OPEC oil cartel since May 2018.

Buhari, who was re-elected for another four year-term in February, has vowed to reform the NNPC, which has for years been beset by inefficiency and corruption.

Proposed legislation to overhaul the company has been stuck in parliament since 2012 because of disagreements with some of its provisions by stakeholders.

Kyari's appointment comes the country looks to revive its search for oil in the conflict-riven Lake Chad region, which comprises Nigeria's northeast, Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

"We will go back there as soon as we receive security clearance," outgoing NNPC chief Baru was quoted in the local media on Thursday as saying.

"There seems to be some prospects there because Niger Republic drilled over 600 wells and now they are producing while we have only drilled 23," he said.

Nigeria is Africa's largest crude producer, accounting for a daily output of two million barrels -- much of which lies in the southern Niger delta and offshore.

The country halted its oil search in the Lake Chad area in July 2017 following a Boko Haram attack on an NNPC exploration team in which at least 69 people were killed.

Four oil exploration workers were abducted, one of whom was among the dead.

Boko Haram, which seeks to impose a hardline Islamic law in Nigeria's mainly-Muslim north, has killed 27,000 people and forced some two million others to flee their homes since 2009.


AFP

Villagers in Nigeria lament government failures to protect them from suicide bombers

Mohammed Bomboi is in shock and mourning as he sits in a raffia hut less than a metre from where his friend was killed by one of three suicide bombers.

Local officials say 20 people died in this small fishing and farming village, though emergency workers in Borno state put the death toll at 30. Villagers say between 21-25 died.

"We were resting on that mat in this tent Sunday night when I heard a loud sound outside," Bomboi said, pointing to the sandy floor where he had slept.

"It was Boko Haram again. I saw many bodies outside as they were scattered on the road."

One target was a thatched hut in the centre of the village, where people gather after work to watch movies or gossip. On Sunday, a Women's World Cup football match had attracted a crowd.

"People usually come to watch matches in the viewing centre. One match was playing in the TV. We didn't know Boko Haram was watching us. My friend went to join them and he died," Bomboi said.

Boko Haram not far

There were three suicide bombers: an adult male and two young girls who blew themselves up among those watching football and enjoying tea at a shop along Sambisa street, named for the Sambisa Forest - the notorious stronghold of Boko Haram less than 100 kilometres away.

Villagers say the bombers mingled with them earlier in the evening before rushing into the crowd and detonating the explosives strapped to their bodies.

"Twenty persons were killed in all - one of them died in the hospital while the other 19 died here in the village. Thirty-eight persons were injured and are receiving treatment in the hospital," said Sadiq Usmobik, a police spokesman of Borno state.

The casualty figures could potentially have been higher but one of the bombers, a girl, tripped while running towards a crowd and her bomb went off early.

Usman Kachalla, head of operations at the State Emergency Management Agency, put the death toll at 30.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but it has been strongly linked to Boko Haram insurgents, who are known to use children in suicide bomb attacks targeting civilians in churches, mosques, markets, schools and other small gatherings.

The UN children's agency, UNICEF, did not single out Boko Haram on Monday.

"UNICEF condemns the use of children as human bombs and in any combat or non-combat roles in the conflict in northeast Nigeria," it said in a statement.

"This incident brings the number of children who have been reported as having been used as human bombs to five since January 2019. In 2018, 48 children - including 38 girls - were used in suicide attacks."

Assaults by Boko Haram since 2009 have killed more than 27,000 people and forced two million to leave their homes.

'It was too late'

Such carnage in places such as Mandarari is not just a reflection of the ruthlessness of fighters, but also underlines the failures of the state.

Villagers say fewer people would have died if emergency services arrived more quickly, or if there were better health facilities available in the area, just 40km from Maiduguri, the state capital.

"At first his injuries were not that bad. But with time they got worse," said Awolo Abubakar, whose 30-year-old son was caught in the attack.

"So when help came, it was too late. That's why my young son, without any children of his own, is in a grave today."

Over the years, Boko Haram has evolved; moving into far-to-reach communities and dominating the lives of millions. The Nigerian military has been unable to establish order in the vast expanse of the country's northeast.

The attacks have forced many to leave their homes. Along the short trip between Mandarari and Maiduguri, vacated farm land and empty villages show the extent of the exodus.

"The current approach has failed. It's not enough to fight this war through the military alone. Good governance, economic policies and mass education are all part of the war the government has refused to fight. That's why Boko Haram is not ending soon," security analyst Nnamdi Anekwe-Chive told Al Jazeera.

"The people are disappointed in their leaders. The leaders in northern Nigeria have failed the people. It's the underdevelopment they created in the north that is helping all these crises thrive," he said.

'Can't fight back'

Another deadly crisis has also emerged in Nigeria's northwest, with more than 300 people killed this year by bandits and kidnappers.

In Mandarari, Bomboi stands over a pile of victims' shoes partially buried in the dust. The various sizes and colours reflect the diversity of those who last wore them - children, women and men.

"Boko Haram is near here" said Bomboi, "and they have continued to kill this way. They keep using some to bomb us. They keep attacking our villages and we can't fight back. It has happened many times."

The mood in the village is not just mournful, it also anticipates the future with fear.

Survivors know by living so close to Boko Haram-controlled territory it is likely attackers will again make their way into the community, along with hundreds of others in Konduga, Bama and Gwoza - all in restive Borno state.

By Orji Sunday

Al Jazeera

France beats Nigeria 0-1 in Women's World Cup

It took a remarkable six-minute period in the second half for what had been a largely uneventful Women's World Cup

 match to come to life in Rennes as France beat Nigeria 1-0 in dramatic fashion.

The task facing Nigeria's Super Falcons before a partisan 28,267 crowd at Roazhon Park had always been deemed a formidable one.

France had won 15 of its last 16 games coming into its final group match -- conceding only six times in the process -- but the Super Falcons seemed up to the task until the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) came into play in the 73rd minute and created a period of theater.

Nigeria defender Ngozi Ebere had brought Viviane Asseyi down inside the box, leaving the referee with little option but to award the spot kick once Melissa Borjas had opted for a VAR check.

Ebere was subsequently shown a red card for a second bookable offense, while France defender Wendi Renard went on to hit the post from the spot -- only for VAR to give France a lifeline by penalizing Nigeria goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie for stepping away from her line before the ball was hit.

Renard retook the penalty and this time dispatched her effort with aplomb to give the hosts what proved to be the match-winning goal.

In 18-year-old Nnadozie -- who became the youngest goalkeeper to keep a clean sheet at a World Cup in Nigeria's victory over South Korea -- Nigeria had a player who had stood up to whatever came her way, until the teenager suffered a harsh lesson on the biggest stage of all.

"If I give you my honest feelings, they'll probably send me home so it's better I don't say anything," Nigeria coach Thomas Dennerby told reporters after the match.

"My players are heroes. Of course I'm disappointed by the result, France is a really good team and don't need support from anybody to win games. The girls were fighting so well, they followed the match plan and it's getting destroyed by people that we're not so happy with."

Nigeria, which did not muster a shot on target against France, must now wait to learn if it has done enough to reach the last 16, while France -- winning all three group matches for the first time in its history -- will play its last-16 match in Le Havre after topping Group A.

By George Ramsay and Aimee Lewis

CNN

Triple suicide attacks leave 30 dead in Nigeria

Thirty people were killed late on Sunday in a triple suicide bombing in northeast Nigeria, emergency services reported.

Three bombers detonated their explosives outside a hall in Konduga, 38km from the Borno state capital Maiduguri, where football fans were watching a match on TV.

"The death toll from the attack has so far increased to 30. We have over 40 people injured," Usman Kachalla, head of operations at the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), said on Monday.

An earlier toll from the blasts, the bloodiest in months, gave 17 dead and 17 wounded.

The attack happened around 9:00pm (18:00 GMT), Ali Hassan, the leader of a self-defence group in the town, said.

The owner of hall prevented one of the bombers from entering the packed venue.

"There was a heated argument between the operator and the bomber who blew himself up," Hassan said by phone.

Two other bombers who had mingled among the crowd at a tea stall nearby also detonated their suicide vests.

Hassan said most of the victims were from outside the football viewing centre.

"Nine people died on the spot, including the operator, and 48 were injured," Hassan said.

Kachala said the high number of fatalities was because emergency responders had been unable to reach the site of the blast quickly. Nor were they equipped to deal with large numbers of wounded.

"Lack of an appropriate health facility to handle such huge emergency situation and the delay in obtaining security clearance to enable us deploy from Maiduguri in good time led to the high death toll," he said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the attack bore the imprint of Boko Haram, which has led a decade-long campaign to establish an Muslim state in northeast Nigeria.

The last suicide attack was in April this year when two female suicide bombers blew themselves up outside the garrison town of Monguno, killing a soldier and a vigilante and injuring another soldier.

Konduga has been repeatedly targeted by suicide bombers from a Boko Haram faction loyal to longtime leader Abubakar Shekau.

The faction typically carries out suicide attacks against soft civilian targets such as mosques, markets and bus stations, often using young women and girls as bombers.

The fighters are believed to sneak into the town from the group's haven in nearby Sambisa forest.

Eight worshippers were killed when a suicide bomber attacked a mosque in the town last July.

Boko Haram's campaign has claimed 27,000 lives and forced some two million to flee their homes.

The violence has spilled into neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting the formation of a regional military coalition to battle the group.

Al Jazeera

Nigeria planning on investing $500 million in palm oil production

Nigeria plans to increase its palm oil production 700% over the next eight years to help improve its foreign-exchange earnings that are largely dependent on crude oil exports.

The new policy will boost local production to about five million tons from 600,000 tons a year by investing as much as 180 billion naira ($500 million) beginning this year, the trade and investment ministry said in a report.

“Our policy objectives over an eight-year period (between 2019 and 2027) will see that we locally produce 100% of local crude palm oil demand by 2027, increase revenue from importation via duties and deliver 225,000 full time jobs and at least 450,000 seasonal jobs,” it said.

The new policy also seeks to remove the 75% duty rebate granted on refined palm oil imports and extend a current three-year tax holiday for all producing and processing companies to five years. It will introduce a five-year restriction of crude and refined palm oil importation to large-scale refineries and crushing-plant owners.

Farmers will be given access to loans at 9% per year through a central bank-administered lending to expand cultivation by at least three million hectares.

Presco Plc, the country’s largest producer of palm oil, is driving an expansion plan that expects a 500-ton capacity refinery to begin operating in first quarter of 2020, with an additional increase of its milling capacity from 60 tons an hour to 90 tons an hour by next January, Chief Executive Officer Felix Nwabuko said in a conference call with investors on Thursday.

By 2022, the company expects to push capacity to 210 tons an hour, with an additional 60 tons per hour in milling facilities, he said.

The West African nation’s palm oil imports rose from 302,000 tons in 2017 to 600,000 tons by end of 2018, costing the country as much as $500 million, despite placing the commodity on a forex-exclusion list, central bank figures indicate.

While Nigeria wants to grow quickly in palm oil, it’s still likely to be a small part of a market dominated by Indonesia and Malaysia. The country currently ranks as the world’s fifth-biggest producer in palm oil, accounting for less than 2% of global production, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

By Ruth Olurounbi 

Bloomberg

Plastic bottles paying for education in Nigeria

A school in Nigeria is accepting plastic bottles in lieu of school fees from parents. African Clean Up Initiative and WeCyclers are two organisations working with Morit International School in Ajegunle, Lagos, for the project, reports BBC. The Recycle Pay project allows parents to use plastic waste as currency to pay their children's school fees. The twofold positive impact of this scheme? Families save money while reducing plastic pollution and cleaning up the city in the process.

The process for the Recycle Pay project is simple: Parents can bring a bag of plastic waste to a facility where it is weighed. The weight is then converted into a monetary value, which can be deducted from the amount owed as fees to the school. The collected waste is taken away by a recycling company twice a month.

"I struggle to pay for school fees, sometimes I pay half the price and later pay the remaining balance," parent Sherifat Okunowo explained in an interview to BBC. "But with the introduction of this project, the plastic has made it easy for me to pay school fees."

"This project that is going on right now, I think is very, very good," another parent, Jane Enyinnaya, confirms. "It has really reduced the burden on parents."

The school's principal echoes this sentiment. "It has really reduced the burden on parents," he says. "We now collect fees faster-the school wins, the children win, the parents win, everybody wins."

According to My Modern Met, the Ajegunle district in Lagos has three million residents, making it one of the most densely populated slums in the county. The Recycle Pay project has not only helped clean up the area, it has also made access to education easier.

NDTV

Nigeria beat S.Korea 2-0 in Women's World Cup

Nigeria took their chances against the run of play on Wednesday to beat South Korea, 2-0, for rare success at the Women’s World Cup, setting themselves up to advance to the next stage of the tournament in France.

A first half own-goal at the Stade des Alps and a breakaway attack, brilliantly finished by Asisat Oshoala, ensured the Africa champions only their fourth win in eight World Cup finals appearances. It also gives Nigeria a chance to go to the second round for just the second time.

The Koreans, beaten 4-0 by France in the tournament opener last Friday, are all but out of contention after a surprise setback in their second Group A game.

After weathering Korea’s early attacks, Nigeria went ahead just before the half-hour mark when defender Kim Do-yeon miscued an effort to try to clear a long ball through the middle and steered it past her goalkeeper Kim Min-jung, who had come rushing out of her goal and was stranded.

There was a lengthy Video Assistant Referee review to see whether Nigeria’s captain Desire Oparanozie might have brushed the ball with her hand as she headed to the goal but there was no conclusive evidence to rule out the goal.

Korea were pulled back for offside when they found the net in the 58th minute before a Nigerian counter attack saw Oshoala, a three-time African women’s Footballer of the Year, ran half the length of the field, brushed past a defender, rounded the goalkeeper and squeezed the ball home from an almost improbable angle.

She might have scored in similar fashion just two minutes after the 75th minute goal but a heavy first touch saw the opportunity slip away.

Nigeria lost their opening game by 3-0 to Norway in Reims on Saturday.

New York Times

Video - Are Nigerians benefiting from democracy

It's 20 years since the end of military rule and return to a civilian presidency. The last few years have been particularly challenging for Africa's most populous country of 200 million. 45 percent of people in Nigeria live in extreme poverty. Economic growth has slowed, unemployment is high and government forces are battling armed groups such as Boko Haram. So what, if any, has been the democratic dividend for Nigerians?

Slum dwellers in Nigeria fight evections with maps and music

When bulldozers entered the Nigerian slum of Njemanze and started tearing down hundreds of waterfront homes, Michael Uwemedimo was there to document the scene with his camera.

The residents soon began directing him, he said, making sure he did not miss any of the destruction in August 2009.

“Film this, film that,” he recalled them saying.

And when the British-Nigerian documentary maker was arrested by security forces, the residents of the slum in the city of Port Harcourt hid his camera and kept it safe until he was released later that day.

“They recognized the camera as an instrument they could use to literally frame what is important to them, to tell their story, to give their perspective,” said Uwemedimo.

According to housing advocates, half of Port Harcourt’s more than 1 million residents live in slums.

Many of those residents live in waterfront areas, on land with prime real-estate value, and have no official housing documentation, noted Isa Sanusi, spokesman for Amnesty International Nigeria.

That makes them especially vulnerable to evictions, he said.

“Generally, Nigerian authorities use forced eviction in the course of urban renewal ... with the land they formerly occupied being developed into luxury real estate,” he explained - although the cleared area in Njemanze remains undeveloped.

Uwemedimo said his experience in Njemanze showed him how desperate the residents were to draw attention to what was happening to them, and he wanted to help.

In 2010, with former journalist Ana Bonaldo, he co-founded the Collaborative Media Advocacy Platform (CMAP), a collective of filmmakers, urban planners, researchers and Port Harcourt residents who use art, music and data collection to mobilize the people impacted by forced evictions.

The group has since grown to more than 40 volunteers.

One of the first things Uwemedimo did with it was take a giant, inflatable mobile cinema on a tour of low-income communities in the city to show them films about forced evictions around the world and in their own neighborhood.

“We found cinema was a good way of gathering people, of animating people, of creating debate,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation from his living room, with a computer blasting out songs about evictions.

A spokeswoman for the ministry of urban planning would not comment on specific eviction cases, but said the government had an obligation to take down unsafe or unauthorized buildings.

“The state carries out demolitions when buildings do not follow the approved building plan, or are built illegally or in unauthorized areas,” she said.

“For example where you have high tension cables, building on top of waterways or in unapproved areas - all that can lead to demolitions.”

STORYTELLING

The collective gives residents the chance to share the impact of those evictions through its Human City Project, which is made up of a collection of art and media ventures owned and run by members of the Port Harcourt community.

On one of the city’s waterfronts, in a solar-powered building called The Media Shed, a team of volunteers run Chicoco Studios, producing and performing songs about the evictions and other issues that affect people living in slums.

Like the other parts of the project - which is mainly funded by grants from organizations and charities - the studio gets its name from the black mud that Port Harcourt residents pull from the swamps to reclaim the land on which they build their homes.

Dickson Abibo, a musician and producer, regularly tours the area with other musicians to put on shows for residents.

They also hold “Sessions in the Shed”, inviting young locals to the studio to collaborate on songs.

“We come together to build our own original, unique sounds that reflect the daily experiences of slum dwellers,” said Abibo.

Nearby, Chicoco Radio broadcasts the tracks that come out of the Shed sessions and produces a weekly drama series in which the characters face the same challenges Port Harcourt residents deal with every day - from poor infrastructure to crime.

“It shows how we live in waterfront communities, our problems, our good and bad sides,” explained Sotonye Sekibo, a local radio actor and reporter.

ARMED WITH INFORMATION

While the project gives residents a platform to tell their stories, it also helps them have a say in what happens to them next, said Uwemedimo, who is currently a visiting fellow at King’s College London.

The Chicoco Maps program collects geographic information about Port Harcourt that residents can use to take part in decision-making about the area.

Volunteers regularly go out into the communities to index every building and conduct household surveys, gathering details on factors such as population, topography, land use, employment, and health.

The results are fed into a database which residents can refer to when dealing with authorities, security forces and non-profits who want to bring new initiatives or development projects to their neighborhoods.

As an example, Uwemedimo pointed to a recent community survey in one neighborhood where responses from residents showed that together they were spending 18 million naira (about $59,000) on water annually.

So, they started pooling their money to buy a shared solar-powered borehole, which they hope will reduce their energy bills.

Community mapping has also been vital in the fight against the forced evictions that sparked the Human City Project in the first place, Uwemedimo said.

With every building cataloged, demolitions are easy to track and residents can use that information to support their demands for compensation, he noted.

“Now ordinary people are able to speak up and stand up to powerful forces like the government,” said Sekibo, the radio actor.

Sekibo and other Port Harcourt residents said the project has made it easier for them to protect their homes.

Since the project launched, they noted, forced evictions are not as common as they used to be.

“This project has changed our lives and shaped how we look at things and issues around us,” said Prince Nosa, a slum dweller who trained for four years under the project and is now a sound engineer.

“We now know and understand our rights and we are always ready to support any slum community if demolition is ever mentioned again.”

By Linus Unah

Reuters

Millions remain in poverty in Nigeria as country celebrates democracy

On Monday, Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari officially made June 12 a public holiday. The day celebrates 20 years of democracy in a country that was under military rule for decades after winning its independence from Britain in 1960. However, as the West African nation celebrates, worries about its fragile economy persist.

While Nigeria's economy has recovered since falling into a recession in 2016, that growth has been slower than expected.

"Unfortunately, growth in the country has remained relatively stagnant following their recovery out of recession in 2017," Christopher Dielmann, director of macroeconomic and sovereign research with Tellimer, told Al Jazeera."Estimates by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank suggests that Nigeria's growth in 2019 and 2020 will register at 2.1 percent and 2.2 percent, respectively. I think GDP (gross domestic product) should be growing at least double the population growth rate in order for the country to lift its people from poverty."

Today, Nigeria's oil-driven economy is less susceptible to any outside shocks such as falling oil prices, but disruption in domestic oil output remains a risk for Africa's largest economy.

Oil production risks

According to OPEC, Nigeria's oil and gas sector accounts for 65 percent of its government income.

"Oil production [in Nigeria] is on a long-term downwards trajectory," said Ed Hobey-Hamsher, a senior Africa analyst with global risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft. He explained that without the passage of the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill, which is meant to improve transparency and attract investment in Nigeria's oil and gas sector, its oil output would suffer. "Oil production is projected to peak next year before steadily declining throughout the 2020s."

Hobey-Hamsher says that lower oil output will translate into less government revenue for Nigeria, meaning less money for the government to pay its bills.

This will delay spending on government projects that are needed to grow the economy.

Those projects are "required to address the most significant bottlenecks to sustained and sustainable economic growth, namely the infrastructure deficit and unemployment," he said.

Not enough jobs

Unemployment remains high. According to Nigeria's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in the working-age group (15-64 years of age) unemployment has hit 23.1 percent. This is a five percent increase from 2017, when it was at 18.1 percent.

According to Dielmann, the biggest risk facing Nigeria is the lack of economic growth, rapid population increases, and increasing levels of unemployment.

This month, World Poverty Clock, a project of the World Data Lab which tracks income levels for individuals around the world, showed that more than 90 million Nigerians are now living in poverty. This is the second year in a row Nigeria has landed in the top spot of the World Poverty Clock. In May 2018 the country overtook India with the most people living in poverty.

World Poverty Clock defines poverty as living on less than $1.90 per day.

"Ultimately, the combination of these factors place a tremendous amount of social strain on the country's population that are not sustainable in the long term," Dielmann said.

"I think the GDP should be growing at least double the population growth rate in order for the country to lift its people out of poverty," Ayodele Akinwunmi, head of research with FSDH Merchant Bank Limited in Nigeria said. "So I expect a GDP growth rate range of 5-6 percent. This growth rate is achievable if the country can fix the identified constraints. Nigeria has achieved higher growth rates before."

By Dawn Kissi

Al Jazeera

The fast and furious motorcycle taxis in Nigeria

 It is a few minutes after noon, and Abimbola Thomas needs to get to work. He is only 10km (6.213 miles) away from his office. At any other time of the day, this would have been a 10-minute journey, but not during Lagos lunch-hour traffic. If Thomas gets in a car, this trip could take him up to 120 minutes. To save time, Thomas hops on the back seat of one of the dozens of motorcycle taxis that are waiting for customers at stalls and shops downtown. He puts his arms around the driver's waist, and the pair speed off.

While the Lagos State government does not officially promote motorbike taxis, growing demand for ways to reduce maddeningly long commute times is making an increasing number of people jump on the backs of two-wheeled taxis in Nigeria.

Tech companies are now trying to make it easier for riders like Thomas to link up with motorcycle taxis no matter where these urban passengers may be. Last year, several ride-hailing applications designed to connect riders with motorcycle taxis were launched. One is called the Gokada app.

'Okadas': controversy on Lagos' roads

Residents in Lagos call these two-wheeled taxis "okadas", because they are so much faster than cars. Okada is the name of Nigeria's first private commercial airline, Okada Air.

Motorcycle taxis first showed up in the country's commercial capital in the late 1990s.

During those early years, okadas got a bad reputation because of reckless operators and gruesome accidents. Back then, the number of broken bones and bloody limbs grew so fast that local media nicknamed a section of the National Orthopaedic Hospital Igbobi the "okada ward".

Today, riding okadas is a little safer because Lagos State restricts them to certain inner streets.

Ride-hailing in Africa

Uber debuted in West Africa five years ago. Since then, there have been several less-than-remarkable local efforts to duplicate the company's success in the United States. The standout appears to be ride-hailing apps for motorcycles because they are responding to Nigeria's unique market needs: They can zip through stalled traffic.

Users download an app and request rides on their smartphones, and branded motorcycles show up on demand. As an added feature, users can also hail branded bikes on the street. Since Gokada launched, three other motorcycle-hailing startups have debuted in Nigeria: Max, SafeBoda, and Oride.

Gokada boasts over 1,000 riders. Max, founded by two alumni of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US, says it has over 1,000 motorcyclists.

Anticipating billion-dollar market growth, investors have thrown millions of dollars at these startups. Rise Capital and a consortium of local funders invested $5.3m in Gokada. The company plans to use the money, in part, to open a state-of-the-art driver-training school to verify up to 500 operators at a time, thereby increasing daily rides tenfold.

Operating in a grey area

Fahim Saleh, the cofounder and co-CEO of Gokada, admits his company exists in a grey area legally.

He says his team has exploited a Nigerian stipulation that says bikes with an engine capacity of greater than 200 cubic centimetres can travel on all major roads and highways. Some of Gokada's bikes have been seized by government officials for other infractions, but the service continues to grow. "They said if you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere," Saleh smiles, dismissing life in Manhattan. "I've lived in New York. If you can make it in Nigeria, you can [really] make it anywhere!"

"A futuristic tech-enabled Lagos can have motorcycle taxis," he explains, citing examples in East Asia such as Go-Jek in Indonesia and Grab in Thailand. "Gokada is not only making incremental improvements, [but] we are going leaps and bounds to ensure our drivers are safe including weekly training, adequate safety gear, tech-enabled driver-behaviour tracking, intensive pre-screening, rapid-response in-house medics, and more. We really do care about our drivers and our customers."

Salleh's concern is warranted; 747 motorcycles were involved in road accidents during the fourth quarter of 2018, according to Nigeria's Bureau of Statistics. That's more than one out of every five accidents.

The cost of going slow

People in Lagos call traffic bottlenecks go-slows. Most residents spend more than two hours in traffic every workday. The cost of going slow is massive. According to one former Lagos State governor, every year, go-slows rob the city's economy of 42 billon naira ($11.6m) of economic output.

To understand why, consider the geography of Lagos. With a landmass of about 3,600 square kilometres, it is Nigeria's smallest state. However, more than 18 million people live in the city of Lagos. Five million registered vehicles - 200 vehicles per kilometre - cram onto the city's 9,100 roads and expressways each day.

Just get me to work

On his part, Abimbola Thomas, our harried commuter, was now used to the adrenaline rush of motorcycle taxi rides. He tapped an app on his smartphone and hailed a two-wheeler. It arrived within minutes and took him to his office on time. "Bikes are much more convenient as a form of transportation in Lagos," he called out as he sped off.

By Kayode Ogunbunmi

Al Jazeera

Kelechi Iheanacho dropped by Nigeria

Nigeria have cut Leicester City striker Kelechi Iheanacho from their final 23-man squad for the Africa Cup of Nations, which starts in Egypt next week.

Iheanacho was the only major omission by coach Gernot Rohr, who retained 15 players from the squad that went to the World Cup in Russia last year. Back-up goalkeeper Ikechukwu Ezenwa from Katsina United is the only home-based player in the squad.

Nigeria have been drawn to play in Group B against Guinea, Madagascar and Burundi, who they play first in Alexandria on June 22.

Squad:
Goalkeepers: Daniel Akpeyi (Kaizer Chiefs), Ikechukwu Ezenwa (Katsina United), Francis Uzoho (Anorthosis Famagusta)

Defenders: Olaoluwa Aina (Torino), Chidozie Awaziem(Rizespor), Leon Balogun (Brighton and Hove Albion), Jamilu Collins (Paderborn), William Troost Ekong (Udinese), Kenneth Omeruo (Leganes), Abdullahi Shehu (Bursaspor)

Midfielders: Oghenekaro Etebo (Stoke City), John Obi Mikel (Middlesbrough), Ahmed Musa (Al Nassr), Wilfred Ndidi (Leicester City), John Ogu (Hapoel Be'er Sheva)

Forwards: Samuel Chukwueze (Villarreal), Odion Ighalo (Shanghai Shenhua), Alex Iwobi (Arsenal), Samuel Kalu (Girondins Bordeaux), Paul Onuachu (Midtjylland), Henry Onyekuru (Galatasaray), Victor Osimhen (Charleroi), Moses Simon (Levante).

By Mark Gleeson

CNA

Gangs kill dozens in attacks in Nigeria

Gunmen have killed dozens of people in a wave of attacks in northern Nigeria, the latest violence by criminal gangs raiding villages and stealing livestock.

The series of attacks, carried out overnight Saturday to Sunday in northwestern Sokoto state, left at least 43 dead.

"They opened fire on the village indiscriminately," Abdullahi Dantani, from the village of Satiru where 18 people were murdered, told AFP news agency.

In Sokoto state's Rabah district, gunmen rode into four villages - Rukunni, Tsage, Giire and Kalfu - killing 25 people.

"Several domestic animals were rustled by the attackers," Ibrahim Kaoje, Sokoto state's top police officer, told AFP.

Four people were arrested in connection to those attacks, Kaoje said.

In separate attacks in Satiru village, in Sokoto's Isa district, the raiders shot 18 people, and then stole animals.

"We lost 18 people in the raid by the gunmen, who came into the village on motorcycles," said Satiru village resident Umeh Na-Ta'ala.
'Uptick in banditry'

The gangs have long been a scourge of rural communities in northern Nigeria, raiding villages, stealing cattle, burning homes, looting food and kidnapping for ransom.

The communities have taken up arms to defend themselves, although the vigilantes are often accused of extrajudicial killings of suspected bandits.

President Muhammadu Buhari condemned the killings, expressing "deep shock and sadness" in a statement issued late on Sunday.

"Perpetrators and sponsors of such dastardly acts (will) be held accountable," Buhari said.

Human Rights Watch on Monday warned of a "dramatic uptick in banditry, kidnapping and killings" in the northwestern states of Kaduna, Katsina and Zamfara, which border Sokoto state.

"Security forces have failed to respond effectively to threats to people's lives and security," the rights group said.

The gangs are one of several security challenges facing Nigeria, including attacks by fighters from Boko Haram in northeastern regions, as well as battles between livestock herders and settled farmers.

These have left the military overstretched and seen Buhari criticised for failing to protect lives and property.

Buhari, who was sworn in last month for a second four-year presidential term, has promised to boost security.

Al Jazeera

Nigeria shuts down privately owned TV and radio stations

Nigeria's broadcasting authority shut down private radio and television stations owned by a key opposition figure who hours earlier said his media operations were being targeted in a crackdown.

The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) said on Thursday it suspended the license of Daar Communications Plc, owner of the African Independent Television (AIT) and RayPower FM for breach of broadcast codes.

NBC said in a statement it summoned the management of the stations to address alleged bias in their broadcasts and for failing to meet financial obligations to the regulatory authority.

The statement alleged the media organisations had "embarked on use of inflammatory, divisive, inciting broadcasts and media propaganda against the government and the NBC for performing its statutory functions of regulating the broadcast industry in Nigeria".

'Until further notice'

NBC said it made the license suspensions of AIT and RayPower FM "for failure to abide by the commission's directives and the provisions of the law".

"The shut down order is until further notice," the statement said.

The two broadcast stations are owned by business tycoon Raymond Dokpesi, who is also a key member of opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP).

Dokpesi earlier on Thursday accused NBC of intimidating his media empire on the instruction of the Nigerian presidency.

"We are on a road previously travelled. A media and press clampdown is in the offing," Dokpesi said hours before the suspension of his licence at a news conference.

Dokpesi established RayPower FM as a pioneering private radio in 1994 and AIT in 1998.

Reporters Without Borders places Nigeria 119th out of 180 on its World Press Freedom Index.

The media watchdog said journalists are often threatened, subjected to physical violence, or denied access to information by government officials, police, and sometimes the public itself.

Al Jazeera

Video - Lead poisoning from gold mines putting children at risk in Nigeria

Lead used in northwest Nigeria's gold mines is threatening the lives of thousands of children there, according to health officials. Hundreds died since the first case was reported nearly a decade ago. And a rise in violent attacks by armed gangs and kidnappers is hampering efforts to help them.

Video - Children used to fight Boko Haram struggle with trauma

The United Nations and human rights activists have accused both Boko Haram and groups fighting it, of putting children in harm's way. But now, hundreds of former child vigilantes, who had been fighting against the armed group in northeastern Nigeria, are learning skills to help them reintegrate into their communities. Many have returned to school or are learning employment skills. Kaumi Kolo is one of them.

Nigerian Tijjani Muhammad-Bande elected president of United Nations General Assembly

Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, Nigeria’s permanent ambassador to the United Nations, UN, has been elected president of the United Nations General Assembly, UNGA.

He was elected in an unopposed vote on Tuesday (June 4) to serve the one-year role. The election of the President of the 74th session of the General Assembly took place in the General Assembly Hall at the United Nations Headquarters, in New York.

He becomes the 74th holder of the position taking over from Ecuardorian María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés whose tenure ended with Muhammad-Bande’s election.

Going by established principle of geographical rotation and relevant UN resolutions, the Presidency of the 74th session had reached the trun of Africa, hence Mohammad-Bande’s election was widely expected.

The immediate past president – the fourth woman to be elected to the post in the history of the world body – took office on 5 June 2018. She was also the first since woman 2006.

Having been formally nominated by the Nigerian government for the position, the then nominee went through informal interactive dialogues with the view to increasing the transparency and inclusivity of the process. The dialogue took place on 13 May 2019, at UNHQ, New York.

The last time Africa held the presidency was in 2014/2015 when Uganda’s Sam Kahamba Kutesa led the 69th session. Aside the normal sessions, the UNGA also calls for special and emergency special sessions that usually have different presidents.

About the Ordinary Sessions and its president

The General Assembly meets annually in regular session, intensively from September to December, and resumes in January until all issues on the agenda are addressed – which often is just before the next session starts.

Since the 60th session in 2005, the President-elect of the General Assembly suggests a theme of global concern for the upcoming general debate, based on informal discussions with Member States, the President of the current session of the General Assembly, and the Secretary-General.

Shortly after his/her election, the President-elect sends a letter to all Member States announcing the theme for the upcoming general debate and inviting them to focus their speeches on the proposed theme.

About the UNGA

The General Assembly is one of the six main organs of the United Nations, the only one in which all Member States have equal representation: one nation, one vote.

All 193 Member States of the United Nations are represented in this unique forum to discuss and work together on a wide array of international issues covered by the UN Charter, such as development, peace and security, international law, etc.

In September, all the Members meet in the General Assembly Hall in New York for the annual General Assembly session.

Africa News

Sani Abacha's £210m of loot seized in American account

More than $267m (£210m) belonging to a former Nigerian dictator has been seized from a Jersey bank account.

The money was "derived through corruption" during the presidency of Sani Abacha in the 1990s, according to Jersey's Civil Asset Recovery Fund.

A shell company called Doraville held the funds, which were frozen in 2014.

After a five-year legal wrangle, the money has now been recovered and will be split between Jersey, the United States and Nigeria.

Jersey's attorney general, Robert McRae QC, said the seizure "demonstrated [Jersey's] commitment to tackling international financial crime and money laundering".

Mr Abacha was in power from 1993 until his death in 1998.

It is not yet clear how much money will be kept by each government.

Jersey's Law Officers Department declined to comment on the final distribution of the funds because it could "prejudice ongoing discussions".

Jersey's government said it had approached the US in 2007 to request legal proceedings begin in US courts over the laundered funds.

The US Department of Justice itself has forfeited millions of dollars of money back to Nigeria, ruling Mr Abacha and associates laundered funds through the US banking industry.

Following an "extensive" collection of evidence in a variety of international jurisdictions, the funds were frozen by the Royal Court in 2014 and finally paid into the Civil Asset Recovery Fund on 31 May.

The money is just a fraction of the billions of dollars that were allegedly stolen and laundered during the presidency of Mr Abacha.

Swiss authorities last year returned $300m (£228m) to the Nigerian government, after it was found to have been stolen from public funds.

That money is being paid back to 300,000 Nigerian households over the next six years.

A spokesman for Jersey's Law Officers Department said it had faced "challenges and appeals" all the way to Jersey's highest court, as well as "separate proceedings" by a third party in US court.

BBC

Oil thieves in Nigeria roar back

Just as Nigeria gets to grips with militants who brought the nation’s oil industry to its knees a few years ago, another group of longstanding foes are slowly making a comeback: thieves.

Saboteurs including thieves caused an 80% increase in the number of spills in 2018, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the largest international producer in the West African country, said in a report last month. By contrast, there have been no militant-related halts to operations since 2016.

The disruptions underscore how hard it will be for Nigeria to fully rid itself of security challenges that have plagued the nation for decades. Overseas crude shipments represented by far the nation’s largest source of export income, with about $43.6 billion of sales last year, according to ITC Trade Map, a venture between the WTO and the UN.

“Oil theft is a severe drain on Nigeria’s revenue,” said Cheta Nwanze, the head of research at SBM Intelligence, a Lagos-based consultant. “The losses to theft could easily fund Nigeria’s budget deficit.”

Eight Times

On one level, theft is probably a more palatable option for Nigeria and the companies operating there than attacks by militants. About 100,000 barrels a day are being taken out of pipelines, whereas militancy halted at least eight times times that amount at one stage three years ago.

The increase reflects a belief among local communities that multinationals don’t really own the barrels in the first place, according to Ledum Mitee, a lawyer and minority rights activist.

“They believe the oil is theirs and the government is the thief,” he said. “People now realize that instead of just cutting pipelines to spite the government, they can make money out of it.”

Big Employer

It’s also akin to an industry. Theft employs at least 500,000 people in the country, according to Mitee, former head of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.

Much of the stolen crude is processed in tiny, makeshift refineries comprising hundreds of cauldrons, each of which can hold as much as 150 barrels of oil, according to Nwanze. The world’s biggest refineries handle more than 1.2 million barrels each day.

Unlike politically-driven militancy, where fighters say they represent impoverished people in the Niger Delta region, stealing crude is considered a less risky option for those involved.

Multiple incidents of force majeure, a legal measure that allows companies to forgo their contractual supply obligations, have happened this year in Nigeria -- even if the precise causes often remain unclear.

Nembe Creek

Aiteo Group, operator of the Nembe Creek Trunk Line to Shell’s Bonny export terminal, has been one of the hardest hit this year, halting flows through the link at least three times since January.

And the challenges doesn’t appear to be getting easier. Shell lost an average of 11,000 barrels a day to theft in 2018, it said. That’s up from losses of 9,000 barrels of crude a day in 2017.

Chevron Corp. has also reported problems with third-party interference on its production facilities.

The rogue refineries, essentially scaled up versions of widespread gin distilleries in the region, typically employ about 100 people working in shifts. Yields from a single cauldron will include 7,500 liters of diesel, 2,000 liters of gasoline and 500 liters of kerosene a day. It costs about 4 million naira ($11,100) to construct a boiling pot.

Crude Operators

Oil producers often take their own security measures, deploying daily helicopter surveillance with infrared cameras while simultaneously pushing state authorities to do more. But large-scale theft persists.

Addressing the challenge requires a “holistic approach,” Nigeria’s Oil Minister Emmanuel Kachikwu said after attending a cabinet meeting in Abuja last month.

“Oil theft is rife because there is an economic gain to be made from it,” Kachikwu said. “So we want to shut those illegal gains by creating positive and legal economic opportunities.”

By Elisha Bala-Gbogbo

Bloomberg

Students from Nigeria return home to heroic welcome after China contest

A team of 6 Nigerian students who emerged 3rd at the recently concluded Huawei Global ICT Competition in Shenzhen, China, have returned home to heroic welcome. At least 49 teams from 30 countries took part in this years contest.

Child viglantes in Nigeria return to school

Nearly 2,000 former child vigilantes who fought against Boko Haram have returned to their homes in northeast Nigeria. The United Nations says some of the children took up arms to help the army fight the armed group, allegation officials deny. Hundreds of the former fighters have since returned to school.

Video - Nigeria's 'mega schools' for Boko Haram victims

So-called "mega schools" have been opened in northeast Nigeria to take in around 50,000 orphans of war. Boko Haram fighters have destroyed classrooms, killed teachers and kidnapped students in 10 years of fighting. As the public school system is rebuilt in Borno State, experts say children need other help too.

Football boss of Nigeria Amaju Pinnick ordered to appear in court

Five top officials of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) have been ordered to appear in court over alleged misappropriation of funds.

The quintet, including NFF president Amaju Pinnick, are due to appear in court in the capital Abuja on 1 July, according to Justice Ifeoma Ojukwu.

Prosecution lawyer Celsius Ukpong, from the Special Presidential Investigation Panel (SPIP) for the recovery of public property says they will face a number of charges.

As well as Pinnick, NFF vice presidents Seyi Akinwunmi and Shehu Dikko along with general secretary Mohammed Sanusi and executive committee member Ahmed Yusuf have all been ordered to appear.

The charges include failure to declare their assets, the alleged disappearance of US$8.4 million paid by Fifa to Nigeria for participation in the 2014 World Cup and arranging international friendly matches that do not take place.

"We are expecting the accused persons, the defendants, to come to court and take their plea," Ukpong insisted.

However, all five men have always denied all the charges levelled against them, with the football authority calling the accusations "frivolous and baseless" early this month.

With the hearing set to resume in the middle of this year's Africa Cup of Nations, the NFF has played down speculation it could affect the team.

"Our lawyer is handling the matter and the NFF will only make a statement at the appropriate time," NFF director of communications Ademola Olajire told BBC Sport.

"The NFF is focused on important football matters and the priority is to ensure all our teams succeed."

It is not the first time officials of the NFF will be involved in corruption allegations.

Back in 2010, four former officials were arrested amid accusations that some $8m went missing during the World Cup finals in South Africa.

It took eight years for the quartet to be acquitted by the anti-graft agency.

By Oluwashina Okeleji

BBC

Middle-Class Emigration affecting skill shortage in Nigeria

A new wave of emigration among Nigeria’s middle class is robbing the oil-rich West African nation of skills and putting local recruitment under pressure.

An anemic economy that contracted for the first time in two decades in 2016, poor health facilities and schools, a worsening insecurity marked by a decade-old Islamist insurgency in the northeast, kidnapping and herdsmen attacks in other parts of the country are driving the exodus. It comes at a time when Nigeria has become the nation with the largest number of poor people.

Per capital income dipped by 37% since its 2014 peak and is projected to continue declining in the next four years, according to the International Monetary Fund. The exodus in the nation of almost 200 million people is hitting the IT, finance, consumer and health industries particularly hard.

“Those who emigrate can time-travel,” said Charles Robertson, chief economist at Renaissance Capital. “They jump forward decades of economic development to work in countries which are usually more stable, wealthier, with better education for their children and better health care.”

President Muhammadu Buhari, 76, who was sworn in Wednesday for a second term, has promised to tackle insecurity and boost economic growth in the continent’s biggest oil-producing country. His spokesman, Garba Shehu, declined a request to comment.

Canada’s liberal immigration policy is a strong pull for Nigeria’s top talent that faces rising living costs and stagnant incomes. Inflation has been at double digits since 2015, while the unemployment rate has hit its highest level since 2010.

Applications for permanent residency in Canada have risen threefold since 2015, data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada show, while those for temporary residency has almost doubled over the same period.

The number of Nigerians suspected overstaying in the U.S. with visitor visas has more than quadrupled from 2015 to last year, according to data from the U.S. department of Homeland Security. The overstay rate of Nigerian students studying in the U.S soared to 22% last year from 4% in 2015.

Of about 155 countries that have citizens overstaying in the U.S. as non-immigrants with business and pleasure visas, Nigeria ranks among the top 10 sharing places with countries such as Djibouti, Eritrea, Yemen, South Sudan, Syria, Chad and Burundi.

The health-care industry is one of the most affected by the exit of professionals. About 9 out of 10 medical doctors in practice are exploring work opportunities abroad, a 2017 survey by polling company NOI Polls shows.

In Britain there are currently 6,312 medical doctors of Nigerian origin, according to data on the U.K. General Medical Council website, a 44% increase on 2015 figures. That’s worsened health care in a country that has one doctor to serve 5,000 people, according to the Nigeria Medical Association.

“All professional firms and major corporations in Nigeria are affected by the brain drain,” said Andrew S. Nevin, advisory partner and chief economist at PwC Nigeria. “The Nigerian government needs to create an economic and social environment sufficiently attractive to keep our educated young people.”

By Tope Alake

Bloomberg

Video - President Buhari sworn in for second term as president

Muhammadu Buhari has been sworn in for a second term as Nigeria's president, following a campaign that focused on tackling security threats and rooting out corruption.

The 76-year-old leader was sworn in on Wednesday amid tight security in the Nigerian capital Abuja. He did not make a speech during the low-profile event attended by members of the diplomatic community.

Buhari, a former military ruler, won 56 percent of the votes to defeat his main challenger, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) in the February election, which had been beset by a host of security and logistic issues that delayed the vote by a week.

Following the announcement of the election results, Abubakar filed a petition against the outcome, a process that is ongoing in Nigeria's appellate court.

Buhari will face a number of challenges during his second term as he tries to fulfil his election promises, including dealing with security threats and managing a sluggish economy and a high unemployment rate.

Security challenges

Security remains a major challenge for Buhari after a first term marked by kidnappings, bandit attacks, cattle rustling and communal conflicts.

Babatunde Fashola, a former government minister, told Al Jazeera that Buhari has been entrusted with resolving the issues.

"[Insecurity] was a campaign issue on which the president has been re-elected, which shows the people's trust in his ability to solve the problem," Fashola said.

Buhari's home state of Katsina witnessed an escalation in violence, with several villages raided by armed bandits, while the Boko Haram armed group continues to operate in the northeast of the country.

Persisting tensions in the northeast could escalate into more violence, according to Nnamdi Obasi, Nigeria researcher at the International Crisis Group.

"Boko Haram, now split into two factions, will continue its decade-long campaign to establish an Islamic state in the northeast, even as the herder-farmer violence has ebbed since the second half of 2018," Obasi said.

In Nigeria's fertile central region, herders and farmers continue to fight over land and water resources, the clashes between them claiming hundreds of lives and displacing thousands more.

Communities in the oil-producing Niger Delta - which accounts for most of the country’s foreign exchange reserves - have long complained of government neglect, leading to unrest in the region.

Armed groups have attacked oil installations in the past, halting production and kidnapping expatriate workers. Many of those fighters were brought under a government amnesty which entitles them to monthly stipends and education programmes.

In addition to the security situation, areas polluted by oil drilling activities have yet to be cleaned up, as a project to tackle that issue is yet to begin.

"In the Niger Delta, the continuing delay in addressing environmental grievances and diverse regional demands, coupled with possible termination of the decade-long amnesty programme, could lend room for opportunistic groups to resume sabotage of the petroleum industry," Obasi said.

"Countrywide, massive youth employment, feeble policing and the deepening atmosphere of impunity, all suggest that kidnapping and other public safety situation could deteriorate further," he added.

Economic challenges

Nigeria's unemployment rate has more than doubled to 23 percent since Buhari assumed office in 2015, while 90 million Nigerians are living in extreme poverty, more than than any other country, according to findings based on a projection by the World Poverty Clock and compiled by the Brookings Institution.

Nigeria is Africa's largest economy and economic analysts say the next four years offer another opportunity to fix the problems.

"On the monetary policy side, they need to abandon their fixation on the exchange rate. The Central Bank of Nigeria is not ready to deal with any economic shocks at the moment because they have boxed themselves into a tight corner while trying to manage the exchange rate," Nonso Obikili, an Abuja-based economist, told Al Jazeera.

"I think the economy will continue to grow around two percent over the next one or two years. That, of course, is very bad given our population growth, poverty, and jobs crisis," Obikili said.

Buhari also faces the task of weeding out corruption, which has hurt the economy and the ease of doing business in the country.

According to Transparency International's 2018 Corruption Perceptions Index, Nigeria failed to improve its ranking of 144th out of 180 countries from the previous year, despite "a number of positive steps" taken by the Buhari government.

However, the opposition has criticised Buhari's record in the fight against corruption, a promise he ran on in his initial 2015 campaign.

"The fight against corruption has been an abysmal failure, to put it mildly. It turned from prosecution to persecution of perceived political foes," Anthony Ehilebo, Head of Digital Media for the PDP's presidential campaign team, told Al Jazeera.

Al Jazeera

Video - President Muhammadu Buhari begins second term

Rising ethnic violence in Nigeria will be among the challenges facing President Muhammadu Buhari. Buhari will be inaugurated for a second term on Wednesday. The 75-year-old former army general won a closely fought election in February. Buhari will also have to deal with an economic slowdown.

Nigeria finally fulfills it's promise to coach Clemens Westerhof after 25 years

Former Nigeria coach Clemens Westerhof has been rewarded with the house he was promised 25 years ago for winning the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations.

The Dutchman was in charge for five years from 1989 and as well as the Nations Cup victory he led them to their first World Cup in the same year.

Then Nigerian military ruler Sani Abacha promised a house to reward each of the squad members and officials, but only a handful received theirs.

"It's taken a long go-slow, but I feel happy that my second country has fulfilled its promise to me," the 79-year-old said.

"I always say Nigeria gave me everything as a man and in football. You can see that I wasn't wrong. I thank everyone involved in making this happen."

Nigeria's Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola, made the document presentation on behalf of the presidency.

Fashola also asked the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to provide him with the names of those who are yet to receive their houses.

"We've asked the NFF for their names to enable us process it so they can all be rewarded," Fashola said.

Five of those who won the 1994 Nations Cup have died - captain Stephen Keshi, Uche Okafor, Thompson Oliha, Rashidi Yekini and Wilfred Agbonavbare.

Westerhof, who is also the longest-serving manager in the history of Nigerian football, has also coached in the Netherlands, South Africa, Egypt and Zimbabwe.

In his spell in charge of Nigeria the outspoken Dutchman led the country to fifth place in the Fifa world ranking in 1994 - the continent's ever highest - and also completed the haul of African football success with the West African nation.

He led the country to a runners-up finish at the 1990 Africa Cup of Nations, third place in the 1992 edition before conquering the continent in 1994.

He is still revered in Nigeria where he is credited for masterminding the Super Eagles' success in the 1990's and he made an attempt to return in 2016.

It is the second time Nigeria president Muhammadu Buhari has made good on a promise to reward the country's football success.

In February 2016, Buhari fulfilled a pledge to reward the Nigeria squad that won the first Under-16 World championship after a 30-year wait.


BBC

Thousands fleeing Nigeria to Niger due to violent attacks

Recent spike in violence in north-western parts of Nigeria has forced an estimated 20,000 people to seek safety and security in Niger since April.

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is concerned about deteriorating security inside Nigeria, and is working closely with authorities in Niger to provide basic assistance and register the new arrivals. More than 18,000 people have already gone through the initial registration process so far.

The latest upsurge in violence is not linked to Boko Haram. People are reportedly fleeing due to multiple reasons, including clashes between farmers and herders of different ethnic groups, vigilantism, as well as kidnappings for ransom in Nigeria’s Sokoto and Zamfara States.

People leaving Nigeria, and arriving in Niger’s Maradi Region, speak of witnessing extreme violence unleashed against civilians, including machete attacks, kidnappings and sexual violence. The majority of the new arrivals are women and children.

The ongoing Boko Haram insurgency has already spilled over into Niger, where it has affected its Diffa region since 2015. The region currently hosts almost 250,000 displaced people – including refugees from Nigeria and locals being displaced inside their own country.

Niger continues to be a leading regional example in providing safety to refugees fleeing conflict and persecution in many countries. It has kept its borders open for refugees despite the ongoing violence in several regions bordering Nigeria, Mali and recently Burkina Faso.

Many of the newly arrived are located very close to the Nigerian border, where there remains a high risk of armed incursions. UNHCR with sister UN agencies and partners is discussing with the government the possibility of relocating them into local towns and villages further in land.

As well as providing aid to Nigerian new arrivals, UNHCR also plans to support host families, who despite lack of adequate resources and access to basic services, have always shown solidarity towards the displaced and welcomed people into their homes.

Since the beginning of 2018, violence within the Diffa region perpetrated by elements of Boko Haram has also significantly escalated with a record number of civilian casualties and unprecedented secondary movements within the region.

Niger is currently hosting over 380,000 refugees and asylum seekers from Mali and Nigeria as well as its own internally displaced population. The country has also provided refuge to some 2,782 asylum seekers airlifted from insecurity in Libya, while awaiting durable solutions.

UNHCR

Nigerian spared death sentence in Singapore

A Nigerian man facing the gallows for importing drugs into Singapore eight years ago was spared death on Monday (May 27) after the Court of Appeal acquitted him of his capital charge.

Three judges found that the prosecution had failed to establish that Adili Chibuike Ejike knew that there were drugs in his suitcase when he entered Singapore on Nov 13, 2011.

Adili was 28 when he was caught with two packets wrapped in tape in his suitcase at Changi Airport Terminal 3. He had arrived in Singapore from Lagos, Nigeria via Doha, Qatar.

The two packets were identified after his suitcase was placed through an X-ray machine. During the scan, an image of darker density was seen on one side of the case.

A physical search yielded nothing incriminating, but the case was taken to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority Baggage Office where the packets were found hidden under the inner lining of the suitcase.

The contents of the packets were found to be methamphetamine, also known as Ice. Adili was arrested and in June 2016 convicted of importing 1.961kg of meth under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

He was sentenced to death about a year later by trial judge Kan Ting Chiu, but appealed against his conviction and sentence.

According to court documents, Adili had been jobless in Nigeria after his business failed. He approached an acquaintance in Nigeria for help and that person agreed to give Adili a sum of money if he delivered a suitcase to an unspecified person in Singapore.

Adili then applied for his first passport in 2011 and travelled to Singapore with the suitcase, which was handed to him by a childhood friend who had been working with the acquaintance.

During the trial, Adili had maintained that he did not know that the meth bundles were in his suitcase. In one of his statements, he had said: "Somebody gave those substance [sic] to me. I did not know what it was. If I knew what they were, I would not have accepted to carry those things."

However, the trial judge had rejected his evidence, finding Adili to be an unreliable witness as there were several inconsistencies between his oral testimony and investigation statements.

COURT OF APPEAL LAYS OUT THREE REQUIRED ELEMENTS

Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, along with Appeal Judges Andrew Phang and Judith Prakash, said in their decision that three elements had to be proven for the offence of importation.

First, Adili must have been in possession of the drugs. Second, he must have had knowledge of the nature of the drugs, and third, the drugs must have been brought intentionally into Singapore without prior authorisation.

The central issue was whether Adili was in possession of the meth, said the court. The element of possession required not just proof of physical possession, but also an element of knowledge.

A person who is not aware that an item - which turns out to be a controlled drug - is in his possession cannot be said, in a legal sense, to be in possession of that item, the court found.

The court found that Adili had not been wilfully blind to the existence of the drugs in his suitcase. This was because it would not have been possible for Adili to have discovered the drug bundles, which were discovered only after the inner lining of the suitcase was cut open.

He also could not have found out about the drugs by asking the people who had handed him the suitcase in Nigeria, since they were intent on keeping the truth from him, and would not have told him about the hidden drug bundles even if he had asked, said the judges.

Adili, who was represented by lawyer Mohamed Muzzamil Mohamed, cried in court after he was acquitted.

Chief Justice Menon said the appeal highlights "how important it is that the prosecution and the defence (and, indeed, the courts) remain alert to the precise effect and implications of conceding particular facts as to what the accused person did or did not know".

"We appreciate that this is by no means an easy and straightforward matter, and, in fairness to the judge, he was not helped in the discharge of this difficult task by the fact that the defence misunderstood the requirements of the element of possession and therefore wrongly conceded the fact of possession; while the prosecution proceeded on the basis that the appellant did not actually know of the existence of the drugs, before then seeking to have that very fact presumed to be true," he said.

"Had the parties properly set out their respective cases at the trial below, it would have been clear that what was in issue was the fact of possession, and that given the prosecution’s concession that the appellant did not actually know of that fact, that fact could only be established by proof beyond reasonable doubt that the appellant had been wilfully blind to the existence of the drugs."

By Lydia Lam

CNA

Ten Things President Buhari Will Have to Deal With in Second Term

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari officially begins his second and final term on Wednesday following his re-election in February.

Despite his large winning margin, the next four years won’t be easy for the 76-year-old former general. Here are some of the key issues he’ll face while at the helm of Africa’s biggest oil producer and most-populous nation.

Growth and Inflation

Nigeria’s economic growth has slumped since the 2014 crash in crude prices and Buhari is struggling to revive it. The International Monetary Fund forecasts that gross domestic product will expand 2.1% this year, which would make Nigeria one of Africa’s slowest-growing economies and mean that growth is negative in per capita terms. Inflation is at 11.4% and has been above the central bank’s target of 6% to 9% for almost four years.

Revenue and Debt

Since so few Nigerians and companies pay tax, the nation has one of the lowest revenue-to-GDP ratios in the world at about 7%. That leaves the government with little money to spend on schools, hospitals and infrastructure. Officials are also concerned about how much of the budget is soaked up by interest payments. In March, the Debt Management Office told Bloomberg it will avoid Eurobonds and instead prioritize concessional loans from the likes of the World Bank to lower its finance costs.

The Naira

Foreign investors’ biggest gripe over the past four years was how Nigeria handled the naira in the wake of the oil crisis. Central bank Governor Godwin Emefiele, who Buhari just re-appointed for a second term, ramped up capital controls in a bid to stop the currency depreciating. There’s a system of multiple exchange rates in place that critics, including the IMF, say is opaque and deters investment. Many also say that central bank meddling has left the naira overvalued: Renaissance Capital estimates it should be about 20% weaker against the dollar.

Foreign Investment

A slump in foreign direct investment since the early part of the decade has accelerated under Buhari, whose administration has come into conflict with companies including MTN Group Ltd. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. Last year, FDI flows into Nigeria totaled just $2.2 billion, less than a third of the amounts South Africa and Egypt attracted.

Fuel Prices

Buhari is an advocate of low gasoline prices, believing they’re one of the few benefits that Nigerians get from the state. They’re capped at 145 naira a liter ($0.40, or $1.51 a gallon), which makes Nigeria the sixth cheapest country in which to fill up your tank, according to GlobalPetrolPrices.com. That cost almost $2 billion in subsidies last year, according to IMF, which has urged the government to raise prices.

Oil and NNPC

One reason for optimism about the economy is rising crude production. It climbed to 1.9 million barrels a day in April, the highest level in more than three years, as Total SA’s massive Egina offshore field came on-stream. Investors will hope that Buhari encourages more deepwater developments while also cleaning up Nigerian National Petroleum Corp., the state-owned energy company that opposition politicians say is blighted by graft and mismanagement.

Blackouts and Gridlocked Ports

Nigeria has long suffered from dire infrastructure, not least its power network and ports. Buhari has struggled to fulfill his pledge to end constant electricity outages and chaos at the country’s main ports, both of which weigh on economic growth.

Islamic State and Boko Haram

While Buhari managed to win back territory in the northeast held by Boko Haram when he first came to power, a breakaway faction allied to Islamic State is gaining strength and regularly attacks army bases and convoys. That’s one of a string of security problems that have escalated in recent years. In other parts of the country, clashes between farmers and herders over grazing land led to around 2,000 deaths in 2018, according to Amnesty International.

Corruption

Buhari’s popularity with voters is largely because of his promises to fight corruption. While he says his administration has done much to cut graft in the public sector, critics complain that he lacks a clear strategy and that he’s used his anti-corruption campaign to go after political opponents.

Booming Population

One of the biggest long-term issues facing Nigeria is its rapidly-growing population -- the United Nations expects it to double to 410 million by 2050, overtaking every country bar India and China. While some investors see that as a reason to move into Nigeria, others say it threatens social and political stability in a country whose government already struggles to provide basic services and which has more extremely poor people than any other.

By Paul Wallace


Bloomberg