In Nigeria’s oil-rich Bayelsa state, nearly one and a half million people have been affected by severe flooding. The government is promising emergency supplies to deal with severe shortages of food and fuel. Ahmed Idris reports from Yenagoa.
Related stories: Nigeria's flooding spreads to the Delta, upending lives and livelihoods
Video - Aid workers struggling to reach victims of floods in Nigeria
Nigeria LNG is still producing and exporting liquefied natural gas despite a force majeure declaration made due to heavy flooding, a spokesperson told local television channel Arise TV on Thursday.
The company made the legal declaration earlier this week amid the worst flooding in 12 years, saying all of its upstream gas suppliers had declared force majeure.
Sources told Reuters this week that no cargoes had yet been cancelled, and that the force majeure was pre-emptive in case the flooding continued for much longer and did impact loadings.
NLNG spokesperson Andy Odeh said that while the company was still operating, it was "not getting enough gas" due to the impact of the flooding on its suppliers.
He said NLNG would work to protect facilities from future flooding, which he said was worse than usual due in part to climate change.
Authorities blamed the flooding, which affected 33 of Nigeria's 36 states, on unusually heavy rain, joined with the release of water from a dam in Cameroon.
Portugal relies heavily on NLNG gas and oil major Shell, NLNG's largest single offtaker, are at most risk from the outage, according to investment bank Jefferies.
By Libby George
Related story: Nigeria LNG declares force majeure as flooding disrupts gas supply
With Nigeria's election campaigns in full swing ahead of February's vote, fact-checkers in the country say they are working together to counter cases of disinformation.
For journalist Opeyemi Kehinde, the first task each day is searching the internet, television programs and social media for any information that may need a second look. If he spots anything dubious, Kehinde posts it to the messaging platform Slack, so that he and other fact-checkers can verify the information.
Kehinde heads FactCheckHub, an Abuja-based organization that is one of eight members of a wider fact-checking initiative known as the Nigerian Fact Checkers Coalition.
Together, they combine resources and expertise to help tackle misinformation ahead of Nigeria's general election.
The Nigerian Fact Checkers Coalition started four months ago.
"Since the advent of various social media platforms and internet access, a lot of people have access to much more information than a decade or two ago," Kehinde said. "We felt as this election is coming up soon, there's need for more advocacy, media literacy, fact-checking of information released by politicians, stakeholders in the elections, as well as the Nigerian populace."
The Nigerian Fact Checkers Coalition holds weekly meetings and publishes its findings through the members' respective newsrooms.
In August, the coalition published an open letter urging politicians not to use misinformation and falsehoods, and to ensure that information disseminated during campaigns is accurate and fair.
Last month, the group hosted politicians, security agents, independent electoral bodies and civil society groups at a conference to discuss the impact of falsehoods.
Kehinde said the group is seeing some successes, but is experiencing pushback, too.
"We have some politicians who are now setting up media teams to attack fact-checks that are published by members of the coalition, to provide alternative facts to some of our evidence-based reports, based on their misleading claims," he said.
Public opinion in the country is often shaped by ethnic and religious backgrounds, especially during elections. And with a population of over 200 million, the ratio of fact-checkers to citizens in Nigeria is very low.
Abuja-based communications expert Pamela Braide said spreading falsehoods can have serious implications.
"Communications and politics go hand in hand, misinformation is part of it. What it does is it increases people's mistrust, it [damages] relationships of the people, communities, and it often leads to violence before it is verified," Braide said.
But by combining their efforts, members of the fact-checking coalition can quickly counter false information.
Kemi Busari, coalition member and editor at verification website Dubawa, explained how the coalition sprang into action when it spotted a viral video about a politician.
The fact-checkers found the video had been manipulated in an attempt to mislead voters into thinking the politician supported a member of the opposition party.
"We did the fact-check and we realized that some guys just decided to extract some part of it," Busari said. "The video was shared in the group and we did the fact-check and all of us published it, and that increased the scale or audience of the fact-check. It's best we come together. We can co-publish our fact-checks; we can co-author fact-checks."
Busari said the coalition is just getting started.
"We're also looking at several partnerships with embassies, Google, and some other organizations. Particularly we're seeking partnership with organizations who could help with live fact-checking. We want to be engaged in live fact-checking of every [one] of these conversations," he said.
As election campaigns and rallies gather pace across Nigeria, the fact-check coalition may have a large task ahead.
By Timothy Obiezu
Related story: Video - Presidential hopeful Peter Obi on his plans for Nigeria
Clashes between herdsmen and farmers in the Nigerian state of Benue left at least 23 people dead, a local official said on Thursday, the latest deadly incident fuelled by growing pressure on land resources in Africa's most populous country.
Violence between farmers and pastoralists has become increasingly common in recent years as population growth leads to an expansion of the area dedicated to farming, leaving less land available for open grazing by nomads' herds of cattle.
Kertyo Tyounbur, chairman of the Ukum local government area of Benue where the violence took place, gave a death toll of 23.
Local resident William Samson said the trouble started on Tuesday when villagers killed two herders and stole their cattle. This was followed by a reprisal attack by herdsmen on Wednesday on the village of Gbeji, he said.
Reuters could not verify his account from other sources in the remote rural area.
Benue is one of Nigeria's Middle Belt states, where the majority Muslim North meets the predominantly Christian South.
Competition over land use is particularly intractable in the Middle Belt as the fault lines between farmers and herders often overlap with ethnic and religious divisions.
The Boko Haram insurgency in the northeast has worsened the problem by driving herders into the Middle Belt and further south, analysts say, while climate change and increasing aridity in the North are also contributing factors.
By Chijioke Ohuocha
Related stories: Conflict between Herdsmen and farmers in Nigeria escalates
Mass burial in Nigeria for 73 killed in violence between herdsmen and farmers
Theophilus Blamoh and two of his friends were walking to buy items for their dinner in the central Nigerian city of Ilorin on the evening of September 6, when a black pick-up truck stopped beside them. One door opened and someone shouted at them to enter. It was a policeman.
When they didn’t reply, two policemen jumped out and cocked their guns. The trio, now scared, entered. Just before the vehicle drove on, a policeman recognised one of the young men as a fellow church member and let him go before driving off to the nearby police station.
“They searched our phones but they didn’t find anything incriminating,” Blamoh, a 23-year-old performing arts undergraduate at the University of Ilorin told Al Jazeera. “They checked my account balance and found I had just withdrawn my last 1,000 naira.”
One officer asked why they were not Yahoo-Yahoo boys [internet fraudsters], ostensibly so there could’ve been more money for the taking. When Blamoh asked why a police officer would ask that, they started hitting him with the butts of their guns.
#EndSARS
Stories of police brutality are rampant in Nigeria, Africa’s largest democracy. Two-thirds of its estimated 200 million people are below the age of 30 and many, like Blamoh, say they have either had a personal experience with the police or know someone who has.
As decades of torture, maiming and killing by the country’s security forces stacked up, young people across the country took to the streets for days, beginning on October 8, 2020.
The target of their anger was the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a rogue police unit accused of extrajudicial killings, extortion and kidnapping among other nefarious crimes.
Called #EndSARS, the protests ballooned into a massive call for the abolition of the squad. It flickered out on October 20 that year after soldiers opened fire on unarmed protesters at a popular landmark – the Lekki tollgates – in the commercial capital Lagos.
At least 12 people died and hundreds of others were wounded, according to Amnesty International. A leaked report by a panel of inquiry launched by the Lagos state government found the Nigerian military culpable but the authorities rejected the report.
Two years on, experts and activists say justice has not been served and brutality by security agencies has continued, mostly away from the public eye.
On October 11, 2020, the Nigerian government announced the disbandment of SARS. But, citizens say, SARS officers are still in service as plainclothes policemen patrolling the streets, extorting, arresting and torturing citizens without reason.
Between January and September last year, there were 164 recorded extrajudicial killings by law enforcement agents according to Global Rights, a Washington, DC-based human rights group. This October 4, Dave Umahi, governor of Ebonyi in the southeast, reportedly marshalled soldiers to flog civil servants for coming late to work.
‘Justice is elusive’
Rinu Oduala, a Lagos-based activist who was vocal during the 2020 protests, said the Nigerian government is yet to actualise real police reforms. That makes young people “afraid to step out of their homes, in a bid to not become victims of torture, extortion, harassment and extrajudicial killings”, she said.
Moreover, many families of the victims are yet to receive compensation or justice, including those who died at the Lekki tollgates, said Osai Ojigho, country director of Amnesty International in Nigeria.
“Justice is still elusive and more so where representatives of the government continue to dispute the number of dead and injured people at the Lekki tollgate shooting,” she told Al Jazeera.
“This is very disappointing…the lack of punishment for erring police officers sends a message to young people that their lives do not matter,” Ojigho added.
‘A change in psyche’
The status quo has led to conflicting opinions – online and offline – about the success of the #EndSARS protests.
Kikelomo Shodeko, a senior analyst at Horizon West Africa, an Abuja-based security consultancy firm, said the demonstrations were a turning point.
“What it has brought about is a change in psyche,” she said. “It helped young people recognise their capacity to organise not only protests but also politically,” she said.
This change may influence political attitudes as the country heads towards general elections next February. In August, the country’s electoral commission announced that 10.5 million new voters had been registered, 84 percent are aged 34 and below.
A number of these youths seem to have been galvanized to vote by the emergence of Peter Obi, a former two-term governor of the southeastern state of Anambra, as a third option to the septuagenarian presidential candidates of the ruling party and leading opposition.
Obi, 61, is perceived as a breath of fresh air and analysts say this is because young people find him relatable and are desperate for change.
Ridwan Oke, a Lagos lawyer, is determined to vote against any contestant in 2023 with “no genuine commitment to ending police brutality”.
He was beaten by policemen outside his house in the Lagos suburb of Ebute Meta in July when he told them to stop driving against the flow of traffic.
Oduala concurs.
“If young people are not taking the upcoming elections seriously, then how do they plan to answer those who shot their colleagues in 2020 and gaslighted them after?” she asked.
‘Erosion of public confidence’
Unchecked police brutality is an existential danger to young people who live in fear as the relationship between the people and security agencies deteriorates, activists say.
“[T]he morale of young people is constantly dampened, seeing that errant officers have not been brought to book,” Oduala said. “Citizen-police hostility has also been on the increase, where citizens are attacking police officers perceived to be a force of oppression.”
“The danger of continued police brutality in Nigeria is an erosion of public confidence in the force responsible for keeping them safe,” said Ojigho. “[T]he police are the most distrusted security agency in Nigeria.”
Analysts say the government must be ready to acknowledge the problem, enforce punishments, educate officers and tackle corruption within the police.
“What we have are officers that are mostly uneducated and are given guns,” Shodeko said. “They should attend training in crisis, risk and emergency management. That training in itself is critical to how the police handle situations and understand their roles.”
As citizens mark the two-year anniversary of the #EndSARS protests, some say it may be too late given a lack of political willpower to effect change.
“I fought and spoke against police brutality for months only to become a victim almost two years later because the government refused to listen to us,” said Oke who was a legal volunteer helping detained protesters in October 2020.
Blamoh, who was locked up in a cell for four days, said two officers drove him to his hostel when he became extremely weak and dumped him at the gates. A hostel porter who saw them came and rushed him to the hospital.
“That action made me know that I should be running away from them instead of running to them,” Blamoh said.
By Pelumi Salako
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People wade through fast-flowing water, holding one another to avoid being swept away, balancing suitcases, clothing and food on their heads.
The torrent was, until recently, the East-West Road in Nigeria's Rivers state, the gateway to the nation's oil and gas.
Now parts of Rivers, along with large swathes of 32 other states, are inundated by the worst flooding in 12 years.
"We cannot access Ahoada West anymore," local government chairman Hope Ikiriko said of the area he represents. He said 30 boats were helping to move people to camps built to accommodate the area's 150,000 displaced.
"We are going to rescue people who hitherto never wanted to quit," he added.
Nigerian authorities said Rivers, Anambra, Delta, Cross River and Bayelsa states remain at risk of flooding until the end of November.
The flooding has killed more than 600 people, displaced around 1.4 million and damaged or destroyed 440,000 hectares of farmland. Health officials warn it could worsen an ongoing cholera outbreak, and even natural gas exports are at risk.
Authorities blame heavy rains and a water release from the Lagdo dam in Cameroon. Experts say global warming, and poor planning, worsened the disaster.
"Climate change is playing a big role in this," said Hiba Baroud, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Vanderbilt University. "But the other component is...the vulnerability of the infrastructure. This is how we end up in a disaster like this one."
The 2021 Notre Dame Global Adaptation Index ranked Nigeria among the bottom 20 nations in its readiness to adapt to climate change.
Baroud said a Nigerian dam meant to backstop Cameroon's Lagdo was planned, but never completed. A lack of zoning allows houses in flood zones and poor irrigation places farmers at the edge of rivers that can inundate their fields.
"It's going to have cascading effects on diseases, on food security and so on," Baroud said.
By Angela Ukomadu
Reuters
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Video - Nigeria floods: Thousands of displaced people in need of help
To promote industrialisation in the country, he said that the manufacturing sector’s contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) should be more than double to 20 percent, up from the current 9 percent, among others, within the next decade.
Dangote spoke yesterday, in Lagos, at the 2nd Adekola Odutola Lecture organised by the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) in commemoration of its 50th Annual General Meeting.
He stated: “Nigeria needs to, henceforth, intensify efforts at promoting industrialization with specific focus on the attainment of the following targets in the next 10 years:
“15% manufacturing sector growth, 20% manufacturing contribution to GDP, 15% growth in export of manufactured products, 10% increase in the share of manufacturing to total export merchandize, stronger inter-industry linkage between SMEs and large corporations, improved manufacturing contribution to government tax revenue and 20% increase in manufacturing employment.”
Dangote noted that industrialisation facilitates the global competitiveness of a nation in the production of processed and manufactured goods by linking industrial activity with primary sector, domestic and foreign trade, and service activities.
His words: “To achieve industrialisation goals, it is necessary for a nation to formulate plans and policies that will enhance and sustain industrial development. Sustainable industrial development involves establishment of a conducive environment to encourage investment and ensure efficient usage of resources to increase productivity and growth of the nation.
“The creation of a pathway to steady and sustained industrial growth entails the deployment of industrialization centric strategies and policies; promotion of the National Manufacturing Philosophy; securing the buy-in of government for successful implementation of the agenda; promotion of smart manufacturing; the establishment of a robust framework aimed at improving the business environment, the extension of comprehensive and integrated support to priority sectors with strong linkages and growth potentials as espoused in the NDP 2021-2025 with particular emphasis on improved value addition and export of manufactured products. It also entails the development of strong partnership with the private sector within and outside the country.”
By Yinka Kolawole
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Starting next month, Israelis might be able to travel to a new destination in Africa directly from Ben-Gurion Airport.
Nigerian airline Air Peace could start offering direct flights between Nigeria and Israel very soon, CEO Allen Onyema revealed this week in a meeting with the Israeli envoy to Nigeria.
The launch of the new flight route between Lagos and Tel Aviv, while not officially confirmed as of yet, could come as early as next month.
New potential line good news for Nigerian Christians
The 4,300 km. route would see the flight time between the two countries decrease significantly to only six hours. Currently, the travel can often include several transfers and usually takes longer than 10 hours.
The potential line is especially significant for many Nigerian Christians who wish to travel to Israel for its holy sites.
Related story: Ethiopian Airlines Announced As Partner For Nigeria Air
Nnamdi Nwaogu, a 44-year-old IT worker, has packed his bags. In Lagos, Nigeria's frenetic commercial capital, galloping inflation and a plunging naira have pummeled his salary.
Nwaogu, like hundreds of other Nigerians, left amid a brain drain that is punishing even for a nation used to losing its young and educated.
"We have serious doubts if this is the time for that hope to blossom," he said before flying to the UK last month.
Nwaogu began a master's degree in England, while his wife, a doctor, will join him in January with their three children.
Departing workers are impacting nearly every sector, stretching a weak healthcare system, forcing employers to recruit on a continuous basis and worsening services from banking to tech.
The phenomenon -- dubbed "japa," meaning "to flee" in Yoruba -- regularly trends on social media. Many cite unprecedented nationwide insecurity, inflation at a 17-year-high and a loss of faith in leaders before the February 2023 presidential election.
"We are witnessing an epidemic of brain drain," said Dr Dare Godiya Ishaya, president of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD).
Ishaya said comparatively low pay, workplace assaults and lack of safety – 20 NARD members have been kidnapped this year -- were all reasons members left.
A NARD poll showed that nearly 800 resident doctors had left this year, while 85% of its leadership were planning to leave. The result is hours-long waits at hospitals, he said, doctor burnout and deteriorating care.
Real-time nationwide statistics on those leaving are not available. But British government data showed a 300% increase in Nigerians getting UK work visas in the year to June, to 15,772.
Others are going to Canada, Australia and the United States.
The exodus lead a banking industry group to release a study last month on ways to retain workers, while tech firms such as Yellow Card Financial, a cryptocurrency exchange, told Reuters they had started offering stock options and pay in dollars.
"The competition for talent is only going to get more and more intense," said Yellow Card chief executive Chris Maurice.
The pull from countries grappling with their own worker shortages is aiding the exodus.
One Nigerian accountant who moved to the UK in May said it took her just three months to get offers from two of the Big Four accounting firms; her company, she said, recently doubled its referral fee to 1,000.
Lagos-based consultancy SBM warned that the loss of skilled labour was bound to have a negative economic impact.
For Nwaogu, there is no choice.
"I want to be able to give my children a better quality of life," he said. "I can't get that here."
By Libby George
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Video - Low wages, and lack of infrastructure leading to a "brain drain" in Nigeria's IT sector
Gunmen have abducted at least 10 healthcare workers in Nigeria's Niger state and killed an unspecified number after bandits invaded a general hospital early on Tuesday, a hospital and military source said.
Armed bandits operating for cash have kidnapped or killed hundreds across northwest Nigeria. Niger state officials have said that Islamist militant group Boko Haram had taken over multiple communities in the state, offering villagers money and incorporating them in their ranks to fight the government.
The hospital source said more than 20 staff were kidnapped, including patient relatives, while the security source said two people had been killed after the gunmen invaded the general hospital in Lapai local government in large numbers.
Niger state governor, Sani Bello said a number of people were killed during Tuesday's attack at Gulu General Hospital and unspecified number abducted including medical workers. He did not specify how many had been killed.
Separately, Dr Dare Godiya Ishaya, president of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), told Reuters that 20 NARD members have been kidnapped this year, causing some of them to leave the country partly due to a lack of safety.
By Chijioke Ohuocha
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By Timothy Obiezu
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Nigeria LNG has declared force majeure because of widespread flooding that has disrupted supply, a spokesman for the company said on Monday.
The declaration could worsen Nigeria's cash crunch and will curtail global gas supply as Europe and others struggle to replace Russian exports due to the invasion of Ukraine in February.
NLNG said all of its upstream gas suppliers had declared force majeure, forcing it to make the declaration as well.
"The notice by the gas suppliers was a result of high floodwater levels in their operational areas, leading to a shut-in of gas production which has caused significant disruption of gas supply to NLNG," spokesperson Andy Odeh said.
Odeh said NLNG was determining the extent of the disruption and would try to mitigate the impact of the force majeure.
Flooding in Nigeria has killed more than 600 people, displaced 1.4 million and destroyed roads and farmland. Officials have warned that the flooding, caused by unusually heavy rains and the release of water from a dam in Cameroon, could continue into November.
NLNG's supply had already been limited due to prolific oil theft that has slashed output from what is typically Africa's largest exporter. NLNG had exported roughly 18 cargoes in September, according to Refinitiv data.
Nigeria relies on fossil fuel exports for 90% of its foreign exchange and roughly half its budget. Crude oil exports fell below 1 million barrels per day (bpd) on average in August, the lowest level since the 1980s, due to theft that has exceeded 80% on certain pipelines.
Crushing fuel subsidy costs have also kept Africa's most populous nation from benefiting from this year's surge in oil prices.
By Libby George
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Aid workers in Nigeria are struggling to reach hundreds of thousands of people displaced by floods. Floodwaters have hit the country’s oil-producing region in the south, after devastating northern, central and eastern parts of the country. Al Jazeera’s Ahmed Idris reports from Atani, one of the worst-hit areas in southern Nigeria.
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Nigeria’s attorney general, Abubakar Malami, responded to Thursday's ruling in a statement saying the separatist is discharged but not acquitted.
Malami said authorities will explore legal steps to revisit the court's decision. He said the court failed to take into account issues that took place before Nnamdi Kanu was extradited to Nigeria from Kenya last year.
A three-judge panel of an appeals court Thursday ruled that Kanu’s trial was unlawful, and said authorities flouted international treaties to "abduct" the separatist.
The court said the circumstances surrounding his arrest did not give the government the jurisdiction to continue to keep him on trial.
The court also ruled that the government did not provide clear evidence of when and where Kanu committed the many allegations against him.
The attorney general's office did not immediately respond to calls for further comment. But Kanu's lawyer, Ifanyi Ejiofor, spoke to VOA via phone.
"The right of appeal is a constitutional right but the fact is that order of court must be obeyed, it's sacrosanct. Saying that Nnamdi Kanu was discharged not acquitted I believe is an impudence on the judgement of the court of appeals. The court used the word abduction, that is to tell you the level of the atrocity they committed," he said.
It's not clear when he will be freed.
"We expect them to comply immediately with the court order because detention became illegal as of yesterday. Yesterday, the court directed he should be released immediately. They should release him to us without any further ado," Ejiofor said.
Kanu is leading a movement to break off southeastern Nigeria from the rest of the country to form a republic called Biafra.
A previous Biafra independence movement led to a civil war between 1967 and 1970 that killed an estimated one million people.
On Friday, as news of Kanu's court discharge spread, so did excitement in Nigeria's Southwest region.
Christian Paul hails from Imo state, one of the strong bases for the separatist movement. He believes that with Kanu’s release, the court may have been sending a message.
"They violated his human rights and kept making fresh allegations against him. At this point in time, it becomes really strategic if his release is granted by a court. It might have some political undertone,” he said.
Nigerian voters head to the polls in February of next year to elect a new leader.
By Timothy Obiezu
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Zamfara state in northwestern Nigeria ordered five media outlets to close on Sunday after they covered a political rally for the opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP), which took place in violation of a state ban on political activities.
The order to close came after Governor Bello Muhammad, a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress, banned political activities, including meetings at individuals' homes, on October 13 due to the security situation in the state.
The ban includes campaigning for February 2023 presidential elections, which began nationwide last month.
Zamfara state, along with much of northwestern Nigeria, is battling armed groups of 'bandits' who have kidnapped thousands for ransom, killed hundreds and made many roads impassable and some farming impossible.
"Zamfara State Commissioner of Police has been directed to enforce full compliance and arrest of any staff of these media organizations... performing any duties in violation of the shut down," said a statement from the state security council released on Sunday.
The statement named five outlets, Pride FM Radio Gusau, NTA Gusau, Amji TV Gusau, Gamji TV Gusau and Alumma TV Gusau. It did not specify why they had been ordered "shut down", but state information commissioner Ibrahim Magaji Dosara told the BBC Hausa that it was because they covered PDP activities held in violation of the state government's order.
Zamfara's political activity ban came alongside other measures, including restricting movement in some local areas and shutting down several roads.
The statement directed security officials to "deal ruthlessly" with anyone found violating the orders.
By Garba Muhammad
Severe flooding in Nigeria is making people increasingly desperate. Hundreds of thousands of people in several communities are out of reach, and many families are waiting for news of their loved ones. Al Jazeera's Ahmed Idris reports from Otuocha, Nigeria.
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Flooding in Nigeria’s Anambra state this year has displaced nearly 600,000 people. An additional 500 people have died. Nigeria's national emergency management agency says increased rainfall and the release of excess water from a dam in neighboring Cameroon have contributed to flooding in Nigeria.
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A professor of economic policy at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, Stefan Dercon, has revealed that by 2030, extreme poverty would be an African phenomenon, as the greatest number of the world’s poor would reside in Nigeria.
He said this comes as countries such as China and India have successfully grown their economies and reduced their poverty level significantly.
Dercon stated this during an in-conversation hosted by the Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation. Dercon, who is the author of “Gambling on Development: Why Some Countries Win and Others Lose,” argued that the answer to a nation’s development lies not in a specific set of policies but in the key ‘development bargain.’
He said this is where the elite shift from protecting their positions to gambling on a growth-based future.
The professor said in some countries, the elites have made successful bargains that have resulted in positive developmental outcomes. He said in Nigeria, no such bargain exists adding that socio-economic outcomes continue to deteriorate.
The Chairman, Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation Leadership Council, Olusegun Obasanjo, stressed that for an elite bargain for development to occur, it is important Nigerians have unity of purpose and a common objective. He said right now, everyone is focused on his or her agenda and as a result, the country is suffering.
Also speaking, the Chairman of the Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, said one of the strategic objectives of the foundation was to build the capacity of the public sector and persuade Nigerian stakeholders to actively participate in national transformation.
“The conversation doesn’t just end here. We are taking this further in a discussion with senior public servants over the next few days and hopefully, sometime in the future. I may be able to confirm that this dialogue catalysed a process that led to positive change in Nigeria,” he said.
Present at the interactive session were presidential aspirant of the Labour Party, Peter Obi; former presidential aspirant, Kingsley Moghalu, Pascal Dozie, Publisher of The Guardian, Lady Maiden Ibru and journalist Kadaira Ahmed, who debated how an elite consensus could be formed in Nigeria.
By Adaku Onyenucheya
Twins appear to be unusually abundant in Nigeria's southwestern city of Igbo-Ora.
Nearly every family here has twins or other multiple births, says local chief Jimoh Titiloye.
For the past 12 years, the community has organized an annual festival to celebrate twins. This year's event, held earlier this month, included more than 1,000 pairs of twins and drew participants from as far away as France, organizers said.
There is no proven scientific explanation for the high rate of twins in Igbo-Ora, a city of at least 200,000 people 135 kilometers (83 miles) south of Nigeria's largest city, Lagos. But many in Igbo-Ora believe it can be traced to women's diets. Alake Olawunmi, a mother of twins, attributes it to a local delicacy called amala which is made from yam flour.
John Ofem, a gynecologist based in the capital, Abuja, says it very well could be "that there are things they eat there that have a high level of certain hormones that now result in what we call multiple ovulation."
While that could explain the higher-than-normal rate of fraternal twins in Igbo-Ora, the city also has a significant number of identical twins. Those result instead from a single fertilized egg that divides into two — not because of hyperovulation.
Taiwo Ojeniyi, a Nigerian student, said he attended the festival with his twin brother "to celebrate the uniqueness" of multiple births.
"We cherish twins while in some parts of the world, they condemn twins," he said. "It is a blessing from God."
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The Nigerian Court of Appeal dismissed the government-filed charges against Nnamdi Kanu in Abuja, the nation’s capital, after a jury faulted the legality of the case against him, according to Ifeanyi Ejiofor, his lawyer. Kanu is yet to be released from custody.
The Indigenous People of Biafra separatist group that Kanu leads has been pressing for the southeast region to break away from the West African nation and become independent. But the Nigerian government said he uses the group known as IPOB to instigate violence, leading to the deaths of many in the country’s southeast.
Kanu had been facing trial for alleged treason and terrorism but escaped Nigeria in 2017 while on bail. He was rearrested in June last year and brought back to Nigeria from an undisclosed country.
The separatist leader, who also holds British citizenship, pleaded not guilty at the resumption of his trial which his group has said is being used to stifle his secessionist campaign. The campaign reminds many of the short-lived Republic of Biafra that fought and lost a civil war from 1967 to 1970 to become independent from Nigeria. An estimated 1 million people died in the war, many of starvation.
After he was acquitted, Emma Powerful, a spokesman for the Biafra group, told the AP, “Our next target is to ensure that Biafra liberation is materialized and no human being can stop it.”
Kanu’s trial reechoed allegations of marginalization in Nigeria’s southeast region made up of the Igbos, Nigeria’s third-largest ethnic group who are mainly Christians. Nigeria’s more than 200 million people are almost evenly divided between Christians and Muslims.
Amid the calls for a referendum, the IPOB secessionist group became more violent, authorities and experts have said. The formation of the Eastern Security Network, its paramilitary arm, in December 2020 coincided with a spike in criminal attacks in the region.
By Chinedu Asadu
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The director of a documentary exploring Nigeria’s groundbreaking 1996 Atlanta Olympic soccer win amid domestic upheaval in the waning days of military rule hopes it can counter typical “stereotypes” about Africa.
“Super Eagles ’96,” which premiered at the London Film Festival on Thursday, charts the rise of the Nigerian men’s soccer team in the decade or so before its epic gold medal in the United States.
The victory by that flock of Super Eagles — as the national team is known — was the first global soccer tournament won by an African team and was celebrated across the continent.
But the film also chronicles the role played by the political tumult of the era, as opposition grew to three decades of military dictatorship in Africa’s most populous but fractious nation.
“You couldn’t tell the football story without telling what was happening at the same time, because they collide,” said director Yemi Bamiro, 40, on the sidelines of the festival.
In making it, the British-born filmmaker from a Nigerian family tried to tap into the pride he felt as a teenager watching the Super Eagles beat soccer giants Brazil and then Argentina to claim gold.
“I always used to feel — I still do, to an extent — that stories that come out of the continent are a little bit one note,” Bamiro said.
“This story always had the potential to be uplifting, like a celebration, to counter some of the stereotypes and perceptions of what happens on the continent.”
‘Hope’
The documentary, featuring interviews with former players and coaches as well as analysts and historians, details the Super Eagles’ ability to unify a soccer-mad country of more than 200 million and hundreds of ethnic groups and languages.
From victory in the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations followed by reaching the knockout stages of the 1994 World Cup, their success is set against the struggle inside Nigeria under military rule.
It highlights how the team’s greatest moment coincided with some of the regime’s worst atrocities under General Sani Abacha, when writer and campaigner Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other environmental activists were executed.
“It’s only football that would take the weight of this trouble away,” tough-tackling defender Taribo West says in the film.
“We needed heroes and football gave us heroes,” recounts lawyer Ed Keazor.
For attacking midfielder Jay-Jay Okocha, who like many of that generation later cemented his reputation at soccer clubs in Europe, the 1996 Olympics gave the country “hope that something good can come out of a bad situation.”
“Politically we were in a mess, reputation-wise we were in a mess, but that changed a lot of people’s view about Nigeria,” he says.
The country was under international sanctions at the time, while it did not compete in the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations — prior to the Olympics — following criticism of its human rights record by hosts South Africa.
“But the team made the world forget that they had issue(s) with Nigeria,” says ex-striker Daniel Amokachi, who later became a successful coach.
Military rule eventually ended in 1999, after Abacha’s death the previous year.
‘Define a nation’
Following the Olympics triumph, Nigeria held a two-day public holiday. In a sign of its continent-wide significance, three other African countries also declared national holidays.
“It was a gold medal for Africans,” argues West.
“After that, other African countries started believing that it’s achievable,” adds Okocha, noting Cameroon won soccer gold in the next Games in Australia.
The film notes the Super Eagles’ pioneering success helped accelerate the export of African soccer talent to Europe, notably to England’s Premier League.
“It’s almost like that was the thing that made Europe aware that there’s all this untapped potential on the continent, in all these incredible places,” Bamiro explained.
A quarter-century on, the director believes the Olympics victory retains a topical message.
“It tells you that you can’t define a nation by the things that its government does — and I think that can be said for a lot of countries, not just African countries.
“Look at the mess we’re in here,” he added, referring to ongoing economic tumult in Britain.
The London-based filmmaker — whose first feature “One Man and His Shoes” also screened at the capital’s annual 12-day festival, in 2020 — said he now awaits the documentary’s reception in Nigeria with some trepidation.
“It’s the most profound sporting achievement in Nigeria’s history so, yeah, if we haven’t got it right, we’re in trouble!”
By Joe Jackson
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Nigeria’s Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has suspended an eight-month strike, the group has said on social media.
ASUU, the umbrella body for university lecturers nationwide, announced the move on Friday but did not provide details on when schools will reopen.
The decision came after intense negotiations between ASUU and government representatives at a meeting mediated by members of the House of Representatives in Abuja, local media reported.
“Let all of us working together and the members of the House of Representatives working together, put a beautiful end to this thing we have started so that every Nigerian will be proud that we have the universities we can be proud of,” ASUU president Emmanuel Osodeke was quoted as saying by local media.
“We also extend our appreciation to the president for intervening in the ASUU strike. And I want to appeal that in future we should not allow strike to linger. Strike should not go beyond two days,” Osodeke added.
He is also expected to announce in the coming days when academic activities will resume in universities.
Millions of students nationwide have been at home since February 14 as part of the latest of a long wave of strikes, which are common in Nigeria.
Nigeria has more than 100 public universities and an estimated 2.5 million students, according to the country’s National Universities Commission. At least 15 recorded strikes have taken place in the universities since 2000.
The striking lecturers were demanding a review of their conditions of service including the platform the government uses to pay their earnings, improved funding for the universities and payment of their salaries withheld since the strike started.
Nigeria is battling some of its worst floods in a decade. Heavy rains have affected the south for weeks. More than 300 people have died and many houses have been destroyed by flood, causing many to ask whether the flood disaster is natural or manmade. Al Jazeera’s Stefanie Dekker reports.
Related stories: Nigeria Flooding Leaves More Than 500 Dead, 1.4 Million Displaced
In Nigeria's food basket state, floods wash away homes, crops and hope
Education experts in Nigeria are urging the government to address the problems of poverty, insecurity and other issues that have kept millions of girls out of school. Girls make up more than 60 percent of the nearly 20 million children who are not attending school. They have also called for Information and Communication Technology to be at the forefront of learning for girls so they can compete on a global stage.
Nigeria’s Information and Culture Minister Lai Mohammed, said Tuesday Nigeria has signed an agreement with Germany for the repatriation of over 1,130 looted Benin Bronze artifacts back to the country.
Mohammed disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Washington DC after three museums in the U.S. repatriated 31 Benin Bronze artifacts to Nigeria.
He commended the German government for that effort, adding that Nigeria is also getting positive response from France and Mexico to return some of its stolen artifacts.
In 1897 during a British raid on Benin, the royal palace was torched and looted, and the oba (ruler) was exiled.
The British confiscated all royal treasures, giving some to individual officers and taking most to auction in London.
The estimated 3,000 objects eventually made their way into museums and private collections around the world.
The minister said the world had seen that it was an ethical and moral issue to return the artifacts back to their owners, noting that it is not a matter of law as claimed by the British Government.
“This is important for the British Museum to understand and for the British Government to know, because I was also in the British Museum to ask them to return thousands of the artifacts in its custody.
“The standard response is that until the British Parliament changes the status, they are not in position to so do.
“The U.S. and Germany are now seeing that this matter is not of law but of morality, it is about doing the right thing. I hope that the British government will also learn from the two countries and do same,’’ he said.
According to him, Nigeria is planning to sign an agreement with the British government on November 28 to return about 86 other artifacts from various museums in UK.
The minister said the campaign of the current administration for the return of and restitution of Nigeria’s looted /smuggled artifacts from around the world, which was launched in November 2019, is yielding positive result.
He said in January, Nigeria and the U.S. signed the bilateral cultural property agreement to prevent illicit import into the U.S. of some categories of Nigerian artifacts.
“This agreement solidifies our shared commitment to combat looting and trafficking of precious cultural property while also establishing a process for the return of trafficked cultural objects, thus reducing the incentives to loot sites in Nigeria.’’
Oba of Benin hails US museums
In his remarks, the Oba of Benin, Ewuare II, commended three U.S. museums for the repatriation of 31 Benin Bronze artifacts, which were violently taken away from the Royal Palace of Benin by British forces in 1897.
Oba Ewuare II, who was represented by his brother, Aghatise Erediauwa, said the decision of the Smithsonian is now being emulated by numerous other Museums around the world who had continued to hold onto heritage art.
“The accepted narrative is that works which were looted or acquired in ethical ways should be returned to their places of origin,’’ he said.
By Emmanuel Elebeke
Vanguard
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Oil major Shell's (SHEL.L) Nigerian subsidiary is investigating reports that an illegal oil tap ran for nine years on a pipeline it operates, a spokesperson said on Wednesday.
An NNPC spokesman said on Sunday the theft point extended from the Trans Escravos pipeline and that the Afremo platform, operated by the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC), was the suspected exit point of the stolen crude.
"We are also conducting an investigation to establish where the theft lines end and whether there have been any breaches of the unmanned platform's security barriers (locks etc.) or any unauthorised use of the equipment on it," an SPDC spokesperson said in an email.
SPDC said it had detected illegal connections as part of regular surveillance and would launch a joint investigation with regulators to "establish the nature and condition" of the lines before removing them.
NNPC pointed to the theft line discovery as evidence that Nigeria's coordinated interventions, including contracts with companies owned by former militants, to crack down on theft were paying off.
Large-scale theft from Nigeria's pipelines has throttled exports, forced some companies to shut in production and crippled the country's finances.
By Libby George
Reuters
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Cameroon and Nigeria requested to join the Cote d’Ivoire-Ghana Cocoa Initiative (CIGCI), a joint body spearheading the interests of the two countries in the cocoa trade, the head of the initiative Alex Assanvo said on Wednesday.
The initiative was set up after a 2018 declaration by Ivory Coast and Ghana, the world’s first and second-largest cocoa producers, on willingness to define a common sustainable cocoa strategy that would raise prices paid to farmers.
It was created with the view of including other African countries.
Representatives from Cameroon and Nigeria were invited to a CIGCI meeting in Abidjan to begin the process of joining the initiative, Assanvo told reporters after the meeting.
“With Cameroon and Nigeria we are going to represent around two-thirds of global cocoa production,” Yves Brahima Kone, chief executive of the Ivory Coast Cocoa and Coffee Council, said at the meeting.
“This will allow us to have more leeway in discussions with the industry on imposing a decent price for our cocoa farmers.”
Nigerian officials say at least 500 people have been killed and 1.4 million displaced in the worst flooding in a decade. Officials say floods have affected nearly all of Nigeria's states and 90,000 homes have been partially or completely destroyed.
The permanent secretary of Nigeria's ministry of humanitarian affairs and disaster management, Nasir Sani-Gwarzo, announced the latest figures during a media briefing Tuesday in Abuja.
He said more than 1,500 people were injured and that the disaster had an impact on farmland across all but five of Nigeria's 36 states.
It is the worst flooding to be recorded in the West African nation since 2012. Authorities say heavier than normal rainfall and the release of water from a dam in Cameroon are to blame and have promised to help communities cope with the impact.
Isah Garba, who heads a community of farmers and fishers in Agabroko, in Central Kogi State, said the floods wreaked havoc on his people. He said his village was completely submerged, destroying farms of rice, corn, and even animals. He added that about 20 people died, mostly kids.
Thousands of people from Garba's area and neighboring villages are taking refuge on dry land several kilometers away from their homes. But there's limited access to basic amenities there, and the government's aid has yet to reach them.
Sani-Gwarzo said authorities have approved emergency action to mitigate the impact of the flood nationwide. He said a national emergency response plan will take into account other communities not directly hit by flooding.
Thirty-eight-year-old Fatima Adamu, who lost her livestock, is among those who say they need help. She said she lost 15 goats, and those that remain are falling sick.
The National Emergency Management Agency says that so far, it has reached some 300,000 people.
Meanwhile, Nigerian weather forecasters have warned that more flooding could be in store.
By Timothy Obiezu
Related stories: 50 killed and many displaced in northern Nigeria flooding
In Nigeria's food basket state, floods wash away homes, crops and hope
Sony Middle East and Africa in collaboration with Kontakt Pro Nigeria Limited have unveiled its cinema line cameras in Nigeria.
At the event in Lagos, the firm also used the event to engage emerging talents, key players and stakeholders in Nollywood and the media production industry.
The experiential event, which included hands-on demonstrations, in-depth product presentations and discussions with Sony experts from United Arab Emirate (UAE) and Japan, was also used to announce the arrival of its newest addition to the brand’s prestigious Cinema Line – the FX30 (model ILME-FX30).
Also, showcased at the event were the FX3, the FX6 and the FX9 full-frame digital cameras, with superior colour science technology, high-resolution sensors up to 6k, exceptional dynamic range for any light setting and fully optimised for a fast workflow. A key highlight of these cameras is their Netflix Production Technology alliance, a delight for today’s content creators.
Product Marketing Manager at Sony Middle East and Africa, Arvin Orsua, said: “It is important to Sony to make the life of a cinematographer easy. As a cinematographer, Sony fulfils its promise to support creators’ needs with camera features that make operation simple and output outstanding.”
For decades Sony has worked with the creative community by providing support and supplying tools made by cinematographers for cinematographers. The DNA (genetic makeup) from top film industries and the frontier of digital imaging come together to create a line of powerful creative tools designed to capture emotion in every frame and unleash the true power of visual storytelling from every corner of content creation.
Head of Digital Imaging at Sony Middle East and Africa, Sajeer Shamsu, said: “The new FX30 is a great fit for anyone looking to get started in filmmaking.
“It features many of the professional features of our high-end cameras at a price point that makes it easily accessible for filmmakers in the Middle East and Africa region at any level. This camera is an excellent starting point for our full line-up of Cinema Line Cameras.”
“We live in a new age of content consumption, where we can choose to connect with distant people, unseen places, exotic cultures, and untold stories at will. We can change the way we experience the world, and connecting people’s emotion through powerful storytelling is the motivation behind Sony’s cinema production technology” Shamsu noted.
In a statement, the Country Manager for Product Marketing, Nigeria, Ms. Bukola Oloyede, expressed delight in the film technology that Sony is making available to content creators.
Award-winning Nigerian author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, has been decorated with the iconic W.E.B. Du Bois Medal from Harvard University.
The award ceremony, held at the Sanders Theatre, Memorial Hall at Harvard University campus in Massachusetts, on Thursday, marking a return of the event after a nearly three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Introducing Chimamanda as one of the honourees, Tracy Kaysmith, a faculty member in the department of English, African and African American Studies, described her as one of the most celebrated writers of our time.
“Chimamanda is consecrated to the work of the word, which is soul work in a large and cosmic way. You have a vision that is large, but it begins in small intimate particular spaces. It is as attached to the vocabularies of causes as it is to the dialect of the heart, and I believe your work reminds us of what it looks like to look around at the small and vast both in and around us,” she said.
Celebrating her contributions to amplifying the African voice, Kaysmith said: “In her novels, Adichie has brought African voices to the attention of the wider world. She’s cast African immigrants in stories that are once universally resonant and gloriously precise, particular to the world in which they’re born. She is a superstar who is also part of an African literary renaissance in the company of my brilliant colleagues that demand each of us work hard to understand the vast traffic of cultures, beliefs, and identities that swirl around and intersect with our own.”
Listing her immense contributions to the course of gender equality, Kaysmith said: “She became an icon of 21st-century feminism for demanding that if equality is the goal, then we must honestly name one of the very real obstacles to genuine equality.”
Kaysmith thanked Chimamanda for her tremendous literary gifts. “For your fierce commitment to moving humanity beyond the constraints of a single story, single vocabulary, single set of expectations, we recognise you, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, with the W.E.B. Du Bois Medal.”
In her acceptance speech, Chimamanda thanked the organisers of the award. She thanked the Hutchins Centre Director, Prof. Henry Louis Gates Jr, calling him an icon for making African American history and literature mainstream and normal as it should be.
Reaffirming her love for writing, Chimamanda said: “Writing is the love of my life, literature has mattered to me for so long, and it’s always so meaningful for me to have my work recognised. The most meaningful thing for me as a writer is to know that I can create something that means something to other people, and so, what moves me the most is to hear from people who have read me say your work made me see, your work made me think differently, your work made me feel that I was not alone.”
In her final remarks to the students, she said: “For the young people who are here, if you care about anything, please care about reading. Reading is so important. Reading is magical, books are magical. I really think that one of the best ways to counter the ugly tsunami of book banning going around in this county is to read. I just want to make a very small suggestion, how about you give up social media for two weeks, three weeks, a month, and read, read, read.”
Reflecting on the choice of this year’s awardees, Gates Jr. said the honourees represent an “unyielding commitment to pushing the boundaries of representation and creating opportunities for advancement and participation for people who have been too often shut out from the great promise of our times.”
Other honourees at the award ceremony included basketball legend, cultural critic and activist, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who was recognised for his achievements in his 50 years of basketball career; ground-breaking actress Laverne Cox for her impressive career as a four-time Emmy nominated actress and prominent equal rights advocate; Agnes Gund, President emerita of the Museum of Modern Arts; Raymond J. McGuire, Chairman of the Studio Museum in Harlem and philanthropist; Deval Patrick, 71st governor of Massachusetts and civil rights leader; Betye Saar, artist, on her reflection on African and American identity.
The W.E.B. Du Bois Medal is the highest honour given by Harvard University in the field of African and African American studies. Past recipients include Oprah Winfrey, Maya Angelou, Muhammad Ali, Steven Spielberg, Ava Duvernay, and Chinua Achebe.
Related story: Nigerian author Chimamanda Adichie wins the Kassel Citizens' " Prism of Reason" Award
The Lagos State Government has announced that the construction of a new airport in the state will begin next year. The airport, given the all-clear from the Federal Government, will handle a minimum of five million travelers annually.
New Lagos Airport gets go-ahead
Construction of a new airport in Lagos State, Nigeria will begin next year, according to the government. The new facility will be built on a 3,500-hectare site situated on the busy Lekki peninsula east of downtown Lagos.
Jubril Gawat, Senior Special Assistant to Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, told Daily Post.
"The project is expected to take off in the year 2023, it will be constructed on 3,500 hectares of land, master plan and aeronautical designs are in place; while studies are ongoing about strategies, funding and other issues, after which the project will be taken to the marketplace. The airport, which is expected to cater to a minimum of five million people yearly, will be constructed in partnership with local and foreign investors."
Nigeria's Federal Government has given its approval for the project. While the airport master plan has been finalized, the project could still face other hurdles, such as financing, so there's no guarantee construction will commence in 2023.
Catering to growing demand
There have long been calls to add air capacity to Lagos, which is Nigeria's largest city and a key economic and cultural hub in Africa. In fact, the wider Lagos area is home to over 20 million people, making it the most populous region on the entire continent.
Nigerian lawyer Kwami Adadevoh told Daily Post.
"It is overdue. Long, long overdue. Lagos doesn’t get enough air traffic for a city of its economic importance and that’s because the present airport is too small."
However, given that Lagos' current airport, Murtala Muhammed International Airport (LOS), significantly expanded its capacity this year with a new terminal, some would argue that Lagos State has enough capacity already.
Nigeria has embarked on a significant infrastructure drive in recent years, including the development of five new international terminals and six cargo terminals as part of an agreement with EXIM Bank of China.
What about Murtala Muhammed International Airport?
Murtala Muhammed International Airport served almost 7.5 million travelers in 2019, dropping to 5.6 million in 2021. The old airport, built in the 1940s, is Nigeria's busiest with separate domestic and international terminals located around 1km apart.
The airport inaugurated a brand-new international terminal in April, but it turns out most airlines aren't using it. The new facility, which has a capacity for up to 14 million passengers annually, does not have sufficient apron space to host larger widebody aircraft like the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, Boeing 777, Boeing 747, and Airbus A380, leading international airlines to remain at the older Terminal 1.
By Luke Bodell
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The death toll from a boat accident in Nigeria's southeastern state of Anambra has risen to 76, the president said on Sunday.
The vessel capsized on Friday amid heavy flooding in the Ogbaru area of Anambra, according to officials on Saturday, when they said at least 10 people had died and 60 were missing.
In a statement posted on Twitter on Sunday, Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari said that emergency authorities had confirmed the higher death toll.
Authorities are working to rescue or recover any missing passengers, said Buhari, adding that he had directed the relevant agencies to check safety protocols to prevent future accidents.
The head of Anambra State Emergency Management Agency said that 15 people had been rescued as of Saturday night.
Anambra is among 29 of Nigeria's 36 states to have experienced heavy flooding this year. The waters have washed away homes, crops and roads and affected at least half a million people.
A local resident, Afam Ogene, told Reuters that because flooding had destroyed the major road linking eight communities to the rest of the area, some residents had to travel by boat.
Of the vessel that capsized, he said it was locally made and had the capacity to carry more than 100 people. He added that the boat's engine had failed and it was overpowered by waves shortly after it launched.
By Libby George
Reuters
Related stories: 50 killed and many displaced in northern Nigeria flooding
In Nigeria's food basket state, floods wash away homes, crops and hope
Language has always served as a strong bridge between cultures. The diplomatic ties between China and Nigeria have been boosted over the years by Chinese language teaching programs. The Chinese Confucius Institute based in Lagos has been educating thousands of Nigerians on the Chinese language and culture.
