Nigeria's president says the government is talking to the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram about the more than 200 kidnapped schoolgirls.
Presidential spokesman Femi Adesina in a tweet late Tuesday quoted President Muhammadu Buhari as saying the government is talking to Boko Haram members and it is trying to make sure they are genuine leaders. Buhari is in France on a three-day state tour.
Military from Nigeria and Chad freed hundreds of hostages from Boko Haram captivity earlier this year but none of those rescued were from the 219 girls abducted in April 2014 from a school in Chibok.
Nigeria's homegrown Islamic extremist group has used dozens of girls and women in recent suicide bombings in Nigeria and neighboring Chad, Cameroon and Niger, raising fears they are kidnap victims.
AP
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
Women and children captives rescued from Boko Haram
Nigeria’s army has said it rescued at least a dozen kidnapped women and children held captive by the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram.
Military spokesman Colonel Sani Kukasheka Usman said they were freed as the army cleared Boko Haram camps on Monday in north-eastern Borno state.
The army did not say where the women and children had been kidnapped from or their condition.
Hundreds of hostages have been freed from Boko Haram captivity in 2015 but none of the 219 girls abducted in April 2014 from a school in Chibok has been among those rescued.
The Nigerian extremist group has used dozens of girls and women in recent suicide bombings in Nigeria and neighbouring Chad, Cameroon and Niger, raising fears they were kidnap victims.
More than 1,000 people have been killed since President Muhammadu Buhari was elected in March with a pledge to annihilate the militants, whose six-year-old uprising has killed a total of about 20,000 people. At least 2.1 million people have been driven from their homes, some across borders.
Earlier this year troops from Chad and Nigeria drove the extremists out of some 25 towns held for months in an area that Boko Haram had declared an Islamic caliphate aligned with the Islamic State group in the Middle East. The insurgents have returned to hit-and-run attacks and suicide bombings.
Guardian
Military spokesman Colonel Sani Kukasheka Usman said they were freed as the army cleared Boko Haram camps on Monday in north-eastern Borno state.
The army did not say where the women and children had been kidnapped from or their condition.
Hundreds of hostages have been freed from Boko Haram captivity in 2015 but none of the 219 girls abducted in April 2014 from a school in Chibok has been among those rescued.
The Nigerian extremist group has used dozens of girls and women in recent suicide bombings in Nigeria and neighbouring Chad, Cameroon and Niger, raising fears they were kidnap victims.
More than 1,000 people have been killed since President Muhammadu Buhari was elected in March with a pledge to annihilate the militants, whose six-year-old uprising has killed a total of about 20,000 people. At least 2.1 million people have been driven from their homes, some across borders.
Earlier this year troops from Chad and Nigeria drove the extremists out of some 25 towns held for months in an area that Boko Haram had declared an Islamic caliphate aligned with the Islamic State group in the Middle East. The insurgents have returned to hit-and-run attacks and suicide bombings.
Guardian
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Video - Documentary on Nigeria's top fashion designer Deola Sagoe
Nigerian fashion has broken out, gracing the catwalks of New York, Johannesburg and Monaco.Deola Sagoe was one of the designers who led this Nigerian fashion expansion.
France to invest €130m in Nigerian infrastructure development
French President François Hollande Monday disclosed that his government has concluded arrangements to invest a total of €130 million in the development of infrastructure in Nigeria for rebuilding of roads, provision of electricity and water supply.
According to him, despite the fall in the price of crude oil in the international market which has affected Nigerian expected revenue, the country’s economy still remained strong.
“The Nigerian economy remains strong so, France wants to be doing business in the country” he said at a joint press conference at the Elsee Palace in Paris, after a closed door bilateral meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari who is on a three-day working visit to France.
He said France intends to increase the visibility of its investors more in Nigeria adding that his country will assist the Multinational Joint Task Force (MJTF) with intelligence gathering and equipment in fighting terrorism in Nigeria and the African sub region.
“We provide all of the support to the countries in the region which are affected by this cult and in Nigeria, we want to provide support and solidarity,” he noted thanking the President for relocating the
military command center to Maiduguri.
In his remarks, President Buhari thanked the French government for his government’s interest in assisting Nigeria and expressed the readiness of his administration to partner with France to development of the country.
President Buhari noted that with commitment from France, Nigeria’s next shopping list regarding support will move to other members of the G7.
“We have to depend on France and the other G7 countries for support to fight piracy” the President said adding “Our next shopping list is going to G7in terms of intelligence and training. Another problem is the problem in the Gulf of Guinea, from Senegal to Angola, that area is endowed with resources like petroleum and other minerals but surrounded by piracy and theft.
“We are going to depend on France and G7 countries to flush these criminals out of the region.” Adding that they had discussed the Memorandum of Understanding to build a €30M project solar power plant in a rural local government of Osun State capacity of the solar power plant is 10 to 14 megawatts.
Speaking further President Buhari said that “On Nigeria’s problems, more than 67 percent of our youths and most of them under their youthful age are unemployed. We are finding best way in Agriculture and mining to address this before sophisticated infrastructure and security are provided.
President Buhari and Hollande also discussed on issued of climate change which Nigeria is expected to contribute to at a global level. Both Nigeria and France last year signed last year bilateral agreements which enables the Frech government provide 1.170 Million dollars soft loan through the french development agency AFD for the construction of high voltage power lines and substations that will connect Abuja with electrical distribution network.
BusinessDay
According to him, despite the fall in the price of crude oil in the international market which has affected Nigerian expected revenue, the country’s economy still remained strong.
“The Nigerian economy remains strong so, France wants to be doing business in the country” he said at a joint press conference at the Elsee Palace in Paris, after a closed door bilateral meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari who is on a three-day working visit to France.
He said France intends to increase the visibility of its investors more in Nigeria adding that his country will assist the Multinational Joint Task Force (MJTF) with intelligence gathering and equipment in fighting terrorism in Nigeria and the African sub region.
“We provide all of the support to the countries in the region which are affected by this cult and in Nigeria, we want to provide support and solidarity,” he noted thanking the President for relocating the
military command center to Maiduguri.
In his remarks, President Buhari thanked the French government for his government’s interest in assisting Nigeria and expressed the readiness of his administration to partner with France to development of the country.
President Buhari noted that with commitment from France, Nigeria’s next shopping list regarding support will move to other members of the G7.
“We have to depend on France and the other G7 countries for support to fight piracy” the President said adding “Our next shopping list is going to G7in terms of intelligence and training. Another problem is the problem in the Gulf of Guinea, from Senegal to Angola, that area is endowed with resources like petroleum and other minerals but surrounded by piracy and theft.
“We are going to depend on France and G7 countries to flush these criminals out of the region.” Adding that they had discussed the Memorandum of Understanding to build a €30M project solar power plant in a rural local government of Osun State capacity of the solar power plant is 10 to 14 megawatts.
Speaking further President Buhari said that “On Nigeria’s problems, more than 67 percent of our youths and most of them under their youthful age are unemployed. We are finding best way in Agriculture and mining to address this before sophisticated infrastructure and security are provided.
President Buhari and Hollande also discussed on issued of climate change which Nigeria is expected to contribute to at a global level. Both Nigeria and France last year signed last year bilateral agreements which enables the Frech government provide 1.170 Million dollars soft loan through the french development agency AFD for the construction of high voltage power lines and substations that will connect Abuja with electrical distribution network.
BusinessDay
Monday, September 14, 2015
Video - Life in the shadow of Boko Haram
The Nigerian military claims it has weakened Boko Haram militants. The humanitarian crisis as a result of the insurgency is far from over. More than 2 million people are displaced and many lack the very basics for survival.
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