Armed bandits have killed at least 47 people in attacks on several villages in the northwestern Nigerian state of Katsina.
The attacks took place in the early hours of Saturday, between 12:30am (23:30 GMT Friday) and around 3am (02:00GMT), Katsina police said in its statement on Sunday.
"Detachments of Police, Nigerian Army, Nigeria Airforce, Civil Defence and DSS (Department of State Services) have been drafted to the area," the statement added.
Police spokesman Gambo Isah told the dpa news agency that the attacks were carried out by more than 300 armed men.
"We are combing the forest to arrest those behind the attack," added Isah.
The bandits reportedly demanded food items and other relief materials delivered to the villagers as part of government's efforts to help locals during the coronavirus lockdown, the local Channels TV reported.
Hundreds of people have been killed in the last year by criminal gangs carrying out robberies and kidnappings in northwest Nigeria.
Such attacks have added to security challenges in Africa’s most populous country, which is already struggling to contain Boko Haram attacks in the northeast and communal violence over grazing rights in central states.
Al Jazeera
Monday, April 20, 2020
Friday, April 17, 2020
Nigerian tailors are hand-making PPE to help fight coronavirus
As the world experiences a shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, tailors in Nigeria are responding by hand-making equipment like overalls and face masks.
Rising demand, panic buying, hoarding, and misuse have disrupted the global supply of PPE, according to the World Health Organization, putting lives at risk.
Now, tailors in Abia state, in the southeast of the country, are using local fabrics, cotton, and polypropylene to sew PPE for people looking to protect themselves.
With cases of Covid-19 rising in Nigeria, the Abia state government released a 12 million naira (about $31,000) grant to support tailors to make the protective gear.
The grant was disbursed to 100 selected tailors at the start of April to help them buy additional equipment, source materials and employ more people, according to Sam Hart, the director-general of the Abia State Marketing and Quality Management Agency.
Hart explained that the initial face mask samples were examined by a team of medical experts and that the gear is intended for citizens looking for protection, rather than for health workers.
Local solution
So far, tailors in Aba, the state's commercial nerve center, have produced 200,000 face masks and 3,000 overalls, the agency said.
One of the tailors, Queen Duruibe, told CNN that the overalls she makes are waterproof and puncture-resistant, and are made from a polyamide fabric coated with protective materials.
Her face masks are made with cotton and polypropylene and are hypoallergenic, she said. She also produces decorative face masks made from a colorful print fabric, which aren't intended to protect from coronavirus.
Duruibe had been producing face masks since January but says she has now taken on more staff and converted her fashion store to make up to 10,000 masks per day.
"I sew different types of clothes here in Aba and I usually buy my materials from China," she said. "But when coronavirus happened, they (her suppliers) started telling me how bad things are, that there are no materials and face masks are scarce.
"So I thought to myself that if things are so scarce, I can actually start producing them myself."
Finding buyers
The equipment produced by the tailors is sold for around 200 naira (roughly 50 cents), according to Hart, and it is finding a range of buyers.
"We had a pharmacist who bought 10,000 pieces to stock in his pharmacy for sale," he said. "The PPE overalls and face masks have been made available to the public -- anybody can order. We even have some Nigerians in the diaspora who have made bulk orders for their communities and villages here in Abia."
The state government has also ordered masks, which it will distribute to the most vulnerable citizens, according to John Okiyi, the state commissioner for communications.
"65,000 of these facemasks have already been distributed in some local governments through churches and mosques," he told CNN. "The government has also ordered the production of an additional 150,000 face masks for further distribution."
He added that the state government has distributed N95 face masks to health workers, because those are more suited to medical professionals.
Beating coronavirus
Abia currently has no confirmed cases of coronavirus, but there have been more than 400 cases in Nigeria. The country has put in place travel restrictions to control the spread of the virus, and all international airports and land borders have been closed.
Three of Nigeria's 36 states -- Lagos, Ogun, and Abuja -- have imposed an extended lockdown that began on March 30. Abia state is also on a self-imposed lockdown.
Duruibe, like many of the other tailors, says she is happy to help control the spread of Covid-19. "For me, I am doing my part in any way I can to aid those fighting the coronavirus pandemic," she said.
By Aisha Salaudeen
CNN
Rising demand, panic buying, hoarding, and misuse have disrupted the global supply of PPE, according to the World Health Organization, putting lives at risk.
Now, tailors in Abia state, in the southeast of the country, are using local fabrics, cotton, and polypropylene to sew PPE for people looking to protect themselves.
With cases of Covid-19 rising in Nigeria, the Abia state government released a 12 million naira (about $31,000) grant to support tailors to make the protective gear.
The grant was disbursed to 100 selected tailors at the start of April to help them buy additional equipment, source materials and employ more people, according to Sam Hart, the director-general of the Abia State Marketing and Quality Management Agency.
Hart explained that the initial face mask samples were examined by a team of medical experts and that the gear is intended for citizens looking for protection, rather than for health workers.
Local solution
So far, tailors in Aba, the state's commercial nerve center, have produced 200,000 face masks and 3,000 overalls, the agency said.
One of the tailors, Queen Duruibe, told CNN that the overalls she makes are waterproof and puncture-resistant, and are made from a polyamide fabric coated with protective materials.
Her face masks are made with cotton and polypropylene and are hypoallergenic, she said. She also produces decorative face masks made from a colorful print fabric, which aren't intended to protect from coronavirus.
Duruibe had been producing face masks since January but says she has now taken on more staff and converted her fashion store to make up to 10,000 masks per day.
"I sew different types of clothes here in Aba and I usually buy my materials from China," she said. "But when coronavirus happened, they (her suppliers) started telling me how bad things are, that there are no materials and face masks are scarce.
"So I thought to myself that if things are so scarce, I can actually start producing them myself."
Finding buyers
The equipment produced by the tailors is sold for around 200 naira (roughly 50 cents), according to Hart, and it is finding a range of buyers.
"We had a pharmacist who bought 10,000 pieces to stock in his pharmacy for sale," he said. "The PPE overalls and face masks have been made available to the public -- anybody can order. We even have some Nigerians in the diaspora who have made bulk orders for their communities and villages here in Abia."
The state government has also ordered masks, which it will distribute to the most vulnerable citizens, according to John Okiyi, the state commissioner for communications.
"65,000 of these facemasks have already been distributed in some local governments through churches and mosques," he told CNN. "The government has also ordered the production of an additional 150,000 face masks for further distribution."
He added that the state government has distributed N95 face masks to health workers, because those are more suited to medical professionals.
Beating coronavirus
Abia currently has no confirmed cases of coronavirus, but there have been more than 400 cases in Nigeria. The country has put in place travel restrictions to control the spread of the virus, and all international airports and land borders have been closed.
Three of Nigeria's 36 states -- Lagos, Ogun, and Abuja -- have imposed an extended lockdown that began on March 30. Abia state is also on a self-imposed lockdown.
Duruibe, like many of the other tailors, says she is happy to help control the spread of Covid-19. "For me, I am doing my part in any way I can to aid those fighting the coronavirus pandemic," she said.
By Aisha Salaudeen
CNN
Thursday, April 16, 2020
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The International Monetary Fund says Nigeria's economy is expected to shrink by 3.4 percent this year and Africa's largest economy could face a recession lasting until 2021. Oil-rich Nigeria has been hit by the plunge in the demand for energy set off by the global lockdown against COVID-19. And the country's jobless rate, already at 23 percent, is expected to climb even higher. . Al Jazeera's Ahmed Idris reports from Abuja.
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The Nigerian Foreign Minister has denied allegations Africans are being mistreated in southern China's Guangzhou. Geoffrey Onyeama says the city's control measures are not targeting Nigerians.
At least 19 killed in ethnic fighting in Nigeria
At least 19 people have been killed in fighting between members of ethnic groups in central Nigeria's Taraba state over ownership of a fishing lake, police said.
The violence broke out on Monday between the Shomo and Jole ethnic groups in Lau district.
"Nineteen people were confirmed dead," state police spokesman David Misal told AFP news agency on Wednesday.
"Around 100 houses were burned and several people were also injured."
Misal said long-standing animosity between the neighbouring communities over the lake's ownership had already cost dozens of lives.
He said the government had banned fishing around the lake after unsuccessful attempts at reconciliation by state authorities and the police. "However some miscreants flouted the ban ... leading to the clashes," Misal said.
President Muhammadu Buhari condemned the clashes in a statement late on Tuesday, expressing sadness at "the resort to violence over disagreements that could be resolved through dialogue".
"These frequent incidents of ethnic and communal violence is a failure of community leadership and the refusal to embrace dialogue as a means of conflict resolution," Buhari said
Communal clashes over land and water rights are common in parts of Nigeria, especially between nomadic herders and farmers in the centre of the country.
Al Jazeera
The violence broke out on Monday between the Shomo and Jole ethnic groups in Lau district.
"Nineteen people were confirmed dead," state police spokesman David Misal told AFP news agency on Wednesday.
"Around 100 houses were burned and several people were also injured."
Misal said long-standing animosity between the neighbouring communities over the lake's ownership had already cost dozens of lives.
He said the government had banned fishing around the lake after unsuccessful attempts at reconciliation by state authorities and the police. "However some miscreants flouted the ban ... leading to the clashes," Misal said.
President Muhammadu Buhari condemned the clashes in a statement late on Tuesday, expressing sadness at "the resort to violence over disagreements that could be resolved through dialogue".
"These frequent incidents of ethnic and communal violence is a failure of community leadership and the refusal to embrace dialogue as a means of conflict resolution," Buhari said
Communal clashes over land and water rights are common in parts of Nigeria, especially between nomadic herders and farmers in the centre of the country.
Al Jazeera
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