Latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that textiles contributed a negative 1.75 percent to Nigeria's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the first quarter of 2024, making it one of the under-performing industries in Nigeria. The government is counting on 3.5 billion dollars in investment secured late last month to turn things around.
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Dozens of women and young girls have been unlawfully detained and abused in Nigerian military detention facilities after escaping captivity by Boko Haram extremists in the country’s northeast, Amnesty International said in a new report on Monday.
Some of the women were detained with their children for years because of their real or perceived association with the extremists, the report said. It cited 126 interviews, mostly with survivors, over the 14 years since the Islamic extremists launched their insurgency.
The report echoes past human rights concerns about the Nigerian military, which in the past has been accused of extrajudicial killings and illegal arrests in one of the world’s longest conflicts.
However, the report noted that prolonged and unlawful detentions have been less widespread in recent years.
Nigeria's army dismissed the report as “unsubstantiated” and reiterated that it has continued to improve on its human rights record and holds personnel to account.
The conflict has spilt over borders killed at least 35,000 people and displaced over 2 million. Women and young girls are often forcefully married or sexually abused in captivity.
But the conditions some women found themselves in after fleeing captivity were so “horrible” that some chose to return to Boko Haram, Niki Frederiek, crisis researcher with Amnesty International, said of the detention camps located in military facilities in Borno state.
At least 31 survivors interviewed said they were held illegally in the facilities, the report said, suggesting the practice had been more widespread.
“Some said soldiers insulted them, calling them ‘Boko Haram wives’ and accusing them of being responsible for killings. Several described beatings or abysmal conditions in detention, which amount to torture or other ill-treatment,” the report said.
“The Nigerian authorities must support these girls and young women as they fully reintegrate into society,” said Samira Daoud, Amnesty International’s regional director for West and Central Africa.
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Tinubu, who came to power a year ago, removed a decades-old petrol subsidy that kept prices artificially low and devalued the currency, sending inflation soaring to 33.69% in April, its highest level in nearly three decades and eroding incomes.
In a television broadcast to mark Democracy Day, Tinubu acknowledged hardships caused by the reforms, which also include higher interest rates and the partial removal of electricity subsidies, but he said this would create a stronger foundation for future growth.
"Our economy has been in desperate need of reform for decades. It has been unbalanced because it was built on the flawed foundation of over-reliance on revenues from the exploitation of oil," Tinubu said.
"As we continue to reform the economy, I shall always listen to the people and will never turn my back on you."
Nigeria is grappling with the worst cost-of-living crisis in decades and labour unions last week suspended a strike called to pressure the government to agree a new monthly minimum wage.
The government has offered to double the minimum wage to 62,000 naira ($41.89) a month against labour demands of 250,000 naira, and Tinubu said his government had negotiated in good faith. The last minimum wage was set in 2019.
"We shall soon send an executive bill to the National Assembly to enshrine what has been agreed upon as part of our law for the next five years or less," Tinubu said.
He did not say whether the bill would contain the government minimum wage proposal or a new figure.
Labour union leaders have said they would wait to hear back from Tinubu before deciding on next steps.
By Felix Onuah, Reuters
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Operators argue the new regulation could drive many out of business after Nigeria’s Central Bank raised the minimum capital requirement for operators by over one thousand percent.
A Chinese firm has opened the first lithium processing plant in Nigeria, marking a departure from the past when firms mined and exported the mineral in its raw form from the country. The processing plant located in northwest Nigeria is a joint venture between Ming Xin Mineral Separation and the Kaduna state government.
