Hertfordshire invention helps power homes in Nigeria

 

A small solar-powered box developed in the East of England is providing power to people in Nigeria and "transforming how they live and work".

The Powerbox SE has been developed at Hertfordshire Business School, which is part of the University of Hertfordshire, and a Nigerian manufacturer.

The project is led by Prof Hafiz Alaka, who grew up in the African country with "unreliable or non-existent electricity".

He said the box offered "a sustainable, low-cost solution".

The box is being used in remote parts of Nigeria and can power everyday items such as lights, fans, laptops and washing machines. Each one absorbs about 1,200 watt-hours of solar energy a day.

In Kaduna State, 70 units are already in use.

"Many households and small businesses are too far from the national grid to access power, and this affects everything from trade to communication and education," said Alaka, associate dean in research and enterprise at the business school and director of the Big Data Technologies and Innovation laboratory.

"It runs entirely on clean solar energy, has no running costs and is made from components that can be sourced locally in Nigeria.

"It's built for Africa's environment and for Africa's people."

Amina Yusuf, who runs a grocery shop in Kaduna, said: "I can keep my shop open after sunset, my children can study at night, and I've reduced my fuel costs significantly.

"It has transformed how we live and work."

Bala Ibrahim, a teacher in a rural village, said it "allows my students to study after dark and keeps our community connected".

Alaka added: "This product is starting to bring people together in a way no other technology can – sustainably, affordably and through a locally made product.

"With investment, we can extend access to clean energy to millions who have never had reliable electricity before."

By Alex Pope, BBC

Related story: Video - Nigerian manufacturers struggle with rising electricity costs

Nigeria says two nationals killed in South Africa amid rise of anti-migrant attacks

Nigeria says two of its citizens have been killed in South Africa "at a time when foreigners are being unduly targeted" there.

A statement from the foreign ministry said Emeka Charles Iroegbu was "reportedly killed" on 28 June by police officers "using gruesome interrogation techniques", while unidentified assailants had killed shop owner Musa Yunana Joe on the same day.

The authorities in South Africa's capital, Pretoria, say they are investigating.

Nigeria's foreign ministry said the incidents came amid a rise in anti-migrant sentiment in South Africa, which has led to roughly 25,000 citizens from other African countries being repatriated by their nations, including some 700 Nigerians.

Protesters in South Africa have urged the government to do more to curb illegal migration. They say foreigners are taking jobs and unfairly benefiting from public services.

In its statement, Nigeria's foreign ministry said Iroegbu was reportedly killed in Pretoria by officers from the Tshwane Metro police department.

The South African body that investigates police conduct told the BBC on Monday the Iroegbu case was reported to it last week and that "our investigation is underway".

Joe, killed on 28 June, was attacked outside his shop in the city of eMalahleni, the ministry said.

Abuja said it was placing the South African government "on notice" and that "all options remain on the table... if the uncultured and provocative trend of intolerance and apartheid-style behaviour of South Africa against foreigners is not addressed".

Nigeria has said it will seek compensation from South Africa for its citizens who have left the country, adding that Abuja had begun documenting businesses and properties left behind by Nigerians.

However, at a media briefing on Friday, South African cabinet minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said her government would not pay compensation and that Nigerians can sell registered properties they left behind on the South African market.

She also said: "We would be interested to know where the drug dens of Nigerians are, so they can show us where they have been holding the drugs so we can clean the drugs in South Africa quite urgently."

Nigeria's foreign ministry strongly condemned this comment in their statement on Sunday, calling it "unacceptable".

"Such derogatory, unprofessional and uncensored generalised public statements by highly placed government officials constitute hate speech," the ministry said.

Nigeria's foreign ministry also accused protest groups in South Africa, including March on March and Operation Dudula, of inciting violence and hatred against other Africans.

It warned that those responsible could face regional and international legal action, though it is unclear steps Nigeria would take and whether it plans to raise the issue with the African Union.

Some anti-migrant groups in South Africa had given undocumented foreigners a deadline of 30 June to leave the country.

Ghana, Malawi and Nigeria are among African countries which repatriated some of their citizens ahead of the deadline.

South Africa has one of the highest rates of unemployment in the world - at more than 30% - and anti-migrant sentiment has been rising in recent months.

The continent's most developed economy remains a magnet for people from poorer countries seeking work often in low-paid jobs.

By Makuochi Okafor, BBC

Related stories: 269 Nigerians return home from South Africa ahead of protest deadline

Nigeria evacuates citizens from South Africa as anti-migrant sentiment rises

Video - Outrage ignites in Nigeria following latest kidnapping in Borno state

At least 37 people, most of them children, remain missing after gunmen abducted them from a school in northeastern Nigeria. The attackers, believed to be from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), raided a school in Borno State on Monday. The incident has sparked outrage, with parents calling for the immediate release of their children.

CGTN Africa

Related story: More than 30 students remain missing after Nigeria school attack

Why Nigeria Must Return to Indigenous Cattle in Solving Farmer-Herder Clashes

Historically, the image of a typical Southern Nigerian farmer was never complete without the muturu cattle breed grazing quietly behind the homestead. It was often tethered at the back of the house, chewing calmly on cassava peels and fresh grass cut by the owner or housed in a simple pen during rest. The muturu is an indigenous cattle breed characterized by diverse coat colour patterns and unique adaptation to the humid, tsetse-infested environments of West Africa, where it has traditionally provided meat, manure, and cultural value to rural communities. Today, this native breed has virtually disappeared. Its decline has left Southern Nigeria increasingly dependent on cattle supplied from the North while also removing a locally adapted production system that once reduced the need for long-distance livestock movement. Together with population growth, climate pressures, changing land use, and weak governance, this shift has added another layer to the complex dynamics shaping farmer-herder relations.

In communities across Southeastern Nigeria, farmers managed muturu cattle alongside crop production as household assets providing manure, occasional meat and a form of livelihood. A 2022 survey in Southern Nigeria found very small herd sizes averaging just 4 animals. This decline has been widely attributed to indiscriminate crossbreeding with exotic breeds, driven by selection for higher growth rates and increased carcass yield. As the muturu declined across Southern Nigeria, larger commercial breeds such as the white Fulani gradually became more dominant. Unlike the muturu, which was integrated into the predominantly smallholder farming systems of Southern Nigeria, these larger herds required substantially more grazing space and greater mobility, contributing to intensified conflicts among farmers and herders.

The livestock system in Nigeria has historically created critical regional connections that link the Northern and Southern parts of the country through production systems, trade, and consumption. For instance, Northern Nigeria currently supplies the overwhelming majority of the country’s cattle, while southern markets provide much of the demand. In a country where history has often made interregional trust fragile, competition over land access, livestock mobility, and resource use has transformed this connection into a source of tension. The relationship between the two regions is now more than an agricultural issue. It is a test of how well different regions can manage economic interdependence while balancing competing claims over land, livelihoods, and national unity.

The competition over land and grazing routes has contributed to thousands of deaths and widespread displacement. In the first half of 2018 alone, farmer-herder violence claimed more than 1,300 lives according to the International Crisis Group. Behind these statistics are farming communities struggling to hold on to their livelihoods. In interviews we conducted with farmers in Nimbo, Enugu State, in 2021, five years after the 2016 attack, many suggested reducing the land they cultivated because of persistent insecurity, while younger people increasingly left agriculture in search of safer livelihoods. The recent attack in Yelwata, Benue State, which claimed more than 100 lives, is a stark reminder that farmer-herder violence continues to affect the security and livelihoods of ordinary Nigerians.

In 2024, the Federal Government of Nigeria established the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development, a longoverdue attempt to treat livestock as an economic sector deserving its own vision. However, this Ministry must first solve the farmer-herder clashes ravaging the country for years. By September 2025, the ministry unveiled a bold fifteen‑year transformation plan, placing modern ranching at the centre of its strategy to end open grazing and reduce conflict. And in June 2026, it took another step by moving to centralize livestock data, hoping to finally understand who owns what animals, where they move, and how to manage them sustainably. These reforms represent important efforts toward rebuilding a fragmented livestock production system. However, none of these interventions will achieve their full potential if a more fundamental question remains unaddressed: “What happens when a nation abandons the cattle that once fed its lands?”

Reviving indigenous breeds such as the muturu is not a silver bullet for ending farmer-herder conflict. But it could become an important part of a broader livestock strategy by restoring locally adapted production systems that reduce dependence on long-distance cattle movement. Historically, the breed thrived on crop residues, household wastes, fallow vegetation, and cut and carry forage systems, allowing livestock production to be integrated into existing farming landscapes rather than competing with them. Restoring indigenous breeds would therefore align cattle production with the ecological realities of Southern Nigeria while reducing the need for long distance livestock movement across multiple states, reducing grazing pressure on surrounding landscapes and lowering the risk of overgrazing and land degradation.

If the country is serious about ending these clashes, then modern ranching must go hand in hand with reclaiming the breeds that once fit our land, our farming systems, and our way of life. In the rush to modernize, Nigeria may have forgotten that development is not always about replacing the old with the new. Sometimes, it is about recognizing the value of what was abandoned and adapting it to contemporary realities. The muturu is more than a cattle breed. It represents one part of a broader solution to rebuilding a livestock system that is productive and ecologically compatible, one that balanced livestock, crops, people, and land with far less conflict.

By Simon Chedra Ugwoke, African Arguments

Related stories: Civilians are stepping in to keep the peace in the deadly feud between herders and farmers

Climate change, competition drive deadly land clashes in Nigeria

Northern Nigeria’s hunger hits worst level in almost a decade as 17 million face food insecurity, UN seeks $89 million

The UN agency warned on Thursday that the country’s food security situation is deteriorating faster than previously anticipated, saying it urgently needs $89 million over the next six months to sustain food, nutrition and logistics support across northern Nigeria.

According to WFP, the latest Cadre Harmonisé food security analysis shows that more than 17 million people across nine conflict-affected northern states are experiencing crisis, emergency or catastrophic levels of food insecurity, almost two million more than projected in the previous assessment.

“Conflict is driving hunger in some northern states, particularly the northeast, to levels not seen in almost a decade,” the agency said in the statement.

The situation is particularly severe in Borno State, where renewed insurgent attacks and cuts to humanitarian assistance have left more than three million people acutely food insecure.

More than 750,000 people are experiencing severe hunger, while over 10,000 people have fallen into catastrophic hunger, the highest level of food insecurity.

“What concerns us most is how this crisis is expanding,” said Kinday Samba, WFP Regional Director for West and Central Africa.

“For years, insurgent attacks and violence were largely concentrated in parts of northeast Nigeria. Today, they are spreading across a much wider area and forcing people from farmland, driving displacement and restricting humanitarian access, meaning hunger is quick to follow.”


Humanitarian operations under strain

WFP said deteriorating security and severe funding shortages are making it increasingly difficult to reach vulnerable communities.

The number of locations inaccessible to frontline humanitarian workers has doubled, with 15 additional areas now classified as partially inaccessible.

Attacks and illegal checkpoints along major transport corridors are also disrupting the movement of relief supplies, while in several locations WFP’s air transport service remains the only reliable means of delivering aid.

Funding shortages have meanwhile forced the agency to scale back operations dramatically.

Although 6.2 million people are currently food insecure across Nigeria’s three northeastern states, WFP said it has sufficient resources to assist only about 740,000 people, leaving approximately 5.5 million people, many of them children, without life-saving food and nutrition support.

The figure marks a sharp decline from the 1.3 million people WFP supported during the peak of the 2025 lean season.

The agency warned that shrinking food assistance is pushing vulnerable households towards desperate coping strategies, with some communities reporting cases of people joining armed groups in search of food or income.

It also said the suspension of food assistance in some displacement camps due to funding shortages has contributed to rising exploitation and gender-based violence, particularly affecting women and children.

“When people lose access to food, the risks of displacement, exploitation and instability increase. Yet resources are at their lowest at the time they are needed most,” Samba said.


How Nigeria got here

The latest assessment comes as insecurity continues to spread beyond Nigeria’s traditional insurgency hotspots, disrupting farming, forcing communities from their land and worsening food production across parts of the north.

The crisis has been compounded by rising climate shocks, high transportation costs and elevated food prices, making basic staples increasingly unaffordable for millions of households.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, food inflation remained above 16% in May 2026, underscoring the continued pressure on household purchasing power.

The WFP said the latest Cadre Harmonisé assessment focused on conflict hotspots in northern Nigeria following an escalation in attacks since the previous analysis released in November.

Overall, 36.2 million people across Nigeria are now food insecure, highlighting that the country’s food crisis extends well beyond the areas most affected by conflict.

Without fresh funding, WFP warned it may be forced to reduce operations further, increasing the risk of deeper hunger, fresh displacement and greater instability across northern Nigeria.

By Ayodeji Adegboyega, Business Insider Africa