A Nigerian Shia group banned by the government said police killed 12 of members and wounded 10 others during marches in the north of country to mark the religious commemoration known as Ashoura.
Spokesman Ibrahim Musa said the Shia marchers were killed in the northern states of Kaduna, Bauchi, Gombe, Sokoto, and Katsina on Tuesday.
"The Islamic Movement in Nigeria has confirmed the killing of at least a dozen Ashoura mourners across the nation during the peaceful Ashoura mourning procession today," said Musa.
The group, the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), was banned in July after a series of deadly clashes with police. IMN said the police were responsible for the deaths of at least 20 people in July but the police gave no death toll.
Police in the northern city of Kaduna, where IMN said three were killed and 10 injured on Tuesday, disputed the account and said it dispersed marchers "professionally".
A national police spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The group was marching to mark Ashoura, the day in Islamic tradition when the Prophet Mohammed's grandson, Imam Hussein, died in battle in 1680.
Police had warned IMN members not to march, saying any gathering or procession by group members is "ultimately illegal and will be treated as a gathering in the advancement of terrorism".
Leader imprisoned
IMN said police attacked its marchers on Tuesday and, in Katsina, opened fire on them. It said members were killed in Bauchi, Gombe and Sokoto states, all in northern Nigeria, but marches in the capital, Abuja, and other northern states ended without incident.
Clashes with police in the last few weeks followed calls by the group for its leader to be released from police detention.
Their leader, Ibrahim el-Zakzaky, has been held since 2015 when government forces killed about 350 people after storming an IMN compound and a nearby mosque.
While roughly half of the nearly 200 million Nigerians are Muslim, mostly concentrated in the north of the country, Shia are a minority.
Last week the United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions said she had not been presented with any evidence to suggest IMN was weaponised and posed a threat to Nigeria.
Al Jazeera
Wednesday, September 11, 2019
Nigeria commences repatriation of Nigerians from South Africa
Nigeria has started the process of repatriating more than 600 of its citizens from South Africa following a wave of deadly xenophobic attacks that has frayed relations between the two countries.
Private Nigerian airline Air Peace, has volunteered to fly people for free back to Lagos. At least 320 Nigerians are expected to be flown out on Wednesday, while a second flight will depart on Thursday. At least 640 Nigerians have signed up for the flights.
Al Jazeera's Fahmida Miller, reporting from the airport in Johannesburg, said on Wednesday that "of the more [than] 600 people who [were] expected to leave, at least half of them" were already there, while a "small group of people were turned back, due to incorrect documentation."
The repatriation came after deadly riots in Pretoria and Johannesburg killed at least 12 people, including two foreigners, and targeted 1,000 foreign-owned businesses.
The violence sparked international outcry and calls for a boycott.
Reprisal attacks in Nigeria forced South African business to shut down while the South African embassy in Lagos temporarily closed its doors over safety fears.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Pastor Ugo Ofoegbu, who was at the airport to board the flight, said that "some [people] had an expired passport."
"They will have to go to the Nigerian consulate to get the [right] documentation that will allow them to travel," the added.
Ayanda Dlodlo, South Africa's minister of state security, told reporters in Cape Town on Monday that those leaving will have to go through immigration processes.
Police on high alert
This is not the first time that foreigners have been attacked in South Africa. In 2008, at least 62 people, including South Africans, were killed, while deadly violence and looting targeting foreign-owned stores left seven dead in 2015.
"I am so worried about the safety of my family, because these [xenophobic] attacks keep happening, so if I don't save my family now, I don't know when [this will] start again," Ofoegbu said
"It happened in 2008, and then in 2015, now it is repeating, so nobody knows when will it happen again," he added.
The root causes of the latest wave of violence are still unclear but reports suggest it is related to high unemployment, criminality and poverty in the country.
Around 700 people are believed to be housed at temporary shelters in Johannesburg, while Mozambique and Zimbabwe were also considering some sort of repatriation of their nationals.
However, South African officials were hesitant to describe the wave of violence as xenophobic attacks, and instead said this was an issue of criminality that the government was trying to deal with.
"While there has been a significant decline in the number of incidents, police forces remain on high alert and are closely monitoring hotspots to ensure further violence does not erupt," Minister of Defence Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said.
Police have arrested at least 653 people, mostly South Africans but some foreigners as well, in connection with the attacks, Minister of Police Bheki Cele said on Tuesday.
Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to visit South Africa next month to discuss the attacks and seek a solution.
Al Jazeera
Related stories: Nigeria to repatriate 600 Nigerians from South Africa due to xenophobic violence
Nigeria withdraws from summit in South Africa after deadly riots
Private Nigerian airline Air Peace, has volunteered to fly people for free back to Lagos. At least 320 Nigerians are expected to be flown out on Wednesday, while a second flight will depart on Thursday. At least 640 Nigerians have signed up for the flights.
Al Jazeera's Fahmida Miller, reporting from the airport in Johannesburg, said on Wednesday that "of the more [than] 600 people who [were] expected to leave, at least half of them" were already there, while a "small group of people were turned back, due to incorrect documentation."
The repatriation came after deadly riots in Pretoria and Johannesburg killed at least 12 people, including two foreigners, and targeted 1,000 foreign-owned businesses.
The violence sparked international outcry and calls for a boycott.
Reprisal attacks in Nigeria forced South African business to shut down while the South African embassy in Lagos temporarily closed its doors over safety fears.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Pastor Ugo Ofoegbu, who was at the airport to board the flight, said that "some [people] had an expired passport."
"They will have to go to the Nigerian consulate to get the [right] documentation that will allow them to travel," the added.
Ayanda Dlodlo, South Africa's minister of state security, told reporters in Cape Town on Monday that those leaving will have to go through immigration processes.
Police on high alert
This is not the first time that foreigners have been attacked in South Africa. In 2008, at least 62 people, including South Africans, were killed, while deadly violence and looting targeting foreign-owned stores left seven dead in 2015.
"I am so worried about the safety of my family, because these [xenophobic] attacks keep happening, so if I don't save my family now, I don't know when [this will] start again," Ofoegbu said
"It happened in 2008, and then in 2015, now it is repeating, so nobody knows when will it happen again," he added.
The root causes of the latest wave of violence are still unclear but reports suggest it is related to high unemployment, criminality and poverty in the country.
Around 700 people are believed to be housed at temporary shelters in Johannesburg, while Mozambique and Zimbabwe were also considering some sort of repatriation of their nationals.
However, South African officials were hesitant to describe the wave of violence as xenophobic attacks, and instead said this was an issue of criminality that the government was trying to deal with.
"While there has been a significant decline in the number of incidents, police forces remain on high alert and are closely monitoring hotspots to ensure further violence does not erupt," Minister of Defence Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said.
Police have arrested at least 653 people, mostly South Africans but some foreigners as well, in connection with the attacks, Minister of Police Bheki Cele said on Tuesday.
Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to visit South Africa next month to discuss the attacks and seek a solution.
Al Jazeera
Related stories: Nigeria to repatriate 600 Nigerians from South Africa due to xenophobic violence
Nigeria withdraws from summit in South Africa after deadly riots
Tuesday, September 10, 2019
Video - Children held in 'horrific conditions over Boko Haram ties in Nigeria
Thousands of children have been held in recent years by Nigeria's military in "degrading and inhuman conditions" for alleged association with the Boko Haram armed group, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said, calling for their "immediate" release. The HRW says children have been forced to stay in squalid conditions and not allowed to see family members. The military denies the accusations.
Video - Opioid crisis in Nigeria
West Africa - and particularly its most populous nation, Nigeria - is battling an opioid abuse crisis. Medicines such as tramadol, legally and legitimately prescribed by doctors for pain relief, are also being taken in life-threatening doses by millions in search of a fix or a release from poverty, unemployment and lack of opportunity. People & Power sent filmmakers Naashon Zalk and Antony Loewenstein to Nigeria to investigate how the drug is smuggled, traded and abused, as well as the widespread corruption that follows this illicit trafficking, and the appalling health consequences for those in its grip.
Related story: Growing meth market in Nigeria
Video - Nigerian entrepreneur creates jobs to drive economic empowerment
A multiple award-winning Nigerian professional Chef is turning her passion for food into an enterprise that is creating opportunities for young aspiring chefs. Fatima Haruna has trained over 80,000 people on various culinary skills and her classes are usually packed. She says her dream is to train as many young Nigerians as possible, so that they too- can become economically empowered.
Video - Nigeria leads continent in Air Pollution-related deaths
Pollution in Nigeria is getting worse. According to a 2019 State of Global Air report, the West African nation has the highest air pollution-related deaths in the continent. In addition, burning wood and coal in Nigeria's vast rural areas is increasingly intensifying the suffering of many.
Growing meth market in Nigeria
Nigeria has emerged over the past decade as a significant producer of methamphetamine (meth), a highly addictive and illegal synthetic psychostimulant drug. Since the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency’s (NDLEA) first discovery in Lagos in 2011 of a clandestine meth laboratory, 17 more have been dismantled elsewhere in the country. The quantity of meth seized has skyrocketed, rising from 177kg in 2012 to 1.3 tons in 2017.
In late 2018, following the dismantling of a lab in Obinugwu village in south-east Nigeria, NDLEA Special Enforcement Team commander Sunday Zirangey reportedly said that meth was a serious threat and that Nigeria risked turning into a narco state.
Despite the acute health risks associated with its consumption – such as high blood pressure and cardiovascular-related illness – a growing number of young people in Nigeria reportedly take the drug. A 2018 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report estimated that 89 000 Nigerians were using meth. Abimbola Adebakin, a leading Lagos-based pharmacist, told Enact that “the youth may be using drugs increasingly to cope with a depressed economic reality for them”.
“Furthermore, due to our weak pharmaceutical drug distribution system, the youth have a porous drug supply situation that lends itself to support such abuse and misuse, she said.
In 2016, the illicit market for meth took a new turn in Nigeria. Drug syndicates brought Latin American drug experts to Nigeria to help them set up large-scale meth labs, with similar characteristics to those found in Mexico. One industrial super lab was said to have the capacity to produce 4,000 kg of meth per week.
When the NDLEA raided the site in March 2016, they arrested four Mexicans and five Nigerians. The Mexicans were reportedly from Sinaloa State. Their arrest provided further evidence of a formal and successful alliance between Nigerian and Latin American cartels.
The growth of the illicit meth market in Nigeria has also been fuelled by the accessibility of precursor chemicals such as ephedrine, which is theoretically a controlled substance but is widely available in Nigeria.
In March 2019, the NDLEA seized 309 kg of ephedrine from members of a criminal network in Trans Ekulu Estate in Enugu and Festac Town in Lagos. According to a 2017 report by the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna, Nigerian criminal networks bring ephedrine in from countries in West Africa that import more than they need.
According to the UNODC’s Cheikh Touré, the “use and diversion of pre-precursors and other non-controlled chemicals signifies complex challenges in addressing clandestine meth manufacturing in Nigeria and West Africa”. Touré is the UNODC programme co-ordinator for the Economic Community of West African States Regional Action Plan to address the growing problem of illicit drug trafficking, organised crime and drug abuse in West Africa.
While a portion of the meth produced in Nigeria is consumed locally, most is reportedly exported to South Africa where 1kg of meth sells for up to €10 000 (R163,000). It is also trafficked to South-East Asia, in particular Japan, where 1kg can reportedly fetch €130,000.
As in Mexico where syndicates use violence to control the drug market, confrontations between drug gangs in Nigeria have increased. In August 2017, gunmen attacked a church in Ozubulu in Anambra State while looking for a rival drug gang leader, killing 13 people. An investigation revealed that the fighting was between two gangs operating from South Africa.
According to Touré: “Nigeria has built up expertise in relation to the detection and dismantling of clandestine methamphetamine laboratories.” He said stricter control by the national authorities on precursor chemicals and other psychotropic substances was being implemented.
However, despite the great efforts the Nigerian authorities are making to contain illicit meth production, the illicit market of the drug is yet to be eradicated. The government should focus on effective regulation of the import of controlled precursors.
By Mouhamadou Kane
Daily Maverick
In late 2018, following the dismantling of a lab in Obinugwu village in south-east Nigeria, NDLEA Special Enforcement Team commander Sunday Zirangey reportedly said that meth was a serious threat and that Nigeria risked turning into a narco state.
Despite the acute health risks associated with its consumption – such as high blood pressure and cardiovascular-related illness – a growing number of young people in Nigeria reportedly take the drug. A 2018 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report estimated that 89 000 Nigerians were using meth. Abimbola Adebakin, a leading Lagos-based pharmacist, told Enact that “the youth may be using drugs increasingly to cope with a depressed economic reality for them”.
“Furthermore, due to our weak pharmaceutical drug distribution system, the youth have a porous drug supply situation that lends itself to support such abuse and misuse, she said.
In 2016, the illicit market for meth took a new turn in Nigeria. Drug syndicates brought Latin American drug experts to Nigeria to help them set up large-scale meth labs, with similar characteristics to those found in Mexico. One industrial super lab was said to have the capacity to produce 4,000 kg of meth per week.
When the NDLEA raided the site in March 2016, they arrested four Mexicans and five Nigerians. The Mexicans were reportedly from Sinaloa State. Their arrest provided further evidence of a formal and successful alliance between Nigerian and Latin American cartels.
The growth of the illicit meth market in Nigeria has also been fuelled by the accessibility of precursor chemicals such as ephedrine, which is theoretically a controlled substance but is widely available in Nigeria.
In March 2019, the NDLEA seized 309 kg of ephedrine from members of a criminal network in Trans Ekulu Estate in Enugu and Festac Town in Lagos. According to a 2017 report by the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna, Nigerian criminal networks bring ephedrine in from countries in West Africa that import more than they need.
According to the UNODC’s Cheikh Touré, the “use and diversion of pre-precursors and other non-controlled chemicals signifies complex challenges in addressing clandestine meth manufacturing in Nigeria and West Africa”. Touré is the UNODC programme co-ordinator for the Economic Community of West African States Regional Action Plan to address the growing problem of illicit drug trafficking, organised crime and drug abuse in West Africa.
While a portion of the meth produced in Nigeria is consumed locally, most is reportedly exported to South Africa where 1kg of meth sells for up to €10 000 (R163,000). It is also trafficked to South-East Asia, in particular Japan, where 1kg can reportedly fetch €130,000.
As in Mexico where syndicates use violence to control the drug market, confrontations between drug gangs in Nigeria have increased. In August 2017, gunmen attacked a church in Ozubulu in Anambra State while looking for a rival drug gang leader, killing 13 people. An investigation revealed that the fighting was between two gangs operating from South Africa.
According to Touré: “Nigeria has built up expertise in relation to the detection and dismantling of clandestine methamphetamine laboratories.” He said stricter control by the national authorities on precursor chemicals and other psychotropic substances was being implemented.
However, despite the great efforts the Nigerian authorities are making to contain illicit meth production, the illicit market of the drug is yet to be eradicated. The government should focus on effective regulation of the import of controlled precursors.
By Mouhamadou Kane
Daily Maverick
Film industry in Nigeria draws global entertainment brands
“Oya!” shouts the director in Nigerian Pidgin English. Actors take their marks. Lighting blinks on. The film crew snaps into action after the order to hurry up.
It’s another day in Nollywood, the affectionate nickname for Nigeria’s film industry - the world’s second most prolific after India’s Bollywood, producing hundreds of films and TV episodes each month.
For decades it was a factory churning out visual pulp fiction destined for the market stalls of DVD pirates. But Nollywood is increasingly grabbing the attention - and financing - of global entertainment brands.
Some, like French group Vivendi’s Canal+, seek to harness Nigerian hustle and know-how to extend the lifespan of the traditional pay-TV model, which is bleeding customers in developed markets but still has a future in Africa.
Others, including South Africa’s MultiChoice, are using Nigeria as a testing ground for introducing streaming platforms in African markets with poor communications infrastructure and low income levels.
In both cases, it’s local production that’s benefiting.
“Ten years ago Nollywood was very different,” Mary Njoku, whose ROK studios was acquired by Canal+ in July, told Reuters as the film crew worked in an abandoned hotel in Nigeria’s megacity Lagos. “Today we shoot with better cameras... We do things differently.”
A room on the hotel’s top floor was standing in for a college dorm on “What Are Friends For?”, an ROK comedy series that will be among new shows aired by Canal+ in coming months.
The company first dipped its toe into Africa’s most populous country six years ago, buying up local films, dubbing them and airing them on a dedicated channel, Nollywood TV, to viewers in French-speaking Africa.
That success led to the creation of a second channel.
The deal with ROK secures a steady supply of new films and series as the firm eyes a further expansion of African content, said Fabrice Faux, Canal+ International’s chief content officer.
Since it was founded six years ago, ROK has produced more than 540 films and 25 series. Under the Canal+ deal, Njoku says it aims to increase production from next year to around 300 films and 20 series annually.
Canal+’s pivot to Africa - a golden opportunity for ROK - is a business necessity for the French company.
“It is one of the very rare pay-TV markets that is growing and is growing very fast,” Faux told Reuters. “When I joined Canal+ International back in 2014, we had half a million (African subscribers) and now we have 4 million.”
Compare that to mainland France where, as of last year, it had lost some 1.3 million individual subscribers since 2013.
Much of that decline arose from losing broadcasting rights to popular sporting events. But it also reflected stiff competition from streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon. However, Faux believes such rivals pose no threat in Africa due to a widespread lack of 4G coverage or fixed broadband internet on the continent.
To properly develop African markets, however, Canal+ must cater to their diverse audiences, Faux said.
Francophone Africa has no Nollywood equivalent. Producing shows there has been slow and expensive, as Canal+ has been forced to bring in film crews from Europe to shoot on location, Faux said. He now hopes Canal+ can use ROK to clone the Nollywood model.
“The best knowledge and expertise is there in Nigeria. So it is our intention to try to bring some producers, technicians, directors to French-speaking Africa, for us to try to develop new production methods,” Faux said.
TEMPORARY GLITCHES?
If Canal+ sees little threat from streaming services in Africa, MultiChoice - the first major entertainment group to realize Nollywood’s potential - is out to prove it wrong.
In its infancy in the 1990s, Nollywood churned out cheap films ranging from bawdy comedies to morality tales about witchcraft and infidelity.
Low on production quality but high on entertainment value, these movies quickly garnered a fanatical following across Africa and its diaspora. And in 2003, MultiChoice launched Africa Magic - a Nollywood channel that would grow into a subscription package on its DStv satellite network.
In July, Showmax, MultiChoice’s fledgling video-streaming service, launched in Nigeria.
“The Nollywood phenomenon makes it quite interesting from a content development point of view. You have a huge base of very loyal fans,” said Niclas Ekdahl, CEO of MultiChoice’s connected video division.
Showmax - also available in South Africa and Kenya - is not alone in Nigeria’s video-on-demand market.
U.S. streaming giant Netflix released “Lionheart”, its first original film produced in Nigeria, in January. It is also negotiating licence deals for Nigerian films such as “Chief Daddy”, a comedy that debuted on the platform in March.
But bringing streaming to African audiences won’t be easy. Expensive mobile data and low incomes make regular streaming unaffordable for many on the continent.
One gigabyte of data, enough to watch about three films, costs the equivalent of around $2.80 in Nigeria, while most people live on less than $2 a day.
The experience of Malaysian streaming platform iflix is a cautionary tale.
It launched in Nigeria in 2017, then expanded to Kenya, Ghana and Zimbabwe following a tie-up with Kwese TV, a subsidiary of Zimbabwe’s Econet Media Limited.
However, data discounts and a pay-as-you-go option were not enough to sustain the business. In December, iflix sold its Africa business to the Econet group, which shut down the streaming service last month.
Showmax’s Ekdahl remains undaunted, passing the challenges off as “temporary glitches”. The potential payoff - a largely untapped audience of 1 billion - is worth the effort of tailoring a business to African markets, he believes.
Showmax partnered with mobile phone operators Vodacom, MTN and Telkom in South Africa and Safaricom in Kenya to offer reduced data and subscription fees. It aims to do the same in Nigeria.
It is also experimenting with installing wireless internet in public transport, so viewers can download content during their daily commutes without incurring data costs.
The boom in interest in Nigeria’s film industry can only be a good thing, says Joshua Richard, a barrel-chested actor who plays a fanatically religious student on “What Are Friends For?”
Foreign investment will, he hopes, help Nollywood shake off a reputation for shoddy camerawork and muffled sound, while also leading to greater artistic recognition overseas.
“It exposes African actors to a bigger audience,” he said. “We have lots of good content in Nollywood, but it doesn’t get the credit it deserves.”
By Alexis Akwagyiram
Reuters
Related stories: Nollywood: most prolific movie machine
It’s another day in Nollywood, the affectionate nickname for Nigeria’s film industry - the world’s second most prolific after India’s Bollywood, producing hundreds of films and TV episodes each month.
For decades it was a factory churning out visual pulp fiction destined for the market stalls of DVD pirates. But Nollywood is increasingly grabbing the attention - and financing - of global entertainment brands.
Some, like French group Vivendi’s Canal+, seek to harness Nigerian hustle and know-how to extend the lifespan of the traditional pay-TV model, which is bleeding customers in developed markets but still has a future in Africa.
Others, including South Africa’s MultiChoice, are using Nigeria as a testing ground for introducing streaming platforms in African markets with poor communications infrastructure and low income levels.
In both cases, it’s local production that’s benefiting.
“Ten years ago Nollywood was very different,” Mary Njoku, whose ROK studios was acquired by Canal+ in July, told Reuters as the film crew worked in an abandoned hotel in Nigeria’s megacity Lagos. “Today we shoot with better cameras... We do things differently.”
A room on the hotel’s top floor was standing in for a college dorm on “What Are Friends For?”, an ROK comedy series that will be among new shows aired by Canal+ in coming months.
The company first dipped its toe into Africa’s most populous country six years ago, buying up local films, dubbing them and airing them on a dedicated channel, Nollywood TV, to viewers in French-speaking Africa.
That success led to the creation of a second channel.
The deal with ROK secures a steady supply of new films and series as the firm eyes a further expansion of African content, said Fabrice Faux, Canal+ International’s chief content officer.
Since it was founded six years ago, ROK has produced more than 540 films and 25 series. Under the Canal+ deal, Njoku says it aims to increase production from next year to around 300 films and 20 series annually.
Canal+’s pivot to Africa - a golden opportunity for ROK - is a business necessity for the French company.
“It is one of the very rare pay-TV markets that is growing and is growing very fast,” Faux told Reuters. “When I joined Canal+ International back in 2014, we had half a million (African subscribers) and now we have 4 million.”
Compare that to mainland France where, as of last year, it had lost some 1.3 million individual subscribers since 2013.
Much of that decline arose from losing broadcasting rights to popular sporting events. But it also reflected stiff competition from streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon. However, Faux believes such rivals pose no threat in Africa due to a widespread lack of 4G coverage or fixed broadband internet on the continent.
To properly develop African markets, however, Canal+ must cater to their diverse audiences, Faux said.
Francophone Africa has no Nollywood equivalent. Producing shows there has been slow and expensive, as Canal+ has been forced to bring in film crews from Europe to shoot on location, Faux said. He now hopes Canal+ can use ROK to clone the Nollywood model.
“The best knowledge and expertise is there in Nigeria. So it is our intention to try to bring some producers, technicians, directors to French-speaking Africa, for us to try to develop new production methods,” Faux said.
TEMPORARY GLITCHES?
If Canal+ sees little threat from streaming services in Africa, MultiChoice - the first major entertainment group to realize Nollywood’s potential - is out to prove it wrong.
In its infancy in the 1990s, Nollywood churned out cheap films ranging from bawdy comedies to morality tales about witchcraft and infidelity.
Low on production quality but high on entertainment value, these movies quickly garnered a fanatical following across Africa and its diaspora. And in 2003, MultiChoice launched Africa Magic - a Nollywood channel that would grow into a subscription package on its DStv satellite network.
In July, Showmax, MultiChoice’s fledgling video-streaming service, launched in Nigeria.
“The Nollywood phenomenon makes it quite interesting from a content development point of view. You have a huge base of very loyal fans,” said Niclas Ekdahl, CEO of MultiChoice’s connected video division.
Showmax - also available in South Africa and Kenya - is not alone in Nigeria’s video-on-demand market.
U.S. streaming giant Netflix released “Lionheart”, its first original film produced in Nigeria, in January. It is also negotiating licence deals for Nigerian films such as “Chief Daddy”, a comedy that debuted on the platform in March.
But bringing streaming to African audiences won’t be easy. Expensive mobile data and low incomes make regular streaming unaffordable for many on the continent.
One gigabyte of data, enough to watch about three films, costs the equivalent of around $2.80 in Nigeria, while most people live on less than $2 a day.
The experience of Malaysian streaming platform iflix is a cautionary tale.
It launched in Nigeria in 2017, then expanded to Kenya, Ghana and Zimbabwe following a tie-up with Kwese TV, a subsidiary of Zimbabwe’s Econet Media Limited.
However, data discounts and a pay-as-you-go option were not enough to sustain the business. In December, iflix sold its Africa business to the Econet group, which shut down the streaming service last month.
Showmax’s Ekdahl remains undaunted, passing the challenges off as “temporary glitches”. The potential payoff - a largely untapped audience of 1 billion - is worth the effort of tailoring a business to African markets, he believes.
Showmax partnered with mobile phone operators Vodacom, MTN and Telkom in South Africa and Safaricom in Kenya to offer reduced data and subscription fees. It aims to do the same in Nigeria.
It is also experimenting with installing wireless internet in public transport, so viewers can download content during their daily commutes without incurring data costs.
The boom in interest in Nigeria’s film industry can only be a good thing, says Joshua Richard, a barrel-chested actor who plays a fanatically religious student on “What Are Friends For?”
Foreign investment will, he hopes, help Nollywood shake off a reputation for shoddy camerawork and muffled sound, while also leading to greater artistic recognition overseas.
“It exposes African actors to a bigger audience,” he said. “We have lots of good content in Nollywood, but it doesn’t get the credit it deserves.”
By Alexis Akwagyiram
Reuters
Related stories: Nollywood: most prolific movie machine
Monday, September 9, 2019
Video - Nigeria works to end violence in 'Wild West'
After years of military action in north-west Nigeria, the government is choosing dialogue to end killings and kidnapping mainly by nomadic cattle herders. Government officials say they want to tackle the injustices that fueled the crisis in the first place.
Nigeria to repatriate 600 Nigerians from South Africa due to xenophobic violence
Nigeria will repatriate about 600 citizens from South Africa this week following a wave of xenophobic violence that caused tensions between the countries, a Nigerian diplomat said Monday.
South Africa's financial capital Johannesburg and surrounding areas were rocked by a surge of deadly attacks against foreigners this week, many directed against Nigerian-owned businesses and properties.
"They are about 600 now" due to be flown back, Godwin Adamu, Nigerian Consul General in Johannesburg, told AFP.
Nigerian airline "Air Peace is beginning the airlift by Wednesday, the first flight with 320 Nigerians," he said. "We will have another one immediately after that."
At least 12 people were killed in the violence and hundreds of shops destroyed.
Foreign workers are often victims of anti-immigrant sentiment in South Africa -- the continent's second biggest economy after Nigeria -- where they compete against locals for jobs, particularly in low-skilled industries.
AFP
South Africa's financial capital Johannesburg and surrounding areas were rocked by a surge of deadly attacks against foreigners this week, many directed against Nigerian-owned businesses and properties.
"They are about 600 now" due to be flown back, Godwin Adamu, Nigerian Consul General in Johannesburg, told AFP.
Nigerian airline "Air Peace is beginning the airlift by Wednesday, the first flight with 320 Nigerians," he said. "We will have another one immediately after that."
At least 12 people were killed in the violence and hundreds of shops destroyed.
Foreign workers are often victims of anti-immigrant sentiment in South Africa -- the continent's second biggest economy after Nigeria -- where they compete against locals for jobs, particularly in low-skilled industries.
AFP
Friday, September 6, 2019
Video - Joe Rogan and Zuby talk about scammers from Nigeria
Joe Rogan and Zuby talk about scammers from Nigeria.
Related stories: Global reputation of Nigeria dented by FBI fraud bust
Video - Hacker attempts to help victim of Nigerian 419 scam recover $400,000
FBI charges 80 people connected to Nigerian romance scams
Medical doctor turned hacker says hacking into Nigerian banks is very easy
Nigerians beating bitcoin scams
Video - Nigeria struggling to diversify beyond dependence on crude oil
The continent's largest economy, Nigeria is still struggling to diversify beyond a dependence on crude oil earnings. In the textile industry for instance, the country relies heavily on imported fabrics, since the local supply is insufficient.
Video - Nigeria Police battle angry rioters in Abuja demonstrating against violence
Police in Nigeria's capital - Abuja are battling angry youths - protesting against Xenophobic attacks in South Africa. The youths tried to gain access into South African owned mall - Shoprite during the fracas. This comes as South African Ambassador to Nigeria - Bobby Monroe initiated peace talks with the nations' student and youth Groups.
Video - South Africa closes embassy in Nigeria due to recent xenophobic violence
South Africa has temporarily closed its diplomatic missions in Nigeria following reprisal attacks by Nigerians triggered by xenophobic violence in South Africa.
Between Sunday and Wednesday, mobs looted and destroyed shops, many of them foreign-owned, in South Africa's commercial hub, Johannesburg.
Nigeria's government has been outspoken in its condemnation of the violence.
Police say the unrest has subsided and more than 420 arrests have been made.
South Africa's Foreign Minister, Naledi Pandor, called the violence an embarrassment for her country.
"Our government regrets all violence against foreign-owned stores or Africans from other countries who are resident in South Africa," she was quoted as saying by national broadcaster SABC.
She ordered the closure of the country's high commission in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, and its mission in Lagos, following threats made to the diplomatic staff.
Have any Nigerians been killed?
Videos and images that have been shared on social media purporting to show Nigerians being attacked and killed have inflamed tensions.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, South African-owned businesses were targeted by protesters in several Nigerian cities, and the looters said the attacks were reprisals for the killing of Nigerians in South Africa. South African telecoms giant MTN closed its shops as a precaution.
In response to the violence in Johannesburg, two of Nigeria's top musicians, Burna Boy And Tiwa Savage, announced they were boycotting South Africa.
At least 10 people have been killed in the trouble in South Africa, including two foreign nationals, the South African government says, but none of the victims have been identified as Nigerian.
On Wednesday, Nigerian Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama told journalists: "There are a lot of stories going around of Nigerians being killed, jumping off buildings and being burnt. This is not the case."
While the government believes Nigerian businesses have been targeted in South Africa, he added, it has no evidence that Nigerians have died.
Mr Onyeama also urged people to stop attacking South African businesses in Nigeria, saying that President Muhammadu Buhari was "particularly distraught at the acts of vandalism".
Why has the Nigerian government been so outspoken?
Despite disputing the accounts of Nigerians dying in South Africa, the Nigerian government has been forceful in its condemnation of events there.
On Wednesday, it announced it was boycotting the World Economic Forum on Africa that is currently taking place in Cape Town in protest at the violence.
"The government believes that we have to take the moral high ground on this matter," Mr Onyeama said.
The president has also sent an envoy to South Africa to "express Nigeria's displeasure over the treatment of her citizens".
Nigerians often criticise the authorities for being slow to respond to domestic crises and the government is keen to be seen to be taking action over attacks in South Africa, said the BBC's Nigeria correspondent, Mayeni Jones.
What about reaction elsewhere in Africa?
On Thursday, demonstrators in the Democratic Republic of Congo's second city, Lubumbashi, broke the windows of South Africa's consulate, AFP news agency reports.
There was also a small demonstration outside the South African embassy in the capital, Kinshasa.
Air Tanzania, the country's national carrier, has suspended flights to Johannesburg because of the violence, Transport Minister Isack Kamwelwe said.
Madagascar's football federation has announced that it will not be sending a team to play South Africa in a friendly on Saturday because of security concerns.
The fixture against Madagascar was announced after Zambia pulled out of the match earlier this week over the xenophobic violence.
On Wednesday, students in the Zambian capital, Lusaka, forced the closure of several South African-owned shopping malls.
A group also marched on the South African high commission in the city and defaced the sign outside the compound.
"We are tired of being beaten every day. We're all Africa. Why must we be afraid to go to South Africa?... We want the ambassador to address us," one protester told Reuters news agency.
On Tuesday, the African Union (AU) issued a statement condemning the "despicable acts" of violence in South Africa "in the strongest terms".
What sparked the looting in South Africa?
The attacks on foreign-owned shops began after South African lorry drivers started a nationwide strike to protest against the employment of foreign drivers. They blocked roads and torched foreign-driven vehicles mainly in the coastal KwaZulu-Natal province.
It comes at a time of high unemployment and some South Africans blame foreigners for taking their jobs.
The unemployment rate in South Africa is nearly 28%, the highest since the labour force survey was introduced 11 years ago.
The government minister responsible for small business development told BBC Newsday the rioters "feel there are other Africans coming into the country and they feel these Africans are taking our jobs".
Lindiwe Zulu said the problems were caused by the movement of people across Africa.
"We are facing a challenge that is beyond South Africa as a country. This is an African problem," she said.
Some foreigners are also accused of being involved in pushing illegal drugs.
A taxi driver was allegedly shot dead in Pretoria last week when he confronted foreign nationals thought to be selling drugs to young people, reports South Africa's News 24.
BBC
Thursday, September 5, 2019
Video - Real Estate event in Lagos focuses on bridging investment gaps in the market
An estimated 2000 delegates from across Africa gathered in Nigeria's commercial capital Lagos for the 2nd edition of The African Real Estate Conference. The forum aims to bridge investment gaps and uphold standards in Africa's Real Estate market.
Video - Obasanjo commends China's achievements
With the upcoming 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, CGTN interviewed Olusegun Obasanjo, a former president of Nigeria. During his time in office, Obasanjo actively promoted cooperation between China and Nigeria. He visited China for the first time in the late 1980s. He said that what he saw left a deep impression.
Women from Nigeria exploited in Ghana by Smugglers
Jennifer* has spent the last few weeks on the pavements of Vienna City, a hub in Kumasi, Ghana's second-largest city, which has a bustling nightlife.
She arrived in Ghana in May, having left a crowded hostel room in Lagos, Nigeria, hoping to secure work in sales or as a waitress and send her income to her mother in central Nigeria's Ondo State.
But after a one-day bus trip from Lagos to Accra, her dreams crumbled as she reached the green hills of Kumasi.
"Please, get me out of here, this life is devastating," she said.
"They put me immediately on the street, forcing me to prostitute from 8pm till morning, every day,'' she said in a bar on Harper Road, where Rihanna's songs crackled through an old sound system as other Nigerian women outside dressed in revealing clothes waited for clients.
"Each night, I receive up to eight clients, and end up having $20 to $25 in my hands,'' she said.
Most of her money goes back into the "system" - to a "madam", a Nigerian woman, and middlemen such as hotel managers.
Women and girls like Jennifer, with some as young as 14, are victims of a trafficking network that benefits several people from Nigeria to Ghana.
The old district of Dichemso, the heart of the business, lies on the opposite side of Kumasi's city centre.
"Dichemso is where Kumasi's sex industry is flourishing, thanks to different guesthouses and hotels, such as the Plaza," said Bright Owusu, an independent researcher who has spent the last three years meeting Nigerian women forced into prostitution in the city.
Twenty Nigerian women live at one of these guesthouses, which is controlled by a few men at the entrance.
Locked in her room, 26-year-old Blessing* shared her experience.
"I am the oldest of five sisters and brothers: when our parents died, I knew I had to take care of them,'' she said.
Local middlemen convinced her to leave Lokoja, in central Nigeria, to Ghana.
In Kumasi, "they introduced me to a woman, who brought me to a fetish priest and told me I owed her 8,000 cedis [about $1,500] for my transportation: I had to prostitute to pay that sum back".
In some African countries, a "fetish priest" serves as a mediator between the spirit and the living.
Blessing refused, and ran away.
Soon after, she received death threats in messages to her phone. "The madam said the priest would throw a curse against me, but I didn't want any debt,'' she said.
After working for four months at a local market, for barely $30 a month, Blessing ultimately turned to prostitution as the only way to pay college fees for her younger sisters.
"I don't like it here, but I have to resist,'' she said.
In one year in Dichemso, she said she has met dozens of women with similar experiences.
"Every day, Nigerian girls enter Ghana, undergo voodoo rituals and are put into prostitution, and nobody seems to care," she said.
"Through rituals, madams make sure that you'll pay back a debt," said Blessing.
Debts vary between $1,000 and $2,000, while prices "are as low as 5 cedis [$1] for a short [sexual encounter] - less than 10 minutes with the client - and up to 30 cedis for half an hour or more", she added.
Owusu, the researcher, explained: "Some of these women know they'll be coming for prostitution, but they don't know that once here, they'll lose control over their life."
Voodoo rituals play a central role.
"They are the most powerful bond, one that has a strong psychological impact," he said.
Victoria Klimova, a project coordinator at the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Ghana, said that national authorities do not have complete information on sex trafficking.
However, according to Al Jazeera's interviews and research, it is estimated that there are at least hundreds of Nigerian women working as prostitutes in Ghana.
Late last year, IOM launched a programme aimed at creating comprehensive data on sex trafficking and labour exploitation in Ghana, and to support the government's 2017 strategy to combat the problem.
According to the US Department of State, a trafficking investigation which opened last year has seen just three people convicted.
Out of 49 women identified as potential victims of sex trafficking, 46 were Nigerian, and 22 were underage.
The Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), a state agency, in part supported this investigation.
Alberta Ampofo leads its anti-smuggling operation, which is propped up with European Union funds.
She said some "rescued women" are living at Ghana's first shelter for trafficking victims, which opened in February.
"They should cooperate in investigations, before being returned to their families," she said.
"Victims of sex trafficking are in all corners of Ghana and much has yet to be done, but there's more awareness among the population and authorities, and that's a good start."
But Ampofo said that GIS is not prosecuting fetish priests.
"How can a priest know that a Nigerian lady is a victim of trafficking, if the madam simply presents her as an employee?"
However, this is not the case of Nana Badu, a renowned prophetess in Kumasi.
In a small room in her house, there are wooden statues of oracles, bowls and bottles.
Her oracles, she said, "can give strength, bring children, make business flourish or protect from enemies".
She added that madams "come for protection so that the police won't stop their girls at the border, since I have a medicine that prevents police from seeing you".
To "help" trafficked women pay back their debts, she claimed that she is able to foster "bonds" between sex workers and employers.
"If a woman tries to escape, the oracle will put the police on her back, to arrest her,'' said Badu.
Finally, when the debt is repaid, the madam returns with the sex worker and Badu reverses a ritual to release the victim.
None of the five women Al Jazeera interviewed in Kumasi, who hailed from different Nigerian states, was aware of a 2018 edict that dissolved all these oaths, led by the influential Oba, or traditional chief, of Benin City - one of the main origins of Nigerian women trafficked to Europe.
"Traditional priests feel they are somehow untouchable here, even by authorities,'' said Owusu.
Still, their services appear to play a key role in a system that exposes Nigerian women in Ghana to daily risks, as tragically confirmed in May with the murder of a 25-year-old woman known as Nina.
"I remember her receiving a call from a client and smiling," said Blessing, who knew Nina well.
Days later, the woman's body was found outside of Kumasi. Two men were arrested for the murder.
"We collected money for the burial and called her parents back in Nigeria," said Blessing. "They had no idea of what their daughter was going through here."
By Giacomo Zandonini
Al Jazeera
Related story: Video - Nigeria locking up survivors of human trafficking
She arrived in Ghana in May, having left a crowded hostel room in Lagos, Nigeria, hoping to secure work in sales or as a waitress and send her income to her mother in central Nigeria's Ondo State.
But after a one-day bus trip from Lagos to Accra, her dreams crumbled as she reached the green hills of Kumasi.
"Please, get me out of here, this life is devastating," she said.
"They put me immediately on the street, forcing me to prostitute from 8pm till morning, every day,'' she said in a bar on Harper Road, where Rihanna's songs crackled through an old sound system as other Nigerian women outside dressed in revealing clothes waited for clients.
"Each night, I receive up to eight clients, and end up having $20 to $25 in my hands,'' she said.
Most of her money goes back into the "system" - to a "madam", a Nigerian woman, and middlemen such as hotel managers.
Women and girls like Jennifer, with some as young as 14, are victims of a trafficking network that benefits several people from Nigeria to Ghana.
The old district of Dichemso, the heart of the business, lies on the opposite side of Kumasi's city centre.
"Dichemso is where Kumasi's sex industry is flourishing, thanks to different guesthouses and hotels, such as the Plaza," said Bright Owusu, an independent researcher who has spent the last three years meeting Nigerian women forced into prostitution in the city.
Twenty Nigerian women live at one of these guesthouses, which is controlled by a few men at the entrance.
Locked in her room, 26-year-old Blessing* shared her experience.
"I am the oldest of five sisters and brothers: when our parents died, I knew I had to take care of them,'' she said.
Local middlemen convinced her to leave Lokoja, in central Nigeria, to Ghana.
In Kumasi, "they introduced me to a woman, who brought me to a fetish priest and told me I owed her 8,000 cedis [about $1,500] for my transportation: I had to prostitute to pay that sum back".
In some African countries, a "fetish priest" serves as a mediator between the spirit and the living.
Blessing refused, and ran away.
Soon after, she received death threats in messages to her phone. "The madam said the priest would throw a curse against me, but I didn't want any debt,'' she said.
After working for four months at a local market, for barely $30 a month, Blessing ultimately turned to prostitution as the only way to pay college fees for her younger sisters.
"I don't like it here, but I have to resist,'' she said.
In one year in Dichemso, she said she has met dozens of women with similar experiences.
"Every day, Nigerian girls enter Ghana, undergo voodoo rituals and are put into prostitution, and nobody seems to care," she said.
"Through rituals, madams make sure that you'll pay back a debt," said Blessing.
Debts vary between $1,000 and $2,000, while prices "are as low as 5 cedis [$1] for a short [sexual encounter] - less than 10 minutes with the client - and up to 30 cedis for half an hour or more", she added.
Owusu, the researcher, explained: "Some of these women know they'll be coming for prostitution, but they don't know that once here, they'll lose control over their life."
Voodoo rituals play a central role.
"They are the most powerful bond, one that has a strong psychological impact," he said.
Victoria Klimova, a project coordinator at the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Ghana, said that national authorities do not have complete information on sex trafficking.
However, according to Al Jazeera's interviews and research, it is estimated that there are at least hundreds of Nigerian women working as prostitutes in Ghana.
Late last year, IOM launched a programme aimed at creating comprehensive data on sex trafficking and labour exploitation in Ghana, and to support the government's 2017 strategy to combat the problem.
According to the US Department of State, a trafficking investigation which opened last year has seen just three people convicted.
Out of 49 women identified as potential victims of sex trafficking, 46 were Nigerian, and 22 were underage.
The Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), a state agency, in part supported this investigation.
Alberta Ampofo leads its anti-smuggling operation, which is propped up with European Union funds.
She said some "rescued women" are living at Ghana's first shelter for trafficking victims, which opened in February.
"They should cooperate in investigations, before being returned to their families," she said.
"Victims of sex trafficking are in all corners of Ghana and much has yet to be done, but there's more awareness among the population and authorities, and that's a good start."
But Ampofo said that GIS is not prosecuting fetish priests.
"How can a priest know that a Nigerian lady is a victim of trafficking, if the madam simply presents her as an employee?"
However, this is not the case of Nana Badu, a renowned prophetess in Kumasi.
In a small room in her house, there are wooden statues of oracles, bowls and bottles.
Her oracles, she said, "can give strength, bring children, make business flourish or protect from enemies".
She added that madams "come for protection so that the police won't stop their girls at the border, since I have a medicine that prevents police from seeing you".
To "help" trafficked women pay back their debts, she claimed that she is able to foster "bonds" between sex workers and employers.
"If a woman tries to escape, the oracle will put the police on her back, to arrest her,'' said Badu.
Finally, when the debt is repaid, the madam returns with the sex worker and Badu reverses a ritual to release the victim.
None of the five women Al Jazeera interviewed in Kumasi, who hailed from different Nigerian states, was aware of a 2018 edict that dissolved all these oaths, led by the influential Oba, or traditional chief, of Benin City - one of the main origins of Nigerian women trafficked to Europe.
"Traditional priests feel they are somehow untouchable here, even by authorities,'' said Owusu.
Still, their services appear to play a key role in a system that exposes Nigerian women in Ghana to daily risks, as tragically confirmed in May with the murder of a 25-year-old woman known as Nina.
"I remember her receiving a call from a client and smiling," said Blessing, who knew Nina well.
Days later, the woman's body was found outside of Kumasi. Two men were arrested for the murder.
"We collected money for the burial and called her parents back in Nigeria," said Blessing. "They had no idea of what their daughter was going through here."
By Giacomo Zandonini
Al Jazeera
Related story: Video - Nigeria locking up survivors of human trafficking
Global reputation of Nigeria dented by FBI fraud bust
The FBI's dramatic arrest and indictment of 80 mostly Nigerian cybercriminals in California last week made headlines globally. Closer to home, it has prompted concerns among Nigerians who are worried about the impact the busts will have on how the world views them and their country.
Previously, Nigerian criminality existed in the popular imagination somewhere between mildly serious and an internet joke.
Now, with the FBI's takedown of an intercontinental Nigerian criminal network responsible for millions of dollars in annual losses, some think that the country and its citizens risk facing an unprecedented international backlash.
A new era of travel restrictions?
Unsurprisingly, ease of travel is at the top of the list of concerns raised.
Nigeria is one of the world's most prolific exporters of skilled migrant labor with one of the world's least powerful passports, giving holders ready access to just 52 countries. Fresh visa restrictions are the last thing educated Nigerians need.
At 35%, Nigeria already has the world's highest UK visa refusal rate. It also ranks highly in US visa refusals with a 57% refusal rate.
After indefinitely suspending interview waivers for visa renewals earlier this year, the US Embassy in Nigeria no longer gives visa interview appointments according to local reports. The embassy's Public Affairs section has denied blocking interview appointments but has provided no further comment on the issue.
Many believe that the headlines and pictures showing the arrest of several hitherto shadowy Nigerian cybercriminals will significantly worsen the situation.
They fear that the indictment and prosecution of an organized Nigerian-American crime syndicate will give President Donald Trump scarcely-needed motivation to impose a Yemen-style US travel restriction on Nigerian citizens.
It will be recalled that shortly after taking office, Trump imposed total visa bans on seven countries in Africa and the Middle East including Yemen, Sudan, Syria, and Somalia. Some Nigerians who are American residents even fear becoming collateral damage within a new narrative of "Nigerian crime gangs."
This fear is driven in part by the experience of some innocent Hispanic teenagers who found themselves embroiled in deportation proceedings after being wrongly accused of being members of the fearsome international gang MS-13.
A sophisticated operation
Some also believe that the indictments present a risk that existing negative Nigerian stereotypes may now transcend education and income barriers.
The FBI has opened a wider window on Nigeria's internet crime problem to the world, depicting a sophisticated operation involving people with professional web development experience and organizational process knowledge.
These are not the crude "Nigerian Princes" of the popular imagination, sitting inside crowded Lagos cybercafes sending out poorly written emails. They are highly educated and well-traveled individuals, one of whom has appeared on a Forbes 30-Under-30 list.
When the implication of this sinks in, the rest of the world may well stop segmenting Nigerians and simply lose trust in them collectively.
Outside of Nigeria, the "Nigerian" identity risks becoming subsumed by the "criminal country" single narrative that once prevented Italian immigrants in the US from moving up the social ladder.
Unlike the early 20th century Italians, Nigerians have very little with which to counterbalance negative global narratives.
Italy was a global hub for art, tourism, history, religion, and food. Nigeria is a barely functional African state that struggles to fund its budget and police its borders. Adding a mafia-lite dimension to Nigeria's already poor global image risks turning Nigerians into international pariahs, which is bad news for a country that is highly dependent on remittances.
In 2018, Nigeria received over $25 billion in remittances, a figure which exceeded the country's federal budget of $23.7 billion for that year. In the context of Nigeria's dwindling oil receipts and 70% debt service-to-revenue ratio, the picture becomes even bleaker.
A full fledged-pariah state?
As the world tackles the threat of a terrifying new Nigerian bogeyman, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) will come under pressure to demonstrate enforcement of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations.
Predictably, the remittance sector will come under even stricter international scrutiny than at present, even though Nigeria's internet fraudsters mostly moved on years ago.
The indicted cybercriminals typically moved the stolen funds through the Nigerian banking system, instead of parallel systems like bitcoin and gift cards (which are themselves popular with other Nigerian internet scammers). This will likely attract the attention of the US Department of Justice.
At risk of removal from the SWIFT network, which connects banks across borders and effectively underpins international trade, Nigerian authorities will almost certainly do whatever they can to restore some semblance of global confidence in their KYC and AML enforcement.
On the whole, individual Nigerian citizens and organizations may well suffer localized backlash due to last week's indictments, but the Nigerian state itself is unlikely to suffer much. This is because unlike the North Korean regime, Nigeria's government neither plays an active role in cybercrime nor is it openly hostile to the international community.
The EFCC has already started collaborating with the FBI to arrest indicted suspects in Abuja with extradition to the US in view.
Going forward, the Nigerian government is best served playing a compliant and competent role in the prosecution of this case. Ultimately, that could be the difference between becoming a full-fledged pariah state and merely remaining a poorly-regarded one.
The state will always be fine, but the citizens? Not so much.
By David Hundeyin
CNN
Related story: FBI charges 80 people connected to Nigerian romance scams
Previously, Nigerian criminality existed in the popular imagination somewhere between mildly serious and an internet joke.
Now, with the FBI's takedown of an intercontinental Nigerian criminal network responsible for millions of dollars in annual losses, some think that the country and its citizens risk facing an unprecedented international backlash.
A new era of travel restrictions?
Unsurprisingly, ease of travel is at the top of the list of concerns raised.
Nigeria is one of the world's most prolific exporters of skilled migrant labor with one of the world's least powerful passports, giving holders ready access to just 52 countries. Fresh visa restrictions are the last thing educated Nigerians need.
At 35%, Nigeria already has the world's highest UK visa refusal rate. It also ranks highly in US visa refusals with a 57% refusal rate.
After indefinitely suspending interview waivers for visa renewals earlier this year, the US Embassy in Nigeria no longer gives visa interview appointments according to local reports. The embassy's Public Affairs section has denied blocking interview appointments but has provided no further comment on the issue.
Many believe that the headlines and pictures showing the arrest of several hitherto shadowy Nigerian cybercriminals will significantly worsen the situation.
They fear that the indictment and prosecution of an organized Nigerian-American crime syndicate will give President Donald Trump scarcely-needed motivation to impose a Yemen-style US travel restriction on Nigerian citizens.
It will be recalled that shortly after taking office, Trump imposed total visa bans on seven countries in Africa and the Middle East including Yemen, Sudan, Syria, and Somalia. Some Nigerians who are American residents even fear becoming collateral damage within a new narrative of "Nigerian crime gangs."
This fear is driven in part by the experience of some innocent Hispanic teenagers who found themselves embroiled in deportation proceedings after being wrongly accused of being members of the fearsome international gang MS-13.
A sophisticated operation
Some also believe that the indictments present a risk that existing negative Nigerian stereotypes may now transcend education and income barriers.
The FBI has opened a wider window on Nigeria's internet crime problem to the world, depicting a sophisticated operation involving people with professional web development experience and organizational process knowledge.
These are not the crude "Nigerian Princes" of the popular imagination, sitting inside crowded Lagos cybercafes sending out poorly written emails. They are highly educated and well-traveled individuals, one of whom has appeared on a Forbes 30-Under-30 list.
When the implication of this sinks in, the rest of the world may well stop segmenting Nigerians and simply lose trust in them collectively.
Outside of Nigeria, the "Nigerian" identity risks becoming subsumed by the "criminal country" single narrative that once prevented Italian immigrants in the US from moving up the social ladder.
Unlike the early 20th century Italians, Nigerians have very little with which to counterbalance negative global narratives.
Italy was a global hub for art, tourism, history, religion, and food. Nigeria is a barely functional African state that struggles to fund its budget and police its borders. Adding a mafia-lite dimension to Nigeria's already poor global image risks turning Nigerians into international pariahs, which is bad news for a country that is highly dependent on remittances.
In 2018, Nigeria received over $25 billion in remittances, a figure which exceeded the country's federal budget of $23.7 billion for that year. In the context of Nigeria's dwindling oil receipts and 70% debt service-to-revenue ratio, the picture becomes even bleaker.
A full fledged-pariah state?
As the world tackles the threat of a terrifying new Nigerian bogeyman, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) will come under pressure to demonstrate enforcement of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations.
Predictably, the remittance sector will come under even stricter international scrutiny than at present, even though Nigeria's internet fraudsters mostly moved on years ago.
The indicted cybercriminals typically moved the stolen funds through the Nigerian banking system, instead of parallel systems like bitcoin and gift cards (which are themselves popular with other Nigerian internet scammers). This will likely attract the attention of the US Department of Justice.
At risk of removal from the SWIFT network, which connects banks across borders and effectively underpins international trade, Nigerian authorities will almost certainly do whatever they can to restore some semblance of global confidence in their KYC and AML enforcement.
On the whole, individual Nigerian citizens and organizations may well suffer localized backlash due to last week's indictments, but the Nigerian state itself is unlikely to suffer much. This is because unlike the North Korean regime, Nigeria's government neither plays an active role in cybercrime nor is it openly hostile to the international community.
The EFCC has already started collaborating with the FBI to arrest indicted suspects in Abuja with extradition to the US in view.
Going forward, the Nigerian government is best served playing a compliant and competent role in the prosecution of this case. Ultimately, that could be the difference between becoming a full-fledged pariah state and merely remaining a poorly-regarded one.
The state will always be fine, but the citizens? Not so much.
By David Hundeyin
CNN
Related story: FBI charges 80 people connected to Nigerian romance scams
Nigeria withdraws from summit in South Africa after deadly riots
Nigeria has pulled out of an African economic summit in South Africa, intensifying a diplomatic row after a series of deadly attacks on foreigners, including Nigerians, in South African cities.
The withdrawal of Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo from the World Economic Forum (WEF) gathering in Cape Town cast a cloud over initiatives to boost intra-African trade. He was scheduled to address a panel on universal energy access on Thursday.
The rioting has killed at least five people in Johannesburg and Pretoria in recent days.
On Wednesday, South African companies MTN and Shoprite closed stores in Nigeria after retaliatory attacks on their businesses.
"I lost millions of naira," said Jadesola, a boutique owner at Surulere mall that also houses a Shoprite outlet in the commercial capital, Lagos. "Everything I have is invested there. All my sweat."
With tears in her eyes, she asked Al Jazeera to only publish her first name for security reasons.
The political repercussions of the violence also continued to unfold.
"Clearly with this climate, he [Osinbajo] and Mr President have agreed that he should not go [to WEF]," Nigerian Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama told a news briefing.
Summit organisers confirmed Osinbajo would not attend the three-day summit, which started on Wednesday.
Nigeria also recalled its high commissioner to South Africa, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported, citing a presidential source.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, on a charm offensive to attract $100bn of new investment, tried to limit fallout from the violence, which has rekindled memories of previous deadly attacks on foreigners that also led to reprisals on South African businesses abroad.
Ramaphosa said on Wednesday that South Africans should never take justice into their own hands against people from other countries.
"We need to quell those incidents of unrest," Ramaphosa said. "South Africa must be a country where everyone feels safe," he said, also condemning the recent incidents in which women had been killed.
Meanwhile, Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Malawi's Peter Mutharika also pulled out of the Cape Town conference, but their governments did not give an official reason for their no-show.
WEF spokesman Oliver Cann said Kagame and Mutharika had informed conference organisers by Saturday - before the attacks had started - that they could not attend.
South Africa's Department of International Relations and Cooperation, commenting before Nigeria announced Osinbajo's withdrawal, said the attendance was "satisfactory".
'Cyclical tension'
Police in South Africa have yet to pinpoint what triggered the violence, which began on Sunday when protesters armed with makeshift weapons roamed the streets of Pretoria's business district, pelting shops with rocks and petrol bombs, and running off with goods.
Police have made almost 300 arrests, while people across the continent have protested and voiced their anger on social media.
Al Jazeera's Haru Mutasa, reporting from downtown Johannesburg, said: "Some shops and businesses haven't opened for days. The owners are afraid there could be more violence and looting."
Somadoda Fikeni, a policy and political analyst at the University of South Africa, said the unrest had multiple causes.
"The issue of foreign nationals, blaming them for many things which are not going well in the country and also the law enforcement and the economic conditions in the country, all of these combined, if not managed well, then create this cyclical tension between foreign nationals and locals, especially those who are in the margins because the middle class and those who are in the upper class, you hardly ever hear of such tension getting into this level," he told Al Jazeera from Pretoria.
Retaliatory attacks
In Nigeria, police said security had been strengthened around South African businesses after apparent reprisal attacks in several cities against stores operated by the supermarket chain Shoprite, MTN and other firms.
The Nigerian division of South African telecom operator MTN said on Wednesday it would shut all stores and service centres in the country until further notice after its facilities in three cities were attacked.
"The safety and security of our customers, staff and partners is our primary concern," MTN Nigeria said in a statement. "MTN condemns any acts of violence, prejudice and xenophobia."
Nigeria is MTN's biggest market, with 58 million users in 2018, and accounts for a third of the South African group's core profit.
At a Shoprite supermarket on the outskirts of the Nigerian capital, Abuja, hundreds of protesters tried to break into the premises, throwing stones, setting fire to tyres and nearly overwhelming police protecting the site.
Retaliatory attacks also took in the university town of Ibadan and the city of Uyo on Tuesday evening, Nigeria's government said in a statement.
Nigerian Foreign Minister Onyeama on Wednesday implored people to stop attacking these businesses.
"These businesses, Shoprite, MTN and others, yes, they are South African," he said at a press briefing.
"But these are subsidiaries in Nigeria owned by Nigerians. So, as attacks are made against Shoprite and other such institutions, it is actually the property owned by Nigerians within Nigeria and the people working there are Nigerians."
In recent years, attacks against foreign-owned businesses in South Africa have become a regular occurrence as frustration has increased over mounting unemployment, currently at a decade-high of around 29 percent.
Some 60 people were killed in attacks directed at foreigners in 2008 and at least seven more in 2015.
Meanwhile, tensions have also wafted into the entertainment industry as some of the top celebrities in the two countries exchanged angry patriotic tirades.
Nigeria's Tiwa Savage, one of the continent's best-known superstars, pulled out of performing at the DSTV Delicious Festival later this month in South Africa, while calling for peace and describing the attacks as "the barbaric butchering of my people".
South African rapper Casper Nyovest also called for peace in the country saying he was "embarrassed" by what was now a "recurring issue".
Al Jazeera
Related stories: MTN Nigeria shuts stores due to Anti-South African attacks
South African businesses targeted in Nigeria in retaliation
The withdrawal of Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo from the World Economic Forum (WEF) gathering in Cape Town cast a cloud over initiatives to boost intra-African trade. He was scheduled to address a panel on universal energy access on Thursday.
The rioting has killed at least five people in Johannesburg and Pretoria in recent days.
On Wednesday, South African companies MTN and Shoprite closed stores in Nigeria after retaliatory attacks on their businesses.
"I lost millions of naira," said Jadesola, a boutique owner at Surulere mall that also houses a Shoprite outlet in the commercial capital, Lagos. "Everything I have is invested there. All my sweat."
With tears in her eyes, she asked Al Jazeera to only publish her first name for security reasons.
The political repercussions of the violence also continued to unfold.
"Clearly with this climate, he [Osinbajo] and Mr President have agreed that he should not go [to WEF]," Nigerian Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama told a news briefing.
Summit organisers confirmed Osinbajo would not attend the three-day summit, which started on Wednesday.
Nigeria also recalled its high commissioner to South Africa, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported, citing a presidential source.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, on a charm offensive to attract $100bn of new investment, tried to limit fallout from the violence, which has rekindled memories of previous deadly attacks on foreigners that also led to reprisals on South African businesses abroad.
Ramaphosa said on Wednesday that South Africans should never take justice into their own hands against people from other countries.
"We need to quell those incidents of unrest," Ramaphosa said. "South Africa must be a country where everyone feels safe," he said, also condemning the recent incidents in which women had been killed.
Meanwhile, Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Malawi's Peter Mutharika also pulled out of the Cape Town conference, but their governments did not give an official reason for their no-show.
WEF spokesman Oliver Cann said Kagame and Mutharika had informed conference organisers by Saturday - before the attacks had started - that they could not attend.
South Africa's Department of International Relations and Cooperation, commenting before Nigeria announced Osinbajo's withdrawal, said the attendance was "satisfactory".
'Cyclical tension'
Police in South Africa have yet to pinpoint what triggered the violence, which began on Sunday when protesters armed with makeshift weapons roamed the streets of Pretoria's business district, pelting shops with rocks and petrol bombs, and running off with goods.
Police have made almost 300 arrests, while people across the continent have protested and voiced their anger on social media.
Al Jazeera's Haru Mutasa, reporting from downtown Johannesburg, said: "Some shops and businesses haven't opened for days. The owners are afraid there could be more violence and looting."
Somadoda Fikeni, a policy and political analyst at the University of South Africa, said the unrest had multiple causes.
"The issue of foreign nationals, blaming them for many things which are not going well in the country and also the law enforcement and the economic conditions in the country, all of these combined, if not managed well, then create this cyclical tension between foreign nationals and locals, especially those who are in the margins because the middle class and those who are in the upper class, you hardly ever hear of such tension getting into this level," he told Al Jazeera from Pretoria.
Retaliatory attacks
In Nigeria, police said security had been strengthened around South African businesses after apparent reprisal attacks in several cities against stores operated by the supermarket chain Shoprite, MTN and other firms.
The Nigerian division of South African telecom operator MTN said on Wednesday it would shut all stores and service centres in the country until further notice after its facilities in three cities were attacked.
"The safety and security of our customers, staff and partners is our primary concern," MTN Nigeria said in a statement. "MTN condemns any acts of violence, prejudice and xenophobia."
Nigeria is MTN's biggest market, with 58 million users in 2018, and accounts for a third of the South African group's core profit.
At a Shoprite supermarket on the outskirts of the Nigerian capital, Abuja, hundreds of protesters tried to break into the premises, throwing stones, setting fire to tyres and nearly overwhelming police protecting the site.
Retaliatory attacks also took in the university town of Ibadan and the city of Uyo on Tuesday evening, Nigeria's government said in a statement.
Nigerian Foreign Minister Onyeama on Wednesday implored people to stop attacking these businesses.
"These businesses, Shoprite, MTN and others, yes, they are South African," he said at a press briefing.
"But these are subsidiaries in Nigeria owned by Nigerians. So, as attacks are made against Shoprite and other such institutions, it is actually the property owned by Nigerians within Nigeria and the people working there are Nigerians."
In recent years, attacks against foreign-owned businesses in South Africa have become a regular occurrence as frustration has increased over mounting unemployment, currently at a decade-high of around 29 percent.
Some 60 people were killed in attacks directed at foreigners in 2008 and at least seven more in 2015.
Meanwhile, tensions have also wafted into the entertainment industry as some of the top celebrities in the two countries exchanged angry patriotic tirades.
Nigeria's Tiwa Savage, one of the continent's best-known superstars, pulled out of performing at the DSTV Delicious Festival later this month in South Africa, while calling for peace and describing the attacks as "the barbaric butchering of my people".
South African rapper Casper Nyovest also called for peace in the country saying he was "embarrassed" by what was now a "recurring issue".
Al Jazeera
Related stories: MTN Nigeria shuts stores due to Anti-South African attacks
South African businesses targeted in Nigeria in retaliation
Wednesday, September 4, 2019
MTN Nigeria shuts stores due to Anti-South African attacks
The Nigerian division of South African telecom operator MTN said on Wednesday it will shut all stores and service centres in the country until further notice after its facilities in three cities were attacked.
The facilities were attacked in retaliation after days of riots in South Africa chiefly targeting foreign-owned, including Nigerian, businesses.
“The safety and security of our customers, staff and partners is our primary concern,” MTN Nigeria said in a statement.
“MTN condemns any acts of violence, prejudice and xenophobia.”
The latest wave of unrest in South Africa has raised fears of a recurrence of violence in 2015 aimed at foreigners and in which at least seven people were killed. Before that, some 60 people were killed in a wave of unrest around the country in 2008.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said on Tuesday he was urgently sending a special envoy to meet with President Cyril Ramaphosa to secure the “safety of (Nigerian citizens’) lives and property”.
Police have yet to pinpoint what triggered the violence, which began on Sunday when protesters armed with makeshift weapons roamed the streets of Pretoria’s business district, pelting shops with rocks and petrol bombs and running off with goods.
Nigeria is MTN’s biggest market, with 58 million users in 2018 and accounts for a third of the South African group’s core profit.
Reuters
Related stories: South African businesses targeted in Nigeria in retaliation
President Buhari sends envoy to South Africa over violence against Nigerians
The facilities were attacked in retaliation after days of riots in South Africa chiefly targeting foreign-owned, including Nigerian, businesses.
“The safety and security of our customers, staff and partners is our primary concern,” MTN Nigeria said in a statement.
“MTN condemns any acts of violence, prejudice and xenophobia.”
The latest wave of unrest in South Africa has raised fears of a recurrence of violence in 2015 aimed at foreigners and in which at least seven people were killed. Before that, some 60 people were killed in a wave of unrest around the country in 2008.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said on Tuesday he was urgently sending a special envoy to meet with President Cyril Ramaphosa to secure the “safety of (Nigerian citizens’) lives and property”.
Police have yet to pinpoint what triggered the violence, which began on Sunday when protesters armed with makeshift weapons roamed the streets of Pretoria’s business district, pelting shops with rocks and petrol bombs and running off with goods.
Nigeria is MTN’s biggest market, with 58 million users in 2018 and accounts for a third of the South African group’s core profit.
Reuters
Related stories: South African businesses targeted in Nigeria in retaliation
President Buhari sends envoy to South Africa over violence against Nigerians
Economic growth in Nigeria slows down in second quarter
Year-on-year growth in Nigeria’s economy slowed to 1.94% in the three months to the end of June, the second quarter in a row of decline as the country struggles to shake off the effects of a recession it escaped two years ago.
Nigeria’s economy grew by 2.10% in the first quarter compared to the previous year, according to the statistics office on Tuesday.
Africa’s biggest economy has been held back by sluggish performance in the non-oil sector despite government efforts to boost those industries and wean Nigeria off the crude oil on which it depends. The central bank has forecast growth of 3% for 2019.
In the second quarter the non-oil sector grew 1.64% while the oil sector increased 5.15%, according to the statistics office.
Crude production dipped slightly to 1.98 million barrels per day from 1.99 million in the previous quarter.
EWN
Nigeria’s economy grew by 2.10% in the first quarter compared to the previous year, according to the statistics office on Tuesday.
Africa’s biggest economy has been held back by sluggish performance in the non-oil sector despite government efforts to boost those industries and wean Nigeria off the crude oil on which it depends. The central bank has forecast growth of 3% for 2019.
In the second quarter the non-oil sector grew 1.64% while the oil sector increased 5.15%, according to the statistics office.
Crude production dipped slightly to 1.98 million barrels per day from 1.99 million in the previous quarter.
EWN
Trucking app reshapes haulage business in Nigeria
An Uber-like app for trucks is making it easier and cheaper for firms to move goods in Africa’s most populous nation.
Freight logistics startup Kobo360 is using technology to connect cargo and truck owners with drivers and customers. Logistic managers can now schedule and monitor trips from the comfort of their offices, Kobo360 CEO Obi Ozor said in a Lagos interview.
The ports in the Apapa district of Lagos account for 70% of all imports into the country and is famed for its traffic gridlock caused by long lines of empty trucks waiting to enter or leave the ports. The collapse of rail infrastructure in Nigeria means that more than 90% of cargo has to be transported by road.
“Before, they had to go to Apapa and look for trucks parked on the roadside,” Ozor said. “Now if you place an order for trucks, you can be matched within 24 to 48 hours.”
The country loses an estimated $19 billion annually from traffic jams, illegal charges and insecurity at its ports, according to the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Nigeria ranks 182 out of 189 countries, below South Sudan and Iraq in the World Bank’s Trading Across Borders survey, which measures the time and expense involved with importing and exporting goods.
The 2-year-old firm that has TLcom Capital, Y Combinator and the International Financial Corporation as investors raised $20 million in August in a funding round led by Goldman Sachs and an additional $10 million in local-currency working capital from Nigerian banks.
The Lagos-based logistics firm will use the capital to expand into 10 more countries in addition to Nigeria, Kenya, Togo and Ghana, where it already operates. It will also add 25,000 drivers to its platform in coming months to more than triple the number it currently has.
Kobo360 has moved $2.1 billion worth of goods since 2017 and has a network of 10,800 truck drivers, larger than any fleet in the country, according to Ozor. It charges an average of 385,000 naira ($1,063) for a trip. Transporters who use the platform typically have one to five trucks.
“The market in Nigeria is highly inefficient and the customer is willing to pay for faster delivery, which we offer,” he said. The company takes 15% commission on each trip processed through the Kobo360 app.
Drivers on its platform do an average of 40% more trips in a month compared with other truck drivers. Haulage is 27% cheaper than existing transporters, and have 92% on-time delivery, said the CEO.
“We achieve transparency for cargo owners through the tracker that we put on the trucks on our app. We are able to guide drivers on best routes based on feedback from them.”
The tech firm also plans to track all moving trucks in Nigeria. This will allow cargo owners to follow the movement of their goods in real time on the kobo platform.
Kobo360 has made pricing more transparent for both truck owners and businesses through the two-way quote system on its platform.
Taking out the opacity around pricing will help firms have some certainty around their logistic costs and boost investments in the sector, said Ozor.
Transport Topics
Freight logistics startup Kobo360 is using technology to connect cargo and truck owners with drivers and customers. Logistic managers can now schedule and monitor trips from the comfort of their offices, Kobo360 CEO Obi Ozor said in a Lagos interview.
The ports in the Apapa district of Lagos account for 70% of all imports into the country and is famed for its traffic gridlock caused by long lines of empty trucks waiting to enter or leave the ports. The collapse of rail infrastructure in Nigeria means that more than 90% of cargo has to be transported by road.
“Before, they had to go to Apapa and look for trucks parked on the roadside,” Ozor said. “Now if you place an order for trucks, you can be matched within 24 to 48 hours.”
The country loses an estimated $19 billion annually from traffic jams, illegal charges and insecurity at its ports, according to the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Nigeria ranks 182 out of 189 countries, below South Sudan and Iraq in the World Bank’s Trading Across Borders survey, which measures the time and expense involved with importing and exporting goods.
The 2-year-old firm that has TLcom Capital, Y Combinator and the International Financial Corporation as investors raised $20 million in August in a funding round led by Goldman Sachs and an additional $10 million in local-currency working capital from Nigerian banks.
The Lagos-based logistics firm will use the capital to expand into 10 more countries in addition to Nigeria, Kenya, Togo and Ghana, where it already operates. It will also add 25,000 drivers to its platform in coming months to more than triple the number it currently has.
Kobo360 has moved $2.1 billion worth of goods since 2017 and has a network of 10,800 truck drivers, larger than any fleet in the country, according to Ozor. It charges an average of 385,000 naira ($1,063) for a trip. Transporters who use the platform typically have one to five trucks.
“The market in Nigeria is highly inefficient and the customer is willing to pay for faster delivery, which we offer,” he said. The company takes 15% commission on each trip processed through the Kobo360 app.
Drivers on its platform do an average of 40% more trips in a month compared with other truck drivers. Haulage is 27% cheaper than existing transporters, and have 92% on-time delivery, said the CEO.
“We achieve transparency for cargo owners through the tracker that we put on the trucks on our app. We are able to guide drivers on best routes based on feedback from them.”
The tech firm also plans to track all moving trucks in Nigeria. This will allow cargo owners to follow the movement of their goods in real time on the kobo platform.
Kobo360 has made pricing more transparent for both truck owners and businesses through the two-way quote system on its platform.
Taking out the opacity around pricing will help firms have some certainty around their logistic costs and boost investments in the sector, said Ozor.
Transport Topics
UN envoy says insecurity and violence turning Nigeria into a pressure cooker
“The overall situation that I encountered in Nigeria gives rise to extreme concern”, with issues like poverty and climate change adding to the crisis, said Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard after presenting a preliminary statement at the end of her 12-day mission.
She pointed out that if ignored, the ripple effects of unaccountability on such a large scale, had the potential to destabilize the sub-region if not the whole continent.
“Nigeria is confronting nationwide, regional and global pressures, such as population explosion, an increased number of people living in absolute poverty, climate change and desertification, and increasing proliferation of weapons”, she elaborated. “These are re-enforcing localized systems and country-wide patterns of violence, many of which are seemingly spinning out of control”.
Ms. Callamard highlighted many areas of concern, including armed conflict against the Boko Haram terrorist group in the northeast; insecurity and violence in the northwest; the conflict in the central area known as the Middle Belt and parts of the northwest and south, between nomadic Fulani herdsmen and indigenous farming communities.
She also noted the prevalence of organized gangs or cults in Nigeria’s south; general repression of minority and indigenous groups; killings during evictions in slum areas; and widespread police brutality.
Some signs of improvement
The UN expert said there were some positive signs, including progress against the extremist Boko Haram group and affiliates, as well as a decline in allegations of arbitrary killings and deaths in custody at the hands of the military over the last two years.
However, she noted little progress in terms of accountability and reparations for grave human rights violations in the past.
“I particularly urge the Nigerian Government, and the international community, to prioritize as a matter of urgency, accountability and access to justice for all victims and addressing the conflicts between nomadic cattle breeding and farming communities, fueled by toxic narratives and the large availability of weapons”, she underscored.
While some high-profile cases of killings by police have resulted in the arrest and prosecution of the officers responsible and others involving clashes between Fulani herdsmen and indigenous farming communities have been investigated in Benue State, she flagged that “such examples of accountability remain the exception”.
“In almost all of the cases that were brought to my attention during the visit none of the perpetrators had been brought to justice”, lamented the Special Rapporteur.
“The loss of trust and confidence in public institutions prompts Nigerians to take matters of protection into their own hands, which is leading to a proliferation of self-protecting armed militia and cases of ‘jungle justice’”, she said.
Ms. Callamard called on the Nigerian authorities “to look carefully into my findings”, saying that she remains “available for further cooperation”.
During her mission, the UN envoy met Government officials, local authorities and civil society as well as family members whose relatives had been brutally killed and people forced from their homes. Among the cities on her itinerary were Abuja, Maiduguri, Makurdi, Jos, Port Harcourt and Lagos.
Special Rapporteurs are appointed by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council to examine and report back on the situation, which Ms. Callamard will do in June 2020.
The positions are honorary and receive no pay for their work.
UN News
She pointed out that if ignored, the ripple effects of unaccountability on such a large scale, had the potential to destabilize the sub-region if not the whole continent.
“Nigeria is confronting nationwide, regional and global pressures, such as population explosion, an increased number of people living in absolute poverty, climate change and desertification, and increasing proliferation of weapons”, she elaborated. “These are re-enforcing localized systems and country-wide patterns of violence, many of which are seemingly spinning out of control”.
Ms. Callamard highlighted many areas of concern, including armed conflict against the Boko Haram terrorist group in the northeast; insecurity and violence in the northwest; the conflict in the central area known as the Middle Belt and parts of the northwest and south, between nomadic Fulani herdsmen and indigenous farming communities.
She also noted the prevalence of organized gangs or cults in Nigeria’s south; general repression of minority and indigenous groups; killings during evictions in slum areas; and widespread police brutality.
Some signs of improvement
The UN expert said there were some positive signs, including progress against the extremist Boko Haram group and affiliates, as well as a decline in allegations of arbitrary killings and deaths in custody at the hands of the military over the last two years.
However, she noted little progress in terms of accountability and reparations for grave human rights violations in the past.
“I particularly urge the Nigerian Government, and the international community, to prioritize as a matter of urgency, accountability and access to justice for all victims and addressing the conflicts between nomadic cattle breeding and farming communities, fueled by toxic narratives and the large availability of weapons”, she underscored.
While some high-profile cases of killings by police have resulted in the arrest and prosecution of the officers responsible and others involving clashes between Fulani herdsmen and indigenous farming communities have been investigated in Benue State, she flagged that “such examples of accountability remain the exception”.
“In almost all of the cases that were brought to my attention during the visit none of the perpetrators had been brought to justice”, lamented the Special Rapporteur.
“The loss of trust and confidence in public institutions prompts Nigerians to take matters of protection into their own hands, which is leading to a proliferation of self-protecting armed militia and cases of ‘jungle justice’”, she said.
Ms. Callamard called on the Nigerian authorities “to look carefully into my findings”, saying that she remains “available for further cooperation”.
During her mission, the UN envoy met Government officials, local authorities and civil society as well as family members whose relatives had been brutally killed and people forced from their homes. Among the cities on her itinerary were Abuja, Maiduguri, Makurdi, Jos, Port Harcourt and Lagos.
Special Rapporteurs are appointed by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council to examine and report back on the situation, which Ms. Callamard will do in June 2020.
The positions are honorary and receive no pay for their work.
UN News
South African businesses targeted in Nigeria in retaliation
Nigerian protesters have taken to the streets of Lagos after violence against foreign nationals in South Africa.
Protesters targeted South African franchises such as Shoprite but were unable to gain access to the building.
One body was seen lying on the ground during the attack.
The violence comes after five deaths in Johannesburg, where foreign-owned shops were targeted during riots.
South African companies in Nigeria including MTN and Multichoice have expressed concern over the situation.
Nigeria's government is sending a special envoy to meet President Cyril Ramaphosa to discuss the matter.
ENCA
Protesters targeted South African franchises such as Shoprite but were unable to gain access to the building.
One body was seen lying on the ground during the attack.
The violence comes after five deaths in Johannesburg, where foreign-owned shops were targeted during riots.
South African companies in Nigeria including MTN and Multichoice have expressed concern over the situation.
Nigeria's government is sending a special envoy to meet President Cyril Ramaphosa to discuss the matter.
ENCA
President Buhari sends envoy to South Africa over violence against Nigerians
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari sent a special envoy to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa following reported attacks on Nigerian citizens and property in Johannesburg.
Buhari also summoned the South African High Commissioner to seek assurances of the safety of Nigerians, his special adviser, Femi Adesina, said in an emailed statement Tuesday.
South Africa has been hit by an outbreak of attacks on migrants from other African countries as the nation prepared to host a meeting of political and business leaders from across the continent this week. That’s due to be attended by Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who also condemned the violence.
“It is sad and very unfortunate that the lives and livelihoods of Nigerians living in South Africa are once again being destroyed with such wantonness carelessness and recklessness,” he tweeted.
The attacks also come ahead of a planned state visit by Buhari to the country next month.
By Elisha Bala-Gbogbo
Bloomberg
Buhari also summoned the South African High Commissioner to seek assurances of the safety of Nigerians, his special adviser, Femi Adesina, said in an emailed statement Tuesday.
South Africa has been hit by an outbreak of attacks on migrants from other African countries as the nation prepared to host a meeting of political and business leaders from across the continent this week. That’s due to be attended by Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who also condemned the violence.
“It is sad and very unfortunate that the lives and livelihoods of Nigerians living in South Africa are once again being destroyed with such wantonness carelessness and recklessness,” he tweeted.
The attacks also come ahead of a planned state visit by Buhari to the country next month.
By Elisha Bala-Gbogbo
Bloomberg
Monday, September 2, 2019
Journalist in Nigeria charged with treason for criticizing governor
Agba Jalingo, the publisher of CrossRiverWatch, an online newspaper, was arrested in his residence in Lagos, Nigeria, at around 2 p.m. local time by the Federal Special Anti Robbery Squad (FSARS) of the Nigerian police on August 22.CrossRiverWatch reported that FSARS invaded the Lagos bakery of Violet, wife of Jalingo, where they “seized the phones of all staff present and ordered them to show to them Jalingo’s residence”.
On August 23, police transferred Jalingo to Calabar, the capital of Cross River State in Nigeria's Niger Delta region, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Jalingo's transfer to Calabar was allegedly on the request of Ben Ayade, governor of Cross River State.
Abuja-based online daily Premium Times stated that Jalingo was, on August 30, charged with treason, terrorism, cultism and public disturbance in a Federal High Court in Abuja, for “working with the #RevolutionNow movement”—founded by detained human rights activist Omoyele Sowore to protest bad governance in Nigeria— to ”undemocratically’ force the government of Ayade to end through violent means.”
If convicted, Jalingo risks life imprisonment, fine or both.
Politics meet journalism
Cross River State Governor Benedict [Ben] Ayade, is an opposition politician with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Ayade's greatest headache has been from the African Action Congress (AAC), a political party founded by the #RevolutionNow movement protest leader Omoyele Sowore.
Jalingo, who also doubles as the state chairman of the AAC, has regularly criticized Ayade's governance of Cross Rivers State. Ayade had allegedly threatened that Jalingo will “face prosecution for misinformation.”
Ayade was re-elected as for a second term of four years in the February 2019 elections, where he beat his closest rivals from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and Social Democratic Party (SDP).
It is not certain if the AAC fielded a candidate during the governorship elections. The breakdown of the 2019 governorship elections results by the BBC only showed three parties: Ayade's PDP, the APC and SDP.
Corruption allegations
On July 17, Jalingo wrote a critical story about an alleged diversion of 500 million naira (about $1.4 million United States dollars) meant for the establishment of Cross River state Micro-Finance Bank. Jalingo stated that “eight months after the opening of the bank,” Ayade had failed to to release the money meant for the start-up of the state-owned bank:
"Governor Ayade will do Cross Riverians a whole lot of good by coming public to tell the people of Cross River State, where the 500 million [Naira] he released for the Cross River State Micro-Finance bank is, because the money is certainly not in that bank."
Governor Ayade will do Cross Riverians a whole lot of good by coming public to tell the people of Cross River State, where the 500 million [Naira] he released for the Cross River State Micro-Finance bank is, because the money is certainly not in that bank.
On August 14, the Cross River State Command of the Nigerian Police invited Jalingo for questioning on the allegation of “conspiracy to cause unrest and conduct likely to cause a breach of peace”:
"This office is investigating a case of conspiracy to cause a breach of peace, reported by Cross River Microfinance Bank, Calabar, in which your name is mentioned. To facilitate our investigation, you are kindly requested to interview the Deputy Commissioner of Police, State Criminal Investigation Department, Calabar, on Monday, 19 August 2019, at [7:00 p.m.] 1400hrs, to state your side of the case."
However, Jalingo was arrested in Lagos on August 22, four days before the scheduled date to honour the police invitation.
Global Voices
Friday, August 30, 2019
Nigeria lowers visa fees for Americans after US visa hike
It’s taken just a day for the Nigerian government to respond to the Trump administration’s latest visa clampdown measure on Nigerians.
It has reduced visa fees for Americans traveling to Nigeria from $180 to $150 in response to the US embassy’s introduction of a “reciprocity fee” for Nigerians. The US embassy claims the new reciprocity fee, ranging from $80 to $303 and only to be paid for approved visas, has been introduced to “eliminate that cost difference” between visa application fees for both countries.
The move was in line with a Trump executive order in 2017 for the US secretary of State to, among other things, adjust fee schedules “to match the treatment of United States nationals” by other countries. The US embassy claimed it has been in talks with Nigerian authorities for 18 months to align visa fees.
For its part, Nigeria’s government says the decision to lower visa fees for American applicants was taken months ago but was not implemented given the transition in government. (Nigeria’s president Buhari only inaugurated a new cabinet last week after winning reelection for a second term in February).
It’s unclear if the new visa fee reduction for American applicants to Nigeria will also see the US Embassy revise its reciprocity fee structure for Nigerians.
Some international business people and tourists from countries including the United States have long complained about the high expense of Nigerian visas and the difficulty of obtaining them. The Buhari government has targeted improving this with programs including visa-on-arrival for business people and potential investors. Yet, Nigerians also face challenges with the US visa application process, which is renown for its intensive paperwork (even for short stay visas) and involves daunting consular interview sessions that often end in vague reasons for application rejections.
The quick reaction from Nigerian authorities is a change of tack from earlier measures by the Trump administration to clamp on Nigerian visa applications. In May, the US suspended a visa waiver program for Nigerian applicants and has reportedly considered issuing visas for shorter validity periods in response to the high rates of Nigerian nationals overstaying visas.
By Yomi Kazeem
Quartz
It has reduced visa fees for Americans traveling to Nigeria from $180 to $150 in response to the US embassy’s introduction of a “reciprocity fee” for Nigerians. The US embassy claims the new reciprocity fee, ranging from $80 to $303 and only to be paid for approved visas, has been introduced to “eliminate that cost difference” between visa application fees for both countries.
The move was in line with a Trump executive order in 2017 for the US secretary of State to, among other things, adjust fee schedules “to match the treatment of United States nationals” by other countries. The US embassy claimed it has been in talks with Nigerian authorities for 18 months to align visa fees.
For its part, Nigeria’s government says the decision to lower visa fees for American applicants was taken months ago but was not implemented given the transition in government. (Nigeria’s president Buhari only inaugurated a new cabinet last week after winning reelection for a second term in February).
It’s unclear if the new visa fee reduction for American applicants to Nigeria will also see the US Embassy revise its reciprocity fee structure for Nigerians.
Some international business people and tourists from countries including the United States have long complained about the high expense of Nigerian visas and the difficulty of obtaining them. The Buhari government has targeted improving this with programs including visa-on-arrival for business people and potential investors. Yet, Nigerians also face challenges with the US visa application process, which is renown for its intensive paperwork (even for short stay visas) and involves daunting consular interview sessions that often end in vague reasons for application rejections.
The quick reaction from Nigerian authorities is a change of tack from earlier measures by the Trump administration to clamp on Nigerian visa applications. In May, the US suspended a visa waiver program for Nigerian applicants and has reportedly considered issuing visas for shorter validity periods in response to the high rates of Nigerian nationals overstaying visas.
By Yomi Kazeem
Quartz
Thursday, August 29, 2019
MTN Nigeria starts mobile money transfer service
Nigeria’s biggest telecoms firm MTN has launched a mobile money transfer service, targeting those without bank accounts, and said on Thursday it plans to become a payment services bank once it obtains approval from the central bank.
The success in east Africa of M-Pesa, the mobile money unit of Kenya’s Safaricom, has convinced investors and the industry that financial services are the next growth area for the telecoms sector, where prices for basic services are falling.
Nigeria said last year it would allow telecom companies to provide banking services, aiming to give millions of Nigerians without bank accounts access to mobile money services.
MTN Nigeria was awarded a licence by Nigeria’s central bank in July to provide financial services.
Majority owned by South Africa’s MTN Group, the company runs Nigeria’s biggest mobile phone network serving around 56 million people.
MTN Nigeria’s CEO Ferdi Moolman said its Yello Digital Financial Services Limited (YDFS) unit would extend access to simple money transfer services and other financial services.
More than half of Nigeria’s population of 180 million do not have a bank account.
Shares in MTN Nigeria, which was listed on the local bourse in May, fell 1.49% to 144.50 naira on Thursday, valuing the telecoms firm at 2.95 trillion naira ($9.64 billion).
MTN Group appointed Rob Shuter as chief executive in 2016 to oversee the formulation of a new strategic growth plan and look for new revenue streams as competition and regulation hit profit margins.
Shuter, who has previous banking experience, has been revamping Africa’s biggest telecoms group, seeking returns in everything from financial services to music and video games.
By Chijioke Ohuocha
Reuters
The success in east Africa of M-Pesa, the mobile money unit of Kenya’s Safaricom, has convinced investors and the industry that financial services are the next growth area for the telecoms sector, where prices for basic services are falling.
Nigeria said last year it would allow telecom companies to provide banking services, aiming to give millions of Nigerians without bank accounts access to mobile money services.
MTN Nigeria was awarded a licence by Nigeria’s central bank in July to provide financial services.
Majority owned by South Africa’s MTN Group, the company runs Nigeria’s biggest mobile phone network serving around 56 million people.
MTN Nigeria’s CEO Ferdi Moolman said its Yello Digital Financial Services Limited (YDFS) unit would extend access to simple money transfer services and other financial services.
More than half of Nigeria’s population of 180 million do not have a bank account.
Shares in MTN Nigeria, which was listed on the local bourse in May, fell 1.49% to 144.50 naira on Thursday, valuing the telecoms firm at 2.95 trillion naira ($9.64 billion).
MTN Group appointed Rob Shuter as chief executive in 2016 to oversee the formulation of a new strategic growth plan and look for new revenue streams as competition and regulation hit profit margins.
Shuter, who has previous banking experience, has been revamping Africa’s biggest telecoms group, seeking returns in everything from financial services to music and video games.
By Chijioke Ohuocha
Reuters
Nigeria want England-born striker Josh Maja to join Super Eagles
Nigeria coach Gernot Rohr says he is keen on having England-born striker Josh Maja play for the Super Eagles next month.Maja, born in London to Nigerian parents, scored 16 goals in 30 appearances for Sunderland last season before switching to French club Bordeaux in January.
Uncapped by England at any level, Maja has scored twice in 10 appearances in Ligue 1 for Bordeaux.
"I ate with Samuel Kalu and Josh Maja, who is a second Nigerian in Bordeaux and is eligible for Nigeria. I already started talking with him about the national team," Rohr told Le Point G in France.
"He can easily play in the friendly matches (for Nigeria), but he can only do it because he has not played for the under-20's."
Rohr was referring to the fact that Nigeria will not have to apply to Fifa for a change of allegiance for Maja, as the youngster has not played for another nation at youth level.
The 20-year-old's performances in France have caught the eye of Rohr, who played played at Bordeaux then coached them when they lost to Bayern Munich in the 1996 Uefa Cup final.
Rohr has already named a 23-man squad for the friendly against Ukraine next month, but the German is hoping to persuade Maja to play in the game which serves as a build-up to the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying which starts in November.
"We have a game in Ukraine, and I've been informed that it might be too late to get visas for players who do not have a European passport," said Rohr.
"But he [Maja] does not have this issue because he is English, so he could eventually join us. It is very possible that I pick him to go to Ukraine.
"For Maja, it would be easier to have him. I have a lot of attackers, but it's not impossible that I select him."
Nigeria have previously succeeded in convincing former England-born players like Sone Aluko and Ola Aina to represent the West African nation.
They have also snapped up London-born Joe Aribo, who plays for Scottish giants Rangers, with the midfielder set to make his debut against Ukraine in Dnipro.
His teammate and Liverpool's loanee Sheyi Ojo also told the BBC that he would love to represent Nigeria if they approach him.
By Oluwashina Okeleji
BBC
China invests $16 billion in oil sector in Nigeria
Chinese investment in Nigeria's oil and gas industry has reached $16 billion, according to Nigeria's state-run oil company. While Nigeria's oil industry welcomes China's interest, analysts worry about a lack of transparency in the sector and slow development of the country's renewable energy market.
When a top official with China's third-largest national oil company paid a visit to Abuja, Nigeria this month, he was recommended by a top official of Nigeria's state-run oil company to increase investment in Nigeria's petroleum industry.
Mele Kyari, the managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, or NNPC, thanked the China National Offshore Oil Corp., or CNOOC, for its continued support of Nigeria's oil and gas sector. Chinese investments in the sector have reached $16 billion. Kyari added that Nigeria needs partners like China.
The two countries need each other to reach their oil production targets. Africa's largest oil producing nation pumps 2 million barrels a day and has a goal of producing 3 million barrels a day by 2023. China's domestic oil production has been on a steady decline because of natural depletion and other geological challenges. So experts predict that up to 80 percent of China's crude oil supply will be imported by 2030.
In comes Nigeria
CNOOC started doing business in Nigeria in 2005 and is the largest Chinese entity investor in Nigeria. With a focus on overseas investment, it's also China's largest offshore oil and natural gas developer.
The company's executive vice president, Lu Yan Ji, said during the meeting that Nigeria is one of the company's largest investment destinations. He also said that CNOOC is producing 800,000 barrels per day, but it wants to reach 1.2 million. Ji hopes Nigeria can help with that.
But there's skepticism
Nigeria has had a hard time reaching its production targets. There's sporadic militancy in the oil-producing region, as young people often take violent action to demand more access to the country's oil wealth. There's theft happening right at the pipelines. Fires often burn at rusted pipes, and oil operations in Nigeria are disrupted several times a year.
Also there's a serious lack of transparency. The NNPC has a long history of scandals, with ongoing accusations of corruption.
Crude oil is Nigeria's most lucrative export, and the NNPC has not been able to account for billions of dollars in revenue. President Muhammadu Buhari has not appointed anyone as the oil minister. He handles that highly sought after portfolio himself in his second term as president, just as he did in his first.
Corruption is also why some Nigerians aren't applauding China for pouring money into Nigeria's murky oil industry.
A host on Nigeria's popular Wazobia TV network, Uvbi Ehigiamusoe, put it this way.
She says the Chinese oil company will not monitor how Nigeria will use $16 billion in investments. And it is known how it goes in Nigeria, she says.
Some say it's high time Nigeria moves away from its dependence on oil. Revenue from the oil industry accounts for almost 75 percent of the federal budget, according to the Nigerian financial watchdog group BudgIT.
Dr. Nwoke Okala, an energy specialist at the Center for Research and Development at the University of Nigeria Nsukka, says Nigeria should follow the global trend of exploring renewable energy sources as oil becomes less attractive.
But for now, Nigeria will continue to set its ambitions on oil. Nigerian business mogul and the richest man in Africa, Aliko Dangote, is building what will be Africa's largest oil refinery in the Nigerian commercial city of Lagos.
With an expected annual refining capacity of 10.4 million tons of gasoline, the new refinery will double Nigeria's refining capacity and help in meeting the increasing domestic demand for fuel.
The $9 billion mega-complex is expected to be complete at the end of 2020 and could take Nigeria from a fuel importer to a fuel exporter.
By Chika Oduah
VOA
When a top official with China's third-largest national oil company paid a visit to Abuja, Nigeria this month, he was recommended by a top official of Nigeria's state-run oil company to increase investment in Nigeria's petroleum industry.
Mele Kyari, the managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, or NNPC, thanked the China National Offshore Oil Corp., or CNOOC, for its continued support of Nigeria's oil and gas sector. Chinese investments in the sector have reached $16 billion. Kyari added that Nigeria needs partners like China.
The two countries need each other to reach their oil production targets. Africa's largest oil producing nation pumps 2 million barrels a day and has a goal of producing 3 million barrels a day by 2023. China's domestic oil production has been on a steady decline because of natural depletion and other geological challenges. So experts predict that up to 80 percent of China's crude oil supply will be imported by 2030.
In comes Nigeria
CNOOC started doing business in Nigeria in 2005 and is the largest Chinese entity investor in Nigeria. With a focus on overseas investment, it's also China's largest offshore oil and natural gas developer.
The company's executive vice president, Lu Yan Ji, said during the meeting that Nigeria is one of the company's largest investment destinations. He also said that CNOOC is producing 800,000 barrels per day, but it wants to reach 1.2 million. Ji hopes Nigeria can help with that.
But there's skepticism
Nigeria has had a hard time reaching its production targets. There's sporadic militancy in the oil-producing region, as young people often take violent action to demand more access to the country's oil wealth. There's theft happening right at the pipelines. Fires often burn at rusted pipes, and oil operations in Nigeria are disrupted several times a year.
Also there's a serious lack of transparency. The NNPC has a long history of scandals, with ongoing accusations of corruption.
Crude oil is Nigeria's most lucrative export, and the NNPC has not been able to account for billions of dollars in revenue. President Muhammadu Buhari has not appointed anyone as the oil minister. He handles that highly sought after portfolio himself in his second term as president, just as he did in his first.
Corruption is also why some Nigerians aren't applauding China for pouring money into Nigeria's murky oil industry.
A host on Nigeria's popular Wazobia TV network, Uvbi Ehigiamusoe, put it this way.
She says the Chinese oil company will not monitor how Nigeria will use $16 billion in investments. And it is known how it goes in Nigeria, she says.
Some say it's high time Nigeria moves away from its dependence on oil. Revenue from the oil industry accounts for almost 75 percent of the federal budget, according to the Nigerian financial watchdog group BudgIT.
Dr. Nwoke Okala, an energy specialist at the Center for Research and Development at the University of Nigeria Nsukka, says Nigeria should follow the global trend of exploring renewable energy sources as oil becomes less attractive.
But for now, Nigeria will continue to set its ambitions on oil. Nigerian business mogul and the richest man in Africa, Aliko Dangote, is building what will be Africa's largest oil refinery in the Nigerian commercial city of Lagos.
With an expected annual refining capacity of 10.4 million tons of gasoline, the new refinery will double Nigeria's refining capacity and help in meeting the increasing domestic demand for fuel.
The $9 billion mega-complex is expected to be complete at the end of 2020 and could take Nigeria from a fuel importer to a fuel exporter.
By Chika Oduah
VOA
Tuesday, August 27, 2019
Video - Nigeria locking up survivors of human trafficking
Despite attempts by the Nigerian government to combat human trafficking and provide support for those that survived being trafficked, care for victims is still severely lacking, a new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) says.
According to the report, the Nigerian government is illegally detaining survivors of human trafficking, prohibiting the often traumatised women from recovering from the experiences they went through.
"The Nigerian authorities are actually detaining trafficking survivors in shelters, not allowing them to leave at will, in violation of Nigeria’s international legal obligations," the New York-based rights body said.
"The detentions overwhelmingly affect women and girls, and put their recovery and well-being at risk."
The report is based on interviews with 76 survivors, 20 of them girls between the ages 8 and 17, who either were trafficked out of Nigeria and later returned, or were trafficked into Nigeria.
They were often promised well-paying jobs as domestic workers, hairdressers, or hotel staff but were then tricked and trapped in exploitation and forced to pay back a huge "debt" for their travel.
Often, the people who trafficked them were people they knew personally.
"My aunt brought me here. She said she will help me. When I got here, she said I had to work before the apprenticeship," one of the survivors told HRW.
"She took me somewhere to work as a house girl…. I was mistreated. She did not give me food; I washed cars, cleaned the house and the compound," the 14-year-old, who is one of several victims quoted in the report, said.
"My aunt used to collect the money. Their kids were too hostile to me. I decided to leave."
'Closed shelters'
Over the last couple of years, the Nigerian government has introduced several anti-trafficking laws and started the the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), which runs shelters for trafficking survivors.
However, those shelters are severely lacking, HRW said.
"Some survivors in the NAPTIP shelters complained about not being able to receive visitors or contact their families, not having clear information about when they would reunite with their families, monotonous daily schedules, or boredom from doing nothing," the report states.
"Those referred by NAPTIP to private shelters were unhappy about poor conditions and services, including inadequate food, lack of soap or body lotion, lack of medical and psychosocial care, and lack of job training," it added.
The women often suffer from depression, anxiety, insomnia, flashbacks, aches and pains, and other physical ailments as a result of their ordeal.
Despite attempts by the Nigerian government to help them reintegrate, the so-called "closed shelters" do not provide enough support for the women to reintegrate into Nigerian society, HRW said.
"Women and girls trafficked in and outside Nigeria have suffered unspeakable abuses at the hands of traffickers, but have received inadequate medical, counseling, and financial support to reintegrate into society" senior women’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch Agnes Odhiambo said.
"We were shocked to find traumatised survivors locked behind gates, unable to communicate with their families, for months on end, in government-run facilities."
HRW has called on Nigeria to better listen to the experiences of survivors and offer more room for community services, health workers and other organisations to play in a role in the recovery of the women.
"Nigerian authorities are struggling with a crisis of trafficking, and working under challenging circumstances, but they can do a better job by listening to what survivors have to say about their own needs," Odhiambo said.
"To end trafficking and break cycles of exploitation and suffering, survivors need the government to help them heal from the trauma of trafficking and earn a decent living in Nigeria."
Al Jazeera
Related stories: The illegal sex trafficking trail between Nigeria and Europe
Women from Nigeria forced to become sex workers during 2018 World Cup in Russia
Video - Nigerian women trafficked to Europe for prostitution at 'crisis level'
Monday, August 26, 2019
Video - Nigeria battles a growing kidnapping crisis
Nigeria is in the grip of a kidnapping crisis. Thousands of Nigerians have fallen victims to a rise in the crime and are having to pay millions of dollars in ransom.
Video - Nigeria close to attaining polio-free status
Nigeria is close to attaining a polio-free status after marking three years since its last reported case of wild polio virus. Health experts say it's a significant milestone that could lead to the entire continent been declared polio-free. Before now, Nigeria had held the unenviable record of being one of three countries in the world where the polio disease is still endemic.
Friday, August 23, 2019
Nigeria becomes first country to approve biotech cowpea
Nigeria has made history by becoming the first country in the world to approve biotech cowpea, thereby adding a new biotech crop to the global biotech basket.
This is according to the Global Status of Commercialised Biotech/GM ( Genetically Modified) Crops in 2018 (ISAAA Brief 54), and disclosed in a news release by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications, ISAAA on Thursday.
The release was issued at the Nigeria Science Cafe and launch of Brief 54, a report on Global Status of Commercialised Biotech/GM Crops event in Abuja. The release, signed by Dr Margaret Karembu, Director, ISAAA AfriCentre in Kenya showed that Africa continued to make steady progress in the adoption of biotech crops.
The ISAAA AfriCentre Director praised Nigeria’s progress in biotech crop development and adoption, noting that the country was leading in agricultural technology approvals enabled by an efficient bio safety system.
“The world is in a technological advancement trajectory, the green revolution that had taken the world by storm in the second half of the 20th century is quickly transitioning into gene revolution. “We are now progressing into genome editing, a more precise and accurate technology to effectively develop more productive, highly nutritious and climate resilient crops for our rapidly increasing population,’’ she said.
In the ISAAA Brief 54 report, a total of 70 countries adopted biotech crops through cultivation and importation in 2018, the 23rd year of continuous biotech crop adoption. Also a total of 26 countries with 21 developing and five industrialised countries planted 191.7 million hectares of biotech crops, adding 1.9 million hectares to the record of plantings in 2017.
The Kingdom of Eswanti, former Swaziland, joined South Africa and Sudan in planting biotech crops in Africa, with commercial planting of insect resistant (IR) Bt cotton on an initial launch of 250 hectares. This brought the number of African countries currently growing biotech crops to three. Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya and Malawi granted approvals for planting biotech cotton as the proof that Africa is ready for biotech crop adoption. The report further indicated that South Africa alone planted 2.73 million hectares of biotech crops in 2018, sustaining its ranking among the top 19 biotech crop countries in the last two decades.
Most farmers in the country have adopted plant biotechnology with 87 per cent of adoption of biotech maize, 95 per cent biotech soybean and 100 per cent of biotech cotton.
The report further stated that Sudan planted 243,000 hectares of BT cotton, and a total of 3.14 million hectares of biotech crops in Africa. The report highlighted among others, that the top five countries with the largest area of biotech crops planted by U.S., Brazil, Argentina, Canada and India collectively occupied 91 per cent of global biotech crop area.
It showed that biotech soybean reached the highest adoption worldwide, covering 50 per cent of the global biotech crop area. The report indicated that farmers in 10 Latin American countries planted 79.4 million hectares of biotech crops among others. It said that with the continuously increasing adoption of biotech crops worldwide, farmers were at the forefront of reaping numerous benefits.
Vanguard
This is according to the Global Status of Commercialised Biotech/GM ( Genetically Modified) Crops in 2018 (ISAAA Brief 54), and disclosed in a news release by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications, ISAAA on Thursday.
The release was issued at the Nigeria Science Cafe and launch of Brief 54, a report on Global Status of Commercialised Biotech/GM Crops event in Abuja. The release, signed by Dr Margaret Karembu, Director, ISAAA AfriCentre in Kenya showed that Africa continued to make steady progress in the adoption of biotech crops.
The ISAAA AfriCentre Director praised Nigeria’s progress in biotech crop development and adoption, noting that the country was leading in agricultural technology approvals enabled by an efficient bio safety system.
“The world is in a technological advancement trajectory, the green revolution that had taken the world by storm in the second half of the 20th century is quickly transitioning into gene revolution. “We are now progressing into genome editing, a more precise and accurate technology to effectively develop more productive, highly nutritious and climate resilient crops for our rapidly increasing population,’’ she said.
In the ISAAA Brief 54 report, a total of 70 countries adopted biotech crops through cultivation and importation in 2018, the 23rd year of continuous biotech crop adoption. Also a total of 26 countries with 21 developing and five industrialised countries planted 191.7 million hectares of biotech crops, adding 1.9 million hectares to the record of plantings in 2017.
The Kingdom of Eswanti, former Swaziland, joined South Africa and Sudan in planting biotech crops in Africa, with commercial planting of insect resistant (IR) Bt cotton on an initial launch of 250 hectares. This brought the number of African countries currently growing biotech crops to three. Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya and Malawi granted approvals for planting biotech cotton as the proof that Africa is ready for biotech crop adoption. The report further indicated that South Africa alone planted 2.73 million hectares of biotech crops in 2018, sustaining its ranking among the top 19 biotech crop countries in the last two decades.
Most farmers in the country have adopted plant biotechnology with 87 per cent of adoption of biotech maize, 95 per cent biotech soybean and 100 per cent of biotech cotton.
The report further stated that Sudan planted 243,000 hectares of BT cotton, and a total of 3.14 million hectares of biotech crops in Africa. The report highlighted among others, that the top five countries with the largest area of biotech crops planted by U.S., Brazil, Argentina, Canada and India collectively occupied 91 per cent of global biotech crop area.
It showed that biotech soybean reached the highest adoption worldwide, covering 50 per cent of the global biotech crop area. The report indicated that farmers in 10 Latin American countries planted 79.4 million hectares of biotech crops among others. It said that with the continuously increasing adoption of biotech crops worldwide, farmers were at the forefront of reaping numerous benefits.
Vanguard
Video - Displaced women live in fear in Nigeria as incidents of rape rise
One of the world's deadliest conflicts is taking place in Nigeria's central region. Thousands have been killed in decades of fighting between ethnic groups. About 4,000 have been killed in the last two years alone. Now another crisis has added to the troubles of those displaced by this conflict. Al Jazeera's Mohamed Adow reports from Makurdi in Benue state, where women in camps live in fear of their safety.
FBI charges 80 people connected to Nigerian romance scams
In March 2016, a man claiming to be a US Army captain stationed in Syria reached out to a Japanese woman on an international site for digital pen pals.
Within weeks, their relationship grew into an internet romance with the man sending daily emails in English that she translated via Google. The man who called himself Terry Garcia asked for money -- lots of it -- from the woman identified as FK in federal court documents. Over 10 months, she sent him a total of $200,000 that she borrowed from friends, her ex-husband and other relatives to make her love interest happy.
But in reality, Garcia did not exist. It was all an international online scam ran by two Nigerian men in the Los Angeles area with the help of associates in their home country and other nations, federal officials say.
And Thursday, US prosecutors charged 80 people -- mostly Nigerians -- in the widespread conspiracy that defrauded at least $6 million from businesses and vulnerable elderly women.
Of those, 17 people have been arrested in the US so far and federal investigators are trying to track down the rest in Nigeria and other nations.
"We believe this is one of the largest cases of its kind in US history," US Attorney Nick Hanna said.
A plan to smuggle diamonds
The whirlwind online romance between FK and Garcia was all conducted on a Yahoo email address with no phone calls. Garcia told FK he wasn't allowed to use a phone in Syria, according to federal authorities.
Demands for money started after he told her he'd found a bag of diamonds in Syria and needed her help to smuggle it out of the war-torn nation. He said he was injured and could not do it himself -- and introduced her to associates he said would help facilitate the transfer, court documents allege. One said he was a Red Cross diplomat who could get the diamonds shipped to FK, court documents show.
Shortly after, another man who claimed to work for a shipping company asked FK for money to ensure the package was not inspected at customs, the complaint alleges. Requests for additional money kept coming, with the fraudsters citing different reasons each time on why the package was stuck at customs.
"FK estimates that she made 35 to 40 payments over the 10 months that she had a relationship with Garcia. During that time, the fraudster(s) emailed her as many as 10 to 15 times each day, and Garcia was asking her to make the payments, so she kept paying to accounts in Turkey, the UK and the US," the federal criminal complaint says.
The loss of money has left FK angry and depressed, authorities said. "She began crying when discussing the way that these losses have affected her," the criminal complaint says.
17 arrested and dozens on the run
The scams were not just limited to romance, Hanna said. They included business schemes where fraudsters hack escrow company email systems, impersonate employees and direct payments that funnel money back to themselves.
"In some cases, the victims thought they were communicating with US servicemen stationed overseas, when in fact, they were emailing with con men," Hanna said. "Some of the victims in this case lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in this way."
Of the 80 people charged, federal authorities arrested 14 people mostly in Los Angeles, the local US Attorney's Office said Thursday. At least three other defendants were already in custody. The remaining suspects live in other countries, mainly in Nigeria, and investigators said they'll work with the respective governments to extradite them.
How the scam worked
Investigators detailed an intricate scam traced to two key suspects who oversaw the fraudulent transfer of at least $6 million and the attempted theft of an additional $40 million.
Once co-conspirators based in Nigeria, the United States and other countries persuaded victims to send money under false pretenses, the two Nigerian men who lived in Southern California coordinated the receipt of funds, the indictment says.
The two men provided bank and money-service accounts that received funds obtained from victims and also ran the extensive money-laundering network, the complaint alleges.
The two men were arrested Thursday. All defendants will face charges of conspiracy to commit fraud, conspiracy to launder money, and aggravated identity theft. Some also will face fraud and money laundering charges.
Paul Delacourt of the FBI's Los Angeles warned people to be careful as romance scams escalate nationwide. The Federal Trade Commission has said scams that prey on vulnerable people cost Americans more money than any other fraud reported to the agency last year. More than 21,000 people were conned into sending $143 million in such schemes in 2018 alone, it reported.
"Billions of dollars are lost annually, and we urge citizens to be aware of these sophisticated financial schemes to protect themselves or their businesses from becoming unsuspecting victims," Delacourt said.
By Faith Karimi
CNN
Within weeks, their relationship grew into an internet romance with the man sending daily emails in English that she translated via Google. The man who called himself Terry Garcia asked for money -- lots of it -- from the woman identified as FK in federal court documents. Over 10 months, she sent him a total of $200,000 that she borrowed from friends, her ex-husband and other relatives to make her love interest happy.
But in reality, Garcia did not exist. It was all an international online scam ran by two Nigerian men in the Los Angeles area with the help of associates in their home country and other nations, federal officials say.
And Thursday, US prosecutors charged 80 people -- mostly Nigerians -- in the widespread conspiracy that defrauded at least $6 million from businesses and vulnerable elderly women.
Of those, 17 people have been arrested in the US so far and federal investigators are trying to track down the rest in Nigeria and other nations.
"We believe this is one of the largest cases of its kind in US history," US Attorney Nick Hanna said.
A plan to smuggle diamonds
The whirlwind online romance between FK and Garcia was all conducted on a Yahoo email address with no phone calls. Garcia told FK he wasn't allowed to use a phone in Syria, according to federal authorities.
Demands for money started after he told her he'd found a bag of diamonds in Syria and needed her help to smuggle it out of the war-torn nation. He said he was injured and could not do it himself -- and introduced her to associates he said would help facilitate the transfer, court documents allege. One said he was a Red Cross diplomat who could get the diamonds shipped to FK, court documents show.
Shortly after, another man who claimed to work for a shipping company asked FK for money to ensure the package was not inspected at customs, the complaint alleges. Requests for additional money kept coming, with the fraudsters citing different reasons each time on why the package was stuck at customs.
"FK estimates that she made 35 to 40 payments over the 10 months that she had a relationship with Garcia. During that time, the fraudster(s) emailed her as many as 10 to 15 times each day, and Garcia was asking her to make the payments, so she kept paying to accounts in Turkey, the UK and the US," the federal criminal complaint says.
The loss of money has left FK angry and depressed, authorities said. "She began crying when discussing the way that these losses have affected her," the criminal complaint says.
17 arrested and dozens on the run
The scams were not just limited to romance, Hanna said. They included business schemes where fraudsters hack escrow company email systems, impersonate employees and direct payments that funnel money back to themselves.
"In some cases, the victims thought they were communicating with US servicemen stationed overseas, when in fact, they were emailing with con men," Hanna said. "Some of the victims in this case lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in this way."
Of the 80 people charged, federal authorities arrested 14 people mostly in Los Angeles, the local US Attorney's Office said Thursday. At least three other defendants were already in custody. The remaining suspects live in other countries, mainly in Nigeria, and investigators said they'll work with the respective governments to extradite them.
How the scam worked
Investigators detailed an intricate scam traced to two key suspects who oversaw the fraudulent transfer of at least $6 million and the attempted theft of an additional $40 million.
Once co-conspirators based in Nigeria, the United States and other countries persuaded victims to send money under false pretenses, the two Nigerian men who lived in Southern California coordinated the receipt of funds, the indictment says.
The two men provided bank and money-service accounts that received funds obtained from victims and also ran the extensive money-laundering network, the complaint alleges.
The two men were arrested Thursday. All defendants will face charges of conspiracy to commit fraud, conspiracy to launder money, and aggravated identity theft. Some also will face fraud and money laundering charges.
Paul Delacourt of the FBI's Los Angeles warned people to be careful as romance scams escalate nationwide. The Federal Trade Commission has said scams that prey on vulnerable people cost Americans more money than any other fraud reported to the agency last year. More than 21,000 people were conned into sending $143 million in such schemes in 2018 alone, it reported.
"Billions of dollars are lost annually, and we urge citizens to be aware of these sophisticated financial schemes to protect themselves or their businesses from becoming unsuspecting victims," Delacourt said.
By Faith Karimi
CNN
Thursday, August 22, 2019
Video - Banker in Nigeria leaves finance sector for farming
One Nigerian farmer is redefining the sector in a bid to get younger and educated women to embrace the trade. In a country where most young people are swirling towards white collar jobs, Amaka Chukwudum left a thriving career in banking to pursue a life time passion in organic farming. Here's CGTN's Deji Badmus with the story of Chukwudum, one of Nigeria's leading advocate for organic farming.
Nigeria is three years polio free
Nigeria has gone three years without a case of polio, putting it on the brink of being declared free of the disease.
This is a dramatic change from 2012 when the country accounted for more than half of all polio cases worldwide, the World Health Organization has said.
The head of the primary health care agency, Dr Faisal Shuaib, said Nigeria had reached a "historic milestone".
But it will be several months before the country can officially be labelled polio-free.
The first criteria, no case for three years, has been achieved.
But now the WHO needs to make sure there is a robust surveillance system in Nigeria to be certain that there are no further cases of the wild polio virus, chairman of Nigeria's polio committee, Dr Tunji Funsho, told BBC Newsday.
Nigeria is the last country in Africa to have witnessed a case of polio - in Borno state, in the north-east. Outside of Nigeria, the last case on the continent was in the Puntland region of Somalia, in 2014.
Insecurity in the north-east of Nigeria had hindered the polio vaccination programme, but success in fighting the Boko Haram militant group has been cited as one of the reasons behind getting polio under control.
In addition, officials have said that political support and an injection of funds have also helped.
In 2018, there was a total of 33 polio cases confined to just two countries: Afghanistan and Pakistan.
BBC
This is a dramatic change from 2012 when the country accounted for more than half of all polio cases worldwide, the World Health Organization has said.
The head of the primary health care agency, Dr Faisal Shuaib, said Nigeria had reached a "historic milestone".
But it will be several months before the country can officially be labelled polio-free.
The first criteria, no case for three years, has been achieved.
But now the WHO needs to make sure there is a robust surveillance system in Nigeria to be certain that there are no further cases of the wild polio virus, chairman of Nigeria's polio committee, Dr Tunji Funsho, told BBC Newsday.
Nigeria is the last country in Africa to have witnessed a case of polio - in Borno state, in the north-east. Outside of Nigeria, the last case on the continent was in the Puntland region of Somalia, in 2014.
Insecurity in the north-east of Nigeria had hindered the polio vaccination programme, but success in fighting the Boko Haram militant group has been cited as one of the reasons behind getting polio under control.
In addition, officials have said that political support and an injection of funds have also helped.
In 2018, there was a total of 33 polio cases confined to just two countries: Afghanistan and Pakistan.
BBC
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