Friday, October 14, 2022

Nigerian city celebrates its many twins with annual festival

Twins appear to be unusually abundant in Nigeria's southwestern city of Igbo-Ora.

Nearly every family here has twins or other multiple births, says local chief Jimoh Titiloye.

For the past 12 years, the community has organized an annual festival to celebrate twins. This year's event, held earlier this month, included more than 1,000 pairs of twins and drew participants from as far away as France, organizers said.

There is no proven scientific explanation for the high rate of twins in Igbo-Ora, a city of at least 200,000 people 135 kilometers (83 miles) south of Nigeria's largest city, Lagos. But many in Igbo-Ora believe it can be traced to women's diets. Alake Olawunmi, a mother of twins, attributes it to a local delicacy called amala which is made from yam flour.

John Ofem, a gynecologist based in the capital, Abuja, says it very well could be "that there are things they eat there that have a high level of certain hormones that now result in what we call multiple ovulation."

While that could explain the higher-than-normal rate of fraternal twins in Igbo-Ora, the city also has a significant number of identical twins. Those result instead from a single fertilized egg that divides into two — not because of hyperovulation.

Taiwo Ojeniyi, a Nigerian student, said he attended the festival with his twin brother "to celebrate the uniqueness" of multiple births.

"We cherish twins while in some parts of the world, they condemn twins," he said. "It is a blessing from God."

AP

Related story: Town in Nigeria celebrate being 'twins capital' of the world

Video - Advocacy group in Nigeria fights to end traditional practice of killing twins

Nigerian separatist leader acquitted of terrorism charges

A Nigerian separatist leader accused of terrorism and instigating violence in the country’s southeast was acquitted Thursday by a local court, his lawyer told The Associated Press.


The Nigerian Court of Appeal dismissed the government-filed charges against Nnamdi Kanu in Abuja, the nation’s capital, after a jury faulted the legality of the case against him, according to Ifeanyi Ejiofor, his lawyer. Kanu is yet to be released from custody.

The Indigenous People of Biafra separatist group that Kanu leads has been pressing for the southeast region to break away from the West African nation and become independent. But the Nigerian government said he uses the group known as IPOB to instigate violence, leading to the deaths of many in the country’s southeast.

Kanu had been facing trial for alleged treason and terrorism but escaped Nigeria in 2017 while on bail. He was rearrested in June last year and brought back to Nigeria from an undisclosed country.

The separatist leader, who also holds British citizenship, pleaded not guilty at the resumption of his trial which his group has said is being used to stifle his secessionist campaign. The campaign reminds many of the short-lived Republic of Biafra that fought and lost a civil war from 1967 to 1970 to become independent from Nigeria. An estimated 1 million people died in the war, many of starvation.

After he was acquitted, Emma Powerful, a spokesman for the Biafra group, told the AP, “Our next target is to ensure that Biafra liberation is materialized and no human being can stop it.”

Kanu’s trial reechoed allegations of marginalization in Nigeria’s southeast region made up of the Igbos, Nigeria’s third-largest ethnic group who are mainly Christians. Nigeria’s more than 200 million people are almost evenly divided between Christians and Muslims.

Amid the calls for a referendum, the IPOB secessionist group became more violent, authorities and experts have said. The formation of the Eastern Security Network, its paramilitary arm, in December 2020 coincided with a spike in criminal attacks in the region.

By Chinedu Asadu

AP 

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Nnamdi Kanu: Nigerian separatist allowed to watch Liverpool games on TV

UK government faces court challenge in Nigerian rendition case

New film explores Nigeria's pioneering Olympics football glory

The director of a documentary exploring Nigeria’s groundbreaking 1996 Atlanta Olympic soccer win amid domestic upheaval in the waning days of military rule hopes it can counter typical “stereotypes” about Africa.

“Super Eagles ’96,” which premiered at the London Film Festival on Thursday, charts the rise of the Nigerian men’s soccer team in the decade or so before its epic gold medal in the United States.

The victory by that flock of Super Eagles — as the national team is known — was the first global soccer tournament won by an African team and was celebrated across the continent.

But the film also chronicles the role played by the political tumult of the era, as opposition grew to three decades of military dictatorship in Africa’s most populous but fractious nation.

“You couldn’t tell the football story without telling what was happening at the same time, because they collide,” said director Yemi Bamiro, 40, on the sidelines of the festival.

In making it, the British-born filmmaker from a Nigerian family tried to tap into the pride he felt as a teenager watching the Super Eagles beat soccer giants Brazil and then Argentina to claim gold.

“I always used to feel — I still do, to an extent — that stories that come out of the continent are a little bit one note,” Bamiro said.

“This story always had the potential to be uplifting, like a celebration, to counter some of the stereotypes and perceptions of what happens on the continent.”


‘Hope’

The documentary, featuring interviews with former players and coaches as well as analysts and historians, details the Super Eagles’ ability to unify a soccer-mad country of more than 200 million and hundreds of ethnic groups and languages.

From victory in the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations followed by reaching the knockout stages of the 1994 World Cup, their success is set against the struggle inside Nigeria under military rule.

It highlights how the team’s greatest moment coincided with some of the regime’s worst atrocities under General Sani Abacha, when writer and campaigner Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other environmental activists were executed.

“It’s only football that would take the weight of this trouble away,” tough-tackling defender Taribo West says in the film.

“We needed heroes and football gave us heroes,” recounts lawyer Ed Keazor.

For attacking midfielder Jay-Jay Okocha, who like many of that generation later cemented his reputation at soccer clubs in Europe, the 1996 Olympics gave the country “hope that something good can come out of a bad situation.”

“Politically we were in a mess, reputation-wise we were in a mess, but that changed a lot of people’s view about Nigeria,” he says.

The country was under international sanctions at the time, while it did not compete in the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations — prior to the Olympics — following criticism of its human rights record by hosts South Africa.

“But the team made the world forget that they had issue(s) with Nigeria,” says ex-striker Daniel Amokachi, who later became a successful coach.

Military rule eventually ended in 1999, after Abacha’s death the previous year.


‘Define a nation’

Following the Olympics triumph, Nigeria held a two-day public holiday. In a sign of its continent-wide significance, three other African countries also declared national holidays.

“It was a gold medal for Africans,” argues West.

“After that, other African countries started believing that it’s achievable,” adds Okocha, noting Cameroon won soccer gold in the next Games in Australia.

The film notes the Super Eagles’ pioneering success helped accelerate the export of African soccer talent to Europe, notably to England’s Premier League.

“It’s almost like that was the thing that made Europe aware that there’s all this untapped potential on the continent, in all these incredible places,” Bamiro explained.

A quarter-century on, the director believes the Olympics victory retains a topical message.

“It tells you that you can’t define a nation by the things that its government does — and I think that can be said for a lot of countries, not just African countries.

“Look at the mess we’re in here,” he added, referring to ongoing economic tumult in Britain.

The London-based filmmaker — whose first feature “One Man and His Shoes” also screened at the capital’s annual 12-day festival, in 2020 — said he now awaits the documentary’s reception in Nigeria with some trepidation.

“It’s the most profound sporting achievement in Nigeria’s history so, yeah, if we haven’t got it right, we’re in trouble!”

By Joe Jackson

The Japan Times 

Related stories: Jay-Jay Okocha inducted as Bundesliga Legend

Q&A with Nigerian football legend Kanu Nwankwo

Kanu to build cardiovascular hospital in Nigeria

Nigeria’s university lecturers end eight-month strike

Nigeria’s Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has suspended an eight-month strike, the group has said on social media.

ASUU, the umbrella body for university lecturers nationwide, announced the move on Friday but did not provide details on when schools will reopen.

The decision came after intense negotiations between ASUU and government representatives at a meeting mediated by members of the House of Representatives in Abuja, local media reported.

“Let all of us working together and the members of the House of Representatives working together, put a beautiful end to this thing we have started so that every Nigerian will be proud that we have the universities we can be proud of,” ASUU president Emmanuel Osodeke was quoted as saying by local media.

“We also extend our appreciation to the president for intervening in the ASUU strike. And I want to appeal that in future we should not allow strike to linger. Strike should not go beyond two days,” Osodeke added.

He is also expected to announce in the coming days when academic activities will resume in universities.

Millions of students nationwide have been at home since February 14 as part of the latest of a long wave of strikes, which are common in Nigeria.

Nigeria has more than 100 public universities and an estimated 2.5 million students, according to the country’s National Universities Commission. At least 15 recorded strikes have taken place in the universities since 2000.

The striking lecturers were demanding a review of their conditions of service including the platform the government uses to pay their earnings, improved funding for the universities and payment of their salaries withheld since the strike started.

Al Jazeera


Thursday, October 13, 2022

Video - Nigeria floods kills more than 300 and submerges homes, roads



Nigeria is battling some of its worst floods in a decade. Heavy rains have affected the south for weeks. More than 300 people have died and many houses have been destroyed by flood, causing many to ask whether the flood disaster is natural or manmade. Al Jazeera’s Stefanie Dekker reports.

Al Jazeera 

Related stories: Nigeria Flooding Leaves More Than 500 Dead, 1.4 Million Displaced

In Nigeria's food basket state, floods wash away homes, crops and hope

Death toll in Nigeria boat capsize tragedy rises to 76

Video - Experts urge action to keep Nigerian girls in school



Education experts in Nigeria are urging the government to address the problems of poverty, insecurity and other issues that have kept millions of girls out of school. Girls make up more than 60 percent of the nearly 20 million children who are not attending school. They have also called for Information and Communication Technology to be at the forefront of learning for girls so they can compete on a global stage.

CGTN

Germany to return 1,130 looted Benin Bronzes to Nigeria

Nigeria’s Information and Culture Minister Lai Mohammed, said Tuesday Nigeria has signed an agreement with Germany for the repatriation of over 1,130 looted Benin Bronze artifacts back to the country.

Mohammed disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Washington DC after three museums in the U.S. repatriated 31 Benin Bronze artifacts to Nigeria.

He commended the German government for that effort, adding that Nigeria is also getting positive response from France and Mexico to return some of its stolen artifacts.

In 1897 during a British raid on Benin, the royal palace was torched and looted, and the oba (ruler) was exiled.

The British confiscated all royal treasures, giving some to individual officers and taking most to auction in London.

The estimated 3,000 objects eventually made their way into museums and private collections around the world.

The minister said the world had seen that it was an ethical and moral issue to return the artifacts back to their owners, noting that it is not a matter of law as claimed by the British Government.

“This is important for the British Museum to understand and for the British Government to know, because I was also in the British Museum to ask them to return thousands of the artifacts in its custody.

“The standard response is that until the British Parliament changes the status, they are not in position to so do.

“The U.S. and Germany are now seeing that this matter is not of law but of morality, it is about doing the right thing. I hope that the British government will also learn from the two countries and do same,’’ he said.

According to him, Nigeria is planning to sign an agreement with the British government on November 28 to return about 86 other artifacts from various museums in UK.

The minister said the campaign of the current administration for the return of and restitution of Nigeria’s looted /smuggled artifacts from around the world, which was launched in November 2019, is yielding positive result.

He said in January, Nigeria and the U.S. signed the bilateral cultural property agreement to prevent illicit import into the U.S. of some categories of Nigerian artifacts.

“This agreement solidifies our shared commitment to combat looting and trafficking of precious cultural property while also establishing a process for the return of trafficked cultural objects, thus reducing the incentives to loot sites in Nigeria.’’

Oba of Benin hails US museums

In his remarks, the Oba of Benin, Ewuare II, commended three U.S. museums for the repatriation of 31 Benin Bronze artifacts, which were violently taken away from the Royal Palace of Benin by British forces in 1897.

Oba Ewuare II, who was represented by his brother, Aghatise Erediauwa, said the decision of the Smithsonian is now being emulated by numerous other Museums around the world who had continued to hold onto heritage art.

“The accepted narrative is that works which were looted or acquired in ethical ways should be returned to their places of origin,’’ he said.

By Emmanuel Elebeke

Vanguard

Related stories: Britain open to loan Nigeria stolen art

Germany has agreed to return Nigeria’s looted treasure. Will other countries follow?

Museum in Britain to return Benin bronzes to Nigeria

UK Museum Agrees to Return Looted Benin Bronzes to Nigeria

Shell investigates in Nigeria after report of nine-year oil theft

Oil major Shell's (SHEL.L) Nigerian subsidiary is investigating reports that an illegal oil tap ran for nine years on a pipeline it operates, a spokesperson said on Wednesday.

An NNPC spokesman said on Sunday the theft point extended from the Trans Escravos pipeline and that the Afremo platform, operated by the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC), was the suspected exit point of the stolen crude.

"We are also conducting an investigation to establish where the theft lines end and whether there have been any breaches of the unmanned platform's security barriers (locks etc.) or any unauthorised use of the equipment on it," an SPDC spokesperson said in an email.

SPDC said it had detected illegal connections as part of regular surveillance and would launch a joint investigation with regulators to "establish the nature and condition" of the lines before removing them.

NNPC pointed to the theft line discovery as evidence that Nigeria's coordinated interventions, including contracts with companies owned by former militants, to crack down on theft were paying off.

Large-scale theft from Nigeria's pipelines has throttled exports, forced some companies to shut in production and crippled the country's finances.

By Libby George

Reuters 

Related stories: The Criminals Undercutting Nigeria’s Oil Industry

Nigerian Authorities Launch App to Monitor Crude Oil Theft

Explosion at Nigerian illegal oil refinery kills more than 100


Cameroon, Nigeria request to join Ivory-Ghana cocoa initiative

Cameroon and Nigeria requested to join the Cote d’Ivoire-Ghana Cocoa Initiative (CIGCI), a joint body spearheading the interests of the two countries in the cocoa trade, the head of the initiative Alex Assanvo said on Wednesday.

The initiative was set up after a 2018 declaration by Ivory Coast and Ghana, the world’s first and second-largest cocoa producers, on willingness to define a common sustainable cocoa strategy that would raise prices paid to farmers.

It was created with the view of including other African countries.

Representatives from Cameroon and Nigeria were invited to a CIGCI meeting in Abidjan to begin the process of joining the initiative, Assanvo told reporters after the meeting.

“With Cameroon and Nigeria we are going to represent around two-thirds of global cocoa production,” Yves Brahima Kone, chief executive of the Ivory Coast Cocoa and Coffee Council, said at the meeting.

“This will allow us to have more leeway in discussions with the industry on imposing a decent price for our cocoa farmers.”

Reuters

Nigeria Flooding Leaves More Than 500 Dead, 1.4 Million Displaced

Nigerian officials say at least 500 people have been killed and 1.4 million displaced in the worst flooding in a decade. Officials say floods have affected nearly all of Nigeria's states and 90,000 homes have been partially or completely destroyed.

The permanent secretary of Nigeria's ministry of humanitarian affairs and disaster management, Nasir Sani-Gwarzo, announced the latest figures during a media briefing Tuesday in Abuja.

He said more than 1,500 people were injured and that the disaster had an impact on farmland across all but five of Nigeria's 36 states.

It is the worst flooding to be recorded in the West African nation since 2012. Authorities say heavier than normal rainfall and the release of water from a dam in Cameroon are to blame and have promised to help communities cope with the impact.

Isah Garba, who heads a community of farmers and fishers in Agabroko, in Central Kogi State, said the floods wreaked havoc on his people. He said his village was completely submerged, destroying farms of rice, corn, and even animals. He added that about 20 people died, mostly kids.

Thousands of people from Garba's area and neighboring villages are taking refuge on dry land several kilometers away from their homes. But there's limited access to basic amenities there, and the government's aid has yet to reach them.

Sani-Gwarzo said authorities have approved emergency action to mitigate the impact of the flood nationwide. He said a national emergency response plan will take into account other communities not directly hit by flooding.

Thirty-eight-year-old Fatima Adamu, who lost her livestock, is among those who say they need help. She said she lost 15 goats, and those that remain are falling sick.

The National Emergency Management Agency says that so far, it has reached some 300,000 people.

Meanwhile, Nigerian weather forecasters have warned that more flooding could be in store.

By Timothy Obiezu

VOA

Related stories: 50 killed and many displaced in northern Nigeria flooding

In Nigeria's food basket state, floods wash away homes, crops and hope

Death toll in Nigeria boat capsize tragedy rises to 76

Monday, October 10, 2022

Sony unveils new products in Nigeria

Sony Middle East and Africa in collaboration with Kontakt Pro Nigeria Limited have unveiled its cinema line cameras in Nigeria.

At the event in Lagos, the firm also used the event to engage emerging talents, key players and stakeholders in Nollywood and the media production industry.

The experiential event, which included hands-on demonstrations, in-depth product presentations and discussions with Sony experts from United Arab Emirate (UAE) and Japan, was also used to announce the arrival of its newest addition to the brand’s prestigious Cinema Line – the FX30 (model ILME-FX30).

Also, showcased at the event were the FX3, the FX6 and the FX9 full-frame digital cameras, with superior colour science technology, high-resolution sensors up to 6k, exceptional dynamic range for any light setting and fully optimised for a fast workflow. A key highlight of these cameras is their Netflix Production Technology alliance, a delight for today’s content creators.

Product Marketing Manager at Sony Middle East and Africa, Arvin Orsua, said: “It is important to Sony to make the life of a cinematographer easy. As a cinematographer, Sony fulfils its promise to support creators’ needs with camera features that make operation simple and output outstanding.”

For decades Sony has worked with the creative community by providing support and supplying tools made by cinematographers for cinematographers. The DNA (genetic makeup) from top film industries and the frontier of digital imaging come together to create a line of powerful creative tools designed to capture emotion in every frame and unleash the true power of visual storytelling from every corner of content creation.

Head of Digital Imaging at Sony Middle East and Africa, Sajeer Shamsu, said: “The new FX30 is a great fit for anyone looking to get started in filmmaking.

“It features many of the professional features of our high-end cameras at a price point that makes it easily accessible for filmmakers in the Middle East and Africa region at any level. This camera is an excellent starting point for our full line-up of Cinema Line Cameras.”

“We live in a new age of content consumption, where we can choose to connect with distant people, unseen places, exotic cultures, and untold stories at will. We can change the way we experience the world, and connecting people’s emotion through powerful storytelling is the motivation behind Sony’s cinema production technology” Shamsu noted.

In a statement, the Country Manager for Product Marketing, Nigeria, Ms. Bukola Oloyede, expressed delight in the film technology that Sony is making available to content creators. 

The Guardian

Chimamanda shines Nigeria’s torch, receives Harvard’s highest honour

Award-winning Nigerian author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, has been decorated with the iconic W.E.B. Du Bois Medal from Harvard University.

The award ceremony, held at the Sanders Theatre, Memorial Hall at Harvard University campus in Massachusetts, on Thursday, marking a return of the event after a nearly three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Introducing Chimamanda as one of the honourees, Tracy Kaysmith, a faculty member in the department of English, African and African American Studies, described her as one of the most celebrated writers of our time.

“Chimamanda is consecrated to the work of the word, which is soul work in a large and cosmic way. You have a vision that is large, but it begins in small intimate particular spaces. It is as attached to the vocabularies of causes as it is to the dialect of the heart, and I believe your work reminds us of what it looks like to look around at the small and vast both in and around us,” she said.

Celebrating her contributions to amplifying the African voice, Kaysmith said: “In her novels, Adichie has brought African voices to the attention of the wider world. She’s cast African immigrants in stories that are once universally resonant and gloriously precise, particular to the world in which they’re born. She is a superstar who is also part of an African literary renaissance in the company of my brilliant colleagues that demand each of us work hard to understand the vast traffic of cultures, beliefs, and identities that swirl around and intersect with our own.”

Listing her immense contributions to the course of gender equality, Kaysmith said: “She became an icon of 21st-century feminism for demanding that if equality is the goal, then we must honestly name one of the very real obstacles to genuine equality.”

Kaysmith thanked Chimamanda for her tremendous literary gifts. “For your fierce commitment to moving humanity beyond the constraints of a single story, single vocabulary, single set of expectations, we recognise you, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, with the W.E.B. Du Bois Medal.”

In her acceptance speech, Chimamanda thanked the organisers of the award. She thanked the Hutchins Centre Director, Prof. Henry Louis Gates Jr, calling him an icon for making African American history and literature mainstream and normal as it should be.

Reaffirming her love for writing, Chimamanda said: “Writing is the love of my life, literature has mattered to me for so long, and it’s always so meaningful for me to have my work recognised. The most meaningful thing for me as a writer is to know that I can create something that means something to other people, and so, what moves me the most is to hear from people who have read me say your work made me see, your work made me think differently, your work made me feel that I was not alone.”

In her final remarks to the students, she said: “For the young people who are here, if you care about anything, please care about reading. Reading is so important. Reading is magical, books are magical. I really think that one of the best ways to counter the ugly tsunami of book banning going around in this county is to read. I just want to make a very small suggestion, how about you give up social media for two weeks, three weeks, a month, and read, read, read.”

Reflecting on the choice of this year’s awardees, Gates Jr. said the honourees represent an “unyielding commitment to pushing the boundaries of representation and creating opportunities for advancement and participation for people who have been too often shut out from the great promise of our times.”

Other honourees at the award ceremony included basketball legend, cultural critic and activist, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who was recognised for his achievements in his 50 years of basketball career; ground-breaking actress Laverne Cox for her impressive career as a four-time Emmy nominated actress and prominent equal rights advocate; Agnes Gund, President emerita of the Museum of Modern Arts; Raymond J. McGuire, Chairman of the Studio Museum in Harlem and philanthropist; Deval Patrick, 71st governor of Massachusetts and civil rights leader; Betye Saar, artist, on her reflection on African and American identity.

The W.E.B. Du Bois Medal is the highest honour given by Harvard University in the field of African and African American studies. Past recipients include Oprah Winfrey, Maya Angelou, Muhammad Ali, Steven Spielberg, Ava Duvernay, and Chinua Achebe.

By Sunday Aikulola

The Guardian

Related story: Nigerian author Chimamanda Adichie wins the Kassel Citizens' " Prism of Reason" Award

 






Nigeria To Start Building A New Airport In Lagos State Next Year

The Lagos State Government has announced that the construction of a new airport in the state will begin next year. The airport, given the all-clear from the Federal Government, will handle a minimum of five million travelers annually.
 

New Lagos Airport gets go-ahead

Construction of a new airport in Lagos State, Nigeria will begin next year, according to the government. The new facility will be built on a 3,500-hectare site situated on the busy Lekki peninsula east of downtown Lagos.

Jubril Gawat, Senior Special Assistant to Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, told Daily Post.

"The project is expected to take off in the year 2023, it will be constructed on 3,500 hectares of land, master plan and aeronautical designs are in place; while studies are ongoing about strategies, funding and other issues, after which the project will be taken to the marketplace. The airport, which is expected to cater to a minimum of five million people yearly, will be constructed in partnership with local and foreign investors."

Nigeria's Federal Government has given its approval for the project. While the airport master plan has been finalized, the project could still face other hurdles, such as financing, so there's no guarantee construction will commence in 2023.

Catering to growing demand


There have long been calls to add air capacity to Lagos, which is Nigeria's largest city and a key economic and cultural hub in Africa. In fact, the wider Lagos area is home to over 20 million people, making it the most populous region on the entire continent.

Nigerian lawyer Kwami Adadevoh told Daily Post.

"It is overdue. Long, long overdue. Lagos doesn’t get enough air traffic for a city of its economic importance and that’s because the present airport is too small."

However, given that Lagos' current airport, Murtala Muhammed International Airport (LOS), significantly expanded its capacity this year with a new terminal, some would argue that Lagos State has enough capacity already.

Nigeria has embarked on a significant infrastructure drive in recent years, including the development of five new international terminals and six cargo terminals as part of an agreement with EXIM Bank of China.
 

What about Murtala Muhammed International Airport?

Murtala Muhammed International Airport served almost 7.5 million travelers in 2019, dropping to 5.6 million in 2021. The old airport, built in the 1940s, is Nigeria's busiest with separate domestic and international terminals located around 1km apart.

The airport inaugurated a brand-new international terminal in April, but it turns out most airlines aren't using it. The new facility, which has a capacity for up to 14 million passengers annually, does not have sufficient apron space to host larger widebody aircraft like the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, Boeing 777, Boeing 747, and Airbus A380, leading international airlines to remain at the older Terminal 1. 

By Luke Bodell

Simple Flying

Related stories: Nigeria To Fine Airlines That Don't Sell Tickets In Local Currency

Ethiopian Airlines Announced As Partner For Nigeria Air

 

 






Death toll in Nigeria boat capsize tragedy rises to 76

The death toll from a boat accident in Nigeria's southeastern state of Anambra has risen to 76, the president said on Sunday.

The vessel capsized on Friday amid heavy flooding in the Ogbaru area of Anambra, according to officials on Saturday, when they said at least 10 people had died and 60 were missing.

In a statement posted on Twitter on Sunday, Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari said that emergency authorities had confirmed the higher death toll.

Authorities are working to rescue or recover any missing passengers, said Buhari, adding that he had directed the relevant agencies to check safety protocols to prevent future accidents.

The head of Anambra State Emergency Management Agency said that 15 people had been rescued as of Saturday night.

Anambra is among 29 of Nigeria's 36 states to have experienced heavy flooding this year. The waters have washed away homes, crops and roads and affected at least half a million people.

A local resident, Afam Ogene, told Reuters that because flooding had destroyed the major road linking eight communities to the rest of the area, some residents had to travel by boat.

Of the vessel that capsized, he said it was locally made and had the capacity to carry more than 100 people. He added that the boat's engine had failed and it was overpowered by waves shortly after it launched.

By Libby George

Reuters

Related stories: 50 killed and many displaced in northern Nigeria flooding

In Nigeria's food basket state, floods wash away homes, crops and hope

 

Friday, October 7, 2022

Video - Nigerian students take up Chinese to expand opportunities



Language has always served as a strong bridge between cultures. The diplomatic ties between China and Nigeria have been boosted over the years by Chinese language teaching programs. The Chinese Confucius Institute based in Lagos has been educating thousands of Nigerians on the Chinese language and culture. 

CGTN

Women, children drown fleeing attack in Nigeria’s north

Several women and children drowned while trying to escape an armed attack in Nigeria’s troubled northern region, residents and a government official said Thursday.

The victims died when their boats capsized while fleeing an hours-long assault by unidentified gunmen Wednesday night on the Birnin Waje community in Zamfara state, said Ibrahim Zauma, a resident.

“The situation is dire because most of the people have run away from their homes. The dead bodies recovered so far is 13,” Zauma said.

It was not clear how many people might have drowned, but many who fled their homes had not returned to the area, which residents said remained volatile more than 24 hours after the violence.

Ibrahim Bello, a Zamfara government spokesman, confirmed the attack, saying that “an unknown number of mostly women and children got drowned” as they sought to escape in two boats.

He did not say whether any arrests had been made.

The attack was the latest in a cycle of violence by armed groups targeting remote communities in Nigeria’s northwest and central regions.

Authorities often blame the attacks on a group of mostly young pastoralists from the Fulani tribe caught up in Nigeria’s conflict between communities and herdsmen over limited access to water and land.

The deadly clashes between local communities and the herdsmen have defied government measures seeking to quell the violence, although security forces have recently announced some arrests and seizure of arms.

Nigeria’s security forces are outnumbered and outgunned in many of the affected communities while authorities also continue to fight a decade-long insurgency launched by Islamist extremist rebels in the northeast.

By Chinedu Asadu

AP

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

Dozens killed in ‘barbaric, senseless’ violence in Nigeria

Video - Is Nigeria's security crisis out of control?

Thursday, October 6, 2022

In Nigeria's food basket state, floods wash away homes, crops and hope

Victoria Okonkwo sits in a canoe as neighbours paddle her away from her house in Nigeria's food basket, Benue state, which is now under water – along with more than 100,000 hectares (247,100 acres) of farmland.

"It was last week that it started, so I left thinking that the water will not be this much," Okonkwo, 45, told Reuters. "Now I am displaced with my children."

Okonkwo is among at least half a million Nigerians affected by flooding in 29 of Nigeria's 36 states this year. Farmers say the rising waters will push food bills higher in a nation where millions have fallen into food poverty in the past two years.

Farming was constrained by flooding and food shortages and COVID-19 restrictions in 2020. Prices shot higher due to this year's war in Ukraine and nationwide insecurity that has pushed thousands of farmers off their land.

"This is a catastrophe indeed," said Dimieari Von Kemedi, chief executive of Alluvial Agriculture, a farm collective. "All of these wrong things are happening at the same time."

Farmer Tersoo Deei, 39, said 2 hectares (5 acres) of her rice and nearly all her soybeans in Benue were underwater. What she had harvested she has to sell now, before it has dried, because her house washed away.

"I do not have any option but to sell my rice paddy because there is nowhere to keep it," the mother of four told Reuters.

Nigeria-based commodities exchange AFEX estimates flooding and other factors will cut maize output by 12% year on year, and rice by 21%. That is a serious problem for a nation where inflation hit a 17-year high in August, led by food inflation at 23.12%.

"What we are seeing currently is the worst case... at least in the last decade," David Ibidapo, AFEX's head of market data and research, said of the flooding. "This is a very big challenge to food security."

By Abraham Achirga and Libby George

Reuters

Nigeria regulator seeks $70M penalty in lawsuit against Meta

A Nigerian advertising regulator has sued Meta, accusing the owner of Facebook and WhatsApp of publishing unauthorized ads and seeking a 30 billion naira ($70 million) fine.

The lawsuit filed in a local court by the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria, or ARCON, is the regulator’s latest action that analysts say could hurt businesses highly dependent on digital ads for their growth.

Nigerian advertising laws require the regulator to approve ads based on certain criteria with the involvement of an advertising practitioner in Africa’s largest economy.

“Before you put out anything, it should be vetted and approved by ARCON first before exposure,” the agency said Tuesday. “Anything that has not been vetted and approved by ARCON is a violation of our law.”

A Meta spokesperson said the company doesn’t comment on ongoing legal claims.

The regulator published some details from the court filings, including a request for a declaration “that the continued publication and exposure of various advertisements directed at the Nigerian market through Facebook and Instagram platforms by Meta Platforms Incorporated without ensuring same is vetted and approved before exposure is illegal, unlawful and a violation of the extant advertising Law in Nigeria.”

The Nigerian government said Meta displaying unvetted ads has cost the country a loss of revenue, without providing details.

The agency warned against “unethical and irresponsible advertising on Nigeria’s advertising space,” raising questions over what constitutes such advertising.

The court case against Meta comes about a year after the Nigerian government began moves to get social media networks to run local offices in the country. That followed a seven-month ban on Twitter, which the government had accused of allowing “persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.”

By Chinedu Asadu

AP

Nigerian oil export terminal had theft line into sea for 9 years

Officials in Nigeria discovered an illegal connection line from one of its major oil export terminals into the sea that had been operating undetected for nine years, the head of state oil company NNPC LTD said.

The 4-kilometre (2.5-mile) connection from the Forcados export terminal, which typically exports around 250,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil, into the sea was found during a clamp-down on theft in the past six weeks, NNPC Chief Executive Mele Kyari told a parliamentary committee late on Tuesday.

"Oil theft in the country has been going on for over 22 years but the dimension and rate it assumed in recent times is unprecedented," Kyari said in an audio recording of the briefing reviewed by Reuters.

Thieves often tap land-based pipelines to siphon oil undetected while they continue to operate, but an illegal line in the ocean is highly unusual and suggests a more sophisticated theft operation.

Forcados operator SPDC, a local subsidiary of Shell (SHEL.L), did not immediately provide a comment.

Nigeria, typically Africa's largest oil exporter, is losing potential revenue from some 600,000 bpd of oil, Kyari said, as some is stolen and as oil companies idle certain fields rather than feed pipelines tapped by thieves.

Crude oil exports fell below 1 million bpd in August for the first time since at least 1990 as a result, starving Nigeria of crucial cash.

Loadings at the terminal have been stopped since a leak was found from a sub-sea hose at the terminal on July 17. Shell said this week that it expected loadings to resume in the second half of October.

In August, NNPC awarded contracts to companies including those owned by former militants to crack down on oil theft.

By Camillus Eboh

Reuters

Related stories: Ex-Militant Tapped to Protect Nigerian Pipelines He Once Blew Up

Nigeria's Buhari worried over large scale crude oil theft

Nigerian Authorities Launch App to Monitor Crude Oil Theft

23 hostages from Nigeria passenger train reported freed

More than 20 people who were abducted from a passenger train in Nigeria have regained their freedom after more than six months, Nigerian authorities said Wednesday.

A government committee assembled by Nigeria’s chief of defense staff “secured the release and took custody of all the 23 remaining passengers held hostage,” the panel said.

Authorities did not respond to inquiries about how the hostages were freed. The committee did not announce any arrests in connection with the development.

It was not clear if ransoms were paid to free the passengers. They often are in many remote communities of Nigeria’s troubled north, where large bands of assailants have abducted residents and travelers and then let them go in exchange for large payments.

In late March, gunmen attacked the train with explosives and gunfire near Nigeria’s capital, killing seven people and abducting dozens of others. Some passengers previously were freed in batches on more than three occasions.

A spokesman for the families of the remaining passengers said no one had informed them yet of the latest release.

No group claimed responsibility for the March attack. Authorities said it was carried out by armed men from northern Nigeria with the aid of Islamic extremist rebels who have waged a decade-long insurgency in the country’s northeast.


Protesters accused the government in the months following the train attack of “not doing enough” to rescue the hostages.

In September, Nigeria’s security forces arrested a negotiator who was holding independent talks with the assailants to free the remaining passengers. Authorities say they found “incriminating materials” in his house. 

By Chinedu Asadu

AP

Related stories: More than 160 passengers still missing from train attacked in Nigeria

Video - Rail staff killed in ‘unprecedented’ attack on train in Nigeria

Video - Is Nigeria's security crisis out of control?

Wednesday, October 5, 2022

‘Nigeria’s fast decaying ports infrastructure threatening foreign trade’

Stakeholders in the maritime sector have raised the alarm that the infrastructure in the nation’s seaports are fast decaying and threatening international trade in the country.

They said the collapsed portions of some terminals inside the ports are getting worse on a daily basis as no efforts are made to rehabilitate them.

The National Secretary, Maritime Researchers and Authors Association of Nigeria (MARASSON), Ajanonwu Okechukwu Vincent, told The Guardian that the quay aprons at Brawal, Five Star Logistics, Port and Cargo, TICT, GREENVIEW, APMT, ENL and Apapa Bulk terminals have collapsed into the water.

He said that Brawal terminal has been destroyed almost completely by erosion, noting that a crack that was deliberately ignored has developed into a gully.

Recall that the Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Mohammed Bello-Koko, last week, said the nation’s seaports require urgent attention in the collapsed quay apron at the Tin-Can Island port and collapsed jetty at Continental Shipyard, collapsed berth at Federal Lighter Terminal (FLT) and fencing of common user port facility in line with the specification of International Ships and Ports Facility (ISPS) code and the collapsed breakwater at Delta port.

“If the cracks were promptly arrested they would not have developed into the valleys they are today. But in Nigeria cracks are ignored until they become valleys. At that point trillions of Naira would come to the rescue instead of millions and billions of Naira. You must have heard that NPA has budgeted N600 billion in this year’s budget for reconstruction of the collapsed Nigerian Ports. There is insincerity in the whole arrangement. The present government has only seven months to go. We are now in the political campaign period, politicians will now use the collapsed ports as campaign material,” Vincent said.

Vincent said the Concession Agreement in 2006 was flawed, as it made provision for repair and/or reconstruction of the ports infrastructure by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) instead of the concessionaires, despite the government’s low maintenance culture and bureaucratic system in its agencies.

He said government has no business being involved in this kind of haphazard arrangement that has now gone sour, noting that the next concession agreement/renewal should enforce the duty of port maintenance and reconstruction of collapsed quay aprons and provision of fenders among other dilapidated infrastructure as the responsibility of the terminal operators.

Vincent also lamented that the Federal Government’s policies are killing the maritime industry and indigenous operators, while favouring foreigners who operate 80 per cent of the trade in the country.

He said the country’s maritime trade is the worst victim of the Federal Government’s policy from 2015 to date, which started with the auto policy of 2013.

He said the vehicle assembly plants were to bring in completely knocked down parts at 20 per cent duty rate, while indigenous importers were to pay 35 per cent.

He said this policy favoured foreigners more than the indigenous operators, noting that the policy boosted smuggling.

“Take a look at the Vehicle Identification Number policy that has no place in the valuation principles of any trading nation. It violates Act 20 of 2003, which is the legal valuation principle presented to the World Trade Organisation by the Nigeria Customs Service in 2007.

“Compare the highest cargo throughput, which stood at 14 million ton equivalent units (TEU) in 2014, with the present 3.5 million TEUs in 2022, you will agree with me that there is a deliberate policy to kill the Nigerian trade industry,” he said.

Vincent stressed that all terminal operators are fencing agents out of the ports with barbed wires and stringent conditions that require access cards before an agent can enter any of the terminals.

He said about 70 per cent of the agents cannot enter the terminals because they don’t have Form C 30 and are therefore not qualified for access cards. He said at PTML, the Access Card office is humiliating and embarrassing agents.

Also speaking, the General Secretary, Association of Bonded Terminal Operators of Nigeria, Haruna Omolajomo, said the renewal of the concessionaires by Federal Government should be of concern to all Nigerians, especially the stakeholders in the maritime industry, having regard to infrastructural decays at the ports, which solution seem impossible to address in the next coming years.

He said what should be paramount to NPA and Federal Government is the need for infrastructural decays not to surpass minimum acceptable international standards before renewing their agreement.

Omolajomo said, although the concessionaires have claimed to have put everything in place and have surpassed the minimum standards expected of them by the government, certain questions beg for immediate answers.

He listed the questions to include: “Of what benefits were the first concession to the economy and people of Nigeria? Have the government and people of Nigeria really benefited from these concessionaires? Do these concessionaires actually or practically contribute to the social activities of their environments or even helped in the community development of their areas? Do their actions or inactions help the local content that is paramount in the Federal Government agenda?

“What impacts do their business have on our local currency? Is it a case of transferring all the money they make out of the country without the people here benefitting from it or using it to grow our economy? What of employment, how many Nigerians are benefitting from these concessionaires?”

He said the concessionaires activities or actions form part of what is killing indigenous bonded terminals or the inland container depots (lCDs) as well local content addition.

According to him, the concessionaires have practically taken businesses off Nigerians that ought to benefit and use whatever is got to develop the country, rather than take all the profits made to their home countries.

Omolajomo said convincing government not to renew their concession would be asking a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, suggesting that for things to work perfectly, there should be a conscious policy or law enacted by the National Assembly that will allow tangible percentage of cargo inflow to be handled by the local or indigenous operators, about 35 per cent to satisfy the local content policy of the Federal Government.

He said the indigenous bonded operators must be carried along in all regulations and policy, noting that bonded terminals have invested over N5 trillion and have performed below 15 per cent capacity utilisation due to Federal Government policy that favoured the foreign concessionaires at the expense of the local content.

“On regular basis, the concessionaires must be closely monitored to ensure that whatever they get as profit, a certain percentage is ploughed back for infrastructural development as well as social benefits for the people of Nigeria. Any concessionaire that fails to comply should be blacklisted and punished adequately,” he suggested.

By Adaku Onyenucheya

The Guardian

Related stories: Africa's richest man speaks about the future of Nigeria

Nigeria to Strengthen Infrastructure Company to Boost Recovery








Two oil wells operated by Nigeria's Eroton on fire

Two oil wells operated by Nigerian firm Eroton Exploration and Production Limited caught fire on Monday and were still burning on Tuesday after the company hired a contractor to try extinguish the fire, the agency responsible for detecting oil spills said.

It was not immediately clear if this was the same area where a well operated by Eroton spilled oil and gas into the Niger Delta for more than a week in June.

Eroton produces and exports crude from its Oil Mining Lease 18 block through the Nembe Creek Trunkline.

The National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) said the fire broke out at two wells in Rivers state, in the Niger Delta. A boat suspected to have been engaging in theft of crude oil was burnt to ashes at the site.

"The company has mobilised a vendor, which is expected to arrive at the incident location today, October 4, 2022 to extinguish the raging fire from the wells, the agency will supervise the activity accordingly," Idris Musa, head of NOSDRA said in a statement.

Oil spills are common in the oil producing Niger Delta where crude production has been hobbled by theft and vandalism of pipelines, hitting Nigeria's export earnings. 

By Tife Owolabi

Reuters

Related stories: Nigeria squanders oil price bonanza as gasoline subsidies soar

Nigeria has the highest incidents of oil spills in the world

 

Nigerian child killed in 'bullet-proof' charm test

A Nigerian boy has been killed by his brother while testing a newly bought "bullet-proof" charm, police say.

The two believed they had "fortified themselves with the protective charm", according to police in Kwara state

Abubakar Abubakar then shot at his younger brother Yusuf, 12, using their father's rifle, officers say. Police are now looking for the alleged killer.

Despite a lack of evidence, charms are used by some in Nigeria who want protection against bad luck.

There have been several reports of people being killed after testing "bullet-proof" charms and medicines.

It is not clear why the two brothers went to get protection.

Yusuf Abubakar is said to have died on the spot after the shooting while his older brother escaped into the bushes, police say.

The two brothers were the sons of a hunter.

Police have urged parents "to monitor the activities of their children and avoid doing certain unsavoury activities".

BBC


Tuesday, October 4, 2022

Nigeria to award flared gas contracts by end of 2022

Nigeria will award contracts for its flared gas by the end of December under an accelerated programme to harness gas that is released as a byproduct of oil production, its petroleum regulator has said.

President Muhammadu Buhari first launched the programme to auction rights to capture and sell flared gas in 2016. Four years later, the government approved 200 bidders but the process was stalled due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

On Sunday, Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission chief executive Gbenga Komolafe said the auction was being restarted and would be open to previous applicants and new bidders.

“The auction process has been streamlined to enable an accelerated delivery schedule for this exercise with the announcement of winners planned for December 2022,” Komolafe said in a statement.

The government has said flaring costs it roughly $1bn a year in lost revenue. The gas can be used in power plants, in industry or exported.

Last month, Petroleum Minister Timipre Sylva said Nigeria’s plan to commercialise gas burned from its oilfields was at an advanced stage and would help cut 15 million tonnes of carbon emissions from the atmosphere.

Nigeria, which has Africa’s largest gas reserves of more than 190 trillion cubic feet, first targeted gas flaring in the late 1970s and, through various schemes and regulations, has more than halved it since 2001. 

By Camillus Eboh

Reuters





Ten years from the lynching that shocked Nigeria

Jane Toku sheds no tears as she recalls the moment when she saw the smouldering remains of her son's corpse on the morning he and three of his friends were lynched 10 years ago.



The four students had run into a local vigilante group at dawn in Aluu, a community behind the University of Port Harcourt in southern Nigeria's oil capital.


There had been a spate of robberies in the area and at that time of the morning, people became suspicions. Accused of being petty thieves, the four - Llody Toku, Ugonna Obuzor, Chiadika Biringa and Tekena Elkanah - were given a mock trial and found guilty.


Their punishment was handed out immediately: they were stripped, marched around the community, brutally beaten and set alight by the mob as thousands watched and filmed.


"When I arrived, I forced my way through the crowd and knelt before my son's corpse.


"His friend Tekena was barely breathing, I watched his chest heave with his last breaths," Mrs Toku said.


Such mob killings are not uncommon in Nigeria but this was the first to go viral on social media, causing widespread outrage, protests and debates about the country's judicial system, and questions about a society where people resort to such levels of violence.


"One is tired and sick of coming here to lament after these dastardly acts," a lawmaker said at the time when the incident was discussed at the National Assembly.


"It is important for 'jungle justice' to be stopped - it is bad," said radio host Yaw, as celebrities condemned the incident.


But despite the shock and anger over the killing of the students, now known as the Aluu Four, and the sentencing of three men including one police officer, for their roles in the lynching, mob attacks continue to happen in Nigeria.


There have been 391 mob killings in Nigeria since 2019, according to SBM Intelligence, a Lagos-based think-tank, with at least five this year alone.


That begs the question why the outrage over the killing of the Aluu Four didn't lead to a national reckoning over lynchings.


"The failure of the criminal justice system is one very important reason for this," said Dr Agwanwo Destiny, a criminologist at the sociology department of the University of Port Harcourt.


He pointed to instances where criminal suspects handed over to the police were released without investigation and ended up seeking revenge on those who had given them up.


"Such incidents erode trust in the judicial system, so when people are alleged to have committed a crime, people are quick to pass judgement and vent their frustrations," Dr Destiny said.


It is an argument also made by activist Annkio Briggs, who led demonstrations in Port Harcourt to demand justice for the students and their families, because she "couldn't trust the system to do what was right," she told the BBC.


Perpetrators of mob killings in Nigeria are rarely arrested and prosecuted.


Two suspects arrested in May after the lynching of a Christian student on allegations of blasphemy in Sokoto have still not been brought to trial, while the police said the main culprits are still at large.


It was one of four reported cases of mob killing in that month alone:


.Two men were burnt to death by a mob in the Ijesha area of Lagos over alleged theft of mobile phones
 

.One man was murdered in Lugbe, Abuja on allegations of blasphemy


.Commercial motorcyclists lynched a sound engineer identified as David Imoh in the Lekki area of Lagos.


Suspects have been charged in all cases, the police said. But it might be years before there are any verdicts because of the slow pace of justice in Nigeria.


Two years ago, Nigeria's anti-corruption agency, the ICPC, said the judiciary was the most corrupt arm of government in the country. It said that more than nine billion naira ($21m; £19m) was offered and paid as bribes in the sector.


Such reports indicating that justice is for sale to the highest bidder erode trust in the system, said Dr Destiny.


It has never been determined what the four students were doing when they were stopped by the vigilante group in Aluu.


One version said they were thieves, another said they were members of a violent gang but neither allegation was proved in court.

"He was not a perfect child but he was humble and he was our confidant.


"He was close to us because we had our second child 11 years after him," Mrs Toku said of her son.


The four students, best friends, were in their late teens and early 20s and came from middle-class homes.


Ugonna, 18, and his friend Lloyd, 19 - known as Tipsy and Big L - were budding musicians in Port Harcourt's rap scene.


One of their three unreleased songs Love In The City could almost be a prophesy of what befell them.


Growing up in the city like PH where Ra was made to sing right


We embrace the street life cos


There's no love in the heart of the city


How can the seeds grow when the garden is weary


It used to be very cool but the oil crude brought violence



"There can be no justification, no reason why anybody should die like that," said their friend Gloria During, who lived in the same Hilton hostel in Aluu as both musicians.


Aluu is popular for its private apartments that are rented by students who can't find accommodation at the university's insufficient hostels.


At the time it was a small village with many undeveloped plots and a population that were mostly farmers.


Today, Port Harcourt's sprawling metropolis has caught up with the fringes of Aluu - most of the land has been built on by Pentecostal churches and more hostels have sprung up.


But in the centre of the community remains two barren plots, the playground where the students were first held and death pronounced on them, and the burrow-pit, several hundred yards away, where they were marched to, beaten and killed.


Despite the nationwide shock when the incident happened, time has allowed most of Nigeria to move on.


But for a mother, time is a keen reminder of the loss of a beloved first son with a bright future ahead of him.


"He had a bright career in music, he would have gone far by now," Mrs Toku said.

By Nduka Orjinmo

BBC 

Related stories: Arrests made in student killings

University of Port Harcourt shuts down as student protest killings

Nigeria Agrees to End Military Detention of Children

In 2019, a colleague and I interviewed dozens of children in northeast Nigeria who had been detained in horrific conditions in a military prison for alleged association with the armed group Boko Haram. The children described beatings, overwhelming heat, frequent hunger, and being packed tightly in cells with hundreds of other detainees “like razorblades in a pack.” Most were never charged and held for months or years with no outside contact.

Since 2013, at least 4,000 children have been detained in Nigeria. Many were abducted against their will or apprehended when fleeing Boko Haram attacks. Some were only five years old.

Our report, published in late 2019, helped prompt the release of 333 children from prison, but authorities refused to allow the United Nations access to the prison or to enter an agreement to ensure children were not military detained and were provided immediate reintegration assistance.

Last week, the Nigerian government finally signed a “handover protocol” with the UN agreeing that children taken into military custody on suspicion of involvement with Boko Haram should be transferred within seven days to civilian authorities for reintegration. This is an important milestone that will help prevent the military detention of children and ensure they receive needed support.

Nigeria is not the only country where children have been detained for alleged involvement with armed groups. Last year the UN reported that 2,864 children were detained for suspected association with armed groups in 16 countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Libya, Myanmar, Somalia, and Syria.

Handover protocols are practical measures to ensure that instead of prison, children affected by conflict can be reintegrated into their communities. In Mali, for example, dozens of children have been transferred from military to civilian authorities for reintegration thanks to a handover protocol signed in 2013. Chad, Niger, and Burkina Faso have also signed protocols.

Children affected by conflict need rehabilitation and schooling, not prison. Nigeria’s new agreement should help children get the support they need. Other governments should follow its example.

By Jo Becker

Human Rights Watch

Monday, October 3, 2022

Video - Ibrahim Gusau succeeds Amaju Pinnick as Nigeria football president



Nigeria has avoided a potential conflict with world football governing body FIFA with the election of a new executive board for the country's federation, the NFF. FIFA threatened to sanction Nigeria if the election did not take place after a court had initially halted it. But a court of appeal would later pave the way for the election to go ahead at the last minute with Ibrahim Gusau elected the new NFF president. 

CGTN

Friday, September 30, 2022

UK government faces court challenge in Nigerian rendition case

The family of a British citizen who was allegedly taken to Nigeria in an act of extraordinary rendition has been granted a court hearing to challenge the UK government for not intervening in his case.


Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob), a prominent separatist movement proscribed in Nigeria, was arrested in Kenya in June last year before being transported against his will to Nigeria, where he has been held ever since.


In July, the UN working group on arbitrary detention published an opinion that the father of two had been subject to extraordinary rendition and said he should be released immediately. However, successive UK foreign secretaries, first Dominic Raab and then Liz Truss, before she became prime minister, have refused to take a view as to whether Kanu was a victim of extraordinary rendition.


The family has been granted a judicial review to challenge that refusal, arguing that its effect has been that no action has been taken to help him.

His brother, Kingsley Kanu, said: “The British government is well known for its stance on human rights. I believe it must be decisive when it comes to its decision-making about very serious violations of the human rights of British citizens abroad, especially when the facts are clear, as they are in my brother’s case, and when the UN has investigated and reached a firm conclusion that my brother was subject to extraordinary rendition. I am very happy that the court has agreed that a hearing is necessary to decide this important issue.”

Kanu’s family claim he was tortured in Kenya and has been held in solitary confinement in Abuja since being transported there. The UN working group referred the case to the special rapporteur on torture. It expressed concern that he had been denied treatment and medication for his heart condition and highlighted that solitary confinement in excess of 15 consecutive days is prohibited under the Nelson Mandela rules, international non-binding standards.

In a court filing concerning a parallel case brought by Nnamdi Kanu in Abuja, the Nigerian government denied torturing or mistreating him. It claimed that he entered Kenya unlawfully, having previously jumped bail in Nigeria, and so had no right to an extradition hearing.

In 2015, Kanu was arrested in Nigeria and charged with terrorism offences and incitement, after setting up a digital radio station, Radio Biafra, at his home in London. Two years later he fled the country while on bail after an attack on his family home, which he claimed killed 28 members of Ipob. In January, he pleaded not guilty to terrorism charges.


Shirin Marker, from Bindmans LLP, who is representing Kingsley Kanu, said it was essential for the new foreign secretary, James Cleverly, to reach a firm conclusion on whether her client’s brother had been the victim of extraordinary rendition in order to decide what steps to take to assist him.

“The evidence available to date establishes that he has been subject to extraordinary rendition and torture or inhumane treatment,” she said. “It is unacceptable for the UK government to continue to prevaricate on this issue. We are glad that the court has now granted permission for this case to move to a final hearing.”

Explaining her decision to grant a judicial review hearing, Mrs Justice Ellenbogen said: “Such decisions/inaction are, in principle, reviewable and do not enter forbidden areas, including decisions affecting foreign policy.”

The Foreign Office declined to comment while proceedings were active.

By Haroon Siddique

The Guardian

I’ll turn Nigeria from consumption to production country – Obi

The Presidential candidate of Labour Party, LP, Peter Obi, Thursday, pledged to turn Nigeria from being a consuming to producing country if elected in 2023.


Obi made the pledge in Ibadan, after a closed-door meeting with Governor ‘Seyi Makinde in his office at Agodi, Secretariat, Ibadan.

He said, despite Nigeria has performed poorly in the last sixty-two years but survived as a nation, there was still need to celebrate, adding that, the next election should be how to start building a new Nigeria everybody would be proud of.

Obi said: “At this time in Nigeria, I’m going over and consulting with all the well meaning Nigerians about the future of the country. Consulting and discussing with them about how can we collectively bring back Nigeria and Nigeria becomes the country we will all be proud of.”

In 62 years, it can be said that we performed poorly, but we survived as a nation but we are tired of saying we’ve achieved a lot, we celebrate because this next election will a one to build a nation that we all can be proud of.

“Next year election will not be based on ethnicity because there’s no ethnic group that food cheaper rate or there’s no place where the poor people are happy, there’s no place where there’s job for everybody, or a place where there’s uninterrupted electricity or any ethnic group that will say they are safe.”

“ It will not be based on religion, the Christians don’t buy bread cheaper neither do the Muslims. It is the same for everybody, everybody’s suffering. I am not saying it is my turn but the turn of Nigerians to take back what belongs to them. It will not be by corruption and that’s why we going across to say let’s save our country.”

“Next year election would be based on character and trust, capacity and commitment to do the right thing. I’ve made a commitment to be responsible but I want to move and secure Nigeria, build Nigeria.”

“I’m a Nigerian, I don’t want anybody to vote for me because I’m an igbo man, no, don’t vote for me because I’m a Christian or because it is my turn, it is the turn of Nigerians, vote for me because of my commitment and my character and especially my commitment to the young ones.”

“I’ve said it, that structure is the structure that kept us down, it is the structure of criminality, it is the structure that aids massive corruption, that’s what we want to remove. We must remove that structure for Nigeria to start working. We are doing good work, going across party lines to ensure Nigeria works. The structure of money sharing must be removed.”

“The money they are sharing is why there are jobless people, the money they are sharing is why the whole country isn’t working. They didn’t invest in health, in education, in security but rather sharing the money. So it is time make things right and make use of the money in the right way.”

“People don’t share money in the other worlds because they wants job. Out youths wants job, they are energetic. People don’t know where the next meal will come from and you’re giving them money. When people talk about money, it gets me annoyed because that’s not what we have come to do.”

By Adeola Badru

Vanguard

Related stories: Video - Presidential hopeful Peter Obi on his plans for Nigeria

Most Popular Candidate in Race to Become Nigerian President Plans Budget Revamp

Japan's Daikin to build air conditioners in Nigeria in renewed push

Japan's Daikin Industries Ltd (6367.T) will begin assembling air conditioners in Nigeria as it renews a push into Africa that had been delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, a regional head said on Thursday.

"We are very soon going to have a factory in Nigeria," Kanwal Jeet Jawa, the head of Daikin's operations in India and East Africa, told Reuters.

Rather than building a plant, Daikin is using space in a facility provided by a local distributor in the West African nation, he said.

In East African countries, including Tanzania and Kenya, Daikin is aiming to become the leading seller of air conditioners, chillers and other cooling equipment by 2025.

The company is looking to replicate its success in India, where it has beaten the likes of South Korea's LG Electronics Inc (066570.KS) to take top market share amid rapid market expansion driven by the country's economic growth, Jawa said.

Daikin's production capacity in India is set to almost double in 2023 with the opening of a new factory, allowing it to ship equipment to Africa that is more affordable and better suited to local conditions than air conditioners the Japanese company makes elsewhere, Jawa said.

"For East Africa, we will continue to supply finished products produced in India," a Daikin spokesperson said.

By Tim Kelly and Mayu Sakoda

Reuters

Related story: Japan gives Nigeria $1 billion grant

 

Nigeria's Abubakar launches bid to succeed Buhari as president

Nigeria’s main opposition leader Atiku Abubakar launched his presidential election campaign on Wednesday calling for a sweeping victory to save the country from a “frightening descent” into anarchy.

Official election campaigning started on Wednesday, ahead of a February presidential vote to choose a successor to President Muhammadu Buhari, who is serving a final second term.

Nigeria’s next leader will inherit a country beset by growing insecurity, separatist agitation, a sluggish economy, double-digit inflation, industrial crude oil theft and a growing petrol subsidy bill that is draining government finances.

Abubakar, 75, and a former vice president between 1999-2007, is running for the third time. He said a People’s Democratic Party (PDP) government would rebuild the economy, improve security and the education sector and run a smaller government.


“We have a plan to address these issues,” he Abubakar said at a ceremony to start his campaign. He did not give details.

“Under the watch of the current APC government, our dear country has witnessed a frightening descent into anarchy.”

To become president, Abubakar will have to defeat ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate Bola Tinubu and the Labour Party’s Peter Obi, his former running mate in 2019.

He also has to heal rifts within his PDP party after an influential faction boycotted Wednesday’s event as it pushes for the chairman, Abubakar’s ally, to quit.


Abubakar has previously said he would give more power to the 36 states, remove the oil subsidy and privatise the national oil firm and allow the private sector a greater role in the economy.

Polls in Nigeria are unreliable, but Tinubu and Abubakar - both septuagenarian political veterans - lead the two biggest political parties that have ruled Nigeria since the return to democratic rule in 1999.

The PDP is seeking to return to power after its defeat by Buhari’s APC in 2015.

By Camillus Eboh 

Reuters

Most Popular Candidate in Race to Become Nigerian President Plans Budget Revamp

A third-party presidential candidate trying to capitalize on widespread discontent in Nigeria said he’ll scrap multibillion-dollar fuel subsidies and restructure debt to free up funds to tackle insecurity and boost investment if he wins the election next year.


Peter Obi -- a former state governor and banker -- has emerged as the politician with the best chance of upending the two-party status quo that has ruled Africa’s most-populous country for more than 20 years. His bid to replace President Muhammadu Buhari has swiftly gained a following that hopes to grow its momentum in the run-up to the vote in February.

“I am in it to bring the change that Nigeria has been missing all these years,” Obi said in an interview in the capital, Abuja.

His rivals are Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress and Atiku Abubakar of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, whose political organizations have provided every head of state since 1999 and dominate both legislative chambers.

Obi faces an uphill battle against stalwarts of parties that know how to turn out voters -- he is running on the ticket of the Labour Party, which had a single lawmaker elected in the last election and has a much smaller presence throughout the vast West African country.

‘Fiscal Recklessness’

Despite these major organizational challenges, Obi has built up an enthusiastic base known as “Obidents” -- initially active online, but increasingly marching in the streets -- and his appeal appears to be spreading. A clear majority of respondents named him as their preferred choice in an opinion poll conducted for Bloomberg News by Premise Data Corp., whose results were released on Sept. 28 when the official campaign kicked off.

Read: A Surprise Presidential Candidate Leads Nigeria Race, Poll Shows

Nigerians are contending with accelerating inflation, rising unemployment, a depreciating currency and pervasive insecurity. Production of the economy’s historic mainstay -- crude oil -- has collapsed to multi-decade lows, while the government’s debt service bill is currently outpacing the revenue it’s earning. Total public debt has more than tripled to 42.8 trillion naira ($98 billion) since Buhari took office in 2015.

“We cannot continue this level of fiscal recklessness,” Obi said, adding that he would cut gasoline subsidies that give Nigerians some of the world’s cheapest pump prices. That intervention is consistently depriving the state of more than $1 billion per month and, if not phased out, could cost the government a sum greater than its entire income next year.

Read: Nigeria Projects Dire Fiscal Situation Without Subsidy Removal

“We are going to remove it,” he said, arguing that corruption accounts for half of the subsidy bill.

Buhari’s administration delayed its previously announced plans to shelve the subsidies until after the election, leaving his successor the politically thorny choice of whether to expose struggling consumers to considerably higher prices to spare much-needed funds for other investments.

If he wins, Obi said he will try to restructure Nigeria’s debt “to a manageable level” because the current burden “doesn’t give us breathing space to invest in critical areas.” Instead of “borrowing for consumption” and to finance the cost of government, new lending would fund spending on education, health and security, he said.

Violent groups have expanded their reach across Nigeria in the past seven years, leaving larger swathes of the country living in fear of attacks and kidnappings. Stemming that insecurity will be his “number one priority,” Obi said, adding he will decentralize the police and invest in more personnel.

The stakes could not be higher, according to Obi. Because the government no longer controls its territory or the economy, Nigeria meets the “two main critical measures of a failing state,” he said. “It is a crisis situation but it’s solvable.”


Improbable Outsider

A wealthy businessman who chaired local lender Fidelity Bank Plc before serving two terms as the governor of the southeastern Anambra state from 2006, Obi ran as Abubakar’s vice president in an unsuccessful campaign three years ago. He also contested the PDP nomination this year before withdrawing from the primaries. A 61-year-old in a country where 70% of the population is under 30, he is younger than his two main septuagenarian opponents.

The Labour Party candidate also attracted controversy last year when a Nigerian online newspaper reported, based on the Pandora Papers leak, on offshore companies he controlled while serving as governor and said he had breached local asset-declaration rules. Obi has repeatedly denied that his arrangements broke any laws.

Obi says he’s ready to face up to the hopes and frustrations that have been placed on his perhaps improbable shoulders. “I want the whole country to hold me responsible,” he said. “We are not going to change it overnight but we must start doing the right things. I am not going to do magic.”

By William Clowes

Bloomberg

Related story: Video - Presidential hopeful Peter Obi on his plans for Nigeria