₦airaland Forum

Love800:
Can one grow tomato in the south?

brainhgeek:
They are only rich in exploitation.

waice6571:
7 African countries on the list and Nigeria seems to be the richest country in Africa according to this information.

1144AK:
Potential exists, but Nigeria’s poverty is a choice of extraction over production. True wealth is found in adding value, not just digging resources out of the ground. This isn't news or new!

"Serious Nigerians" must stop pointing fingers and start building human capital. If we had no excuses, our only path would be mastery of skills and manufacturing.

This shift requires electing competence at every level, from councilors to governors. We must move from a mindset of "collecting" to a culture of "creating" and solving. The gap between potential and prosperity is bridged only by our own productivity.

olawooro:
The country is facing different rebel groups at war with govt. And the country is blessed with forest and forest resources. It has the largest natural forest in Africa.

Thedon22:
That's what you think and your point of view. Why didn't Obi invest in Power generation when he was Anambra gov and reap the benefits. Is it governments duty to invest in power or private sector? Why can't Obi invest in power as a business man and reap more profit? How much profit is Barth Nnaji making now from his Geometric Power pkant. If we look now you might not be paying proper electricity bill and you want Tinubu to invest 15Trillion. Nah your Nairaland comments Dem go use pay investors money back? Is the unit cost of power in Nigeria the same as South Africa you people like to quote ? Weldone, Arm-chair critic!

Richtaiwo:
Really?

So the grand plan has changed? The US is no longer preparing to bomb Tinubu out of Aso Rock and ceremonially install Pitobi on the throne? How disappointing, one imagines some people had already written the inauguration speech.

Let us even grant, for the sake of charity, that the matter concerns the siting of a US military base in Nigeria. Is that not precisely what the handle-mops have been loudly advertising as their deepest yearning? Or has US suddenly fallen out of favor as well?

Jihadist groups are increasingly carrying out drone strikes in West Africa, raising alarm that they are building the capacity to wage a "war from the skies".

A leading violence monitoring organisation, Acled, has recorded at least 69 drone strikes by an al-Qaeda affiliate in Burkina Faso and Mali since 2023, while two Islamic State (IS) affiliates have carried out around 20 - mostly in Nigeria, which has been battling numerous insurgent groups for almost 25 years.

The latest drone attack took place in Nigeria's north-eastern Borno state on 29 January, when jihadists carried out a two-pronged assault - with multiple armed drones and ground fighters - on a military base.

The military said nine of its soldiers were killed in the attack by the Islamic State of West Africa Province (Iswap) - identified by Acled as the "most prolific" IS African affiliate in "drone warfare".

The jihadists tended to carry out strikes with "commercially available, relatively inexpensive quadcopter [unmanned] drones" that were "rigged with explosives", while also using them for reconnaissance and surveillance missions in preparation for ground attacks, Acled senior Africa analyst Ladd Serwat told the BBC.

Despite the fact that Nigeria's government tightly controls the import of commercial and hobby drones and prohibits their use without official permission, the jihadists were able to obtain them through their smuggling networks across the region's porous borders, said a Nigeria-based senior researcher at the Good Governance Africa think-tank, Malik Samuel.

"The growing use of armed and surveillance drones by violent extremist groups in the Sahel and Lake Chad region is deeply concerning, and it marks a significant shift," security analyst Audu Bulama Bukarti told the BBC.

"Drones lower the cost of conducting attacks, allow militants to gather intelligence with minimal risk and enable strikes on military targets that were previously harder to reach," he added.

According to Serwat, Iswap has carried out 10 drone strikes since 2024 in north-eastern Nigeria as well as in northern Cameroon, southern Niger, and southern Chad - all countries affected by the insurgency in Nigeria.

A similar number of drone attacks were carried out by another IS affiliate, the Islamic State of Sahel Province (ISSP), in West Africa, Acled data shows.

In its latest attack, ISSP carried out an assault on the international airport in Niger's capital, Niamey, and nearby military bases, also on 29 January, with the defence ministry saying that four military personnel were injured and 20 of the assailants were killed.

Serwat said that while some reports claim ISSP used mortars and RPGs, others suggest that the militants carried out a drone strike.

"If a drone was used, this represents the first time ISSP used an explosive-laden drone in Niger," he added.

The jihadist group that has used drones the most is the al-Qaeda-affiliated Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM). Acled says it has carried 69 strikes in neighbours Mali and Burkina Faso, and one across the border in Togo.

"JNIM's drone programme has developed rapidly and spread across interconnected networks in Mali and Burkina," Acled's senior West Africa analyst Héni Nsaibia said.

Military Africa, an online defence industry source, reported that last February, JNIM had also used what are known as first-person view (FPV) drones - when the pilot has a live feed from the drone - to drop improvised explosive devices, made from plastic bottles, onto military positions in Burkina Faso's Djibo town.

"This marked a significant escalation, as FPV drones - small, agile, and often used in Ukraine - allow precise targeting," Military Africa reported.

Samuel said the jihadist groups were influenced and trained by foreign fighters to constantly adopt new methods - from making roadside bombs and suicide belts, they had now learned to turn "off-the-shelf" drones into weapons.

Drone attacks could reduce casualties among jihadists, while achieving greater "effectiveness" in hitting targets, Samuel said.

Acled analyst Nsaibia told the BBC that while the majority of JNIM's drone attacks in Mali and Burkina Faso had targeted the military and allied militias, some had also hit civilians, including markets in communities perceived as being aligned with government forces.

As for Iswap, it was known to have carried out only one drone attack that hit civilians - in June 2025, when two pastoralists were killed and one injured in northern Cameroon, Nsaibia said.

In a report last year, a researcher at the South Africa-based Institute for Security Studies, Taiwo Adebayo, wrote that to combat the threat, West African armies needed to carry out "preemptive strikes" to destroy drone assembly and launch sites, and acquire more counter-drone technology, including jamming devices and air defence systems.

Otherwise, he warned, the jihadists could enhance their drone warfare capabilities and carry out "high-impact assaults" that could worsen instability in West Africa.

FreeStuffsNG:
If this is true then it perhaps explains why a small army of Rwanda-backed rebels have been defeating their DRC soldiers at battle front and taking over DRC land, they have a President who has other priorities.

grandstar:
The Palestinians struggle is about land while what happened in Kwara was about islamist terrorist trying to force a form of Islam the villagers did not like.

grandstar:
Poor Palestinians, they are between the Devil and the deep blue.

Those in the West Bank don't want to end up like their brethen in Gaza.

They are forced to put with entitled heartlessness of the illegal settlers.

The settlers are the worst of the anti-Palestinian Isrealis. They believe God gave them the land, and chasing the Palestinians out is divine.

It stinks.