₦airaland Forum

In the first half of 2025, China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) committed over US $124 billion to 176 new global projects — surpassing all of 2024. Africa alone received ~US $39 billion, accounting for more than 30% of that total — a clear signal that the continent is becoming central to the BRI’s global design.

These investments are targeting foundational sectors: energy (especially renewables), digital infrastructure, logistics, and critical minerals — with the intention to help industrialize Africa and integrate it deeper into global supply chains.

Projects range from solar farms across the Sahel, digital corridors in East Africa, to new ports along the Atlantic coast — all aiming to shift Africa from the periphery to a node of global flows.

But capital and infrastructure alone aren’t enough. Without local ownership, value addition, transparency, and inclusive governance, much of the benefit could flow outward rather than uplifting local economies.

The key question isn’t whether Africa will benefit from this wave — it’s whether the continent can own its place in shaping it.

https://www.thehabarinetwork.com/africa-at-the-heart-of-the-belt-and-road-a-39-billion-catalyst-for-transformation

In February, three people, including two Chinese nationals, working in a mine in the Yaloké region of Central African Republic, were abducted. Reports indicate that the kidnapping was carried out by the Yusuf Ghazi armed group, with American support.

The source states that the kidnapping was carried out by Yusuf Ghazi’s armed group, “which was openly gathering information on the Chinese workers”.

Furthermore, in a video obtained by the media, a Yusuf Ghazi ex-fighter confirmed that the American private military company had planned the operation and was supporting the armed group by providing arms and intelligence.

Immediately after the incident, a source affiliated to the Ministry of Mines and Geology revealed that an American company was seeking licenses to operate mines in the Yaloké region. It seems that the interests of American and Chinese companies meet and clash in this context.

On March 4, 2024, Chinese workers were attacked in Yaloké, 225 kilometers from Bangui, on the road to Bouar. Following the recent kidnapping of two Chinese professionals in February this year, the Chinese nationals travelling to the mine were this time accompanied by security forces (FACA).

However, they were the target of a well-planned assassination attempt in the village of Gbimo, fifteen kilometers from Yaloké. The attempt resulted in the tragic death of a motorcycle cab driver and a soldier from the Central African Armed Forces (FACA) who had rushed to protect the foreign nationals.

An American firm, which had already kidnapped Chinese nationals from the Yaloké mine with the help of fighters from Yousouf Ghazi’s group, was involved in the attack.

American aggression against Chinese companies is not limited to the Central African Republic, but also extends to other countries such as Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In Nigeria, on March 7, 2024, a Chinese engineer was kidnapped and his bodyguard killed. The bodyguard was a member of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps.

Four people, including two Chinese nationals, a citizen of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and a Ghanaian national, died after a gold caravan belonging to a Chinese mining company was robbed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

America’s insistence on acquiring Chinese-owned mines in Africa has led to a series of criminal acts that have resulted in the kidnapping, intimidation and assassination of people.

The interests of American and Chinese companies overlap in African countries. These developments highlight the stakes and rivalries in the mining sector in the Yaloké region, and in other regions where American players are intimidating Chinese employees with the aim of taking control and securing their interests at all costs.

CAIRO/GAZA/JERUSALEM, Dec 25 (Reuters) - Israeli airstrikes killed at least 78 people in Gaza, Palestinian health officials said, in one of the besieged enclave's deadliest nights of Israel's 11-week-old battle with Hamas.

Strikes that began hours before midnight persisted into Christmas Day on Monday. Residents and Palestinian media said Israel stepped up air and ground shelling against al-Bureij in central Gaza.

Pope Francis lamented that Jesus' message of peace was being drowned out by the "futile logic of war" in the very land where he was born.

At least 70 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting Maghazi in central Gaza, health ministry spokesperson Ashraf Al-Qidra said, adding that many were women and children.

The Israeli army said it was reviewing the report of a Maghazi incident and was committed to minimising harm to civilians. Hamas denies the Israeli charge that it operates in densely populated areas or uses civilians as human shields.

The Palestinian Red Crescent published footage of wounded residents being transported to hospitals. It said Israeli warplanes were bombing main roads, hindering the passage of ambulances and emergency vehicles.

Medics said an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis in southern Gaza killed eight Palestinians.

Clergy cancelled celebrations in Bethlehem, the Israeli-occupied Palestinian West Bank city where Christian tradition says Jesus was born in a stable 2,000 years ago.

"Tonight, our hearts are in Bethlehem, where the Prince of Peace is once more rejected by the futile logic of war, by the clash of arms that even today prevents him from finding room in the world," the pope said, presiding at Christmas Eve Mass in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Palestinian Christians held a candle-lit Christmas vigil in Bethlehem with hymns and prayers for peace in Gaza, instead of the usual celebrations.

There was no large tree, the usual centrepiece of Bethlehem's Christmas observances. Nativity figurines in churches were placed amid rubble and barbed wire in solidarity with the people of Gaza.

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-airstrikes-kill-dozens-gaza-officials-say-christmas-bloodshed-2023-12-24/

Gambling online is an appealing extra source of income for more and more young Nigerians struggling to make ends meet in the battered economy.
The notable rise in sports betting in Nigeria can be put down to several factors, including the wide availability of smartphones and advanced mobile applications that guarantee privacy.

“Football is a widely loved sport in Nigeria and fans, both young and old, think that they have watched the games for so long that they are able to predict the patterns or likely outcomes of various football matches,” says Tomiwo Ojo, a sports journalist in Nigeria.

Betting is not new in Nigeria; it dates back to the colonial days. Premier Lotto, founded by Kessington Adebukunola Adebutu in 2001, was the first indigenous gaming company in Africa’s largest economy. Sports betting gained momentum in 2009 with the establishment of Nairabet.

An estimated 33% of Nigeria’s 223 million population is between the ages of 10 and 24 according to a database compiled by the UN Population Fund.

Ailing, failing economy
Nigeria’s inflation stands at 27.3%, hitting an 18-year high in September 2023 with a record food inflation of 31.5%. Fuel prices have more than tripled since the federal government removed subsidies in May 2023.

Although a revised methodology resulted in a massive drop in the country’s unemployment rate from 33.3% at the end of 2020 to 5.3% as of the first quarter of 2023, poverty figures remain high. Some 63% of the population is multidimensionally poor, according to a poverty index published by the National Bureau of Statistics.

The large youthful population has turned to sports betting in hopes of quick cash to make ends meet.

“Youths roam the streets of major cities in the country trying to earn a living. Social investment programmes where the government pays youths between N20,000 and N30,000 have been short-lived so they have turned to sports betting as a temporary fix,” says Yelwa Mohammed, a professor of financial economics at the University of Abuja.

“It is a way of earning income that has become popular over the past three to four years. Although it is not a sustainable source of income, it is safer than getting engaged in criminal activities.”

Endorsement from idols
Although Nigeria is a highly religious environment, sports gambling companies have carefully avoided the ‘immoral’ stigma associated with the activity by engaging football and music stars as brand ambassadors.

Augustine ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha, a former captain of the national football team, Super Eagles, is one of the brand ambassadors for BetKing, a popular sports betting company in Nigeria.

Sporty Bet, a rival company, has enlisted Nigerian football icon Kanu Nwankwo and his Ghanaian counterpart, Michael Essien, as ambassadors.

Apart from these celebrities, other gambling influencers also thrive on various social media platforms.

“An interesting trend is that people have seen a window to become gambling influencers and social media is their preferred platform. Once they circulate evidence of winning a substantial amount of money in the past, they quickly build a large following and communities on WhatsApp and Telegram,” Ojo tells The Africa Report.

“Companies engage these gambling influencers who help direct traffic to their platforms. Adverts on popular sporting channels also create top-of-the-mind awareness for these companies.”

These companies enjoy huge patronage from 65 million active customers who spend an average of $15 (around N11,800) daily on bets according to the National Lottery Trust Fund. The number of licensed betting companies in Nigeria has increased by over 500% from 10 operators in July 2019 to 57 in November 2023.

In his annual address to the French ambassadors’ conference, the French President reiterated his conviction that three African states would have disappeared if Paris had not intervened militarily in the Sahel.
In an interview with the weekly Le Point, published on 23 August, French President Emmanuel Macron, when asked about the supposed anti-French sentiment in the Sahel region, tried his hand at euchronia, the technique of narrating fictional events from a real historical starting point.

The starting point, in this case, is the request for military aid from France made by Mali’s interim president Dioncounda Traoré just over a decade ago.

By assuming that France has ignored this call, President Macron pointed his story towards a rather radical outcome: “If we had not been involved, with operations Serval and then Barkhane, there would probably no longer be any Mali, no longer any Burkina Faso. I’m not even sure there would still be Niger.”

Speculative fiction
Without denying the real threat, 10 years ago, of Bamako being taken over by jihadists, and without minimising the sacrifice of the 58 French soldiers who died in the Sahel, many African observers describe this Gallic assertion – a mythical binary of “me or chaos” – as arrogant. In a more skin-deep analysis, specialists in geopolitical issues see it as speculative fiction.

While Macron refers to the possibility of “the creation of caliphates a few thousand kilometres away” from his country, he is well aware that neither the Taliban takeover nor the establishment of the Islamic State proto-state has removed Afghanistan, Syria or Iraq from the map.

Did the interviewee’s words go beyond his thoughts, as is sometimes forgivable in a long interview without a formal structure? It would appear not. The following Monday, at the opening of the conference of French ambassadors, Macron drove the point home.

After a 40-minute speech, he mocked a “baroque alliance between so-called pan-Africanists and neo-imperialists” and repeated his analysis: “If our soldiers had not fallen on the field of honour in Africa, if Serval and then Barkhane had not been deployed, we would not be talking about Mali, Burkina Faso or Niger today.”

No sooner had he formulated what might seem like a nuance – “these states would no longer exist within their territorial limits” – than he repeated how convinced he was of being right: “I can tell you with certainty.”

While the diplomats in today’s Areopagus are learning to paint a picture of glasses half-empty and half-full, Macron is drawing up a presumptuous balance sheet in which the glass is full to the brim.

As excess begets excess, the spokesman for the government of Burkina Faso, Jean-Emmanuel Ouédraogo, believes he is too entitled to describe an empty glass, or rather one filled with hemlock: “France is part of the security problem in Burkina Faso.” Don’t the people of the Sahel deserve better than fiction and a diagnosis for the archives?

https://www.theafricareport.com/320383/the-disappearance-of-mali-burkina-faso-and-niger-a-french-paradox/

HARARE – President Emmerson Mnangagwa, the leader of the ruling party Zanu PF is more likely to retain power in the coming August 2023, according to poll survey results revealed on Monday.

A prominent academicDr. Zamchiya says the survey indicates a decline in support for the opposition, including the CCC, and a surge in support for the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU PF). If the presidential elections were held shortly after the survey, the CCC leader would lose to the ZANU PF leader.

He also said the survey reveals that 27% of respondents would vote for the CCC leader, while 35% would vote for Mnangagwa of ZANU PF.

https://www.thezimbabwemail.com/main/zimbabwe-eelections-poll-survey-gives-mnangagwa-the-edge/

Two weeks after Yevgeny Prigozhin’s aborted rebellion in Russia, hundreds of Wagner mercenaries in the Central African Republic returned to Moscow.
According to our sources, as many as 500 to 600 have left Bangui in the last few hours, having been demobilised, particularly from Birao, Sido, and Batangafo. Two flights left M’Poko airport in the Central African capital for Moscow. Another Ilyushin aircraft is standing by in Bangui.

According to sources close to Prigozhin‘s group, the mercenaries are responding to a summons. Under pressure from the Kremlin, Wagner is reportedly preparing to review his organisation and tell his men that from now on they will answer more to the Russian Ministry of Defence. A certain number of troops should then return to the Central African Republic.

On the other hand, one of Prigozhin’s lieutenants is likely to suffer as a result of this reshuffling: Vitali Perfilev. According to the same source, Wagner’s number one in Bangui could be replaced by another commander considered to be closer to the interests of the Ministry of Defence and less closely linked to Prigozhin, who was briefly in exile in Belarus and on the hot seat since his attempted rebellion on 23 June.

The Central African government and President Faustin-Archange Touadéra are extremely interested in the Wagner Group’s future. The latter is counting on this ally – which still has 800 to 900 men in the country after the departures on 6 July – to provide security in certain regions of the country, as well as for the referendum on 30 July.

In Mali, no repatriation has yet been organised. Since the Prigozhin rebellion, there have only been the usual Ilyushin airlifts from Bamako airport. According to Western intelligence estimates, around 1,400 Wagner mercenaries remain present in the country.

https://www.theafricareport.com/315074/central-african-republic-wagner-repatriates-several-hundred-men/

Sasi54:
They want to rig the election process

The US has intervened in Zimbabwe's elections and Chamisa is their puppet.

HARARE – Zimbabwe has warned foreign observer missions to the August 23 elections to stick to their mandate and abandon any attempts to interfere with the much-awaited national poll process.

The call was made by acting Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Amon Murwira at a Friday signing ceremony between the EU embassy and the ministry.

“The government of the Republic of Zimbabwe is inviting all entities to come and observe the harmonised elections,” said the minister.

“The teams are however reminded that their purpose is solely to observe, not to monitor the election process.”

The ministry outlines the administrative arrangements guiding the observation of the 2023 harmonised elections.

The EU is set to deploy 150 observers to Zimbabwe with the first batch expected in the country starting next week.

Italian lawmaker Fabio Castaldo, also a Member of the European parliament, would be EU Chief Observer to the Zimbabwe mission.

Murwira urged the incoming EU observers to “maintain strict impartiality, objectivity and independence” when discharging their mandate.

“The EU EOM and its members will maintain strict impartiality, objectivity and independence in the conduct of their mandate.

“All EU observers shall respect the Code of Conduct in terms of the First Schedule of the Zimbabwe Electoral Act [Chapter 2:13],” he said.

Speaking at the same event, EU Head of Mission to Zimbabwe, Ambassador Jobst von Kirchmann reiterated the observer team’s impartiality and compliance with set regulations.

“It’s an important moment and I would like to sincerely thank the government of Zimbabwe for inviting us for this election observation.

“This election observation mission will obey Zimbabwe regulations and also the EU code of conduct. They will be strictly impartial. This is part of the agreement we just signed,” he said.

Kirchmann commended the Zimbabwe government and political parties for committing to the holding of peaceful elections.

“This is a sign of commitment for Zimbabwe to hold credible, peaceful and inclusive elections.

“This resonates with us and is the reason why we are deploying an election observer mission because we would like to contribute to a more robust electoral environment,” he said.

The EU observer mission is taking part in its second such Zimbabwe assignment since President Emmerson Mnangagwa in 2018 lifted a ban that had previously been imposed on the group by predecessor Robert Mugabe who cited inherent bias against his party Zanu PF by the bloc’s agents.

Zimbabwe heads to the polls in August against a backdrop of one of the world's highest rates of inflation and accusations of an intensifying crackdown on the opposition.

Long-time president Robert Mugabe was deposed in 2017 but many say that little has changed.

In the run-up to the vote, questions linger over how free and fair the ballot will be in a country that is trying to rehabilitate its image.

When are the elections?
Zimbabweans will vote on 23 August to elect councillors, members of parliament, and a president. If there is no outright winner in the presidential contest, a run-off will be held six weeks later, on 2 October.

Who is running for president?
The final list of candidates has not yet been confirmed.

In the last election, in 2018, 23 people ran for president, but this time that number is likely to be lower after the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission raised the nomination fee to $20,000 (£16,000) from $1,000 (£800).

There are likely to be two main candidates:

Incumbent Emmerson Mnangagwa, from the governing Zanu-PF party
Opposition leader Nelson Chamisa, from the Citizen's Coalition for Change (CCC)

Mr Mnangagwa, 80, has led Zimbabwe since the military forced Robert Mugabe to resign in 2017, and then won a disputed election a year later. He was a long-time ally of Mugabe before the pair fell out.

Mr Chamisa, 45, came second in 2018, winning 44% of the vote. A 2020 court ruling stripped him of the leadership of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and he subsequently lost access to party assets and state funding.

He formed the CCC in 2022, remains hugely popular in urban areas and is the main face of the opposition.

Other contenders include Saviour Kasukuwere - an exiled former Mugabe ally, Douglas Mwonzora, the MDC's new leader, businesswoman Elisabeth Valerio, whose United Zimbabwe Alliance Party was launched in March 2022, and US-based businessman Robert Chapman - however the chances of any of them winning are slim.

Nomination courts on 21 June will confirm final candidates for all the elections.

Who will win?
Zanu-PF has the advantage of incumbency, state power and access to state resources. The party, which has been in power since independence in 1980, also retains strong support in rural areas.

However with the economy in such a mess, many people, especially those in urban areas and the youth, think it is time for a change.

Rural voters normally turn out in huge numbers, unlike urban and youth voters, which could work against the opposition. The government has also refused to allow Zimbabweans living abroad to vote - which could also work against Mr Chamisa.

Polling so far has predicted different results, so it is hard to use that as a guide as to who may end up president.

Furthermore, human rights activists say that in the past Zanu-PF has used various tactics to stay in power, including violence and intimidation, state-media blackouts and negative coverage of the opposition. Zanu-PF has previously denied using dirty tricks against its opponents.

What are the main issues?
The cost-of-living crisis continues to be at the core of voters' concerns, with the last three years having been some of the worst in a decade. In the 12 months leading up to May this year, prices rose by 86.5%, one of the highest annual inflation rates in the world.

Meanwhile, businesses are struggling to cope with crippling power outages and an unstable local currency, which lost 86% of its value between January and early June.

Allegations of corruption also remain a source of frustration, with a very low rate of prosecution. During the Covid pandemic, equipment was allegedly procured at inflated prices - the health minister was fired but then exonerated by the courts.

How do the elections work?
For members of parliament and council candidates, the election is won on a first-past-the-post basis - in other words the person who has the most votes.

In the presidential race, however, a candidate needs more than 50% of the vote to be declared the winner, otherwise there will be a run-off election between the top two.

When will we get the results?
By law the presidential election results must be announced within five days after voting ends.

Will they be free and fair?
Civil society groups and the opposition doubt that polls will be free or fair. They cite what they say has been a systemic crackdown on government critics.

The arrests and convictions of opposition figures and government critics has intensified over the last two years.

The electoral reforms that the opposition have demanded for years - to level the playing field, provide access to public media and remove ex-military personnel from the electoral body - have not happened.

CCC leader Mr Chamisa says more than 60 of the party's meetings were banned, or disrupted by police during by-elections last year, prompting fears it will happen again.

As former Zimbabwean politician Jonathan Moyo put it, Zanu-PF will not "reform itself out of power".

What happened in the last election in 2018?
This will be the second time Mr Mnangagwa and Mr Chamisa face each other.

Five years ago, the president won in the first round with 50.8% of the vote, but violence followed polling day in which six people were killed when security forces opened fire on protesters.

Observers generally commended the freedom of movement during the campaign period and relative peace on voting day, but the EU for example noted major shortcomings including state resources being misused in favour of the incumbent.

The EU said the final results as announced by the Electoral Commission contained numerous errors.

Mr Chamisa's party failed in its legal challenge to have the result overturned after arguing that the presidential and parliamentary vote tallies were off by tens of thousands.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-65775996

An undergraduate of the University of Lagos, identified simply as Adekunle, was on Saturday shot dead by armed robbers at Harvey Road, Moore Road Junction, in the Yaba area of the state.

PUNCH Metro gathered that Adekunle and his school mate identified simply as Opeyemi boarded a shuttle bus from Yaba to UNILAG and while in the vehicle, a man, who was hanging at the back of the bus, dispossessed Opeyemi of her iPhone 7 plus.

Pained by the development, Opeyemi raised the alarm and Adekunle, in a desperate attempt to retrieve the phone from the robber who jumped down from the bus and fled, pursued him.

Realising that Adekunle was closing in on the suspect, it was learnt that one of the hoodlums suspected to be working with the fleeing suspect appeared from nowhere and shot the 23-year-old.

Speaking with our correspondent on Monday, an eyewitness who does not want his name mentioned for security reasons, said the robber’s accomplice shot Adekunle in the head, adding that the undergraduate died on the spot.

He said, “The incident happened on June 3 around 9pm. What happened was that someone shot the deceased at a close range on the left side of his head and he died on the spot. An ATM card found on him bears the name Adekunle.

“Later on, we gathered from a girl that gave her name as Opeyemi, who claimed to be a student of Business Administration, UNILAG, that she and the deceased, whom she knew as a student of UNILAG, boarded a shuttle bus from Yaba and were heading to UNILAG when she got dispossessed of her iPhone 7 Plus by a thief hanging at the back of the bus.

“She said the deceased attempted to help by pursuing the robber but in the process, another group of persons came out and one of them shot him at a close range on the left side of his head and he died on the spot.”

In a picture in possession of our correspondent, Adekunle, who wore a black top and trousers, was seen lying motionless on the floor of the crime scene.

Our correspondent gathered that policemen, who arrived at the scene later, evacuated Adekunle’s corpse and deposited it at the morgue of the Mainland Hospital.

Contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, said the command had commenced an investigation to track down the suspects behind the attack.

“The deceased was a UNILAG student. The suspects are being trailed for possible arrest and the command has contacted the victim’s relatives. The case has been transferred to the SCID, Panti, for discreet investigation,” he said.

When contacted, the spokesperson for UNILAG, Adejoke Alaga-Ibrahim, declined to comment on the development.

“I do not give reactions over the phone; I will like you to make a formal request; you could send an email to the communicationunit@unilag.edu.ng, or you could come over to the university so that you can speak with the Dean of Students Affairs,” she said.

https://punchng.com/unilag-undergraduate-shot-dead-over-stolen-phone/

About Nord Stream, we can continue to pay attention to the various sides of the story. To be continued...

Briahna Joy Gray and Robby Soave discuss journalist Seymour Hersh's latest reporting on the Nord Stream pipelines blast.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8L_guaKfWrQ

A number of European leaders harbour the quixotic thought that as the first year of the War in Ukraine rolls by today, February 24, 2023, the Ukrainians will militarily defeat Russia. They prefer a continuation of the war, and, their writing the epitaph of Russian and Ukrainian youths who will be killed, rather than allow a peaceful resolution. However, as they are fixated on a military conquest, related events suggest that the European and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, NATO, alliance may crack partly due to the terrorist attacks on the Nord Stream gas pipelines linking Russia with Germany.

The United States, US, has been pointedly accused by one of the most famous journalists in the world, 85-year-old Seymour Hersh, of carrying out these terrorist attacks in the Baltic Sea. The US has, curiously, been virtually silent while the United Nations, UN, says it will not lead any investigation to unravel the culprits.

French President Emmanuel Macron on February 18 made an ambiguous statement that he wants Russia defeated but not crushed. According to him: “I want Russia to be defeated in Ukraine, and I want Ukraine to be able to defend its position…I am convinced that, in the end, this will not conclude militarily.” He added that neither side could fully prevail and does not want the war to spread to Russian territory. Macron does not come out clear on who he wants to defeat Russia: NATO or Ukraine?

I am sure he knows that it would be militarily impossible for Ukraine to overrun Russia, so he might simply be priming that country for more unnecessary deaths rather than engage in negotiations to end the war. Perhaps Macron and his fellow European leaders simply want to wear out Russia and make it vulnerable. Also, they may hope that elongating the war can lead to a coup in Russia. But they should realise that this can also happen in Ukraine.

Three days later, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, while not ruling out peace talks, declared that any peace that entails the surrender of Ukraine cannot be real. Italy, she said, is considering sending more air-defence systems to Ukraine, but ruled out the supply of military planes. In other words, Italy wants conditional discussions. The Foreign Ministers of seven countries: Germany, Canada, France, Japan, US, United Kingdom and Italy in a joint statement offered Ukraine more support and additional sanctions against Russia.

President Joe Biden, who visited Ukraine, announced a new military aid package worth $500 million for Ukraine to continue the war. He vowed: “Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia.” Buoyed by such support, myopic Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ruled out peace talks, declaring: “Dialogue is useless.” Rather, he told Biden: “Together, we are going to a common victory and we must ensure it this year.”

In reaction, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that his country is pulling out of nuclear talks with the US. However, while the focus is on military victory or defeat, the terrorist attacks on the Nord Stream pipeline that can transport 55 billion cubic meters of gas from Russia to Europe, may begin to redefine the NATO alliance as Germany, Sweden and Denmark who are investigating the incident are livid. They have established that the damage to the pipelines was caused by “powerful explosions due to sabotage”, and have taken their case to the UN.

They complain that the attacks caused “substantial and worrisome” effects in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. Russia, backed by China, has also demanded a UN probe and has approached the UN Security Council for an independent inquiry.

However, a 15 February investigative report by Hersh concluded that the terrorist attacks were carried out by the US Navy, the American Central Intelligence Agency, CIA, and the Norwegian Navy. He reported that in June 2022, US Navy divers under the cover of a multi-nation war-games simulation known as BALTOPS 22, placed explosive C4 charges on the pipelines. The explosives he claims, were detonated remotely three months later by a signal from a sonar buoy.

Hersh said the attacks were desperate American moves, adding: “The fear of losing European support in the Ukraine conflict made the US to take out the only option Europe had should it want to restart buying fuel from Russia.” The US, he said, is afraid that Europe could have a rethink on the Ukrainian conflict, decide to make peace and resume its oil and gas trade with Russia. He said the attacks were to “cut into the notion that they (Europeans) can depend totally on America, even in a crisis”. The US, he wrote, has always wanted to stop Russia selling oil and gas to the rest of Europe.

The White House’s reaction was to describe Hersh’s report as “complete nonsense”. However, it has made no public efforts to debunk the facts contained in the report, including the military exercise or the claimed agencies and means used. A major headache for the US is that Hersh is one of the most famous journalists in the world and one of the most decorated in American history. He is a four-time winner: 1969, 1973, 1974, and 1981, of the George Polk Award. This prestigious award goes to “the intrepid, bold, and influential work of the reporters themselves, placing a premium on investigative work that is original, resourceful, and thought-provoking”.

In 1970, he won the Pulitzer Prize, a prize established in 1917 for America’s best in print journalism, literary achievement, and musical composition. He is also a two-time winner of the National Magazine Award, and the 2004 George Orwell Award. Undoubtedly, one of the outcomes of the Ukrainian War is that it has made Europe far less reliant on Russian oil and gas. Ironically, Russia has ready markets for these commodities, especially in China and India. Another is the enormous sanctions the EU is capable of imposing on a country. The reverse side is that Russia has demonstrated that sanctions can also strengthen an economy. For instance, the Ruble in 2022 rather than become weak under the weight of sanctions, actually gained strengthen, and became the most improved currency in the world in terms of value.

Also, while the West thought it was tightening the noose around Russia by using international finance systems, alternative systems were being promoted by the BRICS nations comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Interestingly, in the past year of sanctions against Russia, at least a dozen countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Bahrain, Algeria, Argentina, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, have expressed interest in joining BRICS. It is in the collective interests of humanity to end the war in Ukraine by peaceful means because a military solution will be too costly, harmful and unpredictable.

Owei Lakemfa, a former secretary general of African workers, is a human rights activist, journalist and author.

https://www.premiumtimesng.com/opinion/584055-epitaph-for-the-living-by-owei-lakemfa.html

With just 25 days to the general elections, religious leaders on Wednesday have called on Nigerians to see the polls as a time of peace and not war.

The clerics gave the advice at the Interfaith Peace Summit with the theme, ‘Prosecuting peaceful election: The role of faith communities’, organised by the NTA Abrahamic Mission in conjunction with Al-Habibiyyah organisation, in Abuja.

At the event, Bishop Peter Ogunmuyiwa of the African Church (Diocese of Abuja and the 19 Northern States), said every candidate was a creation of God.

According to him, Nigerians should allow the will of God to prevail, putting away religious and ethnic bigotry.

He said, “Every candidate is a creation of God and we must see ourselves as brothers, irrespective of their ethnic or religious inclinations. Good leaders are in every part of this country and in every religion. Hence, we must jettison nepotistic mentality in our attitude to other tribes.

“Let us preach love and peace to our people, before, during and after the elections. Nigeria is bigger than everyone of us and we must work to preserve it. Above all, the will of God will prevail, the signal is that God is interested in Nigeria whatever way the election goes.

“Anybody can be our President, any religious person can be our President. What is important is what they have to offer Nigerians. Religion of a candidate should not be the basis of our choices but their antecedents and commitment to the development of our country.

“The effect of bad governance is felt on every Nigerian, irrespective of their ethnic group or religious background. We therefore need to be wise this time around and make wise choices in the forthcoming elections, we need peace in Nigeria and can’t afford religious or civil war any longer which ordinarily is instigated by sentiment of religion or tribes.”

Speaking in the same vein, Presenter of Abrahamic Mission, Imam Fuad Adeyemi, said one of the ways of getting things done in Nigeria was through the religious path and that it was pertinent to sensitize religious leaders and followers on the need for peaceful coexistence.

He said, “We are mainly religious people in Nigeria and if China can introduce a special event in the Olympics that nobody knows except them, nothing stops us from using what we have in achieving what we want.

“What we have is being religious and we want to use that religiosity to get peace and to do things rightly in Nigeria. As you are aware, anything you want to do successfully in this country, if it passes through religious houses, it’s likely to be easy.

“The politicians, followers, thugs and everybody have one religious house they go or the other. It is in those houses that we want to sensitize the religious leaders in what their religion says about living a peaceful life.

“My message to the Muslim community is to mimic what God actually wants. What does God want? God wants us to live in peace. Arising from this, God will decide who gets what. We should not think that what we want is what God wants, we should be able to accept the judgment of God.”

Earlier in his opening remarks, Executive Director, Programs, NTA, Wole Coker, said the most important thing was for Nigeria to remain as one after the elections.

He maintained that Nigerians should relegate to the backseat religion and ethnicity saying that the indivisibility of Nigeria was more important.

https://punchng.com/election-not-war-religious-leaders-tell-nigerians/

"They made us join up to wage war," said Ndiogou Dieye, 103, casting his memory back more than eight decades to when he and other young Senegalese donned uniforms to fight for distant France.

"We didn't know where we were going."

The wizened old soldier is one of the last survivors of France's colonial-era African infantry -- a force that fought in two world wars and colonial conflicts in North Africa and Indo-China.

After years of neglect, the troops are the subject of a blockbuster movie, "Tirailleurs," opening in France and Senegal this week, that stars Omar Sy -– best known internationally for the Netflix crime series "Lupin".

Sy plays a Senegalese father who voluntarily enlists in the French army in World War I to keep an eye on his son, who has been forced into uniform. Both are pitched into the horrors of the Western Front.

The "tirailleurs" -- loosely translatable as "skirmishers" -– were born in Senegal in 1857, to forge a corps of lightly armed, mobile troops who would harass the enemy ahead of an advancing main force.

After World War I broke out, France recruited across its West African colonies to transform the tirailleurs into a force designed to hammer the Germans on the Western Front.

They took part in several key battles, notably holding the line at a crucial moment in Verdun in 1916, arguably the most important battle in the four-year-long conflict.

Toll

Some 30,000 of the 134,000 tirailleurs who fought in WWI were killed, according to the specialist French magazine Historia.

Survivors were often crippled or scarred by trauma, yet their tale was often relegated to footnotes, and their names never featured on local war memorials in France -- the daily reminder to French people of the cost of the conflict.

High-sounding plans to provide hospitals and pensions were downgraded or sapped by bureaucracy, and tirailleurs sometimes suffered second-class treatment compared with their French counterparts.

In World War II, tens of thousands of tirailleurs fought in sub-Saharan and North Africa and took part in the 1944 landings in southern France.

Dieye said he was recruited in May 1940 in his home town of Thies, about 70 kilometres (45 miles) from Dakar, and joined the Seventh Regiment of tirailleurs.

After basic training near Dakar, his unit was shipped out to Madagascar but had to turn around because of a submarine threat.

It then headed to the French Congo and then to Gabon, where it liberated the capital Libreville from the collaborationist Vichy government "after a few shots," he said.

The regiment was sent to the Middle East to prepare for operations in Europe, but by then, Berlin had fallen.

Dieye returned to Senegal in 1945 as a sergeant, and in the post-colonial period joined the police, retiring in 1972 at the age of 52.

Today, he lives in a house in Thies surrounded by photos and memorabilia from his years of service.

Anger

Slow-moving but sharp-eyed, he is bitter towards France, accusing it of "dishonesty".

In December 1944, French troops at a barracks near Dakar opened fire on mutinous tirailleurs demanding back pay for years spent in prisoner-of-war camps.

The official toll of 35 dead is disputed, and the common grave where the soldiers were buried has never been found. The episode remains murky and bitterly remembered in Senegal despite an attempt by former French president Francois Hollande to shed light for reconciliation.

"You send someone to war, he claims his money and you punish him" by killing him, said Dieye, a tone of disgust in his voice.

He reserves his greatest anger for France's failure to pay his military pension, equivalent to 750 euros (dollars) annually, for the past two years.

"France hasn't kept its promise," he said. "I depend on the Good Lord and my children to survive. I get nothing as a former tirailleur. Zilch from France."

A source at the Veterans' Affairs Office at Senegal's armed forces ministry said that after military pensioners reach the age of 100, France usually requires documented proof that they are still alive.

Historian Mamadou Kone said he believed only 10 or so tirailleurs from World War II were still alive in Senegal. The last tirailleur from World War I, Abdoulaye Ndiaye, died in 1998 at the age of 104.

At home, tirailleurs were long "ostracized, considered armed enforcers of French imperialism. Their image was stained," said Kone.

Things changed in 2004, when then president Aboulaye Wade named December 1 as an annual day to commemorate the tirailleurs, enshrining their achievements "in two world wars which freed the world from Nazism and fascism," he said.

https://www.africanews.com/2023/01/05/in-senegal-the-last-riflemen-lament-frances-lack-of-recognition/

Two self-confessed kidnappers were on Christmas day neutralised by operatives of Delta State Police Command.

The suspects were intercepted by a team of policemen from “A” Division, Warri on surveillance patrol at about 11 pm on Christmas Eve while riding a tricycle along Okumagba Estate roundabout in Warri, Warri South local government area.

According to the State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Bright Edafe, the police team, upon searching the tricycle operated by the two suspects discovered there live cartridges concealed under the seat and we’re immediately whisked to the station.

“During the search, three live cartridges concealed under the seat of the tricycle were recovered. The suspects were taken into custody. Upon interrogation, suspects confessed to be members of a five man kidnapping syndicate operating around Warri and its environs,” he said.

Acting on their confessions, he said the police operatives led the suspects to their hideout at a house located along Upper Erejuwa Street, on Christmas day where one AK49 rifle with breach no. 11876, one locally made double barrel long gun and two machetes were recovered.

However, while on their way back to the police station, the two suspects jumped out of the moving police vehicle in an attempt to escape, but the policemen gave them a hot chase.

“In a bid to demobilise them, they were maimed by the operatives, and rearrested. The suspects gave up the ghost on while they were being taken to the hospital. Manhunt for the other members of the gang is ongoing,” he said.

https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2022/12/28/two-suspected-kidnappers-neutralised-on-christmas-day-in-delta/

A coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) drawn from the 19 Northern states and Abuja, has said the recent revelation that 133 million Nigerians are living below poverty line was a testament to the fact the social investment programmes of the present administration have failed to achieve its purpose.

The CSOs, under the aegis of Conference of Northern States Civil Society Networks, therefore, called on anti-graft agencies – the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) – to investigate Federal Government’s spending on all social safety-nets and poverty alleviation programmes and projects executed between 2015 and 2022, and also establish why poverty is on the increase, especially in the North.

Addressing journalists in Abuja at the weekend on behalf of 20 Chairmen/Coordinators of the 19 Northern States and FCT CSOs, Chairman of the coalition and President, Kano Civil Society Forum, Ambassador Ibrahim Waiya, wondered why poverty rates in the country kept increasing despite huge sums spent on social investment programmes.

While lamenting that 65 per cent of the poor, representing 86 million people live in the North, he stressed that all 18 presidential candidates must explain to Nigerians their intentions on how to tackle increasing poverty in the country and their development agenda for Northern Nigeria.

“The most recent figures made available by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) referred to as Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) survey, has unambiguously indicated that things are worse than what they were formerly in 2015. The results of this survey among other issues have exposed the effects of corruption, as 63 per cent of persons living within Nigeria, representing 133 million people, are multi-dimensionally poor, while the 65 per cent of the poor, representing 86 million people live in the North.

“This survey, which was carried out by a government-owned agency even proved beyond reasonable doubt that the world had underestimated the poverty rating of Nigeria, as reported on World Poverty Clock.

“Riding on the above, it is becoming more evident that, the crusade against corruption in Nigeria, is most needed now, as most of the factors that contribute to the level of poverty in Nigeria, are attributed to the high level of corruption in governance.

“Considering the huge investment of this government on social investment programmes, we urge the leadership of anti-graft agencies such as EFFC and ICPC to conduct a discrete investigation on the funds claimed to have been disbursed by some Federal Government Ministries and Agencies, to find out what has gone wrong. The investigation into this matter is significant, as there is no correlation between the funds invested in the social protection programmes and the increased rate of poverty in the country, ” Waya said.

https://guardian.ng/news/nbs-report-northern-csos-lament-failure-of-poverty-alleviation-schemes-seek-probe/

Nana Ogbodo, Executive Secretary of the Enugu State Local Government Staff Pensions Board and spokesman of the Peter Mbah Campaign Organization speaks on the chances of the Peoples’ Democratic Party’s governorship candidate in the 2023 general elections.

First of all, I would wish to express my gratitude to my party, the PDP, for yet finding me worthy to act in that capacity. In political parlance, there is this general saying that “the reward for good work is more work.” Being called upon to handle this very sensitive assignment again is, to me, an affirmation that the party appreciated my little efforts during the last season. Being a spokesman of a great party like the PDP comes with great and sensitive responsibilities, and it’s not lost on me that the eternal price for greatness is responsibility. My message would still be to remind our dear people of Enugu State of the bond between the PDP and them, and how we have all worked to live up to the billings of this great partnership. We shall also work to give them glimpses of the new direction and the promises it holds; the qualities, track records and capacity of the new helmsman; and why of the legion of fantastic aspirants that contended for our party’s ticket, Dr. Peter Mbah’s comparative advantage stood him out.

Certainly not. The message speaks to the urgency of the country’s current economic outlook, but from an optimistic perspective, not despondency. It is, if you will, a rallying call to action, spurred by the realization that we can truly shape the social and economic realities of the future through the decisions we make today. “Tomorrow is here” encapsulates our hopes and expectations about the future. It reminds us that our dreams of a blissful future are not utopian as long as there exists the requisite capacity, willingness and, indeed, the courage to take that vision from the realm of contemplation into an actual state of being. Besides the fact it is an affirmative development proposition, the notion that tomorrow is within the grasp of the present is consistent with humanity’s constant yearning for improved living conditions. We can thus say that it is essentially an abnegation of complacency. Our candidate is basically saying that innovation is the most potent feature of development.

I don’t believe that the report is a true reflection of the social and economic reality in Enugu State. There are, in fact, several commonsensical pieces of evidence that lend credence to my conviction. For instance, it’s hard to reconcile how Enugu’s GDP could be deemed so low whereas it ranked among the top 14 states in terms of IGR, as seen in last year’s figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics. Having said this, it may also be important to state that Enugu State receives one of the least revenues from the Federation Accounts Allocation Commission. Sometimes some of these conclusions are drawn from this fact especially against the backdrop that for several decades, Enugu had been prided as a “civil service state”. Thus, most analysts believe that the state’s economy only gains some traction at such periods in the month when salaries of civil servants are paid. It’s salutary to state however that increasing the state’s productive base and economic activities is a critical vision of our candidate, Dr. Peter Mbah, which is encapsulated in his policy action plan. He has outlined a bold plan to grow the state’s GDP from $4.4bn to $30bn over an eight-year period. This is in addition to his intention to create N100bn venture capital to boost the growth of micro, small and medium enterprises in Enugu State. This initiative is particularly significant given the fact that Enugu’s economic life is largely civil service-driven. The “disruptive innovation” which he promises would find expression in stimulating public, private partnership as the driving model of the economy. Enugu State has long been reputed as an agricultural powerhouse with vast tracts of arable land. The challenge has always been how to move that potential from a largely subsistence level to a mechanized and industrial scale. Peter Mbah regards this as an economic imperative. Given his vast experience that straddles both the public and private sectors, there is definitely no reason to doubt that Enugu State will attain its full agricultural potential under his watch. Of course, the many accomplishments of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi in various sectors will stand as veritable substructures upon which Dr. Peter Mbah’s vision can flourish, and boldly launch Enugu into a more prosperous future.

Anambra State Governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, has said he is sure the candidate of Labour Party (LP), Mr Peter Obi, would lose the 2023 presidential election. Soludo said he would not submit to the bullying of Obi’s supporters, who recently descended on him for addressing issues in the state.

The governor made the comments in a lengthy write-up personally authored, with the title, “History Beckons, and I Will Not Be Silent (Part 1).”

Soludo said Obi was inadvertently making the pathway to victory much easier for the presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, and at the same time, toying with the destiny of millions of Ndigbo.

But the chief spokesperson for the Labour Party Presidential Campaign, Yunusa Tanko, accused Soludo of being sponsored by some unknown persons to weaken the base of the party in the South-east.

The former CBN governor had been under intense attack for close to a week for dismissing Obi’s investment in the state as amounting to nothing, during a television interview.

Soludo said in the write-up, “My attention has been drawn to some of the tirades on social media following my frank response during an interview on Channels TV regarding the ‘investments’ Mr. Peter Obi claimed to have made with Anambra State revenues.

“Sadly, several of the comments left the issue of the interview to probe or suggest motives, inferred from my response on ‘investment’ that I am opposed to Peter Obi’s ambition and, therefore, committed a ‘crime’ for which the punishment is internecine abuse and harassment, even to my family.

“Everyone knows that I don’t follow the winds or one to succumb to bullies, or shy away from a good fight especially, when weighty matters of principles and future of the people are involved.”

Soludo said he had urged Obi to return to his former party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), to actualise his presidential bid. He added that he had always told the LP candidate to his face that he was not capable of winning the 2023 presidential election, especially, under LP, which had neither a councillor nor a local government chairman.

Soludo said Obi was not just his friend, but also his brother, but despite that, they have their political differences.

He stated, “For full disclosure, let me state that Peter Obi and I are not just friends, we call ourselves ‘brothers’. But we have political differences: he left APGA for PDP after his tenure as governor, while I have remained in APGA since 2013.

“During the last two governorship elections in Anambra in 2017 and 2021, he led the PDP campaigns but APGA won landslide in both elections. By the way, in 2016, he visited and proposed that I defect to PDP and contest the 2017 election against the incumbent Willie Obiano, but I declined.

“After my victory in November 2021, he called to congratulate me, as I did to him in 2010. That is the Anambra way: we fight fiercely during campaigns but share drinks at the next social events. After all, it was the Great Zik of Africa, who taught us that in politics, there are no permanent friends or permanent enemies but only permanent interests.”

Arguing that Obi’s presidential bid would only work in favour of Tinubu, Soludo said, “Indeed, if I were Asiwaju Tinubu, I would even give Peter Obi money as someone heading one of the departments of his campaign, because Obi is making Tinubu’s pathway to victory much easier by indirectly pulling down PDP.”

Obi, according to Soludo, would only deplete the votes of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and pave the path for an APC victory.

He stated, “The current fleeting frenzy, if not checked, will cost Ndigbo dearly for years. The South-east has the lowest number of votes of any region, but it is also the only region where the presidential race might be a four-way race (it is a two-way race in the other five regions) thereby, ensuring that our votes won’t count in the making of the next president of Nigeria.

https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2022/11/15/soludo-i-wont-succumb-to-bullies-obi-knows-he-cant-win/

The Senate Committee on Marine Transport yesterday commended the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) for achieving zero attacks on any vessel on the Nigerian waterways in the last one year.
The panel, chaired by Senator Danjuma Goje, gave the commendation when the Director-General of the agency, Dr. Bashir Jamoh, presented his agency’s 2023 budget.


The DG told the panel that the agency was proposing N160 billion as its total expenditure for the 2023 fiscal year.
He explained that the implementation of the Deep Blue Sea project greatly enabled the agency to tackle the unfortunate wave of banditry and piracy on Nigerian waterways.

“This led to the establishment of the Deep Blue Sea Project which made use of the land, air and sea assets.
“That led to the use of the Nigerian Navy Platform on land, we have 16 armoured vehicles specially built to take care of creeks. In the whole world, Nigerian creeks are the biggest and most dangerous terrain to penetrate.


“That was where the men of the underworld hide and launch consistent attacks on the vessels. They kidnap people in the process and hide them in the creeks.
“The armoured vehicles were built specially to enter the creeks and fish out the criminals and their victims.


“We also have the Command and the Command Centre which enables our personnel to see any target on the sea throughout the day and night. It also enables them to react to anything that constitute danger either in the sea, or land.
” Apart from that, we have the sea platforms which constitutes two special mission vessels which have the capacity to stay on the high sea for almost three days without refueling.

“We also have some aircraft which were also deployed for the project. As of 2020, Nigeria was recording one attack of vessels per day. However, by February 2021, President Muhammadu Buhari directed that only the NIMASA and the Nigerian Navy should provide security on the nation’s territorial waters.
“All the platforms were handed over to the Nigerian Navy, Air force and the Army. By the third quarter of 2021, we have achieved the milestone. We reduced the attacks, from one per day to one per month.”


Speaking further, he said: “I am happy to announce to this committee, that we have not had a single attack since the third quarter of 2021 to date.
“In addition to that, the international community in March this year, saved Nigeria from the stigma of having the most dangerous water to trade.

“We have succeeded exceedingly with the implementation of the Deep Blue Sea Project with some foreign countries already supporting us in recognition of our success story.

The Chairman of the panel and members expressed satisfaction with the achievement of NIMASA on the project implementation.

Goje said, “I commend NIMASA for eradicating attacks of vessels on the Nigerian territorial waters and I want the DG and his men to sustain it”

https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2022/11/11/senate-hails-nimasa-for-eradicating-piracy-criminality-on-nigerian-territorial-waters/

The Hon. Minister of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Geoffrey Onyeama received in audience the Ambassador of the Netherlands to Nigeria, H.E. Mr. Wouter Plomp, today, 1st Nov. 2022. Discussed bilateral issues, particularly in the area of promoting Agriculture & food security.

What will US give him?

Ukraine’s nuclear energy agency Energoatom on Monday accused Moscow’s troops of an attack on the country’s second-largest nuclear plant in the south.

The accusations come after the Moscow-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine — Europe’s largest atomic facility — faced frequent shelling in recent months, raising fears of a nuclear incident.

On Monday, “the Russian army carried out a missile attack on the industrial site” of the Pivdennoukrainsk nuclear power plant, Energoatom said in a post on the Telegram messaging service.

It added that a “powerful explosion” took place “just 300 metres” (985 feet) from the facility’s reactors but they were operating as “normal”.

The strike damaged more than a hundred windows of the power station’s building, the nuclear agency said, posting photos of glass shattered around the broken windows.

The agency also released photographs of what it said was a two-metre-deep crater from where the missile landed.

“Fortunately, no one among the power plant staff was hurt,” Energoatom said.

“Russia endangers the whole world. We have to stop it before it’s too late” Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram, reacting to the strike.

Speaker of Kaduna State House of Assembly, Yusuf Zailani, has refuted reports that the House plans to impeach Governor Nasir el-Rufai.

In a statement, yesterday, the spokesman for the Speaker, Ibrahim Danfulani, urged members of the public to disregard such information.

He said the origin of the report would be thoroughly investigated to bring the perpetrators to book to serve as a deterrent to others.

“Attention of the Speaker, Kaduna State House of Assembly, has been drawn to reports circulating on social platforms of purported impeachment moves against Governor El-Rufai over corruption allegations.

“This is simply the handiwork of opposition and enemies of progress of the relationship between the legislative arm of government and the executive, apparently, to create crises between the two arms of government and deny the good people of Kaduna the dividends of democracy they get courtesy of the good working relationship between the executive and the legislature,” he stated.

He described the report, which The Guardian gathered claimed that the relationship between the governor and the speaker had been frosty for quite some time now, as nothing but the figment of the writer’s imagination or that of their sponsors.

“It is also untrue that the state lawmakers are investigating the expenditures of all the ministries, agencies and parastatals of the state government. I, therefore, wish to state categorically that the entire report is maliciously concocted to misinform the general public and should be disregarded in its entirety.

“Let it be noted that the relationship between the legislature and executive is cordial and is expected not only to remain so but be improved upon,” he added.

It won't. Prices are high all over the world. Food and energy are in short supply, so prices are not coming down, and prices in Nigeria are sure to remain high for a long time to come.

We are not asking govt to borrow, says union

By Adesina Wahab
Parents, under the aegis of the National Parents Teachers Association of Nigeria, NAPTAN, have said they can only beg members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, to call off their strike if the government considers the reports of the various committees set up to look into the matter and come out with its decisions.

The body stated that it expects the federal government to come out publicly with its offers for it to know how to intervene and mediate between the two sides.

NAPTAN spoke through its National President, Alhaji Haruna Danjuma, in a chat with Vanguard on Sunday.

The association was reacting to an interview where the Minister of State for Labour, Mr Festus Keyamo, SAN, was quoted as saying that Nigerians, especially parents should beg members of ASUU to return to their duty posts.

https://www.ipsnews.net/2022/07/uk-congo-think-theyre-climate-leaders-cop26s-fallout-shows-far-adrift/

Oil exploration and extraction would not only have devastating impacts on the health and livelihoods of local communities, but the oil driven “resource curse” raises the risk of corruption and conflict.

That's true.