₦airaland Forum

LOCUSTS
A plague of locusts is a devastating natural disaster. These infestations have been feared and revered throughout history. Unfortunately, they still wreak havoc today.

Locusts are related to grasshoppers and the two insects look similar. However, locust behavior can be something else entirely.

Locusts are sometimes solitary insects with lifestyles much like grasshoppers. But locusts have another behavioral phase called the gregarious phase. When environmental conditions produce many green plants and promote breeding, locusts can congregate into thick, mobile, ravenous swarms.

IMPACT ON AGRICULTURE
Locust swarms devastate crops and cause major agricultural damage and attendant human misery—famine and starvation. They occur in many parts of the world, but today locusts are most destructive in sustenance farming regions of Africa.

The desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria) is notorious. Found in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, they inhabit some 60 countries and can cover one-fifth of Earth's land surface. Desert locust plagues may threaten the economic livelihood of one-tenth of the world's humans.

A desert locust swarm can be 460 square miles in size and pack between 40 and 80 million locusts into less than half a square mile. Each locust can eat its weight in plants each day, so a swarm of such size would eat 423 million pounds of plants every day.

DISTANCES TRAVELED
Like the individual animals within them, locust swarms are typically in motion and can cover vast distances. In 1954, a swarm flew from northwest Africa to Great Britain. In 1988, another made the lengthy trek from West Africa to the Caribbean.

DID YOU KNOW?
-- There can be as many as 80 million locusts in a swarm.
-- Locust swarms devour every crop in their path.
-- When food runs out, locusts turn cannibal.
-- Locusts are depicted in ancient Egyptian tombs.
-- Locusts have serrated jaws that move from side to side.
-- Heavy rains prompt locust eggs to hatch.

ABOUT LOCUSTS
Common Name: Locusts
Scientific Name: Acrididae
Type: Invertebrates
Diet: Herbivore
Group Name: Swarm
Average life span: Several months
Size: 0.5 to 3 inches
Weight: 0.07 ounces

SOURCE: www.nationalgeographic.com

IN CURRENT NEWS
China deploys army of 100,000 ducks to fight locust invasion in neighbouring Pakistan:

https://www.nairaland.com/5713579/china-deploys-army-ducks-fight
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/china-deploys-army-ducks-fight-21593068

CHECK IT OUT (scroll through the map to view the areas you are interested in):

https://infographics.channelnewsasia.com/covid-19/map.html

“Justice is a machine that, when someone has given it a push, rolls on by itself” – John Galsworthy, 1867-1933, VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, p 111.

Perhaps in the midst of the multitudes of issues dividing this nation, especially religion, politics, ethnicity, regionalism, economic inequality etc, it might appear audacious to bring another contentious issue up for debate — particularly, when it is at the moment not a popular view across Nigeria.

However, the question of Igbo presidency pre-dated all of our current problems and will probably outlast all of them – if it is allowed to linger. Most of us seem to have forgotten that Boko Haram started in 2009; herdsmen were harmless individuals moving around with their cattle without threatening even the smallest girl alone in a farm until about 2015.

Bandits were seen only in American films as those nasty people committing atrocities and being hounded by security forces on horseback. Kidnapping was limited to occasional snatching of small kids (that was why it was called kid-napping) instead of district heads and ministers’ wives and medical doctors. Go and open any newspaper you want up till 2010 and you will find almost no stories about all the social maladies which have become front page news since 2012 till now.

But, the recurrent issue of Igbo presidency remains on the national agenda – and will remain there until we address it frontally and end it once and for all. The year 2023 is, to me, as good as any to aim for it. Permit me to defer the answer to why 2023 until later in the narrative. Incidentally, most of us seem to also forget that we almost solved the problem without violence, rancour or animosity during the transition to civil rule in 1998-9.

Let me briefly remind all of us. A great deal of what follows is taken from my book, PDP: CORRUPTION INCORPORATED, mainly from pages 93 to 108: “For the sake of those under the age of thirty, who might not have heard of them, I want to introduce thirty four gallant men – called the G-34 – who risked everything (everything included life) to confront the deadliest dictator Nigeria has known – General Sani Abacha.

1. Dr Alex Ekwueme, 2. Alhaji Abubakar Rimi, 3. Chief Bola Ige, 4. Chief Ayo Adebanjo, 5. Chief Sunday Awoniyi, 6. Alhaji Sule Lamido, 7. Chief Solomon Lar, 8. Malam Adamu Ciroma, 9. Dr Tunji Otegbeye, 10. Professor Jerry Gana, 11. Alhaji Balarabe Musa, 12. Dr Chukwuemeka Ezeife, 13. Dr Iyorcha Ayu, 14. Alhaji Lawal Kaita, 15. Col Abubakar Umar, 16. Professor Ango Abdullahi, 17. Alhaji Mohammed Arzika, 18. Alhaji Suleiman Komo, 19. Alhaji Lawal Dambanzu, 20, Malam Iro Dan Musa, 21. Alhaji Farouk Abdulazeez, 22. Alhaji Musa Yakubu, 23. Mr Steve Achema. 24. Chief Edwin Ume-Ezeoke, 25. Chief Onyeabo Obi, 26. Chief Francis Ellah, 27. Chief Emeka Echeruo, 28. Major General Zamani Lekwot, 29. Mr Basil Ukaegbu, 30. Mr Isaac Sha’ahu, 31. Malam Mahmud Waziri, 32. Mr Dangana Nfayako, 33. Dr Usman Bugaje, 34. Obong Victor Attah. (Of course Attah has to be there in every roll of honour. That is why I always adore him).

“The G-34 had several things in common. First, one of my friends and classmate in the university in the US described them as ‘men who must have packed iron balls instead of scrotum to have had the courage to openly confront Abacha at a time when everybody else was afraid to even whisper the dictator’s name in their bedrooms’.

“Second, they were evenly divided between Muslims (18) and Christians (18). Third, although the military Head of State was a northerner, 21 of them were from the North and only 15 from the South. Yet, they all accepted the late Dr Alex Ekwueme, the Second Republic Vice President and Igbo man, as their leader. Fourth, Ekwueme was well on his way to becoming the elected President in 1999 until unkind fate took over and prevented Nigeria from healing the wounds of the 1967-70 Civil War once and for all.

“For most of the details about how the nation missed the chance and instead of Ekwueme we got Obasanjo – we exchanged gold for dross – readers will have to get a copy of the book from someone who has one. “The important thing is that we once got so close to getting an Igbo President when 34 truly patriotic Nigerians first got together to form the nucleus of a great all-inclusive political party and then scouted for more like-minded individuals. Unfortunately, they were not too careful about their selection of members. They got foxes mixed with chicken in the same cage”.

On 21 February 1999, in an article published in SUNDAY VANGUARD, I had warned Ekwueme and by extension the PDP with these prophetic words: “Many of us have assumed that the military revolution, which ended up as all revolutions in the hands of madmen, would have cautioned all Nigerians about the dangers of continuing military influence on our lives, and in that regard your emergence as the leader of the PDP and presidential aspirant raised hopes of deliverance.

“Even the entry of General Obasanjo was not seen as a threat to that aspiration. Not because people had anything against Obasanjo. Personally, I don’t, but because of the need for the clean break with regimented governance, with orders issued to be obeyed ‘with immediate effect’, irrespective of the soundness of the decision, could not be achieved by looking backwards [to Obasanjo] instead of moving forward. At least so we thought.

“But, as events unfolded, as N130 million [a colossal amount in those days] was first donated by faceless manipulators and billions more weighed in on the side of continuation of military rule by other means, it became increasingly clear that the party you once called ‘my baby’ would be snatched from you by powerful groups hell-bent on ensuring that the clean break with the past does not occur.”

‘TO MY BROTHER ALEX EKWUEME’ in PDP: CORRUPTION INCORPORATED, p 99: “Granted Ekwueme and the Founding Fathers of the PDP ignored the warning and set the ball rolling for the predicaments in which we find Nigeria today, there is a ray of hope even in that story. A party known to be led by an Igbo man was overwhelmingly accepted across all the zones. The question is: Have we run out of Ekwuemes in Nigeria? I would not be writing this article if the answer is NO!

I sincerely believe there are at least half a dozen ‘Ekwuemes’ even now. None of them is a former VP or leader of a party he started. But, there are Igbo men and women with the requisite leadership qualities who can serve the nation meritoriously. We must find them or some of them must start taking the risk of coming out NOW! That statement immediately would raise a complex question: why must we find them and why are they not coming out on their own? Let me attempt to answer them as best as possible.

First, we must find them because it is not the first time some individuals or group have found some of our past leaders for us – Gowon (1967-1976), Obasanjo (1976-1979, 1999-2007), Shagari (1979-1983), Buhari (1984-1985), Yar’Adua (2007-2010). If we are honest with ourselves we must admit that for most of our history since 1966 our national leaders have been found for us – one way or another. There is absolutely no reason why we cannot adopt the same method for getting our Igbo President.

To be quite candid we are being discriminatory when we refrain from undertaking the task of searching for and bringing our Igbo President. The question “why are they not coming out on their own?” is just a shade less dishonest than the first one. If the truth must be told, the rest of us in Nigeria intimidate the prospective Igbo candidates. We set up political hurdles higher than those established for others for them to scale and we make it almost impossible for them to scale them – even with super-human efforts”.

Just read the book PDP: CORRUPTION INCORPORATED, especially the areas pertaining to how Obasanjo emerged as the party’s presidential candidate and you will understand why Ekwueme failed after building the party right from prison. One would have thought Obasanjo, self-esteemed as a statesman and having the power at the time to impose his successor, would have used that clout to impose an Igbo president and end the Civil War once and for all time. Even he could not think that deeply. He went for the easy choice which required no courage at all.

“If we do not find our way to peace, whatever else we do will not make much difference” -Charles Keller, President, Rotary International 1988-9, VBQ, p184.

IPOB as well as all the other radical Igbo organisations will continue to have relevance as long as we don’t address this issue, and peace will continue to elude us and cost the nation billions required for development. Nigeria’s security forces were placed on high alert because Kanu’s parents were being buried. An event which should not have merited more than mere mention in the papers had the entire world focused on it and wasting time and resources.

We are paying dearly already for this self-inflicted damage to our country. No external enemy could have done worse to us. In 2023 we have a chance to at least put this one conflict behind us – if we can summon the courage once and for all time.

NO HIDDEN AGENDA
Almost invariably when such a call is made in Nigeria small minded individuals assume there must be a hidden agenda. The promoter must have a candidate in mind. I was confronted with the same sort of scepticism when the call for a Christian governor in Lagos State was made on these pages in 2010-11. Apart from being dismissed as a day-dreamer who had not consulted the “god” of Lagos politics, there was the fear that I was fronting for a candidate.

Time proved my critics wrong on the two counts. We had Ambode who I never met in my life as governor and I did not prostrate before any human being in Lagos. Igbo presidency in 2023 is also possible because all power belongs to God Almighty. I have no candidate in mind. There are some possibilities; but, none that I ever met in my life – a former senator, a businessman and, thinking out of the box, there is the Chairman of Air Peace who selflessly provided aircraft to lift fellow Nigerians out of South Africa. That is the sort of heroism which separates the men from the boys.

I am compiling a dossier on Allen Onyema and others – just in case we need him again….. THE YOUNG SHALL GROW; THE OLD SHALL GO “The old order changeth; yielding way to the new…”

Many responses have been received in connection with Obong Victor Attah’s Life Time Achievement Award on March 20, 2020. They are being processed. As Obong moves further up into the ranks of elder statesmen in Nigeria, the baton of leadership in Akwa Ibom State must be passed to somebody. Show your face in Lagos; honour the current Father of Akwa Ibom State. JUST ASK ME HOW.

SOURCE: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2020/02/time-for-igbo-presidency-is-2023/

The Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido has said that the north will destroy itself if it doesn’t change. He clamored for change in the way things are done since the pattern used is not benefiting the north.

The north contributes about 87% of poor people in the country and that is affecting the economy of the country. He also stated that a day will come when there will be a constitutional amendment that addresses issues of quota system and federal character, because the rest of the country cannot continue educating their children who will remain unemployed because they come from the wrong state.

Emir Sanusi also commended Governor El-Rufai for addressing the main issue in his state which is education. According to him millions of northerners are out of school.

His speech says ;

“It is almost correct now to say that, you are seen as normal, if you are a governor in the north or a leader in the north, and you continue to do what your predecessors have been doing.

Doing the same thing, which has been normalised, then, there is something wrong with you. You are part of the problem. The real change in the north will come from those who are considered mad people, because you look around and say if this is the way we have been doing things, and this is where we have ended up, maybe we need to do things differently.

“If the north does not change, the north will destroy itself. The country is moving on… If we don’t listen, there would be a day when there would be a constitutional amendment that addresses the issues of quota system and federal character. The rest of the country cannot be investing, educating its children, producing graduates and then they watch us, they can’t get jobs because they come from the wrong state; when we have not invested in the future of our own children.”

He also added;

“Nobody who is a leader in northern Nigeria today can afford to be happy,” Sanusi said. You cannot be happy about 87% of poverty in Nigeria being in the north. You can’t be happy with millions of northern out-of-school children. You can’t be happy with 9 states in the north contributing almost 50% of the entire malnutrition burden in the country.

“You can’t be happy with the Boko Haram problem. You can’t be happy with all the issues.

“So, we wish Nasir a happy birthday, but we do not want him to be happy as a leader. Because you are happy when you think you have reached a state of delivering and taking your people to where you want them to be.”

SOURCE: https://allure.vanguardngr.com/2020/02/the-north-will-destroy-itself-if-it-doesnt-change-emir-of-kano/

How tattered remnants of an Islamist sect transformed into a relentless terrorist army that Nigeria cannot defeat. -- Andrew Walker

In February 2009, Nigerian Police tightened laws requiring drivers and passengers of motorcycles to wear helmets. Something strange happened. As hardly anyone had helmets to wear, achaba drivers took to the streets in all manner of improvised headgear. There were pictures in the press of people wearing paint cans and buckets; but best of all were riders wearing hollowed-out watermelons and calabash bowls.

In one part of the country, however, this cat-and-mouse game between police and Nigerian motorists would have much more serious consequences. In Maiduguri, capital of the north-eastern Borno state, enforcement of the helmet law caused an incident that would spark violent conflict between police and members of a radical Islamist sect then unknown to the world. This, in turn, would pitch Nigeria into war.

Two years later, I watched a man named Mohammed Zakariyya enter the office of Maiduguri’s Special Armed Robbery Squad. He'd been arrested a few days before, after the car he was driving was stopped at a police checkpoint. He looked barely more than a teenager. “They discovered weapons we hid underneath the seat,” Zakariyya told me and my fellow BBC journalist, Abdullahi Kaura Abubakar. When his companion was ordered out of the vehicle to let the police search it, he tried to drive off. The Police Mobile Force officers opened fire, killing him.

Zakariyya said he'd been on 3 arms smuggling missions. Each time, he and his accomplices drove 120km out of Maiduguri to meet a man who ferried weapons in a canoe downriver from the mountainous border with Cameroon. Each time, he brought six AK-47s and a handful of boxes of ammunition. They loaded the car, then Zakariyya drove through Maiduguri to a large house in the suburbs of Damaturu, capital of neighbouring Yobe state.

The men he was working for had approached Zakariyya at the end of 2010 while he was selling shoes and phone chargers. They were members of the hardline Islamist sect that had established itself between 2005 and 2009 at a compound in Maiduguri’s Railway district. Known as "Boko Haram", which translates as “Western education is forbidden”, the group gradually brought more and more people under its influence.

On 20 February 2009, members of the sect were travelling to a funeral in a large group. The convoy was made up of many motorbikes, and police stopped them. The police were part of a state-wide task force, named Operation Flush, set up in 2005 to combat political thugs who ran amok in elections 2 years before. Dispute between the group and police about refusal to wear helmets became heated. Some reports say the police shot first, others that a member of the group disarmed a policeman and tried to use his weapon on other officers. In any case, the police opened fire, and several people in the travelling funeral party were killed and wounded.

This was not the first time Operation Flush crossed paths with Boko Haram, and the group’s leaders had already concluded that the purpose of the Joint Task Force was to harass them directly. In weeks following this encounter, Yusuf made a series of speeches, circulated widely on tapes and DVDs and over Bluetooth connections, calling on Muslims to prepare to “come to Jihad”. This, he said, included “material preparation such as learning shooting, buying rifles and bombs, as well as training Islamic Soldiers to fight infidels. You should sacrifice your souls, your homes, your cars and your motorcycles for the sake of Allah.”

Yusuf also had a large farm in Bauchi state, which he used as a base. The state government responded to these speeches by ordering police to raid the farm, capturing hundreds of Boko Haram members and killing several more. Police laid siege to the sect’s headquarters in the Ibn Taymiyyah mosque compound in Maiduguri.

When they saw the state’s forces had pulled back and commenced shooting at them from a distance, the men inside armed themselves and broke out. Dujana said they split into groups – he led one detachment, which roamed the city looking for military and police units to attack. For 4 days Boko Haram rampaged through Maiduguri. As well as killing police and soldiers, they slaughtered scores of civilians who were caught out in the open, slitting their throats like animals.

As authorities re-established control of the town, Mohammed Yusuf was captured by the military. He was interrogated in front of journalists who filmed it with their phones. He was then handed over to the police. Within minutes, Yusuf was dead – shot, police said, while trying to escape. Nobody believed this. Yusuf’s bullet-ridden body was then displayed to journalists, who took pictures.

This was just the beginning of a tide of violence that has left thousands dead and at least 1.5m displaced. Years after Yusuf’s killing, the war between Boko Haram and the Nigerian state has changed and developed. From late 2014 to early 2015, the sect controlled an estimated 70% of Borno state. Authorities, meanwhile, seemed incapable of dislodging it.

After his election in 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari tried to reinvigorate military leadership by replacing a number of top generals. This, he hoped, would bolster the state’s response to Boko Haram. By August 2015, the military had reversed many of the group’s gains and pushed it back to more remote areas. But the war was by no means finished.

In November 2015, during attacks 48 hours apart, suicide bombers killed scores in the eastern city of Yola and Kano in the north, hundreds of miles apart. These attacks show the extent of the group’s reach, even outside the area it once controlled. There have been continual, under-reported, skirmishes in the north-east border regions. On 29 January 2016, the group launched an attack on Dalori, a small town close to Maiduguri. Up to 80 people were killed. Witnesses said they heard screams of dying children as their houses burned down around them. These attacks are in spite of Buhari’s announcement in December 2015 that the war was “technically over”.

Yusuf’s group did not appear out of nowhere. Even before the open war between Boko Haram and the state, it had been growing. Among its ranks were people from all levels of society, from street kids and traders, to disaffected students and wealthy businessmen. Many of the young men and women came from the University of Maiduguri, where the elite of the 1990s sent their children to be educated.

Disaffected students and university dropouts gravitated towards the youth wing of a Salafi group at a mosque in Maiduguri. Among them were the nephew of the governor of Yobe state, the son of the state secretary of Borno and 5 sons of a prominent businessman who made his money through state contracts. These young men were drawn to the Salafists, who preached that such spiritual corruption was the cause of Borno’s ills. Many of them burned their university certificates when they joined.

One man saw the potential of these young radicals, born into privilege. His name was Mohammed Yusuf. He had been travelling around the north-east, preaching, making contacts and winning a following since the mid-1990s. He was a charismatic speaker who had no trouble attracting an audience. His radical ideas about the infidel state of Nigeria resonated with many people. He gave fiery orations at mosques and debated with other Islamic scholars on local television and radio.

According to his supporters, Yusuf was one of thousands of Almajiri children – religious students who beg on the streets for a living. But by the early 2000s he had found a place as a leader of the youth wing of a Salafist group at Maiduguri’s popular Alhaji Muhammadu Ndimi mosque.

Yusuf told his followers that Muslims who participated in any form of democratic system were apostates and should be killed by the faithful. The wellspring of corruption, he concluded, was the education system put in place during and after colonial rule by Christian Britain. He preached in busy towns on market days (rather than on Fridays, a breach of tradition that angered Islamic authorities), where he picked up many followers.

In the years before the 2009 uprising, observers were shocked at the extent of Yusuf’s influence, which spread deep into the border regions. From the very beginning, Yusuf was preparing his followers for conflict. Among the first generation of supporters were many ideologues willing to unleash violence on the state, innocent civilians, the Muslim establishment and anyone they declared to be unbelievers. They formed a “counter elite”, united by resentment of years of secular rule in Nigeria. These men dreamed of a sharia wonderland, and believed it would come to Nigeria through unremitting bloodshed.

Before the 2009 uprising, the Salafists associated with Ndimi mosque had already made one disastrous attempt at creating an Islamic state. In 2003, a man named Muhammad Ali, who had tired of Yusuf’s slow approach to building a movement, led a band of 200 young men and women out into the wilderness to start society anew. They ended up in the borderlands of Yobe state, near the dry river bed between Nigeria and the Republic of Niger, at a place called Kanamma. They were determined to shun the corrupt world and create a new land of Islamic purity.

This group of aggressive, iconoclastic city-dwellers soon came into conflict with the people who already lived in the place they tried to settle. Indeed, conflict was what they sought. They dug defensive preparations in a wooded grove near a water source. They raided local police stations and government buildings to get weapons, and to provoke a reaction, which duly came. After a brief siege, the military overran and destroyed the camp. The group’s members were mostly wiped out. A few survivors escaped north, over the border to Niger, where some can still be found. Others slunk back to Maiduguri.

The military crackdown attracted international attention because the group dubbed itself the “Nigerian Taliban”. But, at the time, the US embassy concluded it had no links to al-Qaida. Yusuf did not join the Kanamma uprising. Still, after the group was crushed, he went into self-imposed exile in Saudi Arabia to escape accusations he had anything to do with it. It is thought that, while he was there, he made links with like-minded Salafi preachers and secured their support. But after a year, he was back in Maiduguri.

On his return, in 2005, Yusuf began to rebuild his own community, establishing Ibn Taymiyyah mosque and compound in the Railway district of Maiduguri on land bought with the help of his father-in-law. This location, in the heart of the state capital, was key to the group’s new incarnation. By embedding themselves in the town rather than the wilderness, the group had many more avenues for recruitment and funding. The population of Maiduguri had risen dramatically. Desertification across the north of Borno state over a decade, destroyed farmland and sparked an exodus to the city. Academic Mohammed Kabir Isa of Ahmadu Bello University Zaria says: “When they come to the city in search of a livelihood, the bubble bursts, and they realise there’s nothing there. That’s when they become easy prey for militant organisations.”

By end of 2008, the group was operating like a state within a state; it had its own institutions, including a shura council to make decisions and a religious police force to enforce discipline. It had a rudimentary welfare system, offered jobs working land it acquired in Bauchi and even gave microfinance loans to members to start their own business. Many used the money to buy motorcycles and worked as achaba drivers. The group also arranged marriages between members, which many of the poorest could not afford in normal life. Rather than sticking out as rebels, Yusuf and his followers could blend in with ordinary people.

Yusuf was also comfortable moving between different layers of Maiduguri society. The city has always been an important trading post for dealers in goods of all kinds – legal and otherwise. Its proximity to the borders of three countries – Cameroon, Chad, Niger – makes it an ideal hub for speculation in commodities such as fertiliser, kerosene, diesel and petrol. Maiduguri’s trading elite have made a lot of money. Some of them gravitated to Yusuf’s Salafist group in the belief they should atone for their prosperity.

Ibn Taymiyyah mosque had been allowed to function thanks to a deal Yusuf struck with the government. The agreement between the state deputy governor and Yusuf wa brokered in Saudi Arabia by a leading Salafist sheikh. Yusuf pledged he had nothing to do with the Kanamma separatist group and would never again preach violent jihad. But in the following years, he ignored this pledge and was picked up by the security services several times, only to be swiftly released. The journalist who first reported on Yusuf’s sect believes that – at least at this early stage – its leader enjoyed high-level backing from the governor of Borno, Ali Modu Sherif.

Ahmed Salkida, a reporter for Daily Trust, one of the few Nigerian papers that focus on the north, wrote extensively about the group in the years before 2009. He says that despite his professed loathing of politics, Yusuf made alliances and found common ground with Sherif. Both men had much to gain from cooperation. Yusuf wanted guarantees of a stronger sharia, a commitment to a strict line on God’s divine law; Sherif wanted to be re-elected. Sherif denies any such arrangement or involvement with the sect.

In public, the two men had an antagonistic relationship. Yusuf had called Sherif an “infidel” and demanded his death. Sherif, however, knew it would have been unwise to fight Yusuf. Instead, he courted him, providing a lucrative position in the state religious affairs ministry to one of Boko Haram’s most zealous members, a man named Buji Foi.

Salkida told me that until the final days before the uprising, Yusuf still believed a deal could be done with the state, and that Sherif would come around to Boko Haram’s uncompromising position. But by that stage Sherif had been backed into a corner. He could no longer protect Yusuf, who was handed over to the police and quickly executed. Questions still hang over the speed with which Yusuf was dispatched, and who exactly was served by his silencing.

After Yusuf’s death, his lieutenants went into hiding, but were sustained by their loyalty to his vision. Under leadership of Abubakar Shekau, who had been Yusuf’s second-in-command, Boko Haram’s priority was revenge. The first targets were police, who were attacked at their own checkpoints and robbed of weapons. Higher-ranking officers were assassinated in their homes, as were local politicians and traditional rulers. After the uprising, authorities had demanded traditional leaders help them identify members of Boko Haram, who were then summarily executed, and their property given to the informants as reward. Now the group came back to murder those who betrayed them.

In June 2011, under cover of darkness, Mohammed Manga, a 35-year-old commercial driver, set out from a camp near Maiduguri for the capital. In his car was an explosive device prepared by either al-Qaida in the Islamic Mahgreb, which was then in camps in the Sahara, or al-Shabaab in Somalia. He drove into the police headquarters, past the sentries and up to the front door, in the middle of a crowd. When he detonated the bomb, 5 were killed and more than 100 injured.

A spokesman for Boko Haram said Manga left his widow and 5 children a considerable inheritance. A photograph sent to journalists showed him smiling and waving as he got into the car, holding an AK-47. “He was calm and never showed fear,” the group’s spokesman told Salkida. He added that everyone was envious of Manga, “wishing it was their chance to act and gain entry into paradise”.

Boko Haram followed up this mission a few weeks later, in August 2011, by detonating a car packed with explosives in the driveway of the United Nations building in Abuja. At least 21 people were killed and scores wounded. The group unleashed a bombing campaign in Maiduguri, Jos, Kaduna and the capital, and devastating coordinated strikes against the security services in Kano. It attacked churches, universities and schools, bus stations and markets, killing thousands. Within a few years, between 2011 and 2014, Boko Haram had gone from the tattered remnants of a radical sect, to a full fledged terrorist group.

As it grew in power, subsuming whole towns by force, the group attracted more and more followers. Bands of armed robbers joined to exploit the chaos it left behind. Others joined to settle ancient scores against rival ethnic religious groups, mostly over land. Others were grabbed off the streets and forced into service.

Zakariyya, the young prisoner I met in 2011, had been coerced into joining Boko Haram. In the office of the Special Armed Robbery Squad in Maiduguri, my colleague, Abdullahi Kaura, and I listened as he finished his account. Selling shoes and phone accessories, he was able to take home between N2,000 or N3,000 a week (£10). Now 22, he said he had two wives and two children. He was struggling to feed his family when the men from Boko Haram offered to pay him to smuggle weapons. “They promised me N200,000” he said, “but on the 1st trip they only paid me 70,000 and on the 2nd trip they gave me only 40,000. I was never in favour of their ideology. They threatened me and said now I knew who they were, I either did what they wanted or they would kill me. You cannot know their secret and just go. I was afraid for my life.”

When he was caught by the police, he told officers what they wanted to know. “And, now the security forces have arrested me, I have pledged to assist them. Even as it is now, I’m in trouble. If they get me, I’m a dead man.” Zakariyya’s voice was very faint. He looked very small.

Boko Haram’s violent network across Borno, Adamawa and Yobe went largely unchecked by the military. The group became bolder and began attacking towns in large fighting groups, travelling in convoys of stolen Toyota Hiluxes. In March 2014 Boko Haram attacked Giwa barracks in Maiduguri. When they broke in, they freed 800 people from the cells. Among the prisoners were people who were not members of Boko Haram before they had been picked by the military.

The fate that met those who did not go with Boko Haram was discovered by Amnesty International: 645 people who refused join the militants were rounded up and executed, then dumped in a mass grave. For many, like Zakariyya, it must have seemed that their destiny was to join Boko Haram or die. After our encounter with Zakariyya, my colleague and I stood outside the police station. We were both badly shaken. “They’re going to kill that boy aren’t they?” I asked. Kaura nodded.

• This article is adapted from Andrew Walker’s new book, Eat the Heart of the Infidel (Hurst).

SOURCE (abridged): https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/04/join-us-or-die-birth-of-boko-haram

36 schools in the United Kingdom have shut or turned pupils away amid coronavirus fears as plans are drawn up to close ALL UK classrooms and public transport if the virus becomes a pandemic.

Cransley School in Northwich, Trinity Catholic College in Middlesbrough, All Hallows Catholic School in Surrey, Tudor Grange Academy Kingshurst in Birmingham and St Christopher's CofE High School in Accrington have all closed after staff and pupils returned from skiing trips in a coronavirus hit region of Italy. Other schools have closed on precautionary measures.

Burford School in Oxford shut over fears one student could have coronavirus. William Martin CofE Junior, Infant and Nursery School in Essex also closed as a precaution after a member of staff returned from Italy. The ContinU Plus Academy in Kidderminster was shut after a member of staff came in close contact with a family member who was self-isolating after a trip to northern Italy.

Two more schools in Lincolnshire - Lutton St Nicholas and Gedney Church End Primary schools - closed as a precautionary measure due to a "potential connection to the coronavirus by an individual within the school". The schools said in a statement that the individual has been isolated and both schools are being deep cleaned before re-opening.

Lime Academy Watergall in Peterborough will also be deep cleaned and closed for the rest of the week after a family at the school returned from northern Italy. Meanwhile, 5 pupils from Higham Lane School have been told to stay away after returning from their ski trip over half-term.

Many schools had been on ski trips during the half term in Italy - where 11 people have now died as the number of cases continues to rocket. The Italian government has put 11 towns in Lombardy and Veneto - both popular skiing destinations - into lockdown.

One school axed its ski trip over fears of the deadly virus, with pupils travelling back to the UK two days earlier than planned. A further 16 schools in the UK sent staff and pupils home to self-isolate for 14 days - including Hall Cross Academy in Doncaster, which is Louis Tomlinson's old school.

Ashcroft Techonology Academy in Putney, south west London sent 22 students and three members of staff to self-quarantine after returning from a two week ski trip in Italy. Sandbach High School in Cheshire confirmed they were still open but said students and staff on a trip to Lombardy were told to quarantine themselves.

While Cambridge House Grammar School in Northern Ireland sent around 50 pupils and staff home as a precaution after returning from an Italian ski holiday in the same region.

'PANDEMIC' FEARS
It comes as England’s top doctor warned a global pandemic may lead to school closures, families quarantined and public transport shut down. Chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty said yesterday: “There’s no secret there’s a variety of things you need to look at, like school closures.”

Currently, only high-risk individuals are asked to stay at home to limit the spread of Covid-19. But Prof Whitty said whole families could be told to self-isolate during a major outbreak. Four in five Brits could also become infected by the disease - with up to 500,000 killed, according to a doomsday scenario set out in official papers seen by The Sun.

DEATH TOLL RISES
More than 2,700 people have died globally from coronavirus, while there are more than 80,000 cases. At least 52 British tourists have been padlocked inside a quarantined Tenerife hotel today with two guests tested positive for the virus.

And throughout northern Italy, 50,000 people have now been placed in total lockdown in 11 towns. But the country has not been added to the Number 10’s list of “high-risk” countries prompting criticism from medics concerned tourists potentially carrying the virus are not being quarantined. However, Britain’s chief medical officer is expected to add a number of northern regions of Italy to that list.

Health officials are believed to be considering whether to go further and ask everyone returning from the regions to stay at home for two weeks.

SOURCE (abridged): https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11036979/coronavirus-school-lockdown-students-italy/

African Development Bank (AfDB) has endorsed Dr Akinwunmi Adesina for a second term as president of the bank. The decision was taken during the 36th Ordinary Session of the African Union (AU) Executive Council, held during the AU Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from February 6 and 7, 2020.

In a statement, Olufemi Terry of the Communication and External Relations Department of the bank, said that Adesina was elected in his first term as president by the Bank’s Board of Governors at its annual meetings in Abidjan on 28 May 2015.

He is the 8th president of the AfDB Group and the first Nigerian to hold the position. During his first term, the statement added, the bank’s shareholders approved a landmark $108bn capital increase in late October. The increase in the capital base, from $93bn to $208bn, signalled a strong support from the Board of Governors in the continent’s foremost financial institution.

Adesina is a renowned development economist who has held a number of high-profile international positions, including an assignment with the Rockefeller Foundation, and as Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development from 2011 to 2015.

SOURCE: https://www.sunnewsonline.com/akinwunmi-re-elected-afdb-president-for-2nd-term/

In a bid to curb the menace of illegal building construction and building collapse, the Lagos State Government, through the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development has commenced the on-site inspection of planning permits tagged “Operation Show Your Planning Permit”.

Speaking at the flag-off of the operation in Onikoyi, Banana Island and environs on Monday, the Honourable Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Dr Idris Salako said the compliance exercise would be extended to other parts of the State during the coming week.

The Commissioner said that it was highly regrettable that “most of the buildings within the highbrow areas are either without planning permit or built beyond approved units, stressing that many commenced construction without recourse to the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) as stipulated in the Lagos State Urban and Regional Planning Law.

In view of this flagrant disregard to the extant planning laws of the State, Dr Salako stated that the Lagos Government would not hesitate to apply the full wrath of the law against such violators, in order to ensure compliance with the planning laws and regulations in the State.

He maintained that obtaining planning permit before commencing construction is not negotiable as the present administration remains determined to bequeath Lagos a megacity that is sustainable, orderly, liveable and friendly to business and tourism.

While emphasising that the era of unplanned developments in which anyone could erect buildings according to their fancy is over, Salako said, “For the avoidance of doubt, no building is allowed to spring up in Lagos State without first obtaining planning permission and complying with the State building laws”.

He, therefore, urged all property owners, developers and other stakeholders in the built environment to ensure that they obtain a building permit and produce it when demanded by officials of the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development and its Agencies, adding that non-availability of the permit would lead to sealing of the affected property while its promoters would be made to face the law.

The Commissioner also warned property owners and all concerned to desist from breaking government seals on identified illegal building construction or working on sites where seals had been broken. He urged Lagosians and all stakeholders to cooperate with the State Government in its aim of achieving a safe and secure environment by not only obtaining planning permit but ensuring conformity with their approved plans.

Other top officials present during the enforcement operation include the Special Adviser, Urban Development, Mr Ganiu Adele Ayuba; the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Arc. Foluso Dipe and the General Manager, Lagos State Physical Planning Permit Authority, Tpl. Funmi Oshifuye.

SOURCE: https://brandspurng.com/2020/02/26/lagos-embarks-on-operation-show-your-planning-permit-photos/

Worried by the escalating insecurity in the country, Chief Adesunbo Onitiri has expressed surprise that Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, stands aloof when defenceless citizens are being killed and maimed all over the country.

He said: “The NLC has become a toothless bulldog, uselessly wagging its tail to the enemy that is maiming its owner or busy eating the food of the enemy.

“You are implored to wake up from your slumber. Even the minimum wage the NLC is fighting for has been a failure. This NLC has been the worst in the fight for the interest of Nigerians.” He commended Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, for standing with the oppressed masses and fighting for the people’s human rights.

He called on the Federal Government to, as a matter of urgency, declare a state of emergency in the country as a way to curb insecurity. He also called on FG to declare armed herdsmen as a terrorist group without delay, while condemning the National Assembly for introducing a bill to create an agency for repentant Boko Haram terrorists, “who are busy killing and maiming defenceless Nigerians.”

In a statement, on Tuesday in Lagos, he said: “There is no doubt that the most important duty of any responsible government is to secure the lives and properties of its citizens. Any government that fails in this has woefully failed and has no basis to remain in government.

“If this Senate is a friend of the people, they should side with the people and not only look for how to protect themselves but declare bandits, Boko Haram and armed herdsmen as terrorist groups.”

Besides faulting the NLC, the social critic also raised the alarm “over the House of Representatives decision to expend N5 billion to buy 400 exotic 2020 edition Toyota cars for its members, when millions of downtrodden Nigerians are walloping in hunger and want.”

SOURCE: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2020/02/insecurity-nlc-a-toothless-bulldog-says-onitiri/

UNITED States-based Interfaith leaders, after a fact-finding mission to Northern Nigeria which has been under sectarian attacks, yesterday declared Nigeria a ticking time bomb which may soon become the most dangerous place on the planet.

‘Does anyone give a damn about the innocents dying every day in West Africa? If so, it’s time to show it,’ said Rabbi Abraham Cooper and Rev. Johnnie Moore.

A source close to Mission said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Associate Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, and Rev. Johnnie Moore, President of The Congress of Christian Leaders and a Wiesenthal Center honoree, last week embarked upon a fact-finding mission to northern Nigeria to investigate targeted attacks by Islamist extremists against vulnerable Christian communities and other issues related to the ongoing conflict in West Africa.

Throughout the week, they met with Christian and Muslim religious leaders, representatives of non-governmental organizations, senior government officials, and more than 50 survivors of attacks by Boko Haram, ISWAP, and herdsmen.

Consequently, Rabbi Cooper and Reverend Moore said in a statement after the interface: “You, like us, have no doubt heard of the attacks on communities throughout vulnerable parts of Nigeria. “You’ve heard of the kidnapping and abuse of young women, the churches that have been burned, the homes that have been razed, and of the million or more children now roaming the streets out-of-school.

“Maybe last week, you also heard about the second anniversary of the kidnapping of the courageous teenager, Leah Sharibu, or the torching of a bus the week before that or of the grotesque beheading of a noted Christian pastor two weeks before that.

“After our journey there, we want the world to know that you haven’t heard half of it. The terrorists’ aim to ethnically cleanse northern Nigeria of its Christians and to kill every Muslim who stands in their way. If things don’t change immediately, portions of Nigeria and the broader Lake Chad region may soon become the most dangerous place on the planet.

”This portion of Africa will be ground zero for the next generation’s war on terrorism, and the humanitarian cost of letting these problems fester and multiply in the near-term could result in disaster for much of Western Africa.

“Our message to the leaders of Nigeria is that the status quo is unacceptable, and the government must do more to immediately fulfill its fundamental responsibility to protect all of its citizens.”

SOURCE: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2020/02/us-interfaith-leaders-declare-nigeria-ticking-time-bomb/

SAME INCIDENT, AS REPORTED BY VANGUARD...

Just in: Panic, as another tanker explodes on Lagos/Ibadan Expressway:

There is panic on Lagos/Ibadan Expressway as another tanker has exploded on the Long Bridge. The incident happened about an hour ago (i.e. around 7:30 pm) outward Lagos. Many road users are said to be stranded as a result of the explosion.

Ogun State Commander of Federal Road Safety Corps Clement Oladele has confirmed the incident but said the rescue operation is ongoing.

Vanguard gathered that motorists travelling inward Ibadan have been cut off from the Long Bridge as a result of the explosion, as many are scrambling to drive against traffic.

As at 9.23 pm, the Director, Ogun State Fire Service Engineer Fatai Adefala said the situation has been put under control.

SOURCE: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2020/02/just-in-panic-as-another-tanker-explodes-on-lagos-ibadan-expressway/

A fuel laden tanker has exploded on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. According to info available to The Eagle Online, the tanker caught fire at about 7:10pm on Tuesday 25 February 2020.

The incident occurred just opposite the OPIC building in Isheri, Ogun State on the Lagos outbound lane of the expressway. This has resulted in traffic on both ends of the expressway, with many abandoning their vehicles and fleeing to safety.

SOURCE: https://theeagleonline.com.ng/breaking-fuel-laden-tanker-catches-fire-on-lagos-ibadan-expressway-video-photo/

The Federal High Court in Lagos has fixed 27 March 2020 for judgment on a motion on notice filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, seeking permanent forfeiture of the sum of $54,000 found in the domiciliary account of a firm, Asej Global Services, operated by one Ojo Temitope Francis.

The anti-graft agency told Justice Muslim Hassan that the funds were reasonably suspected to be proceeds of cyber fraud. In a 20-paragraph affidavit filed in support of the motion on notice, an investigative officer with the EFCC, Peter Chimdinma, said the anti-graft agency commenced action against Asej Global Services following a petition against the firm and Francis by First City Monument Bank.

FCMB, according to the investigator, reported the firm and Francis to the EFCC following an inflow of $54,000 into the firm’s account with number, 4445389020, domiciled in FCMB.

Chimdinma said, “The petitioner, First City Monument Bank, enquired about the nature of the funds and the account holder (Francis) claimed that they were from his friend and associate, George Edwards Cook, residing in the United States and that the funds were for the purchase of properties on behalf of the said friend and business associate.

“That upon further enquiry, the suspect provided a copy of the driver’s licence of a white man, purporting that it belonged to the said friend and business associate residing in the United States and could not provide information on the nature of their business. That in the course of investigation, a letter of request for assistance was sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation to assist in locating and interviewing the said business associate, Mr George Edward Cook.

“That in response to the letter of request for assistance sent to the FBI, it was revealed that the said George Edward Cook had been flagged by the US Department of Treasury and US Banking Financial Security Network as a known fraudster. Investigation further revealed that as of December 2017, George Edward Cook utilised counterfeit cheques to deposit $44,480 but was denied and is currently unable to secure any new US-based bank account under his name due to his ban by FINCEN.

“That so far, the team has been able to establish that one Ojo Temitope Francis, hiding under cover of the suspect, Asej Global Services, operated a domiciliary account in FCMB and received funds from George Edward Cook, who has been identified as a US-based fraudster. That the whereabouts of the said Mr George Edward Cook is unknown and he is likely trying to transfer his ill-gotten funds from the US to Nigeria through the domiciliary account of the suspect.”

Following an ex parte application by the EFCC, Justice Hassan had earlier made an order for the temporary forfeiture of the $54,000 to the Federal Government. On Monday, counsel for the EFCC, S.I. Suleiman, said the anti-graft agency had last year August published the interim forfeiture order in The Nation newspaper, for anyone interested to see and come to court.

Suleiman said as no one had come forward to oppose the application for the permanent forfeiture of the funds, the judge should order same forfeited to the Federal Government.

After hearing the lawyer out, Justice Hassan fixed March 27 for judgment.

SOURCE: https://punchng.com/fcmb-reports-man-to-efcc-after-54000-deposit/

SOURCE: The Cable

Government has collaborated with a private firm, Westron Properties (an engineering and maritime investment company) to develop a seaport in Ijegun, near Satellite Town, with the aim of absorbing up to 50% of the traffic at Apapa port.

The development of Ijegun port city commenced in the 1990s with massive dredging and reclaiming of the swamp around the Satellite Town area, according to the Chairman, Westron Properties, Chief George Igboegun. He said with greater corporation from the government, the port city which currently absorbs 25% of Apapa traffic would absorb 50% of the traffic.

He said the city had recently welcomed a 1 km road, bridge and water channel due for inauguration by the Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa. He said, “The demand for port facilities in the ever-growing city of Lagos has seen exponential growth in the last few years. The resultant effect is that even the addition of Tin Can Island port could still not meet this demand.

“This has led to the chaos Apapa has turned into, with the nation losing tonnes of money on daily basis. Effort by the government to ease the pain of Apapa has not yielded the desired result.”

The Westron Properties chairman, who said his firm started business with fishing trawlers, but encountered challenge with delays at the Apapa port , noted that the issue of requisite infrastructure for the new city had been a recurring problem over a long period.

He recalled that with the delays at Apapa port coupled with gridlock, Westron fishing trawlers could not find adequate berthing facilities in Lagos, the main market for its products. He said while searching for solution to the problem, the firm discovered the swampy and natural Ijegun harbour and decided to explore its maritime potential in collaboration with the government.

Igboegun said various parties and companies with interest in the new city, mostly under the umbrella of the Ijegun Tank Farm Association, had over time been making their individual contributions towards the development of infrastructure in Ijegun.

The current market value of Ijegun port city according to the Westron Properties boss, is $30m while the firm spent over $13m developing it.

He said, “The new bridge and road represent some of our contributions towards bridging this infrastructural gap in the new city. It is our hope that with the combined effort of both the private and public sectors, the city will see further growth, making significant contributions towards relieving the Apapa problem.

“It is projected that our present additional development in the area, will see a further growth of 30% in this new city.” He said the establishment of Ijegun port city had brought rapid development and increased overall storage capacity for petroleum products, thus reducing the shortage of the products.

He said about 60% of Nigeria’s petroleum products were housed in Ijegun, adding that there were currently 12 tank farms in Ijegun, holding a storage capacity of about 600,000,000 litres.

SOURCE (abridged): https://punchng.com/30m-port-city-to-absorb-50-apapa-traffic/

The year was 2013 and Nigerian Breweries (NB Plc) did something quite remarkable. It had just reported a profit after tax of N43bn and a return on equity of 41.9%. That year, NB Plc also reported revenues of N268.6bn and paid over N34bn in dividends. Also, it had just N9bn in external debt in 2013. Those were the good old days.

These days, however, the story is somewhat underwhelming and every year it gets worse. In 2019, the brewery giant reported a profit after tax of N16bn from revenue of about N323bn only. ROE is 11.54% while dividends are just about N18bn. Directors of the company have recommended that they pay out the entire profit and even more as dividends. It now has about N55bn in total external debts in 2019.

Nigeria’s brewery sector is facing a potential implosion with intense competition, harsh economy, unfavourable government policies and changing taste of consumers haemorrhaging top and bottom line. Despite splashing cash on brand ambassadors like Burna Boy and spending billions on events and advertisement, it is still finding it extremely difficult to get younger Nigerians to embrace its 21 flagship brands.

Revenue has grown by over N100bn since 2013 but it has come at a significant cost to the business. Last year (2019), the company reported it had spent about N77.6bn on marketing and distribution expenses, a whopping 24% of revenue. It spent 19.5% of revenue on marketing and distribution expenses in 2016 and 15.9% in 2013, its year of profits. Marketing and distribution expenses have almost doubled from N42.9bn to N77.6bn in 6 years.

But what else can the company do? It can’t just fold its arms against stiff competition and watch its market share and inventors' confidence erode. Management probably once in while takes solace in the performance of Guinness, thanking their stars (no pun intended) that they are much better. It’s brutal out there and the beer makers know it’s only going to get worse. Who knows who will be left standing 10 years from now? For Heineken, its majority shareholder, it keeps investing and taking a pint of their return.

The parent company with 55.9% ownership of the company will get about N10bn out of the dividend of N18bn. In addition, it earns royalties and technical fees of N7.2bn or 2.2% of revenues but 45% of profits as royalty and technical fees.

Back to 2013, the company paid N9.36bn (3.4% of revenues or 21.7% of profits ) as royalty and technical service fees. Shareholders will be reminded quite clearly that the parent company continues to invest heavily in its Nigerian subsidiary.

About N30.1bn was spent in 2019 (N30.3bn in 2018) on property, plant and equipment out of which “returnable packaging materials” was N10bn. To date, the company has spent N125bn out of its N446bn property plant and equipment budget on returnable packaging, plant and equipment. Only Plant and Machinery at N189bn is worth more. Suffice to add that it’s current market valuation of N411bn is just 1.07X total assets and 2.45X net assets.

It’s thus petrifying to be reminded that at N55 per share and 25x price to earnings ratio, Nigeria Breweries stock may well be overvalued. It’s is highly unlikely it will grow its earnings per share that aggressively. Despite paying its entire profits as dividends and more, its dividend yield will be 5% at current share price of N55.

Year to date, the stock is down 12.7% and could likely remain depressed amidst a rather gloomy economic outlook. With inflation skyrocketing and disposable income of consumers taking a hit, the horizon for Nigerian Breweries Plc is nowhere near its glory days.

SOURCE (abridged): https://nairametrics.com/2020/02/20/analysis-nigeria-breweries-the-glory-days-are-gone/

Emir of Kano Sanusi Lamido has called for the arrest of fathers who send their children out as almajiris.

Speaking at a non governmental organisation of First Lady Aisha Buhari, in collaboration with the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) on Thursday February 20, the monarch faulted those with political power who have failed in ensuring justice is served.

He blamed the lack of law that addresses certain issues affecting mothers and children. Sanusi said its the duty of the monarch or traditional ruler to ask for justice. But it’s only those in power that can ensure that justice is served.

His speech reads:

“Every day, wives are complaining about their husbands who claim their rights but abandon their responsibilities of marriage, women being divorced with their husbands not taking care of the children and those children ending up on the streets, drugs, political thuggery, violent extremism,”

“No law that talks about consent in marriage, the rights of wives and husbands, domestic violence , rights of women divorced , the responsibilities of husbands under divorce situations. If a child is found on the streets, is the father that is responsible and can the state hold him accountable?

“Do you just marry and have children without any responsibilities? The reason Allah send His Prophets is that there should be justice in this world. Justice in our relationship with our maker and in our relationship with our fellow human beings.

“Justice means that everyone is given his rights. If a man takes the privilege of being the head of the family, he takes the responsibilities of being the provider of the family. You cannot take that privilege and abandon the responsibilities.

“Is it a fact that a father has the right to force his daughter into a loveless marriage? That you have the rights to batter you wife? You have the right to have children and push them to the streets to beg? That when you divorce your wife, you ask her and her children to pack and go back to her father’s house and that is the end?

“I can spend 100 years saying that it is wrong and un-Islamic for a man to beat his wife. But it is the Governor and the state house of assembly that should pass the law, it is the courts and the police that will make sure that the woman gets justice. The Scholars and Emirs cannot do that.

“So, the problem is these groups of human beings are those who will stand to answer to Allah if there is no justice.

“The traditional and religious leaders have an obligation to ask for justice, but those with political power have an obligation to put in place processes that will make sure justice is complied with.”

SOURCE: https://allure.vanguardngr.com/2020/02/fathers-who-send-out-their-children-as-almajiris-should-be-arrested-emir-of-kano/

A medical doctor with the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Gbenga Adebusoye, has warned that abuse of paracetamol in general and in tenderising meat in particular, could lead to liver and kidney failures. Dr Adebusoye gave the warning in a telephone interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday.

He said drugs were chemicals and should not be taken lightly and when abused, they could be toxic to the human system and endanger lives. According to him, abuse of paracetamol leads to rapid damage of the liver, which can cause the acute liver injury that could then result in liver failure that can not be managed except by a liver transplant.

He said paracetamol should not be used to tenderise meat and for any other purpose asides its clinical use and within specified dosage, as its abuse was highly detrimental to health. He said drugs were usually meant to be stored at cool temperature not above 25° Celsius. He said if drugs were not properly stored and left in places with high temperature, it could damage their content, making them less potent; and with possibility of chemical reactions that could be dangerous and harmful, turning the drug from a useful substance to a harmful one, he said.

Dr Adebusoye, therefore, advised people to desist from abuse of drugs in general, as such act could be very fatal. NAN reports that some food vendors and caterers in the country have been using paracetamol tablets to tenderise tough meat. Others even use tablespoons, nails and potassium to cook food.

Some food vendors in Jos denied making use of paracetamol in tenderising their meats, but some admitted to using potassium in tenderising cowhide (Pomo) and beans.

SOURCE (abridged): https://m.guardian.ng/features/health/paracetamol-abuse-could-cause-liver-kidney-failures/amp/

Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited has said construction of its modular refinery is about 98% complete. The indigenous oil company is building the modular refinery in Ohaji/Egbema Local Government Area of Imo State.

The 30,000 barrels per day refinery project reached final investment decision in September 2018 with an 18-month delivery time from November 2018 to May 2020 for its first phase.

“It is about 98% complete. We will start pre-commissioning next week.” the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited, Mr Chikezie Nwosu, told our correspondent on the sidelines of the Nigeria International Petroleum Summit.

According to him, the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board is a partner on the project. He said, “They are not only a partner, but they have helped us with respect to navigating the regulations, and helped us with respect to understanding the local content requirements.

“You cannot be in a partnership with the NCDMB, if transfer of skills is not one of the most important things that you have to satisfy. So, that partnership guides us along the path of the best local content initiatives for us to follow. The NCDMB has been a partner of choice in this venture.”

Asked if building of modular refineries was the way to go to increase the nation’s refining capacity, Nwosu said, “Absolutely, it is the way to go. We wouldn’t have committed to doing this if we hadn’t done a proper study of the environment where we operate, the needs of the people and the ability to build an economic model that works. That economic model is one of modular refineries; it allows you the redundancy that if you build several modules, if there is a problem with one of them, you can still deliver petroleum products.”

He added, “The problem with building one huge refinery is that if something goes wrong and enough redundancies have not been built in, then you cannot send out any refined products or your volumes are significantly impacted. But going through a modular approach means that you do build in those redundancies.”

SOURCE: https://punchng.com/waltersmiths-modular-refinery-98-complete-says-ceo/

Mele Kyari, group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says electricity is a luxury only the elite in the country can afford. Kyari made the statement at the Nigeria International Petroleum Summit in Abuja on Tuesday.

The summit with the theme, ‘Widening the integration circle: technology, knowledge, sustainability partnership’, saw the signing of a $1.1 million grant between the federal government and the United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) as part funding for the Abuja independent power project (IPP).

Kyari said many Nigerians are still struggling to afford a day’s meal let alone electricity. He said the government must address the issue of power supply before it can go into renewable energy.

“For this country and very many of us in sub-Saharan Africa, what we worry about today is actually the meals of today. There are many who can’t afford a meal a day. And of course, electricity is largely a luxury; it’s only for the elite, like all of us here,” Kyari said.

“It is the dream of very many to have I-pass-my-neighbour in their homes. When you say, ‘do not use fossil fuel,’ but you have not provided alternatives. The world has not looked at their situation. The world has not recognised that there is abject poverty in the communities.

“We have to resolve the issue of electricity so that we can talk about renewable energy in the future and reduce the use of fossil fuel that has a high impact on the environment. We know that there is an energy transition in the world. With time, there will be less dependence on fossil fuel.”

Kyari also said gas remains the cheapest source of power, and that efforts must be made to stop flaring it in the country. “We have gas in abundance, we must create infrastructure that will help create gas for power generation,” he said. We need power to create jobs and we must create prosperity, so that we can have peace in our country. We are grateful for this grant.”

On his part, Thomas Hardy, USTDA director, said the grant was another demonstration of the US’ commitment to ensuring infrastructural development across the globe. He said the grant would be used for feasibility study of the IPP and other infrastructure development projects in the energy sector.

He said the money will be released in tranches depending on the particular project in the sector. He said General Electric (GE) would provide all the technology for the IPP. “The grant is part-funding for the NNPC Abuja IPP modelled to generate 1,350 MW,” Hardy said.

“Nigeria is the largest population in Africa and we are proud investing in the energy sector in the largest African nation to provide power to the rural communities.”

SOURCE: https://www.thecable.ng/fg-us-sign-1-1m-grant-for-abuja-independent-power-project

In less than two weeks, Mrs Damola Akintunde has been served two queries by her employer for resuming work late. It is unusual of the 32-year-old resident of Olowora, Isheri area of Lagos State.

For the past 4 years that she has been working with an insurance firm in Ikoyi, 40km from her residence, lateness was a rarity. She devised some methods to beat the regular morning traffic and ensured she was at work before the 8am resumption time.

Her tactics against lateness collapsed on 1st February 2020, following the ban of commercial motorcycle and tricycle operations in some local government areas of the state. The 2 hours travel time to work became doubled. Tricycles and motorcycles she relied on as alternative transport means to beat traffic in some routes were now off the roads. The mother of two now has to endure long queues for commercial vehicles at bus stops.

Despite adjusting the time she leaves home for work, meeting the resumption time has become a battle she struggles to win on a daily basis. “I now leave home at 5.30am; one hour earlier than I used to. On the two occasions I was queried, I got to the office at 9.30am and 10am respectively,” she added, admitting that she had been warned twice before getting the queries.

She went on, “These days, I trek for 20 minutes from Isheri to Berger bus stop because keke (tricycle) and okada (motorcycle) no longer ply that route. I spend about an hour at Berger queuing for buses en route to Obalende. Worse still, the traffic is more than it used to be.

“It is another fight for vehicles from Obalende to Ikoyi and it is even tougher when I am returning home in the evening. The stress is too much but I need to work to support my family. As a mother, I have to prepare my children for school before leaving home. It is part of domestic duties I cannot shy away from.”

Criticism and violence trailed tricycle/okada ban in major parts of the state but the government insisted it would not reverse its decision, saying it was made in the best interest of the masses for safety and security.

“I agree it’s a tough decision we made regarding restriction of okada and keke in some parts of Lagos but I want to state some facts, which people can debate. The restriction we have done is primarily based on security and safety of lives of residents. We took the decision based on the level of danger we have seen to have happened to our people,” the state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, had said.

Akintude’s plight is similar to what many commuters now go through in Nigeria’s commercial capital in the wake of the enforcement.

Many officials who snubbed their private cars on working days and jumped on commercial transport, have now been forced to put their vehicles on the road to avoid trekking long distances and queues at bus stops. Taofiq Oladele falls into this category.

A public relations officer at a multinational in Ikeja GRA, Oladele resorted to using his car when the stress of walking for about one hour every day started telling on his health.

“I live in Alagbado. The first day the ban started, I trekked for over an hour from Ikeja Along bus stop to the office and repeated same while returning home. I got to work at 10.30am that day and got back home late. After engaging in the ‘endurance trek’ for two days, I started using my car,” he told Saturday PUNCH during the week.

He stated that despite driving, he struggled to make it to the office at 8.30am after spending two hours in gridlock.
“I am just lucky my boss is compassionate. He gave us 30 minutes extra beyond the normal resumption time. Yet, many of us can’t meet up,” he added.

A teacher at a private school in OPIC, a border town between Lagos and Ogun states, also told our correspondent that the traffic from her home in Ogba (Lagos) to the school has worsened in recent times.

The woman, who identified herself simply as Susan, stated, “Yesterday (Wednesday), I left home at 7am but didn’t get to school until 11am. The traffic on Ogunusi Road, stretching to the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway was on standstill because two vehicles broke down. On Thursday, I experienced traffic too. The most annoying part is the struggle for buses at bus stops every day.”

The impact of the increasing traffic is more serious for Daniel Uzochuckwu, a secretary at a construction company in Lekki, upscale Lagos metropolis. In defiance of the office rules, he was caught sleeping on duty thrice in one week and warned sternly to avoid a repeat or lose his job.

“Sleeping on duty is a serious offence where I work, but I couldn’t just help it these days,” the resident of Ogudu bemoaned.

“I wake up at 4am and leave home at 5am to beat the traffic and get to work on time. It was as if vehicles were springing up from the ground since the ban on okada and tricycles began,” he said worryingly, adding that he devised a strategy to save his job.

“I don’t want to lose my job. I had to beg a bachelor colleague who lives on Lagos Island to allow me pass the night at his house during the week pending the time the traffic situation will improve. I cannot cope with the stress to and from the office every day.” he stated.

The ugly trend has been blamed on the poor conditions of some major roads across the state and inadequate mass transit system, among others. In the short-term, Administrators have urged employers to take strategic steps to address the traffic challenge.

The Director-General, Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, Dr Timothy Olawale, noted that the chaotic traffic situation required organisations driven by Information Technology to develop the capacity for offline work, whereby staff members didn’t have to be physically present in the office.

He said, “We have employers that have already started leveraging IT to make life easier for their workers as long as the workers will deliver and be productive. However, working from home does not apply to every job. For instance, there is no way a security guard can secure the environment by working from home.

“Generally speaking, traffic situation in Lagos is becoming more chaotic and it calls for government to strategise on how to solve the problem. The conventional means of adding more vehicles cannot solve the problem. The first thing to do is for the roads to be good. Part of the traffic is caused by bad portions on the roads.

“For now, employers should treat the situation with understanding. These are realities and everybody is caught up in it. While the employees should try as much as possible to be responsible, where it is unavoidable and they are caught up in proven cases of traffic jam, employers should treat it with understanding and not kill an ant with a sledge hammer.”

The DG identified a laptop, mobile phone and Internet facility as the three most essential tools required to work from home, noting that a number of jobs could leverage the IT to proffer short-term solutions to traffic issues.

“Even senior executives can sign documents now without being in the office. There are a lot of jobs you can do from home. It only takes maturity and sense of responsibility. Once you deliver on your deadline, what is the big deal? It is the reality on the ground. More employers should embrace it. Employers should invest massively in infrastructure that can help employees deliver on this,” he added.

On her part, the Country Manager, Nigeria and Regional Sales Manager West Africa, Avanti Communications, Jane Egerton-Idehen, urged firms with flexible working hours to explore such to relieve their staff members of stress. She stated, “There should be transitional arrangements by the government before the ban. There is high demand for transportation and there are no enough buses to meet the supply. All the people that would have used keke or bikes are now forced to use buses.

“For organisations that offer flexible working hours, this is the good time to allow the staff members know they have such opportunity. It means they don’t have to show up at work at 8am. They can come to work at 10am and close at 7pm.” She said with such arrangement, workers would be able to manage the traffic while going to work and avoid returning home at peak hours.

Egerton-Idehen added, “Another thing employees can do is to allow staff members close earlier than normal. If they normally close at 5pm, they can start closing at 4pm or 4.30pm so that they don’t get stuck in traffic.”

Besides, the Managing Partner, Human Capital Partners, Mr Innocent Oseghe, canvassed for both flexible working arrangement and IT use. He said, “Flexible working arrangements can be put in place for staff members. Workers can also be allowed to telecommute. Employers should work out an arrangement whereby staff members don’t need to rush to work in the morning. They should be given enough time to be able to resume.

“With okada and tricycles withdrawn from Lagos roads, an organisation can arrange for a bus that will pick workers from certain location not too far from office and take them to the bus stop where they can easily get vehicles after closing from work. Right now, workers walk for 30 minutes to one hour from office to bus stops.”

SOURCE: https://punchng.com/hr-experts-seek-flexible-office-hours-for-workers-as-lagos-traffic-worsens/

Nigeria’s pension fund investors and pension savers should be worried in 2020. On average, the RSA pension fund category netted about 13% return in 2019, so did the Retiree Savings Account category of pension funds.

While that is a commendable performance in a year where the Nigeria Allshare index lost 16% of its value, that same feat may not be repeated in 2020. Did I hear you ask why?

FALLING INTEREST RATES
One thing that characterized the Nigerian Economy and Nigerian capital market in 2019 was the fast decline in yield (interest rates) towards the end of the year. The Nigerian 10-year Bond Yield, which opened year 2019 at 15%, is poised to close the year at around 11% or less and other tenors are currently trending at single-digit interest rates.

Nigerian Treasury bills and Commercial Papers are even worse. According to the latest FMDQ Daily Quotation List, a Commercial Paper with 191 days to maturity traded at 6.19% while one with 282 days to maturity traded at 5%. A case of inverted yield.

Analysis of the most recent Pension Assets Report released by the Nigeria Pension Commission shows that 46.66% of total pension asset is invested in FGN Bonds, while 22.82% is invested in Treasury Bills; instruments that are directly impacted by trends in interest rate.

Lower interest rates mean lower returns from such investment types. Though the coupon rates on FGN bonds that the pension funds are already invested in will not change, (unless bond issuers decide to refinance such bonds), the pension funds will be adversely affected if majority of the bonds mature in 2020.

In that case, pension funds will have to face the reinvestment risk of finding bonds with similar coupons. A tall order indeed. Unfortunately, the inverse relationship between bond prices and interest rate will mean that at the point of reinvestment, such bonds will cost more to buy. With Treasury Bills and Commercial Papers being short-dated instruments, the effect of falling interest rates will be felt more in those types of instruments as they are prone to mature within the year under the current low-interest-rate regime.

RISING INFLATION
One statistic that means a lot to retirees and pension plan savers is real rate of return. Real rate of return is the nominal rate of return less inflation. In a layman’s language, it is the rate of return that shows what your investment return can purchase, given current price levels.

With inflation inching upwards in Nigeria, and interest rates going the opposite way, pension plan savers may be subjected to double “punishment” or double jeopardy. According to economists, falling interest rates are prone to causing inflation. If that happens, pension plan savers may be in for the worse.

WHAT TO DO TO REMAIN WITHIN PLAN
In a situation like this, those saving for retirement should think of what to do to remain within their planned retirement objectives. There are two broad sources of pension plan assets: contributions and income. Those two combine to lead to increase in pension assets. When one falls, the other has to increase, otherwise, pension assets will decrease. Therefore, to maintain your retirement savings objective in light of the potential for a decrease in income or return, you have to increase your monthly contribution.

I did a piece, not too long ago, on the need for additional voluntary contribution; now is the time to embark on that if you do not want to be caught “pants down” with some deficit in your retirement savings account balance in 2020 and beyond. To double your money in 10 years, for example, you need about an average annual return of 7%. As the rate of return decreases, so does the number of years required to double your money increase, if you do not increase the contribution.

This is why you should make voluntary contributions to your pension fund

EUROBOND MUTUAL FUNDS TO THE RESCUE
Pension Plan Managers should go to work by looking for alternative sources that can help increase returns for their clients and investors, as long as it is within the regulatory permission granted them by the Pension Reform Act of 2004, or the like.

One of such investments is Eurobonds or Dollar denominated mutual funds. Though return on those mutual funds is driven by interest rate, they have the potential to insulate the effects of falling interest with changes in exchange rate. With the Naira slightly depreciating against the dollar continuously, investing in Eurobond mutual funds may be a way to stay afloat.

SOURCE (abridged): https://nairametrics.com/2020/01/01/this-is-why-retirement-pension-savers-should-be-worried-in-2020/

Many commercial vehicle operators on Lagos-Ibadan routes may be out of business when the new standard gauge rail line commences full operation, unless they upgrade their standard in terms of passengers’ comfort. This has nothing to do with the higher speed of about 150km/hour the new train could travel; it has everything to do with the luxury of the new coaches and the cozy environment.

A trip from Iju Railway Station in Lagos to Ibadan, Oyo State, undertaken last Saturday by some journalists including our correspondent revealed some of the high-quality facilities inside the new train coach. The air-conditioned executive coach made available for the train ride by the contractor, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation, provided a free-sitting arrangement with a cozy interior modelled after a first-class or business-class section of an airplane.

There are two conference rooms in the coach. Each of them has an executive oval table and executive chairs built with a shiny finish. People could seat for long hours holding meeting in any of the rooms oblivious of the happenings outside the moving train, thanks to the well-padded and noise-insulated interior. Everyone seated round the table has access to an individual charging point for their mobile telephones and other handy eletronic gadgets.

In the coach proper, the seats are arranged in two rows, each of them has adequate space with sufficient legroom and an unattached table. With a maximum seat pitch (the distance between the seats), passengers can decide to sit up or recline/stretch out without making any form of adjustment to their seats. This is akin to what is found in the executive luxury bus coach and the business-class section of an aircraft.

There is also a wide area separating the two rows of seats for people to move freely in both directions to/from the toilet, restuarant or any other place within the coach. No one will be required to wait for the other. No one also needs to be told that standing on this train’s coach is not allowed. Notwithstanding the wide space provided for the walkway, there is nothing for anyone standing to hold. With this arrangement, it will be suicidal for people to stand on this fast train.

The coach has two television sets where compact discs of musicals, movies and other forms of entertainment could be played for the relaxation of the passengers. There are also TV sets in two areas that appear to be the sleeper section of the train coach. Here, there is an exquisite arrangement of some sofas on both sides of the coach. It is obviously a setting for either a business/intimate discussion among friends or a place to have a more soothing sleep than in the main coach sitting area.

According to the Project Manager of the CCECC, Xia Lijun, who was also part of the special train ride, the coaches have security devices such as closed-circuit televisions that could monitor the activities of people within and outside the train, with the aid of monitors installed inside the security cubicle. There are also security personnel on board. The windows are also said to have tinted glass and covered with window blinds such that people outside cannot see passengers seated inside the train; they (passengers) could however see people outside.

There is a restaurant that takes care of the passengers meals and drinks while on board. Restrooms are found in many places within the train; at the corner of the main coach and each of the conference rooms, among others. The facilities and their operation in the lavatories are basically the same with what is obtainable in the aircraft. People using the toilets will readily find a neatly arranged pressurised cabin and a washing-hand basin, among others.

During the ride, the train was said to be moving at about 80km/h to enable the travellers to have a panoramic view of people, towns and villages and other scenic things along the route. There was a stopover at Abeokuta Railway Station, still under construction, for a tour of the massive area and uniqueness of the design.

This trip is part of the daily free ride on the new train, which started on December 1 last year. It is a four-month trial run expected to end in March this year. The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, who announced this via his official Twitter handle, ahead of the end of the year and new year movements, had said, “Our free rides on the Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge rail line will begin today and run through March, 2020.

“Commuters on that route can take advantage of it and save transportation during the festive period and beyond. Let’s ride on the #NextLevel. Take-off point is Iju.”

Ahead of the start of commercial operation on the new Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge rail line, 20 new coaches have arrived in Nigeria, 10 of which will be deployed along the route. The remaining 10 new coaches would be sent to the Abuja-Kaduna standard gauge rail line to ease the congestion being experienced on the route, it was learnt. The 20 coaches were inspected by the minister during one of his monthly assessments of work on the Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge rail line.

Government had extended the new rail line project to the Lagos port as part of measures to ease the congestion on the Apapa port roads.

An upsurge in the number of passengers on the 186.5km Abuja-Kaduna train service following frequent cases of kidnapping along the Abuja-Kaduna road had prompted the government to place an order for the importation of 30 coaches and 300 wagons. Some of the coaches are meant for the new Lagos-Ibadan rail line.

SOURCE: https://punchng.com/inside-the-new-lagos-ibadan-rail-coach/

A capital market operator, Malam Garba Kurfi, on Wednesday expressed optimism that the Nigerian equities market would witness double digit growth in 2020.

Kurfi, the Managing Director, APT Securities and Funds Ltd., stated this at the Capital Market Correpsondents Association of Nigeria (CAMCAN) first quarter forum in Lagos. “The All-Share Index is likely going to close for the year 2020 in positive and may close in double digits.

Both technical analysis and fundamental analysis point toward the positive direction,” he said. Kurfi said that the All-Share Idex was expected to close in double digit by the end of 2020 to repeat 2017 performance due to some monetary policies introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

According to him, the review of Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) from 22.50% to 27.50% will redirect funds into the stock market. Kurfi said the restriction placed by the apex bank in Open Market Operation and Treasury Bills participation, if sustained, would impact positively on the stock market.

According to him, the Export & Import window of foreign exchange policy should be retained to ensure stability. He said that the market might experience volatility because of the changes in the reporting of financial reports as adopted by the Exchange without adequate awareness of the brokers.

On sectors to watch in 2020, Kurfi said that companies that would benefit from VAT exemption like Nestle would likely declare better profit. He said that building material companies, such as cement companies, were likely to double their turnover due to early implementation of the budget.

Kurfi said that insurance companies were likely to do better because of the recapitalisation, with some engaging in mergers and acquisitions or takeover. He said that banks would not perform well when compared with previous years, due to reduction in the bank charges, fees and crash of the interest rate.

On NSE demutualisation, he said the initiative would unlock and reactivate idle capital and boost activities in the nation’s economy. Kurfi explained that that demutualisation would reactivate idle capital in the market. He also said it would change the perspective and drive more growth for the nation’s economy.

“It is a good thing and all of us are going to happy at the end of the day, because it is going to unlock more capital for the market. For instance, if I place shares as collateral, I can trade and make money. We are very pleased that this is coming after so much delay; this will change the economy’s perspective as well,” Kurfi said.

Reviewing the past year, Kurfi said the performance of the market on quarterly basis in 2019, was the worst in the last 10 years, with negative returns in all the quarters. He attributed the performance to the tense nature of the polity in the build up to the 2019 election that dampened investors’ confidence.

SOURCE (abridged): https://www.vanguardngr.com/2020/02/nigeria-stock-market-to-witness-double-digit-growth-in-2020-kurfi/

The coronavirus outbreak that originated in Wuhan, China, has killed 1,523 people and infected nearly 67,000. The COVID-19 virus, as it's now known, has spread to at least 26 other countries. Three deaths have been reported outside of mainland China: one in Japan, one in Hong Kong, and another in the Philippines.

Chinese authorities quarantined the city of Wuhan and many other cities, with all transportation halted. A massive spike in deaths and confirmed cases was reported in Hubei province (where the outbreak started) on Thursday 13 February due to a revised methodology for counting cases. But on Friday, China's National Health Commission wrote off more than 100 deaths from the total, attributing the error to double-counting.

The only deaths outside of mainland China so far are one man in the Philippines, a 39-year-old man in Hong Kong, and a woman in her 80s in Japan.

The COVID-19 virus, as it's now officially known, has spread to every province and region in China as well at least 25 other countries. Both the death toll and the number of infected patients exceed those of the 2003 SARS outbreak. The zoonotic virus may have jumped from animals to people at a market in the city of Wuhan.

Researchers think the virus originated in bats, and one study suggests the disease might have spread from endangered pangolins to people. The US has reported 15 cases so far, the latest of which was confirmed near San Antonio, Texas, on Thursday.

The World Health Organization has declared he outbreak a public-health emergency, and Chinese President Xi Jinping said the virus poses a "grave threat." The first case of the coronavirus was reported in Wuhan in December. The central Chinese city has a population of 11 million. The virus' pneumonia-like symptoms include fever and difficulty breathing.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a person could be at risk if they have:
-- Fever and symptoms of lower respiratory illness, such as coughing or difficulty breathing, after traveling to Wuhan or having close contact with someone who was ill and is now under investigation for the virus in the past 2 weeks.
-- Fever or symptoms of lower respiratory illness after having close contact in the past two weeks with someone who's been confirmed to have the virus.

Chinese health officials say the incubation period for the virus ranges from one to 14 days, during which time carriers can be infectious.

"The people who are likely to die first will have other illnesses," Adrian Hyzler, the chief medical officer at Healix International, which offers risk-management solutions for global travelers, told Business Insider. "But as it spreads, it'll pick up more people like flu does." Most patients who died were elderly or otherwise unwell, according to Chinese officials.

A huge leap in cases and deaths was reported on February 13 in the Hubei province after health officials revised the way they are counting cases.

In its Thursday morning update, the Hubei Health Commission added 14,800 people to its list of cases and reported 242 new deaths. The commission said the jump is due to a change in the way cases are counted: The new total includes clinical diagnoses made via CT scans of patients' lungs, in addition to lab-test results.
The true number of infected people is probably still higher than the official total.

Academics from from Imperial College London estimated earlier in the week that only one in 19 people infected with the virus were being diagnosed.

Outside China, cases have been reported in Australia, Belgium, Cambodia, Canada, Egypt Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, the UK, the US, and Vietnam.
The total number of cases internationally has far surpassed that of the SARS outbreak.

On January 30, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a global public-health emergency. The global-health emergency declaration has been used five times since it was created in 2005.

"They only do this for extraordinary illnesses that are of international concern," Hyzler said. "Suddenly the world is alerted to a much greater extent and they'll start pouring a lot more assistance and aid to airports, to transport hubs, and do their best to control this outbreak."

The Trump administration has imposed a travel ban on foreign nationals who have been in China within the past 14 days. The ban went into effect February 2, with exceptions made for immediate family members of American citizens and permanent residents. US citizens returning home who have been in China's Hubei province —where Wuhan is located — within the past 14 days may be quarantined for up to two weeks.

The new coronavirus appears to be more contagious but less deadly than SARS. The two belong to the same coronavirus family. There are no vaccines to prevent humans from contracting a coronavirus.

Five leading drug companies — Johnson & Johnson, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, GlaxoSmithKline, Moderna, and Gilead Sciences — have announced plans to research and develop treatments for the new coronavirus.

To prevent the spread of the coronavirus, all travelers should wash their hands frequently with soap and water, making sure to scrub for at least 20 seconds, the CDC says. Travelers should also avoid touching their eyes, nose, or mouth with unwashed hands.

Chinese officials have warned that the virus is mutating, which could make it harder to control and treat. A study of a Chinese family in the southern province of Guangdong found that the virus mutated several times as it spread from one family member to the next. But Michael Farzan, a biologist at Scripps Research, told STAT that the mutation rate for COVID is "much, much lower" than that of the flu. "That lowers the chance that the virus will evolve in some catastrophic way to, say, become significantly more lethal," Farzan said.

Scientists have published over 50 studies on Wuhan coronavirus in the last 3 weeks. They learned that 75,800 people in Wuhan could be infected.

SOURCE (abridged): https://www.businessinsider.com/china-virus-everything-we-know-deadly-2019-ncov-wuhan-spread-2020-1

Following an alert raised by the Senate over a strange disease outbreak in Benue State, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has stated that its prior investigations indicate that the disease is suspected to be chemical poisoning, not Coronavirus or any major Viral Haemorrhage fever (VHF).

Last week the Senate alerted Nigerians that a strange disease which it suspected to be the Novel Coronavirus, had hit Benue state, killing 15 persons already with about 104 seriously infected.

The Spokesperson of the NCDC, Emaeka Oguanuo, who confirmed this in a telephone interview with BusinessDay, said the disease was likely to be chemical poisoning because those affected by it share the same water source. He added that the symptoms shown by persons affected indicate that it is not an infectious disease.

He, however, said investigations were still ongoing to ascertain the disease.

Chikwe Ihekweazu, the director-general of NCDC in a recent tweet said water samples had been sent to the federal ministry of water resources for analysis.

“We were notified of deaths from ‘strange illness’ in Benue by State Min. of Health on Feb. 1. Samples tested at NCDC National Reference Laboratory were negative for major Viral Haemorrhagic Fevers. Water sample was sent to the Federal Ministry of Water Resources for analysis. Investigations are ongoing,” he said.

Senator Abba Moro (PDP – Benue South) who raised the alert last week revealed that the outbreak of the strange disease occurred on January 29, 2020, in Oye, Obi Local Government Area of the State and consequently, directed the Federal Ministry of Health and the NCDC to immediately investigate the disease and quickly employ surveillance measures to contain it.

He listed the first victims of the epidemic outbreak as Happiness Ogbo, Onajobi Ogbedu, Wisdom Agwo, Andy Edu, all of whom died 48 hours after contacting the undiagnosed disease.

He added that the disease, which was yet to be diagnosed by health authorities and medical experts in Benue State, has symptoms such as headache, internal heat, diarrhoea, vomiting, stomach ache, weakness of the body and swollen stomach.

Moro also noted that as at Monday, February 3, 2020, the number of persons affected with the strange epidemic had risen to 104.

SOURCE (abridged): https://businessday.ng/news/article/strange-disease-in-benue-suspected-to-be-chemical-poisoning-not-coronavirus-ncdc-2/

Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Emmanuel Ehanire, has confirmed that two suspected cases of Coronavirus have tested negative after diagnosis in the country.

Ehanire, who confirmed the development, while declaring the Kano State Primary Health Summit open at Government House, declared that the country was fortified with three well-equipped centres to diagnose the deadly disease and other viral infections.

He stressed that the Federal Government has put adequate mechanisms in place at all entry points in the country to screen all incoming passengers to ascertain their health status.

The minister added that efforts are being made to prevent possible carriers of the Coronavirus disease from entering the country.

SOURCE (abridged): https://t.guardian.ng/news/two-suspects-diagnosed-tested-negative-to-coronavirus/

A 'very lonely' multi-millionaire is looking for a 'suitable candidate' to marry and start a family with after years of focusing on making his fortune. Andy Scott, 41, from Portsmouth, who is worth £25 million, wants to find a 'special person' who is free to spend her summers sailing around the Mediterranean and winters skiing in the Alps.

The businessman - founder, owner and chairman of London-based investment company REL Capital - said he has previously been 'married to succeeding', but now wants to meet a down-to-earth, 'beautiful' woman to spend his life with. Andy is keen to find a woman who is successful and wealthy in her own right, because a relationship of equals is important to him.

Describing the problems he has faced when it comes to meeting 'the one', Andy said: 'Finding an equal in a partner becomes tougher as you start to do well. Your pool of suitable candidates rapidly diminishes and finding that person with financial independence to be able to go sailing at short notice, or spend the summer in the South of France is tough.'

He added: 'I don't want to support someone financially early on in a relationship to stop working, which obviously changes the fundamental dynamics and equality of any partnership - and not for the better.'

WHAT DOES ANDY LOOK FOR IN AN IDEAL PARTNER?
1. An intelligent, special, unique person who doesn't take themselves too seriously and has lived an interesting life full of experiences, rejecting mediocrity, and has achieved something, whatever it might be.
2. Someone not born with a silver spoon in their mouth, not given everything, and a grafter like me.
3. Someone who is beautiful and keeps fit is very important as I box and work out five times a week; they must take pride in their appearance.
4. Not addicted to their mobile phone and social media, can switch off and appreciate the important things in life.
5. Integrity is key for me, trust is everything.
6. A chameleon who is comfortable in all manner of situations, from attending a glam ball, being able to party all night at a beach party and behave like a big kid, to rolling up their sleeves and helping me move house. It's really hard to find someone who can do it all!
7. Loves the outdoors and walks in the country, being by and on the water, being on a sailing boat preferably for a few days at a time and sometimes not in comfort, so no princesses! Someone who is happy just in a bikini and flip flops with no make-up or mobile phone for a few days.
8. Wants children and is ready to settle down, yet appreciates life doesn't have to end when you have kids, and that you can still go off travelling and have fun all together.

Andy's last girlfriend was Atomic Kitten star Liz McClarnon. They met at a wedding in 2016, but their relationship faltered after two years because Liz, 38, didn't like flying. He told FEMAIL: 'We're still good friends and she's a lovely girl, but I'm a risk-taker and an adventurer.'

Andy made his first million by the age of 26, but lost it all in the financial crisis when he was 30. He has spent the last decade building his business back up, and hasn't had the time to focus on love. 'It was a low and bad time and I've had to rebuild over the last few years,' he said.

'A lot of proud alpha men feel they can't support another half. Now I feel ready.' Andy owns everything he has ever wanted, including a Rolls Royce, luxury homes in London and the South of France, a classic yacht and powerboat, and even flies his own private plane around Europe. But he only recently realised 'no one cares who the richest man in the graveyard is' when he started going to hypnotherapy sessions. 'I've been going to hypnotherapy and realised I'm getting old,' he said.

'I do want a family and you don't want to leave it too late. It's hard to find someone who ticks all the boxes. 'The hypnotherapist said, "If you put as much effort into finding a partner as you do at work, you'd probably meet someone".'

Andy admitted he will probably only find true happiness if he spends the rest of his life alongside a soulmate. He added: 'Being an entrepreneur is a very lonely existence and ultimately, if you don't have someone to share in your highs and lows, you rather question what you are striving for and why you are doing it.

'So, the drive inside us that makes us strive for success can ultimately make us unhappy if we are unable to find contentment in all areas of life.'

SOURCE (abridged): https://www.msn.com/en-sg/lifestyle/lifestylegeneral/lonely-businessman-41-worth-%C2%A325-million-reveals-hes-searching-for-a-beautiful-and-successful-woman-to-start-a-family-with-and-take-on-luxury-holidays-so-could-you-meet-his-very-strict-criteria/ar-BB1017W2

Steps are already being taken to ensure women in Africa are used to drive economic growth on the continent.

Last weekend in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, African leaders came together to launch the African Women Leadership Fund (AWLF). It was a collaborative effort with United Nations Economic Commission of Africa (ECA) and Standard Bank Group.

The fund, which has a target of $100 million, will provide capital to both first time and experienced female fund managers in Africa in support of UN Sustainable Development Goals 5 (Gender Equality) and 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), and African Union Agenda 2063.

At the unveiling, over $20 million was raised and President Paul Kagame of Rwanda was instrumental in leading the way, pledging $500,000. Senegal’s President Macky Sall committed $500,000, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa also pledged to contribute to the fund. The private sector participants pledged the rest.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada pledged $10 million to the African Union to boost gender parity. Norway Prime Minister Erna Solberg pledged $8 million to AU initiatives. A portion of these resources will be earmarked for the women’s initiative.

Among the world leaders who witnessed the official launch of this innovative impact investment fund were UN Secretary-General, Antonio Gutteres; African Union Commission Chairperson, Moussa Faki Mahamat; Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde. Former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was also in attendance, as were a number of former African heads of state.

“We are turning the tables and making women the decision-makers of investable money in Africa. We want women to be on the supply side of money, not only on the demand side,” said Dr. Vera Songwe, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Secretary of ECA. A key goal of the fund is to empower women financial leaders who will drive economic growth, job creation, and create prosperity.

In Africa women-owned funds and businesses struggle due largely to lack of successful fundraising, insufficient exposure to systems and procedures, and lack of track records, among others. They also contend with gender-based social expectation, resistance to women in leadership roles and lack of a support network. The fund will empower Africa’s women by giving them access to financial resources and investment management expertise.

Chief Executive of Africa Regions at Standard Bank Group, Sola David-Borha, stated that the fund aligns with the bank’s purpose to drive Africa’s growth and “presents an opportunity for Standard Bank to leverage our footprint and expertise on the continent, and the relevant experience of our asset management arms, Melville Douglas and STANLIB Multi-Managers, to build Africa’s economies. Africa is our home, we drive her growth.”

Women fund managers will receive a deployment of capital, and subsequently invest in majority female-owned businesses. Even though the fund is sector agnostic, priority sectors will be education, manufacturing, healthcare, clean energy and agriculture.

Additionally, technical assistance for fund managers and entrepreneurs will be offered through the initiative. This ranges from building capacity, direct mentoring to leveraging technology in health and education.

Songwe emphasised that, “The goal here is to give women-led financial investment activities a huge injection of jet fuel to bear out the proven positive correlation between gender balance, higher financial returns and developmental impact.”

In his remarks, Secretary-General Gutteres said, “power is not usually given, it must be taken.”

SOURCE: https://businesspost.ng/world/africas-female-fund-managers-to-access-100m/amp/

Traders at Mile 12 Market, Kosofe, Lagos, and Oke Omiru Sawmill and Plank Market, Osun State, were in distress on Thursday 13 February 2020, after fire destroyed their wares and equipment. PUNCH Metro learnt that goods estimated at millions of naira were lost in the incidents.

Five shops were said to have been gutted by fire at Mile 12. Our correspondents gathered that the fire, which started around 5.30am on Thursday, began from one of the shops after power was restored in the area.

It was learnt that the fire was caused by electrical surge and affected the raw food and frozen item section of the market. One of our correspondents was told that the Bolade Fire Station was deployed in the scene.

The Head of Public Affairs of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Nosa Okunbor, said the source of the fire was isolated and disconnected to avoid a secondary incident.

He said, “The Mile 12 Market fire, which was put out around 7.47am, recorded no loss of life or injuries. However, 5 shops operated by three owners were destroyed by the inferno.”

Our correspondent was told that the Oke Omiru Sawmill and Plank Market in Osun State was gutted by fire on Wednesday night. A branch of the Redeemed Christian Church of God in the market as well as planks and machines said to be worth millions of naira, were also destroyed by the fire.

The Osun Police Public Relatrions Officer, Folasade Odoro, said the command deployed men in the scene to prevent looting. She added that no life was lost to the inferno, which started around 10pm.

When contacted, the Administrative Officer of the Osun Fire Service, Fatai Aremu, said the timely arrival of firefighters prevented the fire from spreading.

He said, “The cause of the fire is still unknown, as no one is ready to tell our men the actual cause. A Mack trailer loaded with planks was saved from the inferno. Nevertheless, the loss was still huge because the fire affected the sawmill substantially before our men were contacted.”

SOURCE: https://punchng.com/fire-guts-markets-razes-church-in-lagos-osun/