A Russian telegram channel Срочно, Сейчас (Urgent,Now), with more than 189,862 subscribers, claimed in a post on December 28, 2023 that Nigerian soldiers escorted gunmen to the murder of several people on Christmas eve in Plateau State.

The platform had posted a series of images and videos entitled, “In Nigeria, terrorists killed 198 Christians on Christmas Eve.”

Part of the channel’s report about the post read, “The police and army are accused of supporting the massacre as they did not respond to the massacre for about 12 hours. About 300 wounded are also known. The latest video shows soldiers allegedly escorting Islamists to a massacre.”

The post shared by the channel had three videos and four photos.

Background

Gunmen had on Sunday 24th December, 2023 stormed Ndun, Ngyong, Murfet, Makundary, Tamiso, Chiang, Tahore, Gawarba, Dares, Meyenga, Darwat and Butura Kampani villages in the Barkin Ladi, Mangu and Bokkos areas of Plateau State, burning houses, shooting residents and killing over 150 people.

Confirming the incident, Governor of Plateau State Governor, Mr Caleb Mutfwang, in an interview on Channels television on Tuesday, December 26, 2023 said, “This has indeed been a very gory Christmas for us. We have had to celebrate with a heavy heart. Just when people had finished preparing for Christmas celebrations, unprovoked attacks were unleashed on several of our communities.

“As I’m talking to you, in Mangun Local Government alone, we buried at least 15 people. So far this morning in the Bokkos Local Government, we were counting not less than 100 corpses. I have yet to take stock of that of Barki-Ladi. Most of the communities affected in Barki-Ladi share a border with the Bokkos Local Government.”

He also revealed that terrorists had taken over schools in the local government area, displacing residents of no fewer than 64 towns in the state.

The killing garnered international attention as it was met with criticism and condemnation.

Consequently, the Russian Telegram channel used the opportunity to provide misleading information to its audience.

Apart from the Russian Telegram channel, some Nigerian and foreign X (formerly known as Twitter) accounts and websites were also found to be amplifying some of the contents found on channel.

Findings

Claim 1: Video of corpses with surviving children

The first video shows the bodies of multiple people, both male, female and children gruesomely killed lying on ground with blood from gunshots.

The first, which is part of the multimedia contents shared on the channel and posted on the site, lasted for 1:36 seconds. The graphically amplified video shows the alleged bodies of several men, women and children in Plateau State who had been brutally murdered.

Two other children survivors of the attack were also shown on camera. One of the babies cried as a conversation went on. This happened while someone, who wore military boots, filmed the incident.

Screenshots from the video were used to conduct a Google reverse image search, which revealed that the video had been published and linked to the killing in Plateau State by a number of accounts on the microblogging platform, X, as well as websites such as CountingStars Nova24TV, a Slovenian news website, and The Geller Report, a far-right website based in the United States.

Both websites have used the video in their reporting of the Plateau killing.

The Geller Report had embedded the video from a post on X by Eva Vlaardingerbroek, (@EvaVlaar) a Dutch commentator and activist, who had picked the video from a pro-Biafra account on X, TheBiafra_Child NwaChineke (De General) (@TheBiafraChild).

According to the Google reverse image search, the video was uploaded online on December 16, 2023, by Salah Mohammed Ahmed (@SalahMo73628462), an X account. It featured a French description, which was translated into English by Google Translate, indicating that the video originated from Burkina Faso rather than Nigeria.

The post read in part, “The killing was carried out by the Burkina Faso, accompanied by VDP and under advice from the Malian junta and Wagner’s partners.”

The post also disclosed that the killing had happened in Djibo, a town in northern Burkina Faso and the capital city of Soum Province.

Djibo is reportedly one of the terror hotspots for Islamist terrorists in Burkina Faso and a hazardous region of the country.

A few victims of the killing in the video were also visible in pictures uploaded by the X account Sahel OSINT (@Sahelosint) on December 17, 2023.

@Sahelosint post had read in part, “Burkina’s army and allied militias killed hundreds of civilians (mainly women & children) in AQ/JNIM dominated villages in their counteroffensive around Djibo.”

The exact date of the killing is unknown as a Google search for a reported attack in Djibo in December turned up nothing. However, on November 28, 2023, France24 had reported that fighters from the Islamist group, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM), attacked a military base, residences, and camps of internally displaced persons in the Sahel region of Djibo, killing at least 40 civilians and injuring over 42 others.

A response to @TheBiafraChild post by an X account, @Mayla_blj, also confirmed the killing of civilians in a statement released by the Islamist group on December 14, 2023 and blamed the Burkina Faso government. But a Telegram Channel, African Intel on December 19, 2023 published a report in which the Burkina Faso government, through the Minister for Communication, accused jihadists of carrying out a massacre against civilians in Djibo and denied being the perpetrator as alleged by what he termed “communication campaign fuelled by the terrorists.”

Claim 2: Islamist gunmen parade through a Nigerian village after Plateau massacre

The second video, which the Telegram channel claimed to be from Plateau State, was also shared on December 27, 2023, by Remix News & Views on X, a platform that purports to provide news and commentary from Central Europe, specifically the Visegrád countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia).

The caption of the video on Remix News & Views post read, “WATCH: Islamist gunmen parade through a Nigerian village after massacring 140 men, women, and children with firearms and machetes in the predominantly Christian Plateau State. Here, the terrorists can be heard victoriously shouting “Allahu Akbar,” but a Reuters report suggested the escalating conflict was primarily a result of “climate change and expanding agriculture.”

Other footages showed looted churches with blood-stained floors as Christians were butchered while celebrating Christmas with their families.

Remix News & Views and the Russian Telegram Channel both claimed that the video was shot in Plateau State.

READ ALSO: https://www.economypost.ng/featured/how-rubberstamp-national-assembly-plunged-nigeria-into-n96trn-debt/2023/12/01/

A security analyst and counter-insurgency specialist in the Lake Chad region, Zagazola Makama, posted the video on X on December 26, 2023, according to a screenshot search of the footage conducted with the inVID video verifier.

In the post, he clarified that the video showed members of the terrorist organisation – Boko Haram – storming the ISWAP (another terror group) position at Gaizuwa, Sambisa Forest, after the ISWAP had taken off.

He also said that Gaizuwa, a former Boko Haram stronghold a few kilometers from Bama Local Government Area in Borno State, had been taken over by ISWAP following the group’s defeat by Alhaji Air Hajja Fusambe’s Boko Haram faction.

Claim 3: Soldiers escorting bandits to Plateau State

The third video on the channel shows people in military uniforms amidst several gun-wielding bandits on motorbikes.

The channel had used that to push the narrative that Nigerian soldiers had escorted gunmen to carry out the killing in Plateau State.

A screenshot from the Russian Telegram uploaded video

READ MORE HERE: https://www.economypost.ng/featured/factcheck-did-nigerian-soldiers-escort-gunmen-to-plateau-killing/2024/01/08/

Despite being circulated nationwide for public consumption, companies producing Cway Water, Golden Penny Spaghetti, Peak Milk Powder, and other widely-consumed products failed to renew their operational licences from the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), exclusive documents obtained by The ICIR have shown.

Findings by The ICIR showed that the approvals previously granted to the companies manufacturing these products have expired. This means the NAFDAC might have failed to re-assess the products and the environment under which they are produced.

The NAFDAC regulates and controls the manufacture, importation, exportation, advertisement, distribution, sale and use of food, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices, chemicals and packaged water in Nigeria.

According to the NAFDAC Act 2004, no food product or packaged water shall be manufactured, imported, exported, advertised, sold, distributed or used in Nigeria unless registered and approved by the agency.

The act provides that any manufacturer of consumables must apply for certification from the agency. The certificate of registration shall be valid for five years and should be renewed immediately after expiration.

According to the act, any company or individual found violating the regulation may be banned from engaging in the importation, exportation, manufacture, distribution, sale, or use of the food product. Additionally, they may be subject to a fine of N50,000.

The ICIR checked some selected widely consumed products in Nigeria on the agency’s website and sent an FOI to the organisation for further verification.

Five of the 14 selected product samples sent to NAFDAC for verification have not renewed their licenses.

Experts told The ICIR that this negligence by NAFDAC and the firms posed a threat to public health.

Cway and Eva Water
Findings revealed that Cway Ultra Park drinking water, a popular bottled water brand in Nigeria, lacks a valid NAFDAC licence. The manufacturer, Cway Nigeria Drinking Water Science and Technology Limited, based in Lagos state, registered the product in 2017 under number 01-3892, but the registration expired in 2022. Despite this, the company has continued selling the product nationwide.

Similarly, Eva Table Water, owned by Nigeria Bottling Company in Lagos, operates illegally without due certification. The certificate with the registration number 01-0492 issued to the company for its production and sale in February 2013 has expired since 2018.

Peak Milk Powder
Another product being sold across the country with expired certification is Peak Milk Powder, a popular brand of instant milk powder in Nigeria, produced by FrieslandCampina, a Dutch multinational dairy company. Findings by The ICIR show that the certification for the product expired in 2020.

Golden Penny Spaghetti
Golden Penny Spaghetti is produced by Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, a food and agro-allied company in Nigeria. Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc was established in 1960, making it a longstanding player in the Nigerian food industry. The document revealed that the approval for the product expired in 2018, even though the product could be found in almost every Nigerian market.

Gino magic season tomato mix
The tomato mix is widely used for cooking various dishes in Nigerian homes. Produced by Conserveria Africana Limited in Lagos state, the company has failed to update its approval since June 2022.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/nafdac-watches-as-manufacturers-of-cway-water-golden-penny-spaghetti-others-flaunt-expired-licences/

BANDITS suspected to be loyalists of a notorious kingpin Gwaska Dankeremi have attacked the Military base in Zurmi community, in Zormi local government area of Zamfara state, killing three soldiers.

The ICIR gathered that the resurgence of the banditry attacks in the area could be linked with the recent military operations that led to the recovery of many cattle from the dreaded bandits in a nearby forest.

Consequently, the bandits launched a series of attacks on the Zormi community for five consecutive times, leaving four civilians dead and injuring others.

Zormi shares a border with the Niger Republic.

The ICIR gathered that the worst of the attacks occurred in the afternoon of Tuesday, December 12.

The attack lasted from 4pm to 6:30pm during which four patrol vehicles of security operatives, including a military armoured personnel carrier (APC), were destroyed.

A government official who pleaded anonymity said three soldiers were killed during the encounter.

“We appreciate the bravery and agility of the gallant soldiers who faced the terrorists with AK47s while they (bandits) were shooting them with rockets.

“It was a terrible experience indeed; we were thrown into confusion and frightened due to the heavy sounds of guns both from the bandits and security operatives, as nobody could even dare go out to pray”, the official lamented.

According to the official, a military aircraft was seen hovering in the air, giving soldiers cover. After a while, it disappeared.

The source suggested that more modern weapons be provided for the Army to enable its officers to conduct their operations effectively.

“Most of them don’t even have bulletproof vests or helmets for their safety. They are giving their lives for us, so there is a need to provide them with the need to do their job if at all this country is serious,” added the source.

Zayyanu Na-Rabe, a resident of Zurmi town who escaped a bullet on Monday, said most of the outskirts area of the town were deserted in addition to over 40 nearby villages, including Kadamutsa, Gidan Shaho, Sangamawa, and Dada, where residents had fled and were taking refuge in Zurmi town before the renewed attacks.

Narrating his ordeal, Mallam Abubakar, a classroom teacher, said the bandits arrived in large numbers brandishing sophisticated weapons. They entered through the Gada Biyu area, Bakin Gidan Zaki and Gangaren Korama, leading to the General Hospital Zurmi, as they shot sporadically.

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READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/exclusive-bandits-kill-soldiers-burn-military-vehicles-apc-in-zamfara/

WEMA Bank has enjoyed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s staff salary bailout in the last 14 years despite growing profits by more than 239 percent over the period, Economy Post has exclusively gathered.

In October 2009, the CBN granted more than N87 billion in convertible loan to Wema Bank to support staff wages and other related activities of the bank.

The loan has a moratorium of 20 years at an interest rate of 9 percent. Based on the arrangement between the CBN and Wema Bank, repayment of the principal would be by bullet (payment of the outstanding lump sum) at the expiration of the moratorium.

Even though the interest rate on the amount was 9 percent, the apex bank reduced that to 5 percent in 2020 due to COVID-19 but restored it to 9 percent in September 2022.

However, findings have shown that the facility was granted to Wema Bank when it was struggling to pay the wages of staff members. In 2009 full financial year, Wema Bank incurred a loss of N7.53 billion due to a financial crisis facing the bank at that time.

“The Group’s consolidated accounts show a loss after tax of N7.53 billion largely attributable to the absorption of significant write-downs and trading losses from legacy
positions impacted by the financial crisis in our subsidiaries,” Wema Bank Chairman, Mr Samuel Olaniyi Bolarinde, said in 2009.

“In absorbing these losses, your bank has disseminated its corporate governance ethos to its subsidiaries and proven that the new management team did more with less, by delivering substantial profitability with a significantly lower inherited balance sheet,” he noted.

Lamido Sanusi Lamido was the CBN governor when this loan was granted.

Fortunes now better

However, things have looked up since then as the bank has long emerged a profit-making financial institution. In fact, the bank’s fortunes changed the following year when its profit after tax rose by more than 300 percent.

“The Group Gross Earning grew by 14.7% increasing to N21.79 billion in the reporting period from N18.99 billion of the 9-month period to December 2009, Group’s Profit After Tax also grew from loss position of N7.53 billion to N17.46 billion
translating to growth of 331.7% within the same period,” Mr Bolarinde said while unveiling the 2010 full financial year results.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.economypost.ng/featured/wema-bank-enjoys-cbns-salary-bailout-despite-239-rise-in-profits/2023/10/12/

AS farmers seek cheap funds to produce food for Nigerians, over N75 billion of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s Anchor Borrowers Fund (ABF) is sitting in the tills of Guaranty Trust Holding Company PLC (GTCO), also known as Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB), Economy Post can authoritatively report.

According to the second quarter 2023 financial statements released to the Nigerian Exchange Limited, the Tier-1 bank has N75.359 billion of the Anchor Borrowers Fund sitting in its coffers, which has not been lent to farmers.

Based on the details on the financial statements, GTB had N78.424 billion ABF in December 2022 but lent out only 3.065 billion in six months to June 2023, leaving a balance of N75.359 billion.

Questions are being asked as to why GTB lent out only N3.065 billion to farmers in six months when players in the agric value chain complain that funding is among their biggest challenges.

Nigeria’s central bank started the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) during the tenure of the immediate past President, Mr Muhammadu Buhari, with a view to creating economic linkages between smallholder farmers and reputable companies involved in the production and processing of key agricultural commodities.

The fund for the project is domiciled in deposit money banks for onward lending to farmers. However, several farmers have complained that they cannot obtain the fund owing to the reluctance by banks to lend as exemplified by stringent conditions attached to its access.

According to the CBN, the tenor of the facility depends on the gestation period of the targeted commodity, though it must not exceed two years. The facility is disbursed at an interest rate of 9 percent. Deposit money banks say that the loan was repriced from a maximum rate of 9 percent to 5 percent due to forbearance.

GTB’s Pattern of lending

In 2020, GTB got N2.997 billion of the ABP’s war chest from the CBN. The fund rose to N66.827 billion in 2021 and further to N78.424 billion in 2022. However, it fell to N75.359 billion by June 2023, meaning that this was the only time the money was lent to farmers between December 2020 and June 2023.

Real Sector, MSME funds also in the bank

Apart from the ABF, the bank also has the Real Sector Support Fund (RSSF) valued at N12.705 billion in its tills. The fund stood at N15.471 billion in December 2022 but fell to N12.705 billion in June 2023. This implies that only N2.766 billion was lent to manufacturers and players in the productive sector in six months.

In December 2018, the RSSF stood at N25.292 billion, meaning that N12.587 billion of the fund was disbursed to manufacturers in four and a half years. There are other funds sitting in the bank, including the Excess Crude Account and the MSME Development Fund.

Funds may not be lent out

Due to several abuses of the CBN Act by the now ousted Governor Godwin Emefiele, the new helmsman at the apex bank, Mr Yemi Cardoso, has announced that all intervention programmes have been suspended.

During his screening at the Senate on September 27, 2023, Cardoso had said the CBN would no longer continue with its intervention programmes.

“Much has been made of past CBN forays into development financing such that the lines between monetary policy and fiscal intervention have become blurred. In refocusing the CBN to its core mandate, there is a need to pull the CBN back from direct development finance interventions into more limited advisory roles that support economic growth,” he said.

This means the over N75 billion ABF and N12 billion RSSF sitting in GTB may be returned to the CBN after the conclusion of work by a special investigator appointed by President Bola Tinubu to examine the apex bank’s books, Mr Jim Obazee.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.economypost.ng/featured/n75bn-anchor-borrowers-fund-sits-in-gtb-and-may-not-be-lent-to-farmers/2023/10/03/

FRAUD and forgery incidents incurred by Access Holdings Plc stood at N5.46 billion, the company’s interim consolidated and separate financial statements for June 30, 2023, have shown.

Findings by The ICIR revealed that the bank’s loss to fraudsters rose by 354.22 per cent, relative to N1.20 billion loss in the corresponding period of last year.

Analysis of the report showed that an N5.459 billion loss resulted from fraudulent transfers/withdrawals/reactivation of customers’ accounts compared to an N4.53 million loss from cash theft/suppression/pilferage/dry posting.

A summation of attempted fraud and forgeries was worth N6.44 billion in incidents as the bank narrowly foiled N975.89 million in unsuccessful attempts.

At the same time, the frequency of the cracks and successful losses resulted in about 3,061 times.

Access Holdings, one of the tier-one banks with the biggest asset of N20.85 trillion as of June 2023, stated, “This report represents the fraud and forgery incidents that occurred during the period. It is a summation of attempted and successful fraud incidents.

“The actual loss that was incurred by the bank for the period is N5.46 billion (June 2022: N1.2 billion). The rest of the loss amount represents the losses incurred by other third parties.”

Compared to the first half of 2022, Access Holdings lost N1.20 billion and recorded fraud cases worth N10.199 billion, of which 7,104 were successful while 3,602 were unsuccessful attempts.

The ICIR reports that the safety of customers’ funds in the banks is becoming a concern as the Central Bank craves financial inclusion and a cashless policy.

The Financial Institutions Training Centre (FITC), an innovation-led and technology-driven organisation, in its latest data, ‘Reports on Frauds and Forgeries in Nigerian Banks,’ revealed a significant increase in the total amount involved in fraud cases during the second quarter (Q2) of this year compared to the previous quarter.

The data indicated that the total amount involved in fraud cases rose from N2.59 billion in Q1 2023 to N9.75 billion in Q2, representing a 276.98 per cent increase.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/access-bank-lost-n5-46bn-to-fraudsters-in-six-months/

…MSMEs borrow at 29-35% rate at bank

One of Nigeria’s Tier-1 banks, Zenith Bank Plc, has lent N3.517 billion to its management staff at four percent interest rate, Economy Post can authoritatively report.

This was revealed in the bank’s second-quarter 2023 financial statement recently released to the Nigeria Exchange Limited (NGX).

At the start of the financial year in January 2023, Zenith Bank Group’s loans to the management staff stood at N3.245 billion. However, the bank granted an additional N272 million to them within the year, bringing the value of total loans to N3.517 billion.

So far, the bank’s management staff have repaid only N619 million, which is just 17.6 percent of the total obligation. Hence the current balance yet to be repaid by Zenith Bank’s management staff is N2.898 billion.

Zenith Bank granted most of the loans to its management staff to acquire land and build houses, while some were given to them as personal loans.

“Loans to key management personnel include mortgage loans and other personal loans. The loans are repayable from various repayment cycles, ranging from
monthly to annually over the tenor and have an average interest rate of 4%,” Zenith Bank admitted in its second-quarter financial statements.

“Loans granted to key management personnel are performing,” it further said.

Understanding the problem

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s current monetary policy rate (MPR), which is the benchmark interest rate, stands at 18.75 percent. A benchmark interest rate determines other rates in the economy, meaning that banks cannot lend below the rate.

As at January 2023 when Zenith Bank’s loans to its management staff were put at N3.245 billion, the CBN’s MPR or benchmark interest rate was 17.5 percent. However, the bank had no problem granting loans to its management staff at four percent interest rate

Ordinarily, when a customer borrows loans from Zenith Bank or any other deposit money bank in Nigeria, the interest rate changes once the CBN benchmark rate changes. This means that customers who borrowed in January 2023 at 20 percent rate would have had their interest rates changed three times since then. This is because the CBN Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has changed the MPR or benchmark rate three times since January.

Interestingly, Economy Post found that even when the benchmark rate has changed from 17.5 percent to 18 percent, and to 18.5 percent, and to 18.75 percent since January 2023, Zenith Bank’s interest rate to its management staff has remained the same – at four percent.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.economypost.ng/featured/knocks-as-zenith-bank-grants-n3-5bn-loans-to-mgt-staff-at-4-interest-rate/2023/09/25/

NiMET has predicted another flood crisis. In Bayelsa, the level of precipitation is expected to hit as high as 2500mm. As a result, residents of Bayelsa are adopting local measures which they believe could guarantee their safety. However, their effort is limited by the state government’s inaction. In this report for The ICIR, Beloved John reports how low government preparedness puts residents at risk of flooding.

THE residents of Agbura, a small community in Yenagoa, Bayelsa state capital, are building a flood wall. They have been digging out sand from empty parcels of land at the edge of the community to build a sea wall that will circle the neighbourhood.

It is back-breaking work, but after learning about the possibility of another flood crisis from the local radio stations, the people agreed to it. After all, the state authority has been silent.

The last quarter of 2022 came with a flash flood that enveloped most of Bayelsa and parts of Nigeria. It killed over 600 persons, displaced 3.5 million people and damaged about 569,000 hectares of farmlands, according to data obtained from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The flooding was heavy in Agbura; the water was four feet high, and it flowed into every street, destroying anything in its way. According to the residents, all the farms in the village were submerged. Several buildings collapsed, too.

The federal government blamed the incident on heavy rainfall. Media reports say it was further complicated by the release of excess water from the Lagdo dam in neighbouring Cameroon’s northern region. This is not the first time the government of Cameroon will be releasing water from their Dam. It is almost an annual ritual with severe implications in Nigeria.

The Cameroonian dam affected Nigeria because of the absence of flood defence mechanisms like the Dasin Hausa Dam, which should have been built 40 years ago. The flooding wrecked 300 communities across eight local government areas in Bayelsa, leaving thousands devastated.

In January, NiMET predicted a high possibility of a flood heavier than the last. The agency projects that the flood would affect 35 states and 314 local government areas. Bayelsa, a place comprising several coastal areas and lowlands, is one state at the top of the list.

An inadequate attempt at self-preservation
Beregee Amos, a 42-year-old resident and a farmer, is one of those who initiated the sea wall project. He is a part of the labour, and he mediates with the community chief on behalf of the workers.

But the farmer cannot guarantee that the mountain of brown sand can resist flooding. “Well, at least it’s something,” he says as he paces back and forth on top of it, his face furrowed with worry.

“This should be able to stop the Agbura River from overflowing into the community when it gets full,” Amos says to The ICIR. “I think so. What else can we do? We will build it around the area, so there’ll be no way in for it.”

The ICIR observed that the villagers are attempting other self-protection because the flood wall, made of just sand, won’t be strong enough to resist the flood. The ICIR can establish that the community is still at risk of flooding despite this.

A temporary flood wall should contain flood-resistant materials like concrete and trap bags, and a permanent one is an engineered structure that requires more technical materials.

But the residents hope to use the heap of sand as a barrier to defy the tides and prevent water from flowing into the community should the flood prediction by the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NiMET) come true.

Unlike Amos, Most locals are hopeful. Their conversation with The ICIR shows a sense of certainty among them. They believe that with the water inflow under control, all they have to worry about is the food insecurity that would follow the crisis.

Low level of awareness
When The ICIR visited the communities in Yenagoa, Ogbia and Southern Ijaw LGA, it found the locals scrambling for ways to ensure their safety.

Although many residents have gotten wind of the impending flood, their understanding of the situation is still poor. They are unaware of how best to protect themselves, and as a result, some are adopting ineffective measures.

There are arguments over the intensity of the impending flood, the parts of Bayelsa not prone to flooding, the cost of relocation, and affordability.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/in-bayelsa-governments-poor-preparedness-exposes-residents-to-severe-flood-risks/

Despite unconventional methods loan firms deploy to collect their money, the country’s economic crisis is forcing Nigerians to use loan apps to get immediate emergency cash. The ICIR’s Shehu Olayinka examines stories of Nigerians who had terrible experiences with loan companies.

DOLAPO’s dad had received a call from a Henloan marketing agent, promising loans and affordable interest. After pondering for a while and being pushed by his financial crisis, he opted for the loan. Going for the loan remains one of his worst decisions in life as subsequent events unfolded.

“My dad, Jide Wale, borrowed money from other apps, but Henloan made life a hell for him. His mood changed as they constantly called and harassed him.”, Dolapo told The ICIR.

She said her father wanted to take a loan of N65,000. However, after downloading the app and inputting his details, he saw more interest than what the company’s agent had told him. He cancelled the request and deleted the app.

But despite not going ahead with the loan request, Dolapo said a few minutes later, her father got an alert of N25,000 to pay N55,000, which to him was too much interest for a N25,000 loan he did not request.

He was desperate to return the money and immediately called the Henloan representative who introduced the app. To his shock, he was told to return the money in full: pay the N55,000.

“They were calling daily and threatening to send messages to all his contacts, which they later carried out,” She told this newspaper. “My sister and I were constantly harassed and sent messages accusing my dad of being a criminal and ritualist.”

The messages sent to Dolapo’s father are part of strategies for loan apps in Nigeria deployed to force defaulters to repay.

The tactics are sometimes used to tarnish a defaulter’s image.

But Dolapo said her dad was not a defaulter as he didn’t request the loan. He had earlier accessed loans from Quick Credit, Cash Express and Cash Credit.

“The harsh economy may have pushed my dad to borrow from loan apps. But the outcome wasn’t palatable for my family. Though the constant messages and calls have stopped, they embarrassed us,” she said.

“I have told him to stop borrowing from loan app companies. That moment was difficult for us. Now, I try as much as possible to support him with what little I have.”

Dolapo’s family experience at the hands of Henloan is not uncommon. Many Nigerians who defaulted on loans experience harassment and cyberbullying by loan app operators despite efforts by the Federal Competition & Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) and Nigeria Data Protection Commission- NDPC to clamp down on the use of crude tactics to recover loans.

In April, the Nigerian government, through the FCCPC, banned unethical and illegal activities by lending apps, including accessing debtors’ contact lists. It also prohibited loan apps from accessing contacts and images of their customers.

It also approved 173 digital lending applications to operate in the country. The commission gave conditional authorisations to 54 loan applications, while 119 got full approvals.

Clients of some loan apps also told The ICIR that they received loans despite not applying.

There is limited information about Henloan online. However, The ICIR discovered that Henloan also uses the name Hencredit, which is operated by Orange Loans and Purple Credit Limited. They also have the same email address listed for inquiries, as seen here.

There is also limited information for Quick Cash online. The ICIR effort to speak with a Quick Cash agent named Bode, who contacted Dolapo’s family, was rebuffed. Bode declined to comment and insulted the reporter after he was told of the cyberbullying claim against him and Quick Cash.

The other loan company that harassed Dolapo’s family was Quick Credit.

The ICIR found two loan companies using the name Quick Credit.

One of the loan companies, Quick Credit company, is owned and operated by Quick Credit Nigeria Limited.

Quick Credit Nigeria Limited is registered on the CAC database with registration number RC 1496778, identified as active by the commission, and registered as a General Contract and Merchandise company.

Two persons with significant control, Olapade Murtala Ayodele and Ejodame Odia Osewele, listed as Shareholder and Director, respectively, found on CAC and NGCheckers, were sent emails on the activities of Quick Credit.

In response to the enquiry, Ayodele denied Quick Credit engages in cyberbullying, stating that the organisation had been non-operational in the last 18 months due to an ongoing restructuring.

The second Quick Credit loan company was also sent a message in an email found on its Facebook page.

The ICIR called a phone number on the Facebook page, to which a female staff responded but declined to provide information about the organisation’s operation. She said the organisation would respond to the email sent by this reporter, but as of the time of filing this report, no response was received.

‘They said I have AIDs, and I’m a LovePeddler’
It’s a good initiative that such platforms exist, said *Bimbo (not real name), but according to her, using crude tactics when issues arise between a loan app and a customer would leave anyone regretting borrowing the money.

The ICIR reporter found Bimbo on a Telegram public channel, “Say No to Loan Sharks”, with 584 subscribers.

The group was observed to serve as a communication channel where Nigerians who have been at the receiving end of loan apps use crude tactics to fight back — and some have even claimed to be able to defraud lenders. The Telegram Channel also has a Facebook group.

This newspaper found more than five such groups on Facebook. [Say no to Sokoloan & Loan sharks, Say no to Sokoloan, Say no to Soko loan and LCredit ETC, Say No to loan app, Mobile loan apps debt victims in Nigeria, Say no to loan sharks, Illegal/fraudulent loan apps victims.]

Bimbo had posted on the page, looking for help dealing with the harassment and cyberbullying from agents of loan apps. After failing to make a timely repayment, Bimbo said she was hounded and defamed and had to turn off her phone to escape the abuse.

Bimbo, currently job hunting, said she took a combined loan of N180,000 from Fundy and Flypay loan apps.

“I had no option. I was broke and needed the money to offset some bills. But that was a big mistake, as those guys made my life a living hell,” she said.

She also disclosed that loan apps are increasingly reaching out to Nigerians through marketing agents to explain the advantages of obtaining loans through their apps.

She stated that before users download the apps, agents fail to disclose the actual interest rate on the loan.

“It’s good that people have something to rely on financially. But the interest rate and the whole cursing and defamation are upsetting and wrong. They also have this habit of saying (on the dashboard, they’d show you, e.g. 54k to pay 58k) when you click on the receive money. They could disburse 33k to pay 58k in 7 days. And sometimes? You don’t have to apply; they will send it to your account as soon as you download their app and input your bank and BVN details into their app.”

“When I couldn’t pay back in time, they started harassing me and sending messages to my contacts. They said I had HIV/AIDs, that I was a prostitute who slept with men for between N800 and N5,000, and that my parents molested me as a kid. All were sent to all my contacts; it was the same day my loan was due.”

Bimbo told this reporter that she intended to repay her debt once she could, but as of the time of filing this report, she had not done so.

“Clients getting loans without applying”
A recovery agent with Camelloan, whose identity is being withheld because he was not authorised to speak, confirmed to The ICIR that marketing agents of some loan apps fail to disclose the actual interest rate on loans to users they call or message.

He also said the culture at loan companies is for workers to either meet their target or get sacked if they fail.

“We are always given targets. We are only doing this to survive. It is not as if we enjoy doing all this. Calling people regularly, but we need to work and feed our family. I have seen people get hired and sacked in a month because they couldn’t meet the target. And the salary is not that much, but we are doing it for survivors. You know the country is hard,” the agent said.

The source also admitted to having had clients complain about receiving loans without applying.

“I don’t understand how that works. But I have heard people complain that they didn’t apply for loans before being sent the money. We have complained to our managers and told them this doesn’t seem right, but they appear not to care about it.

The source said he wasn’t sure if the app was faulty, adding that the practice could be intentional.

Another source, who works as a marketing agent with Camelloan, admitted to the loan app companies sending money to people despite not applying.

“It’s a problem we face. Some complain about not applying for the loans sent to their accounts.”

A borrower, Eseosa Godfrey, whom Camelloan agent contacted first via text, described how he was tricked into taking a loan by a marketing representative of Camelloan named Paul but backed out when he realised the agent had misled him about the interest rate.

Godfrey said despite not seeking one, he received a short-term loan of N6,000 to be paid in seven days and experienced harassment and defamation after failing to repay the debt in full with interest.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/hardship-more-nigerians-opt-for-loan-sharks-amid-harassment-defamation/

More than 150 Federal Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) do not actively respond to requests made through the Freedom of Information Act, checks by The ICIR have shown.

This analysis is according to a survey on ranking FOIA responses from 250 MDAs in three years, 2020 -2022.

The FOIA, signed in 2011 by former President Goodluck Jonathan, gives Nigerians the right to access information on government activities in the custody of any public institution or where public funding was utilised.

Section One, subsection (1) of the FOIA states that “Notwithstanding anything contained in any other Act, law or regulation, the right of any person to access or request information, whether or not contained in any written form, which is in the custody or possession of any public official, agency or institution howsoever described, is established.”

In several subsections, the Act highlights the process by which information should be requested, noting that public institutions must ensure that the information requested is provided. There are, however, exemptions for security agencies and provisions for delays in responses.

In cases where the FOI request would not be granted, the Act provides that the public institution from which the information is sought must send a written notice to the applicant, referencing the section of the law under denial.

Section Four states that: “Where information is applied for under this Act, the public institution to which the application is made shall, subject to sections 6, 7, and 8 of this Act, within seven days after the application is received- (a) make the information available to the applicant (b) Where the public institution considers that the application should be denied, the institution shall give written notice to the applicant that access to all or part of the information will not be granted, stating reasons for the denial, and the section of this Act under which the denial is made.”

Analysis of the data
The ranking was conducted by six organisations with a total score point of 100 based on the performances of each MDA. The ranking analysed the timeliness of responses to information and the level of disclosure of the information supplied by MDAs [sheet published here].

The rating was carried out by a coalition of civil society organisations (CSOs), including The ICIR, the Public and Private Development Centre (PPDC), BudgiT, Basic Rights Watch (BRW), Right to Know (R2K) and Media Rights Agenda (MRA).

For this report, The ICIR filtered the ranking sheet by 15 points, using it as a benchmark for poor performance in MDAs. This means that MDAs who scored below 15 points in the last three years either failed to respond to the FOI requests by the organisations or responded after the deadline threshold stated in the law.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/over-150-mdas-flout-freedom-of-information-act/

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/over-150-mdas-flout-freedom-of-information-act/

AN analysis of Nigeria’s public debt stock, released by the National Bureau of Statistics, has shown that each Nigerian currently owes N396,376.19 in terms of debt per capita.

The NBS published that the country’s total public debt increased by 75.27 per cent from N49.85 trillion in the first quarter of 2023 to N87.38 trillion at the end of the second quarter of 2023. In monetary terms, this is an increase of N37.53 trillion in three months.

The ICIR calculated the debt stock per capita by dividing the total public debts of the country by the country’s population. According to the World Poverty Clock, Nigeria’s population is estimated at 220.4 million.

Breaking down by category, the total external debts by the federal government stood at N29.9 trillion, while the 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory external debts were N3.35 trillion.

For domestic debts, the Federal government’s debt is N48.31 trillion, while for States and FCT is N5.82 trillion.

A report captured that the debts also contain the N22.71 trillion Ways and Means Advances of the Central Bank of Nigeria to the Federal government adding that other additions to the debt stock were new borrowings by the Federal government and sub-nationala from local and external sources.

Way and Means Advances is when the Federal government obtains a loan from CBN to meet short-term needs of emergencies. According to Section 38 of the CBN Act, the loan should not exceed five per cent of the country’s previous year’s actual revenue. The ICIR reported how CBN violated the Act by overlending the sum of $49.2 billion to the previous government.

According to NBS, the domestic debt as of the end of June 2023 was N54.13 trillion ($70,264.58 million), while external debt stood at N33.25 trillion ($43,159.19 million).

According to the data bureau, “Lagos state recorded the highest domestic debt in Q2 2023 with N996.44 billion, followed by Delta with N465.40 billion while Jigawa state recorded the lowest domestic debt with N43.13 billion, followed by Kebbi with N60.94 billion.

https://www.icirnigeria.org/each-nigerian-owes-n396376-as-public-debt-rises-to-n87-4-trillion/

IS it the State Security Service (SSS) or the Department of State Services (DSS)? This is a question many people ask.

Many public organisations are named and established by law. Nigeria’s primary domestic intelligence agency the State Security Service (SSS), known as the Department of State Services (DSS), is one such agency.

Its primary responsibilities include obtaining national intelligence and safeguarding the security of significant political persons.

It functions as a department within the executive branch of government.

The law that created the SSS
The law creating “State Security Service” is known as the National Security Agencies Act 1986.

Section One of the Act says: “There shall, for the effective conduct of national security, be established the following National Security Agencies, that is to say-(a) the Defence Intelligence Agency; (b) the National Intelligence Agency; and (c) the State Security Service”.

According to the National Security Agencies Act 1986, “State Security Services” is created to detect and prevent crimes within Nigeria that may threaten the national security of Nigeria.

However, in recent years, the SSS has portrayed itself as the Department of State Services (DSS) in official statements and all its official social media accounts.

Nigerians and the media have also frequently referred to the agency as DSS rather than SSS, which has generated a lot of debate in the country.

Lawyers’ view on the use of the name DSS
According to some lawyers who spoke to The ICIR, the name “State Security Services” and the National Security Agencies Act 1986 have not been amended or altered since 1986.

They agreed that the use of the name Department of State Services (DSS) by the State Security Service (SSS) is illegal and a violation of Nigeria’s National Security Agencies Act.

Hence, the statutory, legal and known name remains “State Security Services” and not DSS.

A Lagos-based lawyer, Adefisoye Okunade, said the name change is unknown to the law and a violation of the law.

“The use of “DSS” is a violation of the law. Section 1(c) of the National Security Agencies Act, Cap. N74, LFN, 2010.

According to Okunade, the referenced statutory authority provides that:

“There shall, for the effective conduct of national security, be established the following

National Security Agencies, that is to say-

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/sss-or-dss-what-does-the-law-say/

THE National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), has given conflicting figures on the unemployment rate in Nigeria. In its highlight of the latest report, the organisation said the unemployment rate has fallen to 4.1, translating to 8.2 million Nigerians who are unemployed based on the estimated 200 million population.

The report, covering the fourth quarter of 2022, revealed that 5.3 per cent of the population, equivalent to 10.6 million Nigerians, were unemployed during that period. The data showed a significant drop by over two million.

However, the Bureau disclosed another figure totally deviating from the unemployment statistics highlighted on the summary page of its report. It reported that 4.1 per cent, estimated to 8.2 million, are unemployed for the fourth quarter of 2022 while in Q1 2023, 3.3 per cent, which is 6.6m Nigerians are unemployed.

The ICIR calculated the figures to show the contradiction by adding the labour force, unemployed rate and out-of-labour force.

In its summary page, labour force for Q4 2022 (73.6 per cent) when added to the unemployed rate (5.3 percent) and out of labour (22.3 per cent) amounts to 101.2 per cent.

Similarly, for Q1 2023, when the labor force (76.7 per cent), the unemployed rate (4.1 per cent ), and those out of the labor force (21.1 per cent) are added, the sum equals 100.9%.

While in another sheet, the NBS data for Q4 2022’s Labour force (73.6 per cent), unemployed (4.1 per cent) and out of labour (22.3) sum equals 100 per cent.

In the case of Q1 2023, when we add the labor force rate (76.7 per cent), a 3.3% unemployed rate, and the out-of-labour force rate (20.1 per cent), the sum reaches 100.1 per cent.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/nbs-releases-conflicting-unemployment-rate-figures/

This investigation documents multiple cases of religious intolerance in northern Nigeria, providing insights into whether or not the holy scripture supports the death penalty for blasphemy and the position of the constitution and international frameworks on religious freedom.

USMAN* is in his early thirties, a Christian convert, resident of Kano state.

But he currently disguises each time he goes out. This is due to fears that he is still being tracked by persons who accused him of blasphemy.

Before he agreed to be interviewed by The ICIR on May 25, in a suburb town of the state, Usman had used a different phone number to share his location with this reporter.

It was a deliberate move to ensure he was not being set up. Yet, he was willing to meet with the right source, The ICIR reporter, who had visited to document real cases of religious extremism and intolerance in the state.

On arriving at the location, Usman kept a distance of about 200 meters apart, looking sideways, still in doubt.

He appeared as one still battling post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), owing to his horrible encounter in the past.

The ICIR would later discover Usman had suffered religious intolerance and had to relocate from one part of Kano to another.

“Sorry for keeping you waiting and staying this far,” he said, forcing a hard smile yet keeping his distance. “You know I’m just doing this for my safety because of my previous experience.”

Religious intolerance is a big issue in Nigeria. And it is not peculiar to a particular religion. It exists among the three major religions in the country – Christianity, Islam and Traditionalists.

By context, the Brussels-based research institute, the Union of International Association (UIA), described religious intolerance as “the acts denying the right of people of another religious faith to practice and express their beliefs freely.”

The ICIR earlier reported how religious intolerance and extremism resulted in 289 nationwide deaths across churches and mosques between January 2021 and June 2022. And these were from 65 attacks on Churches and 12 episodes on Mosques in the same period.

The genesis of Usman’s nightmares
Usman has a friend named Bello*, a new Christian convert whose decision was vehemently opposed by his (Bello’s) parents. He was threatened severely and, eventually, disowned by his family.

He would later seek refuge in Usman’s house after escaping from his parent’s residence through the roof. Multiple sources confirmed leaving Islam for any other religion is sacrilegious, especially in northern Nigeria.

Bello had to stay with Usman for a few months; unknown to the two, they were being tracked while his parents waited for the right time to strike.

Alas! It came.

It was on a sunny Monday morning towards the end of the lockdown in 2020. Bello needed to correct his bank account information, and both set out that morning to the bank. On approaching the financial institution, they got surrounded by Bello’s parents, relatives, and men dressed in security regalia.

“We were beaten mercilessly,” he told The ICIR. Usman said they sustained injuries.

“While they were beating us up, nobody around could help because they said I was why their son converted to Christianity.”

As he narrates his heart-wrenching story, he unconsciously looks around as one being watched.

“After beating us up like criminals, we were bundled into a tricycle and whisked to a vigilante outpost. We were detained for several hours and handcuffed at the leg as we bled while they went through our phones after forcing us to unlock them.”

He was later taken, with his friend – Bello, to Rijiyar Zaki Divisional Police station, along Bayero University Kano road, Ungogo L.G.A. of the state. “The vigilante officials abused me verbally, said harsh words about my religion, and we were taken to Rijiyar Zaki Police station in the evening.”

The argument from Bello’s parents to the Police was that he attempted to convert their son to Christianity, but “honestly, Bello came to me and told me about his decision to convert on his will.”

The Divisional Police Officer eventually released him.

Other instances of religious intolerance
In June 2015, a Sharia court in Kano sentenced nine persons to death for blasphemy. The victims allegedly rated Sheikh Ibrahim Niasse, a Senegalese Tijaniya sect’s founder, as “bigger than Prophet Muhammad.”

This would ordinarily mean demeaning the superiority of the highly revered Islamic clergy – Prophet Muhammad. But it eventually led to social disorder, and swiftly, judgement was passed over the nine victims – eight men and a woman.

Another cleric, Abduljabbar Kabara, was not so lucky despite being a cleric, and son of the deceased Nasiru Kabara, leader of an Islamic group – Qadariyya Islamic Movement in West Africa.

He was sentenced to death by hanging for blasphemy. The Upper Sharia Court in Kofar Kudu, Kano state, Thursday, December 15, 2022, found him guilty of a four-count charge, including blasphemy.

Umar Farouk, another victim, was also found guilty of blasphemy for reportedly abusing Prophet Mohammed while arguing with his friends. He was a 16-year-old teenager. He also got a-10-year jail term from the Sharia Court, though the judgement was later nullified by a superior court in the state.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/dissenting-voices-mapping-victims-of-religious-extremism-in-northern-nigeria/

THE National Assembly will be saving Nigerians from lots of economic distress if it evaluates and properly scrutinises the details of the transactions of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), $3bn emergency crude repayment loan from Afrexim bank, industry pundits have stated.

On Wednesday, August 16 2023, the NNPCL and Afrexim Bank jointly signed a commitment letter for an emergency $3 billion crude oil repayment loan.

The signing, which took place at the bank’s headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, will provide some immediate disbursement that will enable the NNPCL to support the federal government in its ongoing fiscal and monetary policy reforms aimed at stabilising the exchange rate market.

For many knowledgeable economists, the NNPCL’s poor reforms have pushed the country to a fiscal cliff while pushing Nigeria’s foreign exchange volatility further high.

Available records showed Nigeria’s major foreign exchange earning is from its oil resources, a situation that has made it steadily hinge its budgetary provisions on oil benchmark pricing.

The ICIR has earlier reported how the NNPCL kept shifting the goalpost on getting enlisted in Nigeria’s stock exchange, which could have offered it a platform to source for funds.

“NNPCL is borrowing to give to the federal government. As collateral, It’s is offering her future receipts. In essence, spending tomorrow revenues today,” a financial expert and development economist Kalu Aja said.

“The $3 billion you get today, you won’t get again, but it buys time for reforms,” he said.

Another development economist, Kelvin Emmanuel, believes the evaluation of the term sheet of the transaction by the National Assembly will save Nigeria from many economic problems.

“The National Assembly must review and ask specific questions on the deal. For instance, how many barrels of crude is involved in the swap, what is the duration of the swap, at what price was the swap deal consummated, what happens if crude oil price drops below the forward price, what happens if the crude oil price rises above the strike price, is the stock going out from Nigeria’s export quota?

“Other key questions to be raised by the National Assembly should also include: how will Federation Accounts and Allocation Committee FAAC audit the transaction to ensure NNPCL is transparent?

“If there’s no sovereign guarantee from CBN, what collateral did NNPCL use to secure the swap deal? What happens if there’s a force majeure on daily production volumes and the output is not sufficient to go around after deductions of JV cash calls?

Other key questions also include: Is Afreximbank going to send an irrevocable standing payment order (ISPO)to the NNPCL account with JP Morgan to debit payment from the source, until funds are liquidated?”

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/questions-national-assembly-should-ask-on-3bn-nnpcl-crude-oil-loan/

In recent years, Nigeria has seen a sharp increase in kidnappings. This has seen Nigerians pay billions of naira in ransom to secure the release of their loved ones at the hands of kidnappers. The ICIR’s Shehu Olayinka examines cases of kidnapping, ransom payment and the cost of being kidnapped in Nigeria.

IT was on a quiet morning after a gloomy night. *Monday Adams had embarked on a journey to deliver ransom to kidnappers deep inside a forest in the central part of Kaduna state. The journey is being made on a commercial motorbike—the best means of transportation to get him to his destination.

He snaked through the forest with the commercial motorbike rider while receiving directions intermittently from phone calls on how to move and which path to take.

The ransom was to be promptly delivered on behalf of the family of Obadiah Ibrahim. The victim was a Kaduna-based worker who, alongside his colleague, was kidnapped in Sabon Gaya, Kaduna state.

Obadiah, alongside his colleague, had spent several days with the criminals. To secure their freedom, the bandits demanded the ransom be brought to a forest in Ridu Village, Ungwan Ayaba, in Chikun Local Government Area (LGA) of the state.

I was terrified, Adams told The ICIR. “I had to change my cloth to dirty ones to avoid being perceived as rich.”


“If they see you wearing expensive clothes and looking good, they may believe you have money and will abduct you to demand a ransom.”

Kidnapping in the country is no longer uncommon. In Chikun LGA alone, more than a thousand (1,010) persons have been kidnapped in 73 separate incidents in the last ten years.

In the forest, Adams said he met Ali Dogo, a bandit leader who, last December, the Nigerian Airforce disclosed, was killed in an airstrike in Niger state. Dogo, also known as Yellow, was reported to have been killed along with 30 of his foot soldiers in an attack performed by the air component of Operation Whirl Punch.

But narrating his ordeal, Adams added that the bandits controlled the entire Ridu community. “They were aware of my movements. When I arrived at the community, they told me they had been tracking my movements since I arrived there.”

He continued, “When I arrived at the site where I was supposed to drop the ransom, I noticed a large crowd. Young and old alike. Some were on trees, while others had bikes and firearms.”

Adams, though fearful, was optimistic about meeting the kidnappers and likened the scene to a market square. “I believe they were expecting to be attacked because, on my way to where I was supposed to drop the ransom, as I was approaching the forest, I met some troops (Nigerian military) with whom I exchanged pleasantries, and they told me about it.”

He eventually handed over the ransom to the bandits. But that was not all. He also provided call recharge cards. “They told me to depart after ensuring everything was in order and exchanging a few words with Dogo. I was instructed to take a different route than I previously used to access the hideout”.

Adam’s experience tells the story of what Nigerians go through to rescue their kidnapped loved ones with no assurance of success.

Obadiah died at the kidnappers’ den.

‘They demanded N10M to release my brother’s corpse’
Kefas Ibrahim, the younger brother of the late Obadiah, said his brother’s death was a huge loss. He left behind a wife and two children.

The kidnappers had initially requested N200 million.

“We went through a traumatic process throughout the process,” he told The ICIR. Kefas said despite collecting N3.2 Million, recharge cards worth N50,000, and a motorbike worth N800,000, his brother still died in the custody of the kidnappers.

According to him, “When we demanded his body, they demanded an extra N10 Million to release his corpse.”

Ibrahim was more pained that the whole effort was futile even after the family engaged a private negotiator immediately after the kidnap incident.

“He was kidnapped alongside a coworker, he said. One was killed during the kidnapping. We got a negotiator who was communicating with them and advocating on our behalf as soon as he was kidnapped. The kidnappers initially requested N200 million. We informed them that we did not have any money. They came down to N5 million. They asked us how much we had from N5 million. We bargained and informed them we had N3,120,000.”

“We gave them everything they asked for—the money, a Glo and Airtel credit card worth N50,000 and a motorcycle worth N800,000. We got Adams to help with the ransom drop after agreeing on what to bring. We contacted them after he dropped the ransom with them, and they said they would release him the next morning because it was too late that day.”

“The next day in the morning, when we asked when he would be released, they said they collected the money because they were out of food.”

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/the-cost-of-getting-kidnapped-in-nigeria/

FINDINGS by The ICIR, from available data, have shown that it might cost taxpayers over N29.91 million monthly to pay the basic salaries of the 46 newly appointed ministers.

The appointment of ministerial portfolios is coming barely two weeks after President Bola Tinubu submitted 48 names as nominees to the Senate for screening.

Based on the remuneration approved by the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), each minster should earn N650,136.65 monthly, translating to N7.8 million annually.

Going by this, if no review has been made, the Federal government would pay N358.9 million annually to offset the ministers’ remuneration. This amount, however, excludes other allowances and benefits for each minister appointed.

According to the commission’s data, each minister is also entitled to other allowances like accommodations, furniture estacodes, medical, severance gratuity, leave and motor vehicle loans which are paid based on application.

Also, as reviewed by the former president, Muhammdu Buhari, a minister is entitled to receive a duty tour allowance (travelling allowance) based on grade level.


By this approval, each minister is entitled to N80,000 per diem (daily) on each official travel.

In 2021, the Federal Inland Revenue Service said that Nigeria now has 41 million taxpayers.

Arithmetically, this means it would cost each taxpayer approximately N9 annually to pay the salaries of 46 ministers.

With the recent appointments, if all ministers resume office by September, the federal government would pay N119.6 million between September and December 2023, costing each taxpayer N3. This is excludes allowances.

Before leaving officer, Buhari allocated N2.9 trillion as payment of salaries and wages in the 2023 fiscal budget; which covers the expenditure on government personnel including ministers. However, while the former president ran a ministerial cabinet of 43 people, there has been pressure mounted by groups on the president to reduce the cost of governance.

Recently, the National Labour Congress, while protesting the removal of fuel subsidy, requested that the federal government cut down expenses on governance and increase the minimum wage.



READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/tinubu-may-pay-over-n30-million-monthly-to-offset-ministers-salaries/

WITH reactions trailing the ministerial nomination made by President Bola Tinubu, The ICIR has evaluated the profile of these nominees, predicting the portfolio the president might assign to each person.

Going by the number of people nominated, the projections are hinged on the possibility of the president creating new ministerial portfolios that would actualise his administration’s intent.

Tinubu submitted 48 names to the Senate in the last two weeks for screening and confirmation. Initially, 28 names were submitted as the first batch of nominees. A week later, an additional 19 were submitted before a review was done, which increased the list to 48 names.

After the screening exercise, the Senate confirmed 45 out of 48 nominees.

Also, The ICIR reported some analysis on the trend of governors becoming ministers, women’s representation in the list and a former governor with fraud allegations.

The list consists of past governors, former and present lawmakers, former state commissioners, former ministers, former directors of government agencies, aspirants during the 2023 general election and other private sector experts.

Key issues
Assuming all nominees are given a portfolio, this administration would have the largest ministerial cabinet since 1999, when Nigeria retired to uninterrupted democratic governance.

Also, the president might adopt the style of former president Muhammadu Buhari by appointing senior and junior ministers, that is, a Minister and a Minister of State.

In addition, many of the ministerial nominees come with professional and political experience, which could make them fit into any ministerial position as core administrators.

While the professionals were grilled thoroughly, their counterpart colleagues, who were either former governors or former legislative members, were told to bow and go. This development was frowned upon by many public affairs analysts.

For the Lead Director of the Centre for Social Justice, Eze Onyekpere, “no meaningful screening can be done without asking questions pertinent to the Ministries the candidate will do when he or she gets confirmed.”

According to Onyekpere, “The President needs to submit the list with the portfolios the Ministers have to hold. Also, the screening is not something that should be done in a hurry. The list needs to be submitted early to enable the National Assembly to do thorough screening through the Senate’s relevant committees while reconvening on the committee as a whole for more efficiency.

A professor of International Relations at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Charles Ukeje, said the drama surrounding the ministerial screening exposed the dark side of Nigerian politics and emphasized the urgent need for a more robust and rigorous screening process.

He stressed that the nation’s leadership recruitment process should not be reduced to a source of comic relief and that civil society must hold political leaders to higher standards of accountability, transparency, and integrity.

How we made the projections
For our projections, we reviewed the background profiles of each nominee and cross-examined them with the nominees’ trajectory as political officeholders. We also examined the questions asked during the screening exercises by the senators.

Also, in our projections, we considered the president’s priority and arbitraries in assigning ministerial portfolios to minister-designates. This could depend on the president’s political interests in a particular candidate and for a particular purpose. Election dynamics were also considered, and for the first time, an indigene of the Federal Capital Territory was appointed a minister since the present democratic dispensation, which started in 1999.

This may likely be connected to assertions, in some quarters, that the President is looking possibly at an all-inclusive Presidency, which saw even the nomination of opposition party members as seen in the case of a former Governor and Minister-designate, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike.

Accordingly, Wale Edun, who is projected to be the Minister of Finance, is currently a Special Adviser to Tinubu on Monetary Policies. Edun has a strong background in economics and was once a commissioner of finance in Lagos state and co-founded Stanbic IBTC Plc serving as the Executive Director.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/projections-how-tinubu-may-appoint-ministerial-cabinet/

This investigation looks into the practice of forced marriages on young girls in several communities in Niger state.

Over 200 residents, in Saganuwan-Kulla village, near Etsu Audu, Gbako Local Government Area (LGA), swooped on the community head’s compound on Sunday, July 16, when The ICIR visited the community. The crew sought to interview the parents of a teenager, Amina Abubakar, one of the victims of forced marriage in the state.

Usman Alhassan is the head of Saganuwan-Kulla community. Amina’s father had died before her wedding. Alhassan sent for Amina’s mother; she was far away on the farm.

The chief then sent for Abubakar Tauhid, Amina’s uncle, to speak on behalf of the family. Tauhid has led the family since Amina’s father died.

Alhassan knew about Amina’s wedding. He expressed disappointment in the girl and said nobody forced her into marriage. He narrated all he knew about the wedding and argued that her family did it with her consent.

Tauhid’s arrival attracted more than 200 villagers who besieged the building and threatened to deal with the reporters for having the guts to question the villagers over their daughter’s marriage. The crew eventually escaped by a whisker after briefly interviewing Tauhid.

That is the usual mood in most communities where a girl forced into marriage has absconded from her husband’s home. Many villagers see the girl’s action as conflicting with their culture and the Islamic religion, which is the predominant faith in the state.

Amina Tauhid Abubakar
Amina lived with her uncle in Minna from childhood until 2020, when her mother withdrew her from school to marry a man her late father had chosen for her before his death. She was then in primary four.

The soft-spoken girl had hoped to become a doctor in a country where only four doctors attend to 10,000 people and possibly help reduce the country’s maternal and child mortalities, which are the second highest globally.

She is among the 26 million child brides in Nigeria, according to the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) data.

The ICIR reports that child marriage is one of the abuses children face in Nigeria, and the challenge is not limited to Niger State alone.

Thirty-four of Nigeria’s 36 states, including Niger, have domesticated the Federal Government’s 2003 Child Rights Act enacted to protect children like Amina, but the trends in child brides in her state cast a shadow on the operationality of the Act.

The ICIR reports that child marriage breaches the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Nigeria is a signatory, and the fundamental human rights enshrined in Section Four (chapters 33-36, and 38-41) of the Nigerian Constitution (1999) as amended.

With out-of-school children hovering around 20 million and 133 million people living in multi-dimensional poverty in Nigeria, tackling child marriage remains a huge task for any level of government in the country.

Amina was the only one who could speak pidgin English among all the four girls interviewed.

“There are two reasons I didn’t like the man my parents chose for me. The first reason is that my father told me how he forced my sister into marriage. Every day, I see my sister and her husband fighting in their house located near our compound.”

“I see my sister, who is already married off, every day. We live in the same neighbourhood. I don’t want to live this type of life. Even my mother, that was how her parents married her off to my father. They said that was how they would marry me off, and I resisted.”

Amina said she woke her mother every night, Kneeling and pleading that she let her choose the person to marry instead. She explained to her mother the kind of family she wanted, but the mother wouldn’t listen.

“She always ignored my pleas. I cried every night. Nobody cared about how this affected my health. I was always left alone in a sad mood.”

“Since I was born, I’d never begged anyone over anything as I pleaded with my mother not to force me into marriage. I continued to plead, and she insisted that I accept her decision. I later hardened my heart that I would never allow myself to be forced into marriage even if it requires that I die,” said Amina.

When it dawned on her that her marriage was inevitable, she presented four men from the village at different times as suitors, but her mother declined to endorse any of them.

Her siblings and extended relations ignored her pleas for help that would make her escape her mum’s decision. Whenever she needed anything in the house, her mother referred her to the man she wanted her to marry. This further compounded her troubles.

She became more miserable, watching her dream of becoming a medical doctor fly past her reach.

She said of her wedding experience, “After I had severally resisted the marriage proposal by my family, they took me to one man called Iyakatu. They chained my legs. When the legs began to swell in the night, they removed the chain because of the swelling and took me straight outside in the night and poured water on my head.”

Pouring water on a girl’s child is a symbol of marriage among Nupe-speaking people, a predominant tribe in Niger state. It’s done at dawn in front of friends and family to signify she is now married.

“They said they had already done the wedding for me to marry the person they chose. At 6:am, they prepared everything they would use for the wedding and brought the marriage dress to me. I wore the cloth and was sobbing.”

“I lived with the boy they married me to for 15 days but didn’t allow him to touch me. My parents always locked the man with me inside his room so he could have sex to enable me to become pregnant. They always locked the door with a padlock” Amina stated.

She said after they had failed to force her to have sex with her husband, they bundled her to a man in Makagi village, Muhammadu Baba (poplary called Alhaji Makagi), in Agaie LGA in the state.

Two of the four girls interviewed said their parents took them to the man they described as very influential in the area. They claimed he had charms and possessed healing power. The state’s Child Rights Agency staff and the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) corroborated the girls’ claim.

According to many sources, the man hypnotises girls who refuse their parents’ marriage choices. Makagi village is about 40 kilometres from Agaie town, and Bida to Agaie is 37 kilometres. Commuters spend hours on the highly dilapidated highways where articulated trucks fall off daily.

Amina claimed she didn’t know how her husband found it very easy to have sex with her after returning from the man. “I didn’t even know the time he did it. I got to know about sex when I woke up the following morning. I was in the village for 15 days and escaped at night after fasting.”

Amina fled into the bush at midnight and trekked for two hours before reaching another village belonging to the boy she had wanted to marry.

Days later, through a lawyer, she filed for a divorce at a Sharia court. The court separated her from the marriage and ordered that she return the bride price.

The court ruled that she can marry the man of her choice after observing her Iddah – the three months a divorced Muslim woman or widow observes before marrying another man.

During this investigation, she was observing the Iddah in the custody of Abubakar Mahmood, district head of Etsu Audu.

Mahmood attested to the claim that the man in Makagi administered love potions and gave concoctions to girls rejecting marriage. He described the state’s high rate of child marriage as “worse than slavery.”

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/brides-by-barter-inside-story-of-young-girls-forced-into-marriages-in-niger-state/

n April, communities in Benue state were attacked, leading to media reports of 46 persons killed, although community members who spoke to The ICIR gave the figure as 55. In this report, Jairus AWO visited the four communities of Entekpa ward – Umogidi, Upu, Olakpoga, and Iwili—in Otukpo local government area where the incidents happened to capture the aftermath.

In the rolling hills of Nigeria’s north-central region, the Umogidi, a community in Benue state, once thrived in peace and harmony. The lush farmland boasted bountiful harvests, and the idyllic landscape drew visitors from far and wide. But one day, everything changed. The sound of gunfire shattered the calm of the village, and terror spread like wildfire.

Militias, notorious for their unrelenting attacks on farming communities, had arrived. Armed with sophisticated weapons, they descended upon the Umogidi community with a fury that left able men powerless and trembling.

“We were caught unaware, and chaos quickly ensued. Men, women, and children were brutally slaughtered,” Bako Eje, chairman of the Otukpo local government area (LGA) where Umogidi is located, lamented.

In the blink of an eye, the once-thriving community lay in ruins. The locals who had managed to survive had fled into the nearby forest, fearing for their lives.

Those who were left behind lay lifeless in the streets, discarded like trash. The attack had left a trail of destruction in its wake, and the survivors were left in shock and disbelief.

The attack on the Umogidi community in Entekpa ward in the Otukpo LGA of Benue state on April 5 was just one of many that have occurred in recent times across the Idoma ‘nation’ and, of course, Benue state as a whole.

‘It was an unprovoked attack’
As far as people like Edwin Obiaje, 61, the Egila of Umogidi, can remember, there had never been a fight between the Umogidi community or any of the four communities of the Entekpa ward of the Otukpo LGA and the militiamen who community members described to be predominantly ethnic Fulani and herders.

“What ensued was a total shock to us”, he said.

“We are aware that the militiamen have sacked and pursued our nearby Gwer LGA communities of Mbappa, Ikande, etc. and made those places their permanent locations even till now.”

“But we never knew; they had plans to also drive us away to have the land for themselves.”

“We are farmers; everyone in Umogidi is primarily a farmer. There are few others who know how to manoeuvre and get other things done that fetch them money—like frying akara and cooking at the village market – in addition to their farming,” Obiaje explained.

“All of a sudden, we saw them feasting on our farms. At first, it was just intimidation at gunpoint for those who confronted them.”

“And because they had sophisticated weapons, it is unreasonable to fight them.”

“On the fateful afternoon of April 4, 2023, they stood at our junction and began robbing people of their motorbikes and macheting farmers who were unluckily close by. That day, three community members were gruesomely murdered on their farms,” Obiaje continued.

“Our people scampered for safety. Women, children—they all ran for their safety to nearby bushes, and others were as far as Adoka, a suburb of the Otukpo LGA.”

“The Chairman of Otukpo LGA, Ejeh Bako, mobilised the military personnel to the community the next day, which was April 5, to see how security could be beefed up in the community So that we can at least take one or two things as we vacate the community because we had the feeling that they would still come back.”

“But the military didn’t stay long. The community, through the LG chairman, begged them to stay, at least for a night, or wait until the people that were killed were buried, but one Major A. Awuah, the Commandant of the 72 barracks, Otukpo, explained that they can’t stay for the night, especially since he hasn’t received a command from his superiors, and that he would be unable to account for his men if anything happens to them.”

The chairman of the Otukpo LGA, Bako, corroborated the claims by Obiaje, the Egila of Umogidi. He explained that he told Awuah the local government would cater to their needs for their time spent there, but the major did not oblige and left with his men.

The ICIR could not independently verify the claims about Awuah.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/inside-story-of-attacks-on-benues-entekpa-communities-which-left-scores-dead/

SOLDIERS of the Nigerian Army, deployed under ‘Operation Udoka’, are forcing travellers in the South-East to disembark from vehicles at numerous checkpoints that litter the region, checks by The ICIR have shown.

On getting to any of the checkpoints manned by heavily armed soldiers on major highways in the region, vehicles – both commercial and private – would stop to discharge passengers. The passengers, mostly travellers, will then trek across the checkpoint. On getting to a considerable distance beyond the checkpoint, they will stop and wait for the vehicle that was conveying them.

The driver will then move the vehicle past the checkpoint to meet the waiting passengers, who will subsequently return to their seats in the car.

The journey will continue until the vehicle gets to the next checkpoint, where the process will be repeated.

The ICIR’s correspondent, who experienced the situation while travelling across the South-East states, noted that the development frustrated motorists and travellers in the region.

During a trip from Enugu to Umuahia, Abia State capital, on Friday, July 21, the commercial bus boarded by The ICIR correspondent was made to stop and discharge passengers at eight different checkpoints.

At each of these checkpoints, passengers – both young and old, male and female – had to come down and trek to the other side to wait for the vehicle.

Interestingly, vehicles and passengers are not searched at the checkpoints. But The ICIR correspondent observed that the heavily armed soldiers were alert as they watched the passengers walking past the checkpoints.

During the morning period, when a lot of people are travelling, the checkpoints are usually crowded with so many passengers who disembarked from several vehicles. The vehicles, mostly buses, which had discharged the passengers, will also queue up. They wait until the passengers have walked past the checkpoints before driving through, one after the other, to pick up their passengers.

The ICIR correspondent observed that when the volume of traffic at the checkpoints is high, some passengers have difficulty identifying the particular vehicle they boarded.

The repeated disembarkation at numerous checkpoints is not only stressful, it also wastes time, making the journey last much longer than it should.

The journey from Enugu to Umuahia, which ordinarily should be less than one hour, lasted more than two hours.

“Is this a war zone? It is only in war zones that you can witness this,” an aggrieved passenger muttered as travellers waited for their vehicle to move past the checkpoint and pick them, to continue the journey.

Many passengers expressed anger at the situation. A passenger, who said she has gotten used to the situation, being a regular traveller on the route, explained that she starts her journeys two or three hours earlier than usual in order to meet up with appointments. “If not, you will not arrive on time. You have to add extra one or two hours in order to meet up,” the woman told other travellers.

An old woman, who complained of arthritis, could barely walk across one of the checkpoints and had to be supported by sympathetic co-travellers.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/war-zone-in-south-east-army-is-forcing-travellers-to-come-down-from-vehicles-at-checkpoints/

THE Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, reported its first flood incident in June 2023, following a heavy downpour that exacerbated into a flood submerging several houses in an estate.

The impact of the flood, which had become a regular incident, submerged 166 houses and displaced several residents from their homes. The ICIR captured it here and here.

Last year, flooding displaced 1.4 million people across various parts of the country from their homes and killed over 500 people. The federal government attributed the incident to unusual rainfall as a result of climate change and the excess water released from the opening of the Lagdo dam in Cameroon that flowed into the Nigerian River and its tributaries.

In Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory Emergency Management Agency said that the flood affected about 24,713 inhabitants in three of the six area councils of the FCT. This development forced the government to demolish houses on waterways as part of an effort to mitigate the flood.

However, experts told The ICIR that the government may need to develop a sustainable drainage system to channel water within communities, especially rural areas.

The ICIR captured the ordeal of residents who were impacted by the flood in 2022.

Mapping out flood zone areas
At the beginning of this year, Abuja was listed as part of the state at risk of heavy flooding in 2023. Weather25 forecasted that FCT would have 74 days of rain in 2023 with the highest rainfall impact from May and September.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/flood-series-mapping-out-areas-in-abuja-prone-to-flooding/

LEADER of the Niger Delta Volunteer Force (NDVF) Asari Dokubo recently declared that his ‘men’ are in charge of security on the Abuja-Kaduna road but the Nigerian military has said the former militant leader lied.

Director, Defence Information (DDI), Tukur Gusau, a brigadier general, told The ICIR on Friday, June 30, that troops of the Nigerian Army are the ones maintaining security on the road, and not Dokubo’s men.

At the peak of insecurity on the Abuja-Kaduna road, motorists and passengers were routinely killed or abducted on a daily basis, as bandits and terrorists had a field day. The situation forced travellers to abandon the road, opting to commute on the Abuja-Kaduna train.

But the rail route turned out to be unsafe. On March 28, 2022, terrorists attacked the Abuja-Kaduna train carrying hundreds of passengers, reportedly killing nine and kidnapping several others. The incident, which forced the shutdown of the rail track, exacerbated insecurity on the Abuja-Kaduna route, as road became the only option for individuals travelling on that axis.

The security situation on the road has stabilised in recent times, with a sharp drop in cases of abduction, robbery and killings on the route.

It was taken for granted that the military and other security agencies were responsible for the improved security on the road. But Nigerians were stunned when Dokubo declared on June 16 that his men were behind the relative calm on the Abuja-Kaduna road.

Dokubo made the claim after meeting President Bola Tinubu in the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Speaking with journalists after a closed-door meeting with the President, Dokubo faulted the performance of the military in the ongoing campaign against insecurity across the country.

The ex-militant leader went ahead to reveal a shocker – that his ‘private army’ was contracted by the Nigerian government to maintain security on the Abuja-Kaduna road, as well as in different parts of the country.

Dokubo’s words
He said: “There is a full-scale war going on and the blackmail of the Nigerian state by the Nigerian military is shameful. They said they do not have enough armament and people listen to this false narrative. They are lying. They are liars. I repeat they are liars because I am a participant.

“I am a participant in this war. I fight on the side of the government of the Nigerian state in Plateau, Niger, Anambra, Imo, Abia and Rivers. And in Abuja today, you are travelling to Kaduna on this road. It is not the army that makes it possible for you to travel to Abuja or travel to Kaduna, and vice versa. It is my men, employed by the government of the Nigerian state, stationed in Niger.

“Today, you travel to Baga, you go to Shiroro, you go to Wase. We have lost so many men and in all these engagements, we don’t even have one per cent of the armament deployed by the Nigerian military. One per cent and we have had resounding success.

“So, this blackmail must end. They (Nigerian Army) have enough resources to fight. Instead of fighting, they are busy stealing. They are busy making the government spend unnecessarily.”

Dokubo also accused the military authorities of involvement in oil bunkering in the Niger Delta.

Following Dokubo’s bombshell, the military denied involvement in oil theft. But the bigger issue – Dokubo’s men maintaining security on the Abuja-Kaduna road – was not addressed.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/asari-dokubos-men-another-wagner-group/

S Nigeria’s capital, one would not expect people living in Abuja to be in want of basic amenities like good roads, portable water, stable electricity and other essential services, but this is the case for residents of Ibwa community, a suburb in Gwagwalada Area Council, where the state of the road is a constant nightmare. Residents are either smeared by mud or covered by dust, Adedokun Theophilus reports.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFqfoBNU5bg

Things almost fell apart for Idris Adam, a dark-skinned commercial farmer and a resident of Ibwa, in December 2022 when his wife developed a complication which required urgent specialist attention during the birth of their first child.

In excruciating pain after birth, the medical staff did not hesitate to transfer Zainab, Adam’s wife, to another health facility which could get the required medical attention.

Sadly, there was another hurdle for the unconscious mother and new father to cross – the 15km road the links to the next community, This road, known as Ibwa Road, which connects the predominantly farming community to other parts of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is barely motorable.

It’s a hurdle to ply that road during rainy or dry seasons, much less with a woman in need of medical attention in tow.

Recounting his experience during the birth of his child Adam, who is in his mid-thirties, described it as “terrible”.

“She had given birth successfully” he told The ICIR “but there was a complication because she had lost a lot of blood and needed urgent attention. Unfortunately, she could not access emergency medical service because of the delay we experienced on the road”.

“The road was bad, she was bleeding and unconscious at the same time. I could not bear seeing her suffer as we journeyed through the road but there was nothing I could do”, he recalls.

“She had given birth successfully” he told The ICIR “but there was a complication because she had lost a lot of blood and needed urgent attention. Unfortunately, she could not access emergency medical service because of the delay we experienced on the road”.

“The road was bad, she was bleeding and unconscious at the same time. I could not bear seeing her suffer as we journeyed through the road but there was nothing I could do”, he recalls.

After a laborious day, exhausted Bawala was in a hurry to get home and relax from work.

Noticing the cloudy sky and impending rain, he rode his motorcycle as fast as he could to beat the rain.

Unfortunately, he lost control of his bike and galloped into a ditch.

“I fainted when I lost balance, and I could not recall anything.”

Visible lines appearing as wrinkles sustained from the accident were still on his face when he spoke with The ICIR. He had a bone fracture on his right hand which made him bedridden for a while.

“I could not work for a month because the bone on my right hand broke,” he said.

He stressed that he now depends on menial work and members of his family to make ends meet.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/mud-smeared-dust-covered-an-abuja-communitys-daily-commute-struggle/

Bloodshed and death: Inside story of Kano’s Tudun Wada electoral violence in Doguwa’s constituency

FEBRUARY 25, 2023, the date for the presidential and national assembly election was one which the residents of Tudun Wada Local Government Area (LGA) in Kano state anticipated as it was a time for them to exercise their franchise through the ballot, but little did they know that it would become the eve of a horror scene the community will not forget anytime soon.

On Sunday, February 26 while the collation of results was ongoing, mayhem struck Tudun Wada when thugs attacked. The office of the New Nigerian People’s Party (NNPP) located in Sabon Gari Ward was set ablaze, and scores were burnt to death. Some residents were shot dead, while some luckily escaped.

Many of the residents, survivors and eyewitnesses interviewed by The ICIR pointed accusing fingers at Alhassan Ado Doguwa, as the person “led the thugs and caused violence while possessing firearms” on that day.

Doguwa is the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives of Nigeria. He is an All Progressive Congress (APC) member representing the Doguwa/Tudun Wada Federal constituency of Kano state.

Doguwa was first elected member of the House of Representatives for the constituency in 1992 and returned to the green chamber in 2007 where he was consistently re-elected and has been the representative of that constituency since.

Approximately six weeks after the incident, 35-year-old Auwalu Bala survived the attack, but he is still incapacitated. The father of three can no longer work to fend for his family because, till the time of filing this report, he is unable to resume his job as a labourer. The injuries he sustained still affect his health and he now lives at the mercy of his extended family members who make provisions for him and his household.

“As I was about to perform my prayers in the mosque on that day, I heard people echoing ‘Doguwa’s Boys are here’ Bala told The ICIR “, but I was less concerned because I am not a party supporter, and I always mind my business.”

“When the tension was high, I made my way out of the mosque, where seven thugs surrounded me and started beating me ruthlessly with heavy sticks and other weapons”, he narrated.

“I pleaded with them to have mercy on me because I don’t participate in political activities, but they did not. All they kept saying was ‘sa mu aka yi’, meaning ‘we were sent’. While beating me, I got weakened, fell to the ground and then they macheted my back, after which I started bleeding profusely, with a hand broken.”

He said, adding that he is grateful that the injury didn’t affect his spinal cord.

Bala said he spent 10 days at the hospital and, while on his sickbed, was so worried about his mother, wife and children. “I prayed to Allah to keep them safe from the violence and also help me recover because the pain was too much. The hurt of not being able to provide for my household as a man because of my present condition weakens me mentally.”

“I don’t know why they attacked me because I don’t have anything to do with political activities aside from voting during elections,” Bala said.

He was, however, unfazed as he added that he would still vote in the supplementary elections slated for April 15.

Kano state was among the states the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) held a supplementary election.

The Kano Resident Electoral Commissioner, Abdul Zango while speaking at a stakeholder meeting with the police, civil society, political party representatives and the media at the headquarters of INEC ahead of the supplementary elections in Kano stated that violence was among the major reasons why the supplementary elections were held in Kano.

He said, “The only reason why we are conducting the supplementary election is because of violence”.

Zango added that a lot of the violence unleashed on people isn’t always from a directive of the political class, as “some supporters can unleash mayhem on the opposition without getting a directive from a politician but one can’t tell the limit so please eschew violence.”

“We can never forgive, we want justice!”
Eighteen-year-old Labaran Sule escaped death by the whiskers. Not only was he shot in his shoulder, he was also macheted close to his neck. He was in a pool of blood by the roadside when help came his way, and was taken to the hospital.

He told The ICIR that he is still angry at the incident and cannot forgive Alhassan Doguwa and the thugs who he accused of attacking him.

“It was about 3 p.m. in the afternoon when I came out of the mosque and saw the office of NNPP on fire, and Doguwa had two guns in his hands. The distance between myself and him wasn’t much, and before I knew what happened, he shot me in the shoulder for no reason. I was crawling and trying to escape when he ordered a thug with a machete to cut me or give him the machete to do it.”

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/bloodshed-and-death-inside-story-of-kanos-tudun-wada-electoral-violence-in-doguwas-constituency/

THE Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc, a publicly traded company under the name Transcorp, reported a 63.08 per cent decline in profit after tax (PAT) to N1.86 billion in the first quarter (Q1) of the year, from the N5.04 billion the company posted in the same period of 2022.

Many businesses had been adversely affected by the naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in the first quarter.

The apex bank had in October 2022 announced its plan to phase out designs of the N200, N500 and N1,000 notes, and introduced new designs into circulation, arguing it would help check counterfeiting, strengthen the economy, fight banditry, curb vote-buying in the general elections, and reduce the expenditure on cash management.

However, the redesign policy, experts said, had done more damage to the economy, paralysing business activities.

“The entire exercise was a needless disruption of economic growth activities, especially among the most vulnerable segments of the economy,” the Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprises (CPPE), Muda Yusuf, told The ICIR.

A look at Transcorp’s unaudited financial statements for the period ended 31 March 2023 showed that the company reported losses across all its main profit indicators.

A diversified conglomerate with investments in the hospitality, power, and oil and gas sectors, Transcorp’s profit before tax (PBT) also fell sharply by 50.18 per cent to N2.85 billion in the first quarter this year, from N5.73 billion in the first quarter of 2022.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/transcorps-net-profit-drops-63-08-amid-strained-naira-redesign-policy/

NIGERIANS from all walks of life have continued to patronise loan apps despite their unconventional ways of recovering their money.

These loan apps act as platforms where you can get quick loans with no collateral other than providing a bank verification number (BVN) and a request to allow pictures and contacts on a potential customer’s phone.

*Yemisi (not her real name), a resident of Ojo, Lagos, told The ICIR in a chat that despite being warned by friends and relatives about the risk of borrowing money from the Loan Apps, she still went ahead.

“I was warned by several people to avoid the Loan Apps, but I still went in. They almost killed me; I nearly died; they sent horrible messages to all my contacts. At one point, they told my contacts I was a fraudster. Please, I don’t even want to remember,” she said.

Yemisi not only took a loan and regretted it but also introduced one of her friends, Mummy Wura, to the loan facility.

Mummy Wura, in a chat with The ICIR, said she got a loan from CreditAll, and it’s a miracle she is alive to tell the story.

“At a point, I develop high blood pressure. They will call me every day in the morning, afternoon and night, threatening me, even though I promised to pay them in due time.

“They gave me a loan of N60,000; I was expected to pay N80,000 within a month. I defaulted for two days, and I saw hell,” the mother of two said.

According to her, she also borrowed from Carbon Loan App, which claimed they paid money into her account, but she did not see the money.

More victims of the loan app shaming strategy narrate their experiences.
Another victim, Precious, narrates her experience to The ICIR in a chat.

“My name is Precious. I got a phone from Easybuy; I bought the phone on credit. During my payment, I was opportune to apply for a loan.

“So, early this year, January to be precise, I collected another loan.

“The plans I had in paying up the loan were aborted. So, I had to start struggling to pay up.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/nigerians-continue-to-patronise-loan-apps-despite-crude-ways-of-fund-recovery/

Last year, 2022, holds terrifying memories for farmers in Rimba, a remote community in Abaji Area Council of the FCT, due to the incessant destruction of crops by cattle. In addition, Police efforts to charge a herder to court for the attempted murder of a farmer were frustrated by backdoor settlement, Sinafi Omanga of The ICIR reports.

On the afternoon of October 23 last year, 23 years old farmer Kefas Luka visited his farm about three kilometres away from his home. With their herder in sight, he found a herd of cattle grazing on his budding millet farm.

Luka did not anticipate the brutal episode that followed.

“I wanted to record the Fulani herdsman with my phone to use as evidence. Only for him to bring out a long cutlass and cut the hand I was using to hold the phone,” Kefas said, teary-eyed.

“It was not the first time they were destroying our crops, and whenever we report, their people and the police don’t take any action”, he added.

Several months after the incident, Kefas is still receiving treatment at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada; his full recovery is not in sight yet.

Wrapped with a bandage, his wound still oozed pus, “The doctor said I still have four surgeries to undergo. Every day, I go to the hospital for checkups, but sometimes I feel like I have lost my hand”, he groaned.

At least 30 farmers in Rimba who are mainly Gbagyi told The ICIR that their farms were either looted or grazed by herders. Some of them said the herders put their cattle to pasture in the farmland with impunity.

The consistent destruction of crops by the cattle whose herders the community described as mainly Fulani is festering resentment and leading to hunger.

Though located in the FCT, Rimba has struggled with infrastructural deprivations such as clean water, mobile network, hospital, electricity and access roads.

The persistent face-offs between herdsmen and Rimba farmers over the destruction of crops are hardly reported to the police but rather handled informally through village chiefs, findings by The ICIR revealed.

However, the October incident with Luka was reported to the police, Bagudu Usman was identified as the primary suspect.

“We reported the matter because it was very serious” according to Pius, Luka’s elder brother, who had reported the matter at the Abaji Police Area Command, Abuja.

After investigation, Police declared Usman’s offence as “an attempted murder” which would be transferred from the Abaji Area Command to Force Headquarters, Abuja.

But, in what appeared to be a big surprise, Usman, the accused, was released from police custody after spending three weeks at the command’s detention, Pius explained.

Shedding light on why Usman was released, the Area Commander of Abaji Police Area Command, who was mandated by the FCT Police spokesperson, Josephine Adeh to speak on the matter, referred to the Administration of the Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015.

“By law, the police cannot detain a suspect for more than 48 hours, but because it was a case that bordered on life, we obtained an affidavit from the court to retain him in detention for almost a month.

“But the victim’s family members and village chiefs came here and bailed the suspect. I was surprised”, said Abiodun Makanjoula, the Abaji Police Area Commander.

When The ICIR visited Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), Abaji Branch, to speak with Usman, the branch chairman, Abdullahi Musa, said the suspect is not from around there, he was hired by a cattle owner, Isa Alih to herd over four hundred cows.

MACBAN, an advocacy group centred on advancing the interest of Fulani pastoralists in Nigeria, said since Usman was released from Police custody, he has “disappeared” from the community.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/rimba-the-fct-community-on-the-brink-of-herder-farmers-crisis-escalation/

NIGERIANS from all walks of life have continued to patronise loan apps despite their unconventional ways of recovering their money.

These loan apps act as platforms where you can get quick loans with no collateral other than providing a bank verification number (BVN) and a request to allow pictures and contacts on a potential customer’s phone.

*Yemisi (not her real name), a resident of Ojo, Lagos, told The ICIR in a chat that despite being warned by friends and relatives about the risk of borrowing money from the Loan Apps, she still went ahead.

“I was warned by several people to avoid the Loan Apps, but I still went in. They almost killed me; I nearly died; they sent horrible messages to all my contacts. At one point, they told my contacts I was a fraudster. Please, I don’t even want to remember,” she said.

Yemisi not only took a loan and regretted it but also introduced one of her friends, Mummy Wura, to the loan facility.

Mummy Wura, in a chat with The ICIR, said she got a loan from CreditAll, and it’s a miracle she is alive to tell the story.

“At a point, I develop high blood pressure. They will call me every day in the morning, afternoon and night, threatening me, even though I promised to pay them in due time.

“They gave me a loan of N60,000; I was expected to pay N80,000 within a month. I defaulted for two days, and I saw hell,” the mother of two said.

According to her, she also borrowed from Carbon Loan App, which claimed they paid money into her account, but she did not see the money.

More victims of the loan app shaming strategy narrate their experiences.
Another victim, Precious, narrates her experience to The ICIR in a chat.

“My name is Precious. I got a phone from Easybuy; I bought the phone on credit. During my payment, I was opportune to apply for a loan.

“So, early this year, January to be precise, I collected another loan.

“The plans I had in paying up the loan were aborted. So, I had to start struggling to pay up.

“I got a series of calls and messages from them that I was a fraud.

“It’s Newedge; Palm credit that gives out loans in Easybuy. So, I got a lot of messages from them, threatening messages.

Precious said she made them understand that she had no intention of defrauding the company. However, they kept sending her threatening messages and reported her to her guarantor.

“I was able to make a payment of N10,000; part payment. After 4-5 days, one of the workers sent another threatening message. I couldn’t bear it,” she said.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/nigerians-continue-to-patronise-loan-apps-despite-crude-ways-of-fund-recovery/

As parties displeased with the outcomes of February 25, 2023, presidential election head for court, The ICIR reports that the cases will most likely get to the Supreme Court, given similar cases in the past.

Following what many see as controversial pronouncements by the apex court in recent times, The ICIR’s Marcus Fatunmole and Theophilus Adedokun, in this piece, profile the current 13 justices of the Supreme Court, including some of the recent cases they handled and accompanying public opinions that greeted their outcomes.

The ICIR had earlier done an explainer on steps and timelines for resolving Presidential election disputes in Nigeria. Read it HERE.

The 2023 presidential result
INEC declared the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, the election winner at about 4 a.m. on Wednesday, March 1.

The Chairman of the Commission and the returning officer for the 2023 Presidential Election, Mahmood Yakubu, said Tinubu polled 8,794,726 votes.

The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar finished second with 6,984,520 votes. (The ICIR reported how hope dims for Atiku after six failed shots at the presidency.)

Labour Party (LP) candidate Peter Obi came third in the February election with 6,101,533 votes, while Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) had 1,496,687.

Twelve other candidates got fewer votes than the four major political parties at the election.

PDP and LP have claimed they won the poll and would be heading to court to challenge its outcome.

Some of the previous judgements bothering on elections by the Supreme Court
In December 2008, the court upheld the election of late President Musa Y’adua, despite admitting it was flawed.

The former Military Head of State and now incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari and Atiku Abubakar, who vied for the presidency against Yar’Adua, challenged his victory.

Yar’Adua succeeded former President Olusegun Obasanjo on a joint ticket he held with former President Goodluck Jonathan. Jonathan assumed office after Yar’Adua died in office.

In January 2020, The ICIR reported how six governors reclaimed their mandates through the Supreme Court since the nation returned to democracy in 1999.

The Supreme Court justices and some of the cases they have handled
Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Olukayode Ariwoola
The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Olukayode Ariwoola, was appointed a Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in 2011. He was at the Court of Appeal between 2005 and 2011.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/supreme-court-judges-who-may-decide-nigerias-next-president/

AN AERO Contractor flight 2124 escaped a crash en route Abuja-Lagos on Wednesday, March 16, while inbound Lagos State.

Carrying, at least, 80 passengers, the flight experienced much turbulence from a heavy cloud, eventually resulting in a downpour.

Passengers overwhelmed with fear screamed and called on God to save them from impending doom through different means as the aircraft’s wings flapped raucously.

Many called ‘Jesus’, and others shouted ‘Allah’ as the hope of escaping death waned.

The incident happened between 4:25pm and 4:40pm.

Awojebe Akinwale was the flight’s captain. Elated passengers praised his team when the flight eventually landed at about 4:45pm.

The cabin crew and the captain’s co-pilot beamed with smiles as they watched the passengers disembark.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/how-poor-weather-almost-crahses-aero-contractor-flight-on-route-abuja-lagos/