₦airaland Forum

Of course, It's a big scam.

https://www.thecable.ng/from-algorithms-to-addiction-ai-fuelling-underage-sports-betting-nigeria/

The story was supported by Pulitzer Center

For a long time, living in Osun State of Nigeria, Samuel Adegoke grew up like other young men, obedient, law-abiding and respectful. At 18, when he gained admission to Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, a friend introduced him to sports betting.

Sports betting, Adegoke’s friend told him, was an Artificial Intelligence (Al)-powered activity that guaranteed millions of naira jackpots from small stakes. All Adegoke needed to do was to place money according to predictions by Al-models that continuously analysed vast datasets for accurate win probabilities for stakers.

One morning in his second year in school, just before the first semester examinations, an Al-powered sports betting promotion came up, one promising a mouth-watering bonus. Adegoke used his school fees to bet and lost everything.

Adegoke could have been taken in, because unlike in the past, sport betting companies had a sophisticated plan on a 24/7 basis, turning bettors into addicts through social media algorithms and exploiting the Al hype by promoting themselves as using Al for more accurate, adaptive, and specific forecasts. They claimed that their Al-generated information about players’ output, injuries, weather and past team performances within microseconds could help stakers win through on-the-spot predictions.

Also, the Al-powered dashboards of sport betting companies made their interfaces easy to navigate, allowing people to lose money in a fast and seamless manner, said David Ebriku, a lawyer handling cases for underaged sports bettors. All a young bettor had to do was go to their website on mobile phone, make selections based on Al-generated predictions, click the bet button, copy the booking number, click the ‘Book a Bet’ icon from the top menu, paste the booking number then make payments online through their bank accounts.

“There were virtual betting games too,” Israel Jacob, Adegoke’s friend, said. “People bet on Al-powered games.”

When people like Adegoke lost money, it fostered the suspicion that sport betting companies typically operated on a ‘house always wins’ rule. Though these companies offered Al-powered tools and predictions, they always won, and the onus of managing losses fell on bettors, with little or no financial compensations.

The same thing happened in the case with Samuel Adegoke. Unable to attend school, he developed mental health challenges, bought insecticide from a patent medicine shop and drank the poison, dying at a period he was supposed to be sitting for his examinations.

Al-Powered Sport Betting: Nigeria’s New Killing Field

Following Adegoke’s death, questions began to be asked across Nigerian websites, blogs, and newspapers, about increasing cases of suicides and mental health challenges among young Nigerians, since sport betting transitioned from manual operations to Al-powered platforms on mobile phones in the last two decades.

There were no official centralized government statistics to track mental health challenges and suicides from sports betting in Nigeria, but a study stated that of sports bettors surveyed, 12.5 percent reported negative impacts, many resorting to depression, debt and crime to recoup from losses. However, documented cases of suicides were numerous. In December 2021, an Abuja-based youth, Adegbite, took his life after losing N150,000 ($100) belonging to his employer through betting. In February 2022, Daniel Ayuba Mark took his life after scammers hacked his SportyBet account and withdrew N1.5 million ($1,000) with a card he saved in his account.

Sports betting had always been present in Nigeria, but youths were not having mental health problems like this, and it was not because the population of bettors was not up to the estimated 60 million Nigerians now engaged with gambling. Things changed through the proliferation of mobile phones, with usage surging since 2021, active telecom subscriptions now exceeding 182 million subscribers.



Artificial intelligence through mobile phones then accelerated the rate of sports betting engagements, with ads now designed to be catchy and omnipresent in social media, blogs, and search engines, highlighting the few who won big, creating a sense of hope to young people, portraying betting as a shortcut to wealth. Unfortunately, the rate of losses also accelerated, increasing mental health challenges and documented cases of suicides.

How Regulatory Bodies help Al Kill Under-age Bettors

The National Lottery Regulatory Commission formerly supervised sports betting through the National Lottery Act 2005, which banned children under 18 from participating in it. In Section 34 (1) (e), licensees who contravened the provision were liable to fines of not less than N20,000 and imprisonment of not less than one year.

Despite this, findings revealed that the National Lottery Act was breached with impunity, with culprits not paying fines or imprisoned, while underage bettors frequently visited online betting sites, popularly known as Baba Ijebu.

To combat these sharp practices and lax regulations, the House of Representatives wanted to amend the 2005 National Lottery Act, through the Health Adolescence Act, but lack of political will stood in the way. The Director General, National Lottery Regulatory Commission, Lanre Gbajabiamila, also intended to institute tougher laws.

“Any operator allowing underaged individuals to participate in gambling will face the consequences. We are committed to building a responsible, well-regulated and fair industry,” he said.

The Supreme Court of Nigeria rendered these good intentions needless in 2024, when it ruled that gambling was supposed to be controlled by states and not federal authorities.

States now control the sector, but the proliferation of Al-powered mobile phones, as well as the activities of sport betting companies, still fuel sports betting among underage bettors, leading to rising documented rates of suicides and mental health challenges.

Experts also said the tough economic conditions in the country, the get-rich-quick mentality of Nigerians and the compelling techniques used by Al-powered sports betting platforms made millions to gamble.

With approximately 62 percent of Nigerians, or roughly 141 million people, living below the poverty line, lots of people fall for the alternatives provided by sports betting companies.

“Since the country is so bad, people are doing anything to get their daily bread, even sports betting, which entices people, especially young ones, like magic,” Love Olawumi, Publisher, Apoi Voice, told this reporter from his Lagos base.

How sports betting companies use Al to entice young Nigerians

In 2025, a video advertisement was posted on Facebook by Oun Lyka, featuring TVC newsreporter, Oluwakemi Fola Adeyemi, presenting a report about popular footballer Victor Osimhen endorsing the I Be Casino betting app.

“Victor Osimhen has become the official sponsor of an official mobile application that allows Nigerians to be successful. The app has created a new sensation and has broken all download records,” Adeyemi said.

“Our developers have specifically made it so that everyone can have a 98 percent chance of winning,” Osimhen said in the video.

Unknown to her followers, what Oun did was the standard way sports betting companies use to lure thousands of unwary youths into sports betting, with Al-powered videos endorsing them by popular footballers, only this time it was fake, as Osimhen’s endorsement of I Be Casino was Al-generated.

In Nigeria, the youth see artificial intelligence as a tool for transformation, economic empowerment, education and career growth. Once they learned that Al generated the data to be used for betting, they believed it was genuine. Capitalizing on this, sports betting companies exploited the opportunity to create an illusion for young sports bettors.

Experts say sports betting companies were not particularly bringing genuine information, they were only claiming to generate actionable data through Al in order to hoodwink the unwary, using Al-generated videos of a few winners and endorsements by popular footballers to create a facsimile of opportunity.

Looking for an Al-Powered Company
Worried about the alarming rates of suicide and mental health among the youth, as well as the powerful nature of Al-powered websites, Lagos State Government in late 2023 banned 45 gaming companies.

Most of the banned companies used artificial intelligence for its operations.
In trying to access one of them on Google, the first of the two sites associated with it said that the website was under construction. The second said attackers might be trying to steal information through the website, including passwords, bank account numbers, and card details.

On another website, Scribd.com, young people will discover that the company offered free registration to various types of bettors, with a minimum stake of N100 and maximum payout per bettor at N40,000,000, all deposits and withdrawals free of charge.

In trying to act on this by opening the website through Website Informer, a warning was given, saying one did so at their own risk, with ScamAdviser.com scoring the company one out of four in relation to safety.

Further probings revealed had been in the sports betting business since 1993, carrying out its business in nations such as Serbia, Republic of Srpska, Montenegro, and North Macedonia. All efforts to show its link with the Nigerian brand failed.

However, going by Nigerian law, any company into business should register with the SEC, but it was not among those listed on the SEC Verification Portal, a platform to assist people find out whether a business had permission to do business by law in Nigeria. On contacting the company through email, no reply came as at the time of filing this report.

However, information derived from WHOIS, a public database of domain registration records, indicated that no data was available for the company, because the domain name did not exist. If a company lacked data on WHOIS, it generally meant their ownership details were hidden, redacted, or the domain was not currently registered, indicating lack of transparency, a red flag.

Some sports betting companies on the list of those banned in Lagos operated in this way. When young Nigerians patronise them and lose, they could not hold an epileptic or unregistered company to account, leading to mental health challenges or suicide.

Why an Al-driven Sports Betting Company was Banned

On August 19, 2025, an influencer wrote a list on Nairaland, one of Nigeria's biggest blogs.

“My name is Ajimuda Timilehin. I live in Lagos and I work in sports betting,” the influencer said.

Writing with passion, he encouraged readers to stake with an Al-driven sports betting company banned by the Lagos State Government.

“If you are in Nigeria and you are looking for a betting site that pays fast and gives good odds, you can try this company,” Timilehin said.

The virtual games in the company’s catalog included Money Wheel, Demi God, Tales of Camelot, Net Cash and others, represented by many manufacturers, including Play'n Go, Playson, Booongo, NetEnt, Microgaming and many more.

The entire list of providers was displayed on the page with titles, allowing users to quickly find software from their favorite developers.

Everything on the screen was controlled by artificial intelligence, classic gaming or generative Al, with computers making decisions every single minute.

Unfortunately, scrutiny of the platform did not bear out Timilehin’s claims 100 percent.

The company lost a lot of credibility in Nigeria in 2023, when Nigerians berated it over the treatment meted out to a bettor popularly known as @MistaFelix, who won some draw games of around N50 million ($50,000) and was not paid. The company eventually paid after two and a half years, plenty time for a young man to develop mental health problems or commit suicude if affected.


Perhaps its habit of withholding winnings made punters condemn the company before and after its entrance into Nigeria. For instance, SCAMADVISER.COM gave the website a low trust rating, seeing it as a scam.

Several videos on YouTube praised the website, informing young bettors about how to register, as well as how to claim their bonus, while a reputable newspaper told stakers about what they needed to know about the company.

However, it was instructive to note that some YouTube viewers expressed contrary opinions in their comments on the sports betting website.

“They are scammers. They are holding $3,700 of my money, after I verified my account and submitted all the documents they requested (passport, national ID, binance account, etc). In the end, when I tried to withdraw, they approved it, and instantly an error appeared: ‘Payment error, Payment rejected by operator,’” wrote Ican, a bettor, on Jan 15, 2026.

On contacting the company about these issues, an official told this reporter that all bets were settled only after their specialists received official results of events provided by official sources.

“If you are interested in withdrawals, please note, availability of a payment method depends on the technical capacity of the payment system. Withdrawal operations can be processed from 15 minutes to several days, depending on the chosen method and circumstances in each case,” said Liza, the official who answered the email inquiry.

The company’s story was familiar, this reporter learnt. When Nigerians win big from some sports betting companies, payment was delayed or denied due to issues with the technical capacity of the Al-payment system, causing anguish, with some victims developing mental health problems in the process.

Earlier in the year, Kelvin Danlami, a 300-level computer science student at the Ibrahim Babangida University, Lapau, Niger State, killed himself after mental health challenges from losing rent money to a sports betting site.

Al-generated odds, endorsement by celebrities

The ability of Al sports betting in Nigeria to attract underage bettors could also be linked to endorsements by high profile individuals and influencers.

For example, former Super Eagles captain, Mikel Obi, was unveiled as a brand ambassador for Betwinner in February 2023, with the responsibility of representing the company in Nigeria.


In addition, Mikel joined Betwinner in an Al-driven cinematic advertisement campaign, to paint a vivid picture of the activities of the sports betting company, with more than 30 people in seven different time zones taking part in the process of creating the commercial, the shoot taking place in Dubai.

Mikel Obi is a famous footballer, trusted by millions of young people, so the sports betting company finds it convenient to use him in their promotions of Al-driven platforms. Through famous footballers, underage bettors get introduced to complex software, where Al-models match simulations for predictive analytics and personalized recommendations.

In other words, a combination of digital illiteracy, poor policy implementation, fraudulent sports betting companies and other reasons led Nigerian youths to lose their money, develop mental health problems and some ultimately committing suicide.

Meta,YouTube on Al-driven sports betting apps in Nigeria

Al-powered advertisements by sports betting companies which breach the law as related to underage betting were numerous on Meta and YouTube. The same applied to companies which peddled misleading information about betting. Meta did not respond when contacted for comment on whether it was aware of this issue.

But this reporter learned that Meta flagged misleading ads, only banning them if its automated tools were 95 percent certain that its laws had been flouted. When certainty was not 95 percent, Meta charged higher advertising rates as a penalty.

This trend enabled Nigerian sports betting companies to not comply with local laws with respect to not targeting underage youths with content in support of betting.

Google fights back, but not on underage betting

Google allowed sports betting companies to operate on its platform, but the outfits must comply with local laws about not targeting minors and promoting irresponsible betting.

These provisions have been breached time and time again, but even though Google banned sports betting companies in January 2025, after the Supreme Court judgement about who controlled the sector, it was not because Google was concerned about underage betting.

Three months later, Google confirmed this view, by reversing its ban, allowing ads for gaming products in Lagos State, provided they aligned with state laws.

Soon after, Google also allowed operators in Cross River, Ekiti and Oyo States to advertise sports betting, online casinos games and lotteries, in line with the Supreme Court ruling.

Experts however cautioned that artificial intelligence continued to put underage bettors at the mercy of sports betting companies through algorithms. “Because of the way advertising works, even if you want to avoid gambling, you’re going to be served up more options and opportunities to engage in that behaviour than if you were someone who never engaged in that behaviour in the first place,” said James Sherer, an expert with the American Psychiatric Association task force on gambling.

In Nigeria, where digital literacy was limited, Mr. Abah Christopher, a psychologist, said Al-fuelled sports betting could have negative psychological effects on individuals by contributing to depression, frustration, and in extreme cases, suicide.

To curb the problem, Christopher called for a number of measures. “We need intervention through therapy, support groups and treatment programs. These are crucial in breaking this cycle and helping individuals recover from gambling addiction,” he said.

On his part, Ebriku observed that sports betting companies were taking advantage of the proliferation of mobile phones to deploy Al-tools. “Before, people went to pools houses to bet, so it was easy to prevent underage betting, because youths could be driven away. But with mobile phones, sports betting companies could turn your head with Al-tools inside your room. This needs to be looked into,” he said.

The Situation Today

It has been years since Samuel Adegoke died, but Jacob Israel had not forgotten how he committed suicide through sports betting, nor stopped warning people against it.

With Meta and other social media unable or unwilling to pull down betting advertisements, and the Nigerian government's inability to implement laws related to the issue, millions of the underage are susceptible to Al-driven betting platforms as never before, becoming mentally ill with betting losses, some commiting suicide.

https://www.thehopenewspaper.com/hunger-at-a-time-of-climate-change/

By Adetokunbo Abiola

Demola Ogundele looks unkempt and gaunt. Amidst the cries of children at the background of the youth home in Akure, he trudges as though a weight rests on his shoulders. As he approaches, he licks his parched lips, plastered into a dusty and sweaty face on the May afternoon. He rubs his chin as he comes near, and on reaching me, he says without a sense of shame, “Please, give me N50 to buy food.”

At the leper’s colony at Ago Ireti, Oba-Ile, Akure, the same scene of desolation and unkempt surroundings pervades the place. Shina Ekundayo, a man in his sixties, sits amidst the noise of a nearby television set, pulling his nose, chewing a stick, looking as though he’s about eighty. The smell of dust hangs in the air as Shina gives a dry cough. “No water,” he states. “nothing, no food.”

The cry rings through the lepers’ colony, “No food.” In the taxi cabs prowling Oba Adesida Road in Akure, other vulnerable people, too, complain about the absence of food, their faces filled with desolation, their dress unkempt. Hunger shines in their eyes, and though they look fatter than Demola and Shina, the same sense of shamelessness about hunger clings to them like glue, their tempers short and nasty. The victims of hunger include the destitutes, the disabled, the unemployed, and others.

Since 2021, hunger worsens in Akure. In September, prices of food such a beans, rice, maize, and others rose, yet again. A 20-kilogramme bowl of gari cost N5,000, but with the Nigerian inflation rate rising to 16.82% in April, the prices of food take an upwards swing, and now a bowl of gari goes for N6,500, thereby creating a big hole in the monthly budgets of many.

Folasade Olorunlana teaches at the Department of Geography and Planning Sciences at the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko. A study she conducted explains the reason for the inflation and why the prices of food stuff take an upwards swing. According to Olorunlana, climate change through drought negatively affects the production of popular food crops like rice, yam, beans, and others.

In addition, investigations reveal that the Russia’s attack on Ukraine impacted on the availability of wheat, leading to a hike in the price of bread. But climate change forms the underlying factor, through drought, late rainfalls, and temperature rises.

In other words, climate change affects the production of food crops, making the quantity of harvest to nosedive. With small-holder farmers unable to harvest as much as before, market women pay more to get the food at their disposal. To make profits, market women hike up the prices of their food products, sending thousands of people like Demola and Shina to face the challenge of starvation.

The consequences of climate change on food production prove very serious for the disabled, destitutes, the unemployed, and others in Akure and surrounding areas. Basil Johnson and Folorunso Awoseyila teach at the Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo. Jointly, they wrote a study titled Vulnerability Analysis of Rural Households to Food Insecurity in Ondo State.

“Results from the study also showed that majority of the respondents eat less preferred food as one of the coping strategies employed to cushion the effects of economic shock in the study area,” they wrote.

For others, stealing becomes a strategy to outwit hunger. At Ibillo, members of a local vigilante group arrested two men for stealing a 2.2 KVA generator set, sold for N75,000 to N80,000. When asked the reason for the theft, one of the thieves said, “We did it because of hunger.”

Food insecurity, along with the associated severe hunger, pervades the state, according to Damilola Tobiloba Adereti and Oluwatosin Fasina, in their study titled Gender Analysis of Food Security Status of Rural Households in Ondo State.

“The HFSSM revealed that 45.8% of households were food insecure with severe hunger, while 34.7% were with moderate hunger, 8.3% of the respondents were food insecure without hunger. Though 8.3% of the households were food secure, another 2.8% were food secure at risk,” Adereti and Fasina wrote.

For some who are at a risk, they raid farmlands in order to survive, as was the reported case of a 30-year-old man arrested by the Ondo State Police Command for stealing 200 tubers of yam in Okitipupa Local Government Area of the state. When asked for the reason of the theft, the man said, “It’s hunger.”

Due to the hunger, some young men pilfer commodities with proceeds hardly able to sustain them for a day. For people who face food insecurity and don’t steal, life becomes rough. To cope, they eat less preferred food as a coping mechanism. Some, however, busy themselves thinking about how to cope with the climate change, which affects food security.

“Food security in Nigeria still demands for a serious concern, given a global food security index of 43.0%, which is far below the average world level of 88%,” wrote Johnson and Awoseyila.

Aderetie and Fasina agree, especially on the aspect related to food security.

“Our study recommends well-planned and focused food security programmes and intensification of rural empowerment schemes,” they said.

Scholars such as Olorunlana say for food security to be strengthened agricultural extension workers need to be educated on current information pertaining to climate change. Through this, she argues, the extension workers could enlighten farmers about adaptive strategies as related to climate change. But the extension workers need to undergo a fast training, as climate change breeds more people like Demola and Shina every day, afflicting embattled people with starvation and hunger.



"This story is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story."

CC: Lalasticlala

The OP is a serial liar" There's no way this woman can be the one Mary Slessor saved, unless this woman he met is over 150 years old. Here is a link to Slessor's life, and it doesn't jell with the claims of the OP - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Slessor

SOURCE
https://www.thehopenewspaper.com/foreigners-crippling-our-business-fortunes-ilaje-fishermen/


Chinese Trawlers Cause Poverty in Ilaje through Over fishing
By Adetokunbo Abiola

Taiwo Omowunmi, a forty-year-old fishmonger, looks sad. She sits behind the table at Igbokoda in Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State. She gazes at the pitiable collection of croaker, tilapia and other types of fish on her table, and she keeps muttering “No fish” in the afternoon air scented with pepper and okra and Maggi cubes.

“Before, we used to have lots of croaker. We used to have lots of tilapia. We used to have bonga fish. Now, there’s no fish," she said.
Dozens of artisanal fishermen, fishmongers, and fish merchants in IIaje sing the same song – there’s no fish, there’s no profit, there’s no gain in the fishing business. In the past, lots of fishing boats berthed at the Igbokoda Terminal, bulging with different types of fish from the Atlantic Ocean, but today, fishermen have abandoned the terminal, their fishing boats cast aside, their nets cast aside, their eyes looking desolate and angry over the “invasion” of Chinese, Singaporean, Indian, and other trawlers.

“The Chinese are the worst of them all, their trawlers catch all types of fishes but they only select the big ones whist killing and dumping back into the water the smaller fishes including the fingerlings,” said Samuel Ayadi, the Niger Delta Coordinator of Artisan Fishermen Association of Nigerian (ARFAN), who spoke to Niger Delstars about Bayelsa State. He could well have been speaking about the situation in Ilaje.

Though information about the specific number of foreign ships in Ondo State has not been computed, the national total is mind-boggling. Reports by the Guardian disclosed that Chinese vessels have expanded from 13 vessels in 1985 to 462 vessels presently.

There are “too many boats fishing for too few fish” said Dyhia Belhabib, a researcher at the University of British Columbia, in a China Dialogue Ocean story in 2019. “China is easy to blame because it’s the one that is most visible … but they are not the only ones.”
“From the 1970s, commercial trawlers started encroaching on the economic rights of the coastal fishermen by destroying their fishing nets,” wrote Professor Omolere Ehinmore, a fishing researcher at the Department of History and International Studies at the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko. “This is mainly a result of non-conformity to the rules of keeping to a specified nautical level.”
Nigeria’s Sea Fisheries Act of 1992 specifies five nautical miles from the coast as the limit, but foreign fishing trawlers from China, Singapore, and Europe, buoyed by hefty subsidies from their governments, breach the law and often fish in near-shore waters. Nigerian fishermen can’t compete on the level of subsidies. According to Rashid Sumaila, Professor, Ocean and Fisheries Economics, University of British Columbia, in 2019 China’s industrial fisheries got $5,952 million, the U.S.A got $3,553 million and EU got $3,814million, while Africa received a paltry $1,396 million.

Daramola Bolarinwa, Head of Office, Federal Department of Fisheries, Akure, Ondo State, explains. “We used to have subsidies for fishermen in the past,” he says. “But this ended around 2013. We had the Integrated Rural Fisheries Development Project. We had the Growth Enhancement Scheme. We had the ECOWAS Artisanal Fish Production Scheme. But that was in the past. Due to many challenges, the subsidy scheme for fishermen in the coastal areas couldn’t be continued by my department.”

In place of incentives, the fishermen in Ilaje face the challenge of the removal of fuel subsides as the government intends to roll out this change shortly, a move likely to make life harsher for those in the fishing business.

“We don’t receive separate subsidies from other Nigerians on fuel,” says Tayo Olafisoye, a fisherman in Yonren, another Ilaje community. “If the government removes subsidies from fuel, the cost of buying fuel will increase. Our ability to go into the water to fish will decrease, because the cost of buying fuel for our boats will increase, and already we’re suffering over fuel. There’ll be more hardship.”

Globally, it is predicted that climate change will reduce fish catch by 7.7 percent and revenues from it by 10.4 percent by 2050 under a high carbon emissions scenario (Lam Cheung, Reygondeau, Sumaila, 2016.) This decrease in the catch may be as much as 26 percent in some parts of West Africa and could be even be higher in other parts of West African countries closer to the equator: a 53 percent drop in fish in Nigeria, 56 percent in Cote d’Ivoire, and 60 percent in Ghana.
In addition, fish migrate towards the poles to follow the cooler seas, making fishing at high latitudes more productive while tropical fisheries – like Nigeria’s – suffer.

This situation is exacerbated by frequent oil spills in the region. According to the National Oil Spill Detection Agency (NOSDRA) data, the total number of oil spills recorded from 2015 to March 2021 is 4,919; a large number of these in and around Ilaje.
Titus Oladele, a fisherman at Yonren,complained about an oil spill that happened in 2015. “It destroyed my net. We couldn’t fish again. The spills either killed the fish or made them to swim away to safer waters.”

“Oil spills have the tendency of spreading through the entirely affected ocean creating untoward havoc to the aquatic organisms. In the marine ecosystem, it breaks into many different chemical and physical components that float on the surface of water, suspend in the column or sink to the bottom of ocean. The resultant effects are enormous, and they include toxicity of sea bed, killing and displacement of aquatic animals, stunted growth, etc.,” wrote Saka Balogun and Buliaminu Kareem, in their 2013 report, The Effects of Oil Spillage on Aquatic Environment in Ilaje Community.

At a period when climate change, coupled with oil exploration along the Atlantic coast, pushes fish far from the shore, the foreign trawlers make what’s left of the fishing grounds along the Nigerian Atlantic Ocean a major killing field, where more fish is caught than can be sustained. In 2018, Nigeria lost US$70 million to trawlers fishing illegally in the country, according to Margaret Orakwusi, the former president of the Nigerian Trawler Operators Association. Ilaje isn’t exempt from the incursion, with the survival of local fishermen under attack.

“It’s rampant for foreign vessels to attack fishermen,” said Orioye Gbayisemore, an artisanal fisherman who organized a fishermen's summit trying to galvanize others into a force to challenge the foreign vessels and others. “Once you set out your net, their powerful nets drag your net and the fish, and they go away with everything. Some of the vessels come from Singapore, China, India, and others. I identify them by going near them with my android phone and snapping the country flags of their vessels. They took my fishing net two years ago.” Though he did not share the photos with this reporter, he says the activities of the foreign fishermen have been detrimental.

“They not only come with powerful nets,” says Prince Akins Omoyele, who started fishing back in 1974. “They come with powerful boats. They come with powerful guns, so you can’t talk to them. They come beyond the five nautical miles stipulated for them to fish. They catch everything in the water – small fish, big fish, medium-sized fish. We call their nets bubibo, which means in our local Ilaje language that they catch everything in the water. They don’t want fish to exist again. They kill everything. This is why we don’t catch fish again.” According to Omoyele, the foreign trawlers, who don’t have the licenses to fish in these waters, send most of their catch to their countries, though they sell some to local fishermen when they encounter them in the ocean.

Broken artisanal fishermen and fishmongers in places like Awoye and Ayetoro on the Atlantic Coast have little choice but to patronize foreign invaders for fish during hard times – once independent fishermen have been turned to mere middlemen.

Agnes Ologundudu, a fishmonger, stations her stall at the jetty at Awoye, her back turned to the ocean. A tray with a few pieces of fish is perched on a stool in front of her, purchased from the fishermen who patronize the foreign trawlers on the ocean. She shakes her head when talking about the devastating consequences from over fishing, worsened by climate change.

“We don’t have enough money to buy fish,” she says. “We don’t have the money to buy the few we see. Before now, we used to have fish, but now no fish. We used to have money to buy fish, but now no money, because the price of fish has gone up. It’s high. It’s high because those who get it from the foreign trawlers and other sources hoard it so as to make a big profit. They hoard it by not giving it to us for sale but offer it to people at the hinterland for a better price than the one we can buy. If you had N100,000 (US$200), you used to be able to buy fish. But now, if you have one million naira (US$2,000), it isn’t enough. There’s no money to send children to school. There’s no money to eat good food. There’s no money for anything.”

According to Dr. Tomola Obamuyi, a fish researcher at the Federal University of Technology, Akure, coastal communities are experiencing financial hardship. Despite all the economic importance of fishing to development, Obamuyi worries the people in the coastal area have remained impoverished and the economy miserable.

Obamuyi has a point, because the National Bureau of Statistics puts the fishery contribution to the economy at 5.68% in quarter two of 2020, while the Federal Department of Fisheries reported in the Vanguard newspapers that the sector contributed 5% to the National Gross Domestic Product (GDP) through the export of shrimp alone, but the propertity doesn’t show among artisanal fishermen.

This reporter learned many artisanal fishermen have fallen into financial ruin, especially when their nets were swallowed by the powerful nets of Chinese and Singaporean trawlers.

“A foreign trawler took my father’s net in 2005,” says Amos Olorunlola. “It was tough for my father, because he took a loan of N2,500,000 ($2,500) to purchase the net. My father had to take another loan, because fishing is his life-sustaining business. The incident made him sad. It made me sad. It made members of my family sad.”

Olorunlola’s face darkens with anger while narrating other stories related to artisanal fishermen losing their fishing equipment to the Chinese and Singaporean trawlers along the coast of Ondo State.

“It has happened to a lot of artisanal fishermen,” he says. “One man died six months after it happened to him, because he couldn’t pay back the loan he used to buy his net. Some ran away from the community because they couldn’t pay back the loan. Some have turned to slaves as they sweat to pay back the loans. Some have become bankrupt while paying back the loans.” He said the federal government doesn’t offer any assistance to artisanal fishermen, and does not subsidize the purchase of their nets.

It’s not surprising many fishermen have become bankrupt, because with the coming of the foreign trawlers, fish importation has increased. According to the FAO’s Country Brief on Nigeria, in 2013, total fish imports amounted to 1.2 billion dollars.

According to the Sea Fisheries Act, any trawler intercepted for over fishing is liable to imprisonment of five years or a fine of N250,000 ($500) or both. In fact, a Chinese fishing vessel ‘Hailufeng 11’ was slammed with a fine of three million naira ($6,000) in 2020, according to Vanguard newspapers. But the authorities are not always consistent.

When this reporter visited the naval command at Igbokoda, officials showed no readiness to discuss the issue of rampant over fishing, even though the government has saddled them with the responsibility of curtailing the excesses of the Chinese, Indians, and Europeans through surveillance with ships, helicopters and radar.

“The Nigerian navy has challenges,” said Ifesinachi Okafor Yarwood, a maritime security researcher at Kings College, London, in a 2019 China Dialogue Ocean story. “The navy are trying, but their vessels are derelict. Then you find corrupt officials taking backhanders to let certain things slide.”

At the Federal Department of Fisheries, the story is similar. “We have programs for illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing,” says Daramola Bolarinwa, Head of Office at the Department. “We’re supposed to be the government body to monitor, but we don’t have the equipment. We don’t have a patrol team to monitor illegal fishing.”

“Solving the problems of over fishing in Nigeria requires the Federal Department of Fisheries is supported to operate effectively,” said Yarwood in the China Dialogue Ocean story. “It must be adequately funded. Current fisheries regulations must also be updated to reflect the current realities and impacts of fisheries crime. A holistic collaborative approach is critical to addressing fisheries crime.”

“We have to cater to the needs of local fishermen,” says Daramola. “For the problems to stop, my department needs to coordinate with those at the federal level and those of us at the state level. A database of fishermen needs to be in place so we can know how to help them. Cooperative societies among fishermen should liaise with us for better coordination. Monitoring boats should be provided for us, and the staff for monitoring activities at the high seas provided. Then we’ll see a change of fortunes in the area.”

If this happens, people like Taiwo Omowunmi would finally have reason to smile.

This story was published with the permission of The Hope Newspapers, Akure, Ondo Sttae
This story was produced with support from Internews’ Earth Journalism Network and Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (UK Branch).


CC. Lalasticlala and Mods, pls stick this thread on agric section home page.

Did Steve Ogboo win a gold medal at the 1974 commonwealth games? I'm an avid boxing fan for the past forty years. In the 1974 Commonwealth Games, Nigeria had only three gold medalists in boxing - Obisia Nwankpa and Eddie Ndukwu, had only one silver medalist, Fatai Ayinla, and two bronze medalists, Isaac Ikhouria and Saliu Ishola. On learning about Steve, I was confused, because it was a completely new name. I couldn't recollect hearing about him, so I opened the website containing the information about the 1974 games. Unfortunately, Steve's name wasn't there. Here is a link to the website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1974_British_Commonwealth_Games. So where did Steve win his boxing medal?

Those who say Messi is GOAT are wrong. Watch Maradona, and Messi looks fake. Mesi copied all of Maradona's moves. He's a clone of Maradona. How can a clone play better than the original. Messi never excites me because I saw Maradona make the same moves over twenty years ago, and with passion too. Messi can't play with passion because he's a copycat. Ronaldo is original, not a clone. He belongs there with Pele and Maradona.

Chukwumeka Ike is one of the greatest writers this country has ever produced. His lyricism was immediate, his stories heart rending. The Naked Gods, Expo 77, Toads for Supper were masterpieces. It's unfortunate though that Ike came to prominence at the time Chinua Achebe was writing. This cut into his popularity, but I've always believed they had the same level of skill. I'll never forget an image I have always kept from Toads for Supper in the last forty years. It was the image of the pastor during the civil war who had his garment torn at the bottom. Very poetic. Very humorous. The truth is, Ike was a master of the ironical situation. His humour was electric and caustic. Nigeria has really lost one of its greatest writers through Ike's death. He belongs to the generation of writers that include Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, Cyprian Ekwensi, Christopher Okigbo, John Pepper Clark, Nkem Nwankwo, Gabriel Okara, Amos Tutuola, and a few others. Ike was really a great writer, a giant among giants, a writer who can make you laugh, a writer who can make you cry.

Where lalasticlala face? Where him face? Why he no wan show us him face? Why he dey hidehim face from us?

Ishilove, this is a great post! A really good post. But something could have made it to be greater. Something like the names of the women in the photo. Who are the women? Still, not mentioning the women doesn't detract from the fact that this is a great post.

The issue of N5 million has been on quite some time. When Oshiomhole was leaving office,the money was allegedly given to journalists who covered the inauguration of Obaseki. Fortunately, the money hadn't been processed, dousing tensions. A few months ago, the story came out that the money had been processed but hijacked by a Group of Edo journalists. The group of 9 journalists was suspended from the NUJ by the leadership of Roland Osakue. The alleged hijackers protested to the President of the NUJ in Abuja, who backed them against Osakue and his loyalists, escalating tension. Gbenga is an Ekiti man who plies his trade in Benin City. It is unfortunate he has got caught up in this never-ending controversy.

Can those who know them tell us why they were killed?

Source:http://towncrieronline.net/2017/06/13/man-murdered-in-his-farm-at-amai-kingdom-delta-state-graphic-photos/

As shared by Sapele ..

NOT FULANI HERDSMEN BUT DELTA HERDSMEN
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THIS IS NOT FULANI HERDSMEN, THIS IS THE HANDWORK OF OUR OWN BROTHERS IN DELTA AND I WONDER IF WE STILL HAVE THE MORAL JUSTIFICATION TO SPEAK AGAINST THE ACTIVITIES OF FULANI HERDSMEN IF ONE CAN DO THIS TO HIS OWN BROTHER
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This is the dead body of Mr Lucky Nwaokua from Amai kingdom who was murdered yesterday by the people of Umuebu Community in is farm. The people of Amai kingdom, call for justice.
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If the governor cannot influence peace in his own place, I wonder if other parts are affected, it is a shame and my heart bleeds for this promising young man.
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May his soul rest in perfect peace

CC: Lalasticlala, Mynd44

Source: http://towncrieronline.net/2017/06/12/pregnant-woman-son-electrocuted-at-the-alare-compound-aremo-in-ibadan-north-east-lga-oyo-state/

As shared by Olofofo

"A pregnant woman and her two-year-old son died by electrocution at the Alare Compound of Aremo in Ibadan North-East LGA.
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It reportedly happened when the woman was spreading clothes she had washed on a line at her residence when she got electrocuted first then her scream was said to have drawn the attention of her son, who ran to his mum, hugged her and was electrocuted, too.
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According to eye witnesses, “a nearby hotel had connected a wire to a house to provide illumination for passers-by at night. Unknown to the deceased, who was four months pregnant, the insulator on the wire had worn off. As she was spreading her clothes on it, she was electrocuted. She screamed, attracting the innocent boy, who ran to his mum. He too got electrocuted on the spot.”


CC: Lalasticlala, Mynd44

Source:http://towncrieronline.net/2017/06/10/photo-of-8-arrested-for-diverting-n23-million-unilever-goods-into-a-warehouse-at-okokomaiko-lagos/

According to online reports, a truck driver, Segun Oguma and seven others were arrested by the police for allegedly diverting N23m worth of goods entrusted in their care by the management of Unilever Industries Limited, Ogun State.

The news reports said the arrested persons were supposed to deliver the goods to a customer in Aba, Abia State but decided to offload the goods into a warehouse at Okokomaiko area of Lagos State, so they could look for a buyer.

Nemesis caught up with the suspects while offloading the goods, as a resident in the area, who suspected their movement, tipped off the DCP in charge of Federal SARS, Mr. Ibrahim Kaoje, about the development.

According to reports, this led to their arrest.

CC: Lalasticlala, Mynd44

Source: http://towncrieronline.net/2017/06/10/3-die-in-accident-between-peace-mass-bus-and-car-carrying-corpse-of-father-and-son/

As shared by Prince Ortega …

Don’t scroll without saying RIP peace mass with a another car carrying coups of a father and his son, 3 died from the one with coups many injured from both side.


CC: Lalasticlala, Mynd44

Source:http://towncrieronline.net/2017/06/09/young-nigerian-man-found-dead-in-a-car-at-yeoville-johannesburg-south-africa/

As shared by Udegbe ...

This young man in this passport was found dead in a car yesterday 7th june 2017 in Yeoville Johannesburg South Africa. According to his passport his name is Chima Ekwenaka from Umuagwu in Ohaji Egbema Imo state. If you know any member of his family or relative please come foward with the info. His body is yet to be identified because no one knows any relative or his family member. Please share this info. Thank you


CC: Lalasticlala, Mynd44

Source:http://towncrieronline.net/2017/06/09/hausa-wheelbarrow-pusher-robs-trader-of-ten-tubers-of-yam-at-main-market-awka-anambra-state/

As shared by Nweke ...

Report reaching our desk has it that a man believed to an Hausa man stole ten tuber of yam from an Igbo woman trader opposite St. Faith Cathedral,Awka.

The said man according to report is a wheelbarrow pusher who have been assisting the said woman in bringing her goods(yam) to the market. Incidentally, the man decided to divert about ten tubers of yam. When the woman raised the alarm over her stolen yam, youths and traders mobilized themselves and caught the alleged stealer.

The alleged stealer when interrogated by the trader leader ( the man on red wear), he admitted stealing the yam but denied stealing beyond ten tubers of yam.

According to our source in Awka, the market leader called on C.P.S,Awka, to conduct thorough investigation on the case, since the yam owner keeps alleging that the man stole more than ten tubers of yam.

CC: Lalasticlala, Mynd44

See earlier thread: https://www.nairaland.com/3831513/photos-woman-set-husband-herself#57046866

A Facebook user shared the burial poster of Emeka Nnatuanya, the man set ablaze by wife in Kano.
Here is the post of the Facebook user, Princez Cme Obi....

May we pray for the soul of Emeka who was killed by his newly married wife is abt to be buried today in Umuogbu Village Awka. Emeka lost his life together wit d wife over a small misunderstanding wit d wife last Saturday. Men re advice to be careful on kind of woman dey want to Marry!

Source:http://towncrieronline.net/2017/06/08/obituary-poster-of-emeka-nnatuanya-man-set-ablaze-by-wife-in-kano/

Source: http://towncrieronline.net/2017/06/08/man-escapes-death-as-fulani-herdmen-attack-him-on-bridge-in-makurdi-benue-state/

As shared by Saleh ....

Yesterday night my friend Emmanuel Terngu Jekelle escaped unhurt as fulani herdmen attacked him on the bridge on his way home, his car was not as lucky as him as can be seen in the pictures attached.

The matter has since been reported to the police C division North Bank Makurdi.

One of the culprit is right been detained at the station.

What is holding the implementation of the recently signed anti grazing bill by the government of the day?

Source: http://towncrieronline.net/2017/06/07/jss-3-student-killed-by-tanker-while-returning-from-school-graphic-photos/

Online reports state that a JSS 3 student was killed by a tanker when he was coming back from school. May his soul rest in peace.

As shared by John Johnson ...

Wit pains in our hrt n tears in our eyes
Look at how diz young jss3 student was killed by tanker wen he was coming brk 4rm school 2day
I wonder how d parents of dis young boy will feel.wat a pity
I pray non of our beloved one will die lyk dis ijn Amen
Pls make sure u type R.i.p after reading
Tnks


CC: Lalasticlala, Mynd44

Source: http://towncrieronline.net/2017/06/06/abia-police-arrest-pastor-who-rapes-pregnant-girls-at-church-turned-medical-centre/

As shared by Bunmi ...

The Abia state police command has arrested and paraded a pastor who operates a church and a medical centre which has been converted in to a baby factory at number 252 Faulks road Aba.

Speaking in Umuahia while parading the pastor who gave his name as Christopher Tochukwu and other suspected criminals, the Commissioner of Police (CP) Leye Oyebade, said that the pastor has been raping the pregnant girls at his medical centre.

Oyebade said that when one of the girls was interrogated she claimed that the pastor has been raping them and in one of his attempt to rape one of the girls, he was stabbed on the neck by the victim with a glass object she laid her hands on.

He said that one of the girls who gave her name as Imeobong Udoh under interrogation alleged that her two months old baby she delivered there was forcefully taken away from her by the wife of the pastor and sold to an unknown person.

The Abia CP said that his men who went for the operation, were able to rescue a two-week old baby girl who has been taken to a motherless baby’s home for care and custody.

In an interaction with Blessing Ariet, she said that the pastor tried to rape her and when she refused that, he started beating her with belt leaving several marks on her body.

She said that there was a time when he attempted to sleep with her forcefully but had to stop, “When his wife came suddenly into the room she was kept and he pretended that he was examining her stomach”.

The other girl who gave her name as Ikechukwu Jane said that the wife of the pastor who is now as large is aware of her husband’s raping of the girls in the medical centre.

“The wife said that when he sleeps with the girls that the babies in our womb are being fed naturally," Jane said.

Source:http://towncrieronline.net/2017/06/06/lilian-adun-wife-of-benin-city-billionaire-john-adun-dies-at-a-kitchen-gas-explosion-in-lagos/

As shared by Festus ....

What a sad moment.... Rest in peace mrs Lillian Ehimwenma Adun who was killed through a cooking gas explosion. May God comfort your husband chief John Osamede Adun, chief executive of Bob Izua conglomerate, your 6 children and entire family. Continue to rest in the bossom of the Lord, Amen.. We all miss you....

Source:http://towncrieronline.net/2017/06/05/unidentified-man-dies-at-a-motor-accident-in-tarhembe-taraba-state-graphic-photo/

A Facebok user shared this photo of an unidentified man who died in a motor accident at a place called Tarhembe. Further investigation revealed Tarhembe is located in Benue State. The victim is currently at St Chris Mortuary at Wannune.

As shared by Tyubee

If u can identify him, pass the information to his relations. He is one of the victims of the auto accident at Tarhembe. Now at the St Chris Mortuary Wannune. No one seem to know him.
Share to get it round.

Source: http://towncrieronline.net/2017/06/05/police-arrest-arms-dealer-who-supplies-weapons-to-fulani-herdsmen-operating-in-abraka-delta-state/

As shared by Olofofo

A crack squad of policemen attached to the Delta State Police Command have arrested a wanted kidnapper, and arms dealer who supplied arms and ammunition to marauding Fulani herdsmen who have been terrorizing University Town of Abraka, Delta State.
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State Police Commissioner, Mr. Ibrahim Zanna in a terse message to SouReporters confirming the development on Friday named the arms supplier as Musa Mohammed, also known as "Musa 1000".
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He said that the suspect was arrested by combine team of policemen led by Inspector Julius Robinson backed by a local vigilante group, Eagle Vigilantes Group.
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The suspect, he said who has been on the watch list of the police is alleged to be a kidnap ring leader, illegal arms dealer and supplier of arms and ammunition to a kidnap syndicates.
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Zanna said that the suspect, a 56 years old native of Dutsenma Town in Katsina state resides in Cable Point area of Asaba, the state capital.
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"The suspect has been on the Command watch list having complicity in most kidnapping related cases and supply of arms and ammunition to herdsmen and kidnapping syndicates".
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The suspect who met his waterloo on Thursday about 4:45pm around market area of Abraka have been on the run before the police clamped down, he said.
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Zanna added that the suspect is undergoing preliminary investigations.

Source: http://towncrieronline.net/2017/06/03/police-apprehend-2-teenagers-for-defiling-school-girl-at-nasarawa-ward-bauchi-state/

As shared by Bunmi …

The police in Bauchi State have arrested two teenagers, Mahmud Abdullahi and Abdullahi Mohammed, for allegedly abducting and raping a schoolgirl in the Nasarawa Ward of the state. . . Punchng reports that Abdullahi, 18, and Mohammed, 19, were arrested on Friday, May 26 at about 8am following an intelligence report. A tricycle which was allegedly used to convey the victim to a bush where she was raped was also recovered from the suspects. . . The state Commissioner of Police, Garba Umar, said the suspects would be charged to court at the end of investigations. He said, “The suspects had kidnapped a 16-year-old girl of Nasarawa Ward, who was on her way to school. . . They took her to their hideout behind a mountain at GRA Bauchi and had sexual intercourse with her. Meanwhile, the victim was rescued and taken to a teaching hospital for medical examination and treatment.”


CC: Lalasticlala, Mynd44

Source:http://towncrieronline.net/2017/06/01/photos-from-the-just-concluded-lake-efi-festival-held-in-sabageria-kolokumaopokuma-lga-bayelsa-state/

The Lake Efi fishing festival takes place in Sabageria, Kolokuma/Opokuma LGA, Bayelsa State. It is a form of a homecoming for the sons and daughters of the town, as they use the occasion to give thanks to the river goddess for a bountiful fish harvest. The festival, which is usually celebrated every seven years, is subject to the pronouncement of the chief priest, and involves canoe rides, a boat regatta and a fishing contest. During the festival, visitors are able to purchase fish of various sizes caught in the lake and sold at cheap prices.

As shared by Bodmas ..

The festival predates that of the Argungun festival.



CC: Lalasticlala, Mynd44