Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has saluted the efforts of troops confronting Boko Haram terrorists for rescuing another Chibok schoolgirl. In a brief statement issued late on Saturday, the Nigerian leader commended the soldiers for their gallant efforts “to secure the people and territory of Nigeria” and described them as the nation’s heroes. “No man, woman, … Read more
The African Development Bank’s board approved a $600 million loan for Nigeria aimed at helping Africa’s largest economy plug its budget deficit as it grapples with its first recession in more than 20 years, a senior bank official said. The loan is the first tranche of a total $1 billion budget support package. The second … Read more
Buhari orders probe of sexual and rights abuses in IDPs camps A 17-year-old girl has told of how a policeman raped her and put her in the family way at an Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp in the Northeast. She told Human Rights Watch (HRW): “One day he demanded to have sex with me. I … Read more
President Muhammadu Buhari led his country’s delegation to the United Nations 71st General Assembly meeting in September, 2016 in New York. During the meeting Buhari requested from UN’s Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to help Nigeria negotiate with the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram for the release of the abducted Chibok school girls. The alleged abduction … Read more
How to protect the Chibok girls from reliving their horror The Chibok girls who moved to the US in 2014 have had to repeatedly relive their experiences In our series of letters from African journalists, novelist and writer Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani looks at what lies ahead for some of the girls who have been released … Read more
Muslim Fulani herdsmen attacked villagers in the village of Godogodo, Nigeria on October 15 with guns and machetes, burning down homes, killing more than 40 people and injuring dozens more. It was the second attack on the predominantly Christian village in as many months. The Morning Star News’ field reporter in Nigeria, Obed Minchakpu, spoke … Read more
Nigeria will invest $10bn (£8bn) in its oil-rich south to end an insurgency by militants, the oil minister has said. The money would be used to build infrastructure, including roads and railways, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu said. Militant attacks have severely disrupted oil production, fuelling a recession in the West African state. The militants have been … Read more
Twenty-one schoolgirls who had been kidnapped by the Islamist group Boko Haram in the Nigerian town of Chibok have been reunited with their families. In an emotional ceremony in the capital Abuja, one of the girls said they had survived for 40 days without food and narrowly escaped death at least once. It is unclear … Read more
Barring any unforeseen development, the United States (US) will be repatriating the $550 million Abacha loot, still trapped in the country, to Nigeria, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, has said. Speaking in an interview with Sunday Vanguard, Malami confirmed that Nigeria had met major conditions set out for … Read more
In the early hours of Thursday morning, 21 of the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls were released by their Boko Haram captors in the town of Banki close to Nigeria’s border with Cameroon, security sources told the BBC. They were handed over to a team from the International Committee of the Red Cross who provided assistance during … Read more
Boko Haram seized 276 pupils from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok on April 14, 2014. Fifty-seven managed to escape in the immediate aftermath of the abduction, but nearly 200 other girls are still missing. Habiba Balogun, a Bring Back Our Girls campaigner, said she was relieved to hear about Thursday’s release, but added … Read more
Boko Haram militants handed over 21 missing Chibok schoolgirls to the Nigerian government Thursday morning, according to a source with direct knowledge of the release. The girls, who have not been named, remain in Maiduguri, the source said. The militants herded the 276 girls out of bed at a school in Chibok in northern Nigeria … Read more
Twenty-one of the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram have been freed, a senior Nigerian government official has told the BBC. The official wanted to remain anonymous and the government has not issued a statement. Previous reports of the girls’ release have turned out to be wrong. The Islamist militant group kidnapped more than 270 … Read more
Twenty-one of the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram have been freed, a senior Nigerian government official has told the BBC. It is thought that they are now with the security services in the north-eastern city of Maiduguri. It is not yet clear how the girls were rescued. The Islamist militant group kidnapped more than … Read more
The use of Nigerian government funds earmarked for assisting displaced people who are living in desperate conditions in the former stronghold of Boko Haram, is to be investigated because of suspicions of corruption, lawmakers said on Tuesday. More than two million have been displaced, and some 15,000 people have been killed, during the jihadist group’s … Read more
LAGOS, Nigeria — Nigeria is suing several leading oil companies for $12.7 billion of crude oil that allegedly was exported illegally to the United States between 2011 and 2014, officials said Tuesday. The Federal High Court in Lagos begins hearings next week in cases filed against Nigerian subsidiaries of U. S. multinational Chevron, British-Dutch Shell, … Read more
With the Nigerian economy in recession, support for Small & Medium Businesses could be one of the key ingredients to carrying the country through these tough times. Assisting them should become a priority for big business and government. That’s according to Magnus Nmonwu (https://twitter.com/MNmonwu), Regional Director for Sage in West Africa (http://www. Sage.com/Africa), who says … Read more
The Presidency will this week transfer a deputy director, blamed for the plagiarism of U. S. President Barack Obama’s speech, out of the State House, Abuja. The presidency had on Friday blamed the yet-to-be-named deputy director for the scandal that has embarrassed the Nigerian government. “Already, a Deputy Director in the Presidency has accepted responsibility … Read more
In a new video by the Boko Haram, suspected members of the sect said they were plotting to capture President Muhammadu Buhari. The footage, narrated in Hausa, is said to have been shot somewhere in Borno State, northeast Nigeria where the sect has its base. It showed suspected terrorists praying on what the narrator said … Read more
When Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari first took power through a military coup in late 1983, he launched a self-described “war against indiscipline” in a country he claimed desperately needed reorganization. During the aggressive campaign, soldiers at times violently forced civilians into orderly queues outside of bus stops and Buhari’s own subordinates were forced to leapfrog … Read more