Africa

Nigeria: Why I Spoke Directly to Nigerian Leaders – Bill Gates
Economy, Education, News, Nigeria

Nigeria: Why I Spoke Directly to Nigerian Leaders – Bill Gates

The Co-Chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Mr. Bill Gates, again on Monday criticised the Federal Government’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan. Gates, in an interview with the CNN, said that the Federal Government’s investment in education and health was not good enough. “While it may be easier to be polite, it’s more important to face facts so that you can make progress,” the philanthropist told a room of Nigeria’s government elite that included the President. In an exclusive television interview with the CNN, Gates said he spoke out to implore Nigerian politicians to focus on human capital and its large youth population. “The current quality and quantity of investment in this young generation in health and education just isn’t good enough. So, I was very direct,...
Nigeria: Tinubu Absent as Buhari, APC Caucus Meet in Villa
News, Nigeria

Nigeria: Tinubu Absent as Buhari, APC Caucus Meet in Villa

President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday led other top government officials elected on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress to a meeting of the party’s national caucus. The meeting was held at the new Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Other top government officials who attended the meeting are Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo; President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, and governors. National chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, led other officers of the party to the meeting. The national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, was however absent from the meeting. Tinubu is heading a presidential reconciliation committee set up to reconcile aggrieved party members across the country. I...
Nigeria: Arewa, Ohanaeze Youths, Others Meet, Say Buhari Has Failed
News, Nigeria

Nigeria: Arewa, Ohanaeze Youths, Others Meet, Say Buhari Has Failed

The leadership of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, the youth wing of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the Ijaw Youth Council Worldwide, the Yoruba Youth Council and 54 other groups met in Abuja on Monday. The groups, in a communiqué issued at the end of their meeting, said the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government had failed the nation. They said the government had failed in securing the nation from the herdsmen killing people in the North and other parts of the country. “The present government under President Muhammadu Buhari has failed in all ramifications and Nigerians, particularly the youths, must begin to examine other options and review the leadership selection process,” they said. They vowed to mobilise Nigerian youths across all ethnic divides to work for a more stable and ...
Nigeria: Five Die in Fresh Fulani Crisis in Benue
Fulani Herdsmen, News, Nigeria, Security, Terrorism

Nigeria: Five Die in Fresh Fulani Crisis in Benue

Five people have been killed in fresh attacks by herdsmen in different locations of Benue State. Four persons were reportedly killed by herdsmen at the Guma and Agatu local government areas of the state on Sunday, while one herdsman was reported killed at Lower Benue, a suburb of Makurdi, on Saturday. The incident in the Agatu LGA was said to have happened at Olegobiudu where two persons were said to have been killed with one of the victims said to have been beheaded. A native of the community in Agatu said that the incident happened on Sunday when about seven boys in the area went to have a bath in the community stream. The native added that the little children who were aged between 10 and 15 years were ambushed by the herders who shot at them and killed two of them. “The c...
Nigeria: Osinbajo Confirms That Buhari Cannot Deliver
Corruption, News, Nigeria

Nigeria: Osinbajo Confirms That Buhari Cannot Deliver

If Vice President Yemi Osinbajo expected a public outrage at his latest revelation that the whopping sums of N100 billion and $289 million were embezzled by the Goodluck Jonathan administration weeks to the 2015 elections, he must be disappointed by now. Up till now, nobody is exactly asking for Jonathan’s head on a spike. Osinbajo has confirmed people’s suspicion: that Buhari, the man who was elected to tear down the temple of corruption in Nigeria is not as potent a force as he was marketed. Nigerians that thought they were getting two raging bulls must be wondering how they ended up with these hand-wringing jokers. Osinbajo should not be surprised at the yawns and wrinkled noses he got from Nigerians for his exposé, people now think that still blaming Jonathan is an old subter...
Nigeria: Dogara Backs Nigeria’s Restructuring
News, Nigeria

Nigeria: Dogara Backs Nigeria’s Restructuring

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, and a representative of the Yoruba Unity Forum, Chief Dipo Jemileyin, have called for the restructuring of Nigeria’s federal structure in line with the country’s peculiar circumstances. They spoke during the ongoing 3rd Annual National Summit with the theme, “Reforming the Nigeria Federation Which Way Forward,” organised by Save Democracy Africa in Abuja on Monday. This is even as a former President of Tanzania, Dr. Jakaya Kikwete, expressed his confidence that “Nigeria has what it takes to deal with its internal issues and uphold the promise of the black race.” He also said a deliberate policy by Tanzania’s founding fathers ensured that ethnic tensions which led several African nations to civil war were kept at bay. D...
Nigeria: Fulani Kills Artisan in Oyo
Crime, Justice, Nigeria

Nigeria: Fulani Kills Artisan in Oyo

A 25-year-old welder has been killed by a Fulani man in his shop in the Sabo area of Orile-Igbon town in Oyo State after a fight broke out at a joint close to the deceased shop. Eyewitnesses said the killer approached the victim, Joshua Adeniyi, who had just arrived at his shop from a naming ceremony on Saturday, and stabbed him in the chest, killing him before escaping from the scene. Brother of the deceased, Timothy Adegboyega, who spoke to one of our correspondents on the telephone, said while the suspected killer escaped, those who witnessed the killing arrested his friend who came with him. Adegboyega said, “I trained Joshua in welding work and after he graduated, he started working with one of my former apprentices who has a shop close to the scene of the incident. “On Sa...
Nigeria: Wake up to your responsibility, Sultan-led JNI tells Buhari
News, Nigeria

Nigeria: Wake up to your responsibility, Sultan-led JNI tells Buhari

The Jama’atu Nasril Islam under the leadership of the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar lll, has asked the President Muhammadu administration to wake up to its statutory responsibility of protecting lives and property of Nigerians across the country. The wake-up call, according to the Muslim body, became imperative following the killings by suspected herdsmen of villagers in the Bassa LGA, Plateau State. The National Publicity Secretary of the JNI, Dr. Khalid Abubakar-Aliyu, stated this in a statement in Kaduna on Monday. The religious body condemned the attack which left several people dead and over 150 houses destroyed. It cautioned security operatives against taking sides with any warring party in Plateau State and other parts of the country. The JNI also called on ...
Biafra: IPOB and Nnamdi Kanu Vindicated by the ACHPR
Biafra, Justice, News, Nigeria

Biafra: IPOB and Nnamdi Kanu Vindicated by the ACHPR

Says the declaration of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) as a terrorist group, the attacks by Federal Government agencies on its members constitute a prima facie violation of the African Charter The African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR) has stated that the declaration of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) as a terrorist group, the attacks by Federal Government agencies on its members constitute a prima facie violation of the African Charter. The position of the commission, based in Banjul, The Gambia, was contained in a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari. Dated March 8 and signed by Soyata Maiga, ACHPR Chairperson, the letter was a response to the request from IPOB’s lawyers, Adulbert Legal Services, in favor of Mr. Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the group, and...
Burundi: President Pierre Nkurunziza Named ‘Eternal Supreme Guide’
Burundi, News

Burundi: President Pierre Nkurunziza Named ‘Eternal Supreme Guide’

Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza has been named "Eternal Supreme Guide" by his political party. The move means no one in the governing CNDD-FDD is allowed to disagree with his choices, secretary-general Evariste Ndayishimiye said. "He is our leader. Therefore in our party... no one is comparable to him," Mr Ndayishimiye said. "He is our parent, he is the one who advises us. That is why I ask all our members to respect that because a home without the man (its head) can be overlooked by anybody. For us, we have the best." But critics say a cult of personality is developing around 54-year-old Mr Nkurunziza. Jeremy Minani, the leader of the opposition Rally of Burundi Democrats (RDB), told Burundi Radio Publique Africaine: "President Pierre Nkurunziza's naming himself the l...