The Executive Director of the National Population Council (NPC), Dr. Leticia Adelaide Appiah, has called for urgent steps to curb the issue of teenage pregnancy in the country, stressing that its rate of occurrence was more than alarming.
She said the country’s teenage pregnancy figures had hit more than 500,000 within the last five years, and the situation could be worse unless steps were taken to reverse the trend.
Dr. Appiah, who disclosed this at a day’s training workshop on population issues organised by the NPC in Accra yesterday, said between 2016 and 2021, about 555,575 teenage pregnancies were recorded.
She said the critical nature of the situation required that the media took serious interest in issues of population and teenage pregnancy.
Dr. Appiah said population education was pivotal in the development of any country, and the media must take interest in it.
“In countries such as Pakistan, the government had integrated population education in both formal and non-formal sectors and in their academic system, from primary to university levels,” she said.
Dr. Appiah said there was a need to focus on a new era of collective improvement and open communication when it came to population matters.
“We cannot openly communicate without relevant and functional knowledge because knowledge and education is a potent instrument of change for any nation. Knowledge is sharing, and sharing and use is the most important public good,” she said.
There’s no denying that advancements made in technology have a pervasive influence on nearly every facet of modern-day living. But, that notwithstanding, there still exists sections of the global population who hold on dearly to cultural practices in their most ancient forms.
A prime example of where to find typical examples of such a people is in the Southern Ethiopian regions near Lake Turkana and the Lower Omo Valley. The Mursi, Suri, and Mekan peoples are the three ethnic groups that make up the Surma people. The cultures of the Suri and the Mursi are comparable. The size of their lip plate determines how beautiful their women are.
Southern Sudan and southwest Ethiopia are both home to the Surma tribe. Females who are in their teenage years undergo lip stretching surgery, which entails extracting their lower teeth to make room for a lip plate, which grows in size year after year until it reaches an amazing size. Some of the men engage in a similar ear practice. They also scar their “stick fighters,” or warriors, since they believe that the more scars they have, the more appealing they are to the tribe’s female members.
When a girl reaches the age of 15 or 16, her lower lip is sliced (sometimes by her mother) and kept open by a wet plug while it heals. The girls will determine how far the lip should be extended. Frequently, the excruciating procedure lasts for several months.
These lip plates typically measure between 4 and 25 centimeters and are made of wood or clay. Two to four teeth would need to be removed before the lip plate could be fitted.
When a mother reaches adolescence, she typically undergoes this lip-plating procedure. A ceramic disc is inserted after the cut to expand the lip; it stays in place until the initial cut heals before being replaced with a second, somewhat bigger disc.
Young married ladies and unmarried females are more likely to wear lip plates than older married women with children. They are typically worn during significant rites like marriages, offering men meals, and milking cows.
Girls who are single and have enormous labels may choose to wear them anytime they are out in public. It is customary for a lover or husband to wait until his girlfriend’s lip has completely healed before having sex with her.
There are several interpretations of the lip plate. First of all, it is a beautiful emblem. Secondly, because it is proudly worn when serving the husband meals, it symbolizes a commitment to him.
Since a woman’s exterior beauty is thought to diminish after her husband’s death, the lip plate is removed if he passes away. Last but not least, the plate serves as a potent symbol of Mursi identity. Without it, they run the risk of appearing to belong to a different tribe.
Some of the men engage in a similar practice. They also scar their warriors, known as “stick fighters,” because it is thought that the more scars they have, the more appealing they are to the tribe’s female members.
A girl’s self-esteem is raised by the distinct perception of the lip plate. In addition to using incisions and sometimes painted patterns to decorate their skin, women can increase their worth by increasing the size of their lip plates.
Because it implies that the father will receive more cows when it comes time to pay her dowry, the practice is regarded seriously, especially by the parents. A Suri or Mursi woman’s dowry typically ranges from 40 cattle for the smaller plate to 60 cattle for the larger plate, therefore any man who must marry one must be well-off.
They do not keep any livestock nor do they grow or store food. They live on the providence that they will find food anytime they walk into the wild. The Hadza tribe of Tanzania are among one of the last hunter-gathering ethnic groups in Africa numbering over 1,300.
They rely on bows and arrows to acquire their protein needs and edible plants for their nutritional needs, according to National Geographic. They mainly feed on roots, fruits and honey for their survival. Their day starts with a long walk in grass fields to gather fruits, bee hives and tubers, but they only pick what is enough for their family and them.
The human needs of the Hadza tribesmen are limited. They do not build homes or own property, they only require dried grasses and branches to create their shelter. They are the modern hunter-gatherers who do not pay attention to seasons and periodic holidays. Many of them hail from Eyasi Valley in the hilly region of Tanzania.
Many anthropologists say the Hadza tribesmen are a bridge between the present and past in understanding human evolution. The Hadza tribesmen have unique ways of communicating. They do so by using familiar sounds generated from tapping and popping sounds.
Oral tradition indicates that they have resided in their present location near the Serengeti plains since the days that anthropologists discovered them. Archaeologists trace their origins to early men who lived 1.9 million years ago. Genetic analysis reveals they are associated with one of the early men in sub-Saharan Africa.
The existence and survival of the Hadza tribesmen have come under siege by expansive farming practices and urbanization. Studies on the tribesmen settlements show they have lost large swathes of their lands over half a century now. This has compelled the tribesmen to walk long distances with their bows and arrows in search of food.
But, once these lands are not disturbed, the tribesmen should not struggle to find food. In the Hadza tribe, it is acceptable to go on a search and return with no food. DNA analysis of the genes of the Hadza tribesmen indicates that they are connected to the mitochondrial lineage of early men. They are considered to be the oldest men to have walked on the African continent with anthropologists predicting that their ancestors could be 50,000 years old.
The Hadza tribesmen do not build cemeteries. Their philosophy is to erect their shelters of grass and live it behind once they are done hunting and gathering in a region. Any soil is suitable for the burial of their kinsmen.
They are considered one of the happiest men because they do not consider worry as part of their daily thoughts. They only worry about the future or the past but they do not believe in worrying about the present. The present is for the living and must be enjoyed to the fullest.
Their focus is to have what they need to eat and where to sleep. Once these needs are fulfilled, the Hadza tribesman has attained self-actualization.
A fire outbreak at a boarding school on the outskirt of Uganda’s capital, Kampala, has killed 11 people, including children, a police official said Tuesday.
six others who were found in critical condition have been admitted to the hospital, the Ugandan police said in a statement but could not state the cause of the fire at Salama School for the Blind.
Fatuma Ndisaba, a top official in Mukono, told local broadcaster NTV that the victims, including children aged between 7 and 10, were burned beyond recognition.
With the support of families, she said, the victims’ bodies will be identified through DNA investigations.
“I have no words to describe the pain I am going through,” Richard Muhimba, the father of a dead child who lives in the nearby town of Mukono, told AFP.
“I visited him on Saturday, he was in good health, and three days later he died,” he said on the phone before hanging up, overcome with grief.
The Salama School for the Blind, built in 1999, has dozens of students, aged between 6 and 25.
Fire incidents at schools have been a cause of concern for education officials in the East African country where classrooms and dormitories are often crowded.
There’s usually no firefighting equipment in place, and officials sometimes blame incidents on poor electrical connections.
Two dormitories at a prominent boarding school in Kampala were destroyed in separate incidents in 2020.
In 2008, 19 elementary school students were killed in a night-time fire outbreak at a boarding school.
The Federal Government yesterday adduced reasons it has not obeyed the judgement of the Court of Appeal that ordered the release of leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, from detention.
Government in a fresh affidavit filed before the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, maintained that Kanu posed a flight risk, insisting he would escape from the country as soon as he was freed from detention.
The affidavit was attached in support of an application seeking to stay the execution of the appellate court verdict that quashed the entire 15-count terrorism charge the federal government preferred against the embattled IPOB leader.
Arguing the application yesterday, an Assistant State Counsel in the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. David Kaswe, told the court that the case against Kanu bordered on national security.
Kaswe argued that Kanu’s fundamental rights should not supercede the interest of the nation.
Relying on the decided case law in Federal Republic of Nigeria Vs Asari Dokubo, the federal government argued that once a case touched on national security, the right of the individual affected took secondary place.
“It is important to appreciate the gamut of depositions in our application. The Respondent is a flight risk person and one of the ground of our application is that this matter touches on national security of the state.
“We further rely on the case of FRN Vs Dokubo, where the Supreme Court held that where national security is threatened or when there is likelihood of it being threatened, human rights take secondary place.
“Once there is a threat to national security, human rights of any individual can be suspended until such threat is taken care of.
“Once security of the nation is in jeopardy, the individual right may not even exist,” government’s lawyer argued.
Besides, he told the court that intelligence report in government’s possession indicated that releasing the IPOB leader from detention would worsen the security situation in the South East.
“The defendant has shown that he has the capacity to jump bail or to escape from lawful custody. There is reasonable intelligence that the enforcement of judgement of this court, pending determination of our appeal at the Supreme Court, may impact negatively on the declining security in the South East.
“No court can close its eyes on activities happening around it. As we speak, the entire social media is awash with threat to security in the country.
“We believe that there is an exceptional circumstance to warrant this court to grant our application.
“We urge this court to resolve the sole issue we raised and find our application meritorious, in the interest of justice and unity of the country,” federal government’s lawyer added.
However, Kanu’s lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, SAN, urged the appellate court to dismiss FG’s application which he said was tantamount to seeking the stay of the liberty of a citizen.
Ozekhome argued that contrary to FG’s position, Kanu’s release from detention would guarantee peace in both the South East and the country
He said: “In fact, my lords, on the contrary, the release of Kanu will actually bring peace and tranquility to the South East in particular and the nation in general
“This was demonstrated after the judgement of this court that ordered the release of the Respondent. Immediately the judgement was delivered, there was so much joy and happiness in the entire South East. There was so much jubilation and merriment.”
He argued that Dokubo’s case was different from that of Kanu.
According him, while Dokubo applied to be granted bail, pending the determination of the charge against him, in Kanu’s case, the appellate court had already terminated his trial and ordered his release.
Relying on the case of Olisa Metuh Vs FRN, Kanu’s lawyer argued that the law forbade the grant of stay of execution in a criminal case.
He told the court that the IPOB leader did not jump bail, stressing that he only escaped from the country to save his life, after soldiers illegally invaded his house in 2017, in an operation that led to the death of 28 persons.
Ozekhome argued that the federal government, being in contempt of the judgement of the appellate court, could not approach it to seek any favourable order.
“They are already in contempt of order of this court. This application is therefore nothing but a slap on the face of this court,” he said.
After the three-man panel of justices of the appellate court, led by Justice Haruna Tsanami, had listened to both sides, it reserved its ruling till a date to be communicated to the parties.
Meanwhile, six Igbo traditional rulers yesterday stormed the court to demand the release of the detained IPOB leader.
The monarchs, who were all dressed in their regallia, said they were in court to show solidarity to their son, even as they stayed and observed the proceedings till the end.
The traditional rulers that were in court included HRM Eze Innocent Nwaigwe, Secretary Umuahia North Council of Traditional Rulers; HRM, Eze Nnamdi Ofoegbu, Chairman Ohuhu Council of Traditional Rulers; and HRM Eze Iheanyichukwu Ezigbo, Chairman Ibeku council. Others are HRM Eze Pastor Philip Ajomiwe, immediate past Chairman, Umuahia North Council; and HRM Eze Eddy Ibeabuchi, former Chairman Umuahia North Council and HRM Eze Ben Oriaku, Ikwuano LGA.
It will be recalled that the appellate court had in a judgement delivered on October 13, ordered Kanu’s release from detention, even as it terminated further proceedings on the case the federal government entered against him.
The court said it was satisfied that FG flagrantly violated all known laws when it forcibly rendered Kanu from Kenya to the country for continuation of his trial.
It held that such arbitrary use of power by the Nigerian government, divested the trial court of the jurisdiction to continue with Kanu’s trial.
Though FG had since gone to the Supreme Court to challenge the judgement, it, however, in line with the rules, it approached the Court of Appeal to seek a stay of execution of the verdict.
WhatsApp, the Meta-owned instant messaging app with over 2 billion users, appears to be facing an outage, according to thousands of users.
The outage began at about 8:04am Tuesday, according to user complaints. WhatsApp has acknowledged the outage.
DownDetector and WaBetaInfo, two web services that track the Facebook app, have confirmed the outage. DownDetector, which received over 5,000 complaints about the glitch from users in a span of an hour, shows that U.S. and India are among those most impacted by the outage. India is the largest market of WhatsApp users.
In a statement, a Meta spokesperson said: “We’re aware that some people are currently having trouble sending messages and we’re working to restore WhatsApp for everyone as quickly as possible.”
WhatsApp has become a critical infrastructure in many markets, used by government officials, telecom service providers and of course, billions of people. As of 2020, the service was used to send over 100 billion messages a day, a figure that is unrivaled in the industry.
Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp together were used to exchange 60 billion messages a day as of early 2016. Apple chief executive Tim Cook said in May that iMessage and FaceTime were seeing record usage, but did not share specific figures.
The last time Apple did share the figure, it was far behind WhatsApp’s then usage (podcast). WeChat, which has also amassed over 1 billion users, is behind in the daily volume of messages, too.
Two Ghanaianmen have been captured in a dramatic video fighting on top of a dilapidated building.
The video, which has been circulating on social media platforms, shows one of the men pinning down the other on the rusty iron sheet roof of the house while hitting him.
The helpless man is also seen struggling for freedom but to no avail.
The venue of the fight made it difficult for bystanders to separate them, although they could see clearly that the vulnerable one needed help.
Women are heard in the video screaming, fearing that the stronger man could kill the weaker one or that they could dangerously fall to the ground.
While the women made the pitchy noise, it caught the attention of a certain man, who ran quickly to the top of the house to separate the feuding parties after a tough time.
It remains unclear what caused the fight and why they chose the rooftop of all places to battle it out.
It is alleged that the interesting incident occurred at Moshie Zongo, a popular community in Kumasi, the capital city of the Ashanti Region.
Awal Mohammed, a governing New Patriotic Party politician who shared the video on his Facebook page on Sunday, October 23, 2022, could not believe how the two angry men got to the top of the house to start the fight.
“Ah but how did they end up fighting on a rooftop?” he quizzed. “I’m told in happened in Moshie Zongo.”
After the situation was brought under control, the roof of the house, which looked to be in bad shape already and begging for refurbishment, was left deteriorated.
The Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong-Nkrumahhas disclosed that the government has developed a road map to address the current economic challenges.
He said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will address Ghanaians on the measures being taken to ameliorate the hardships as part of the plan.
Kojo Opoong-Nkrumah said that on the part of government, the Economic Management Team, chaired by Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia will also hold a series of meetings and receive a briefing from the Bank of Ghana after its engagement with banks and forex bureau operators.
According to him, government’s consultations will end with a cabinet retreat. President Nana Akufo-Addo, the minister said, will then address the nation on the measures taken by his governmentto address the economic hardship in the country.
“The Bank of Ghana will be meeting the Managing Director of some of the Banks and the heads of the forex bureau association to hold discussions aimed at ensuring that the supply of forex on the market is stabilized and the overpricing is halted so that, those who need forex for business get it without hindrances at the banking halls as against rates on the black market or some other quarters.”
According to the government’s spokesperson, the Economic Management Team (EMT) as well as cabinet will also be holding talks over the free fall of the cedi and other matters arising from the country’s engagements with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
“We will also be looking at long-lasting measures to ensure that forex rate is stabilized in the country, even as we expect a lot more inflow of forex following the completion of the syndication of the COCOBOD transaction loan. The Economic Management Team is also meeting to appraise itself on some of the recommendations as we get closer to the end of the year. On Thursday, Cabinet itself will be meeting to receive what has gone through the EMT and updates from the IMF negotiation so that some decisions will be made and then update the country on the next step forward.”
The Ghana cedi has depreciated by 37.5%, 24.1% and 27.5% against the US dollar, the pound, and Euro, respectively in September, the central bank said in its Monetary Policy Report early October 2022.
Prophet Kofi Oduro has cautioned President Akufo-Addo to stop being excessively proud and arrogant or risk going down without remedy.
According to the founder of the Alabaster International Ministries, the president was very humble during the erstwhile John Mahama-led NDC regime, for which reason Ghanaians voted for for him to preside over the nation.
In his view, Akufo-Addo has, however, become proud and arrogant after becoming president, and has become worse than the NDC and Mahama, whom Ghanaians replaced with him.
“I stand here with a heavy heart to respectfully say this to you, Sir, the Lord is telling me, pride takes everybody down. And if you continue to be proud, you will go down without remedy. Your government will be the worst in the history of this country,” prophet Oduro warned during a sermon on Sunday, October 23.
He went further to urge the president to amend his ways and not forget where God picked him from, or he risks incurring the wrath of God.
Citing Proverbs 1:30 in the bible, the popular man of God spoke about how God abandons those who abandon his ways.
“Your excellency if you continue in the arrogance of speech and the pride of your life, you will never see solution and you will never see remedy.
“I stand here as a man of God and as a prophet of God, not needing anything from you except your repentance and your humility. If not, Ghana is going into destruction”.
President Akufo-Addo has been in the news headlines over the past few days following some controversial comments he made while touring certain parts of the country. Among some of his comments that got Ghanaians angry with many calling for his resignation was when he said that he did not care if they wanted to vote for the opposition party, NDC, in the next election due to the prevailing severe hardships.
Many citizens are wailing on the incessant increase of goods and services, the flapping cedi to the major currencies as well the record-level inflation grappling markets all across the country.
However, despite all these challenges, some of the flack this government has received from Ghanaians have come from statements made by the President.
We, therefore, took a look at 5 statements President Akufo-Addo has said in recent times that have caught the ire of Ghanaians.
1 . Akufo-Addo’s response to Torgbui Adzonu-Gaga Amenya Fiti V: On October 20, 2021; the Paramount Chief of the Aflao Traditional Area, Torgbui Adzonu-Gaga Amenya Fiti V gave government a four-month ultimatum to complete an abandoned E-block community day senior high school.
But reacting to the demand on Accra-based Peace FM, the President, amidst laughter, quizzed, “Is he the one going to give the Minister of Education ultimatum?”
citizens uproar and criticisms of the government facilitating and supporting the building of a National Cathedral, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo came to the defence of the controversial project.
“We will surely build the [National] Cathedral,” President Akufo-Addo stressed.
issues.
His comments fed into suspicions by the North Tongu MP, Samuel Okudzeto, who claims the relevant authorities did not follow due processes relating to her deportation to enable their Chinese counterparts to track her.
4 . Threats by Kwabre East residents: In an interview on Otec FM in Kumasi, President Akufo-Addo downplayed threats by some residents in the Kwabre East Constituency on the poor state of their roads.
He said threats by some of the constituents to vote for the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the 2024 elections if the roads are not fixed is much ado about nothing.
Some gunmen on Friday attacked the convoy of Suleman, killing seven persons including three police escorts.
The General Overseer of the Omega Fire Ministries International, Apostle Johnson Suleman has been accused of not visiting the relatives of his police escorts who were killed on Friday in Edo State.
SaharaReporters earlier reported how some gunmen on Friday attacked the convoy of Suleman, killing seven persons including three police escorts.
The incident occurred on Warake Road, close to Auchi, Edo State.
According to the sister of one of the policemen in an audio interview obtained by SaharaReporters on Sunday, Suleman has not paid a condolence visit to the family two days after the attack.
“Even my aunty, our firstborn; they went there (to see him). They didn’t even allow them to enter. He didn’t even come out to see them. He didn’t come out to see them.
“He (her brother) only has one son and his wife is a policewoman. They are in Edo state,” the source said.
“My elder sister and my brother, they went there (to see him). We are 12; my father has 12 children. We lost one in the process of protecting Suleman. He did not even come out. My sister and my brother that went, they had to come back home because he didn’t come out to see them,” she added in the audio.
In a video released after the incident, the cleric confirmed the attack and said he knows the attackers.
He said, “There are things happening that I have been quiet about. Even if you are the most careless person on earth, you will not give yourself to so many scandals.
“There are things happening that people don’t know, even though one or two persons take advantage of it along the line. The reason I’m coming out to speak now is that they have done all that and discovered that I’m still moving on.
“They decided to make an attempt on my life. I just escaped an assassination attempt where seven people were killed. My car was attacked.
“The people who did this are expecting me to come out and mention their names but I won’t do that. You can’t kill me, my life is in the hand of God.”
Efforts to reach Phrank Shaibu, Suleman’s media aide, were not successful as his mobile line suggested it was switched shortly after ringing.
Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), one of the lawyers representing the separatist leader on Monday said the court upheld its ruling of October 13, which set Kanu free
The Appeal Court in Abuja,Nigeria’s capital has upheld the judgment acquitting and discharging the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu.
Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), one of the lawyers representing the separatist leader on Monday said the court upheld its ruling of October 13, which set Kanu free.
The Nigerian government had sought a stay of execution on the ruling of the Court of Appeal acquitting and discharging Kanu.
The Appeal Court earlier set Kanu free and acquitted him of the charges of terrorism and treasonable felony against him.
But on Monday, the Nigeriangovernment approached the Appeal Court, asking it to stay the execution of the judgment of October 13 which voided the extraordinary rendition of Kanu from Kenya to Nigeria.
A three-man panel of justices held that such extraordinary rendition, without adherence to due process of the law, was a gross violation of all international conventions, treaties, protocols and guidelines that Nigeria is a signatory to, as well as a breach of the Appellant’s fundamental human rights.
The appellate court further held that the government.
The Senatorrepresenting Edo North Senator Francis Alimikhena, has condemned last Friday’s attack on the convoy of the General Overseer of Omega Fire Ministries (OFM), Apostle Johnson Suleman, which led to the death of policemen and some of his domestic staff.
Senator Alimikhena’s condemnation of the barbaric attack was contained in a statement signed by his media Aide, Benjamin Atu, in Abuja, on Monday.
The federal lawmaker urged security agencies to rise to the occasion by bringing the brains behind the attack and the perpetrators to justice.
The Edo North Senator commiserated with the cleric as well as members of the families of victims of the attack.
He also prayed God to grant the souls of the departed eternal rest, and comfort their families.
The Senator also assured residents and indigenes of Edo North that he and his colleagues in the National Assembly will continue to work with the states to make laws to enhance security at all levels of government.
He also enjoined Nigerians to assist security agencies with timely intelligence by reporting strange movements around them because security is everybody’s business.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a type of central nervous system disorder and is consideredTrusted Source a neurodegenerative disease.
MS is characterized by the loss of the protective myelin sheath, a layer of proteins and fats that covers nerves in your spine to protect them. The breakdown of the myelin sheath causes chronic inflammation, pain, and motor function difficulties.
As nerve damage progresses, MS can be debilitating and significantly affect your quality of life.
Medical experts do not yet fully understand the exact causes of MS, and prescription pain relievers are sometimes ineffective in managing MS-related pain. Therefore, scientists are exploring alternative treatments that may benefit people living with MS.
Researchers are studying many antioxidants, including alpha-lipoic acid, for their potential roles in relieving symptoms associated with neurodegenerative conditions, including MS.
This article explains all you need to know about alpha-lipoic acid, its potential benefits for people living with MS, its downsides, and other suggestions for managing your MS symptoms.
Alpha-lipoic acid — “lipoic acidTrusted Source,” for short — is a natural compound produced in small amounts by the livers of animals, including humans.
It’s also found in foods such as:
spinach
broccoli
tomatoes
Brussels sprouts
rice bran
organ meats (like heart, kidney, and spleen)
Plus, it’s available in larger doses in the form of over-the-counter dietary supplements.
Lipoic acid is recognized as a potent universal antioxidantTrusted Source, which means it can protect cells and tissues from the harmful effects of free radicals that can accumulate in the body and cause oxidative stress.
In addition, this compound has anti-inflammatory properties and the potential to support the management of conditions associated with nerve-related pain, including MS, Alzheimer’s disease, and diabetes.
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MS is a pro-inflammatoryTrusted Source condition.
The antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits of lipoic acid make it a promising alternative therapy for the management of neurodegenerative conditions, including MS.
Here are some ways lipoic acid may affect MS.
1. May reduce inflammation
Several laboratory, animal, and human studies have demonstrated the anti-inflammatory effects of lipoic acid for MS.
For instance, a reviewTrusted Source of two animal studies found that animals treated with lipoic acid showed less nerve damage than a control group. Higher doses and administration via injections were most protective.
A 2018 studyTrusted Source among animals with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis — the animal equivalent of MS — also suggests that the anti-inflammatory effects of lipoic acid make it a promising treatment for MS.
Additionally, test-tube researchTrusted Source suggests that lipoic acid inhibits the release of inflammatory cytokines from MS-associated cells found in the brain.
2. May reduce chronic pain
The loss of the myelin sheath and the inflammation of damaged nerve cells in people living with MS trigger chronic neuropathic (nerve-related) pain.
However, lipoic acid’s anti-inflammatory features and its ability to slow the death of nerve cells, as demonstrated in test-tube and animal research, may mean that it can help treat the chronic neuropathic painTrusted Source that MS causes.
ResearchTrusted Source on the use of lipoic acid for the management of neuropathic pain in people with diabetic neuropathy has demonstrated this effect.
In a small 2018 studyTrusted Source in 72 people, participants reported reduced pain after taking 600 mg of lipoic acid by mouth each day for 40 days.
3. May improve walking ability
Spinal nerve damage resulting from MS commonly impairs people’s ability to walk.
A 2-year experimental randomized controlled trialTrusted Source with 134 participants found that daily supplementation with 1,200 mg of lipoic acid had a positive effect on the walking ability of people with progressive MS (a form of the condition that gets worse over time).
Similarly, a 2022 systematic reviewTrusted Source of 12 human trials found that participants showed improvements in walking performance and experienced minimal or no side effects when taking lipoic acid as an oral supplement.
Learn more about alpha-lipoic acid’s potential to improve walking ability.
To date, most of the research on the potential role of lipoic acid in the management of MS has been focused on test-tube and animal research.
Although the results of human trials have been promising so far, more research is needed to determine whether lipoic acid can become an approved alternative therapy for MS.
The acids in the stomach can quickly break down lipoic acid in its natural form, and lipoic acid may be poorly absorbed when taken orally.
Thus, its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects may be limited unless people take higher doses via special oral formulationsTrusted Source or injections.
Other antioxidants, such as kynurenic acid and pantethine, are also emerging as promising therapies for the management of neurodegenerative conditions like MS.
Large clinical trials are investigating the B vitamin biotin for its potential role as an alternative therapy for MS.
However, researchTrusted Source published in 2018 suggests that vitamin D is the only vitamin with sufficient scientific evidence to support its routine supplementation among people with MS.
Here are some questions people often ask about alpha-lipoic acid and MS.
What triggers the onset of multiple sclerosis?
The etiology, or exact trigger, for the development of multiple sclerosis remains unknown.
However, some researchTrusted Source suggests that the accumulation of inflammatory cytokines, oxidative stress, and the presence of excess free radicals may contribute to the damage and degradation of nerve cells in the brain and spine.
Nerve damage to regions of the central nervous system is responsible for the progressive disability that MS causes.
How much alpha-lipoic acid should I take for MS?
Human clinical trialsTrusted Source using 1,200 mg of lipoic acid daily for periods ranging from 48 hours to 2 years have shown positive effects at the cellular level, which have translated to positive physical outcomes in people living with MS.
However, despite these promising findings, lipoic acid is not currently approved as a therapy for MS. Research on its effectiveness for MS in humans is ongoing.
Please consult with an experienced healthcare professional before taking any supplement or using any alternative therapy to manage your MS.
Does alpha-lipoic acid repair nerve damage?
Lipoic acid has not be found to repair nerve damage.
However, it may slow the progression of further nerve damage by inhibitingTrusted Source the migration of inflammatory cytokines that damage nerves and by slowingTrusted Source cell death of nerves in the brain and spine.
MS is a neurodegenerative condition that affects the central nervous system. It breaks down the protective myelin sheath. This can lead to chronic inflammation, pain, impaired motor function, and disability.
Its exact cause remains poorly understood, and conventional pain relievers are not always successful in managing MS pain. The search for effective alternative therapies in ongoing.
Lipoic acid is one alternative therapy that has been studied for treating MS.
More specifically called alpha-lipoic acid, it is found in some foods and available in supplement form. Its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects may reduce chronic neuropathic pain and improve walking ability in some people with MS.
However, it is not yet approved as a treatment for MS, and there isn’t a standard recommended dosage. Always talk with a qualified healthcare professional before supplementing with alpha-lipoic acid or any other compound.
Nigeria’s experience in power outages as a result of inadequacy in generation further increased the interest in the nuclear option in the country’s quest to diversify its power generation options, Director, Centre for Energy Research and Training (CERT), Ahmadu Bello University, Prof. S.A. Jonah has said.
Prof. Jonah was speaking on Monday at the opening ceremony of a five-day IAEA-AFRA regional course on demonstration of conditioning operation and storage of Disused Sealed Radioactive Sources (DSRS) for managers, scientists and technicians of nuclear wastes at the research centre.
The objective of the training course is to train local experts and facility operators to acquire sufficient capacity to carry out the handling and conditioning operation under the supervision of IAEA experts.
This involves demonstration on how to characterize, condition and repackage disused sealed radioactive sources (DSRS); and the specific purpose is to provide the practical know-how as well as the hands-on experience to the participants.
Prof. Jonah, who noted that the use of sealed radioactive sources in Nigeria had witnessed an upward surge in health, industrial and petroleum sectors of the economy, explained that globally the interest in nuclear power was also growing to meet the demand for electricity while reducing their carbon dioxide emissions.
“It may be the only source of reliable base load energy for the future, especially with the discovery of substantial amount of uranium in sea water, as well as the fusion reactor technology.
“Therefore, as we continue our march into peaceful applications of nuclear energy in Nigeria and with the successful hosting of this training course at CERT, I would like to assure everyone that we will not rest on our oars in the delivery of peaceful applications of nuclear science and technology to Nigerians as enshrined in our Statute”, he said.
Jonah, a professor of nuclear and reactor physicist, further said that the management of nuclear and radiological materials in a professional manner was very critical for sustainability and socio-economic development of African sub-region.
He said that the training course was to have taken place much earlier than now, but for some unforeseen circumstances, especially COVID-19 pandemic, stressing that the hosting of the training workshop would mark the beginning of more IAEA hosted activities at CERT.
While welcoming the IAEA team of experts led by Miss Vivian Pereira Campos and participants from AFRA countries – Ghana, Ethiopia and Nigeria, Prof. Jonah also said that Nigeria ranked top among countries ready to host training course on the demonstration of conditioning operation under the Project RAF9062.
This, he further explained, was because quite a number of spent radioactive sources had been generated from various practices using radioactive sources, and many of these sources were presently stored in the waste management facility at CERT.
In his remarks, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission (NAEC), Prof. Yusuf A. Ahmed, acknowledged the various supports the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had been providing to Member States through regional and international projects for handling and conditioning of disused sealed radioactive sources.
The conditioning process, which must follow an established procedure, according to him, was carried out to limit the risk of exposure of disused sealed radioactive sources to people and environment.
Prof. Ahmed, who was represented at the occasion by Prof. A.A. Mati of Centre for Energy Research and Training, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, also stressed that Nigeria recognized that a long term commitment to the peaceful, safe and secure use of nuclear technology was based on a sustainable organizational, regulatory, social, technological and economic infrastructure development.
He said that this was in addition to the formulation of deliberate policies and implementation to ensure the safe operation of the nuclear installations throughout their entire life cycle.
Also speaking, the Vice-Chancellor, Ahmadu Bello University, Prof. Kabiru Bala, who declared the training workshop open, said that the University would continue to support CERT as a Centre of Excellence in promoting education and training with regards to nuclear science and technology in the country.
The Vice-Chancellor expressed the University’s immense appreciation to IAEA for its support to CERT in particular and Nigeria in general through the provision of training and research facilities for over three decades.
“In furtherance of this endeavor, only last month, the IAEA and ABU signed an agreement to participate in the Internet Laboratory Project (IRL) on the sideline of the 66th IAEA General Conference”, he said.
This, according to him, was to enhance the teaching and practical applications of nuclear reactor physics in Ahmadu Bello University and other Nigerian universities, which hitherto were limited to theoretical concepts.
Miss Vivian Pereira Campos, who led the IAEA team of experts to the training course, gave an overview of the programme, saying that the essence of the workshop was to provide the participants with requisite skills and techniques to carryout the conditioning operation in the future without guidance and supervision.
Goodwill messages were delivered at the occasion by the Secretary, IAEA-AFRA Management Committee and Deputy Dean, Faculty of Life Sciences, Ahmadu Bello University, Prof. Maryam Aminu; Prof. Sunday Adeyemi Adewuyi, who represented the Chief Medical Director, Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital; and Malam Abdullahi Saleh Na’Allah, who stood in for the Director-General of the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NNRA).
Some of the personalities present at the opening ceremony of the training course included Course Director, Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission, Mr. Emmanuel C. Akueche; and representatives of the Nigeria Defence Academy (NDA) and Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Air Commodore A.I. Hanidu and Malam Nasir Mu’azu, respectively.
President of the Academic Union of Universities, ASUU, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke yesterday said that it called off the 8-month-old strike action on trust.
It said that the acceptance of the IPPIS as opposed to their demand of UTAS as the payment platform was done on a temporary basis, basically, an interim measure pending when a formal agreement would be reached with the federal government.
Osodeke spoke at a meeting with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila which was a follow-up on the agreements reached on the previous meetings held before the suspension of the strike.
It will be recalled that the tripartite meetings had resolved to extract some of the peculiarities of the Universities in the UTAS and merge with the IPPIS, the basis upon which the latest meeting by the speaker was called.
Osodeke said “We didn’t reach full understanding before we called off the strike because we did that on trust. We have really signed any documents that address all the issues but since we are talking about this now, I think, it will a small thing we could sit down between you and us as we did the last and reach a conclusively we can sign because the strike we called off, our members also did it on trust on is because we didn’t have anything we presented to them.
It was just on trust and the way we had meetings with the speaker, it was that way we’re able to convince them. I think we should also look at other issues and reach a very meaningful conclusion on them.
“We are saying this because of the interest of our members but because of the interest of the country called Nigeria. It’s very vital. Our educational is in dire need of all sorts of things most importantly human resource. Now we are busy creating universities but we are not creating academics who will teach in those universities. What you have is four types of lecturers in the university. The first set are those who had made up their minds from the primary that they were going to teach etc.
“What we agreed on the issue of UTAS and IPPIS is a temporary measure because for a country like Nigerian, if we are really patriotic and we love this country; if there is a problem in payment, you challenge your university to develop a program for you. So, this idea of others will bring their own is not true.
“We were challenged to produce it. We feel sad that we had spend our money, time and resources to produce what we were challenged to produce to do by the minister of labour on behalf of the good in 2020. If they have a problem with the system, within 2 hours they will resolve it but for my colleague who is in Sokoto, if he has a problem, he will have to come here. Accountant general will not go there.
“We have agreed on that (IPPIS) as an interim measure, hopefully, subsequently, we will look for how to solve this problem once and for all. IPPIS has not solved problem. It has created more problems if you want to challenge us, check the wage bill before IPPIS was introduced and check the wage bill now. We are willing and have set up our team. Anything you are willing, we will be willing to meet as an interim measure because it will not solve the problem.”
But in his swift reaction, the Speaker, Gbajabiamila who had earlier said that the meeting was called to follow up on the issues discussed faulted the claims of the ASUU president, saying that an agreement was reached which was not on temporary basis.
He also dismissed some feelings in some quarters that the series of meetings held did not achieve any useful results.
“We are here as an institutions to make sure that whatever that is agreed is implemented as best as possible if not to the latter. The main issue for discussion today which was one of the major areas of conflict was the issue of payment platform whether or not it has to deal with the issue of UTAS as opposed to IPPIS.
“If you recollect, on that issue, we did agree that we will marry both whilst, IPPIS will remain the platform, that government will bring in the aspect and the areas under UTAS that are specific to the Universities and assimilate those areas into IPPIS. I believe that was what was agreed by both sides when we had last two meetings. So, we want to make sure that that box is ticked and is not just an agreement on paper or said for the purposes of moving towards the cancellation of the strike.
“The accountant general who is going to midwife that merger is here. So, I think the best way to move forward is for the accountant general to tell us and ASUU will also respond on how to go about the merger.
“Let me address one or two things that you said, first of all, like you said you called off the strike based on trust and I agreed with you but if you are now asking for written agreement, then where is the place of trust. Those two cannot really go together. If you trusted me and the institution, asking for a signed agreement like a contract is basically negates that trust. But be that as it may, I signed on behalf of the institution, I signed what appears to be a written agreement to you and I also sent a copy to the President, so there is something in writing. And you sent yours as well.
“We modify it and signed it. If it was not based on trust, for you to even appreciate that yes, I wouldn’t have even called this meeting to follow up the execution on what we agreed. This is a follow up to make sure that we we aggreed on this issue is executed and that is where the trust issue comes on.
“If you say that you had issues in the past on the issue of IPPIS, it’s those issues that we are trying to address. In the past, UTAS was not brought into IPPIS. It was IPPIS or nothing. So, what happened is what we are trying address. This is first time, I am hearing the word temporary or interim. That was never used. We have records of the meetings. That was not the agreement.
“The agreement was not that it was a stopgap temporary measure. The agreement was that to address the issue, UTAS will be brought I to IPPIS so that we can move. This is first time there is an introduction of the word temporary or interim. So, I can also say where is the trust. So, if we do this exercise and it works, then why do we need to change it? So, let’s give it time instead of saying temporary. Let’s stick to the agreement.
“On the issues which require funding, I gave you my word that we will find one way or the other in the budget and accommodate that in the budget and we did that even prior to the presentation of the budget. We know the leg work that we had with the ministry of finance and the budget office to make that almost N500 billion was included in the budget for ASUU. I have written to the ministry on the issue of panel report, the white paper. We are taking these one by one.
“Those who said we might have achieved nothing, I am really surprised. N500 billion, the white paper, UTAS being accommodated and somebody sits down on the TV and say we have achieved nothing? A lot has been achieved and ultimately you have been committed enough to go back to the classroom. We will continue to work on all the areas we have agreed on based on trust like you rightly said. We need to talk about the timeline”, Gbajabiamila said.
On his part, the acting accountant general of the federation, Silvia Okoliaboh gave a timeline of 3 months within which to sit down with ASUU committee and resolve all the peculiarities of the university in the expected merger of UTAS into IPPIS, even as he said that a former letter to that effect will be sent tomorrow (Tuesday).
“Mr. Speaker, I think you have said it all. We were here on two occasions and we made it very clear that we are more than willing to accommodate all the peculiarities of ASUU and the academia community. There is really nothing complicated about it. I believe ASUU has ICT experts and they know that in every technically, you can virtually do anything. It’s a matter of can you do what you want? And I have made this commitment and I am repeat it that we in the accountant general office are going to accommodate all the legitimate peculiar of ASUU and the university community. That’s just the way to go.
“The challenge is if you allow ASUU to have their own, you are going have the colleges of education, universities of educational, polytechnics, unity schools, everybody is going to come with their own and Mr. Speaker, I think we just have to agree that it is a way to go. I want to join Mr. Speaker to commend ASUU for calling off the strike. I want to say that if this is the only thing we will achieve here today, let us put it to rest. We will sit down together, look at all the issues we have, we list them, as we are address them, we are ticking them. We are not going to ask you to accept until you are sure we have addressed them. On this note, I am going to call on colleagues in ASUU to allow this matter to be rested so that our universities will know peace.
“I think the starting point will be for us to have a comprehensive list of all the peculiarities of ASUU and their members. Whatever level of complications it may be, I believe that in 3 months, we should be able to clear this. We will continue to pay ASUU because they need their mony. But what we will do now is to sit down with ASUU, look at what we have at the moment so that we will continue to pay them. Then, gradually, incrementally, we are accommodating some of those material peculiar ASUU is complaining about”, he said.
The accountant general also allayed the fears of ASUU in the case of making updates on IPPIS, saying it was a credible payment platform that has worked for years.
Two passengers, weekend, lost their lives and three others were kidnapped after a team of bandits armed with sophisticated weapons attacked the Magamar Jibia border axis in Jibia Local Government Area of Katsina State.
An eyewitness, yesterday, revealed that the bandits attacked the border community Saturday at about 9:15 pm.
He narrated that before a joint police and military personnel repelled them, the hoodlums already stopped two vehicles along the major road, killed two passengers, and kidnapped three others.
“Before the police and soldiers fought them off, they stopped two vehicles, killed two passengers and kidnapped three. This is the picture of one of the victims,” the source said.
Although the police authorities are yet to confirm the incident, it was gathered that despite the reduction rate of bandits’ activities in the state, the Jibia axis is still vulnerable amidst dozens of security checkpoints mounted on the road to check both the movements of persons, particularly the smuggled items.
Last week, several bandits leaders were reported to have laid down their arms, reaching out to the Katsina State Government, seeking a robust peace agreement that is committed to both sides.
Special Adviser to the state governor on security matters, Ibrahim Katsina disclosed this in an exclusive interview.
He said the bandit’s leaders have realised what the future beholds for them vis-a-vis the state government’s approach to consolidate a realisable future and a framework for growth and development.
A car laden with explosives rammed the gate of the hotel and was followed by an attack claimed by the al-Shababarmed group.
An attack on a hotel in the centre of the port city of Kismayo in southern Somalia killed nine civilians on Sunday before security forces killed the gunmen.
Security officers killed three of the attackers and a fourth died in the bomb blast, said Yussuf Hussein Dhumal, security minister for Jubbaland.
“In the explosion, nine people including students and civilians were killed and 47 others were injured, some of them seriously,” Dhumal said.
“The hotel where the explosion happened was near a school so many students were injured.”
A car laden with explosives rammed the gate of the hotel and was followed by an attack claimed by the al-Shabab armed group.
The port city is the latest to be hit following a resurgence of bloody attacks in recent months by the al-Qaeda-linked organisation, which has mainly targeted the capital Mogadishu and central Somalia.
Sunday’s assault began at 12:45pm (09:45 GMT) when a booby-trapped car rammed the entrance of Hotel Tawakal.
“This is not a government target,” said police officer Abdullahi Ismail. “It is just an ordinary, civilian-frequented hotel.”
But Abdiasis Abu Musab, al-Shabab’s military operation spokesperson, said the group intended to strike Jubbaland region’s administrators who work from the hotel.
Kismayo is the commercial capital of Jubbaland, a region of southern Somalia still partly controlled by al-Shabab, which was driven out of the urban centre in 2012.
The armed group was driven out of Mogadishu by African Union forces in 2011. However, it still controls swaths of the countryside.
The city’s port had been a major source of revenue for the group from taxes, charcoal exports, and levies on arms and other illegal imports.
Al-Shabab has been trying to overthrow the government for more than 15 years and regularly attacks civilian and military targets.
Thousands of Somalis have been killed in a decade-long rebellion.
In August it launched a 30-hour gun and bomb attack on the popular Hayat hotel in Mogadishu, killing 21 people and wounding 117.
In 2019, the group conducted a similar attack on a hotel in Kismayo, killing 26 and injuring 56.
Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who was elected in May, vowed after the siege in August to wage “all-out war” on the group.
The recent deaths of dozens of children from acute kidney problems in The Gambia and Indonesia have caused alarm worldwide.
They were possibly caused by harmful substances in medicinal syrups.
The first fatalities were reported in The Gambia last month, prompting authorities to launch an investigation.
Separately, Indonesia this month announced a ban on all syrup and liquid medicines after the reported deaths there of dozens of children, also from acute kidney injuries.
There is no confirmed link between the cases in the two countries, but investigations are ongoing.
Here is what to know about what has happened.
The Gambia
In September, the government of The Gambia launched an inquiry into the deaths of 28 children from acute kidney problems after they took a paracetamol syrup to treat fever.
In early October, the World Health Organization (WHO) said the deaths in The Gambia may be linked to four contaminated cough and cold syrups made by Maiden Pharmaceuticals, an Indian drug manufacturer. It said an investigation was under way, together with Indian regulators and the New Delhi-based company.
The WHO said in a medical product alert on October 5 that excessive levels of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol had been found in the four products produced by Maiden Pharmaceuticals and sold in The Gambia: Promethazine Oral Solution, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff Baby Cough Syrup and Magrip N Cold Syrup.
The agency warned that their use may result in serious injury or death, especially in children,
Diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol are alcoholic toxic chemicals used in industrial applications such as the making of paints, ink or brake fluids. Their effects reportedly include altered mental states, stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea. They might cause damage to the kidney, liver and central nervous system.
Gambian authorities on Friday ordered all cough and cold syrups in circulation in the country to be recovered, extending the scope of a previous recall for medicines containing paracetamol or promethazine syrup.
Last week, police in The Gambia said in a preliminary investigative report that the number of child deaths had increased to at least 69.
The report also said the deaths from acute kidney injury were linked to four India-made cough syrups mentioned in the WHO’s alert, according to news agencies. It did not name Maiden Pharmaceuticals directly but included the company’s four liquid products in question.
Indian health authorities, who also conducted their own internal probe, halted all production at Maiden Pharmaceuticals in mid-October after discovering violations at its production facilities in Haryana state.
The state drug regulator said the tainted products sold in The Gambia had been made at the factory in Harayana in December, according to Indian media reports.
“In view of the seriousness of the contraventions observed during the investigation and its potential risk to the quality, safety and efficacy of the drug being produced, all the manufacturing activities of the firm is being stopped with immediate effect,” said an order by federal and state drug authorities.
Al Jazeera reached out to Maiden Pharmaceuticals but did not a receive a response by the time of publication.
Maiden Pharmaceuticals director Naresh Goyal told India’s Economic Times newspaper that “the deaths have been due to paracetamol syrup and not due to our cough syrups”.
Prashant Reddy, a lawyer and writer who researches drug regulations in India, said the country’s drug regulatory laws are inadequate and outdated.
“In total India has 38 regulators with limited jurisdiction, limited to their own states and a lot of bad actors slip through the cracks,” he told Al Jazeera.
Reddy added that longtime government efforts to consolidate the system to create a more unified regulator have not been successful.
“It is important to understand that the Indian pharmaceutical industry is a very powerful entity in the country,” he said. “A lot of them are completely against a more unified system because they know that this will increase the quality and efficiency of regulations and perhaps the cost of manufacturing drugs.”
Indonesia
Indonesian health authorities first announced an investigation into the death of about 20 children from acute kidney injury in early October.
Alongside WHO officials, the authorities formed a team of experts to investigate the fatalities.
As the reported number of deaths first increased to 99 and then to 133, the country moved to impose a ban on sales and prescription of all syrup-based medications.
Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said on Thursday that the deaths were among a total of 241 cases of kidney failure in 22 provinces, adding that most patients were children under the age of five.
Budi added that some of the medicinal syrups containing paracetamol in Indonesia also included ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol, the same ingredients that have been linked to the deaths of children in The Gambia.
Indonesia’s food and drug agency announced on Thursday that five locally produced medicines, out of 26 tested, contained excessive levels of ethylene glycol. It said it had ordered the manufacturers to pull them out of circulation and destroy them.
According to the agency, Maiden Pharmaceuticals’ products are not available locally.
In its alert, the WHO said the four products identified in The Gambia “may have been distributed, through informal markets, to other countries or regions”.
Other cases
In the winter of 2019 and 2020, at least 14 children died after taking an adulterated cough syrup prescribed to them by local doctors in India-administered Kashmir and the Jammu region. Twelve of the deaths happened in Jammu.
The Coldbest PC cough syrup manufactured by Himachal Pradesh-based Digital Vision contained diethylene glycol, according to media reports that cited authorities.
The Jammu and Kashmir police have still not indicted the company, and a court case against it is still pending.
In Nigeria, 84 children died in various parts of the country between late 2008 and early 2009 after taking a teething syrup tainted with diethylene glycol.
The government at the time said there had been 111 reported cases of children who had fallen ill after taking the syrup called My Pikin.
A senior Pakistani journalist and TV host Arshad Sharif was shot dead Sunday night along the Nairobi-Magadi highway in what police termed a “mistaken identity.”
According to local media reports, Sharif was shot in the head and killed by police after he and his driver allegedly breached a roadblock that had been set up to check on motor vehicles on the route.
His driver was also injured in the incident.
They were driving from Magadi town to Nairobi when they were flagged down at a roadblock being manned by a group of police officers, police said.
According to police, at the roadblock, the police were supposed to intercept a car similar to the one Sharif and his driver were driving, following a carjacking incident in the Pangani area, Nairobi where a child was taken, hostage.
-Wife’s reaction-
Earlier, Sharif’s wife Javeria Siddique said on Twitter: “I lost friend, husband and my favourite journalist @arsched today, as per police he was shot in Kenya.”
“Respect our privacy and in the name of breaking please don’t share our family pics, personal details, and his last pictures from the hospital. Remember us in your prayers,” she added.
“Arshad Sharif’s death is a great loss to journalism and Pakistan. May his soul rest in peace and may his family, which includes his followers, have the strength to bear this loss,” President Arif Alvi tweeted.
Sharif worked for the local English daily Dawn and later hosted a popular political show at ARY News, a local broadcaster, for several years.
-Sharif left for Dubai-
Sharif had left the country first for Dubai and later London in August after his channel parted ways with him, without citing any specific reason, following the ouster of former Prime Minister Imran Khan through a no-trust vote in April.
Sharif and other ARY officials were charged with sedition over a controversial interview with Shahbaz Gill, a leader of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, which was broadcast on the channel in August. Gill was later arrested and released on bail.
-Investigations begin-
Meanwhile, Kenya’s Independent Police Oversight Authority (Ipoa) says it has launched investigations into the killing of Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif.
Its head, Ann Makori, has told journalists in the capital, Nairobi, that a rapid response team has been sent to investigate the killing of the journalist.
Sharif was known to be a staunch supporter of Khan and openly criticized the alleged role of state institutions in his ouster.
The authorities in Tanzania have announced on Sunday that the fire declared last Friday in Mount Kilimanjaro had been brought under control and would soon be completely extinguished.
The fire broke out near a popular base camp for hikers and climbers at an altitude of around four thousand metres.
A total of 500 people, including firefighters, staff of the national parks authority (Tanapa), police and civilians (students, residents, employees of a tour operator) – were mobilized to fight the fire, which was fanned by strong winds.
According to the authorities, the fire did not cause any casualties in this tourist mecca in north-eastern Tanzania, a popular destination with trekkers and mountaineers. Tens of thousands of people climb the slopes of Kilimanjaro every year.
This fire comes exactly two years after a fire that ravaged 95 km2 of slopes for a week in October 2020.
A protesterwas killed Sunday in Khartoum by a bullet fired by security forces, doctors said, as the anti-putsch mobilisation begins, culminating in the first anniversary of General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane’s coup on Tuesday.
The new death, the first of a protester since August 31, brings to 118 the number of protesters killed in a year of repression, added the doctors’ union, which has been keeping track of victims for the past year.
On 25 October 2021, the army chiefdismissed the civilian members of the government that was supposed to lead the country towards democracy after 30 years of dictatorship Omar al-Bashir, who was dismissed by the army under pressure from the street in 2019.
Since then, almost every week, Sudanese take to the streets, braving the repression.
Activists and resistance committees, the neighbourhood groups that organise the marches, are promising another show of force in the streets on Tuesday for the first anniversary of the coup.
Already on Friday, they managed to mobilise thousands of demonstrators in various cities across Sudan to demand a return to civilian rule.
For a year now, the country, one of the poorest in the world, has been sinking deeper into political and economic crises.
No way out of the crisis seems to be in sight, despite international mediation efforts to bring civilians and the military to the same negotiating table.
As for the economic situation, it is only getting worse: between triple-digit inflation and food shortages, a third of Sudan’s 45 million people are going hungry.
The draw for 2023 FIFA’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand was held at the Aotea Centre in Auckland, New Zealand, Saturday.
Four African teams gained places in groups B, C, G and H.
Based on the latest FIFA/Coca-Cola Women’s World Ranking, the 29 qualified teams and three play-off tournament slot placeholders were allocated to eight pots of four teams each.
Opening matches are schedule for July 20, 2023.
Host New Zealand will play against Norway in Auckland at 7 p.m. local time (UTC+13) on July 20, 2023.
On the same day, co-host Australiawill meet Ireland at 8 p.m. local time in Sydney (UTC +11) for the match of group B.
Nigeria’s tournament opener will be on July 21, against Canada. The African giant will then battle against the co-host on July 27 at the Brisbane Stadium.
Zambia, last WAFCON bronze medalist, will kick off their tournament on July 22. They will be faced with Japan, the winners of the 2022 AFC Women’s Asian Cup. In group C, they will also meet Costa Rica and Spain.
African champions, the Banyana Banyana will play Sweden on July 23. A challenge from the outset.
Indeed, the Swede are the bronze medalists of the last edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup. The South Africans will also face a battle against Italy and Argentina.
In group H, Morocco, last WAFCON host and finalist will have their match opener on July 24 against Germany. Colombia and Korea Republic are also in the same group.
Spots to be filled
One spot in group D, E and F still need to be filled.
They are destined for national teams that do not directly qualify for the final competition. The teams will be determined by means of a ten-team play-off tournament.
AFC: Chinese Taipei, Thailand
CAF: Cameroon, Senegal
Concacaf: Haiti, Panama
CONMEBOL: Chile, Paraguay
OFC: Papua New Guinea
UEFA: Portugal
The contenders in playoff A are: Cameroon, Portugal and Thailand. Only one team will integrate group E.
The contenders in playoff B are: Chile, Senegal and Haïti. Only one team will integrate group D.
The contenders in playoff C are: Chinese Taipei, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay and Panama. Only one team will integrate group F.
The playoffs are scheduled from February 17 to February 23.
Ticket packages are currently on general sale, with single match pass tickets available from 25 October.
The USA won the last edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup final will be played in Sydney on August 20, 2023.
The United States Embassy yesterday issued a security alert on the elevated risk of terror attacks in Abuja, the Nigerian capital.
Following US Embassy’s terror warning, the British High Commission also issued an advisory to its staff on movement while also announcing reduced services.
According to reports, other European countries, are reducing services and will be attending only to critical needs.
In a swift reaction, the Department of State Services (DSS) called for calm, saying necessary precautions are being taken to secure the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and other parts of Nigeria.
According to a statement from the embassy in Abuja, targets of the terrorist attack may include government buildings, places of worship, schools, markets, shopping malls, hotels, bars, restaurants, athletic gatherings, transport terminals, law enforcement facilities, and international organisations.
The British High Commission in a statement announced that: “On Monday 24 October, British High Commission Abuja (BHC) will be open for Business Critical staff only. ALL colleagues wishing to travel to BHC should seek authorisation from Line Manager/ Block Leads, and in advance of travel.”
On the same day, BHC Abuja UKB parents are advised strongly not to send children to schools.
The latest alert followed an intelligence report in September about possible attacks on military facilities in Nigeria. One of the targets was the Nigerian Army School of Artillery, Kachia, which houses the country’s second-largest ammunition dump, after Ikeja Cantonment.
The report had said the terrorists planned to mop up enough firepower to stage a takeover of Abuja.
The market town of Kousseri in the Far North Province of Cameroon, close to the border with Chad, has been struggling with major floods for a week.
Two regional rivers have their confluence here, the Logone and Chari, and both are seeing exceptionally high water levels that are predicted to rise further.
Sandbags were being used in an attempt to contain the rivers, but for many parts of Kousseri it was already too late.
Homes in the town have been flooded and people were seen walking through knee-high muddy water, carrying possessions to try and save them from the floods.
Families have been left homeless and have built temporary shelters from sticks and sheets on dry higher ground.
“I’m in serious trouble,” told Kousseri resident Bouba Vira, whose family have been forced to abandon their home.
Heavy rains caused enormous damage in August, and again the situation has become serious due to the rising flood waters.
The Logone and Chari rivers separate Cameroon from neighbouring Chad which declared a state of emergency this week to help tackle the crisis.
Nothing should stop you from making a bold fashion statement on your birthday.
Kumawood actress, Matilda Asare turned a year older on Wednesday, October 19, 2022.
Birthday comes as a blessing and choosing the outfit for the day is arguably the best part of the celebration. Not only is it the perfect excuse to get glammed up, but it can also symbolically reflect the things we want to do and the kind of person we want to be in our upcoming year.
Like many actresses, a birthday photoshoot is not something Matilda is likely to skip.
Matilda Asare is celebrating her birthday the only way she knows best; praising God and dripping on the ‘gram.
On the gram, she captioned her post, “Happy blessed birthday to me. I don’t have much to say on this day all I have to say is thank u God for how far U have brought me. I’m grateful.”
Her caption came with some stunning photos which have set tongues wagging in the entertainment industry.
The actress, as usual, is looking ageless and stunning. She wore a long red dress with a slit that is so gorgeous.
She is a fashionista and we’re not exaggerating when we say she knows how to look good, especially in red. Matilda decked out in an array of stunning looks.
Her flawless makeup and stunning hairstyles were something we couldn’t stop staring.
If you are running out of ideas, scroll below for some inspiration from Matilda Asare for birthday inspiration.
The Interim NationalCoordinator of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, BAT Ambassadors, Chief Jamiu Afolabi Ekungba has said that Nigeria at this point needs a man who can consistently follow ideas agreed upon, especially in the execution of his released manifesto and not a fair-weather personality who consistently jump from boat to boat to suit his personal desire or those of his cohorts.
In a chat with newsmen on activities of BAT Ambassadors, Chief Ekungba stated that the joint ticket of Tinubu/Shettima has practical and demonstrable evidence of performance which if allowed to be replicated at the national level will soon produce the Nigeria of our dream.
“We see in the joint ticket Tinubu and Shettima practical and demonstrable evidence of performance which if allowed to be replicated at the national level will in the shortest possible time produce the Nigeria of our dream. “We need a man with the courage to pilot the drifting ship of Nigeria and in the current dispensation, we see in Tinubu the demonstrable evidence of that type of courage. We mean the courage to take hard decisions where it will hurt for the benefit of the nation.
“We need a man with an unequal passion for the federal system of government. It is only when Nigeria returns to federalism that our peaceful co-existence that can produce a geometrically exponential social-economic development. We see in Tinubu the un-repentant commitment to the ideas of true federalism.
“We need a man that can consistently follow ideas agreed upon, not a fair-weather personality that will jump from boat to boat as it will suit his personal desire or those of his cohorts. In this, again, we found Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the right peg in the right hole.
He explained that BAT Ambassadors are in every nook and corner of the country promoting and propagating the Tinubu/Shettima ticket especially on the vexing issue of same faith.
According to him: “Two major problematic areas for Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s election in Yoruba land and within the Yorubas that may not be adequately addressed by the conventional campaign, which prompted the formation of this group are: In Yoruba land, there has always been the assumption that we do not allow religion to dictate our relationship and interaction, but recently some Christian bigots have worked so hard to rupture this culture and tradition. As we are talking, they are in every nook and corner propagating this dangerous trend. A group must quickly arise to vigorously contain this phenomenon.
“Secondly, in history, the greatest threat to a Yoruba man becoming a national leader has always been the Yorubas. The problem of the Yorubas in national politics is that they pursue ideas that are never realistic. The Yorubas will want to set standards that don’t politically work anywhere as if they are angels.
“They will always come up with different methods to shoot down their own. What the Yorubas did to Awolowo and MKO Abiola are good examples. We, therefore, need a group that is adequately strong enough to address this,” he said.
A group, Bola Ahmed Tinubu (BAT) Ambassadors, says that the biggest threat to any candidate from the Southwest geopolitical zone becoming a national leader has always been from the zone.
Chief Afolabi Ekungba, Interim NationalCoordinator of BAT Ambassadors, made the remark on Sunday in Lagos during an interview with newsmen.
Ekungba was speaking on the electoral chances of Sen. Bola Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, for the 2023 elections.
According to him, the problem of the zone in national politics is that the zone often pursues ideas that are never realistic.
“The people of Southwest will want to set standards that don’t politically work anywhere as if they are angels.
“They will always come up with different methods to shoot down their own.
“What they did to Chiefs Obafemi Awolowo and MKO Abiola, are good examples.
“We, therefore, need a group that is adequately strong enough to address this,” Ekungba said.
Ekungba, a former governorship candidate in Ondo State, explained that BAT Ambassadors was formed, primarily to address misgivings from the Southwest zone.
He noted that the political support group had devised two major strategies, including mass movement strategy of room-to-room campaign.
“We plan to reach every Yoruba man and woman, boy and girl one-on-one,” he said.
Ekungba said the other strategy was to use the social and conventional media to engage the people.
“This is to meet the challenges of the youth who are always glued to their handset and various social media handles,” he said.
Ekungba said that the Tinubu and Shettima joint presidential ticket represented practical and demonstrable evidence of performance.
He said, if allowed to be replicated at the national level, the ticket will in the shortest possible time produce the desired national growth and development.
“The country needs a man with the courage to steady the ship of the country; sustain achievements of the past and project the country into achieving its full potentials as desired by the people.
“We see in Tinubu, the demonstrable evidence of that type of courage. We mean the courage to take hard decisions where it will hurt for the benefit of the nation.
“We need a man with an unequal passion for the federal system of government.
“It is only when Nigeria returns to federalism that our peaceful co-existence can produce a geometrically exponential social-economic development.
“We see in Tinubu, the un-repentant commitment to the ideas of true federalism
“We need a man that can consistently follow ideas agreed upon, not a fair-weather personality that will jump from boat to boat as it will suit his personal desire or those of his cohorts,” Ekungba said.
He pointed out that more than 90 per cent of the members of the BAT Ambassadors are people that would otherwise not be ready to touch politics and politicking in Nigeria with a very long spoon.
Ekungba said the reality on the ground had forced them out of their shelves.
A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Delta, Chief Fred Majemite, on Sunday threw his support behind the Presidential Candidate of the party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
Majemite said Abubakar is always eager to serve the country due to his understanding of the nation’s problems.
Majemite said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
He explained that against some perceptions in the public, the PDP candidate is not a desperate politician.
He explained that the candidate had contested for the same office in the past because he is still eager to serve Nigerians.
“You know in politics once you have been beaten by the bug and you really want to prove a point that you will do better, you continue to be involved.
“Atiku Abubakar is eager to serve not desperate, hence his constant interest to be president of the country.
“If he was desperate, he had an option to be president after former President Olusegun Obasanjo first term, but he refused the option, remember at that time he had all the structures.
“But he is eager to serve the country at the presidential level, that is why he always brings himself up to contest for the number one seat.
“He is one man that understands the problems of problems of Nigeria, so I think, we should give him a chance.
“He has come out with his own programme, so we should judge him by that,” he said.
On the expectations from Abubakar should he win the presidential election, Majemite a former gubernatorial aspirant in Delta said tackling insecurity and power problem would be his focus.
“First thing is primarily he should ensure complete and total eradication of insecurity or reduction to a very minimal level.
“After that, it’s not yet uhuru in the power sector. When we talk about the free fall of the naira, we will continue to have this problem, if we don’t get the power crisis sorted out.
“This is because the cost of running a small business is something else due to the cost of diesel.
“Even the solar light, though a welcome development, but how many people can afford it now?, he said.
He said that every Nigerian needs power supply, adding that once the power issue is tackled, investors would naturally troop into the country.
“Even the companies we have here can be revived, because as it is now, most companies in the country have gone underground, because no electricity to run them.
“If he can solve the power problem, he would have been creating enabling environment for people to do their businesses.
“Then we will have enough to export and the naira will be stronger, because if we don’t change our taste, we will continue to get same result,” he said.
He said that presently, the nation is not exporting anything aside crude oil.
“We are saying everyone should go back to agriculture, but even the farm produce, we still need to preserve them, if we are to export them.
“Aside silos, we must also use warmers and dryers, so we still need electricity.
“So tackling the insecurity in the country as well as the power problem are extremely important to the PDP candidate” he said.
The Nigerian Navy says it is providing security and ferrying stranded commutters across the flooded East-West Road linking Port Harcourt, Rivers and Yenagoa in Bayelsa.
Sub-Lieutenant Tochukwu Okeke, the Base Information Officer, Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) SOROH, a unit of Central Naval Command, said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday.
He said that the navy had been ferrying people and goods from flooded spots between Yenagoa and Port Harcourt, and deployed medical personnel to care for those in need.
The Base spokesman added that the operation was being coordinated by the Commander of NNS SOROH, Commodore Sunday Daniel-Atakpa.
“As directed by Flag Officer Commanding, Central Naval Command and under the strategic directive of the Chief of the Naval Staff to deploy men and materials to bring this hardship to the barest minimum.
“Under the directive of my Commander, this operation will continue until the flood recedes, this operation is not stopping, we will continue to deploy men and materials to render help and humanitarian needs to Nigerians because we are here for them.
“The motto of the Navy is “Onward Together”. So we are moving with everybody.
“We are informed of the hardship persons are facing here, the flood is unprecedented, on Friday, we got reports that five persons lost their lives, that’s to show you how devastating it is.
“We have been providing intervention in terms of humanitarian needs, we have been providing ferries from this Ahoada point down to that place where there is a ferry point.
“Basically, we have been providing ferries at flooded parts of the road from Bayelsa to Port Harcourt and Port Harcourt back to Bayelsa. We have also been providing medicare for persons,” he added.
According to him, the navy operation which had lasted about one week, also prioritises vulnerable people such as the sick, aged persons, nursing mothers and their infants, and help convey them to safer grounds.
Okeke however said that no casualty had been recorded since the naval interventions started.
He added that the nefarious activities of hoodlums who take advantage of the situation to rob travellers of their valuables and extort money from tipper drivers along the route, had been curbed.
NAN reports that the flood had cut off the East-West Road which connects states in the South-East and South-South to the South-Western part of the country.
The intervention of the navy will help commutters struggling for three weeks to navigate the flooded portions and continue with their journeys to and from Yenagoa, Ahoada, Omoku, Port Harcourt, Owerri, Uyo, Calabar and other cities.
Meanwhile, drivers of tipper trucks are making brisk business as they transport persons and goods such as foodstuffs, drinks and livestock across the flooded sections.
A commuter, Mrs Rita Ayaku, commended the Navy for the intervention, saying it has eased the hardship faced by people affected by the flood.
Lt Gen Abdulrahman B. Dambazau (rtd) had a robust service in the Nigerian armed forces culminating in his appointment as the Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) in August 2008. Dambazau disengaged from the military in September 2010.
After his disengagement, he joined the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in 2011 and became its Director, Security for the presidential election same year. In 2014, he joined then mega opposition party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), and was subsequently appointed the APC Director, Security, APC Presidential Campaign Council for the 2015 presidential election. He was also Director of Security of the APC Presidential Campaign Council during the 2019 presidential election.
The former Army chief was Minister of Interior from November 11, 2015 to May 28, 2019. In this interview, Dambazau speaks on insecurity in Nigeria and the way out. Excerpts:
What is your general impression on the country’s state of security?
Generally, every country has its own challenges on security and this is all over the world. But, of course, every nation too has its own security concerns. And, certainly, just like President Muhammadu Buhari expressed his feelings severally and many other personalities have done, the issue of insecurity is of concern to us because it has its implications economically, socially and politically.
What do you think was the background to these challenges?
There are many factors. Firstly, the issue of crime and criminalities is part of human nature. Every country experiences and that is why, in the first place, we have laws to govern society. Even God himself, who created us in His infinite mercy, sent prophets and books (Bible for Christians, Quran for Muslims etc) in order to guide our behaviour. Like I said, there are some factors involved…
Elaborate on those factors…
Some of those factors have to do with socio-economic issues, governance, environment (the impact of certain things happening within the environment). So, like I said, they are multi factors. For instance, on the issue of our environment, today, we are talking about climate change, how it has impacted on the environment, leading to land degradation, environmental degradation, resulting in forced migration for our farmers and herders from degraded areas to areas where they can access land and water to farm or herd their cattle. They are doing so because of the effect of what climate change has done which affected land and water resources and which are becoming scarce and smaller in size. In that case, you have conflict over their use or ownership. Also, in terms of socio-economic matters, we have issues of poverty and unemployment. Corruption also has a very serious impact on the environment.
These are some of the specific factors that I think contribute to some of the security challenges we have in the country. Globalization also has an impact. The world is becoming smaller, things are done faster. It gives a lot of opportunities for people with bad intentions to also take advantage of that. This is coupled with the fact that technology has so much improved. Another thing related to this is population. Our population after independence was about 50 million. Today, we are over 200 million people. Large population is not an issue as long as it is used as human capital to develop the country. So, the resources are scarce while the population has grown exponentially. These are some of factors that do contribute to the insecurity we are facing today.
Let’s expand the discussion to include insecurity generally. It started in 2009 with Boko Haram in the North-East. Today, it has escalated to every part of the North. How did something that started as insurgency in the North-East escalate to existential threat for the entire North?
Well, I want to correct an impression. The issue of insecurity did not start from the North-East. Recall that at one time in our history, what we were dealing with in the 80s and 90s was armed robbery. Remember the famous Oyenusi, particularly within the South-West and Anini & co. Those were the scary issues at that time.
Then, our prisons were filled with those awaiting trial, alleged armed robbery suspects or convicts of same crime. At a time, government started public execution of convicts. On one occasion, execution was taking place at Bar Beach (Lagos) for armed robbery and somebody was robbing another man of his car. So, the challenges of insecurity have always been there. Specifically, for the North-East, insecurity started way back with those young chaps who grouped and called themselves ‘Talibans’ in reference to what was happening in Afghanistan at that time.
So, this was the same group, I think, grew to become what it is today. But, this issue has gone beyond the North-East, like you rightly pointed out, it has spread to many parts of Nigeria and even beyond; it has become a regional issue in the sense that it has engulfed the entire Lake Chad Basin region. It is an issue that also has connection in the entire region. Recall the issue of countries showing concern about insurgency within, specifically, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger Republic now. So, it is a regional issue and our neighbor, Benin Republic, is getting some touch of it. Initially, Lake Chad Basin countries did not show much concern about it. They thought it was a Nigeria’s problem until it became a reality to them that it was a regional problem and all the countries, led by President Muhammadu Buhari, in 2015, refocused attention to Multi-National Joint Task Force which is now based in Chad under the command of a Nigerian officer since it was established. And, of course, even Benin Republic, which is not a member of the Lake Chad Basin Authority, is contributing towards that because it is also a threat to it. It is, indeed, a threat to the whole of West Africa. Among the insurgent groups that are active, Islamic State for the West Africa Province, ISWAP, has the territorial ambition to rule the whole of West Africa. It has gone beyond the North-East, Northern Nigeria and the entire Nigeria. It is a regional issue and, as such, an African problem. It is a challenge which, I think, we should look at from that angle.
To be fair to President Buhari, when he assumed office in 2015, the first thing he did was to visit all the neighboring countries specifically because of insurgency and, following that, he organized a conference of heads of state in the region in Abuja where this issue was discussed. In addition, the Federal Government also gave a lump sum of money for this project. The Multi-National Joint Task Force is heavily funded mostly by Nigeria because we have more interest to protect here. Don’t forget our population, size and interest, particularly managing our borders and reinforcing it with security which we have to do alongside those neighbors. We have extensive land borders, covering about 4, 500km. So, it is a concern to us.
The fact that we must protect our borders is a major challenge. Even here in Nigeria, there were all types of narratives sponsored here and there, that people were not even taking Boko Haram serious. Part of the problem we have is national ownership of the problem because, even at that time, there are people who felt the issue was not their problem. Some looked at it as a northern problem but today it has become a regional issue, not even Nigeria’s.
There is a very wide network of insurgency connected with ISIS and others. So, these are issues we need to look deeply into and ensure that we nip them in the bud because insurgency, combined with extremism and terrorism, has seen young people sponsored to throw bombs, kill people and themselves in various places. We don’t even talk about 2009, even during former President Obasanjo’s administration, when there were attacks in Kano, followed by the killing of a popular cleric, Sheikh Adamu, who was murdered, while leading prayers in a mosque in Kano. This group had already established all over. It was not even at that time confined to the North-East. Remember the 2011 bombing of the United Nations, UN, Office in Abuja, the burning of Nyanya and other places. So, these are issues we have been dealing with. I don’t want to continue seeing it as a North-East or Northern Nigerian problem. It is a regional/African problem which we need to wake up and deal with.
You referenced the efforts of President Buhari and, of course, the military and the Multi-National Joint Task Force based in Chad. That brings us to the role of the Nigerian military in tackling these challenges. As one of Nigeria’s military veterans, how would you assess the performance of the military on the security threat the nation is facing, bearing in mind the numerous challenges facing the military, especially the issue of resources, welfare, equipment and an over-stretched military?
Bearing in mind all the challenges you mentioned, it is very glaring that the military is doing as much as they can to deal with the situation. I also want to use this opportunity to appreciate my colleagues in the military, particularly those who gave up their lives for others to live, leaving behind them widows and orphans. No soldier gets out of his house, deployed to fight a battle with the intention that he wants to die. No! He wants to win the war and come back safely. But, unfortunately, that is not always the case. So, we need to give the military standing ovation for what they have been doing as far as fighting insurgency is concerned. It is a big challenge. Americans just got out of Afghanistan after 20 years.
They have been fighting war against terrorism for more than three decades now. So, with all the technological advancements, all the intelligence they have, they are still fighting non-state actors, and the terrorism they are fighting is not home grown, they go outside their country to challenge threats against them, but ours is home grown and to challenge non-state actors who are Nigerians, mostly living within the communities, is not an easy task. Secondly, you mentioned the fact that the military is over-stretched. Yes, the military is over-stretched. What is the total strength of the army, the navy and the air force? Just a little under 200, 000 and not only are they occupied, engaged to fight insurgency, they also deal with issues of routine policing. I think we need to look at our police as an institution and strengthen them in order to be able to handle those tasks which are their primary responsibilities, so that the military can concentrate in defending the sovereignty and territorial integrity of this country.
They have to be very conscious about issues of human rights because those are the issues other people are waiting for them to make mistakes. So, to go into fighting people who are involved in terrorism or insurgency who are living within the country, who are Nigerians, who are within the communities and are irregular non-state actors, is extremely difficult to do. I believe they (military) are doing as much as they can, bearing in mind the circumstances and, of course, when you are talking of weapons and equipment, when Mr President said he needed $1m to buy equipment, people were making all kinds of noise. But when you look at the security challenges facing the country, $1m is not much to cover their needs, to be able to carry out the tasks, their constitutional responsibilities and other challenges. I believe we must be able to appreciate the military. Of course, there are areas that one can say they can do better, but if you look at it generally, I believe they are doing as much as they can to carry out the tasks the Commander-in-Chief has given them. Yes, there are issues that have to do with administrative problems.
This is not unique to the military, it is a general issue which, when you look at it, all the sectors in the country have challenges of accountability and transparency as well as rule of law. These are the key ingredients in any democracy and these challenges are also not unique to the military. We must be able to focus on these challenges, make sure that whatever we do, the process is transparent, accountable and follows the rule of law and, of course, human right. If we do that, it will not give much leverage for anybody to take advantage of the system.
You have been critical about inter- agency collaboration in intelligence gathering and the usage of that intelligence gathered. Sometimes, we hear that intelligence gathered didn’t get to the right people or that it got to the right people but they didn’t get the right order. In the context of what you said about how things could be done better, what is it that we need to do better in this regard, with particular reference to inter-agency collaboration, among security agencies?
As I earlier mentioned, in this business of security, two things are very important. One, security forces must have the capacity not only to monitor what is happening, they must also have the capacity to respond to incidents. That capacity must be quick and sharp for it to be useful to their action. If it is not quick and sharp, it would only lead to escalation. This is why I said, for instance, the train attack, the attack at Kuje Prisons and others whereby those violent criminals would operate, spend a couple of hours in an operation, finish and disappear.
This is why I said there is need for us to look into the way we respond to emergencies. That is the way security agencies collaborate because this is not a one-man business. This must be based on collective efforts. An agency will not be able to deal with emergency situation alone particularly with the type of security situation we are facing. This is why it is important that security agencies work together. They must share information or intelligence. Their equipment must be inter-operational. They must be able to speak to themselves using their equipment. They must be able to access situations simultaneously so they can know who takes what action at what time. Inter-agency co-operation, co-ordination and collaboration, which I call the 3cs, are very important. If they are not able to achieve that, it becomes a problem.
As a military man and, from the security perspective, there has been creation of regional security outfits, like the Civilian Joint Task Force in the North and the Amotekun in the South-West. Many, including security experts, say equipment, including weaponry, should be slightly enlarged to include the para – military and even vigilantes. What do you make of this?
Well, that has its own advantages and disadvantages but, understandably, it’s more like self – help; communities come together to form vigilante in order to cover the gaps left by officially recognized security forces and that is what is happening. Like I said, it has advantages and disadvantages.
For instance, Zamfara’s case has led to a kind of war between the Fulani herders groups in the forest and the vigilante groups coming from the communities. The Fulani groups accused the vigilante groups of going into their communities, killing their people, rustling their cows and raping their women, among others. I don’t know how far that is true, but they used that as excuse for going into the communities, where they identify vigilantes to carry out banditry attacks as a way of revenging. I think that kind of thing should be looked into. If, for instance, the South-West’s Amotekun is able to cover certain gaps, civilians, in the first place, have a role to play, whether they are formed as vigilante or not. They should be able to provide information to security agencies. They should be able to report whatever they see happening, but what we have today on the other side of it is that we also have civilians who assist violent criminals to do what they are doing. Some go to the extent of supplying them food, drugs, weapons etc in the forests. This should not be the case. This is a problem that is a threat to everyone. Sometimes too, you will find out that some of them do it out of fear, sometime, when a community feels that it is not getting the protection it requires from security forces, they give in to the demands of these criminals to the extent that they threaten and collect tax from them.
I have seen some unverified pictures where captors use captives to farm for them and whatever they produce belongs to the criminals. On the issue of para-military institutions, the Customs and Correctional Service already carry weapons in line with the Act establishing them. But the issue is that they need more training on the use of weapons. I am afraid to say that, several years ago, this was my experience as Minister of Interior which I made efforts to correct. For several years, I met a situation whereby there was weakness in training personnel in para-military organizations
. This is why we gave a lot of attention to training institutions to ensure that they are functioning. I also made it mandatory that before one is promoted from one rank to the other, he or she is required to undergo certain courses and trainings. I brought my military experience into that. You don’t get promoted without attending those courses/trainings, tested and certified, with good grade which you will now use to compete at the Board with others before you are promoted. Before then, people just got promoted without attending those courses. We have corrected that, at least, while I was there and I believe my successor continued with that. So, these are some of the issues. But, you cannot allow everybody to carry weapons.
Even Americans are still grappling with the issue of gun control, because you find situations whereby people go into schools and supermarkets and start shooting and killing people. So, to say that everybody should be allowed to carry weapons, I don’t think we have got to that stage, particularly on the issues of assault weapons which, I think, we should be very careful about. But, vigilante has always been there, it is not new. We have had communities organizing them, so it not a new thing. South-West as a region has started to look at it as the window to create Amotekun. We will be able to assist because they do not have constitutional mandate. So, they are doing that to assist law enforcement agencies. I have seen situations whereby when they arrest suspects they hand them over to law enforcement agencies.
A lot of weapons came into Nigeria through our borders, particularly after the death of Col. Gadaffi in Libya in 2011. Some of the people bringing in the weapons are not Nigerians. What can you say about that in terms of the strength of security in being able to control incursions such as this?
Our border security and management has some serious challenges. I mentioned earlier that we have over 5, 000km land borders and, of course, we have borders by the sea. This is a challenge. Then, of course, there is absolutely no way we can physically man all those borders. As at the time I was in office, they were about 84 officially recognized crossing areas and over 1, 000 illegal routes people use (to possibly bring in weapons). There is closeness between countries we have boundaries with. There were some borders I visited while in office where it was only a road that separated a community in Niger from a community in Nigeria. When I visited Benin Republic, upon their invitation on the issues of border, I met my counterpart, their then Minister of Interior, one Mr. Akande. Apparently, he is a Yoruba man.
He told me that they have this close cultural affinity with the Yoruba in one of the states, that none of the traditional rulers will remain on a seat without visiting a particular shrine in Benin Republic. If you look at Chad, we have Niger, we have Fulani and Kanuri speaking people, just like Benin with Yoruba speaking people. You look at Northern Cameroun, we have Fulani and Hausa speaking people. In Southern Cameroon, you cannot differentiate between the people of Akwa Ibom and Cross River states from those of South-West Cameroon, even in terms of name.
They have been sharing similar names. So, there is that strong cultural affinity. That is the second issue aside the expanse nature of the borders. Even if you just look at those two, you will know that we have these challenges. So, in order to deal with these challenges, we must work together with our neighbors. Interestingly, you find out that maybe because of population, some of those neighbors are more organized than us in terms of respect to rules, to laws. For instance, when you leave Nigeria and enter Niger, you will see the way they organized themselves.
They are not as rich as us or as exposed as us. There is need for us to come together. All our neighbors depend on us for survival to a very large extent. There was a time we heard that the Federal Government offered to buy vehicles for one of the neighboring countries and people were making…that is soft power. We also get aids from other countries, and they don’t make noise about them but they know why we do such aids. We also know why we do that.
. America has two bases in Niger: the Department of Defence and the CIA. They use those bases to protect their interests. We can’t neglect the fact that we need to move very close with the Americans to be able to leverage on what they do there. They are there for their interest. Also, we have our interest: interests that are mutual. Also, the influence of France and the European Union, EU, in that region, France has been conduction ‘Operation Barkani’ in Mali for years even though they said they were withdrawing some troops. France is a great influence in all our neighboring countries who are Francophone. We cannot distance ourselves from France because we have some interest to protect, just like France. And, France also has interest to protect in Nigeria. We should be able to have a bi-lateral relationship with these countries based on mutual interest.
It’s always heaving with people on the lookout for a bargain, Western brand names which are recycled and sold at a fraction of their original cost and traders appear to have an infinite amount of sacks full of second hand clothes.
This market is a source of commerce, feeding into the local economy and it enables people like John Mwangi to earn an income.
“This trade is what enables me to take care of my daily needs. I do not have skills in any other trade. If it stops I would be stranded with nowhere to go,” says Mwangi.
Recycling fashion helps to cut down the mountains of waste the world produces each year, but the sheer volume of poor quality second hand textiles arriving here is creating another waste problem, according some groups.
What the traders in Gikomba Market can’t sell gets burned or dumped onto waste heaps like this one.
Here, the poorest like Damaris Wanjiru hope to clothe their families and perhaps make a little money to feed their children.
The mother of four says: “We usually search for second hand clothes in the rubbish after which we sort them out. We then pick the ones that are of the best quality and then we wash them. We take some of the clothes to our children and we also wear some. We also have people who come to buy the clothes from us. We make money from our sales and wear the leftovers.”
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has been critical of the textile industry for the impact its production has on the environment.
It says the clothes industry is responsible for eight percent of global greenhouse gas emissions which contribute to climate change, while at the same time $460 billion worth of usable clothes are thrown away each year.
Janet Chemitei from the environmental group Greenpeace argues wealthier countries are using countries like Kenya as waste disposal grounds for rubbish they can’t recycle themselves.
She says: “The fabrics that they use to produce these clothes are synthetic fibers and this synthetic fibers are produced from fossil fuels which is also harming the environment in the long run and also the people who make these clothes and us who wear them so we really want brands to be accountable and to stop producing fast fashion.”
In a report called”Poisoned Gifts”, Greenpeace argues the second hand clothes are little more than textile waste and the imports threaten locally made products and textile industries.
It says 30 to 40 percent of the imports, which is about 74,000 tonnes, ends up being dumped.
According to Greenpeace it’s been difficult for sub-Saharan countries to ban second hand clothes from the US because they’ve struck preferential trade deals with America in what was called the African Growth and Opportunities Act.
According to a report posted by the Council on Foreign Relations think tank, the deal has worked in America’s favour because the African nations import more from the US than they export.
Organisations like UNEP are encouraging the growth of new industries which can create new uses for textile waste in Kenya.
One of them is Africa Collect Textiles, collects used textiles for recycling.
The Nairobi-based organisation Kenya alone imports more than 200 million kilograms of used textiles each year.
The company’s co-founder Alex Musembi agrees with Greenpeace’s findings: “According to the report that I have read, 20 to 30 percent of the waste that comes from the Global North is pure trash so that is the problem that we are talking about. The textile waste, waste problem.”
Africa Collect Textiles upcycles textile waste into rugs, pencil bags and other products which it exports to Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands.
The start-up has an income of 50,000 euros annually and 16 full time employees.
The company has established 35 drop off points where people can leave clothes they no longer have a use for, but it only collects cotton.
Musembi argues the world should demand more accountability from global fashion brands.
“I am talking about Nike, the like of Adidas and Tommy Hilfiger, the likes of H&M, the likes of Shein etc, they should come up and set up what we call the EPR fund, that is the Extended Producer Responsibility, and for every Euro they sell in terms of profitability, it has to be channeled back to companies like Africa Collect Textiles who are trying to solve their mess here in the country,” says Musembi.
But even with extra support, there is more textile waste in rivers like this than Africa Collect Textiles can ever hope to recycle.
It was dark. Everything was dark. And the water level rose, even higher. This time, Fortune Lawrence resigned herself to flee with her 8 children on a makeshift boat, far from her house ravaged by the floods.
It has been two weeks since the 50-year-old and her “pikin” (“children” in Nigerian pidgin) fled the deadliest floods of the decade in Africa’s most populous country.
The family is now living in deplorable conditions in a crowded school near Ahoada, Rivers State, in southeast Nigeria.
According to records, more than 1,000 people have taken refuge in the classrooms of this makeshift IDP camp.
“I was afraid to die,” says Ms. Lawrence, surrounded by about 20 children, in the middle of a classroom.
“Here, we have nothing. Not enough food, no diapers or mosquito nets. We need help,” she says, her features drawn.
According to the authorities, the floods have killed more than 600 people and displaced 1.3 million since June across the country. In the memory of Nigerians, confirmed by the weather agencies, the rise in water this year is particularly meteoric. Much more than in 2012 and 2020.
Today, the South East is the most affected region.
In Rivers State, here and there, many crowded camps for displaced people are hosting those who were able to flee.
The others have stayed in the submerged villages and are sleeping where they can, in trees for example,” says Obed Onyekachi, referring to several members of his family.
“It was impossible for them to come here. And how many others, swallowed by the waters, are missing?”, asks the 32-year-old man, rage in his voice.
“The crops were destroyed. We have lost hope. Famine is coming.”
“Contaminated water”
Without a boat, moving from one state to another is impossible. The supply of food is laborious.
On the main road to the west, the current overturned a tanker. Several people died at this point, according to local residents.
Some people are still trying to cross on foot, with water up to their waist.
“I’ve been stuck on the road for seven days. We don’t know how long it will last. Everything is devastated”, laments Alamin Mohamed, 25 years old, who hopes to be able to cross soon by motorcycle.
The crowded boats, made of wood and, for the lucky ones, motorized, are shuttling back and forth. No one wears a life jacket.
On the right bank, the roof of a church protrudes from the dark waters, brushed by high-voltage electric cables.
The representative of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Nigeria, Fred Kafeero, warned that the flooding increased the risk of diseases such as cholera.
At Ihuike Primary School, most of the students are sleeping on the floor, huddled together. Each classroom houses about 50 people.
A team of student volunteers cleans the premises and divides the meager food supplies sent by local authorities.
One of them, with a “Ekpeye students” T-shirt on his shoulders, worries about the risk of epidemics and infections.
“We need a clean environment. We pay attention to everything but we are exhausted,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
More than 300 people have been mobilised to tackle a blaze on the slopes of Tanzania’s famous Mount Kilimanjaro, local officials said Saturday, with police and local people helping firefighters.
The fire was burning near the camp Karanga site used by climbers ascending the mountain, at about 4,000 metres altitude on the south side of mountain.
Mount Kilimanjaro, situated in the northeast of the country, is Africa’s highest summit at 5,895 metres (19,340 feet).
Officials have not yet established how the fire started, but it comes exactly two years after another blaze, which raged for a week in October 2020 across 95 square kilometres (37 square miles).
No one was killed in that fire and on Saturday officials said that the current blaze did not threaten any of the tourists on the mountain. Kilimanjaro is popular with both trekkers and mountain climbers.
The fire started on Friday evening and was spread by strong winds during the night, said regional officials. They could not yet say how much ground it covered.
A plane transporting local officials and leading members of the Tanzania National Parks Authority (TANAPA) for a visit to evaluate the situation was unable to land on Saturday.
“Large clouds and the smoke prevented us from reaching the fire zone,” the prefect of Kilimanjaro, Nurdin Babu, told journalists. “We will try again when the situation improves.”
The chief of the region’s police, Yahaya Mdogo, said that they were focusing on getting the fire under control and could not yet say how big it was or what impact it was having on the population.
But videos posted on social media appeared to show the flames devouring vegetation and giving off thick clouds of grey smoke.
Police, firefighters, students from the local university and even staff from tour operators were working hard to bring the blaze under control, TANAPA said in a brief statement.
Mount Kilimanjaro, with its snow-capped peak, is known around the world.
The forests surrounding it form part of a national park, and Kilimanjaro National Parks is registered by UNESCO as a World Heritage site, in part because many endangered species live there.
Speaking to the BBC, Levelling Up Secretary Simon Clarke promised “changes to the nature of the operation [Boris] runs”: “He’s been very clear about that – it will be a small, tight, disciplined Downing Street under his leadership.”
Clarke also said that Boris Johnson “delivers for the places other politicians have left behind” and that there is a “huge amount of support for Boris in the North East”.
“It’s that support that we’re trying to recreate at the next election,” he added.
Chloe Smith, Work and Pensions Secretary, has come out in support of Rishi Sunak after listening to “his hopes for our country” and her local Conservative members.
“I intend to back Rishi to be prime minister, acting in the national interest and achieving the stability and opportunity that our nation needs,” she tweeted.
By the BBC’s tally, the total number of Sunak’s declared supporters is now 139.
A split has already emerged in the cabinet of outgoing Prime Minister Liz Trussabout who its members want to lead the Conservatives.
Some of the key cabinet names publicly backing frontrunner Rishi Sunak are:
Home Secretary Grant Shapps
International Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch
Work and Pensions Secretary Chloe Smith
Others who have declared their support for Boris Johnson are:
Levelling Up Secretary Simon Clarke
Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris
Alok Sharma, COP26 President
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Nadhim Zahawi
Transport Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan
More now on leadership hopeful Penny Mordaunt’s dismissal of reports she has offered Boris Johnson’steam her support in exchange for a prominent position.
Speaking to BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, she said the suggestion was “completely false” and insisted she was “in it to win it”.
Only 23 MPs have publicly come out to support Mordaunt’s bid so far.
But the Commons leader said she was “very confident” about making progress and pointed out that during the last leadership contest in the summer, she secured endorsements from 105 MPs.
With just over 48 hours to go until nominations for the next Conservative Party leaderclose at 14:00 BST on Monday, 211 out of 357 Tory MPs have gone public with their support:
Rishi Sunak – 133 MPs
Boris Johnson – 55 MPs
Penny Mordaunt – 23 MPs
Many others may not declare who they are backing, and more could announce their decisions today – so expect the numbers to continue to change rapidly.
We are only including MPs who have told the BBC on the record who they are backing, or those who have publicly declared their support.
Candidates will require the support of at least 100 Conservative MPs to be on the ballot.
Despite all the frantic speculation about a possible deal between Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson, Dominic Raab – a political ally of the former chancellor – said there would be no deal between the two men.
They met last night, and had what was described to me as “friendly discussions”,
But the Sunak camp is clear – there will be no accommodation between the two men, for now at least.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, in the Johnson team, said definitively that the former prime minister will stand again – although his team are still shy about putting forward the names or firm numbers of those who they claim are ready to back him. So far, so unclear in terms of the final candidate list.
Penny Mordaunt, the only candidate who fronted up to the studio this morning, maintained she is still in it to win it, making her case as the potential leader who can pull the party together and end the shenanigans.
Notable though, that she was deeply reluctant to get into any detail.
What will really stay with me from this morning was the sombre reality check from a former governorof the Bank of England.
Lord Mervyn King called on politicians to tell the hard truths he believes the public need to hear: that we are confronting a tough economic picture for years to come, potentially a more difficult period than the years of austerity under the coalition.
Nor did he hold back from identifying mistakes he believes the Bankof England has made, along with other central banks around the world, in being too slow to try to stamp out inflation and too reluctant to pull back from quantitative easing (the process of printing money).
China’s leaderXi Jinping has moved into a historic third term in power, as he revealed a new leadership team stacked with loyalists.
On Sunday the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) unveiled its Politburo Standing Committee, with Mr Xi re-elected as general secretary.
Observers say the line-up, handpicked by Mr Xi, shows he prizes loyalty over expertise and experience.
The unveiling came after a week-long party congress in the capital.
More than 2,300 delegates elected various leadership groups and gave Mr Xi a new mandate over the party, in a break from decades-long tradition.
No other party leader besides CCP founder Mao Zedong has ever served a third term.
Leaders of China’s allies – Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un – were among the first to send their congratulations.
On Sunday, a day after the congress closed, Mr Xi strode onto a stage in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People trailed by the six other men of the Politburo Standing Committee.
The group sits at the very top of the CCP and is the Chinese equivalent of the presidential cabinet.
After introducing the team, he gave a short speech thanking the party for their trust in them, vowing to achieve the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts”.
Apart from two men – anti-corruption chief Zhao Leji and political theorist Wang Huning – the rest are new to the team.
Premier Li Keqiang, the country’s number two leader, was not seen – he is among four men who have retired from the committee.
Significant reshuffles of the standing committee after a term are common. But observers have noted that by getting rid of Li Keqiang and others, Mr Xi has ensured he is now surrounded by a group where nobody with a different perspective to him has been included.
“He felt no need to assign a spot to an alternative faction, which shows his priority is projecting dominance over magnanimity, when he is facing international pushback,” said Wen-ti Sung, a lecturer at the Australian National University.
Observers say the line-up shows that loyalty to Mr Xi trumps ability and experience, flying in the face of the Communist Party’s credo that it is a meritocracy.
The official titles of the standing committee members will only be confirmed at next year’s parliamentary National People’s Congress meeting, where Mr Xi will be confirmed as president again.
But many believe that Li Qiang – who walked out right behind Mr Xi during the highly-choreographed ceremony – will become Premier and therefore the one to manage China’s economy.
Li Qiang is currently the party secretary of Shanghai and oversaw the city’s controversial lockdown where tens of millions experienced significant food shortages.
Some believe that by making him premier, this sends a signal that Mr Xi does not prioritise economic activity.
“This promotion alone is significant for us to reconsider the power structure of China under Xi’s third term,” said Professor Yang Zhang of the American University, pointing out that Li Qiang is the first official to be promoted without any working experience in central government.
Another standing committee appointment that has raised eyebrows is Cai Qi, the mayor of Beijing.
He was seen to have performed well when the capital successfully hosted the Winter Olympics earlier this year during the pandemic. But he also attracted controversy when he launched a plan in 2017 to reduce Beijing’s population that ultimately forced out many low-income earners from the city.
“Cai was not even among the Communist Party’s top 370 leaders before the last party congress. Now he is the fifth most powerful person in China,” said Neil Thomas, senior China analyst of the Eurasia Group.
Others have also noted that once again no woman has made it to the standing committee – likely to be a disappointment to China’s feminists but not a surprise.
Indeed the lone female member of the 25-member Politburo, Sun Chunlan, has retired so that grouping is also without any female participation.
“This is a very sad and shocking arrangement,” Prof Yang said.
On the streets of Beijing, residents were not surprised by the line-up. “All of them belong to the same faction. It’s expected,” one person told the BBC.
“It’s okay that Xi continues with his third term as long as people can get food. We can feed ourselves but it’s still difficult. Many businesses are going through particularly difficult times,” said another resident.
Many ordinary Chinese have been watching the party congress closely to see whether authorities will relax Covid measures afterwards.
Patience in Mr Xi’s stringent zero-Covid policy is thinning, and days before the congress opened a man staged a rare public protest in Beijing, calling for an end to the policy and Mr Xi’s removal.
But Mr Xi has made it clear there will be no immediate loosening of measures.
On China’s heavily censored social media platforms, the reaction has been muted. Tens of millions of Chinese watched Sunday’s proceedings on state media livestreams – but all comment sections were disabled.
On Weibo, only official media outlets were allowed to post news about the line-up. The comments were scrubbed, leaving only a few posts singing praises for the new leadership.
However, Chinese users of other platforms such as Twitter – which is banned in China but can be accessed by virtual private networks – were much more more critical.
“Xi’s Army lives up to its name, and the whole country welcomes the return of the empire,” said one Twitter user sarcastically.
A network of illegal oil pipelines being unearthed in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region has revealed the extent of oil theft in the country, astounding even the most cynical about Nigeria’s obscure but hugely lucrative oil industry.
In Delta state, thieves built their own 4km- (2.5 mile) long pipeline through the heavily guarded creeks to the Atlantic Ocean. There, barges and vessels blatantly loaded the stolen oil from a 24-foot rig visible from miles on the open waters.
“It was a professional job,” said the head of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, wading through the swamps as he retraced the slick path during a televised visit to the scene.
Crude oil is Nigeria’s main export but production, and revenue, has been dwindling for years because of thieves, authorities say. Oil production fell from 2.5 million barrels per day in 2011 to just over a million in July 2022, according to the regulator.
Authorities say more than $3.3bn (£2.9bn) has been lost to crude oil theft since last year and at a time when other oil producers are having a petrodollars splurge, Nigeria can’t even meet its production quota. And it is not that the country can afford to lose money to thieves, it is gripped by widespread poverty and heavily indebted.
Many are saying that the recent discovery of the illegal pipelines confirms long-held suspicions of massive corruption in the sector where there is little transparency.
Nigeria’s oil industry has a documented history of corruption, from an unending fuel subsidy scheme where no-one actually knows how much is imported, to the shadowy allotment of oil exploration blocks.
That the heist was discovered by a private security firm and not the authorities has also added to the anger.
But Government Ekpemupolo, known as Tompolo, is no ordinary private security contractor.
The 51-year-old chief from Gbaramatu kingdom in oil-rich Delta state was in the past involved in blowing up the very oil pipelines he is now guarding after a controversial 48bn naira ($110m; £98m) contract from the government at the end of August.
He is arguably Nigeria’s richest ex oil-militant, was once the country’s most wanted man, and at one point even sold the country a fleet of warships.
He also knows the geography of the Niger Delta, the oil wells and official pipelines, so many believe his comments about the identity of the thieves.
“Many of the security people are involved because there is no way you can load a vessel without settling [bribing] the security people in that region,” he told Channels TV.
He also suggested that much of the oil was stolen from precisely those areas where there were army and navy checkpoints.
The military has not responded to these allegations, but it is unlikely they will openly contradict a man they have gone into partnership with to crack down on oil theft.
Lucky Irabor, Nigeria’s defence chief, who was part of the retinue that toured the oily trail of the thieves, escorted by Tompolo’s men, said it was an “eye-opener” and promised an investigation.
But it is not the first time Nigeria’s security agencies, especially the top brass of the army and navy, are being fingered over oil theft.
In January, Nyesom Wike, the governor of neighbouring Rivers state, said a police superintendent was involved in oil theft in the Emuoha area of the state and wanted him kicked out.
In 2019, Mr Wike also accused a high-ranking army commander of engaging in massive oil theft in the state, which was denied.
That corruption on this scale happened directly under President Muhammadu Buhari, who also doubles as Nigeria’s Petroleum Minister, has undermined his stance on fighting corruption, said Salaudeen Hashim of CLEEN Foundation, an anti-corruption NGO.
Mr Buhari was elected on a promise of fighting corruption in 2015, but many question how effective his administration has been.
“The extent of the ongoing oil theft might not even be fully known until this administration leaves office in May,” one analyst told the BBC.
Since independence in 1960, Nigeria has been ruled intermittently by military officers who seize power through coups, leaving behind a rot of corruption financed through the vast oil and gas industry in the Niger Delta.
Postings to the region, to protect oil installations, are considered lucrative by both senior security figures and the rank and file, who lobby and pay bribes to get them, said Mr Hashim.
“Once there, it is a race to the bottom to accumulate illegal wealth,” he added.
The recent burning of a vessel seized on allegations of carrying 650,000 litres of stolen crude oil in Delta state has also raised eyebrows.
Many questioned why security operatives were so swift to destroy the evidence – part of Tompolo’s recent success – but Nigeria’s defence chief said as the seized ship was smuggling stolen oil, no investigation was needed.
Tompolo’s motivation for the crackdown on crude-oil theft has left many bewildered. He is getting paid for it, and has spoken glowingly of his love for Nigeria and the Niger Delta environment, but this is the same Tompolo, many say, who blew up oil pipelines in the past.
As one expert pointed out, the illegal oil pipelines being unearthed by Mr Tompolo have so far been in Delta state, where he wields enormous power.
It is unlikely that anyone would have peacefully operated such facilities in his territory for years without his knowledge, they said.
In the past there have been deadly clashes between security forces and armed militants operating in the region but things have been relatively calm for years, and many say underneath that is an agreement by both sides not to interfere with the other’s “business”.
The only losers, it would seem, are law-abiding Nigerians, and perhaps, the oil firms. Not that they will get much sympathy in the country.
Penny Mordaunt has become the first Conservative MP to officially announce she is standing to replace Liz Truss as Tory leader and prime minister.
She was one of the less well-known candidates in the summer Tory leadership contest, but made it through to the final three.
In the first four ballots of Tory MPs in July, she came a clear second behind Rishi Sunak. She eventually lost out to Mr Sunak and Liz Truss in the last round, before Conservative members had the final say.
Her strong showing was rewarded when she was named Leader of the House of Commons by Ms Truss in her first day in office.
Since then, she has impressed colleagues at Westminster with a series of sure-footed appearances and her use of humour in the Commons, at a time when crisis was engulfing the government.
she had not even mustered a nod for Ms Truss during Prime Minister’s Questions, Ms Mordaunt replied: “My resting face is that of a bulldog chewing a wasp, and people shouldn’t read too much into that.”
Ms Debbonaire also challenged her about comments she was reported to have made at the Conservative Party conference, that “our policy is great but our comms is shit”. The shadow leader suggested the government’s policies were “also shhh … shocking, too”.
Ms Mordaunt said she had been “playing to the crowd as I was addressing a room full of communication professionals” – and added, to cheers from Tory MPs: “It is the anti-growth coalition whose policies are shhh … shocking.”
Just days before Ms Truss announced she was quitting, the Commons leader fronted up for her, answering an urgent question tabled by Labour for the the prime minister.
She denied Ms Truss was dodging scrutiny or hiding “under a desk” by sending Ms Mordaunt to cover for her.
Meanwhile, Ms Mordaunt raised her profile with the wider public by leading the Accession Council ceremony of the new King at St James’s Palace, two days after the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
Her role as Lord President of the Privy Council meant she played a central part in the event – which was televised for the first time.
Opinion polls have suggested Ms Mordaunt is popular with Tory members, and she has put in the work on the so-called “rubber chicken” circuit of Tory fundraisers and charity dinners.
The 49-year-old Portsmouth North MP has been in and around government for the best part of a decade and even had a brief spell as a reality TV star.
She was a prominent backer of Brexit in the 2016 EU referendum.
The daughter of a paratrooper and a special needs teacher, she was born in Torquay but grew up in Portsmouth, and, like Ms Truss, was educated at a comprehensive school, before going to university.
Before Penny Mordaunt’s interview, we heard from Laura Kuenssberg’s panel.
Senior Conservative MP and former party leader, Iain Duncan-Smith says he does not yet know who he is going to support to be the next prime minister.
He tells the programme “I desperately want my party to settle down”.
He added the party should choose someone that everyone is “going to get behind”. He also said the party must decide if it truly wants to “make a go of these last two years” until the next election.
Meanwhile, the director of the Nuffield Politics Research Centre at Oxford University and an elections analyst, Jane Green, said the Labour lead in recent polls is “really significant” and that what the public cares about is the economy and not a Tory leadership contest.
Former governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, also highlighted the difficult economic situation the UK, and other countries around the world find themselves in: “Public finances both in the US and the UK were not put on a sustainable track,” he said, adding that central banks have lost control of inflation.
Shortly we’ll be hearing from Commons leader Penny Mordaunt – one of three potential candidatesto take over from Liz Truss.
Mordaunt was one of the less well-known candidates in the summer Tory leadership contest, but made it through to the final three.
In the first four ballots of Tory MPs in July, she came a clear second behind Rishi Sunak. She eventually lost out to Mr Sunak and Liz Truss in the last round, before Conservative members had the final say.
Her strong showing was rewarded when she was named Leader of the House of Commons by Ms Truss on her first day in office.
Since then, she has impressed colleagues at Westminster with a series of sure-footed appearances and her use of humour in the Commons, at a time when crisis was engulfing the government.
Next up is Keir Starmer, leader of the LabourParty, who is asked which Conservative leadership candidate he would prefer to face.
He doesn’t answer, saying he doesn’t want to spend too much time on the “chaotic circus” within the Tory Party and that he will instead focus on the people who are “fed up to the back teeth” of the current situation and the cost of living crisis.
Starmer says “there is a choice to be made. We need a general election – do the public want to continue with this chaos or do they want stability with a Labour government?“.
Chief of Staff of the Republic of Ghana, Frema Opare, has urged the Black Stars to go ahead and make Ghana proud at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Ghana is making a record 4th World Cup appearance after missing the last edition in Russia in 2018. The Black Stars will be hoping to improve on their first-round exit in Brazil where they failed to pick a single win at the Group stage.
Hon. Frema Opare was speaking in a meeting with Executives of the Ghana Football Associationled President Kurt Edwin Simeon-Okraku and Youth and Sports Minister Mustapha Ussif (Hon.). Executive Council Members Frederick Acheampong, Kingsley Osei Bonsu, Nana Sarfo Oduro and Samuel Anim Addo were also present in the meeting.
Others included CEO Of Susubiribi SC Eugene Ofori Atta, Chief of Staff Michael Osekre and Director of Communications Henry Asante Twum.
“You have my Blessing; you have the Blessing of the President, the Vice President and all of us. It’s exciting to qualify for the World Cup again. We know we have qualified before but this time, especially, when people are down it is that time to bring out our best and let Ghanaians have a feel of the Black Stars.”
“So, I am happy to bless you and to really pray for you that when you get onto the field the good Lord will be with Ghana and make sure that we score.
“We are good, I always watch us play, I know it’s easier talking when you are outside but the whole point is that I think our footballers deserve credit for what they do with the kind of dedication that your team have shown, I have a good feeling that this time we will go places.
“We are trying to raise funds to send some supporters travel to Qatar to support the team as we need to have a critical number of people who will be responsible to cheer the team on to victory.
“Also, be rest assured that we will do our best to provide you with the necessary resources and other technical needs to make sure that the team succeeds. We are good, we just need that little magic to break boundaries,” she added.
The Black Stars are paired in Group H alongside Portugal, South Korea and Uruguay. Ghana will begin the campaign against Portugal on Thursday, November 24 before taking on South Korea and Uruguay in the other Group matches.
