Tag: Nigeria

A 12-year-old girl has allegedly been raped at gunpoint by a man identified as Israel and said to be the Chairman of Oguname Street Association in Agbarho, Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State in Nigeria.

It was learnt that the suspect was apprehended by local security men in the area on Tuesday night.

Isreal was said to have offered N20,000 as a bribe to the security guards who caught him in the act. They, however, reportedly, declined and took him to the town hall.

It was learnt that some members of the community are trying to cover up the incident, saying that “the 12-year-old girl was not a virgin” and that “sex is not a new thing to her,” Warri Aproko reports.

When contacted by SaharaReporters, the state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Bright Edafe, said they had also heard about the alleged rape but it had not been reported.

“The matter has not been reported, we are only hearing the rumour just the way you did. We don’t have information; nobody has reported it. We don’t know who to arrest, we don’t even know who was raped.

“As soon as I get information that concerns the matter, I will revert,” he said.

Source: saharareporters.com

The Nigeria Police Force on February 14, 2022 effected the arrest of former head of the Inspector-General of Police’s Intelligence Response Team, DCP Abba Kyari.

Kyari was arrested, along with four others, a few hours after the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) declared him wanted over alleged drug links.

He is currently the subject of criminal summons at home and in the United States after federal authorities asked for his possible extradition to face charges.

The case in the United States is related to Kyari’s links with a famed fraudster, Ramon Abbas popularly known as Hushpuppi.

The convicted fraudster admitted to American investigators that he had ‘contracted’ the embattled police chief to help his arrest a fellow fraudster at a point. Kyari has flatly denied the allegation.

Kyari had become the face to Nigeria’s fight against kidnapping across the country and was celebrated as a ‘Super Cop,’ who was on his way to becoming the Police chief.

Source: mynigeria.com

A 19-month-old pupil has allegedly been beaten to death by his class teacher for playing with water.

The incident happened on Monday, February 7, 2022, in a private nursery and primary school in Asaba, capital of Delta State in Nigeria.

Photos shared on social media by a relation showed that the victim had sustained several cane marks on especially his back.

The toddler is reported to have fallen ill after the punishment meted out to him by his teacher and was taken to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in Asaba where he eventually died.

However, the teacher is in the grips of the police.

According to BBC Pidgin, DSP Bright Edafe, the spokesperson of the Delta State Police Command has said the suspect will be charged for murder and manslaughter.

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

The arrest of Nigerian “super cop” Abba Kyari on drug-trafficking charges has laid bare the “public bickering” between two of Nigeria’s law enforcement bodies, an analyst tells BBC Focus on Africa.

“There was a kind of attempt to protect [Mr Kyari] from investigation,” says Idayat Hassan, director of the Centre for Democracy and Development.

“We got to this point due to the refusal of the Nigerian police to release [Mr] Kyari immediately to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency [NDLEA].”

She notes that the police only handed over Mr Kyari once it also publicly indicted a number of NDLEA officers accused of being involved in the drug-smuggling.

The real challenge is the “clean-up” they’ll now have to “convince” the Nigerian people, Ms Hassan tells the BBC. “There is only one Nigeria and all these agencies are expected to work together. It doesn’t infuse the trust citizens want to have.”

But she believes the spat will “have a positive impact because people will know there are no sacred cows. Even with the slight on their integrity by the police I think the [NDLEA] will want to do more”.

Source: bbc.com

The family of British national Nnamdi Kanu, a leader of a Biafran separatist movement in Nigeria, has said the UK government is “not doing enough” to get him released from detention in Nigeria, the Guardian newspaper reports..

Last month, Mr Kanu was brought to Nigeria with the help of Interpol after having fled the country in 2017 while facing terrorism charges, the Nigerain authorities said.

His lawyer alleges that he was unlawfully extradited from Kenya, but the Kenyan government denies this.

The UK high commission in Abuja has requested access to Mr Kanu, but his family want the British to go further than this, the Guardian says.

“Until they have access to my husband and are able to talk to him, the FCDO [Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office] is not doing enough,” his wife Uchechi Okwu-Kanu is quoted as saying.

“My husband was abducted in Nairobi on 18 June, he re-emerged on 29 June in Abuja for 10 days he was disappeared. He is the victim of extraordinary rendition; he is detained in the state security services building, as far as we know, he is held incommunicado.”

Source: bbc.com

The authorities in north-west Nigeria say they have freed of 100 women and children mainly mothers nursing infants who were seized by bandits.

The group were abducted on 8 June in Zamfara state. Four people were also killed during the incident.

The Zamfara state government said they were released without any ransom being paid, but gave no further details.

The group will now be given medical checks and debriefed before they return to their homes.
A spate of kidnappings has taken place in the region during recent months.

Since December 2020, more than 1,000 people have been abducted. Most have later been freed, reportedly after ransoms were paid, but some have been killed.

Authorities have blamed the incidents on bandits, a loose term for kidnappers, armed robbers, cattle rustlers and other armed militia operating in the region who are largely motivated by money.

Since the well-publicised abduction in 2014 of 276 schoolgirls from Chibok secondary school by Boko Haram Islamist militants in Borno state, more armed groups have resorted to mass abduction of students.

President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the military to flush out criminals in Zamfara and the neighbouring states of Kaduna and Katsina.

Earlier this week, during a raid against a criminal gang, a Nigerian air force plane was shot down on the border of Zamfara and Kaduna states. The pilot survived the attack by ejecting from the plane and fleeing to safety.

Source: bbc.com

Local media for Nigeria dey report say authorities don gbab Yoruba activist Sunday Adeyemo, AKA Sunday Igboho for Cotonou, Benin Republic.

Dis one dey come weeks afta Nigeria secret police, di Department of State Security Services, DSS bin declare Igboho wanted for allegedly stockpiling arms, allegation wey e don deny since.

Wetin we know about tori of Sunday Igboho arrest

BBC Pidgin find out from pesin wey close to di case say dem arrest Sunday Igboho around 2:00am for Cotonou on Monday through joint operation.

As at di time of filing dis report, e still dey Cotonou for Benin Republic but dem go repatriate am to Nigeria and dem, go likely araign am for court afta.

DSS bin don tell Igboho to surrender afta dem raid im house weeks ago.

Afta di raid, Igboho tell BBC Pidgin say, two pipo die and several others bin dey miss afta unknown men wey wear military uniform enta im house for Soka area.

Afta series of rallies for different part of states for di south west, Igboho suppose lead rally for Lagos on Saturday, but e say dat don cancel now becos e no dey safe and im need to dey safe.

Di DSS bin explain say one joint operations for Sunday Igboho domot result in di death of two of im guards.

While odas escape with gunshot wounds and 13 suspects wey include 12 males plus one female dey DSS custody. E tok.

DSS bin parade items wey dem say dem recover from di Sunday Igboho house during di raid earlier today.

Afunanya say Ak-47, Pump Action, Pistols, 5000 rounds of ammunitions dey among items dem recover from Igboho house.

Sunday Igboho begin make news afta e come forward since January 2021 wen e issue seven-day ultimatum to who e clall killer herders for Ibarapa area of Oyo State.

Since den, e don lead im pipo and rally to demand for a Yoruba nation and to stop di farmers-herders clash for im region.

But authorities bin don cut several warnings give am about im ways and method.

Source: www.bbc.com

Maiduguri, capital of Borno state in Nigeria’s northeast. Borno is a Boko Haram stronghold.

From here, the group launched deadly raids on civilian and military installations alike. News of Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau’s death was welcomed in the city, where people said they hoped to live more peaceful lives.

Abubakar Ibrahim Askira, an activist said Shekau’s death marked “a new beginning”.

“It is news that a lot of Nigerians or a lot of African (countries) are waiting to hear,” he said.

“I am calling on youths to be more vigilant and security conscious. Let’s help the security authorities with all the relevant information to vanquish the remaining terrorists now that Shekau is dead,” said Muhammed Mustapha, a resident of Maiduguri.

The Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) said in an audio message Sunday that Shekau had committed suicide after being cornered by its fighters in the Sambisa forest located in Borno state.

Boko Haram has not commented on the reported death of its leader, and the Nigerian military says it is investigating.

Shekau’s death would mark a major shift in Nigeria’s 12-year-old jihadist insurgency that has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced around two million in the northeast.

Source: africanews.com

Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation (WAPA), Cecilia Bolaji Dada has revealed that 89 men have been reportedly assaulted by their wives in the last 15 months.

Speaking on Tuesday, May 4, at a ministerial news conference to mark the second year of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu in office, held in Ikeja, Lagos, the commissioner said between 2020 and 2021, her office has received 89 domestic violence reports from men.

In 2020, a total of 46 men made reports at the ministry that their wives violated them and in the first quarter of 2021, about 43 men have reported claims that their wives battered them.

According to her, these figures are cases only reported to WAPA but there are quite a few who might have reported directly to the Ministry of Justice and Police station.

In her speech, she noted that a total of 664 women reportedly faced domestic violence at the hands of their husbands in Lagos in the past year.

Adding that 378 women were abused by their husbands in 2020, while 286 women were battered by their husbands in the first quarter of 2021.

Source: mynigeria.com

The General Overseer of Kingdom Advancement Christian Centre in Warri, Delta State, Kelvin Orumor, has been reportedly shot dead by a suspected gang of armed robbers.

Orumor was killed at Edjeba area of Warri South Local Government Area on Tuesday.

According to a source, the cleric was hit by a bullet during an operation by the gang at a shopping complex in a neighbourhood where he was.

He was confirmed dead at a government hospital he was rushed.

“We heard he walked into them when they were robbing a plaza. They shot him. He died before he got to the hospital,” the source disclosed.

Efforts to reach the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Onome Onovwakpoyeya, proved abortive as she could not be reached at the time of filing this report.

Source: punchng.com

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouk, on Thursday said the country currently has over two million displaced persons.

She said the affected persons were displaced as a result of the activities of insurgents and bandits or through communal clashes.

Farouk disclosed this in an interview with State House correspondents after a visit to the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The minister said, “As of today, we have over two million displaced persons in the country, ranging from those displaced by insurgency, banditry, communal clashes and so on.

“The mandate of the ministry is to provide effective communication of national and international humanitarian interventions, ensure strategic disaster education and response as well as to formulate and implement policies and programmes geared towards social protection and inclusion of our citizens.

“The ministry is doing its best to see that people who are displaced in this country are given the necessary support by way of supporting their livelihoods, rebuilding their homes in areas of disasters and settling those who have fled their places seeking for refuge, provided their communities are safe for them to return. This is what we are working on and we hope to achieve the desired result.”

On the purpose of her visit to Buhari, the minister said it was meant to thank the President for his support on issues relating to persons with disabilities in the country.

She recalled that the President had in January 2019 assented to the bill on the prohibition of discrimination against persons with disabilities in the country, describing it as the first milestone.

“Mr President also graciously appointed the chairman, board members and the executive secretary of the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities.

Source: punchng.com

Niger began counting the votes Sunday from an election that is expected to lead to the West African nation’s first transfer of power between two democratically elected presidents.

The voting process went on smoothly on Sunday and were no reports of widespread disruptions.

The West African country, unstable since gaining independence from France 60 years ago, is ranked the world’s poorest country according to the UN’s Human Development Index.

Around 7.4 million people were registered to vote in the presidential ballot, which coincided with legislative polls.

“I expect the Nigerien president to put security, health, progress and democracy first,” Aboubakar Saleh, a 37-year-old launderer, told AFP in the capital Niamey without revealing his choice among the 30 candidates.

Issaka Soumana, a 52-year-old lorry driver, said he wanted change.

“Niger is not moving forward. Our country must rise,” he said, brandishing his ink-stained thumb to show he had cast his ballot.

President Mahamadou Issoufou, who was elected in 2011 after the country’s last coup in 2010, is voluntarily stepping down after two five-year terms.

“It is a special day for Niger which will experience for the first time in its history a democratic transition,” Issoufou, 68, said after voting at the Niamey city hall.

He noted that Sunday’s vote was the first in which he did not take part in three decades in the predominantly Muslim country.

At some polling stations in Niamey, voters saw to it that men and women formed separate queues to vote.

The frontrunner is Issoufou’s designated successor, Mohamed Bazoum, 60, a former interior and foreign minister.

“It is a great source of pride that this date of December 27 has been respected,” Bazoum said after voting.

He campaigned on promises of emphasising security and education, especially for young girls in a country with the world’s highest fertility rate — 7.6 children per woman.

Source: africanews.com

A senior lawyer and human rights activist, Femi Falana, has accused the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS) of failing to release 65 convicted soldiers who were granted a presidential pardon by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Buhari had in April 2020 approved an amnesty for 2,600 inmates in different custodial centres, including the army officers.

Femi Falana (SAN)

He said, “For instance, 65 convicted soldiers who have met the conditions outlined in the Presidential Amnesty granted to certain categories of prison inmates in April 2020 are still languishing in prison custody. There were 66 of them but one of has been released from prison custody. No reason has been adduced by the prison authorities for not releasing the others.”

Falana, while reacting to the release of six convicts repatriated from Thailand to complete their prison terms in Nigeria but subsequently held in Kirikiri Maximum Prison many years beyond their release dates, called for a comprehensive audit of all inmates in the nation’s correctional centres.

The released inmates are Azukaeme Henry Ejikeme, George Chibuike Onyeama, Kennedy Tanya, Yakubu Yahuza Mohammed, Mrs Gloria Ogbonna and Wasiu Amusan, alias John Smith.

He said, “Sometime in June 2020, we we were contacted by eight Nigerians who were convicted in Thailand and transferred to Nigeria on October 2, 2012 under a Prison Exchange Bilateral Programme. They alleged that they had been abandoned in the Kirikiri Maximum Correctional Centre after they had been granted Royal Pardon by the Thai King. We confirmed the allegation and decided to launch a legal battle for their release from prison custody.

“On July 2, 2020 our law firm requested the Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Godfrey Onyeama, to direct the Nigerian Embassy in Thailand to furnish us with the warrant for the release of the convicts. The minister did and the embassy procured and sent six warrants to Nigeria. The warrants were promptly forwarded to us.

“On August 25, we wrote to the Honourable Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, urging him to direct the Kirikiri Maximum Correctional Centre to release the convicts from custody. As the request was subjected to bureaucratic hiccup we were compelled to file six applications at the Federal High Court for the immediate and unconstitutional release of the convicts. Even though the case has been adjourned to January 25, 2021 for definite hearing, the Minister of Interior granted our request last week for the release of the convicts. Accordingly, they were released on December 26, 2020. We are pursuing the case of the remaining two convicts.

“It is unfortunate that the convicts have been detained illegally since 2017 when the Thai King granted them amnesty. A few months ago, we also secured the release of an awaiting trial inmate who was charged with armed robbery and abandoned in the same correctional centre. The legal advice rendered by the Attorney-General of Lagos State to the effect that he had no case to answer, received by the police six years earlier, was not transmitted to the magistrate’s court that had remanded him in prison custody.

“Both cases call for a comprehensive audit of all inmates in the nation’s correctional centres.”

Source: saharareporters.com

The National Union of Nigerian Teachers (NUT) on Tuesday threatened to down tools over recent attacks on schools, including Friday’s abduction of students in the country’s northwestern state of Katsina.

Recent attacks have posed a threat to the lives of teachers and students, the NUT said in a statement, in response to the attack on the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, in which more than 300 students went missing.

The latest attack in Katsina “sent shivers through the spine of other members” of the union in the academic community, the union noted.

On December 1, the Headteacher of a primary school in the southern state of Edo, identified as Alu Ola Paul, was kidnapped by gunmen on his way to work and released six days later, said the NUT.

On December 8, two female teachers at a secondary school in the Effurun area of the oil-rich Delta State were also allegedly kidnapped within their school premises by armed bandits and have yet to be released, the teachers’ union recalled.

“In light of these recent developments, the NUT may be compelled to down tools, pending when it is safe for our members to teach and guide our pupils and students without fear of abduction by these faceless enemies of educational prosperity of the Nigerian nation,” said the statement.

Meanwhile, the NUT called on the government at all levels to ensure adequate security and 24-hour surveillance around schools.

“These incidences are sad reminders of previous ugly events in Chibok and Dapchi, where Boko Haram terrorists had attacked and abducted students, creating a monumental disruption of school activities and impeding our nation’s educational growth and advancement while subjecting family members and relatives to unimaginable trauma,” the NUT said.

Katsina State Governor Aminu Masari on Monday confirmed that government negotiators are already in touch with kidnappers of the students, refusing to disclose details of the negotiations as the authorities were trying to protect the victims and secure their release.

Source: GNA

A total of 10 schools were closed on Tuesday in Nigeria’s northwestern state of Zamfara, which shares borders with Katsina where over 300 students were declared missing after a recent attack on their school by gunmen.

Ibrahim Abdullahi, the Commissioner for Education in Zamfara, told Xinhua that the schools are believed to be vulnerable to bandits’ attack, and that measures have been taken to secure their lives, especially those located along the borders with other northwestern states.

“We have received the approval of Governor Bello Matawalle to close all the schools located along our borders with our neighboring states of Kaduna and Katsina, following the recent abduction of over 300 secondary school students at the Government Science Secondary School, Kankara in Katsina State,” Abdullahi said.

The town of Kankara shares borders with Zamfara and that attack is also a threat to students, the official said.

On Saturday, Katsina State Governor Aminu Masari ordered the closure of all boarding secondary schools in the state, following the school attack by suspected bandits.

Source: GNA

The US has added Nigeria to a list of countries for which Washington is especially concerned about threats to religious freedom.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo didn’t give the reasons for the decision as he announced it, but a State Department report earlier this year pointed to mass detentions of members of a Nigerian Shia group and the arrests in one state of Muslims who were ignoring Ramadan fasting rules.

The US list also includes China, Iran, Pakistan, Myanmar, North Korea and Saudi Arabia.

Countries on the list can face US sanctions if they fail to improve their records on religious freedom.

Source: bbc.com

Four Lagos-based suspected cultists and two others have been arrested by men of the Ogun State Police Command in Odogbolu.

The suspects were arrested while allegedly making arrangements to purchase a locally-made pistol for an operation.

The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi, disclosed this on Wednesday in a statement.

Oyeyemi said Oluwadamilare Aboyeji, Matthew Adebiyi, Jacob Solomon and Iliasu Jubril were based in Ikorodu, Lagos State, while Segun Olubanjo and Samuel Olaniyan were based in Odogbolu.

According to the PPRO, the suspects were arrested on November 27, 2020, in Odogbolu when the four Lagos-based alleged cultists came to meet Olubanjo and Olaniyan to foment trouble as a result of a gun transaction between the two groups.

Oyeyemi said, “Investigation revealed that the Ikorodu-based suspects contracted Samuel Olaniyan to purchase a locally-made pistol for them, and when the gun was delivered, they discovered that the pistol was not serviceable; hence they came with full force to deal with the Odogbolu-based cultists for betraying their trust.

“While the pandemonium was going on, a distress call was made to the Odogbolu Division, consequence upon which the DPO, SP Awoniyi Adekunle, quickly led his men to the scene, where the six suspects were apprehended.

“Recovered from them were one locally-made pistol and two live cartridges.”

The PPRO added that the Commissioner of Police, Edward Ajogun, had directed that the suspects and exhibits be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for further investigation with a view to charging them.

Source: mynigeria.com

Police in Nigeria have paraded a group of 35 crime suspects during a media briefing to counter allegations that photos they had originally shared on social media were photoshopped.

On Tuesday, the police shared a picture of a man and a woman accused of involvement in violent crime.

At first glance the photo appears to show two suspects standing in front of a table of assault rifles.

Look closely though, and the problems are hard to miss. The two people have blurry white borders around their heads. The guns look badly edited in. There are random reflections in a window behind them.

The post soon triggered massive reactions online. Thousands of retweets and rising. In the comments below the majority of them castigating the police people pointed out what they said was a bad photoshop job.

But the police tweeted on Wednesday: “The pictures are authentic and true representation of the suspects and exhibits.”

They explained that the pictures “were taken separately and merged into one screen for seamless understanding of the story line,” the post said.

The post added: “The arms showcased in the picture were the exhibits recovered by Police operatives from the suspects.”

Source: bbc.com

The Senate on Wednesday urged the Federal Ministry of Health, the National Arbovirus and the Vector Research Centre, to probe the cause of strange deaths in Benue State.

The resolution was sequel to a motion on the urgent need to deal with the outbreak of a strange ailment suspected to be Yellow Fever, ravaging Epeilo-Otukpa and Itahono-Owukpa communities in Ogbadibo Local Government Area of Benue State.

The motion was moved by Senator Patrick Abba, who is representing Benue South in the red chamber.

The Senate also urge the Federal Ministry of Health to urgently mobilise focal persons to the affected areas to complement the efforts of the Benue State Government in ascertaining the nature of the ailment.

The upper chamber also tasked the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control to promptly put up surveillance to contain the disease and see to the treatment of victims and protect others from further contracting it.`

It urged the NCDC and the National Primary Health Care Development Agency to synergise and support the people of Benue South Senatorial District and in particular the Epeilo-Otukpa and Itabono-Owukpa communities, to treat, prevent and or reduce the number of cases and deaths.

The Senate further urged the Federal Ministry of Health to immediately activate and set up a multi-agency yellow fever emergency operatives centre in Benue South, if the result should be positive for yellow fever.

The Senate demanded the conduct of a mass vaccination and awareness campaigns in Benue South Senatorial District.

Moro in his motion had noted with grave pain the outbreak of a strange ailment said to be yellow fever in the state.

He expressed further concerns that the strange ailment has not yet been effectively diagnosed by health authorities.

He, however, indicated that the Benue State Ministry of Health and Human Services has been able to intervene to some extent having collected samples and sent same to National Reference Laboratory to be able to establish the kind of organism that is causing the ailment and is availing victims of interim treatment.

He expressed sadness that the affected people in the rural localities are dying on a daily basis in their numbers with Epeilo and ltabono communities recording 20 and 25 deaths respectively.

Source: punchng.com

Police in Nigeria’s Ogun state have arrested two suspects at a so-called “baby factory” run by a woman who was released on bail.

The state police spokesperson Abimbola Oyeyemi said a girl who had been lured by the baby factory operator escaped and reported the matter to the police.

Officers raided the premise and rescued 10 girls with four of them already pregnant, according to TVC news.

Media reports did not reveal how old the girls were.

One of those arrested is the daughter of the woman running the facility who had been charged with human trafficking and released on bail.

The other suspect is a man who police suspect could be responsible for impregnating girls.

Stories of these so-called “baby factories” are not uncommon in Nigeria.

They are run for the purpose of getting girls pregnant and selling the babies.

Source: bbc.com

There is hope for Nigeria to recover from its current economic recession which is widely seen as the worst recorded by the West African nation in almost four decades, said local experts.

Official data released on Saturday showed that Nigeria’s economy slipped into recession for the second time in four years as oil prices plunged in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by 3.62 per cent year-on-year in real terms in the third quarter of 2020, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported, attributing the contraction to slow oil production and the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Cumulative GDP for the first 9 months of 2020, therefore, stood at -2.48 per cent,” the NBS said.

The economy shrank by 6.1 per cent in Q2, indicating that two consecutive quarters of negative growth have been recorded in 2020. Experts, however, think the country has good prospects to recover from the recession.

The current slowdown is an indication that “the worst is over” and the economy would resume growth in Q1 or Q2 of 2021, barring any new disruptions, said Muda Yusuf, Director-General of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

“From an economic perspective, 2020 has been a very bad year … the worst in recent history,” the expert said, noting that the recession was not shocking, as the country had been faced with the double jeopardy of spiralling inflation and a stumbling economy. Nigeria’s inflation rate rose to 14.23 per cent in October, the highest in 10 months, Yusuf noted. “This condition in economic parlance is characterized as stagflation.”

In 2016, the biggest oil producer in Africa fell into recession, the first time in over two decades. Since emerging in 2017, it has been seeking ways to fully recover from the slowdown.

To quicken the recovery of the economy, the expert said, there is a need to restore normalcy to the foreign exchange market, show greater commitment to the fixing of the structural issues to reduce production and operating costs for investors.

Uche Uwaleke, an Economic Expert, said he sees “a quick V-shaped recovery as the effect of COVID-19 recedes and the impact of the interventions by the government and the Central Bank of Nigeria begin to manifest.”

In Uwaleke’s opinion, the Q3 GDP figures have confirmed the fact that the Q2 2020 “represents the worst experience for Nigeria.”

There is a strong probability that Nigeria’s economy will recover gradually in Q1 of 2021, said Ken Ife, a visiting Professor at the Nigerian Defence Academy.

“The unusual type of recession we dropped into, stagflation, is one where, rather than the economy experiencing low inflation, low-interest rates, with expansionary policies, we are just seeing the opposite in galloping inflation, high-interest rates, and fiscal and monetary policy challenges despite quantitative domestic finance interventions,” Ife said.

With a 3.62-per cent contraction, “Nigeria might jump out of recession in the Q4 of 2020,” he said, noting the recession is an aftermath of both “the COVID-19 lockdown and the ongoing macroeconomic headwinds.”

The national statistics office classified the Nigerian economy into the oil and non-oil sectors. For the oil sector, it said that the average daily oil production recorded in the third quarter of 2020 stood at 1.67 million barrels per day, lower than the average production recorded in the same quarter of 2019 and the production volume recorded in the second quarter of 2020.

In Q3 2020, the oil sector witnessed a sharp contraction of 20.38 per cent relative to the rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2019, contributing 8.73 per cent to total real GDP, down from 9.77 per cent and 8.93 per cent respectively recorded in the corresponding period of 2019 and the preceding quarter in 2020, said NBS.

“Whilst the oil GDP growth rate went deeper into the red at -13.89 per cent and with a reduced contribution to GDP, the non-oil sector outperformed by returning a marginal decline in the non-oil GDP growth rate of -2.51 per cent,” Ife noted, adding the non-oil sector performance “was boosted by the positive growth of 18 sectors compared to 13 sectors in Q2.”

Source: GNA

Nigerian police on Sunday confirmed that five worshippers were killed and 18 others abducted when gunmen attacked a congregational mosque in the country’s northwestern state of Zamfara.

The incident occurred on Friday in the Dutsen Gari community of Maru local government area in Zamfara, police spokesman, Muhammad Shehu, told Xinhua.

An Imam of the mosque was among those kidnapped by the gunmen, who disguised as congregants and later began to shoot at the worshippers, killing two instantly.

Three others died while receiving treatment at the hospital, Shehu said.

Witnesses told Xinhua that the gunmen rode into the community on motorbikes, but disguised as guest worshippers.

They fled through a nearby bush after the attack. The police had immediately deployed more operatives to the area, in search of the fleeing gunmen, Shehu told Xinhua.

Banditry, kidnapping, and other criminal activities have recently become rampant in Nigeria’s northwest region.

Source: GNA