Nigeria

Lion FingerCopyright: Lion Finger

Veteran Nigerian actor Romanus Amuta, known as “Natty”, has died aged 79.

His nickname came from his role in New Masquerade, a popular weekly sitcom on TV in Nigeria that began in the 1980s and ran until the mid-1990s.

Born in Enugu state, he worked as a reporter for the Daily Times newspaper before deciding on acting as a career.

His most notable Nollywood roles were in the films Ijele (1999), Lion Finger (2003) and Eagle’s Bride (2005).

AFPCopyright: AFP

The Nigerian customs service says it has intercepted a consignment of pangolin scales and elephant tusks worth $7.5m (£5.5m) being taken through the country to Asia.

They were found in a car earlier this month in Lekki, an upmarket area of the city of Lagos - in a seizure done in collaboration with the Hague-based Wildlife Justice Commission.

It resulted in the arrest of four suspects with 839kg (1,849lb) of pangolin scales and 145kg of ivory being confiscated.

It is the fourth major seizure of pangolin scales, ivory and other assorted wildlife parts in Nigeria within the last 13 months.

The authorities have expressed concern that the country is being used as a conduit by “a yet to be identified international cartel” in the illegal trade.

Pangolins are often smuggled to Asia via Nigeria from other parts of Africa where they live.

Pangolins are the most-trafficked animals in the world. The scales of the shy, gentle creatures are used in traditional medicines in Vietnam, China and other parts of Asia, where their meat is prized.

Nigerian illustrator Chidibere Ibe is calling for a change to the way doctors worldwide are trained, so they can recognise differences in symptoms presented by people of colour.

A drawing he did of a black foetus was shared widely online, eliciting discussion around the lack of medical illustrations that feature black people.

He taught himself anatomy by watching YouTube videos during lockdown in 2020.

The 25 year old's medical drawings are now being published in a book.

"Cases like psoriasis, which is a skin condition, you would not see that [depicted] in medical literature on black skin - and this has affected medical training and practitioners' approach to dealing with that," he told the BBC.

Mr Ibe now consults medical doctors to ensure anatomy as captured in the illustrations is accurate.

Ulrick S Kanmounye, from the Association of Future African Neurosurgeons, said his art is timely.

"We are getting to realise that there isn't a lot of representation within medicine and that this lack of representation actually affects patient management and outcome," he said.

Watch the full video about Chidibere Ibe's innovative drawings:

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

An oil spill off Nigeria’s southern coast covers an area of 780 acres (315 hectares), a senior official has told the BBC.

This is the size of more than 500 football pitches.

It follows last Wednesday’s explosion of an oil production vessel - the Trinity Spirit - that had a storage capacity of two million barrels, though it was not believed to have been storing that much. Three people died in the blast.

Idris Musa, head of Nigeria's National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (Nosdra), told the BBC's Newsday programme that chemical dispersants had been applied to reduce the damage to marine life in the area.

The location of the spill was not far from where the Trinity Spirit caught fire, he said.

When asked if the government body could deal with slick effectively, Mr Musa replied: “Certainly we can, certainly we can.”

However, cynics will note that many previous oil spills in Nigeria have not been cleared up.

Nigerian MPs have thrown their weight behind the establishment of a local vaccine development plant.

On Tuesday, the lower house of parliament voted unanimously to allow a bill seeking to establish the Nigerian Centre for Vaccine Research and Development, to be fine-tuned and passed into law.

The centre will be used for research and for the local production of vaccines.

Last year, the government approved 10bn naira ($24m, £17.7m) for development of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The health minister explained that vaccines to be produced would also be for other infectious diseases and possible future epidemics.

Some Nigerians have taken to social media to complain about damage to their cars after buying what they describe as "dirty" petrol at filling stations in some major cities across the country.

One video posted on Twitter showed a filling station attendant dispensing heavily discoloured petrol into a plastic bottle:

In another video, cars and motorcycles that have been damaged after buying the dirty petrol are seen parked at a filling station.

The dirty petrol was allegedly imported by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and has caused fuel scarcity as authorities are said to be mopping it out of the system.

Nigeria’s Arise TV quotes the head of the national fuel marketers' association as saying that 100 million litres of petrol with high sulphur content are being withdrawn from filling stations on the orders of the NNPC.

He said fuel marketers were not responsible for the bad product and may seek compensation from the importer.

"As I am telling you, we have run into millions of naira in losses as a result of this bad product. So, the station owners are not responsible for this product," he is quoted as saying.

Nigeria, Africa’s largest producer of crude oil, imports refined petroleum products as its local refineries have not functioned for years.

@Nigerian ArmyCopyright: @Nigerian Army

The Nigerian army says more than 100 members of the Islamic State West Africa Province (Iswap) jihadist group and their families have surrendered to its soldiers.

A statement posted on Twitter by the Nigerian army said they surrendered over the weekend in the north-east - and comprised 22 men, 27 women and 55 children.

Photos posted alongside the statement showed army trucks offloading some women and their loads and were received by soldiers in Damboa.

Local media reports that while hundreds of jihadists militants have surrendered to authorities, the 13-year old insurgency continues.

On Saturday, three civilians were reportedly abducted by Iswap fighters at Mandaragirau village, in what appeared to be a reprisal attack, after 25 insurgents drowned near Lake Chad.

The lslamist militants were attempting to cross a deep river while fleeing air strikes by the Nigerian Air Force jets.

ABBA KYARI/FACEBOOKCopyright: ABBA KYARI/FACEBOOK

Nigeria has said a senior police officer indicted in the US on money laundering charges may be extradited if need be.

Abba Kyari, who has a reputation in Nigeria as a "super cop", is wanted by US law enforcement agencies over allegations of links to Instagram influencer and fraudster Ramon Abbas - also known as Hushpuppi.

The country's attorney general said Nigeria was collaborating with the US to ensure justice is served.

Hushpuppi pleaded guilty to money laundering in a US court in July 2021.

US officials said that Hushpuppi had alleged in an affidavit that he got Mr Kyari to arrest a syndicate member with whom he had fallen out.

Mr Kyari allegedly sent Hushpuppi details of a bank account in which he could deposit payment for the arrest, the statement said.

The senior police officer denied any involvement but was suspended pending the outcome of the investigations.

Read more:

• Abba Kyari: The Nigerian super sleuth wanted in the US

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

A Nigerian university teachers' union has said it is preparing for indefinite industrial action, which would hit the country's already troubled tertiary sector.

If it goes ahead it would be the second strike in two years.

The last stoppage lasted for nine months, between March and December 2020.

It led to the loss of nearly one full academic session for the students.

The lecturers have accused the government of failing to implement agreements reached by the two parties over a year ago, concerning pay and conditions.

The president of the lecturers union, Prof Emmanuel Osadeke, told the BBC that the body was meeting next week to decide on industrial action.

Incessant strikes by teachers in public universities have forced many parents who can afford it, to send their children abroad or to private universities for studies.

Students at public universities are meanwhile left frustrated.

This BBC report from 2019 highlighted the problem.

Three deaths have been confirmed after an oil production vessel exploded in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region last Wednesday, the company announced on Monday.

Two bodies were found on the deck on Sunday and another corpse had been discovered earlier in the day.

Owners of the vessel, Nigeria's Shebah Exploration & Production Company Ltd, said their “priority remains focused towards establishing the whereabouts, safety, and security of the four crew members still missing".

Three crew members had been rescued from the wreckage of the vessel on Sunday morning, raising hopes that others were still alive.

The vessel, Trinity Spirit, was said to be holding at least 50,000 barrels of crude oil when it exploded early Wednesday and had completely burnt out by Thursday.

Authorities are investigating the cause of the explosion and it is not clear whether it has led to an oil spill.

Nigerian officials say a fire that broke out following an explosion on an oil vessel on Thursday has been extinguished.

However it is still not clear how much oil has spilt into the sea from the Trinity Spirit or whether the 10 crew members are safe.

The fact that the vessel has a storage capacity of two million barrels raised fears of a major ecological disaster.

Environment Minister Sharon Ikeazor has described the incident in the Niger Delta as worrying and said oil companies were intervening to help protect the vulnerable ecosystem.

The company that owns the vessel has been in financial trouble and is currently in receivership.

People tweeted photos of the scene on Thursday:

Four Nigerian men have been charged with the murder a 20-year-old woman in a suspected ritual killing case that has shocked the country.

But the men, aged between 18 and 20, were not asked to enter a plea during their first court appearance on Thursday in south-western Ogun state, newspapers report.

They were arrested last Saturday for allegedly killing Sofiat Kehinde and burning her corpse in a pot.

Police say she had been dating one of them at the time of her murder in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Magistrate I O Abudu ordered that the young men be remanded in prison for two months until their next appearance in court.

Police prosecutor Lawrence Balogun told the court that the defendants had murdered Ms Kehinde with plans to use her body parts in some kind of money-making juju.

AFPCopyright: AFP

Nigeria says it has uncovered more than 120 companies and 96 individuals linked to the financing of terrorism.

Information Minister Lai Mohammed said 45 people suspected of funding terrorism had been arrested and would soon be prosecuted.

Nigeria's financial crimes agency had recovered at least $750m (£550m) in local and foreign currency linked to corruption, he said.

Last month, the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission increased the power of the authorities to monitor financial links with suspected jihadist groups.

President Muhammadu Buhari, now in his second term, was elected on a promise to fight corruption and recover huge sums of money stolen from Nigeria.

There are concerns over the possible environmental impact of an explosion on an oil production vessel off the coast of Nigeria.

It is still not clear how much oil has spilled into the sea, and the fate of its 10 crew members is also unknown.

The vessel can hold up to two million barrels of oil, but an industry source said there were about 50,000 barrels in storage when it exploded on Thursday morning.

Soon after, footage from the scene near Warri in the Niger Delta showed a huge cloud of dark smoke billowing from the Trinity Spirit which was on fire and partly submerged:

An oil production vessel has exploded off the coast of Nigeria with 10 crew members on board.

Footage from the scene shows huge plumes of smoke coming from the sinking ship, parts of which are on fire:

The Trinity Spirit is a floating oil production and storage vessel based in Warri in the Niger Delta, and has capacity to hold up to two million barrels of oil a day.

Its owner, Shebah Exploration and Production, told agencies that investigations were under way to establish the cause of the explosion.

The Niger Delta has suffered from environmental pollution caused by oil production for decades. Oil spills and gas flaring have destroyed large swathes of the region’s ecosystem and caused health issues in local populations.

The Delta is the centre of oil production in Nigeria, but locals say they’ve received too small a share of the wealth it generates. Nigeria is Africa’s biggest oil producer.

The Nigerian army says it has shot dead three suspected kidnappers in the southern state of Edo.

According to an army spokesman, Onyema Nwachukwu, the men were part of a notorious gang that was intercepted as it set up an ambush on a major highway.

Some of the attackers fled.

The gang is believed to have carried out numerous kidnappings and robberies.

Violent clashes between the Nigerian army and suspected gang members are widespread.

In the north-western state of Zamfara, gunmen abducted six people after security forces said they killed more than 40 members of a gang in the area.

Gunmen on motorbikes have killed and abducted dozens of residents from two communities in Niger state, Nigeria, after attacks over the weekend.

Relatives of those affected are currently searching for their loved ones.

The raids come two weeks after authorities in Nigeria launched a major military operation to crack down on bandits in the area.Residents of Galadima Kogo and Galkogo told the BBC that the attackers shot people at close range. They also set houses on fire and ransacked residents' belongings.

Similar deadly attacks have been common in the north-western states of Kaduna, Zamfara and Kebbi and central Niger.

While many residents have fled their villages, others resort to paying money to the bandits to be allowed to live.