The father of one of the Nigerian schoolgirls abducted in the northern town of Chibok said his daughter has escaped from the camp of Boko Haram, BBC reports on Friday. The father told the BBC that he has spoken to his daughter, amid unconfirmed reports that an unknown number of the girls had escaped from Boko Haram camp on Thursday. The man said his daughter confirmed she had fled together with other captives during fighting. Those who managed to escape are believed to be in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, although there are still few details known about how…
Author: ACNN TV
The Federal Government on Friday said it is contemplating a targeted lockdown in Lagos, Abuja, Kaduna and major cities in Nigeria as the number of COVID-19 cases soars in the West African nation. Although recoveries from the disease in the country have crossed 100,000, the Nigerian government is worried that with more than 127,000 infections, many citizens are not adhering to the safety protocols. “Certainly, even if we are going to have a lockdown, it is not going to be a total lockdown. A couple of weeks back, we analysed the data and we identified the hotspot local government areas,”…
A Dutch court on Friday ordered Shell to pay compensation in a long-running case brought by four Nigerian farmers who accuse the oil giant of causing widespread pollution. After 13 years of legal wrangling, an appeals court in The Hague ruled that Shell’s Nigerian branch must pay out for oil spills on land in two villages. It also held the Anglo-Dutch parent company Royal Dutch Shell liable for installing new pipeline equipment to prevent further devastating spills in the Niger Delta region. The case, backed by the Netherlands arm of environment group Friends of the Earth, has dragged on so…
Human Rights Lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), says the nation has continued in its habit of operating under an atmosphere of impunity. Speaking on the appointment of the new Service Chiefs, Mr. Falana said going on to appoint the new leaders of the Armed Forces without the confirmation by the two chambers of the National Assembly, constitutes a disregard for the rule of law. Mr. Falana who was a guest on Channels Television Sunrise Daily said the provisions within section 218 of the constitution empower the National Assembly to approve the appointment of the Service Chiefs. According to the rights…
President Muhammadu Buhari has communicated the appointment of the Service Chiefs to the National Assembly and has sought the confirmation of the said appointment by the Senate. This communication was done through Buhari’s letter to the Senate President dated 27th January 2021. The Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Babajide Omoworare who made this disclosure on Friday stated that this is in furtherance of Section 18 (1) of the Armed Forces Act Cap. A.20 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria. According to Senator Omoworare, Buhari’s gesture goes contrary to fears expressed in some quarters…
Four people have been killed while 10 others were abducted by bandits in separate attacks on communities in Igabi Chikun and Kajuru Local Government Areas of Kaduna State. On Wednesday, bandits invaded Pmagbe village, Gidani district, Chikun LGA, at midnight and abducted 10 people with three others injured. A resident of the area who pleaded anonymity told THISDAY in a telephone interview yesterday that the bandits were shooting sporadically. He said the gunmen “came to the community around 12 midnight and started shooting. “They abducted 10 people and injured three others. One person was critically injured. “The bandits took us…
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected that Nigeria’s capital spending will improve this year while anticipating that financing the country’s deficit will remain a challenge with its huge debt servicing burden. The IMF, in its updated ‘Fiscal Monitor’ report titled: ‘Government Support is Vital as Countries Race to Vaccinate,’ released yesterday, projected overall fiscal balance to be 5.9 per cent and 4.7 per cent for 2020 and 2021 respectively. The report noted that this was an improvement compared with the 0.8 per cent and 0.2 per cent it had projected for the country in its October 2020 report. Having…
The Nigerian Senate Thursday took on the Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, over his allegation that the lawmakers are ignoring the clamour for restructuring the country, saying that the controversial issue is one of the issues to be considered in the review of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) by the National Assembly this year. Soyinka, while featuring on a live TV programme on Wednesday, had accused the federal lawmakers of abandoning the clamour for restructuring and struggling for various committees where “goodies are shared.” He urged the National Assembly to listen to the calls for the restructuring of Nigeria and…
Nigeria has recorded its worst rating on Transparency International’s (TI) Corruption Perception Index since 2015. In the 2020 index released on Thursday, the country scored 25 out of 100 points, dropping to 149 out of the 180 countries surveyed, taking the nation three steps down from the 146 scored in 2019. According to Transparency International, the nation’s deep in ranking stems from an absence of transparency, nepotism, lack of adequate anti-corruption legal frameworks, the prevalence of bribery and extortion in the Nigerian Police, corruption in the security sector, among others. Below is a report as sent out by The Civil…
Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, on Wednesday criticised the National Assembly for not concretely taking up the clamour for the restructuring of the country. But the House of Representatives in a response by its spokesman, Hon. Benjamin Kalu, said Soyinka’s position was inaccurate, contending that the federal legislature had in recent past sided with the people on several issues of national importance. He said those pushing for the rearrangement of the federation should approach the constitution review committees of the National Assembly for necessary conversations. Speaking on a live TV programme, Soyinka urged the National Assembly to listen to the…