NOVEMBER 25, 2023

By Hamza Ibrahim and Ahmed Kingimi

KANO, Nigeria, Nov 25 (Reuters) - At least 150 people, including women and children, were abducted with one person killed in a coordinated attack by gunmen on four villages in Nigeria's northwest Zamfara state, residents said on Saturday.

Kidnapping for ransom has become rife in northwestern Nigeria in recent years where armed gangs, often referred to locally as bandits, have targeted villages, schools, and travellers, demanding millions of naira in ransom and making it unsafe to travel by road or to farm in some areas.

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The Zamfara police spokesperson did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment on the attack, which took place late on Friday.

Residents told Reuters that gunmen on dozens of motorcycles stormed the villages of Mutunji, Kwanar-Dutse, Sabon-Garin Mahuta and Unguwar Kawo in the Maru local government area of the state.

Dankandai Musa, a resident of one of the villages, told Reuters he managed to slip away unnoticed during the chaos. But 20 members of his household were taken.

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"I managed to escape after they were regrouping us and the people from the three other villages that were attacked," he said. "I fled while they were dragging us to the bush."

A local village head said Lawali Damana, leader of the gunmen, had demanded 100 million naira ($119,000) from the villages as retribution after Nigerian troops killed four of his men earlier.

"So yesterday, he came in the company of his boys and took away over a hundred people with him and we haven't heard anything from him since. One person was shot dead in the process of taking the hostages," said the village head, who didn't want to be named for fear of being targeted.

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Nigeria faces numerous security challenges, including a 14-year Islamist insurgency in its northeast, separatist violence in the southeast, and frequent deadly clashes between farmers and herders in the central region.

President Bola Tinubu has yet to detail how he will tackle the insecurity. His economic reforms, including the removal of a costly petrol subsidy and freeing the naira currency, have led to a sharp increase in the cost of living, angering citizens.

($1 = 839.5400 naira)

Writing by Elisha Bala-Gbogbo Editing by Mark Potter

NOVEMBER 27, 2023

(Bloomberg) -- London’s Heathrow told passengers to allow extra time for their journeys to the airport Monday, with the three rail lines connecting the hub to the city simultaneously facing disruptions.

The new Elizabeth Line, as well as Heathrow Express and Piccadilly lines to Heathrow were all suspended for multiple reasons on Monday morning, according to Transport for London’s website. 

As of 12:30 p.m. in London, the Heathrow Express, which has a standard fare of £25 ($32) one way, was facing minor delays while the Elizabeth line had partially resumed services. The Piccadilly line still had severe delays due to an earlier fire alert. 

“Elizabeth Line services are beginning to resume and work is ongoing to resolve this as quickly as possible but we encourage passengers to allow extra time for their journeys,” a Heathrow spokeswoman said. “The airport is operating normally otherwise.”

Social media had posts from passengers earlier in the day saying they were stuck on Heathrow Express trains with no communication while others expected to miss their flights. 

The outage comes on a day when Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is due to hold a global investment summit in London that will have company leaders including Goldman Sachs’s David Solomon and JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon in attendance. 

(Updates with comment from Heathrow airport in fourth paragraph.)

NOVEMBER 27, 2023

A Nigerian airline has apologised for a "misunderstanding" after passengers were told they had arrived at their destination, Abuja, when they had in fact landed more than 450km (280 miles) away in another city, Asaba.

United Nigeria Airlines said the Sunday flight from the main city, Lagos, to the federal capital, Abuja, had temporarily been diverted to Asaba in Delta state, due to bad weather.

It said the wrong announcement was made to passengers when the plane landed in Asaba, creating confusion.

“Upon arrival, the cabin crew confidently announced that we’ve arrived in Abuja only for us to realise we landed in Asaba,” a traveller had said on X

, adding that “apparently, our pilot was given wrong flight plan from Lagos”.

But the airline said the aircraft pilot was aware of the temporary diversion and was properly briefed.

“We sincerely apologise for the misunderstanding on our [flight]. We are currently taking steps to prevent similar occurrences in the future,” it said in a statement. 

It said the flight had eventually landed safely in Abuja.

NOVEMBER 28, 2023

BY  Lucy White, Bloomberg News

 Source: Office for National Statistics

(Bloomberg) -- Near-record levels of migration to the UK are failing to ease inflationary labor shortages because new arrivals often lack the skills employers want, according to credit ratings agency S&P Global.

Official data last week showed 672,000 more people moved to the UK than departed in the year to June, and thousands more than originally thought came in 2022. However, only a fifth of arrivals came for work, with students, dependants and refugees accounting for much of the rest.  

These people, S&P said in a report, are unlikely to have the correct skills to fill the almost 1 million vacant positions in the UK. Its economists predict this will leave the labor market tight throughout 2024, “encouraging dynamic wage increases” and leading to inflation persistence.

“The tightness means that monetary policy will have to remain restrictive for longer to return the inflation rate to 2% on a sustainable basis,” senior S&P economists Marion Amiot and Boris Glass wrote in a note Monday. 

Britain’s departure from the EU “introduced more friction and inefficiencies into its labor and product markets,” S&P said. EU migrants are now leaving the UK in greater numbers than they are arriving, according to the Office for National Statistics. 

“The skill set of the non-EU immigrants is different and their participation in the labor market is lower,” Amiot and Glass added. “Many are students or refugees. Consequently, immigration does not necessarily help fill the gaps in industries where the workforce is lacking.”

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is under pressure from his own Conservative party to slash migration numbers, a promise upon which the Tories were elected in 2019.

But a huge rise in the number of people who left the labor market during the Covid-19 pandemic, combined with Brexit, has left UK companies scrabbling for staff, and needing to import skilled workers from abroad.

The tightness in the labor market has forced employers to offer higher wages to attract workers, leaving interest rate-setters at the Bank of England worried about the risk of a wage-price spiral that keeps inflation well above the 2% target.

S&P thinks the BOE will now cut rates toward the start of the second half of 2024. Markets have almost fully priced in the possibility of a 25 basis point cut in August, despite pushback from several BOE officials in recent weeks who say it is too early to even consider monetary policy easing yet. 

NOVEMBER 28, 2023

By Justice Okamgba

The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority has begun an investigation into the circumstances surrounding United Nigeria Abuja-bound flight which was diverted to the Asaba International Airport.

 Consequently, officials have said the regulator may suspend all the wet-leased aircraft under the carrier’s operations/

The Director-General and Chief Executive Officer, Musa Nuhu, said in a statement to The PUNCH, “The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority said it has commenced investigation into the circumstances surrounding United Nigeria flight NUA 0506 to Asaba and the confusion it has created in the public domain.

 “However, preliminary steps have been taken pending conclusions of the ongoing investigation. The Authority wishes to reassure the travelling public that it will leave no stone unturned as it has always done in the past to ensure continued safety of the aviation industry.

 The PUNCH did not get comments from United Airlines spokesperson Achilleus-Chud Uchegbu.

 However, in a statement on Sunday, the Airline said, “A United Nigeria Airlines flight, NUA 0504, operating from the MM2 in Lagos enroute Abuja on Sunday, November 26, 2023, was temporarily diverted to the Asaba International Airport due to poor destination weather,” the statement reads.

 “At all material time, the Pilot of the aircraft was aware of the temporary diversion and was properly briefed. However, a wrong announcement was made by the cabin crew upon landing safely in Asaba creating confusion among the passengers.”

 A wet-leased is a leasing arrangement whereby one airline (the lessor) provides an aircraft, complete crew, maintenance, and insurance (ACMI) to another airline or other type of business acting as a broker of air travel (the lessee), which pays by hours operated.

NOVEMBER 29, 2023

By Philip Shimnom Clement

The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, defaulting airlines must pay compensations for flight cancelations and delays.

He said this in Abuja yesterday during a meeting with the heads of agencies under the ministry.

“We are not deaf to the cries of Nigerians about delays and canceled flights. The law is there and we are looking at how to enforce those laws for compensation of Nigerians who bear the brunt of cancellation of flights and disrupting the activities.

“The process of grounding the airline or taking the airlines to court will create more problems. So if the reason for the delay and cancellation of flight is their fault they must pay compensation. And what I am suggesting is that if they don’t get cash back they must get some rebate when they buy next ticket.

“I have set up a committee to look into it such that they can generate a code that they can use when they want to purchase the next ticket.

“We are concerned about the passenger satisfaction and the safety of the air travelers,” he said. The minister directed the Director-General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority to prepare a weekly catalogue of canceled flights.

He also directed the Nigeria Safety Investigation Bureau to conclude all incidents of air accidents and mishaps in the next 10 days.

He said: “For the recent incidents that happened recently, some minor, and others classified as serious incidents although there were no fatalities. The NSIB is investigating these incidents and I have directed them that within 10 days from today they must submit their report of the incidents and what actually transpired.

NOVEMBER 29, 2023

BY Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

The impact of skyrocketing prices of petrol and diesel in the last one year has taken its toll on transportation, with fares rising by as much as 75 per cent in recent times, new data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed.

While the government has allowed the liberalisation of the diesel market for years, on May 29, President Bola Tinubu withdrew the federal government’s subsidy on petrol, with its attendant impact on prices.

For years, Nigeria has not been able to refine its fuels locally due to dilapidated refineries and therefore depends on imports which gulp most of its foreign exchange earnings.

However the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) has said that by the end of 2024, Nigeria will stop importation, with the ongoing rehabilitation of the four refineries and expected coming on stream of the Dangote refinery.

The NBS’ “Transport Fare Watch for October 2023”, covers bus journeys within the city per drop; bus journeys intercity; air fare charge for specified routes; journey by motorcycle (Okada) per drop; and waterway passenger transport.

Therefore, the average retail price paid by consumers for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) or petrol for the month of October 2023, according to the NBS, was N630.63, indicating a 222.92 per cent increase when compared to the value recorded in October 2022, which was N195.29.

Likewise, comparing the average price value with the previous month of September 2023, the average retail price increased by 0.71 per cent from N626.21.

On state profile analysis, Zamfara state had the highest average retail price for petrol, at N659.38, Gombe and Borno States were next, with N658.33 and N657.27, respectively.

On the other hand, Lagos, Oyo and Delta states had the lowest average retail prices for petrol at N590.95, N592.19 and N599.38 respectively, while on a zonal profile, the North-east zone had the highest average retail price of N644.16, as the South-west zone had the lowest price of N616.81.

Also, the average retail price of Automotive Gas Oil or diesel paid by consumers increased by 25.45 per cent on a year-on-year basis from a lower cost of N801.09 per litre recorded in the corresponding month of October, 2022, to a higher cost of N1004.98 per litre in October 2023.

But on a month-on-month basis, an increase of 12.82 per cent was recorded from N890.80 in the preceding month of September to an average of N1004.98 in October 2023.

Looking at the variations in the state prices, the top three states with the highest average price of the product in October 2023 were all in the North-central zone of the country.

They include Plateau state (N1150.00), Nasarawa state (N1138.00) and Benue state (N1091.67). Furthermore, the least three states with lowest prices were Rivers  (N824.44), Borno  (N827.27) and Kebbi (N845.00).

However, the zonal representation of average price of diesel showed that North-central zone recorded the highest price of N1090.69 while North-east zone had the lowest price of N947.32.

The combined effect of the prices of diesel and petrol raised the average fare paid by commuters for bus journeys within the city per drop on a  year-on-year basis, to rise by 75.45 per cent compared to October 2022.

In addition, the average fare paid by commuters for bus journeys intercity per drop on a year-on-year basis, rose by 53.04 per cent from N3,845.81 in October 2022.

 In air travel, the average fare paid by air passengers for specified routes single journey was N78,778.38 in October 2023, an increase of 7.62 per cent on a year-on-year basis, from N73,198.65 in October 2022.

The average transport fare paid on Okada transportation was N507.30 in October 2023 which on a year-on-year basis, rose by 10.75 per cent when compared with October 2022 of N458.05.

Also, for water transport (waterway passenger transportation), the average fare paid in October 2023 on a year-on-year basis, increased by 38.70 per cent from N1,006.22 in October 2022.

Meanwhile, the average retail price per litre of kerosene paid by consumers in October 2023 was N1,303.16, indicating an increase of 0.32 per cent compared to N1,299.03 recorded in September 2023.

It was worse on a year-on-year basis, where the average retail price per litre of the product rose by 25.18 per cent from N1,041.05 in October 2022.

On state profile analysis, the highest average price per litre in October 2023 was recorded in Adamawa with N1,676.19, followed by Abia with N1,555.21 and Abuja with N1,541.67.

On the other hand, the lowest price was recorded in Kwara with N1,034.29, followed by Kebbi with N1,133.33 and Enugu with N1,134.52.

In addition, analysis by zones showed that the South-east recorded the highest average retail price per litre of kerosene with N1,404.49, followed by the North-east with N1,371.03, while the North-west recorded the lowest with N1,221.22.

As per gallon, the average price of kerosene paid by consumers in October 2023 was N4,581.89, showing an increase of 4.63 per cent from N4,379.31 in September 2023.

“On a year-on-year basis, this increased by 30.28 per cent from N3,516.87 in October 2022. On state profile analysis, Taraba recorded the highest average retail price per gallon of kerosene with N5,500.00, followed by Lagos with N5,484.38 and Adamawa with N5,214.29.

“On the other hand, Delta recorded the lowest price with N3,108.33, followed by Rivers and Ogun with N3,860.00 and N3,900.00 respectively.

“Analysis by zone showed that the North-east recorded the highest average retail price per gallon of kerosene with N5,096.83, followed by the North-west with N4,773.87, while the South-south recorded the lowest with N4,017.76.

NOVEMBER 29, 2023

By Aminu ABUBAKAR

AFP is republishing this story which has been selected by the agency's chief editors as one of the best of the week

Tiktoker Murja Kunya once ran afoul of sharia police in Nigeria's northwest city of Kano, where "hisbah" units enforce Islamic law that runs alongside common law.

Earlier this year, the units detained Kunya and other influencers for racy media posts and parodies the agency deemed indecent.

But now, the morality police are trying a softer approach to curb online celebrities like 24-year-old Kunya who they see as a moral risk in Nigeria's majority Muslim north.

The tussle with influencers is just one sphere where the conservative religious sensibilities of north Nigeria are being tested by new trends.

Earlier this month, the Hisbah invited Kunya and dozens of influencers for a meeting to "sensitise them on the negative effects of immoral content", Abba Sufi, Hisbah's director-general told AFP.

Kunya, who has one million followers on Tiktok, attended the meeting in the hijab head scarf commonly worn by women across the north.

That contrasted sharply with the less modest videos, some replete with obscenities, she posted and that earned her Hisbah's wrath.

"The meeting with Murja Kunya and other Tiktokers is a change in Hisbah strategy in dealing with the immoral online content," Sufi said.

"It is better to show compassion and care to someone you want to reform instead of vilifying and stigmatising them."

Kunya declined to speak to AFP on the Hisbah meeting. Other influencers have also not commented.

But on Sunday, Kunya launched a Tiktok tirade against the Hisbah.

"Now that you don't know what to do you are resorting to preaching? You should stop wasting your saliva," she said. "I'm not interested in your preaching."

The Hisbah dismiss criticism that they violate freedom of expression by targeting influencers. The agency says it is just carrying out its mandate to protect society.

Abdallah Uba Adamu, a professor of anthropology and popular culture at Kano's Bayero University, said for the Hisbah the carrot and stick approach alone had not curbed influencers.

"The dialogue approach is a very good," he said. "They can use the stick, they can use the carrot, but it can never prevent people from doing what they think they want to do in order to survive, because they rely on this for survival."

For influencers, the meeting was likely seen as another way to get more followers, part of their online theatre, he said. And also why most had not commented.

"What do you want them to say? That they were invited by Islamic authorities and they they didn't like it?"

Kano is one 12 predominantly Muslim states in north Nigeria where sharia courts operate in parallel to the civil and criminal law.

The hisbah enforces sharia by periodic crackdowns on what it considers immoral acts, including raids on brothels and beer parlours or wedding parties where men and women mingle.

Kano, Nigeria's second-largest city, is home to a burgeoning Kannywood film industry, which produces movies in the Hausa language spoken across parts of West Africa.

Kano also has hundreds of studios which churn out songs by local artists like Gwanja, which dwell on love, marriage and money.

Kannywood has already been under close watch by Muslim clerics and officials who believed it promoted un-Islamic foreign values, prompting authorities to create a censorship board.

But the increasing number of Kannywood skits and songs online prompted the board to extend its authority to social media.

Kunya was among 10 local celebrities a Sharia court in the city ordered arrested and investigated for immoral conduct on social media seen capable of corrupting the youth.

Lawyers filed a suit for their prosecution for singing and dancing online, generating furore in the city and condemnation from hardline clerics.

Police arrested Kunya in January in a hotel while preparing for her much-publicised birthday party.

In March, she was sentenced to three weeks of community service by the sharia court which ordered her to work as a janitor in Kano's largest medical facility.

Sufi said they had a private discussion with Kunya at the meeting where he showed her the implication of the "obscene and immoral" videos.

According to Sufi, the state government was also ready to assist influencers by paying for education or startup money for new businesses.

Muhsin Ibrahim, a Nigerian who teaches Hausa, culture and film at the Institute of African Studies, University of Cologne, said it was too early to tell whether the new approach would impact influencers like Kunya.

"Many people thought she would stop or reduce some of her 'transgressive’ acts after the previous court sentence," he said.

DECEMBER 01, 2023

The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) on Thursday failed to reopen the runway 18R/36L of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos, which it promised to achieve by the end of the month.

This is despite the huge inconveniences the foreign airlines are going through since March 11th 2023 when the runway was shut down.

It would be recalled that FAAN had closed the runway 18R/36L on March 11th 2023 for a period of eight weeks to carry out maintenance works on the runway while both international and local flights were diverted to runway Runway 18L/36R, which is meant to serve only the domestic flights.

It would be recalled that runway 18L/36R was used for only daylight operations for over 14 years due to the non-availability of airfield lighting, a critical component aiding night operations.

However, there was a relief for operators following the installation of the AFL components comprising approach lights, Runway Lights (Threshold and Centre, edge light and others) which enabled the runway to return to full 24/7 operations.

The installation was completed in November, 2022.

Shortly after, the authority in line with the runway maintenance programme announced the shutdown of the international runway for maintenance works scheduled to be concluded by May according to the statement released at the time.

The runway, which is the longest in the country covering 3,900 metres, could not be reopened afterwards following the theft of the AFL.

With the completion of installation of AFL at the runway 18L/36R, it was convenient to divert traffic to the runway to allow for the maintenance of the international runway (18R).

However, nine months later, foreign airlines are grumbling over the delay in reopening the second runway, which is making their operation extremely difficult.

A foreign airline operator who spoke with our correspondent in confidence said, “The delay in reopening Runway 18R is a big inconvenience for the big airlines. Airlines to the USA operate under weight restrictions.

“They depart with empty seats that could have been sold but they couldn’t sell them due to weight restrictions.”

Also, cargo flights are said to be finding it increasingly difficult having to taxi for a longer time to the cargo after landing at the airport.

Another source said, “The runway was shut down before the stealing of Airfield Lighting occurred. The maintenance was just on the runway, not on the light.

“The AFL, the way it was stolen, is not something anybody can put in their pocket. In the real sense, it is like you have five or six people living in two rooms and after some time, a room is closed. I am not saying there is congestion so to say but the implication is we use one runway for every flight.

“During the period of heavy traffic, it could add to the delay because we are using one runway for both ends. But when you have two runways working, it reduces the number of landings and departures you carry out at some particular points in time.”

Speaking with our correspondent, a former General Secretary of the Nigerian Air Traffic Controllers’ Association (NATCA), Mr. Banji Olawode said, “It is better if the two runways are working. If the two are working, it gives the pilots options. There could be pilots that are coming to local but because they are heavy or during rain or bad weather, some will prefer longer runways for their own manoeuvring.

“Cargo airplanes would have preferred the longer runways and if any cargo plane lands now you see the distance it would cover before it taxis to the cargo village…It gives room for more efficiency if the two of them are working.”

Managing Director of FAAN, Mr. Kabiru Muhammed had promised that the runway would be reopened by the end of November with foreign hoping to ease a sigh of relief but this was not the case.

FAAN’s Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Abdullahi Yakubu-Funtua could not be reached yesterday for comment. The text message sent to him was not replied as of press time.

DECEMBER 01, 2023

By Nsikak Nseyen

The Comptroller General, Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), Mrs Caroline Adepoju, has said the service would open more passport service points to meet the needs of Nigerians in the Diaspora.

Adepoju said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abuja that efforts were on to ease passport processing in the country.

“I have it on good authority that in the UK, we have over four million Nigerians, and this number increases every day because of the “Japa syndrome”; families that relocated, students, and those in search of greener pastures and jobs.

“So all hands are on deck to ensure that we create more service points in the UK, Canada and the USA.

”We listen to the plight of our nationals, we hear their cries and we are working hard and by the grace of God, we will get there,” she said.

Adepoju said the service had opened three additional passport processing centres in Nigeria located at Ikorodu, Offa and Ile-Oluji to ease demands on passport centres in Lagos, Kwara and Ondo states.

“More are coming, we are going to Ibadan, Badagry, we will look at everywhere we have a high volume of applications.

“I want Nigerians to continue to support me, understand and be aware that they owe us the duty of ensuring that they apply for their passports when it is about six months before the expiry date, that will ease the pressure on them and the system.

”And Nigerians should stop patronising touts. Nigerians can apply for International Passport online and can make payments and book appointments online.

“Very soon, we are looking at making everything digital so that there would be minimal human interference,” the NIS CG said.

She also appealed to those in the diaspora whose passports were tied to their stay and status abroad always to be conscious of the need to renew their passports on time.