Treatment of Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who has been suspended from senate, shines light on women’s rights
Last July, Nigeria’s third-most powerful man gave a rare apology on the floor of the senate which he heads.
Godswill Akpabio had chastised his colleague Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan for speaking out of turn, saying: “We are not in a nightclub”. But after receiving what he said was a deluge of insulting text messages from Nigerians, he apologised publicly a few days later.
Continue reading...More governments seeking to keep millions of people offline amid conflicts, protests and political instability
Digital blackouts reached a record high in 2024 in Africa as more governments sought to keep millions of citizens off the internet than in any other period over the last decade.
A report released by the internet rights group Access Now and #KeepItOn, a coalition of hundreds of civil society organisations worldwide, found there were 21 shutdowns in 15 African countries, surpassing the existing record of 19 shutdowns in 2020 and 2021.
Continue reading...From Istanbul and Warsaw to Athens and Madrid, activists demand equality and the end of gender-based violence
Women took to the streets of cities across Europe, Africa and elsewhere to mark International Women’s Day with demands for ending inequality and gender-based violence.
On the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city Istanbul, a rally in Kadiköy saw members of dozens of women’s groups listen to speeches, dance and sing in the spring sunshine. The colorful protest was overseen by a large police presence, including officers in riot gear and a water cannon truck.
Continue reading...Alma Asinobi wants to break Guinness world record for shortest time to visit seven continents
In 2019, Alma Asinobi, a Nigerian postgraduate architecture student, gave herself an ambitious goal after obtaining her first passport: to visit up to 16 countries every year.
Then Covid-19 triggered a global lockdown, curtailing her dreams. Since restrictions were lifted, she has visited more than 30 countries and founded a travel agency, Kaijego.
Continue reading...King Okpabi, ruler of Ogale, says Shell has caused chronic pollution, while oil firm argues it is not responsible
His Royal Highness King Godwin Bebe Okpabi has carried bottles of water drawn from the wells of his homeland in the Niger delta to the high court in London.
It stinks. “This is the water that Shell has left for my people,” said the ruler of the Ogale community in Ogoniland, Nigeria. “This is poison, and they are spending millions of dollars to pay the best lawyers in the world so that they will not clean my land.”
Continue reading...Hubert Igbinoba, who is suing the Australian government, says he is singled out because he is black – a claim the government denies
An Australian citizen detained 32 times at Sydney airport – without allegation or charge – has told the federal circuit court he is stopped and searched almost every time he enters the country because he is black.
Okungbowa Hubert Igbinoba also told a directions hearing on Tuesday that an $80,000 settlement offer from the government was an attempt to silence him.
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Continue reading...Deaths of 22 women reported this year include 240% rise in January, campaigners say, as abusers act ‘with impunity’
Almost two dozen women have died due to gender-based violence across Nigeria in 2025 alone, activists and civil society organisations have said in a call for a state of emergency.
According to Femicide Observatory, run by the Lagos-based nonprofit Document Our History (DOHS) Cares Foundation, there were 17 cases reported in January, a 240% increase from the same period last year, with an additional five by 16 February. More than 100 femicides were documented in 2024.
Continue reading...Authorities blame crypto exchange, already facing four counts of tax evasion in the country, for currency woes
Nigeria has filed a lawsuit seeking to compel Binance to pay $79.5bn for economic losses the country’s government says were caused by the cryptocurrency exchange’s operations there and $2bn in back taxes, court documents showed on Wednesday.
Authorities blame Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, for Nigeria’s currency woes and detained two of its executives in 2024 after crypto websites emerged as platforms of choice for trading the local naira currency.
Continue reading...Kingsley Kanu, brother of Indigenous People of Biafra leader Nnamdi Kanu, calls on PM to defend British citizens
The brother of a British national being held in Nigeria after falling victim to extraordinary rendition has accused the UK government of turning its back, and called on Keir Starmer to “wake up” and “defend British citizens”.
Kingsley Kanu, the brother of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob), a prominent separatist movement proscribed in Nigeria, said the UK government had failed to intervene in his brother’s case.
Continue reading...Scientists say more-frequent hotter temperatures in west African region are part of reason for reduced harvests and price rises
The climate crisis drove weeks of high temperatures in the west African region responsible for about 70% of global cacao production, hitting harvests and probably causing further record chocolate prices, researchers have said.
Farmers in the region have struggled with heat, disease and unusual rainfall in recent years, which have contributed to falling production.
Continue reading...Scientists in Nigeria found the insects carry infections resistant to last-resort antibiotics, adding to fears about superbugs
Flies buzzing between beds may be spreading drug-resistant bugs among patients in hospitals, according to new research.
Researchers from the Ineos Oxford Institute for antimicrobial research (IOI) found that houseflies in Nigerian hospitals carry bacteria resistant to some key antibiotics, including those used only as a last resort.
Continue reading...Nigerian officials say a Boeing 787-800 belonging to United Airlines was forced to make an emergency return last Friday
Multiple people were injured on a United Airlines flight heading from Lagos, Nigeria, to Washington DC last week.
In a statement released on Friday, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria said that a Boeing 787-800 belonging to United Airlines was forced to make an emergency return last Friday.
Continue reading...Those who died had scrambled to take the fuel, which has rocketed in price amid an economic crisis
A fuel tanker exploded after flipping over in central Nigeria on Saturday, killing 70 people who had scrambled to take the fuel.
Kumar Tsukwam, the head of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Niger State, said a truck carrying 60,000 litres of gasoline had an accident at about 10am at the Dikko junction on the road linking the capital city, Abuja, to the northern city of Kaduna.
Continue reading...About 200 passengers, mostly women, were on vessel that sunk in Niger River
At least 27 people have died and more than 100 are missing after a boat capsized in northern Nigeria, authorities have said.
About 200 passengers were on the boat that was going from the state of Kogi to neighbouring state of Niger when it capsized on the Niger River, the Niger state emergency management agency spokesperson, Ibrahim Audu, told the Associated Press.
Continue reading...Revelation emerges at hearing for Anthony Odiong, 55, charged with several counts and held in Texas on $5.5m bail
A Roman Catholic priest with links to Texas and Louisiana who is facing criminal charges for allegedly abusing his position of authority within the church to pursue sex with vulnerable women fathered at least two children with victims of his behavior, authorities have alleged.
The stunning information about Anthony Odiong surfaced at a bail hearing on Tuesday in Waco, Texas, where prosecutors have charged him with several counts of sexually assaulting women to whom he ministered.
Continue reading...Furore over whether Chidimma Adetshina was really South African led to invitation to represent Nigeria
A beauty queen who pulled out of the Miss South Africa competition when her nationality was questioned has said she wants to relocate to Nigeria, after coming second in the Miss Universe pageant while representing the West African country.
Chidimma Adetshina, whose father is Nigerian, was crowned Miss Universe Africa and Oceania and came runner-up to Denmark’s Victoria Kjær Theilvig in Mexico on Saturday night.
Continue reading...Chidimma Adetshina crowned Miss Universe Africa and Oceania after she was stripped of South African identity documents
Beauty queen Chidimma Adetshina’s second place in this year’s Miss Universe competition was not only an occasion for Nigerians to rejoice at their highest ever placing in the global pageant, but an opportunity to celebrate a victory over their continental rivals South Africa.
Adetshina came first runner-up to Denmark’s Victoria Kjær Theilvig and was also crowned Miss Universe Africa and Oceania in Mexico on Saturday night.
Continue reading...Nurse says she has lost ‘my name, my integrity’ after being accused of using proxy to sit tests to work in Britain
When I was a little girl in my village in Nigeria going to school was something I could not even dream of because we did not have money. Then my mother sold everything we owned to pay for me to go to school.
I knew this was my only ticket to make something worthwhile out of my life and my family’s life.
Continue reading...People were collecting fuel from tanker that had crashed when it blew up, according to local police
More than 140 people have died in an explosion while rushing to scoop up fuel from a crashed tanker in north-west Nigeria, in one of the country’s worst such incidents in recent times.
Local authorities said the vehicle crashed late on Tuesday night after the driver lost control on the Kano-Hadejia expressway near the town of Majiya in Jigawa state. It then exploded while onlookers were scooping spilt fuel with cups and buckets.
Continue reading...Potential for flooding in 11 Nigerian states as west and central Africa struggles to deal with recent heavy rainfall
Authorities in Nigeria have warned of the potential for flooding in 11 states after neighbouring Cameroon said it would start regulated releases from its Lagdo dam following recent heavy rainfall in west and central Africa.
Umar Mohammed, the director-general of the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NHSA), indicated that the discharges would be gradual “to avoid … triggering substantial flooding downstream in Nigeria” and that there was “no need for alarm”. Still, 11 Nigerian states from north to south lie along the Benue River’s flow trajectory and are expected to be affected to some degree.
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