- The Islamic Movement of Nigeria has released 705 names, and pictures of people it said are its members who have been missing since December 12 and 13, 2015, when soldiers from the Nigerian Army carried out raids on the sect’s bases in Zaria, Kaduna State. The raids took place after members of the sect barricaded a road, stopping the convoy of the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai. The Army said it used force as the blockade was an attempt on Buratai’s life. The Shi’a group denies attacking Buratai.
- Premium Times is reporting that Nigeria’s government will retrieve one of Africa’s richest oil blocs from oil giants, Shell and Eni. Not only will the two oil companies lose OPL 245, should President Buhari approve the recommendations, they will also be fined billions of dollars for illegal activities, including paying money to fraudulent public officials and private citizens in order to secure the bloc. The retrieval of the oil bloc, estimated to contain about 9 billion barrels of oil, and fining the oil giants, are contained in a recommendation by the office of the Director of Public Prosecution, DPP, Mohammed Diri at the instance of the Attorney General, Abubakar Malami.
- The Lagos State Government has said that it will ask bondholders to agree a change to the payment schedules for
N167.5 billion ($842 million) of bonds. Lagos wants to pay interest and principal semi-annually rather than making a single bullet repayment of the principal at maturity. - Mobile entertainment and internet TV company, iROKO, has announced multiple deals totalling $19 million, for content development and in capital funding. French media giant CANAL+, and existing investor Kinnevik AB, are investing in addition to iROKO’s own cash flow to give the iROKO the platform to scale its operations and expand aggressively. iROKO will channel the investment into local content financing and production, as well as its product and engineering teams in Lagos and New York. The ambition is to produce at least 300 hours of original content in 2016, with the expectation of doubling that by 2018.
