May 2021

31 May 2021
CNN
Gunmen abduct school children in latest Nigeria kidnapping raid
Students from an Islamic school in the north-central Nigerian state of Niger were indiscriminately shot at and abducted Sunday by a group of “armed bandits,” state police said in a statement…

Premium Times
Six years after, Buhari has failed to keep promise of securing Nigeria
Saturday, May 29, marked exactly six years since President Muhammadu Buhari took office as the fourth man to lead Nigeria in the Fourth Republic. The former army general who became the first opposition candidate to win a presidential election in Nigeria returned to power in 2015 on the strength of his promise to tackle insecurity, fight corruption and improve the economy…

Wall Street Journal
Gunmen in Nigeria kidnap more than 100 schoolchildren amid abduction epidemic
Gunmen kidnapped more than 100 students from an Islamic school in Nigeria on Sunday, local officials said, the latest in a rising tide of high-school abductions across Africa’s most populous nation, where kidnapping schoolchildren for ransom has become a lucrative industry…

30 May 2021
ICIR Nigeria
How Nigeria’s foreign relations have fared under Buhari
AS President Muhammadu Buhari marks six years in office, The ICIR, in this Special Report, takes a look at events and activities that have shaped the country’s foreign relations, including trade promotion, economic relations and bilateral security cooperation. Section 19 of the 1999 Constitution places Africa at the centre of Nigerian’s foreign policy…

29 May 2021
Al Jazeera
Kidnappers free 14 Nigerian students abducted in Kaduna state
Kidnappers have released the remaining 14 students who had been held captive after being abducted last month from a northern Nigerian university, officials said…

NewsWireNG
14 abducted Greenfield University students released after parents paid ransom
14 abducted students of Greenfield University in Kaduna State have been released. Channels Television reports that the kidnapped students were released on Saturday afternoon at a location along the Kaduna- Abuja highway…

28 May 2021
Al Jazeera
What Abubakar Shekau’s reported death means for Nigeria security
If Boko Haram leader is indeed dead, some experts say they expect a number of his fighters to join ISWAP in further blow to Nigerian army…

27 May 2021
Le Monde
How southern Nigeria is trying to regain control of its security
This is a proposal that has continued to spark debate in Nigeria. On May 11, the governors of seventeen states in the south of the country adopted a resolution to prohibit transhumance and free grazing on their lands…

Nigeria Info FM
The Big Three Stories
Ikemesit Effiong, Head of Research at SBM Intelligence speaks about the Senate zonal public hearings on the amendment of the 1999 Constitution…

26 May 2021
Nairametrics
Shekau’s death and what it means for the war on terrorism
The death of Boko Haram’s leader is the second most important news to come in the fight against the Jihadi group since it was reported in November 2020 that six Nigerian nationals were convicted by an Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeal in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for laundering the sum of $782, 000 between 2015 and 2016…

25 May 2021
BusinessDay
Labour-intensive sectors’ slow growth means no relief for Nigeria’s jobless
Until Nigeria’s economic growth outpaces population growth rate or at least labour-intensive sectors grow at a faster pace, there is no relief in sight for unemployment in Africa’s most populous nation. Nigeria produces people at an average of 2.6 percent annually, leaving the country’s 0.51 percent GDP growth in the first quarter of 2021, anything…

Nigeria’s rising insecurity shows up in road transport data
After Nigeria lifted the lockdown on economic activities due to the coronavirus pandemic last year, the expected boom in road transport has not materialised as Nigerians are running scared of roads fast morphing into hunting grounds for kidnappers, new data show…

Nigeria Info FM
Will The Southern Governors Stick To The Asaba Accord?
Apart from a meeting in 2017, the last regular meeting of the Southern Governors’ Forum was in 2005. Will the southern governors stick to the Asaba Accord? Ikemesit Effiong, Head of Research at SBM Intelligence weighs in…

24 May 2021
Sahara Reporters
Why Nigerians should be bothered that ISWAP, not military killed Boko Haram’s Shekau
The death of Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, has raised concerns over the unending fights against terrorism in Nigeria…

The Cable
Over 900 killed in 106 Boko Haram attacks — within five months
In its latest report titled, “After the Cat has Reached its Ninth Life, What is Next for the Boko Haram Insurgency?” the group highlighted the incidents involving Abubakar Shekau, Boko Haram leader, alongside a splinter faction under the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP)…

TRT World
Nigeria’s ‘crazy’ power bills are pushing people into poverty
The country’s electricity sector was privatized in 2013 to end decades of relative darkness but things have only grown worse in the hands of private investors.

23 May 2021
Blueprint
Increase surveillance in FCT, legal practitioner tasks agencies
Vice chairman of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) Gwagwalada branch, David Ebosetale Aigbefoh called for increase in the security surveillance of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja in view of the looming kidnapping and banditry activities in the area…

Daily Post
NBA official raises alarm over insecurity in Abuja
David Aigbefoh, the Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Gwagwalada branch in Abuja, has called for increased security surveillance in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)…

21 May 2021
ICIR Nigeria
Rising cost of preparing jollof rice signals Nigeria’s worsening food insecurity
It was past noon – lunch time – but there was only one customer at the bukka. Loretta Eze, the proprietor, surveyed the busy street as she stood by the entrance of her restaurant located by the corner of a street in the Wuse 2 area of Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory. A number of girls in yellow shirts, who worked as attendants in the restaurant, were hanging around waiting for the solitary customer to finish his meal…

20 May 2021
BusinessDay
Violence costs Nigeria $1.3trn in 13 years
Containing violence is costly, and for Nigeria, it has come at a bill of $1.34 trillion within 13 years – from 2007 to 2019. BusinessDay analysis of data from the 2021 Economic Value of Peace report by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) shows that cost of violence in Nigeria – calculated as security expenditure to manage violence as well as its economic impact – has risen every year since 2007, when it was $69.3 billion and by 2019 was almost double, costing $132.6 billion…

19 May 2021
Africa Defense Forum
Kidnapping in Nigeria becomes big business
When the extremist group Boko Haram kidnapped 276 schoolgirls in the remote town of Chibok, Nigeria, in 2014, it horrified the world…

ICIR Nigeria
Senate seeks 15-year jail term for Nigerians paying ransoms to kidnappers
The Senate is seeking a 15-year jail term for any Nigerian who pays ransom to free a kidnapped victim. This is contained in a bill seeking to amend the Terrorism Prevention (Amendment) Act, 2013, sponsored by senator representing Imo East District Ezenwa Francis Onyewuchi, during Wednesday’s plenary…

IOL
Nigerian judge kidnapped inside court
A Nigerian judge was on Tuesday kidnapped from inside a court in the northern state of Katsina, local media reported…

Pulse
Senators back bill to imprison Nigerians for 15 years for paying ransom to kidnappers
A bill to criminalise payment of ransom in Nigeria has passed second reading in the Senate on Wednesday, May 19, 2021…

The Nation
Wake-up call
The providential interception recently of a truckload of live ammunition in Anambra State showed just how creepy and deep-seated the security challenge this country has on its hands…

18 May 2021
Nigeria Info FM
Will State Governors Stop Illegally Sacking Local Government Councils?
The Supreme Court has ruled that State Governors have no right to sack elected Local Government Councils. Will state governors stop illegally sacking local government councils?

17 May 2021
Daily Independent
Rising insecurity and the depreciating value for life
Recent reports that in the first quarter of 2021 about 2000 lives were savagely wasted in the murderous exploits of bloodthirsty terrorists and bandits can only send cold shivers down the spine of many Nigerians and further deplete their faith in the ability of the government to protect them…

16 May 2021
Humangle
$18million paid as ransom to kidnappers in Nigeria over a decade
A Nigerian political risk analysis firm, SBM Intelligence, has estimated that about $18M has been paid as ransom money in less than 10 years across the country…

14 May 2021
Face2Face Africa
$18 million has been paid to kidnappers in the past 10 years in Nigeria
In recent years, the spate of kidnapping in Nigeria has been on the rise. This has largely been attributed to the country’s porous security architecture which has led to the rise of vigilante groups and insurgents…

World Watch Monitor
Boko Haram ‘flies flag 2 hours from Abuja’ warned Governor, as Nigerian captive teen turns 18
Leah Sharibu is 18 years old; it’s her fourth birthday as the captive of Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP)…

13 May 2021
BBC
$18 million ‘paid to kidnappers’
Lagos-based risk analysis firm SBM Intelligence has estimated that over the past ten years, $18 million has been paid to criminals in Nigeria – in order to recover people kidnapped for ransom…

12 May 2021
BusinessDay
Clarion call to insurance companies on cost of kidnapping in Nigeria
The Global Peace Index (GPI) Report for the year 2019 ranked Nigeria in the 148th position amongst 163 countries. The GPI Report using indicators like intensity of internal conflict, violent crime, access to small arms etc, measures how dangerous or safe a nation is…

How insecurity cost Nigeria’s economy $10.3bn in 2020
The Federal Government of Nigeria’s inability to effectively protect life and property is taking a toll on Nigeria’s ailing business environment, costing Africa’s biggest economy $10.3 billion in 2020, according to members of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC)…

Reuters
Rising cement costs hamper Nigeria’s building developers
Nigerian property developer Olawale Ayilara is building housing estates in the affluent Lekki district of mega city Lagos, the country’s commercial engine…

11 May 2021
The Africa Report
Nigeria’s Governors are trying out state police and vigilantes. Will it work?
On 17 February 2021, as students of the Government Science College (GSC) in north-central Niger State slept, they were woken up at midnight by gunshots fired by over 50 bandits who strolled into the school that had no fence but just a single guard as its security layer…

10 May 2021
BusinessDay
Worsening insecurity under Mr President’s watch (1)
Nigeria could learn a lot from America’s 9/11 terrorist attack on its soil. Since the deadly attack that cost several lives on that fateful September morning, the US security architecture has undergone an unmatchable renaissance…

8 May 2021
Guardian Nigeria
Insecurity: How Nigeria can curb inflow of illicit arms
As Nigeria contends with escalating insecurity, it has become obvious that unless the country mops up illicit arms circulating in its territory, citizens’ hope of sleeping with their two eyes closed might remain elusive…

7 May 2021
Plus TV Africa
Nothing much to celebrate as Nigeria lost over 590 citizens to insecurity in April
Over 590 Nigerians died in violent attacks across the nation as reported by SB Morgan Intelligence in a report on the state of insecurity in Nigeria. 160 incidents of violent attacks were recorded across 31 states of the federation…

3 May 2021
Channels Television
X-Raying Security Challenges In Nigeria
Geopolitical and security analyst at SBM Intelligence, Confidence McHarry examined approaches to addressing Nigeria’s security challenges…

Nairametrics
Insecurity: Is State Police the solution
With the growing state of insecurity plaguing the nation, the effects would doubtlessly also be felt economically…

Premium Times
Why Nigeria may not meet its COVID-19 vaccination target
About two months after it rolled out one of Africa’s largest COVID-19 vaccination programme, Nigeria has administered only 1.2 million vaccine shots, less than two per cent of a target it set for the end of the year…

ThisDay
As insecurity rages across Nigeria
Chiemelie Ezeobi and Kingsley Nwezeh, who chronicled the recent spate of insecurity across the nation, write that it has reached a worrisome crescendo especially after witnessing one of the most violent weeks in the nation’s recent history, as was further collaborated by the SBM Intelligence index report that 590 people were killed in April alone…

2 May 2021
ThisDay
Counting the cost of kidnapping
The present scourge of kidnapping for ransom presents an opportunity for insurance companies to fashion out kidnap and ransom policies to all classes of Nigerians, writes John Aku Ambi…

1 May 2021
Sahara Reporters
How Boko Haram fighters from Nigeria were killed, captured by Chadian troops
The Chadian troops killed over 22 Boko Haram fighters who crossed from Nigeria into Chad, a source in the Nigerian Army said…

ThisDay
Over 590 Nigerians murdered in violent attacks in April, says report
A new report by SB Morgen (SBM) Intelligence says over 590 Nigerians lost their lives in violent attacks in various parts of the country last month…

Vanguard
Dealing with insecurity the el-Rufai way
Even the deaf can hear the rhythm of the prevailing chaos in the country. One could feel the heavy hands of the grave danger. There are no pretences about it…