February 2022

27 February 2022
Vanguard
HORROR IN SOKOTO, NIGER, KADUNA: ‘Bandits kill farmers, seize survivors’ harvest, turn abducted women into sex slaves’
Killings, kidnappings, sex slavery and illegal taxation of farmers. These four issues would determine food security in Nigeria in 2022, findings by Sunday Vanguard have revealed…

26 February 2022
Punch
Subsidy: Nigeria losing out as oil crosses $100, say marketers
The increased spending on petrol subsidy is preventing Nigeria from taking advantage of the rise in the price of crude oil to over $100 per barrel, oil marketers said on Friday. Brent, the crude against which Nigeria’s oil is priced, jumped above $100 per barrel on Thursday, a leap recorded for the first time since 2014, as the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces heightened anxiety in the global energy space…

25 February 2022
BusinessDay
FG’s ₦3trn subsidy bill nears yearly revenue as oil prices soar
Brent, the gauge of Nigeria’s crude oil, has jumped more than $20 a barrel since the start of the year amid escalating Russia-Ukraine tensions, a development that means an increase of Nigeria’s subsidy bill of ₦3 trillion…

The Africa Report
Osinbajo ‘relieved’ at EU gas stance; to benefit, national production needs a boost
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine throws up a multi-layered opportunity that could see African countries take get a bigger slice of the market. But Nigeria’s – Africa’s biggest crude producer and the world’s eighth-largest holder of gas reserves – might miss out on this opportunity, analysts said, due to a lack of production capability…

BusinessDay
FG’s N3trn subsidy bill nears yearly revenue as oil prices soar
Brent, the gauge of Nigeria’s crude oil, has jumped more than $20 a barrel since the start of the year amid escalating Russia-Ukraine tensions, a development that means an increase of Nigeria’s subsidy bill of N3 trillion…

24 February 2022
Al Jazeera
Small businesses hurting from recurring fuel scarcity in Nigeria
For Mustapha Arinakore, life as a tricycle rider plying his trade in the central Nigerian city of Ilorin depends largely on petrol. But getting the fuel he needs to power his tricycle has become a rather difficult task in recent weeks because of a continuing scarcity nationwide…

BusinessDay
Why Russia-Ukraine crisis will not lead to World War 3
During the early hours of Thursday, Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, announced on television that he had decided “to carry out a special military operation” in Ukraine. Shortly afterwards, explosions were reported across the country but this is unlikely to devolve into World War lll as some have feared…

Daily Nigerian
In 9 months, 2, 575 clashes recorded in Plateau, Zamfara, Kaduna, Taraba — NGO
A non governmental organisation, Centre for Law Enforcement Education in Nigeria, CLEEN, has said that 2, 575 clashes are recorded in Plateau, Zamfara, Kaduna and Taraba in nine months…

Guardian Nigeria
It’s coming south: Rising insecurity in Kwara State
Insecurity is like cancer. If not swiftly attended to, it spreads to other parts of the body. The same can be said of Kwara State neighbouring Kogi – to the east and Niger to the north. Both northern states have witnessed 154 and 1144 deaths in recent times after consistent attacks from armed criminal gangs…

The Sun Nigeria
Nigeria records 2,575 clashes in 4 states
A group under the aegis of Centre for Law Enforcement Education in Nigeria (CLEEN), said over 2, 575 deathly clashes were recorded in Plateau, Zamfara, Kaduna and Taraba State in nine months…

23 February 2022
BusinessDay
Subsidy: Labour threats foster value destruction in Nigeria
In response to the government’s plan to remove petrol subsidy since 1977, Nigeria’s labour groups shut down the economy in protests, but have never protested the government’s inability to fix the refineries despite spending billions in maintenance and paying a fortune to idle workers, or even rampant corruption in the sector…

Epoch Times
Nigeria: Paramilitary Groups Grapple with Spreading Lawlessness in Yoruba States
By dusk on Jan. 30, 2022, Motunrayo Shittu, 30, held her infant and fretted that her husband, who had phoned an hour earlier, hadn’t returned as promised. After several hours, she took her worries to bed with her three children…

Legit
In Five Years, Nigerian Govt Fuel Subsidy Payment Jumps By 890%, With No Justification
SBM Intelligence, a geopolitical research firm, says despite petrol subsidy payments, transport costs and petrol prices increased by a whopping 890 percent from 2017 to 2021(five years)…

22 February 2022
Nairametrics
Cost of fuel subsidy increased by 890% in 5 years
The costs of fuel subsidy in Nigeria increased by 890% over a five year period (2017-2021) in Nigeria even though fuel prices have only increased by 12.1%…

Punch
Fuel subsidy: Labour fumes as IMF warns FG against fresh borrowings
Following the Federal Government’s plan to extend the fuel subsidy regime by 18 months, the International Monetary Fund has said Nigeria will likely depend on overdrafts from the Central Bank of Nigeria to fund its proposed ₦2.55tn petrol subsidy bill…

21 February 2022
The Cable
Despite petrol subsidy, transport fares increased by 283% in five years
SBM Intelligence, a geopolitical research firm, says despite petrol subsidy payments, transport costs and petrol prices increased disproportionally from 2017 to 2021…

19 February 2022
Leadership
Zamfara School Closure: For Better Or For Worse?
Hadiza Usman, a primary 2 pupil in a public school Gusau, Zamfara state has always struggled in school. Just when she started making progress, schools got shut down as a result of the insecurity issues in the state. Her mother is concerned about her as she’s finding it difficult to adjust now that schools have resumed…

18 February 2022
The Cable
Gunmen attacked 1,799 students, 24 teachers between April 2014/January 2021
A factsheet by SB Morgen (SBM) Intelligence has revealed that a total of 1,823 victims which include 1,799 students and 24 teachers were attacked between April 2014 and January 2021…

CNBC Africa
How Nigeria plans to fund ₦2.5 trillion petrol subsidy
Nigeria’s President is seeking the approval of parliament for a supplementary budget of 2.5 trillion naira for the payment of petrol subsidies from June to December this year…

Punch
Recruitment: Buhari should end police/PSC rift
While the country is under siege by criminals whose blood-curdling activities have overwhelmed the existing security architecture, the Nigeria Police leadership has entangled itself in a needless fight with the Police Service Commission over the recruitment of new constables…

Sahara Reporters
How Over 1,800 Nigerian Students, Teachers Were Victims Of Insurgent Attacks In Less Than 7 Years
No fewer than 1,823 students and teachers have been victims of insurgent attacks on schools between April 2014 and January 2021, a factsheet by SB Morgen Intel has revealed…

17 February 2022
BusinessDay
Contraceptives seen insufficient to check Nigeria’s population explosion
The Federal Government’s push for wider adoption of contraceptives as birth control measures may be insufficient at checking Nigeria’s rapidly growing population due to socio-economic constraints. Cultural and religious objections, analysts say present barriers to wider adoption of contraceptives, therefore educating the girl child and investing in human capital development are better options of controlling a country’s rising population…

Attacks on schools put quality education, skilled labour at risk
Continuing attacks on schools in Nigeria put quality education and skilled labour needed in the long run to successfully run the economy, at risk, experts have said. Nigeria has witnessed a total of 28 schools’ attacks from the Chibok girls’ incident on April 4, 2014, in Borno state to the recent Barkin Ladin attack on January 12, 2021, in Plateau, a new report from SBM Intelligence shows…

16 February 2022
Al Jazeera
Nigerian court adjourns trial of separatist leader again
An Abuja court has adjourned the trial of separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu again, this time till April. The leader of the separatist organisation Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) appeared in court on Wednesday on charges of “terrorism”, calling for secession and spreading falsehood against President Muhammadu Buhari…

15 February 2022
Nigerian Tribune
Senate’s Wake-Up Call To Service Chiefs
During plenary on February 2, the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, responding to a point of order raised by Senator Bello Mandiya (APC, Katsina South), joined his colleagues to call on the country’s service chiefs to “wake up” and protect Nigerians. The senators were worried that there had been no evidence of a full-scale action to stem terrorism, banditry and militancy in the country despite the recent declaration of bandits as terrorists…

14 February 2022
The Africa Report
Nigeria turns to Europe for rail loans as China talks hit dead end
Nigeria is looking to Europe to seek loans that will help it complete rail projects as debt discussions with China have stalled, transport minister Rotimi Amaechi said. A stalemate with China is causing a delay in rail projects that the Muhammadu Buhari administration sees as a major part of the infrastructure development agenda, the minister said earlier this month in Abuja…

10 February 2022
Vanguard
Time for a global coalition against ISWAP
The Federal Government can be very confusing in its approach to the war on terrorism. Governor Umara Zulum of Borno State has raised the alarm that the Islamic State in West Africa Province, ISWAP, is recruiting massively and fast gaining ground…

9 February 2022
World Politics Review
Africa’s Tax Reform Debate Should Include Its Real Economy
Given the enormous impact of the coronavirus pandemic on global public finances, it is hardly surprising that cash-strapped governments across Africa—from Nigeria, Ghana and Cameroon to Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe—are experimenting with a range of tax increases to broaden state revenues. That, in turn, has put the spotlight on tax collection across Africa more broadly…

7 February 2022
CNBC Africa
How is Nigeria addressing insecurity challenges?
A report by SBM Intelligence shows that at least two thousand deaths were reported from Boko Haram, militia herdsmen, and terrorists’ attacks in the fourth quarter of last year…

Sahara Reporters
Bandits From Zamfara, Others Seeking Fresh Territory Have Found Home In Kwara
There are concerns over the security situation in Kwara state following the influx of criminal groups from Zamfara, seeking refuge in the state…

6 February 2022
Guardian Nigeria
Get-rich-quick syndrome breeding juvenile killers
For nearly seven years since the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led government assumed office, President Muhammadu Buhari, and his team have repeatedly assured Nigerians that the security of their lives remains a priority of the administration…

Punch
Unending chieftaincy tussles and attendant violence
Recurring issues of violence and rancorous struggle for succession to traditional stools in many parts of the country have resurfaced. In one such tragic incident, the Alagodo of Agodo near Papalanto in the Ewekoro Local Government Area of Ogun State, Ayinde Odetola, and his three friends were burnt to death by some of his subjects in an orgy of unprecedented violence against the traditional institution…

ThisDay
The Return of Military Coups to Africa
As African Union and ECOWAS offer sterner pushback against military coupists in Mali, Guinea, Chad, and Burkina Faso, elected rulers running despotic regimes in West Africa should rethink their regressive governance models to save the sub-region’s remaining democracies…

4 February 2022
Guardian Nigeria
One year after NIN-SIM policy, insecurity, scams fester
One year after the Federal Government imposed the National Identification Number and Subscribers Identification Module card (NIN-SIM) verification and linkage exercise on Nigerians, with the hope of curbing rising insecurity in the country, nothing concrete has so far been achieved in stemming the tide of attacks…

3 February 2022
Guardian Nigeria
Insecurity: 10,366 killed in 2021, Buhari pledges change in North East
Assailed on all sides by escalating insecurity in the country, President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, assured Nigerians, particularly residents of the Northeast, that in the coming months, they will see a change from the subsisting protracted insurgency to an era of peace and development in their respective communities…

ThisDay
Nigeria and the Coup Epidemics
President Umaro Cissoko Embaló survived Tuesday’s “failed attack against democracy.” But the situation in Guinea-Bissau remains unclear. That the fragile West African country is the fifth to catch the military coup bug in recent times should be disturbing to leaders within the sub-region. Only two weeks ago, President Roch Kabore was toppled in Burkina Faso. Before then, Mali, Guinea and Chad had fallen into the hands of military usurpers, confirming the long-held proposition that democracy may be too frail a plant to survive the African climate…

2 February 2022
Nairametrics
Banditry:1,192 persons were killed by banditry in 2021, 3,348 people kidnapped- Kaduna State
The Kaduna state government revealed that for the year 2021, 1,192 persons were killed by banditry and violent attacks in the state and 3,348 people were kidnapped, while 891 others were injured within the year…

Insecurity: Media reported killings in Nigeria hits 2085 in Q4 2021
At least 2,085 persons were reportedly killed in Nigeria in the 4th quarter of 2021 in violent incidents, including attacks from Boko Haram, militia herdsmen, abductions, gang clashes and terrorists…