Below The Headlines - 11
Hope you enjoyed your two break with no news about Nigeria? Well, Nigeria is inevitable so we are back.
Inside Nigeria
Some disgruntled commissioners at the Federal Character Commission (FCC) recently blessed us with some insights into how job racketeering works in government agencies during a hearing at the House of Reps: “She has a lot of agents selling slots for her. After selling they have a central pool where they remit all the monies to, whereby they will withdraw and collect dollars and give to her. I have all the account details here” — ThisDay
Parents in Niger state are now contemplating pulling their kids out of private schools due to rising costs. They now face returning them to the public schools they took them out of. What would Albert Hirschman say to this? — Daily Trust
An amazing sentence: “A motorcyclist, Niyiseun Oluwadare, has narrated how he was duped by some armed robbers he arranged with to rob his passenger in Akure” — Vanguard
An interesting thing about Nigeria is that a country with very high fertility and birth rates also has a thriving ‘baby market’. So much so that people steal newborn babies from hospitals — Punch, also Premium Times
A former bank cashier says he mistakenly used someone else’s ATM card to withdraw cash. Five times — Vanguard
Pastor Ibiyomie has increased the feeding allowance he gives his wife to N1m. I am considering doing the same: “I used to give my wife N600k for feeding a month, then I use to give every service N500 to 600k per service when I was giving her N600k per month. Then I shifted to N1 million per month, my house is big. All women who are not prudent, please be prudent. Don’t tell me your husband is rich so you waste money.” — Vanguard
Premium Times investigation into a very popular ‘herbal’ concoction called Baba Aisha freely sold on the streets of Abuja: “It’s God (who heals) but I trust this medicine,” she said, adding that she has not visited the hospital since she started taking the concoction in June 2022.” — Premium Times
Bola Ayeni, wife of Nigerian billionaire Tunde Ayeni, gave an interview to ThisDay. Midway she dropped this amazing line: “I pity my husband as an unsuspecting and naive victim of the level of desperation and diabolical tendencies of this runs girl he got associated with” — ThisDay
Nigeria barely has any infrastructure and the little it has is constantly under threat of being stolen — Guardian
Outside Nigeria
A Nigerian living in Maryland, USA was sentenced to almost 5yrs in prison for obtaining personal information about Americans and then claiming covid funds in their name: “The debit cards that Bakare possessed and used during the conspiracy were linked to bank accounts that received a total of at least $2,265,844 in fraudulent UI and PUA benefits. He used this money, in part, to purchase a condominium in Lekki, Lagos State, Nigeria for $70 million Naira” — United States Attorney’s Office
US Vice President Kamala Harris had a phone call with President Tinubu. The White House published a readout of the call — White House
The removal of fuel subsidies in Nigeria means that a lot of demand for imported refined fuel has been destroyed. European refiners are now facing a crisis as they previously supplied much of Nigeria’s fuel needs — Reuters
Simon Ateba has made a name for himself by always shouting during White House press conferences — New York Times
One reason why a Judge in the UK has ordered James Ibori to pay more than £100m is because he could not prove he is poor: “I make a confiscation order in that sum because Mr Ibori has not satisfied me nor really has he tried to satisfy me that he is incapable of paying the full amount,” — The Times
Arsenal and England football legend, Ian Wright, tried to shame the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) into paying Nigeria’s Super Falcons players the allowances they’re owed, mistaking the NFF for an organisation capable of feeling shame — Daily Mail
More than 50% of the pesticides that have been by the European Union are still perfectly legal to use in Nigeria — The Conversation
President Bola Tinubu’s honeymoon period is definitely over. Many pieces in the foreign media now questioning the wisdom of his early reform moves — Foreign Policy and NYT
A piece on how Nigerians in Australia are enjoying the Super Falcons down under: “Out on the terrace, the barbecue sizzles with Suya, a spicy beef dish, while indoors Nigerian fans gather to support their national football team and eat Jollof Rice and Poundo Yam. The restaurant styles itself as Little Lagos, and it certainly feels like a home away from home to those packed in to watch Nigeria play World Cup co-hosts Australia” — Deutsche Welle
Life as an Igbo Muslim is extra tough — Inkstick
The US is on course to issue a record breaking number of student visas this year: “Nigeria and Ghana were issued the most student visas in their histories in 2022.” — VOA
Interview with Nigerian filmmaker, C.J Obasi, on his journey getting his Mami Wata movie to Sundance — LA Times
A lovely piece on the challenges of falling in love with someone you’re genetically incompatible with i.e. sickle cell carriers — Harpers
I really hope Nigerians switching to gas to power generators and cars is not something that will end in disaster for anyone — Daily Mail
I would have liked for this defamation case between a Nigerian politician and a Facebook gossip producer based in Ireland not to have been settled out of court. Just to see how it would have played out — Breaking News
William Kigbu has taken the beekeeping skills he learnt growing up on a farm in Nigeria to Newfoundland, Canada. But he has also had to learn something new — how to take care of them in winter — CBC
Long piece on Africa having a great chance to become a major energy player includes a lot of optimism about Nigeria: “In Nigeria, Africa’s biggest LNG exporter, production capacity should rise by about 35% by 2026.” — The Economist
I just returned from a week in Japan. If you’re interested in my random observations and photos of the country, my rather long piece is over at my blog. This week on 1914 Reader, Tobi Lawson wrote two pieces. The first is a follow up to my piece on reform as a continuous exercise where he discusses the things that make reforms stop i.e. how to make them stick. The second piece is a discussion of why big firms are good, actually.
See you in a week.