Below The Headlines - 112
Plateau eggs are the best, allegedly and imagine getting trafficked to Ghana
Tobi just dropped a new essay on culture and economic growth, tapping into the work of the new Nobel winner, Joel Mokyr and others. He put in an incredible amount of effort into it. Go check it out! Earlier in the week I wrote the latest instalment on F.O.O.D, this time on wheat. And on Wednesday we dropped our latest podcast with Oyeronke Oyebanji on the inner workings of public health in Nigeria and Africa. It was such a great conversation if I do say so myself.
Enjoy the usual selection below!
Nigerian Media
This article gives an insight into the scale of lithium (and other minerals) mining that is currently going on in parts of Nigeria. This is one of the longest running stories in Nigerian history. A new thing pops up halfway around increasing the demand for some raw material that happens to exist in Nigeria. In short order, Nigerians do any kind of damage that is necessary to their own environment to meet that demand and get rich in the short term. It was in this way that when the Industrial Revolution made people in Britain rich and the demand for home pianos boomed, elephants in Nigeria’s north east were wiped out to supply the ivory that was used to make piano keys back then:
He added that in several instances, impostors posing as traditional rulers had signed fraudulent consent documents later used to obtain mining licences.
“We have cases where genuine paramount rulers who have the authority to endorse consent were bypassed. Some impostors signed the documents, and the Mining Cadastral Office issued exploration licences without proper verification from the state. In the end, the whole process turned out to be a scam,” he explained.
Egya said the development had triggered numerous communal and family crises across the state, as some miners obtained consent for lands belonging to others without the knowledge or approval of rightful owners.
“In some cases, the Cadastral Office issued overlapping licences that encroached on other lands, leading to serious disputes the state government has to settle daily,” he added.
He also alleged that some miners operated with forged documents, claiming to have federal approval, while others bribed local heads to validate illegal mining papers.
Egya identified poor reclamation of mined lands as another major concern, warning that the failure of miners to restore sites after operations poses both environmental and security risks.
He, therefore, urged the Federal Government to enforce compliance with land reclamation laws and strengthen collaboration with state governments to verify the authenticity of mining consents.
Egya further disclosed that Governor Sule had consistently advocated the deregulation of the solid minerals sector to give states a stronger role in monitoring and enforcement.
The difference between life and death can be wafer thin:
A 23-year-old man, Lukman Umar, narrowly escaped being lynched by a mob in Suleja, Niger State, after he attempted to leave a canteen without paying for his meal.
Saturday PUNCH gathered that Umar, who resides at APC Quarters 1, Suleja, was about to be lynched near Kantoma Bridge before he was rescued by policemen attached to the Anti-Thuggery Unit, who were on routine patrol.
The Niger State Police Command spokesman, Wasiu Abiodun, confirmed the incident in a statement on Friday, adding that during investigation, Umar allegedly confessed to being a member of a robbery syndicate involved in stealing vehicles, motorcycles, and phones in the area.
Abiodun said, “On October 19, 2025, at about 1 a.m., while on routine patrol, Lukman Umar, 23, of APC Quarters 1, Suleja, was found about to be lynched by a mob after taking a meal at a stall around Kantoma Bridge and attempting to flee without payment.
An interesting article which claims that eggs from Plateau state are the best in Nigeria. Also reveals the things you already know about the structure of Nigerian markets or lack thereof:
Speaking during the commemoration of the 2025 World Egg Day in Jos, the association’s chairperson, Mrs. Shinkur Angela Jima, described the state’s eggs as the best and most durable, owing to Plateau’s friendly and conducive environment and weather.
According to her, the state’s climate, favorable temperature, and geography make it an ideal place for poultry farming.
“The Nigerian poultry industry is the leading egg producer in Africa, producing over one billion eggs, yet the market is not saturated,” she said.
She continued, “Plateau State’s eggs are said to be the best in Nigeria because our favourable weather, under which our eggs are produced, makes them have a longer shelf life of up to a month without spoiling.”
She, however, lamented that egg consumption among families in the state is still very low. This forces farmers to rely on middlemen who offer “peanuts” due to poor pricing, even amidst the high cost of feed.
The PAN chairperson stressed that improving egg pricing is a collective responsibility, requiring farmers to work together in unity to curtail the excesses of middlemen.
Can a court actually compel two people to marry each other? We are about to find out:
A magistrate court sitting in Kano has ordered two popular TikTokers, Idris Mai Wushirya and Basira Yar Guda, to marry within 60 days.
The order followed their recent appearance in viral videos deemed “indecent” by the Kano State Films and Video Censorship Board.
The clips, which showed the duo engaging in romantic gestures, were described by authorities as contrary to the moral and religious values upheld in the state.
Presiding over the matter on Monday, Magistrate Halima Wali directed the Kano State Hisbah Board to facilitate the marriage of the duo.
She warned that failure to conduct the marriage within the stipulated timeframe would be treated as contempt of court.
The court also mandated the Chairman of the Kano State Films and Video Censorship Board to oversee the implementation of the marriage order.
Recalls that the two TikTokers were arraigned before the court in recent weeks for allegedly producing and circulating obscene content on social media.
An example of Nigeria’s extreme diversity (which I wrote about here) in action. 13 new emirates and chiefdoms created out of thin air by the Bauchi Governor. Daily Trust interviewed the Emir of Lame (who?) and here’s what he had to say:
We give glory to the Almighty Allah for his blessings, mercy and favour upon our state and its people. Personally, this is a historic event that will strengthen our traditional institutions and give greater voice and representation to our communities. For example, because of the agitation and population, many district heads were created out of the oldest districts.
This is a solemn and defining moment. It is not merely about creating new emirates and chiefdoms but reaffirming our collective faith in inclusion, justice, unity, and positioning Bauchi for the next phase of its development. That evolution itself reminds us that growth requires reform; and progress demands adaptation.
The reasons the governor gave are open for all to see and agree. Today, our population has multiplied, our towns have expanded and the demands of governance have become more complex. It has, therefore, become necessary to update the structure of traditional governance to reflect these realities not to replace tradition, but to renew it and make it relevant to modern needs for peace and development.
Look at our Bauchi and Gombe states: In the past we had 16 local government areas, including the present Gombe State, but today, we have 20. We had 19 local government areas in the past, but now, we have 36. This is to tell you that at every time Allah will destine many things to happens, it will happen as he wishes. Our prayers always are to succeed, get development and sustainable peace.
The Nigerian industry for “nuggets” is booming. The people love and demand it, therefore supply rises to meet it. And the best “nuggets” are from very rich men who do or say something, regardless of whether or not it makes sense, and this is then laundered into a “nugget” by the entrepreneurs supplying the market. I will be amazed if this “nugget” does not make it to LinkedIn soon:
Former presidential aide, Reno Omokri, has advised Nigerians against spending lavishly on the newly released iPhone 17, stressing that even Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, uses a simple Android phone.
He made this known in a post shared on his X account on Thursday, where he accompanied a statement with a picture of himself and Dangote.
“Zoom in on the phone Alhaji Aliko Dangote is using, and you will notice that it is not an expensive iPhone 17 Pro Max or any fancy device. It is a regular Android phone, and not even a new one at that. Yet, according to Forbes Magazine, this is the wealthiest person in Africa, the 86th richest human on Earth, and the Black person with the highest net worth on this planet,” Omokri wrote.
He explained that during his recent stay with Dangote in Lagos, he observed that the billionaire’s modest lifestyle reflected genuine simplicity and contentment.
“In the few days I spent with him in Lagos, Nigeria, last week, this was the only phone I saw Alhaji Dangote use. His genuine simplicity and contentment are such attractive virtues. It is no wonder that God has blessed him impactfully,” he said.
Omokri urged Nigerians to avoid purchasing costly phones merely to impress others, adding that a phone should be valued for its usefulness, not its price tag.
Non-Nigerian Media
A surprising paragraph in an article about Inuits and Canada’s arctic archipelago:
The nomadic Inuit had long gathered in the region. But Gjoa Haven — on the southeastern tip of King William, a flat, sandy island a couple of hundred miles north of the Arctic Circle — became a settlement with the opening of a Hudson’s Bay trading post in 1927 and the establishment of government services in the 1960s. Some recall living in tents and igloos until houses were built in the 1970s. Today, the population has swelled to about 1,500 and includes outsiders from as far away as Ghana and Nigeria.
The FT has a feature on the business of kidnapping in Nigeria. I will only say that it is not particularly a new thing but a centuries old practice that has found a new expression:
At the time, almost a decade ago, the Nigerian national was managing director of an IT consulting company he had founded after a 15-year career as a global IT portfolio manager at energy giant Shell; this job had included stays in the UK, US, Netherlands, Russia and Nigeria. He also moonlighted as a pastor at his local church — he was preparing his Sunday sermon when he heard the break-in happening — and was the publisher of a community free sheet he had launched to “push the narrative” of a city he thought was more than the headlines of death and dismay typically associated with it.
His ordeal was terrifying, he tells the Financial Times from the safety of a Lagos restaurant, where he sips on a ginger-infused drink. For more than 36 hours, he was blindfolded and transported in a car, then across a river in a canoe, before being marched barefoot through farms as they headed towards his unknown destination. His abductors kept up pressure on his family to send a ransom, having extracted contact details from Banigbe, at one point demanding as much 50mn naira (about $252,000 at the time).
After five nights in captivity, Banigbe was freed by his captors. His family had paid a ransom — he declines to say how much exactly — to secure his release. He only describes it as “several millions” of naira.
“They didn’t beat me or physically torture me,” Banigbe says. “Of course, they threatened me, and the emotional and psychological torture was a lot.”
Banigbe’s experience offers a window into the booming business of kidnapping for ransom in Nigeria, an industry of pain causing havoc as authorities in Africa’s most populous nation struggle to contain the epidemic.
The Times do a feature on Afrobeats and Nollywood helping to boost Nigerian power abroad:
Just as Lagos’s tech start-ups have become the envy of African business, the city’s culture has also become well known across the continent, thanks to exports such as the addictive rhythms of afrobeats and Nigeria’s larger-than-life Nollywood films.
Nigeria’s film industry releases about 2,500 films a year — far more than Hollywood and second only to India’s Bollywood for output. Movies with stars like Genevieve Nnaji and Ramsey Nouah are widely watched across Africa, and many are available to watch for free on YouTube.
In the past, these were low-budget productions. But that has changed in recent years thanks to the likes of Lionheart, Nigeria’s first Netflix original film in 2018, and 2023’s Black Book, the first Nigerian film to rank number one on Netflix worldwide.
Mavin Records in Lekki — now a swish area of Lagos but once a swampy slum — represents Rema, whose collaboration with Selena Gomez on Calm Down made him a superstar who sold out the O2 arena in June.
Tems, a Nigerian singer-songwriter, became the first African artist to debut at No 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, appeared on the Beyoncé album Renaissance and earning an Oscar nomination for co-writing Lift Me Up for Hollywood’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
News from Ghana:
Police in Ghana rescued 57 Nigerians trafficked to the West African country and arrested five people suspected of operating a cybercrime and human trafficking ring, authorities said Thursday.
Police raided a building in the suburb of the capital Accra on Wednesday, where the victims, between the ages of 18 and 26, were housed and forced to engage in online romance scams, the Criminal Investigations Department said Thursday in a statement.
The police retrieved 77 laptops, 38 mobile phones, two vehicles, three television sets, and other internet-enabled devices from the building.
The suspects allegedly lured their victims by promising them lucrative jobs and other opportunities in Ghana.
“Upon arrival, the victims, aged between 18 and 26 years, were coerced into engaging in online romance scams and other heinous activities,” the police said.
This article asks whether London can learn something from Kano’s Hisbah in tackling phone theft. And I have never laughed so hard:
Has Nigeria found the solution to phone snatching?
Phone thefts, which have plagued London for years, show no sign of slowing down with more than 116,000 devices stolen in 2024 alone.
One person every six minutes is still reporting having their device taken from them in the blink of an eye.
The scourge is also affecting one city 3,651 miles away.Kano in Nigeria has endured a surge in phone snatching, with victims even dying in the struggle to keep their devices.
Now the city’s law enforcement has come up with an eyebrow-raising plan to catch the thieves – paramilitary training for civilians.
Hundreds of volunteer youths have undergone two weeks of paramilitary training to serve as Special Anti-Phone Snatching and VIP Protection Guards.
Martins Okpuwara, a security operations manager in the country, told Metro:‘The newly introduced marshals are unarmed and will operate alongside the police, Hisbah, and local vigilantes.
‘They’ll be equipped with radios and motorbikes for quick response and stationed mainly around public spaces.’
Moniepoint, a cut above the rest, raise some new dough:
Nigerian payments and digital banking provider Moniepoint raised $90 million, it said this week, in one of the largest venture hauls by an African company so far in 2025.
The new funds complete a $200 million Series C funding round that began last year, which saw investors value Moniepoint at around $1 billion.
In just five years, Moniepoint’s handheld point-of-sale devices have become ubiquitous in kiosks, restaurants, and malls across the country, enabling cash deposits and withdrawals, as well as card payments. Combined with a personal banking app, its products have been used by more than 10 million businesses and individuals in Nigeria, with more than $250 billion in digital payments transaction value processed annually, it said. The company expanded in April by offering cross-border remittances, beginning with the UK-Nigeria corridor.
This latest raise underscores fintech’s dominance in African tech funding, with the sector taking up a third of 2025’s $2.2 billion total so far, according to Africa: The Big Deal, a funding tracker.
Nice story here. Incentives do matter:
Conservationists and students cheered as three rescued sea turtles, endangered in this part of the world, made their way back into the ocean at a private beach in Nigeria’s economic hub of Lagos.
Weeks after the turtles were rescued from fishermen, they were released back into the ocean becoming the latest of dozens of sea turtles saved by the Greenfingers Wildlife Conservation Initiative in recent years. This batch was released last weekend.
“For fishermen, they are just food,” Chinedu Mogbo, founder of the Greenfingers group told The Associated Press. “There is no knowledge out there of wildlife.”
Sea turtles, known to play a critical role in the marine ecosystem, are endangered around Lagos, a coastal city of more than 20 million people. There are no figures for their remaining population in Lagos’ waters, but wildlife conservationists like Mogbo speak of an alarming decline in the number of sea turtles coming to the shores to lay eggs.
Wildlife species are endangered in Nigeria
[…]
Incentives to the fishermen have helped, he said. The fishermen are rewarded with fishing gear if they alert conservationists when their nets catch a sea turtle or if they chance upon a turtle nest on shore.
As the three turtles disappeared into the water, a group of students watched in admiration.
“It is very special to me because I’m very passionate about wildlife rehabilitation and conservation,” said Aviel Izedonmi, one of the students present. “Seeing something like this in Nigeria, where it is uncommon, just shows me how important these things are.”
Update on the Baby Gorilla. It seems it has successfully lobbied for Indefinite Leave to Remain in Turkey:
A baby gorilla who was rescued from trafficking at Istanbul airport just before Christmas will remain in Turkey rather than be repatriated to Nigeria, Turkish officials said Friday.
The young primate was five months old when he was discovered inside a wooden crate in the cargo section of a Turkish Airlines plane en route from Nigeria to Thailand, and taken in a zoo in the hills outside Istanbul to recover.
Named Zeytin -- Turkish for olive -- he was nursed back to health with the aim of sending him back to Nigeria, where he began his journey, in line with the regulations in the CITES treaty limiting the trade of protected animals.
Following a Nigerian request for his repatriation, Turkey’s nature conservation and national parks directorate began the process but stopped it after a DNA test confirmed Zeytin belonged to a species that was not native to Nigeria.
“The DNA test... using whole genome sequencing, revealed Zeytin was a Western lowland gorilla. This scientific evidence showed that Nigeria was not Zeytin’s country of origin (which) necessitated a re-evaluation of Zeytin’s conservation status,” it said.
The Western lowland gorilla is a critically endangered subspecies native to the rain forests of central Africa, whose numbers have plummeted in recent decades because of deforestation, hunting and disease.
“Since Nigeria is not the country of origin, it was decided... to place Zeytin in a zoo in Turkey,” it said. Until now, he has been looked after at Polonezkoy Zoo near Istanbul.
Last month Fahrettin Ulu, regional director of Istanbul’s Nature Conservation and National Parks directorate, told AFP it was the first time a gorilla had been seized at Istanbul airport.
When he first arrived, Zeytin weighed 9.4 kilograms (21 pounds) but by early September he weighed 16 kg and his height increased from 62.5 to 80 centimetres (2.1 to 2.6 feet), he told AFP.
Zeytin, “who was once a baby, has become a young gorilla”, he added.
This is a terrible story:
Police have arrested a Nigerian hotel worker after a British tourist was allegedly raped on a Greek holiday island.
The 45-year-old victim told Kos police officers that she had been sexually assaulted by the 42-year-old man in her room at around 7pm on Monday.
She said she had been drinking and that the hotel employee took advantage of her condition.
Following an investigation, police officers of the Kos Criminal Investigation and Prosecution Department located and arrested the suspect, who is being held before appearing in front of the Kos District Court prosecutor.
It comes just months after another British tourist claimed she was sexually assaulted during a massage on a different Greek island.
The 37-year-old had been staying at a hotel on Rhodes when she said she was touched inappropriately while on the massage table in June.
The employee touched her with their fingernail six times in a disputed area but the holidaymaker said there was no need or context as to why the masseuse touched her there.
She told cops at the Ialisos Police Station that she felt uncomfortable and offended by the ‘indecent and violating’ behaviour, it was reported in local paper Proto Thema.
Killing someone and rapping about it:
A drill rapper has been jailed for life for fatally stabbing a gang rival whose younger brother was killed four years later.
Lekan Akinsoji and accomplice Sundjata Keita, both aged 27, were found guilty of murder eight years after 21-year-old Ahmed Deen-Jah was killed.
Mr Deen-Jah was chased into an off licence and stabbed near Custom House station in east London on the afternoon of April 2 2017.
Just 10 days before the ride-out killing, Akinsoji rapped on a video entitled Armed And Ready how he intended to avoid getting caught, saying: “No face, no case, no evvy (evidence).”
A year after the murder, Akinsoji was armed with a shotgun and wore a clown mask on another ride-out in a stolen car in Leytonstone, east London.
He was arrested after a police chase and sentenced to 20 years in prison for conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm with intent and having a gun.