Below The Headlines - 123
when will Nigerian sociologists call of their strike and do you actually have money if you don't flex on Instagram?
This week I published the first chapter of The Whispering Class about the life of Abubakar Pascoe. Tobi wrote about how order - the absence of which is what we commonly call insecurity - is inextricably linked to economic development. We also had Fola Fagbule, a friend of the house, guest publish a meditation on the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road with a warning for Nigeria to seize the opportunity to make it better than what has come before.
Next week, Tobi and I start a read-along of Joe Studwell’s highly anticipated new book - How Africa Works. And on Wednesday our next podcast episode drops with a special guest. And it’s even a video episode this time!
Enjoy the week’s selection below.
Nigerian Media
A story that could have been written anytime in the last 10 or 20 years:
From fields to the market, large quantities of tomatoes produced by dry season farmers in Alau and other parts of Borno State are rotting away.
The scenario, a sad and devastating one, is what thousands of farmers in Borno State are currently experiencing. The farmers have called on the government to intervene in the situation by establishing tomato processing industries to save them from post- harvest losses as a way of coming to their aid.
Our correspondent, who went around irrigation farms in Alau, Maiduguri and Jere, reports how the situation is creating havoc, leaving a majority of the farmers in distress.
While tomato growers in Alau have suffered huge losses due to high cost of transportation, tomato farmers within Maiduguri town say they can’t get buyers or a minimum support price for their produce which continues to flood major markets across the state and beyond.
In an interview with Weekend Trust, most of these farmers said they make bountiful produce, but they continue to experience common challenges of inadequate or lack of proper storage and preservation facilities to avert waste which has become a perennial issue for tomato and vegetable farmers in the state.
Interesting story from Yobe. Someone has to defend the environment. A poor country with a depleted environment is the worst of all worlds:
The Yobe State Police Command has arrested 26 suspects over alleged criminal conspiracy and illegal tree felling in Tarmuwa Local Government Area of the state.
The suspects were accused of engaging in the unauthorised cutting of trees in bushy areas of Garaji village, an activity said to be contributing to desertification in the area.
Confirming the arrests, the Police Public Relations Officer of the command, SP Dungus Abdulkarim, told PUNCH Metro on Wednesday evening that the suspects were apprehended following a complaint from local authorities.
Abdulkarim said the arrests were made on February 2, 2026, after the suspects allegedly invaded the forest and felled a large number of trees without approval from the relevant local government officials.
“The suspects, all male residents of Damaturu Local Government Area, were arrested for unlawfully cutting down trees in violation of Yobe State laws prohibiting deforestation,” he said.
Education update:
According to a teacher, Mr. David Ogbebor: “We the teachers are going through tough times in this economy, due to the fact that our pay can hardly purchase a fraction of our needs. To worsen the situation, my school management asked for my Bank Verification Number, BVN, saying that they want to start deducting tax from the N35,000 they are paying me, which is not even up to the mandatory minimum wage of workers in the country.
“So, now, I am combining my tailoring business with the teaching job, so that I can get something substantial to cope with the demands of the economy.”
Recall that in July 2024, Nigeria’s national minimum wage was increased to N70,000 per month from the previous N30,000, following agreement between the government and labour unions to combat the rising living costs.
The new wage is for organisations with 25 employees and above.Mrs. Lilian Osakpamwan, a former teacher, said: “I taught three subjects in a private school, and they didn’t pay me in 2024, with long hours standing. I had a passion for teaching. When it was time to pay salaries, which always comes few weeks after month end, the proprietor will rain abuses on staff.
“Lesson fees are paid in the following terms, and that is if the teacher returns. This made my love for teaching to vanished.
“I wasted my money and time to upgrade my curriculum vitae in academics, just to augment my love for teaching. I had to go get a job in an organisation that pays better.
If not that Nigerian sociologists have gone on strike, they would have been able to tell us why exactly Nigerian politicians like building hotels so much. I guess we will never know:
Ebonyi State Government on Friday sealed a three-star hotel, Golden Synergy Apartments and Suites, belonging to a top politician from the state, for failing to comply with urban development and physical planning regulations.
Guardian learnt that the sealed hotel belonging to the Chairman of Ezza North, Chief Moses Ogodo-Ali, is located at 4 Anikpe Street, off Udensi Road, Abakaliki
Our correspondent reported that the action was carried out by officials of the Ministry of Capital City and Urban Development, following reports that the hotel management had commenced construction of an additional multi-storey structure on the same premises without statutory approval.
Briefing journalists after the enforcement exercise, the State Commissioner for Capital City Development, Chief Sunday Elechi Inyima, disclosed that while the hotel initially received approval for its existing four-storey main building, the developers allegedly proceeded to erect another structure in clear contravention of the state’s development control laws.
The unspeakable horror of the recent massacre (one of many) in Kwara. This part of the story really stood out to me. So many people are just sitting ducks for violence even when they can see it coming from a mile off:
A local who preferred not to be mentioned told Saturday Vanguard that the bandits who were not strangers to the community had visited Woro a few times in the past under the guise of coming to preach to members of the community, to renounce the Nigeria constitution and embrace their own ideology.
It was also gathered that early last month,the bandits reportedly wrote a letter to the village head of Woro, Alhaji Umar Saliu Tanko informing him that they were coming to preach and that he should communicate the information to the residents to assemble.
Already, the village head who had been uncomfortable with the previous sermons in the community reported the communication to the security agencies. A local government staff who craved anonymity said, “on the appointed day, soldiers and other security agents had assembled at the venue with the intention of arresting the bandits for interrogation on the toxic nature of their planned sermon.
“Expectedly, the bandits visited Woro community on the fateful day, but on sighting the security agents from afar, they retreated and from that day, they planned the invasion. It was further gathered that after this aborted meeting, the bandits sent a voice note to the village head, expressing their anger accusing him of trying to set them up for arrest by the soldiers. They then vowed to wipe out the residents of the community any time soon.
The village head reportedly went and informed the security agents of the voice note, but nothing was done to prevent the invasion as no particular date was mentioned until the Tuesday evening attack.Saturday Vanguard gathered that over fifty bandits invaded Woro community around 5pm on Tuesday killing every resident in sight and indiscriminately setting houses, shops and offices on fire.
Non-Nigerian Media
A piece on the rugby legend, Martin Offiah, and his son, opened with this about his father:
My parents came over to England from Nigeria in the late 1950s, Dad to study law, Mum to study teaching. I was born in 1965, the youngest of three, in Hackney Hospital, a true Cockney. Dad was called to the Bar in 1970 but went back to Nigeria a few years later. He became a chief magistrate there, but in March 1999 he was murdered — killed by car thieves. I was devastated. I was 33 by then, playing professional rugby league for London Broncos.
What to do if you have 36hrs in Lagos. Here’s how to start on Friday evening:
After navigating the hectic Murtala Mohammed International Airport, recover in the peaceful garden of NOK by Alara, in a cube-shaped building with geometric latticework in the Victoria Island neighborhood. The restaurant, a local institution, offers a wide variety of dishes from across Nigeria: Try the whole tilapia (34,000 naira, or about $24) and grilled plantain (7,500 naira), perfectly charred on the outdoor grill. Jollof (rice cooked in a flavorsome tomato stew) is an obsessed-over regional favorite, with much discussion over which West African country is home to the best version. NOK’s jollof (10,000 naira), topped with spicy dried and shredded beef, is excellent and will quickly make the airport a faint memory.
Western view of China in Africa:
China is encircling Africa with strategic ports that can service its warships as part of its strategy to expand its navy and military presence.
Satellite images shared exclusively with The Telegraph show how Beijing has transformed ports across the continent over the past decade – from Lekki in Nigeria to Mombasa in Kenya.
The civilian ports, which are often run by Chinese state-owned firms, are designed not just for trade but also to accommodate warships.
Defence experts warn the expansion has created a network of potential naval bases capable of landing warships near key maritime routes, such as the Suez Canal.
The ports also give Beijing access to critical materials like copper and cobalt – vital for modern technology, ranging from fighter jets to smartphones.
[…]
The deep-sea Lekki port in Lagos, Nigeria, has become one of West Africa’s largest ports thanks to £660m of Chinese investment.
Its huge docks and cranes can take the container-laden behemoths of global maritime trade, and handled more than $9bn (£7bn) of cargo in the first nine months of 2025. Images show how the site was transformed from a beach and fields into a regional mega-port in just five years.
Lekki, which began operations in 2023, is just one example. Over the past decade, China has been building, upgrading, and running ports across the continent.
This video about a Nigerian scammer posing as the Crown Prince of Dubai who managed to scam a woman out of $2.5m is darkly funny in a way because they were able to trace him from an Instragram post. The urge to ‘flex’ for these scammers simply cannot be resisted:
An unspeakably sad story:
In a last message to her friends, Ifunanya Nwangene wrote: “Please come.”
The 26-year-old singer and former contestant on The Voice Nigeria had been bitten by a snake while asleep in her flat in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, and was in hospital, anxiously awaiting treatment.
Despite rushing to seek care, Nwangene died a few hours after being bitten, as her friend waited at a pharmacy to buy the antivenom she needed.
As the news of her death on 31 January has spread, it has sparked a fierce row over the ready availability of drugs needed to treat deadly snakebites in Nigeria’s hospitals.
Nwangene, also known by her stage name Nanyah, had appeared on The Voice Nigeria in 2021 and was preparing for her first solo concert later this year according to friends. In a tribute, her choir said she was a rising star “on the cusp of sharing her incredible talent with the world”.
One of the more bizarre revelations from the Epstein files:
In another email the same month, which was forwarded to Epstein, Andrew discussed with banker David Stern about someone being ‘the ghost for me’ when making an investment.
He talked about the possibility of an investment in a company called The Green Park Group. Andrew asked about an unidentified person he called ‘the guru’, writing: ‘I know you will have spoken to the guru…it might be that he and you are the Ghost for me in the upside of this entity.’
Mr Stern, a Hong Kong investor with ties to Epstein who became a director of Andrew’s Pitch@Palace initiative, wrote to Epstein in September 2010 describing Prince Andrew’s latest financial wheeze.
His email read: ‘PA has asked me to see a guy who has access to Nigeria oil and when selling it to China (or somebody else) F [Sarah Ferguson] can make around $6m.’
Even Mr Stern said: ‘This seems very fishy.’
A very sad story:
A criminal prosecution could be launched over the death of a boy, 17, who died on a school trip after getting into difficult in the sea, an inquest has heard.
Samuel Oluwagbenga was on a school trip from Uxbridge College to the seaside village of West Wittering, West Sussex, in July 2024.
At around lunchtime, Samuel was spotted struggling to swim and lifeguards raced to save him.
He was pulled from the water and airlifted to St Richard’s Hospital in Chichester where he sadly died soon afterwards.
Today, Samuel’s family were told at an inquest hearing that an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) could result in a criminal prosecution.
They were told the timing of the full inquest into his death would depend on the outcome of the investigation.
The court heard if the HSE decides to take enforcement action then there maybe a delay.
Penelope Schofield, coroner for West Sussex, said: ‘Much will depend on whether there’s a prosecution and what the prosecution is for.’
Samuel, who was born in Nigeria, had only been in the UK for a year but had adapted quickly.
In an interview after the tragedy his mother, Taiwo, said her son was adapting to life in the UK and was making friends at school.
He was attending church every weekend and had become a five-a-side football coach in his spare time.
News from India:
The Gurugram police arrested two Nigerians for allegedly extorting money from the employees of a company by posing as fake directors of the company. Two mobile phones and three SIM cards were recovered from their possession.
On January 31, during technical analysis by the team of Cyber Crime East Police Station, information was received about a suspicious mobile number. The police traced the mobile number and arrested two accused from Nathupur village area on January 31.
The arrested accused were identified as Nigerian nationals Ojo Uyiosa and James. They were produced in a city court on Monday and the police have taken them for three days remand for questioning.
“During interrogation, the main accused Ojo Uyiosa revealed that he came to India on a student visa in 2014. The accused James came to India on a tourist visa in 2023. Together, they posed as directors of a fake company, gained the trust of employees, and defrauded them by transferring money. Police found the accused had defrauded them of approximately Rs 10 lakh and transferred it to a Bandhan Bank account. Two cyber fraud complaints had already been filed against that account. A further probe is underway”, said a spokesperson of the Gurugram police.
A very nice review of a movie that is a getting a lot of rave reviews - My Father’s Shadow:
One of the most powerful and original aspects of “My Father’s Shadow” is the richness of its context: the civic and social setting isn’t just a backdrop but an integral part of the drama, not explanatory but constitutive. At one point, the bus runs out of gas. Most of the passengers are content to wait for the driver to figure things out, but Folarin persuades a passing truck driver to take him and his sons the rest of the way. The boys don’t know Lagos at all, and Folarin, who grew up there, introduces them to the city proudly. The brothers gaze upon commonplace sights of crowds, peddlers, and buskers with fascination and wonder. But they also catch their father’s wariness when trucks filled with soldiers pass by. “Stupid people,” he says. It’s the first time that the regime’s enforcers make their presence felt but not the last, and even when they’re not in sight the menace that they represent weighs heavily on the story. It hangs over the boys’ experience of Lagos, both in their silent observation of distant events and in closeup encounters with their father’s friends and associates.
Most of the movie takes place in the span of a single day, and two clocks, political and personal, seem to be ticking out of synch, urgently and discordantly. Folarin’s political engagement emerges by chance when he runs into a long-unseen friend (Olarotimi Fakunle), whose nickname, Corridor, reflects his size and his ability to open paths through crowds. Corridor, who addresses Folarin as Kapo and “my leader,” is pessimistic about the chances for democracy. He thinks the regime is digging in and says that it has killed four of their fellow opposition supporters. The boys soon see another headline—“Military Deny Deaths at Bonny Camp”—and, when a fight breaks out in the street, Folarin hustles them away.