Below The Headlines - 139
Malaysian mastermind pulling strings in Nigeria? And if your wing's Nigerian, then its Knicks in 5
Hello to all new subscribers getting this newsletter for the first time. It is a newsletter taking an unvarnished look at Nigerians in Nigeria and across the world that you may have missed (hence the title). Goes out every Saturday morning at 10am, UK time.
This week I wrote about the life and journey of a ship that sparked a love of reading across the world, including Nigeria.
Podcast should return next week. Enjoy the week’s selection below
Nigerian Media
There might be a reckoning happening with the longstanding culture of ‘househelps’ across Nigeria:
A growing number of Nigerian families are raising the alarm over troubling experiences with domestic workers, with reports ranging from theft and negligence to allegations of abuse and violent incidents. While house-helps remain an essential part of many homes, a review of recent cases and personal accounts reveals a pattern of distrust and fear.
“Over a period of two months, I noticed that lots of my kitchen utensils had broken and appliances around the house had gone bad. When I asked, Sarah told me that it was my children and I ended up scolding them. I caught her breaking a plate, and when I asked, she blamed it on my kids, not knowing that I witnessed the incident.
“Sarah did not only make me scold my children, she stole from me. While searching her bags on the day I asked her to leave, I saw a pair of my nightwear, one of my wigs and a small clutch bag. These were items I had been looking for all around the house and she claimed she had no idea of their whereabouts,” Mrs Seyitan Adeyemi said while sharing a harrowing experience with her housemaid.
Mrs Adeyemi further said that when she was asked why she had been lying on the children while stealing from her boss, Sarah said, “I didn’t think my madam would notice the things I took because she has many of the wigs and bags.”
[…]
Data collated by Weekend Trust showed that between 2022 and 2024, many high-profile cases involving house-helps, drivers and other domestic workers made headlines, creating a public concern about safety within Nigerian homes.
In December 2022, a Lagos-based hotelier, Mr Gbenga Adeshina, accused his Togolese house-help of stealing jewellery and other valuables from his residence in Magodo. Just two months later, another employer in Ajah reported that a domestic worker allegedly disappeared with valuable household items.
In 2024, a house-help identified as Blessing Effiong was arrested for allegedly stealing $51,000 from her employer just three days after being employed in Lekki, Lagos State. Blessing commenced her duties as a domestic staff on December 23, 2023. However, within three days of her employment, she reportedly absconded with the substantial sum belonging to her employer and fled to Cross River State along with her husband.
New renting technology just dropped:
Many landlords in Nigeria, particularly in Lagos state, are making life a living hell for tennants. These days they have abandoned the usual practice of renting out a whole apartment like flats to a single individual. The new method they devised is that of renting out a 3-bedroom apartment, for instance, to three different individuals who will share the rooms and live together as direct tenants to the landlord. This is now making it difficult for some people who do not have jobs or capability of renting their own apartments to squat with friends and families. It is also denying families the opportunity of renting apartments to stay together because landlords are said to make more money renting to different tenants than to a family bloc.
Economy & Lifestyle discovered that this dramatic shift is upending Nigeria’s housing market.
Driven by skyrocketing inflation, soaring building material costs, and a punishing cost-of-living crisis, this dual-occupancy rental model is transforming how young professionals and students survive in cities and off campus apartments.
The practice, locally referred to as “per-person leasing” or structured “co-tenancy,” means two people sharing a standard two-bedroom flat or a room no longer pool funds to pay one unified lease.
Instead, each occupant must sign an independent agreement with the landlord to pay a fixed, individual rate for their specific room and occupancy.
A small clue in the insecurity puzzle plaguing Nigeria:
A staff of Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and two other suspects have been intercepted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for alleged money laundering.
The suspects, identified as Ali Baffa, an Inspector in Aviation Security section, Aushabu Nasidi and Mukhtar Muhammad Dan Zaria, were said to have been apprehended during a surveillance operation by the EFCC at Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano
According to source in the EFCC, the suspects were allegedly involved in the smuggling of gold and foreign currencies into the country through the Kano Airport.
The the anti-graft agency, the revealed the arrests were made on 11 June 2026, following a directive by the commission’s chairman to all zonal directorates to intensify efforts against the smuggling of mineral resources and bulk cash through Nigeria’s international airports.
Preliminary investigations revealed that Baffa allegedly concealed 22.2 kilograms of unprocessed gold bars valued at more than N4.4 billion inside his trousers in an attempt to evade security screening and facilitate the illegal export of the precious minerals through international passengers.
The most low stakes crime ever? Posing as an Airforce officer just to rob a PoS agent really tells you something about Nigeria:
According to the complaint, the incident occurred on June 1 after the suspect allegedly visited Ogunpa Market where he bought some items, including a cooking gas regulator and air freshener, from a trader within the market.
“The suspect allegedly introduced himself as a sergeant in the Nigerian Air Force and convinced the complainant to hand over N150,000 in cash on the pretext that he would transfer the money electronically alongside payment for the items he had purchased.
“After collecting the cash and the items, he allegedly disappeared without making the promised transfer,” the source said.
Police sources said the suspect was later tracked and arrested on June 9 at about 1:40 p.m. while still wearing military camouflage.
Investigations further revealed that the suspect had allegedly been arrested previously by the same police division over a similar offence before he was handed over to the Nigerian Air Force Base in Akobo, Ibadan, for prosecution and disciplinary action.
This is a really bizarre story (assuming the suspects are not lying):
Members of an online networking group allegedly specialising in luring unsuspecting victims, particularly from Francophone countries, have claimed they work for a Malaysian national whom they have never met physically and communicate with only through the internet. Hundreds of victims within and outside Nigeria are believed to have fallen victim to the group’s activities.
Their modus operandi, according to investigators, involves luring victims with false business prospects. They promise non-existent wealth through participation in a marketing network scheme.
For this particular group, whose members were arrested by operatives of the Ogun State Police Command under the leadership of Commissioner of Police Olubode Ojajuni in Ifo Local Government Area of the state, the scheme was known as “Ignite”. The suspects allegedly went as far as creating false kidnapping claims to extort money from relatives of their victims.
A source at the Ogun State Police Command, who spoke to Saturday Tribune on condition of anonymity, said the gang members lured a Mauritanian national, Cheikh Mhedy, through one of their female members, Sole Nata. The victim was allegedly kept in a building in the Agbado area of Ifo while the suspects demanded 6.5 million CFA francs from his father after claiming he had been kidnapped.
Thirty-four-year-old alleged gang leader, Zadariah Sawadogo, a Burkina Faso national who relocated to Ivory Coast, claimed that the group worked for a Malaysian national operating from overseas and that none of them had ever met him physically.
Non-Nigerian Media
Anola Johnson lost $850,000 to a Nigerian romance scammer who she met on Linkedin (of all places). She has now started a romance scam podcast:
In early 2023, Anola Johnson had just returned from a trip to Paris and life was good.
She had a job she loved, two adult sons with whom she was close, and a group of friends.
She was also in a healthy financial position—she not only had around $300,000 in retirement accounts, but her home north of Salt Lake City was only two years away from being paid off in full.
Then in March, she received a “hello” message out of the blue from a man on LinkedIn. “Pedro” was a handsome, well-dressed, bespectacled gentleman in his mid-to-late 50s, and his profile said he was a freelance oil rig engineer.
“He had a great smile,” Johnson tells Realtor.com®. “Like somebody you could totally trust. It was all very benign at first. I thought LinkedIn was safe.”
From that benign start on a professional platform, Johnson would become ensnared in a highly sophisticated international romance and investment scam of the type that steals at least $2.1 billion a year from unsuspecting victims, an eightfold increase since 2020, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
A report on how Nigerians on student visas are violating the terms of their visas by applying for full time jobs:
Elspeth McPherson, Journey’s chief executive, claims its recruitment procedures uncovered numerous applicants who submitted allegedly fraudulent CVs, including qualifications from Nigerian universities that could not be verified. It also raised concerns about the ability to carry out robust background checks on some applicants.
One applicant, from Nigeria, applied for a permanent full-time post despite studying a BSc at Teesside University and having a background in construction. His CV suggested he had worked in “operational management” for a London social care provider despite having no prior experience.
Another, a postgraduate Nigerian student at Gloucester University studying an MA in international relations, also applied for a permanent full-time post in breach of his student visa. Despite living in Tyne and Wear, within two months of starting his course, his CV suggests he was working in social care in Hemel Hempstead, Herts. He provided a reference from a non-existent organisation in Nigeria.
My mayor is muslim, my bagel is Jewish, my Christian’s Dior, my wing’s Nigerian. Knicks in 5:
Anunoby was born in London to Nigerian parents of Igbo descent. He purchased a minority share of the London Lions of Super League Basketball, the men’s pro league in Great Britain, and has spoken about his desire to inspire young players there.
However, in the Raptors’ locker room at Scotiabank Arena, where the flag of a player’s home country is beside the name at his stall, Anunoby’s featured the green-and-white Nigerian flag. His mother, Grace Ndidi Okereke, was a track and field athlete for the Nigerian team before dying of cancer when OG was just one. His father, with whom he shared a name, Ogugua, was a finance professor who moved the family to Jefferson City, Mo., when OG was just four to take a job at Lincoln University, a historically Black school in the city. Ogugua Anunoby Sr. died in September 2018, just before OG’s second season began. He missed two stints with the Raptors because of the loss — one for memorial services in Jefferson City, and another for the burial in Nigeria.
Ogugua roughly translates to “the one who brings peace” in some translations. Chigbo Anunoby, OG’s older brother by eight years, spent time with five different NFL franchises over four years as a defensive lineman, but was out of the league by the time the Raptors drafted OG with the 23rd pick in the 2017 NBA Draft. Chigbo was with OG when the latter met the Toronto media for the first time after the draft, and helped his younger brother with the transition to the league. However, OG showed he was ready for the league quickly, starting 62 of his 74 games for the Raptors, who went 59-23 and finished first in the Eastern Conference.
Bizarre story:
A Nigerian man who won €500,000 in an Italian lottery – but was barred from collecting his windfall because he was undocumented – said the hardship of his more than decade-long immigration journey had been eased after he was finally granted a residency permit.
“I’ve been praying for this moment ever since I arrived in Italy,” said Imagbe Ehizomwengie, 36. “It’s a huge relief. You might think it’s incredible, but receiving the permit means more to me than winning the money. I want to work and contribute to society.”
Ehizomwengie bought the €5 Gratta e Vinci – Italy’s official instant scratchcard lottery – last October with money scraped together from selling handkerchiefs and begging outside a supermarket in Turin.
He cried tears of joy and relief when he discovered he had hit the jackpot, only for the win to be overshadowed by his bureaucratic quagmire.
Speaking to the Guardian, Ehizomwengie said he had arrived in Italy in 2016 after a treacherous journey across the Mediterranean from Libya, where he had been held captive for two years and was only released after a ransom was paid.
How Stears gathers data in a place where there is no data:
Few foreigners are willing to do the legwork, which helps explain why Africa gets around 5% of the world’s foreign direct investment and accounts for less than 1% of the market capitalisation of its listed companies. Stears, a nine-year-old Nigerian company, offers to go the extra mile. At the Nigerian bourse, one of its executives even cosied up to the stock exchange’s librarian, begging him (in the name of God) to release a USB drive where he was rumoured to store company details as a pastime.
The company’s co-founders dreamed up the idea in the mid-2010s while studying in London.“We saw Bloomberg and thought it was sexy,” recalls Preston Ideh, the chief executive. They initially copied the American company’s mix of news and data. Yet when subscriber growth turned out to be insufficient to support the media operation, they focused squarely on financial information.
Not all of it is as inaccessible as Nigerian stock-market secrets. But little is readily available. Stears analysts have, among other things, had a loose-lipped employee slip them a ballpark figure of an undisclosed deal; monitored podcasts with startup founders who might share a bit too much; reverse-engineered the website of Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics to scrape it for historical macroeconomic data; and even become citizens in countries where, as in Kenya, a domestic passport eases access to official repositories (and where hiring a local would cost more).
The firm can afford to go to such lengths because a lot of the data it gathers is for bespoke projects where customers such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development or private-equity firms interested in Africa’s sports-betting market pay up to $100,000 a pop. But further information, plus contacts collected in the process, feeds its digital platform, where the volume of data added increased fivefold last year. This is available to clients on a subscription basis similar to Bloomberg and other Western rivals such as S&P Global’s Capital IQ and PitchBook (from which Stears has poached staff).
Jollof now available in San Jose:
When Folake Adewole first moved to San José in 2017 to take a job as a travel nurse, there wasn’t a single Nigerian restaurant in the area. For the past 10 years, whenever she was craving beef suya or jollof rice, she had to drive up to Hayward — or, more likely, just cook it herself.
In March, Adewole finally decided to take things into her own hands: She opened FolaFela, a small Nigerian restaurant tucked into a strip mall in East San José. It’s the South Bay’s first proper brick-and-mortar Nigerian restaurant.
The shop has only a handful of tables, along with a mini African grocery store in the back. But the menu is surprisingly expansive, featuring dishes like gizz dodo (fried gizzards and plantains) and asun coconut rice. The main draw is the assortment of fourteen Nigerian soups, served with starchy dough balls known as swallows or okele. Already, the thick, complex soups have been a hit, drawing flocks of diners from as far away as Santa Cruz.
Adewole didn’t have any restaurant experience before opening FolaFela, but she has been selling Nigerian dishes since her youth. Growing up in the city of Ile-Ifẹ, in Nigeria’s Osun state, Adewole would help her mother prepare and sell ofada rice — a rice dish topped with a crayfish and pepper stew that now serves at the restaurant, using the same recipe. Soon after she settled in San José, she decided to fill the culinary void by making Nigerian plates to share with coworkers and friends from church. By 2021, she was catering for events with as many as 300 guests. So, after much encouragement from her customers, she decided to open the restaurant while still juggling her day job as a registered nurse at the Stanford hospital.
How Nigerians are adapting for EVs in a country with no ‘E’:
”When it comes to the electricity supply in Nigeria, it’s, I would say, location-based, because some sides (of town) have more light than others,” said EV owner Khalifa Abubakar Alhassan, speaking diplomatically.
Some 90 million Nigerians -- a third of the nation -- don’t have access to electricity at all, according to the World Bank. In May, a former energy minister was jailed for 75 years for money laundering linked to two failed hydropower projects.
But the government is pushing forward, aiming to make the country a hub for EV manufacturing while signing zero emissions pledges to slowly phase out new sales of autos with internal combustion engines.
For 22-year-old Alhassan, his neighbourhood in Abuja typically has “light”, the Nigerian English term for grid power, consistently overnight -- perfect for charging his sleek, black sedan from China’s Neta Auto.
“I enjoy not buying fuel,” he added -- not a small expense in a country where pump prices have jumped some 650 percent since 2023, following the removal of a fuel subsidy, rampant inflation and shocks from the Iran war.
According to the International Energy Association, more than one-in-five new cars sold worldwide in 2024 were electric, though almost all of that occurred in China, Europe and the United States.
But Mosope Olaosebikan, CEO of NEV Electric, a manufacturer specialising in buses and three-wheeled tuk-tuk or “kekes”, is bullish on the sector’s growth: the charging station he is building will be capable of charging 3,000 vehicles a day -- the largest on the continent, he reckons.
Challenges remain. Nigeria’s GDP is the fourth largest in Africa, but after years of mismanagement and corruption, its grid is often shakier than that of neighbouring, poorer countries.
When Olaosebikan was starting his company four years ago, a nagging question was, “Oh, there’s no ‘E’. So where would they charge?” he told AFP.
Let’s check in on what is going on in Grenada:
The NDC-led government in Grenada has decided to grant visa-free entry to Nigerians.
This has sparked some debate, especially on social media, with a small, but vocal minority yelling loudly and making noise condemning the government’s action. This is particularly disturbing given the serious and unfounded stigmatisation of Nigerians as a whole, and by extension Africa specifically. I want to believe that this is based simply on ignorance and race-bias that is the end-result of years of colonial conditioning that relentlessly portrayed Africa as primitive, backward, unintelligent, and in the case of Nigerians, a nation of schemers, con-artists and terrorists that kill Christians.
Yes, Nigeria like any emerging economy does have its own problems and challenges related to internal social-economic and political situations. But to lump all Nigerians in one basket of “bad people” is not just stupid but demonstrates a marked level of ignorance that is embarrassing for Grenada and Grenadians. For starters, the government’s decision is best understood as an economic and diplomatic strategy, not a random foolish, erratic gesture. Based on the reporting available, the policy is being framed to boost trade, tourism, education, investment, and wider Nigeria–Grenada relations, with implementation said to begin in July.
Barbing and mentoring in Kano:
In a narrow room that smells of talcum powder and aftershave, four boys are crowded around a chair. With electric clippers buzzing in one hand, Abdulmajid Bala tends to a customer, who sits with his eyes closed in complete trust.
Suddenly, the clippers stop. Nothing is wrong; the barber just wants the boys to take in the lesson.
“You see what I did there?” Mr. Bala says in Hausa, the local language, as he tilts the clippers toward the curve behind the customer’s ear. The boys inch closer. Mr. Bala adjusts his grip and continues.
“Soft hand,” he says quietly. “Always soft hands near the skin.”
Mr. Bala has plied his trade in Kano’s Brigade neighborhood for more than two decades, and many say he is one reason that some boys here have not been swallowed into a life of crime. When a boy first wanders in from the streets lacking direction, Mr. Bala sits him in a chair, gives him a haircut, and talks. Then, when the boy keeps coming back, Mr. Bala puts clippers in his hand and teaches him a skill with which he can build a life.
“When a boy has a skill,” Mr. Bala says, “that life of crime is no longer attractive.”
Kano is Nigeria’s second-most populous city and the commercial capital of the country’s north. It is also a place where many young men grapple with unemployment and substance abuse.
The city has one of Nigeria’s highest concentrations of almajiri, boys who have been sent away from home for Quranic education but often end up on the street with no supervision. These boys, and others like them, provide a steady supply for gangs that have long terrorized neighborhoods across Kano.
Update on the cocaine ship of 6 months ago:
A Nigerian court has convicted 11 Indian sailors and their vessel over the trafficking of cocaine into the country, imposing fines totaling $6 million, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said on Thursday.
The Federal High Court in Lagos found the crew of the merchant ship MV Aruna Hulya guilty after authorities discovered 31.5 kilograms of cocaine concealed aboard the vessel at Apapa port earlier this year.
The case forms part of a broader crackdown by Nigerian authorities on drug trafficking through key commercial entry points such as Lagos..
Nigeria has been working to strengthen enforcement against drug trafficking networks, which often use the country as a transit route for illicit substances destined for Europe and other markets.
The crew, including captain Sharma Shashi Bhushan and 10 other Indian nationals, were arrested on January 2 after NDLEA operatives found the drugs hidden in one of the ship’s storage compartments, the agency said.
In its ruling, the court convicted all 12 defendants – including the vessel itself – under Nigeria’s anti-drug laws. The ship, which transported the drugs, is also tried under the local law. A spokesman of the drug enforcement agency said the defendants had agreed the terms of the conviction and it was presented to the judge for the seal of the court.
A German Nigerian wedding in Australia. Lots of great photos at the link:
Hamilton and War Machine actor, Victory Ndukwe, and human resources advisor, Nina-Louise Dean-Ndukwe, née Dean, had their first date in a boardgames bar in Melbourne, back in 2020 after they connected over Hinge—but they didn’t end up playing many games. “The conversation just flowed from the get-go,” Nina-Louise tells Vogue of their instantaneous connection, the pair so happy chatting that the cards and parlour games on the table went largely untouched. “Within just a few dates,” she confirms, “we were inseparable.”
Four years later, Victory proposed in Spain at the hotel Terra Dominicata, during a trip to Europe to visit Nina-Louise’s family in Germany. The morning of the proposal, which Victory had planned with a picnic in the vineyards, it was raining. Fortunately, the clouds parted, and the rain stopped just before they headed off. “We had the most beautiful view across the vineyards and mountains,” Nina-Louise recalls. “We had lunch together and then Vic put on our song by Leif Vollebek, and went down on one knee,” a custom sapphire ring in his hand. (“My mum also has a sapphire engagement ring,” Nina-Louise adds, “so it felt like a really meaningful choice.”) “It was my dream proposal: intimate, just the two of us, surrounded by nature,” the bride muses.
With their loved ones set to travel all over the world for the wedding, the couple planned a multi-day celebration—with the help of wedding planners Paloma Events—that honoured both their German and Nigerian heritages, in a place where everyone could stay together for the weekend. “Mona Farm has so many beautiful corners across the property, which meant every event could take place in a different location and feel like a completely new setting,” the bride explains of the beloved Braidwood estate that blends farm, garden and contemporary open-air art gallery.
Who was Joseph Ana?
My friend Joseph Ana, who has died aged 73, spent the best part of two decades in the UK working for the NHS as a urologist and then as a GP. But his heart was always in his native Nigeria, to where he returned to become a health commissioner. He used the knowledge and experience he had gained in the UK to help rebuild faith in the local healthcare system, overseeing, among other things, improvements in vaccination rates and the introduction of a state-wide ambulance service.
Joseph was born in Zaria in Nigeria, to Onun Onebieni Uguana Ana, who worked on the railways, and Ubu Ana, his first wife. The family compound was in Ikot-Ana in Cross River state, and his family were kingmakers, choosing a king from among the two royal families.
Joseph fought in the Biafran war as a teenager, and his schooling was interrupted as a result. After the war he restarted his education at Duke Town school in Calabar. Following the death of his two older brothers, he became the head of an extensive family.
He graduated from the University of Nigeria Medical School in 1978 and worked as a junior doctor at St Margaret’s hospital in Calabar. He then had a surgical residency at the University of Calabar teaching hospital from 1980 to 1982 before deciding to travel to the UK to extend his knowledge.
His wife, Arit Akak, a public health nutritionist, whom he had married in 1977, and their three children joined him in 1984, and he worked for his first 10 years as a doctor and urologist in various hospitals in the south-east of England. He became a GP in 1992, joining a practice in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, where he was mindful that his work in primary care would be useful on any return to Africa.