Below The Headlines - 49
Below The Headlines - 49
Karma is for the poor and Mohammed Garba is back from Dubai with good news
Welcome to another week. The summer months are upon us and depending on which part of the world you are in, that’s a good thing or makes no difference.
Tobi published a piece on 1914 Reader this week on how economic development works as a ladder and where that ladder might be broken for African countries.
Enjoy!
Inside Nigeria
Losing your paddy is not a very nice thing:
Some farmers whose paddy rice was stolen in Taraba State have engaged the services of clerics in a bid to recover what was stolen from their farms and put a permanent stop of theft in irrigation farming fields in the state.
Adamu Falalu told Daily Trust on Sunday that the clerics they engaged had embarked on prayers, with a view to exposing the thieves and recover bags of paddy rice stolen in their farms
Provision of potable water is probably the easiest test of how good a government is, institutionally. Since once a government has learnt how to do it, it can never forget:
Rafinduma is a village located in Kadadi, in the Gada Local Government Area of the state. A community of over 17,000 residents, it relies heavily on its neighbouring country, Niger Republic, for access to water.
This dependence not only highlights the acute water shortage but also underscores the absence of other essential social amenities. The villagers also lament the lack of electricity and other basic infrastructure, expressing their frustration at the dearth of development in their community.
Despite their reputation in agriculture, the villagers’ farming activities have been severely hampered by the unrelenting water scarcity.
Each year, they are forced to contend with this challenge, hindering their ability to fully engage in their livelihoods.
Secondary schools? Secondary schools??:
According to an eyewitness account, the students engaged in a rivalry clash that resulted in bloodshed after school hours.
The eyewitness, who preferred to remain anonymous, said the two injured students are from Ibadan Grammar School and St. Luke’s High School.
Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune, one of the victims, Samson Ayoola, a Junior Secondary School 1 student of St. Luke’s School, explained that he was attacked with a machete on his way home.
According to him, he was at the gate of Ibadan Grammar School waiting for his friend, a student of Ibadan Grammar School, before the attack.
“On that day, school had just closed. I had already left my school (St. Luke’s), and my friend from Olubi Memorial School had joined me. We were heading to Ibadan Grammar School to call our third friend, a student of Ibadan Grammar School.
We walk home together because we all live in the same area. Unbeknownst to us, some students had just finished fighting before our arrival at the scene, right in front of Ibadan Grammar School.
Newspapers now publishing Japa Best Practice:
As an individual embarking or intending to embark on the journey of embracing cultural diversity and overcoming culture shock, it is essential to arm yourself with strategies that foster understanding, connection and growth by approaching the experience with an open mind and curiosity.
Here are some key ways to embrace cultural diversity and overcome culture shock:
1. Understand that adjustments take time and as such avoid mounting pressure on yourself.
2. Approach differences with curiosity and open-mindedness.
3. Engage in cultural exchange activities and seek opportunities for cross-cultural learning as it enhances one’s knowledge of the norms, values that exist in cultures.
4. Build empathy by understanding and respecting the perspectives and experiences of others.
5. Maintain connections to your cultural heritage while also embracing the traditions and customs of your new environment.
6. Seek support from fellow migrants and community resources to navigate challenges and overcome culture shock.
7. Be patient, resilient, and willing to adapt to the nuances of a different culture.
8. Celebrate the richness and diversity of human experience, recognising that embracing cultural differences enriches our lives and communities.
Photos of General Abacha’s daughter living her best life recently surfaced on the internet. This led to an outpouring of philosophising by Nigerians. Some gems:
Reacting to the post, a popular social media influencer, @AsiwajuLerry tweeted, Abacha pikin just dey fresh dey go. Karma na for poor people true true.”
Another user, @UncleYakub wrote, “There’s no such thing as Karma jare.”
“I don’t think there’s anything like Karmá anywhere.” @EmekaIgwe96 opined.
@mr_prime0 wrote, “When you have money like money karma will leave you and locate the poor ones asap.”
“Karma is what the poor uses to console themselves. It doesn’t exist.” @Touchedbylda tweeted.
I didn’t know people get scammed out of their Hajj money. How does that even happen?:
Justice Oyindamola Ogala of a Lagos High Court, Ikeja, has sentenced Alhaji Sharafadeen Irorun to 10 years imprisonment for scamming Muslim pilgrims of N7,500,000.
The trial judge had, on April 29, found Irorun guilty on four out of a 12-count charge bordering on obtaining by false pretence and stealing brought against him by the Lagos State Government.
Ogala held that the prosecution sufficiently established that the defendant and others, who are at large, are a criminal group and convicted Irorun on counts 1, 2, 5 and 6.She said: “The defendant and others who are at large are a criminal group who unwittingly dispossess innocent persons of their money under the pretext of helping them to undergo the Hajj pilgrimage.”
Have the lights on one of the runways at the international airport been stolen?:
Aircraft from international flights have been unable to land on the 18R/36L runway at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, for several months because the lighting system was stolen.
There were reports in February that the 18R/36L runway, the designated international runway, reopened after 11 months of maintenance and unclear circumstances.
FIJ can, however, report that the lighting system on the 18R/36L runway has been missing and flights have been unable to land there, especially at night.
Outside Nigeria
Tough times for Nigerian students in the UK:
Nigerian students have been thrown off university courses and ordered to leave the UK after a currency crisis left them struggling to pay tuition fees on time.
Teesside University students were blocked from their studies and reported to the Home Office after the value of Nigeria's naira plummeted, wiping out their savings.
Some told the BBC they felt suicidal as they accused the university of taking a "heartless" approach to those who fell into arrears as a consequence.
A university spokesman said failure to pay was a breach of visa sponsorship requirements, and that it had "no choice" but to alert the Home Office. The Home Office said visa sponsorship decisions rested with the institution.
Ademola Lookman has been the talk of the town this week after his heroic exploits in the UEFA cup final. Why did he choose to represent Nigeria over England:
As mentioned, some players who don't fancy their chances of making it into the England squa instead turn their attention elsewhere to ensure they can still play international football. That seem to be what Lookman did when he decided to switch allegiances to Nigeria in 2022 and play for the Super Eagles. Speaking about his decision to The Times, he revealed it was entirely his choice and one of the biggest reasons for the move was his desire to play international football.
"It was nothing to do with my parents because they wouldnt really tell me to go here or there. I wanted to build a career internationally. The decision was something that I thought about for a long time before making it. To play for Nigeria is an honour first of all and the best decision I ever made. I’m happy I made it."
Turkish Airlines are in a dispute with Nigerian unions:
A labor dispute between Turkish Airlines and the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) has caused significant disruption at Nigerian airports this week. The situation, which began with allegations of unfair dismissal by the airline, has stranded hundreds of passengers and highlighted ongoing tensions between foreign companies and Nigerian labor unions.
On Tuesday, NUATE, along with its parent union, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), accused Turkish Airlines of dismissing seven employees for their involvement in union activities. The unions further claimed the airline planned additional terminations based on union affiliation. In response, NUATE and NLC took the drastic step of shutting down Turkish Airlines operations in Lagos and Abuja. This effectively halted all Turkish Airlines flights to and from Nigeria, leaving over 300 passengers booked for Istanbul on May 21 with no option to depart.
The sudden shutdown caused chaos at the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos, with stranded passengers facing uncertainty and frustration. The situation attracted the attention of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the regulatory body responsible for overseeing air travel in Nigeria.
Scenes from a Nigerian-themed wedding in New York, with some lovely photos too:
The bride wore a bespoke dress handmade in Osogbo, Nigeria, with an accompanying gele (head wrap), a glimmering veil, coral beads and a feathered fan. A particularly special touch was the fish-flower jewellery given to her by grandmother, with the design becoming the symbol of the couple’s union, and even appearing on their wedding bands. “My grandmother was one of my earliest fashion inspirations,” shares Olamide. “She was a gifted seamstress and later established a fashion training institute in Osogbo. Meanwhile for Freddie, his maternal grandmother was known for her fishing skills, while his paternal grandmother’s garden was always filled with elephant ear plants.” In a particularly trusting moment, Olamide met her Nigerian make-up artist, Tiwa Iswat, on the day, who created a natural, flawless look, accompanied by minimalist, chic hair by Dune Elle.
Meanwhile Freddie wore a traditional agbada, including a shirt, trousers and a fila (hat). “He looked so handsome,” Olamide remembers. The couple organised champagne-hued ensembles for both sides of the family, with burgundy geles and filas, and the rest of the guests were encouraged to dress in black tie or traditional attire. The ceremony itself saw various traditional rituals, from the groom prostrating himself for the bride’s family, to the bride placing the fila on his head, all with the accompaniment of drums. As a visual artist, Freddie had a strong point of view on the decor and even built the central platform out of wood, jute rope and southern smilax. “It housed all the symbolic items gifted to us during the ceremony,” shares Olamide. “Yams, honey, oil, fruit, grains.” The groom also designed the palm frond encrusted portrait studio where guests were beautifully captured by analogue photographer Karon “K” Sanders. Guests dined on a complete Nigerian menu by Mariam’s Kitchen, including jollof rice, fried rice, stewed beef, fried fish, pounded yam, efo riro and sweet plantain, with a series of understated wedding cakes from Lady M.
Katsina teenager received cutting edge treatment for burns in Dubai:
A Nigerian teenager has returned home after receiving ground-breaking treatment in Dubai for more than two months for burn injuries.
Mohammed Garba, 18, from Katsina in the north of the country, was unable to walk properly or use his hands after suffering severe burns in a gas explosion at his home last February.
[…]
After initial treatment in Nigeria and Cairo failed to heal his injuries, Mr Garba and his family decided to fly to Dubai in March after connecting with Dr Sanjay Parashar, a plastic surgeon specialising in skin grafts in Dubai, on Instagram.
Following an initial assessment at the Cocoona Clinic in Al Wasl in March, Dr Parashar offered treatment at a reduced rate to help the family.
He was then transferred to the Dubai London Hospital where he underwent the first of four skin grafts using stem cells.
Mr Garba was accompanied by his older brother, Umar, a civil servant in Nigeria, who said the intervention by Dr Parashar was life-changing.
Coming soon to a TV screen near you:
Cartoon Network and Max have announced all-Nigerian cast for Iyanu, the upcoming perhero animated-series steeped in Nigerian culture and mythology.
The series, an adaptation of Dark Horse Comics/YouNeek Studios’ popular graphic novel series Iyanu: Child of Wonder by Nigerian creator and producer Roye Okupe, will see Serah Johnson voice the titular heroine, a teenager who must uncover the mystery behind her newfound powers to save her people from an ancient curse threatening to destroy humanity.
A feature on Tems who is now coming into her own as an artiste:
When the ground began to shake, rocking her bed to-and-fro like a raft in a current, Temilade Openiyi briefly wondered if she was dreaming. It was a bright April morning and she was still jet lagged from a flight — 12 hours from Lagos, Nigeria, to New York. It seemed unlikely that her hotel could actually be vibrating. And yet there she was, eyes wide open, bobbing along with everything else in the room.
Openiyi, better known as Tems, had stopped on the East Coast on her way to Los Angeles, where she would soon begin rehearsals for her debut appearance at the Coachella music festival. It would be one in a swiftly multiplying series of firsts for the singer, songwriter and producer, whose music slides between R&B, pop and Afrobeats: her first album, “Born in the Wild,” due June 7 from RCA; its first single, the blissful party starter “Love Me JeJe”; her first headlining world tour, kicking off June 11. As far as milestones are concerned, a first earthquake was just another line in the tally.
Tems, a faithful Christian, believes none of it has been in her control. When the earthquake subsided (magnitude 4.8), she said a prayer thanking God for granting her another day.
“You can be planning your whole life and then something happens and it’s just done,” she said dryly, in an interview later that day. “You can control what you do, but you can’t control how life lifes.”
Religious violence in Nigeria (normal business in the country) takes on a different tone when interpreted abroad. Here is an opinion piece in the WSJ:
Christmas Eve was balmy in Nigeria’s Plateau State, where the Rev. Gideon Dawel’s family has lived for decades. Mr. Dawel, 45, pastor of Christ Apostolic Church, was musing about the next day’s service when men in this area of villages, Bokkos, decided to post a patrol. Muslim Fulani herdsmen—some of whom had been terrorizing the region—had shown up nearby. Mr. Dawel phoned a Fulani he knew to ask what might happen. Nothing, he was told.
Thirty minutes later that changed. “We could not recognize them from afar in the dark,” Mr. Dawel says in an interview. “They were about 100 men with AK-47 rifles. They had the guns, machetes and petrol to burn with. They shot at everyone and everything—rapidly, rapidly, rapidly.”
Before the watchmen could reach police, the attackers set fire to homes and Mr. Dawel’s church. They torched crops and fields. As the gunmen vanished, Mr. Dawel returned home to find his wife and five daughters dead. He fainted at the sight and had to be carried from the village. The next day survivors buried his family without him.
For 48 hours last Christmas, seemingly coordinated attacks struck 37 communities across a 250-mile stretch of Nigeria’s Middle Belt. Fulani terrorists reportedly killed at least 160 people, set more than 220 homes ablaze, burned vehicles and churches. “What ought to be a night of glad tidings turned out to be that of horror,” wrote Dawari George, a former member of Nigeria’s National Assembly.
Gaza and Ukraine are deadly, but if you’re a Christian, the most likely place in the world to be hunted and killed is Nigeria—a diverse country with a constitutional federal government and one of Africa’s largest economies. According to the monitor Open Doors, during the year ending in September some 4,100 Christians were killed and 3,300 kidnapped in raids across the country. From December 2023 to February 2024, 1,336 people were killed in Plateau State, Amnesty International reports. At least 750 churches and other Christian sites were reportedly targeted, many forced to close.
A very sad story:
A mother and her disabled daughter were found dead at home – after social workers spent months attempting to make contact with them, neighbours said.
Residents said they hadn't seen the pair 'for months' and said they thought the younger woman could have had Down's Syndrome.
One neighbour reported hearing what she thought at the time was animal cries coming from the vicinity of the property some months ago, but which lasted for hours.
Residents said that windows at the house had been open since February, but that the pair, who they believed were originally from Nigeria, sometimes went away for months at a time.
Police broke into the end-terrace property in Radford, Nottingham, yesterday after 'concerns were raised' about the wellbeing of the pair.
Tim Westwood in Nigeria? A rather bizarre story:
Ex-BBC DJ Tim Westwood, who has been the subject of several sexual misconduct claims, moved to Nigeria and briefly rebranded as a cooking influencer, it can be revealed.
The Radio 1, Radio 1Extra and Capital Xtra DJ has been interviewed by police in the UK under caution multiple times over allegations including that he initiated unwanted sex with teenage girls and young women, but has never been formally arrested.
Now, FEMAIL can reveal the 66-year-old DJ, who also had a show on Capital Xtra but stepped down from the role, rebranded as a food influencer in Lagos during a four-month stint in the Nigerian city earlier this year.
In videos posted on his TikTok account in April, Westwood showed his followers methods for cooking okra soup, a recipe which originates in Nigeria, as well as a chicken stew.
It comes after the Met Police has investigated 'non-recent sexual offences' in relation to the DJ, which dated between 1982 and 2016 and are all alleged to have happened in London.
Is Nigeria keeping an eye on this mosquito solution in Djibouti?:
The first batch of genetically engineered non-biting mosquitoes will be released in Djibouti on Thursday in an attempt to stop the spread of an invasive species that threatens to swamp African cities and set back years of progress on tackling malaria. The genetically modified Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes, developed by Oxitec, a US biotechnology company using technology spun out of the UK’s Oxford university, are engineered so that their female progeny die. Only female mosquitoes bite.
Similar technology was used in 2022 to combat dengue-carrying mosquitoes in São Paulo, Brazil, where it suppressed 96 per cent of dengue mosquitoes, according to a peer-reviewed journal. Djibouti’s government is desperate to stop the spread of Anopheles stephensi, an invasive species of mosquito, which arrived in the east African port city a decade ago from the Indian subcontinent. Unlike other species, which thrive in rural settings and bite at night, stephensi does better in cities, bites in the daytime and is resistant to insecticides.
Djibouti, a mostly urban country of 1.1mn people, had been on the verge of eliminating malaria in 2012, when it recorded just 27 cases. But since the arrival of stephensi, which probably came in by cargo ship, cases have ballooned. In 2020, 70,000 people, roughly 1 in 15 of the population, contracted malaria, with 190 deaths.
Dr Abdoulilah Ahmed Abdi, health adviser to the president, said the government’s objective was to “urgently reverse malaria transmission in Djibouti, which has spiked over the past decade”. Djibouti, he said, could act as a blueprint for other nations; stephensi has already spread to countries including Ethiopia and Kenya and as far afield as Lagos, the huge commercial capital of Nigeria on Africa’s west coast.