Below The Headlines - 52
Reps submit a very urgent request to prevent Nigeria disintegrating and is it true that Nigerians in Russia are being sent to fight in Ukraine?
New week, new you? I hope so. This week on 1914 Reader, I wrote about the numbers behind the current brain drain of Nigerian doctors to the UK and other countries. Not a pretty sight.
Enjoy your weekend (no, not like that) and don’t overdo the ram eating in the name of Salah celebrations. Remember: a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips (actually I’m just jealous).
Inside Nigeria
My country, it is very fragile. Please treat this request with urgency and accept the assurances of my highest regards:
The House of Representatives Committee on National Security and Intelligence has asked the federal government to immediately purchase new aeroplanes for the use of President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima.
The Committee made the call in a report issued after its technical subcommittee conducted a hearing on the status and airworthiness of aircraft in the Presidential Air Fleet (PAF).
“The Committee is of the strong and informed opinion that considering the fragile structure of the Nigerian federation and recognising the dire consequences of any foreseen or unforeseen mishap that may arise as a result of technical/operational inadequacy of the Presidential Air Fleet, it is in the best interest of the country to procure two additional aircraft as recommended,” the report read in part.
The Securities and Exchange Commission says that, while it is perfectly fine to listen and dance to Davido’s music, it is not recommended that you invest in his memecoin:
But in a statement on Friday, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) warned the public that investing in the meme coin is highly risky.
The commission pointed out that it does not recognize $Davido as an investment product or investable asset class under its regulatory purview.
“The attention of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Nigeria (“SEC”) has been drawn to a meme coin known as “$Davido” allegedly linked to the popular Nigerian singer, David Adedeji Adeleke AKA Davido.”
“Generally, meme coins are cryptocurrencies inspired by memes and internet jokes. They are often envisaged as a fun, light-hearted cryptocurrencies promoted through a social media community and sometimes through celebrity endorsements.
“Meme coins are also NOT intended to serve as a medium of exchange accepted by the public as payment for goods and services, or as digital representation of capital market products such as shares, debentures, units of collective investment schemes, derivatives contracts, commodities or other kinds of financial instruments or investments.
“The general public is HEREBY ADVISED that meme coins lack fundamental value and are purely speculative. The general public is further WARNED that investing in meme coins, including $Davido, is highly risky and should be done with a full understanding of the associated risk.
An unwritten law of the internet is that if you confess to anything on YouTube, you will have to apologise for it on Instagram:
An actress, Chinwe Splendor, has said that the university she graduated from had asked her to return the certificate issued to her after she claimed that while in school, she usually did not attend classes, but slept with lecturers in exchange for grades.
In a video post on Instagram, Splendor said, “The university I attended sent me an email to return my certificate within 48 hours. I want to ask, ‘is this right’? That certificate, I worked hard for it, so why should I return it? They sent me an email to return the certificate I worked so hard for. If that is case, I know many of my coursemates that should return their certificates as well. I am going through a lot.”
In earlier interview on a YouTube channel called ‘Yan Konnect Factory’, the actress had stated that as a result of trying to make ends meet, she had to go to the ‘street’ to fend for herself, which resulted in her missing classes. She added that she later devised a way to ensure good grades by sleeping with her lecturers. She added that even though she did not attend lectures in a particular year, she was still able to get good grades in all her courses.
‘Suspected self-kidnapper’ is a new addition to Nigeria’s ever growing rich lexicon:
The Delta State Police Command has arrested a suspected self-kidnapper Nelson Eserada and his accomplice, Jerry Lawrence.
The command’s spokesperson, SP Bright Edafe, disclosed this on Thursday while speaking to PUNCH Metro in Asaba.
He said this was accomplished following complaints received from the father of one Nelson Eserada at Abraka Division that his son Nelson Eserada was kidnapped and that the kidnappers were demanding a ransom of N50m in bitcoin.
“The suspect also sent a video of the supposed victim tied and being tortured. The DPO Abraka SP Fabian Ayameh swiftly moved into action, embarked on a technical intelligence-led investigation.
“On June 10, 2024, one Jerry Lawrence of Jeddo Community Warri was arrested in connection with the crime.
“Preliminary investigation revealed that the suspect conspired with the said Nelson Eserada, a 400 Level student of Banking & Finance Department of the Delta State University Abraka. The father had already paid the sum N5.2 ransom through a Bitcoin account belonging to the principal suspect Jerry Lawrence,” he said.
If you’re thinking of going into the business of trading human skulls, can I just discourage you from it? The numbers do not look encouraging. Try something else:
“Upon investigation, the suspect admitted being the owner of the eight dry skulls and said that he was going to Osogbo to deliver the human skulls to another herbalist.
The suspect reportedly named his customers who buy the human skulls from him and their locations
In an interview with newsmen, at the police headquarters in Akure, the suspect said that he has sold seven human skulls at N35,000 each and has made N245,000 from the illicit business.According to him “ This will be my third time in this business. On the first trip, I sold four, the second time, I sold three and this latest one eight human skulls.
“For the skull, I usually buy it from my friend, Ismaila who usually gets them from burial grounds.
“Before I ventured into this business, I was buying and selling palm oil and cashew nuts, but it was not fetching me much money.“My mother has been sick, we took her to one hospital in Lokoja and the doctor said we need N2 million for her treatment. So I had no choice but to venture into skull business. My intention was to leave the business once I gathered the money to settle my mother’s medical bills.
“So far, from the seven that I had sold, I’ve made N245,000. I actually sold them to different people.
“I met the buyers on Facebook. He told me that he’s a herbalist.
Is the government going to have to start regulating prophecies?
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in Ebonyi has waded into the crisis of gross human rights abuse in Agharoza, Iboko Community in Izzi Local Government Area.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that trouble erupted in the community on Thursday, when the youths allegedly set ablaze the house of their kinsman, Mr John Ekpono.The action followed a spiritual revelation by a clergyman, commonly known in the area as “Ubadimma”, who was in the community for a three-day crusade.
The cleric had made a revelation during the crusade that Ekpono was responsible for the community’s backwardness and other calamities befalling the area.
Convinced by the revelation, the youths went on rampage and burned down Okpono’s house and other valuables, accusing him of being evil.
A welcome development:
Facebook and TikTok have done a massive clean-up of impostor accounts whitewashing Bello Turji, a terrorist group leader in North West Nigeria who found an appeal on the internet sometime in 2021 after masterminding some of the deadliest attacks against civilians in the region.
In January, a HumAngle digital investigation revealed that fake accounts from different social networks were opened in Bello Turji’s name for malicious reasons, including clout chasing and sharp practices by influencers gathering followers for merchandise. The impostor accounts helped the terrorist leader to enjoy some acceptance and patronage on social media.
The imposters preyed on the vulnerability of many internet users to spread terror, demonstrating the terrorist’s kidnap-for-ransom escapades and celebrating his cruelty. During mass kidnap cases in the northwestern region, the ghost accounts amplified the terrorist’s demands from the government, indirectly spreading his campaign of violence and creating panic for unsuspecting individuals.
Following HumAngle’s investigation, Facebook and TikTok removed the most active accounts and appeared to have restricted others. During our research, we contacted Meta to report some suspicious accounts. Most of the reported accounts were removed afterwards.
You just have to laugh:
Niger State Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago and his Deputy Mohammed Umaru Comrade Yakubu Garba have come under public attacks following their joint decisions to travel to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to perform this year’s holy Pilgrimage in the Holy Land at the same time
The two Political leaders in the State have been given hard knocks on the heads and were accused of unseriousness in governance for abandoning their Constitutional responsibilities and neglecting the people to their fate amid the current insecurity challenges bedevilling the state and the high costs of food items in the markets few days to the Sallah celebrations in the state.
Reports from government circles indicated that the Governor and his Deputy left for Saudi Arabia between Sunday, June 9th, and Monday, June 10th, 2024, respectively, with no power being transmitted to anyone as enshrined in Section 190 (1) of the 1999 Constitution as amended
Outside Nigeria
I’m surprised there are still people involved in this ‘tie and dye’ business. China won the fight long long ago:
Despite the rain pelting Balogun market in Lagos, Ajoke takes her time choosing the tie-dye fabric known as adire that she wants to give as a gift.
The popular textile traditionally dyed with indigo is emblematic of the culture of the Yoruba people, one of Nigeria's majority ethnic groups.
The cloth is typically used for traditional outfits often worn by Nigerians for special occasions, weddings and parties.
The 21-year-old customer slides her fingers over different brightly coloured fabrics to distinguish traditional Nigerian cotton from polyester versions made in China.
"It's not expensive," Ajoke remarked, picking up a Chinese-made fabric with purple patterns.
It costs 3,300 naira (around $2.20), half the price of a locally produced fabric.
Long term readers of BTH will be familiar with stories like this:
The Los Angeles Chargers have gone outside the box to help deepen their wide receiver room. On Friday, the team announced that they have signed Praise Olatoke to a deal. The specific financial terms were not immediately disclosed, but Olatoke comes to L.A. via the NFL's International Pathway Program.
Olatoke, who was born in Nigeria and raised in Scotland, ran track at Ohio State. As you might imagine given his collegiate background, the 6-foot-2, 205-pounder does possess intriguing speed. During the Big Ten Outdoor Championship in 2022, Olatoke ran the 100-meter dash in 10.27 seconds for the Buckeyes. That year, he earned first-team All-Big Ten honors.
Olatoke does have some, albeit minor, experience playing football as he first got started with the sport by playing on the Ohio State club team.
And staying on the topic:
The NFL announced Friday that it will further expand its efforts in Africa with a talent identification camp in Nigeria, the fourth country on the continent to host league programming.
The three-day camp, to be held in Lagos this month, will host 21 prospects from 10 African countries to identify future participants in the NFL’s two international training programs, the NFL Academy in England and the International Player Pathway (IPP) program.
This camp follows initiatives hosted over the previous two years in Ghana and Kenya (2022) and Cape Town, South Africa (2023), as the NFL seeks to establish a fan base on the continent.
While Ghana (34.7 million), Kenya (54 million) and South Africa (59 million) all have sizable populations, they are dwarfed by Nigeria (229 million), the continent’s most populous country.
Which begs the question why Nigeria wasn’t the first African country chosen.
Fashion has been pushing against the boundaries of gender in Nigeria:
While her debut was hailed as a watershed moment in both African fashion and for the queer community at large (she walked twice, for labels Cute-Saint and Fruché), it also sparked controversy. At the time, Francis said she faced a public backlash from some sections of Nigerian society and pointed out that despite her boundary-breaking appearances, no images of her were posted on Lagos Fashion Week’s social media accounts. In an interview with digital LGBTQ magazine Xtra shortly after the event in November 2022, Francis said “I heard the Lagos Fashion Week’s team decided not to post any of my pictures from the runway or include (them) in any press releases. Why am I not surprised?” (The magazine said they approached Lagos Fashion Week at the time, who did not respond to their requests for comment.)
After casting non-binary models to walk on its catwalk during the Spring-Summer 2023 shows, subversive fashion house Maxivive had its show cancelled by organizers just days before it was meant to go ahead. While brand founder Papa Oyeyemi told CNN he would prefer not to talk about the cancellation, discussion within the industry centered around the presentation having been deemed “too gay” by organizers.
A story of an ‘accidental’ Japa to Canada:
IN 2019, I WAS LIVING IN IBADAN, NIGERIA, with my wife, Kenny, and our four-year-old son, Dotun. I worked as a high school teacher. One of my sisters, Jummy, had recently moved to Lethbridge, Alberta, with her husband, who was doing his postdoc there. They’d just had a son, so I flew to Canada that November to meet him. My trip was only supposed to last a few weeks, but Jummy liked having me around so much that she suggested I extend my stay until late March of 2020, so I could celebrate my birthday with them. I applied for extended leave from my job and rescheduled my flight home.
Then came COVID. I tried to get a flight out but the borders were closed. I was stuck in Alberta. I felt miserable and useless for the next few months, because I couldn’t be a father to my son and a partner to my wife during such a difficult time. Sometimes I spent four hours on video calls with them, despite the seven-hour time difference. My son was upset with me. “You told me you’d be gone for a couple of weeks!” he cried.
Finally, in June of 2020, the government introduced a policy that allowed visitor visa holders stuck in Canada, like myself, to apply for closed work permits without having to leave the country. I wanted to apply, but I’d need an employer to sponsor my visa. After a few months, I found a job as a live-in caregiver for a Nigerian family in Fort McMurray. I moved there in January the following year.
An investigation into some accounts pushing TikTok content for the insurgent Reform UK party in the ongoing general election campaign found the following:
All the accounts we analysed are thought to have originated in the UK, though a number had a disproportionate amount of followers, which experts at Cardiff University were able to trace to Nigeria. Those experts believe these may be bought followers, or ‘bots’ which help boost comments to increase prominence and engagement.
Across the Reform UK supporting accounts, more than 3,122 follower accounts were traced to Nigeria by our experts.
The fact that a story like this needed to be denied is more worrying:
Moscow has refuted a report that Nigerian students were being "forced" to fight in Ukraine or face deportation from Russia.
The Russian Embassy in Nigeria has denied reports claiming Nigerian students based in Russia are being coerced into signing up for the military to help Moscow in its invasion of Ukraine, Nigerian media reported on Wednesday.
Earlier this week, a Bloomberg report alleged that Russia has been forcing African students to join in the fight against Ukraine before getting a renewal for their visas.
The report by the international news agency suggested Moscow is sending thousands of migrants and foreign students, including Nigerians, to fight alongside its troops in the war against Ukraine. The Bloomberg article had also been circulated among Nigerian media outlets.
"Some Africans in Russia on work visas have been detained and forced to decide between deportation or fighting," the Bloomberg report quoted a European official as saying.
The saga of the Nigerian students being kicked out of a UK university continues:
A university says it will help to fund flights home to Nigeria for crisis-hit students who it reported to the Home Office.
Students at Teesside University were thrown off courses and ordered to leave the UK after a currency crisis left them struggling to pay tuition fees.
Following protests and the intervention of the Nigerian government, the university told the BBC it has now re-enrolled some affected students and opened a travel fund.
One student said the offer did not go far enough, adding: "The wide-rippling effects of this are unmanageable and piling up."
As reported by the BBC, the Middlesbrough-based university recently withdrew sponsorship for a number of students and reported them to the Home Office after they fell into tuition fee arrears.
What is gynecomastia?
It was a few days before my 21st birthday in 2017 when my mother pointed out a small lump on my chest. I was weightlifting at the time and often walked around the house shirtless. Three weeks later, the lump had doubled in size. I went to a hospital, where a doctor diagnosed gynecomastia, a benign condition where an imbalance between the hormones testosterone and oestrogen causes an overdevelopment of breast tissues.
The irony was not lost on me: I was weightlifting because I aspired to the kind of masculinity typified by a chiseled chest and bulky muscles, but instead I had acquired a distinctly feminine trait.
The doctor assured me that it was common, although typically occurring in newborns, teenagers and men over 50. He promised it would clear up in time. It did not, and by the following year, when I started studying at Lagos State University, it had become embarrassing.
In Nigeria, where I live, a man having feminine qualities opens you to ridicule and even physical harm. Many associate “unmanliness” with homosexuality, which is illegal.
A sobering read from the NYT on Nigeria’s ongoing economic crisis, the worst in a generation:
On a recent morning in a corner of the biggest emergency room in northern Nigeria, three women were convulsing in painful spasms, unable to speak. Each year, the E.R. at Murtala Muhammed Specialist Hospital in Kano, Nigeria’s second-largest city, received one or two cases of hypocalcemia caused by malnutrition, said Salisu Garba, a kindly health worker who hurried from bed to bed, ward to ward.
Now, with many unable to afford food, the hospital sees multiple cases every day.
Mr. Garba was sizing up the women’s husbands. Which source of nutrition he recommended depended on what he thought they could afford. Baobab leaves or tiger nuts for the poor; boiled-up bones for the slightly better off. He laughed at the suggestion that anyone could afford milk.
[…]
A spate of new crypto-mining games that promise to generate income the more the user plays has people across Nigeria spending all day tapping on their smartphone screens, desperate to earn a few dollars.
People tap as they pray, in mosques and churches. Children tap under desks at school. Mourners tap at funerals.
Nigeria is in good company on this list of the world’s worst airports as chosen by The Times’ readers:
In the name of research, I think I need to plan a trip to Lagos just to see how terrible the airport is (although British Airways has recently refurbished its lounge there). Plenty of readers think the Nigerian airport is the world’s worst: Simon Davey said: “Pfff, you’ve all obviously never been to Lagos.” RA Hennard added: “I joined a company in Bangladesh at the same time as a bloke who had been in Lagos. We flew in together on the same flight. As we walked through Dhaka airport I was looking around in shock, whereas he was making remarks like, ‘Well, this is OK, isn’t it? Quite nice!’.”
Tax evasion charges have been dropped against the detained Binance executives. According to my sauces, it is because someone discovered that it is much easier to prosecute a company than an individual through Nigerian courts. So Binance will be charged while Gambaryan is kept hostage:
Nigeria dropped charges of tax evasion against two Binance executives on Friday, focusing allegations of unfiled returns and unpaid duty on the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. The charges against the two men, Tigran Gambaryan, a US citizen, and Nadeem Anjarwalla, a dual UK-Kenya citizen, were dropped but the case against Binance continued, Nigeria’s tax agency said. Binance, through its local delegate, will now be the sole defendant in the tax evasion case brought by the Federal Inland Revenue Service.Both men were detained in February after arriving in Nigeria to meet authorities after Africa’s most populous country began a clampdown on cryptocurrency trading websites it blamed for a dramatic slump in the value of its local naira currency. Pressure on Nigeria to release Gambaryan, a former US Internal Revenue Service special agent, has been growing in Washington in recent weeks after reports that he was suffering from malaria.
Who or what is Awarri?
Earlier this year, when Nigeria’s technology minister, Bosun Tijani, announced that the country would build its own large language model, he said the government was partnering with a local startup called Awarri, among other institutions, for this project.
Awarri, along with nonprofit Data.org and two government bodies, will build an LLM trained in five low-resource languages and accented English, the minister said. This would help increase the representation of Nigerian languages in the artificial intelligence systems being built around the world.
Several Nigerian AI enthusiasts had never heard of Awarri before this announcement. “The initial thought was, ‘Can an Awarri handle it?’” Victor Famubode, who has worked in Nigeria’s AI industry for nine years, told Rest of World. “But … it is important to promote” local companies, he said.
While some AI and tech experts wondered if a small startup was the right choice for the government to partner with for a task of this scale, others said Awarri has the potential to be the next OpenAI.
“Awarri is a little-known entity, but so was OpenAI about two years ago,” said Ehia Erhaboh, co-convener at AI in Nigeria, a Lagos-based consulting firm. AI is a new global phenomenon, and new companies should be expected, he said. “The focus for me is not about the newness of the entity but the experience of the founders.”
The Kehinde Wiley controversy has now made it to the mainstream media. But I know many of you are ahead of the curve from Instagram:
A groundbreaking artist feted by the Obama White House has hit back at 'unhinged' allegations of sexual assault with screenshots of friendly messages from his accuser sent after the alleged attack.
Kehinde Wiley, whose portrait of the former president sits in the Smithsonian, was accused last month of a 'severe and violent' sexual assault in 2021 by Ghanaian artist Joseph Awuah-Darko.
Black Lives Matter co-founder Derrick Ingram has also stepped forward with allegations that he was raped during an abusive four-month relationship with Wiley in 2021.
But the artist called the claims 'baseless and defamatory' as he posted messages from Awuah-Darko on Instagram.
'What is motivating these individuals to hurl these disgusting allegations? Money? Fame? An insatiable need for attention? Who knows?' he wrote.