Politics

Government condemns opposition candidate, Atiku Abubakar’s pledge to reopen Nigerian borders

Published

1 year ago

December 22, 2022

The Federal Government of Nigeria has condemned the promise by one of the major presidential candidates in next year’s elections, Atiku Abubakar, to reopen all Nigerian borders if elected president.

Atiku Abubakar, a veteran contestant for Nigeria’s top job is the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, made the pledge during his campaign rally in Katsina on Tuesday.

Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, at the 15th edition of the President Muhammadu Buhari, PMB, Administration Scorecard Series, argued that Atiku’s pledge was born out of political desperation.

The minister maintained that Atiku’s hunger for power would not make him hesitate to return Nigeria to the era of unbridled inflow of weapons and massive importation of food to the detriment of local farmers.

“By that statement, Alhaji Atiku will shut down most, if not all, of our new fertiliser blending companies, with thousands of jobs going down the drain.

“Also, by his declaration, the former vice president has told Nigerians that he will worsen security in the country by allowing arms and ammunition to flow in unhindered into the country,” he said.

“His Excellency, Atiku Abubakar, may also want to know that while Nigeria was the number one export destination for rice in 2014, our country has now moved to number 79, according to Thai Authorities.

“By throwing open the borders indiscriminately as he has pledged, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has simply announced that he intends to return Nigeria to the number one importer of Thai rice in 2023!

“For sheer expediency, Alhaji Atiku, a former Customs Officer who rose to the pinnacle of his career, is ready to erase the gains made since 2015 in pushing Nigeria closer to self-sufficiency in the production of staples,” he said.

The Nigerian government in August 2019 ordered the closing of all the country’s land borders and opened some of it in December 2020, a move that President Buhari says was in the interest of local farmers.

Since his entry into politics in 1993, Atiku Abubakar has unsuccessfully contested to be Nigeria’s president five times. In 1993, 2007, 2011, 2015, and 2019.

Nigeria is due for another general election in 2023 when President Muhammadu Buhari, who has been in office since 2015 will be completing his second term of four years. Will Atiku Abubakar get lucky this time?

Politics

African leaders want record World Bank financing to address climate change

Published

1 day ago

April 29, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Ahead of a World Bank conference scheduled for later this year, African leaders on Monday called for rich countries to commit to record contributions to a low-interest World Bank facility for developing nations.

The leaders stressed that most African countries depend on the fund to sponsor development and combat climate change.

At a meeting in Japan in December, donors will promise to give money to the International Development Association (IDA), a World Bank organization that gives loans with low-interest rates and long terms.

“We call on our partners to meet us at this historic moment of solidarity and respond effectively by increasing their IDA contributions… to at least $120 billion,” Kenya’s President William Ruto told a meeting of African leaders and the World Bank to discuss IDA funding.

African economies were facing a “deepening development and debt crisis that threatens our economic stability, and urgent climate emergencies that demand immediate and collective action for our planet’s survival,” Ruto said.

He talked about the terrible floods in Kenya and the serious drought in Southern African countries like Malawi. If donors promise the least amount that African leaders have asked for, it will be a new high.

The previous high was $93 billion, which was raised in 2021. IDA loans are given out every three years, and donors usually give their money at a world meeting before the loan is given out.

The World Bank said that IDA lends money to 75 poor countries around the world at low interest rates. More than half of these countries are in Africa. Governments use the money to improve access to healthcare and energy, put money into farms, and build important things like roads.

The president of the World Bank, Ajay Banga, promised to cut down on the “burdensome” rules that guide lending to countries under the IDA. This would make the process more efficient and get money to countries that need it more quickly.

“We believe a simpler and reimagined IDA can be deployed with more focus to make a meaningful impact,” he said.

Politics

Burkina Faso investigating reports of northern killings

Published

2 days ago

April 28, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

A government spokesman has revealed that Burkina Faso is looking into reports that 223 people were killed by the Burkinabe army in two villages in the north in February.

The killing was first reported by the Human Rights Watch (HRW), causing a rift between the junta-led West African state and some foreign media that published the report. The HRW report released on Thursday said that the military had executed residents of Nodin and Soro, including at least 56 children, as part of a campaign against civilians suspected of working with jihadist terrorists. The report was based on interviews with witnesses, members of civil society, and other groups.

Rimtalba Jean Emmanuel Ouedraogo, a spokesman for the government, said that HRW’s claims were “peremptory” and that the junta was not unwilling to look into the claimed crimes.

“An investigation has been launched into the killings in Nodin and Soro,” Ouedraogo said in a late-evening statement, quoting a statement from a regional prosecutor on March 1.

Since Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger’s militaries took over in a series of coups from 2020 to 2023, violence in the area has gotten worse. This is because of the ten-year fight with Islamist groups related to Al Qaeda and Islamic State.

Attacks on Burkina Faso got much worse in 2023, with more than 8,000 people killed, according to the U.S.-based crisis-monitoring group ACLED.