Debt Management Office (DMO) says Nigeria’s total public debt rose to N97.34 trillion in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2023.

In a statement on Friday, DMO said the latest figure represents a 10.73 percent or N9.43 trillion increase compared to N87.91 trillion recorded in the third quarter (Q3) last year.

The country’s public debt consists of domestic and external debt stocks of the federal government of Nigeria (FGN) and the subnational governments — the 36 states and the federal capital territory (FCT).

According to DMO, the increase was primarily due to new domestic borrowing by the federal government to partly fund the deficit in the 2023 budget as well as disbursements by multilateral and bilateral lenders.

“At N59.12 Trillion, Total Domestic Debt accounted for 61% of the Total Public Debt Stock while External Debt at N38.22 Trillion accounted for the balance of 39%,” DMO said.

“Consistent with the debt management strategy, Nigeria’s External Debt Stock was skewed in favour of loans from multilateral (49.77%) and bilateral lenders (14.02%) or total of 63.79% which are mostly concessional and semi-concessional.”

DMO said while it continues to use best practices in public debt management, the fiscal authorities’ recent and ongoing measures to shore up revenue will support debt sustainability.

 

The Cable

The Federal Government on Friday, arraigned the detained President of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Bello Bodejo, on a three-count terrorism charge.

The defendant, who has been in detention since January 23, was further remanded in the custody of the Defence Intelligence Agency, DIA, after he pleaded not guilty to the charge that was read to him before trial judge, Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja.

It would be recalled that Bodejo was arrested at the Miyetti Allah’s office in Karu Local Government Area of Nasarawa state shortly after he unveiled a vigilante group.

Following his arrest, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, on February 5, through an ex-parte motion, obtained an order that allowed the government to keep him in custody, pending the conclusion of the investigation and his arraignment in court.

Based on the strength of the AGF’s application and an affidavit that was attached to it, Ekwo initially gave FG the nod to detain the defendant for 15 days.

The court, on February 22, further extended the detention order, even as it directed FG to within seven days, file a charge against Bodejo.

Ekwo ordered that the detainee should be taken before a court of competent jurisdiction for arraignment.
Counsel to the defendant, Mohammed Sheriff, had on the last adjourned date, notified the court that he applied for the unconditional release of his client from the custody of the DIA. He urged the court to release him on bail, pending the arraignment.

His request was opposed by a lawyer from the Federal Ministry of Justice, Ms. Y.A. Imana, who urged the court to refuse the bail application.

FG told the trial judge that Bodejo, whose followers besieged the court premises with placards to demand his release, was detained in the interest of national security.

Meanwhile, before the defendant took his plea on Friday, the defence lawyer drew the attention of the court to the fundamental rights enforcement application he filed on behalf of his client.

In a short ruling, Ekwo dismissed the application on the premise that it had been overtaken by events owing to the charge that was brought before the court by FG.

“A matter is said to be overtaken by the event when something happens that can change the original course of action, or, when there is a superseding course occurs that makes a previous course of action no longer a suitable pursuit.

“In judicial consideration, a matter overtaken by event means that by the prevailing circumstance, a previous course of action has lost its currency and by that, become academic,” Ekwo held.

He, therefore, ordered the defendant to enter his plea to the charge that was anchored on section 159 (2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015.

The prosecution counsel told the court that FG has lined up witnesses to testify in the matter, even as he applied for the defendant to be further remanded in the custody of the DIA.

While granting the application, Ekwo ordered that the defendant be given adequate medical attention at the detention facility.

He further warned against mobilising people to come around the vicinity of the court to protest for the defendant’s release.

“Tell the defendant. Those who are drumming, thinking it is a carnival, they will face the trial,” the trial judge warned.

More so, the court said it would allow at least 10 family members of the defendant to be around to witness the proceedings.

The matter was subsequently adjourned to May 27, 28, 29 and 30.

 

Vanguard

Three students of the Nasarawa State University, Keffi, were feared dead on Friday in a stampede that occurred when the students struggled for rice donated by the state government.

The incident occurred at the convocation square of the university where the bags of rice were kept awaiting the arrival of Governor Abdullahi Sule for the commencement of distribution.

According to a student witness, Moses Ajah, the surging crowd of students overpowered the security personnel and broke into the square through the gate, thereby causing a stampede.

“Some of the students were struggling with the police over the rice, and as more students got information, the situation degenerated.

“As we speak, some students are injured and receiving treatment at the school clinic,” he said.

He said some students picked up bags of rice and ran to their hostels and other places of residence even as the governor was yet to arrive to inaugurate the distribution.

As of the time of filing this report, police officers were seen retrieving the palliatives from students.

When contacted, the Information and Protocol Officer of the University, Abraham Ekpo, said he was aware of the incident but yet to get the details.

 

NAN

 

 

 

A newlywed man, identified as Sani, was among 21 persons shot dead by bandits who invaded a weekly market in Madaka, an agrarian community in Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State on Thursday.

Sani, a butcher who resided in Kagara, the headquarters of Rafi LGA, was said to have gone to the market to sell meat when he was shot during the attack.

He reportedly got married about three weeks ago.

Also, Muslim women were reportedly forced to break their fast by bandits during the attack.

Residents said the attack was launched around 3pm on Thursday when commercial activities had peaked.

One resident, Salihu Abdullahi, told Daily Trust at IBB Specialist Hospital where his 8-year-old daughter shot during the attack was admitted that bandits ordered the women to drink water or risk their lives.

“We were at the neighbouring village where we went to mine gold when we saw people running. Some people started jumping into the river, even those who didn’t know how to swim. So, I rushed home on my motorcycle to pick up my family.

“On my way, I was stopped to go back, that they had taken over the community already. They burnt down our clinic and shops containing goods worth millions of naira, motorcycles, trucks, foodstuffs and houses. They gathered our women and forced them to break their fast. One of them that attempted to resist was beaten mercilessly.

“My little daughter was among those they shot. She’s 8-year-old. In the first place, I counted 11 corpses. More bodies were later recovered. And uptil now, many people have not been accounted for because many sustained bullet wounds and they ran to the bush. Some people died in the bush.

“Over the years, vigilantes have protected our communities. We contribute money to pay them and buy them food items to enable them face the security job and they have been doing well. Since we formed the vigilante, bandits have not attacked our community. We didn’t know what happened, the commander was arrested and they asked them to stop operation.”

Residents alleged that bandits invaded their community one week after the vigilante commander was arrested by the police and his boys were ordered to stop operations by the state government over alleged illegal arrest of herders.

The Madaka Youth Leader, Saidu Bwale, said that the Thursday attack was one of the deadliest on the community.

Chairman, Rafi Local Government, Ayuba Usman Katako, said that the bandits had invaded Pangu Gari on Wednesday and rustled cattle and goats before they attacked Madaka on Thursday.

“In Madaka, many people were killed. Till now, we can’t ascertain the number of casualties until when those who have fled return home that we will be able to ascertain the number of people that they have kidnapped or that are still missing.

“At least, 21 people including the village head, Saleh, lost their lives during the attack.

The Sarkin Hausawa Madaka, Garba Mai-Haja, who sustained severe gunshots injuries died in the early hours of Friday at the IBB Specialist Hospital, Minna.

Residents said seven people, comprising four men and three women including children were receiving treatment at the IBB Specialist Hospital.

Secretary, Coalition of Shiroro Association, Saidu Salihu, described the attack as severe and unfortunate.

He called on the federal and state governments to renew efforts in the fight against insecurity in Shiroro, Munya and Rafi LGAs.

Residents decried absence of security operatives despite that the area had come under attack several times in the last five years.

Niger State Commissioner for Homeland Security, Bello Abdullahi Mohammed, a retired brigadier general, confirmed the attack to our correspondent on the telephone.

Though he did not give details of the attack, he said the state government was working in collaboration with security agencies to put and end to the incessant attacks on farming communities in the state.

 

Daily Trust

Camouflage-clad gunmen opened fire at concertgoers with automatic weapons on Friday, killing at least 60 people and injuring 145 more in an attack claimed by Islamic State militants.

In the deadliest attack in Russia since the 2004 Beslan school siege, gunmen sprayed civilians with bullets just before Soviet-era rock group "Picnic" was to perform to a full house at the 6,200-seat the Crocus City Hall just west of Moscow.

Verified video showed people taking their seats in the hall, then rushing for the exits as repeated gunfire echoed above screams. Other video showed men shooting at groups of people. Some victims lay motionless in pools of blood.

"Suddenly there were bangs behind us - shots. A burst of firing - I do not know what," one witness, who asked not to be identified by name, told Reuters.

"A stampede began. Everyone ran to the escalator," the witness said. "Everyone was screaming; everyone was running."

Russian investigators said the death toll was more than 60. Health officials said about 145 people were wounded, of which about 60 were in critical condition.

In the 2004 Beslan school siege, Islamist militants took more than 1,000 people, including hundreds of children, hostage.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was being updated by security chiefs about the situation, including from Alexander Bortnikov, the head of the Federal Security Service (FSB), the Kremlin said.

Russian investigators published pictures of a Kalashnikov automatic weapon, vests with multiple spare magazines and bags of spent bullet casings.

ISLAMIC STATE

Islamic State, the militant group that once sought control over swathes of Iraq and Syria, claimed responsibility for the attack, the group's Amaq agency said on Telegram.

A grainy picture was published by some Russian media of two of the alleged attackers in a white car.

The fate of the attackers was unclear as firefighters battled a massive blaze and emergency services evacuated hundreds of people while parts of the venue's roof collapsed.

Islamic State said its fighters attacked on the outskirts of Moscow, "killing and wounding hundreds and causing great destruction to the place before they withdrew to their bases safely." The statement gave no further detail.

The United States has intelligence confirming Islamic State's claim of responsibility for the shooting, a U.S. official said on Friday. The official said Washington had warned Moscow in recent weeks of the possibility of an attack.

"We did warn the Russians appropriately," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, without providing any additional details.

Russia has yet to say who it thinks is responsible.

The attack on Crocus City Hall, about 20 km (12 miles) from the Kremlin, comes just two weeks after the U.S. embassy in Russia warned that "extremists" had imminent plans for an attack in Moscow.

Hours before the embassy warning, the FSB said it had foiled an attack on a Moscow synagogue by Islamic State's affiliate in Afghanistan, known as ISIS-Khorasan or ISIS-K, and seeks a caliphate across Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Iran.

Putin changed the course of the Syrian civil war by intervening in 2015, supporting President Bashar al-Assad against the opposition and Islamic State.

"ISIS-K has been fixated on Russia for the past two years, frequently criticizing Putin in its propaganda," said Colin Clarke of the Soufan Center.

The broader Islamic State group has claimed deadly attacks across the Middle East, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Europe, the Philippines and Sri Lanka.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said it was a "bloody terrorist attack" that the entire world should condemn.

The United States, European and Arab powers and many former Soviet republics expressed shock and sent their condolences. Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak denied any Ukrainian involvement.

The United Nations Security Council condemned what it called a "heinous and cowardly terrorist attack."

SECURITY TIGHTENED

Russia tightened security at airports, transport hubs and across the capital - a vast urban area of over 21 million people. All large-scale public events were cancelled across the country.

Putin, who was on Sunday re-elected for a new six-year term, sent thousands of troops into Ukraine in 2022 and has repeatedly warned that various powers - including countries in the West - are seeking to sow chaos inside Russia.

Putin was informed in the first minutes of the attack and is regularly being updated, the Kremlin said.

"The president constantly receives information about what is happening and about the measures being taken through all relevant services. The head of state gave all the necessary instructions," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

At Crocus City Hall, flames leapt into the sky, and plumes of black smoke rose above the venue as hundreds of blue lights from emergency vehicles flashed in the night.

Helicopters sought to douse flames that engulfed the large building. The roof of the venue was collapsing, state news agency RIA said.

"A terrible tragedy occurred in the shopping centre Crocus City today," Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. "I am sorry for the loved ones of the victims."

 

Reuters

UN chief to visit Gaza border in new plea for truce

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will visit Egypt's border with Gaza on Saturday to renew pleas for a ceasefire that could bring relief to a territory devastated by more than five months of war between Israel and Hamas.

His trip comes as Israel threatens to launch a major military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, just over the border from Egypt, despite international appeals against such an attack.

A majority of Gaza's 2.3 million residents are sheltering around Rafah. Though conditions are worse in the north of the strip, the plight of civilians across the territory has deteriorated sharply as the conflict has ground on.

Guterres will visit Al Arish in Egypt's northern Sinai, where much of the international relief for Gaza is delivered and stockpiled, and the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing, one of the entry points for the aid.

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He is expected to visit a hospital in Al Arish and meet U.N. humanitarian workers in Rafah.

As hopes for a truce during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan have faded and the humanitarian situation in Gaza has become more desperate, the United States and other countries have sought to use air drops and ships to deliver more relief.

But humanitarian agencies say that only about one-fifth of the required amount of supplies has been entering Gaza, and that the only way to meet needs in coastal enclave is to rapidly accelerate deliveries by road.

Israel, which has vowed to destroy Hamas and is worried that the Palestinian militant group will divert aid, has kept all but one of its land crossings into the enclave closed.

This week, a global food monitor warned thatfamine was imminent in northern Gaza and could spread to other parts of the territory if a ceasefire is not agreed.

More than 32,000 people have been killed by Israel's military campaign in Gaza, many of them women and children, according to local health authorities.

Israel launched the assault in response to an attack by Hamas in which some 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

Guterres, who made one previous trip to Egypt's border with Gaza shortly after the war broke out, is visiting Egypt and Jordan as part of an annual "solidarity trip" to Muslim countries during Ramadan.

While in the Egyptian capital Cairo, he is due to break the daily fast with refugees from Sudan, where war between rival military factions has displaced nearly 8.5 million people, driven parts of the population to extreme hunger, and led to waves of ethnically-driven killings in Darfur.

 

Reuters

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russia pounds Ukrainian power facilities; Zelenskiy seeks air defences, 'political will'

Russia pounded Ukrainian power facilities on Friday in an attack described by Kyiv as the largest airstrike on its energy infrastructure in two years of war, and portrayed by Moscow as revenge for Ukrainian attacks during its presidential election.

The missile and drone attack hit a vast dam over the Dnipro river, killed at least five people and left more than a million others without power, forcing Kyiv to seek emergency electricity supplies from Poland, Romania and Slovakia, Kyiv officials said.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, speaking in his nightly video address, said the strikes proved again that Russian attacks on infrastructure could be halted only with more air defence systems and that required political will from Ukraine's allies.

"Russian terror is only possible now because we don't have enough modern air defence systems which, to be honest, requires enough political will to provide them," Zelenskiy said.

"All our partners know what is needed and who can make truly life-saving decisions."

Military aid to Ukraine from Western allies has slowed in recent months, in particular a $60 billion package from Washington, stalled by political disputes in the U.S. Congress.

The strikes, which Kyiv said caused blackouts in seven regions, revived memories of the winter of 2022-23 when Moscow regularly bombed Ukraine's power grid.

Zelenskiy said repair work had made progress, with the worst outages in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, central Dnipropetrovsk region and Ivano-Frankivsk in the west.

The Russian defence ministry said the airstrike was carried out in retaliation for Ukrainian shelling and cross-border raids last week as Russians took part in a stage-managed election that handed President Vladimir Putin a fifth term.

Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko said: "The goal is not just to damage, but to try again, like last year, to cause a large-scale failure of the country's energy system."

Russia denies targeting civilians, although the war that began with its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine has killed thousands of people, uprooted millions and destroyed towns and cities.

"STATE OF WAR"

Moscow says Ukrainian power facilities are legitimate targets and such attacks are aimed at weakening Kyiv's military.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a Russian publication on Friday that Moscow saw itself as in a "state of war" because of the West's intervention on Kyiv's side.

The comment marked a rhetorical break from the "special military operation" language that Moscow has used, an apparent move to prepare Russians for a longer and harder struggle.

European Union Council President Charles Michel said Russia's comments about war with Europe showed the importance of the EU's building its own defence industry.

Two people were killed in the western Khmelnytskyi region and three in Zaporizhzhia in the southeast, including at least one at the dam, said the local administration and general prosecutor's office. More than 30 people were reported injured.

Ukraine's largest dam, the DniproHES in the city of Zaporizhzhia, was hit eight times, an official from the Ukrainian prosecutor's office said.

The state hydropower company said there was no risk of a breach. The company's director, Ihor Syrota, said both its power blocks and the dam itself had been damaged.

A state ecological inspectorate said that oil had leaked into the Dnipro river which the dam straddles.

"The wide impact of today’s attacks on critical civilian infrastructure is deepening the already dire humanitarian situation for millions of people in Ukraine," the UN's humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, Denise Brown, said in a statement.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said around 20 substations and electricity stations had been hit in addition to the dam.

Russia fired 88 missiles and 63 Shahed drones, of which only 37 and 55, respectively, were shot down, the Ukrainian air force said of the attacks.

That represented a worse ratio than usual, possibly reflecting Moscow's widespread use of ballistic missiles that are harder to shoot down and also the proximity of the targeted regions to Russian-controlled areas.

Some 1.2 million people in at least four regions were left without power due to the attacks, presidential aide Oleksiy Kuleba said on Telegram.

 

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine faces series of retreats – Pentagon

The Pentagon expects Ukraine to make retreats in the conflict with Russia, a Pentagon spokesperson said on Thursday, while urging Congress to resume military aid to Kiev.

The Ukrainian leadership is facing “really hard, tough decisions” due to the US failure to send more arms to the country, Sabrina Singh told journalists during a briefing.

”Ukraine right now is having to make strategic decisions about having to withdraw from certain areas in order to fortify their defensive lines,” she noted.

The government of President Vladimir Zelensky has declared the full takeover of territories that Kiev claims as its own as the only acceptable outcome of its conflict with Russia. The Ukrainian leader has repeatedly rejected advice from Pentagon officials to pull back its forces in certain areas.

In the case of Artyomovsk, which Ukrainians call Bakhmut, Zelensky initially declared the Donbass city a “fortress” and repeatedly sent in reinforcements, instead of pulling his troops back – until Russia took control of the city last May.

Some military experts have argued that the move significantly undermined the Ukrainian push against Russian defensive lines later that year. Kiev’s forces have suffered from high attrition rates in the so-called counteroffensive, with over 90,000 troops lost, and have not achieved their objectives, according to Moscow.

Singh blamed Kiev’s recent setbacks on the battlefield to the failure of the US Congress to authorize an additional $60 billion in military assistance to Ukraine. The proposal has been stuck in the House for months due to Republican opposition.

The official was commenting on a debate in the EU, sparked by French President Emmanuel Macron, who argued last month that NATO states could eventually send their own troops into Ukraine to prevent a Russian victory. Singh reiterated the White House policy that “there will be no [US] boots on the ground” in the embattled country.

Moscow has warned that the flow of Western arms to Kiev makes the US and its allies parties to the conflict. The weapons will not change its outcome, Russian officials have said.

 

Reuter/RT

“Ite Oku” is a simple story but built into a very complex and complicated plot and catapulted over the roof by the ingenious interpretation of the characters by the star-studded cast assembled by producers Zentury Pictures and Sir Folly Film International.

It is the story of a very ambitious cab driver who is very much unsatisfied with his state in life and hastily seeks a get-rich-quick ladder to climb to opulence, prosperity and the attendant reckoning in society.

He fishes out a very wealthy woman and begs for money and fortune. Consequently the beautiful lady of high net-worth leads him to the mysterious abode of the dead where money rituals are performed and the huge wealth sought came in stupendous proportions.

Unknown to the greedy upstart, the beautiful lady belongs in the realm of the dead and she only assumes the body of the living for the sole purpose of dispensing largess to the needy as agreed upon by her husband in the grave! But with conditionality: whosoever becomes rich through her money rituals is bound by an irrevocable oath of chastity and barrenness throughout his or her life time. His or her spouse dwelling in the grave is wedded to him or her at the initiation of money rituals. Death, non-negotiable is the punishment for defaulters!

Fast forward, cab driver Aderoju acted by veteran Odunlade Adekola is courted by a bevy of ladies all over the community. These gold-digger dazzling ladies include Morenikeji acted by Yemisi Oke [who out of desperation enlists the supernatural powers of her mystical father], Layo played by Wunmi Toriola, Folake played by Ayisat Raji and Ajibike acted by Emiola Iyiola among others.

Full of suspense, viewers would not know how Yemisi, acted by vivacious legendary Bukky Wright emerges as the wealthy lady from the abode of the Dead, ‘Ite Oku’ or how Feyisara, acted by Temitope Adeniyi became Yemisi as the Dead living in the body of Yemisi acted by Bukky Wright. The knotty riddle becomes clearer when apprentice mechanic Femi, acted by multi-talented Murphy Afolabi is shown as the earthly fiancé of Feyisara [Temitope Adeniyi] who lost her life as a result of enforced abortion of the pregnancy she had for Femi by her upper-class parents who stoutly disapproved her relationship with apprentice Femi. Her untimely death provoked the unnatural death of Femi [Afolabi] and both then found themselves living happily together in the land of the Dead.

Femi had come by some fortune through money making rituals to counter his rejection by Feyisara’s parents. It’s this huge wealth he commands his dead fiancée Feyisara, in the body of Yemisi to go out to the land of the living and dispense to the needy where and how Aderoju falls into trap.

It is this entanglement that gives the plot its complexity and eerie weirdness and the experienced actors the opportunity to display their dexterity and super-star status in acting.

Long suffering widow, Mama Aderoju, magnificently portrayed by another legendary actor Tola Oladokun comes face-to-face with the heart-breaking realisation that her son, the only son, is a millionaire in cohort with money-making ritualists in the haven of the Dead. From that moment on, motherhood; emotional, harried, weeping, wailing and ecstatic, charges the atmosphere of the movie, garnering for Tola Oladokun the medal of the champion of the day. She is a delight.

But she is not alone. Bukky Wright, Murphy Afolabi and Yemisi Oke will not let go without creating dilemma for the viewers as to whom the 'Victor Ludorum' should go.

Watching Bukky Wright with the ease of her acting and delivering of her lines one is tempted to believe they are having a natural conversation with the lady next door or a family member in a family setting. She is so natural and naturalistic.

Odunlade Adekola is a man for all seasons and acting has become so natural that he is, in reality, the character he portrays.

Murphy Afolabi couldn’t have acted a dead man in the grave better nor could Tola Oladokun be more convincing as an agonizing mother in the throes of a grown son with death sentence on his head.

The costumes, the lighting, the audio, and other acoustics contribute in no little measure to the greatness of the movie *Ite Oku* which makes it one of the most outstanding movies in recent times.

It is entertaining, educative, and instructive while its visuals are both thrilling, captivating and alluring. Nothing was spared in making Ite Oku a movie for all time.

It was a big relief that the writer of the story, Shonde Afolabi did not insult African spiritual essence like several writers of stories in Nollywood who often times would portray the Bible or the Quran as being superior or more potent or more efficacious or more edifying than our [Africa’s] own cherished and revered traditions, cultures, beliefs and mores. Every religion is a product of people’s culture and tradition.

Tola Oladokun, Odunlade Adekola, Bukky Wright and Murphy Afolabi, you make acting a pleasure!

** Tola Adeniyi,

Actor. Dramatist. Playwright. Choreographer. Producer and Director. Chairman, Tola Adeniyi Foundation for Theatre and the Arts [TAFTA]

 

It was a night of old favourites and modern anthems. More than 400 people paid about £25 a head to dance beneath Winchester Cathedral’s magnificent medieval arches on Saturday evening. Drinks were served at a bar; music was fed through individual headphones.

“If you had told me this time last year that I would be in the cathedral, with a beer in my hand while belting out the chorus of Rolling in the Deep by Adele, then I would have thought you were mad,” wrote Matt Rooks-Taylor, a local reporter. “Everywhere I looked, there were happy faces.”

But not everyone is pleased at the growing trend for England’s glorious cathedrals to host silent discos. As the number signing up to host such events in the coming months reached at least 14, a petition opposing the “desecration of our historic holy places” amassed more than 2,400 signatures. In Canterbury, a prayer vigil was held outside the ancient cathedral during a silent disco earlier this month.

At the heart of the controversy is how the eye-watering cost of running and maintaining cathedrals is met. In England, 39 out of 42 Anglican cathedrals are Grade I-listed, and three – Durham, Canterbury and Westminster Abbey – are also world heritage sites.

None get government funding, and the Church of England contributes a fraction of costs. The vast majority of income has to be raised from grants, donations, events and in some cases entrance fees.

At Canterbury, the running costs are £7.3m a year, or £20,000 a day. At Winchester, it is £5.1m, or £14,000 a day. At Hereford, the annual bill is £2.5m; Guildford Cathedral – built in the 1940s, making it relatively modern – costs £1m a year to run.

At Guildford, 1,000 people attended a silent disco in two sessions on Saturday evening, ending at midnight. At 7.30am, worshippers arrived for the first service of the day.

“On Saturday, people came to enjoy a space that would be otherwise dark and quiet,” said Matt O’Grady, the cathedral’s chief operating officer. “By generating an income in this way, we can keep the cathedral open. We simply wouldn’t be able to provide a sacred space without our commercial activities, including markets and music events in the cathedral.”

Another silent disco will be held at Guildford Cathedral next Saturday, with two more scheduled for August and another two in February 2025.

At Hereford Cathedral, a sold-out silent disco on Saturday may be repeated later in the year. The Very Revd Sarah Brown, the cathedral’s dean, said: “Hereford Cathedral is first and foremost a place of prayer, worship and ministry. But as we face mounting costs with no public sector funding we must look to different ways to supplement our income to help keep this sacred place available for all.

“It will not be to everyone’s taste, but if attending an event such as this helps to change public perception of the place, and assists with knocking down some of the barriers which prevent people from walking through the doors, then it has served a purpose.”

Critics of the “raves in the naves” argue that cathedrals were built as sacred spaces for the worship of God. The discos were “profane and sacrilegious,” said Cajetan Skowronski, a doctor from East Sussex, who organised the petition and prayer vigil at Canterbury.

“Discos are fine in their proper place, which is a nightclub, but not inside the body of a cathedral. The best way to raise money would be to make the building work as a cathedral in terms of drawing in worshippers, people who make regular donations. Once it ceases to function as a cathedral and becomes simply an events space, why not sell it?”

It would be hard to imagine any other great world religion treating its sacred places in such a way, said Skowronski. “The bars, the strobe lighting – essentially they’re recreating the nightclub experience within the cathedral. I’m not against clubbing, dancing, drinking, celebrating, but in the right place.”

John Blake, the commercial director of Winchester Cathedral, said the critics should come and see for themselves. Saturday night’s silent disco was a “great success” and a “joyous occasion”, he said.

He added: “There was nothing anti-religious about it. It was a wonderful, uplifting experience bringing in people who wouldn’t normally come to a cathedral, and everything was back in place for the first service on Sunday morning.”

The Very Revd Jo Kelly-Moore, chair of the Association of English Cathedrals and dean of St Albans, said: “Our cathedrals hold so much of the social, religious and political history of our country while always being open and free for worship, solace, prayer and hope.

“Some of us manage to do this without charging, but we all have to build an economy around us to be sustainable.

“Here in St Albans, it costs £6,000 a day to run and any revenue is ploughed back into the cathedral to fund worship and mission, care and restoration of the fabric, visitor operations, outreach and the staff needed to run the building.”

 

The Guardian, UK

 

A chief economist at Shell once described Nigeria as the “jewel in the crown” of the oil major’s empire. Yet in recent years the jewel has lost its lustre. Early this year Shell, which has been pumping oil in Nigeria for nearly seven decades, agreed to sell its onshore subsidiary to a consortium of mostly local companies.

Other oil firms are packing up too. In February TotalEnergies, a French group, said it also planned to offload its own stake in Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary. It joined a long list of firms, including Chevron, ExxonMobil, Eni and Equinor that have shed Nigerian assets in the past couple of years (Exxon’s deal is yet to receive regulatory approval). If Shell’s divestment is finalised, domestic companies will own more oil licences than foreign groups for the first time in Nigeria’s history.

This wave of divestments is giving rise to anxiety in Nigeria that its most vital industry is in terminal decline. For decades Nigeria has been Africa’s biggest oil exporter. Yet production has slumped by nearly 50% from its peak in 2005 because of insecurity onshore and higher costs offshore. It will face further troubles when the green transition reduces global demand for oil. Despite efforts to diversify Nigeria’s economy, oil still accounts for over 80% of exports and roughly 50% of the government budget. What happens if, in the coming decades, that crutch is removed?

The oil majors say such talk is overblown, and stress that they are not abandoning Nigeria as a whole. Most are pulling out only from the Niger Delta, the southern swamplands that harbour most of Nigeria’s onshore and shallow-water oil rigs. For years the Delta has been plagued by kidnappers, thieves, saboteurs and collapsing infrastructure. Operating there, the majors argue, is simply not worth the risk. Most of Nigeria’s oil production has moved offshore in recent years, where the majors still have large operations. Shell and Total could soon add to their existing investments there. Chevron took a stake in a new deepwater project in January.

In theory, getting a barrel of Nigerian oil out of the ground should cost about $15 on average, according to Rystad Energy, a consultancy. But that is not the case. Insecurity in the Delta has driven up costs and pushed investment into offshore waters, where production costs are higher. As a result, it costs $25-40 to pump a barrel of oil in Nigeria. That will make it hard to keep up with producers such as Saudi Arabia, where costs are below $5 a barrel, when global demand and prices fall.

The pace of Nigeria’s decline will depend partly on how rapidly the world moves away from oil. If it does so quickly with the aim of limiting global warming to 1.9°C, Nigeria’s oil production could fall by a further 70% by 2040, reckons Pranav Joshi, an analyst at Rystad.

The prospect of such a massive shock makes adaptation essential. Nigeria is trying to expand other areas of its economy, like farming and manufacturing, which struggled to compete with cheap imports during the many years when Nigeria’s currency was buoyed up by oil revenues. But this sort of diversification will probably take time. In the shorter term, some think Nigeria can pivot from oil to natural gas, which accounts for just 10% of Nigeria’s exports. Not only does the country have Africa’s largest reserves of gas, global demand for the fuel is booming.

Much of the gas that is traded internationally is transported as liquefied natural gas (LNG), global demand for which is likely to rise by 50% by 2040, Shell reckons. Bumping up Nigeria’s exports would require a big expansion of the facilities needed to cool and liquefy gas. Nigeria LNG—a joint venture between Shell, Total, Eni and the Nigerian government—is expanding its capacity by one-third to around 41.3bn cubic metres a year, or the equivalent of about 8% of internationally traded LNG last year. That sounds impressive, but the facility is working at less than half its existing capacity and LNG exports have plunged by 35% since 2020 because of supply disruptions and Nigeria’s habit of flaring (or burning) vast quantities of gas that is a by-product of oil extraction.

In the longer run Nigeria will also have to grapple with the environmental damage wrought by the oil industry. The Niger Delta is among the most polluted places on Earth and is littered with derelict pipelines and abandoned wellheads. Much needs to be done if Nigeria is to avoid becoming a fossil-fuel mausoleum.