Special Reports

Monday, 15 July 2024 05:08

Zacchaeus climbs down: Kenya’s deadly Gen-Z protests could change the country - The Economist

For weeks Kenya has been mired in unrest. Confronted with demonstrators denouncing the tax policies of William Ruto, Kenya’s president, the security forces responded ruthlessly. They have killed at least 39 people, most of them in Nairobi on June 25th, when protesters briefly overran Parliament and set a portion of it ablaze. Looting has also erupted in several towns and cities, though it is unclear whether this was by state-backed provocateurs, as the protesters allege, or by opportunist criminals, as Ruto claims. Yet far from provoking fear among Kenya’s better-off, the unrest has inspired wild optimism. Unlike most protests in…

Saturday, 13 July 2024 04:48

Soaring food-price inflation is hurting Nigeria’s poor - The Economist

In a video on social media, Amarachi makes a stew that replaces pricey tomatoes with more affordable watermelon chunks. “Today we say bye-bye to tomatoes,” she says. As Nigerians adjust to soaring food prices, the video has gone viral. Tomato prices that fluctuate with the seasons are normal in Nigeria, but the record annual pace of food inflation, which hit 41% in May, is not. Most pinched are the poor. Staples such as beans and maize cost 400% more than they did a year ago, while a 100kg bag of sorghum has more than tripled in price. Since wages have…

Friday, 28 June 2024 04:39

Daily multivitamins do not help people live longer, major study finds

Taking a daily multivitamin does not help people to live any longer and may actually increase the risk of an early death, a major study has found. Researchers in the US analysed health records from nearly 400,000 adults with no major long-term diseases to see whether daily multivitamins reduced their risk of death over the next two decades. Rather than living longer, people who consumed daily multivitamins were marginally more likely than non-users to die in the study period, prompting the government researchers to comment that “multivitamin use to improve longevity is not supported”. Nearly half of UK adults take…

Thursday, 27 June 2024 04:49

'Kush', 'Khadafi' and 'Monkey Tail' drugs pose health risks in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, others - UN

The United Nations on Wednesday flagged harmful new drug concoctions, named kush, Khadafi, and Monkey Tail, as posing particular health risks across Africa because of their varying and often unknown ingredients. The drugs are believed to contain dangerous mixtures of pharmaceuticals, alcohol and solvents, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in its annual World Drug Report. Reports this week have documented the problems associated with drug abuse. Sierra Leone in April declared a national emergency over the rising use of kush, a synthetic mixture of marijuana, tentanyl and tramadol. Ivory Coast, in response to the high use…

Wednesday, 26 June 2024 04:48

Bandit attacks make farmlands desolate, shoot food prices through the roof

Hassan Ya'u, a 42-year-old maize and sesame seed farmer in Nigeria's northern Katsina state, was tending to his crops early this month when dozens of armed men on motorcycles rode towards his plot and started shooting at close range. Ya'u and fellow farmer Musa Nasidi managed to escape, but at least 50 people - many of them farmers working their fields at the time - were killed in the attack in the latest in a series of deadly raids on farming areas. An unknown number of people were abducted in the assault, which was carried out in broad daylight. Ya'u…

Monday, 24 June 2024 04:47

Nicknamed ‘Happy City’ decades ago, now this Nigerian community is helpless against rising seas

The coastal Nigerian community of Ayetoro was founded decades ago and nicknamed “Happy City,” meant to be a Christian utopia that would be sinless and classless. But now its remaining residents can do little against the rising sea. Buildings have sunk into the Atlantic Ocean, an increasingly common image along the vulnerable West African coast. Old timber pokes from the waves like rotten teeth. Shattered foundations line the shore. Waves break against abandoned electrical poles. For years, low-lying nations have warned the world about the existential threat of rising seas. Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, struggles to respond. Some plans…

Tuesday, 18 June 2024 04:56

Nigerians skip medications, resort to herbal remedies as drug prices skyrocket

For patients in Nigeria, the outrageous cost of life-saving drugs is a daily burden. Several people are now forced to take a risk with their health by extending or missing doses, settling for less potent substitutes, resorting to self-medication or traditional healers, or stopping medication entirely. For those battling chronic ailments such as diabetes, high blood pressure or cancer, the affordability crisis has pushed essential medications and treatment out of reach for many Nigerians and strained the public healthcare system. Experts are worried that a significant number of patients who are not taking their medications as prescribed, stand to develop…

Monday, 17 June 2024 04:14

‘I’ve slaughtered a ram yearly starting from 1976 but this year I can't, I just can't’, Nigerian Muslims lament the ‘driest’ Sallah in a generation

“I have slaughtered a ram every year starting from 1976 but this year I can't, I just can't.” Like many of the estimated 100 million Muslims in Nigeria, 78-year-old Kabiru Tudun Wada is not celebrating Eid al-Adha as he normally would because of the cost-of-living crisis. Muslims around the world traditionally slaughter a ram or another animal on Eid al-Adha, in memory of the prophet Ibrahim's willingness to sacrifice his own son when God ordered him to. The meat is used to prepare a huge feast for the entire family, while friends and neighbours visit each other and eat the…

Saturday, 15 June 2024 02:56

Hardship: Nigerians face most expensive Sallah in a generation as prices of ram, foodstuffs skyrocket

As Sallah approaches, Nigerians, particularly the Muslim faithful, will be struggling with record-high inflation, which has driven up the costs of rams, tomatoes, bags of rice and other food items. A Nairametrics market survey shows that ram prices have nearly doubled since last year, and staples like tomatoes have also seen big price hikes. These rising costs make it hard for families to afford traditional Sallah celebrations. This year, many may be bracing up for what could be the most expensive Sallah in over three decades. Nigerians are bracing up for the most expensive Sallah holidays in over 30 years…

Tuesday, 11 June 2024 04:53

N700/litre in Nigeria; N2,000 in Cameroon - smuggling petrol across West African borders becomes hugely profitable

The Federal Government, on Monday, raised the alarm over the renewed smuggling of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, following the massive hike in the pump price of the commodity in neighbouring countries. It stated that while the average price of petrol in Nigeria was about N701/litre, the average cost of the product in neighbouring countries was N1,787/litre, a development that heightened PMS smuggling out of Nigeria in the past two weeks. The Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Adewale Adeniyi, who disclosed this at a press conference in Yola, said the NCS had to join forces with the Office…

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Friday, 31 May 2024 04:57

‘The cost of living wants to kill the living’: Nigerians struggle to afford the basics - The Guardian, UK

For visitors to Lagos, the gentle plea begins with immigration officials at the airport and is echoed across the streets of Africa’s most populous city: “Show me love.” It is a familiar request for tips in a city of omnipresent hustle, but residents say the requests have intensified in the last year as people struggle under the crushing weight of Nigeria’s underperforming economy. Wednesday marked the completion of the first year in office of the president, Bola Tinubu, after the disputed election of February 2023. It was also the 25th anniversary of Nigeria’s return to democracy, a promising point in…

Thursday, 30 May 2024 04:47

‘Hunger, poverty, dissatisfaction are the harsh realities of Tinubu’s one year in office’, 84% of Nigerians lament in new poll

In his inaugural address one year ago, President Bola Tinubu championed unity and promised to remodel the economy to bring about growth and development through job creation, food security and ending extreme poverty. As Tinubu begins his second year as president, most Nigerians score him very low on the economy, according to results from a new national Africa Polling Institute (API) poll. At least 84 percent of respondents expressed sadness with the current state of affairs in the country under Tinubu while 81 per cent said that the president is driving the country in the wrong direction. One such Nigerian…

Wednesday, 29 May 2024 04:30

Insecurity worsens as 4,500 killed, 7,000 kidnapped on Tinubu’s watch

In his inaugural speech on 29 May, 2023, President Bola Tinubu vowed to tackle the lingering insecurity in the country. “Security shall be the top priority of our administration because neither prosperity nor justice can prevail amidst insecurity and violence,” the new president declared in his inauguration speech at the Eagle Square, Abuja, promising to overhaul the sector. “To effectively tackle this menace, we shall reform both our security doctrine and its architecture. We shall invest more in our security personnel, and this means more than an increase in number. We shall provide better training, equipment, pay, and firepower,” he…

Friday, 24 May 2024 04:44

Mandela's vision of Black unity fades as South Africa closes door to migrants

Munera Mokgoko was just three when apartheid fell. She can barely remember, much less fathom, the swell of hope that accompanied Black liberation three decades ago, shaped by Nelson Mandela’s vision of social equality and pan-African solidarity. “South Africa doesn’t have any ubuntu,” the 33-year-old said, using a Zulu word meaning humanity, ahead of an election in which the ruling African National Congress (ANC) is pledging to crack down on undocumented migrants from the rest of the continent. “It’s like we don’t know how to welcome people.” Mokgoko’s Tanzanian husband is among many African migrants who have flocked here since…

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