The abrupt shutdown of the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria's (NMCN) verification portal in February has left numerous Nigerian nurses and midwives working overseas in distress. This closure has created obstacles for these healthcare workers, as they struggle to renew licenses and comply with international regulations. The inability to verify their qualifications has placed many in violation of visa and employment regulations, leading to legal repercussions.

Reports indicate that several nurses in the UK and US have already returned to Nigeria due to the issue. One anonymous nurse, who had been employed by a UK Trust since September 2023, shared his ordeal. He completed all necessary exams and document checks, but the portal's closure left him unable to obtain his registration pin. His employer ultimately terminated his contract due to his inability to meet certification requirements, leaving him stranded back in Nigeria.

Others share similar frustrations. Ovie, a Nigerian nurse in the UK, explained that her plans to complete a nursing program and register as a nurse in the UK were derailed by the portal's closure. With her student visa expiring soon, she faces the possibility of deportation if the issue remains unresolved.

In Saudi Arabia, another nurse, Hannah, expressed her despair, as her future also hangs in the balance due to the inability to verify her credentials. The emotional toll is becoming increasingly unbearable for many affected nurses.

In response to these challenges, the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) has urged the Nigerian government to reopen the portal. Michael Nnachi, the president of NANNM, acknowledged the difficulties faced by Nigerian nurses abroad and emphasized that patience is essential as they continue to engage with the government. Abubakar Shehu, the Deputy National President, also criticized the government's handling of the situation, emphasizing the need for prompt action.

Despite assurances from the NMCN that the portal would be reopened soon, as of now, the issue remains unresolved, leaving many nurses in limbo and facing uncertain futures.

With reports from Punch

The Philadelphi corridor: What it is and why it matters to Israel-Gaza ceasefire talks

The status of a narrow stretch of land known as the Philadelphi corridor on Gaza's border with Egypt has emerged as a stumbling block in efforts to secure a deal for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas after 11 months of war.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel needs to keep forces in the corridor to prevent it from becoming a lifeline for Hamas to smuggle weapons into Gaza.

But Egypt says Israel must pull out, and Hamas is demanding an Israeli withdrawal from the whole of Gaza. Here are some facts about the corridor.

WHAT IS THE PHILADEPHI CORRIDOR?

The corridor is a strip about 14km (9 miles) long, running from the Mediterranean sea at its north-western end to near the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing at its south-eastern end.

Israel gave it the code name Philadelphi, while the Palestinians and Egypt commonly call it the Salah al-Din route or axis.

Securing the border has long been a concern for Israel. Before it withdrew forces and settlers from Gaza in 2005, attacks on Israeli soldiers patrolling the corridor were common.

As part of the pull-out, Israel signed an agreement with Egypt which allowed for a 750-strong Egyptian border guard that was meant to tackle smuggling and militancy on the border. Control of the Gazan side passed to the Palestinian Authority until Hamas took over Gaza in 2007.

WHO CONTROLS IT AND WHAT DOES ISRAEL WANT?

Israel seized control of the Philadelphi corridor in May as part of its advance into Rafah, in southern Gaza.

It says it needs to secure the corridor because Hamas used tunnels linking Gaza with Egypt's Sinai Peninsula to smuggle weapons and banned material.

Long after Israel withdrew from Gaza, a large network of tunnels remained in use. In May, an Israeli delegate at the International Court of Justice said about 50 such tunnels had been identified in Rafah after the entry of Israeli forces.

Egypt says it destroyed the tunnel network from its side of the border as it began to push back against an Islamist insurgency in northern Sinai almost a decade ago, and that it later created a buffer zone and border fortifications that prevent smuggling.

WHY IS THE CORRIDOR IMPORTANT FOR PALESTINIANS?

Since Hamas took over Gaza, Israel along with Egypt enforced a blockade on the territory.

That included tightly controlling movement through the Rafah crossing, which is located on the Philadelphi corridor and was the only crossing on Gaza's borders not directly controlled by Israel.

Despite the restrictions, it remained a lifeline for Palestinians, allowing those with security approval to leave and re-enter the territory and serving as a gateway for trade.

After the outbreak of war on Oct. 7 last year the Rafah crossing became the main entry point for humanitarian aid and an evacuation route for those in serious need of medical treatment.

Israel's advance in May resulted in the closure of the crossing, sharply reducing aid deliveries and medical evacuations.

WHAT'S EGYPT'S POSITION?

Egypt says the corridor is guaranteed by its 1979 peace treaty with Israel, that Israel must withdraw, and that a Palestinian presence at Rafah should be restored.

The Israeli advance deprived Egypt of its role brokering access over the border, a position that had given Cairo leverage over Hamas.

Security at the border is highly sensitive for Egypt because of its history of conflict with Israel, fears that Israel's military offensive could create a breach of the border and push large numbers of Palestinians into Sinai, and the risk of militancy.

While Egypt has developed extensive contacts with Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, which was banned in Egypt after then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi led the 2013 overthrow of its democratically elected president, Mohamed Mursi.

Early in the current conflict, Sisi raised the prospect of Sinai becoming a base for attacks against Israel if Palestinians were forced across the border en masse.

WHY IS THE CORRIDOR A FOCUS OF CEASEFIRE TALKS?

Israel's desire to keep troops deployed in the Philadelphi corridor and the Netzarim corridor, which cuts across the Gaza Strip south of Gaza City, have recently emerged as sticking points in ceasefire talks.

Over months of negotiations Hamas's core demands have been a guarantee of a permanent ceasefire and a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. The group wants Palestinians, many of whom were displaced from northern to southern Gaza, to be able to move through Netzarim from the first phase of any ceasefire deal.

It has accused Netanyahu of raising new demands as a pretext for continuing the war.

Egypt is a mediator in ceasefire talks together with the United States and Qatar, and has reacted angrily to Israeli suggestions that its border with Gaza is not secure.

Negotiators have discussed surveillance systems that could allow Israel to pull back its troops if a ceasefire was agreed. There has also been discussion of deploying international monitors at the border.

Netanyahu has rejected a withdrawal from the corridor in the first phase of a ceasefire deal. Israel would only agree to a permanent ceasefire after that with guarantees the corridor would be secured, he said.

Reuters

Ukraine long-range strikes into Russia won't be a game changer, U.S. says

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin cautioned on Friday there was "no one capability" that would turn the war in Ukraine in Kyiv's favour after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged the West to let his forces use its long-range weapons to strike Russia.

At a regular meeting of Ukraine's allies at Ramstein U.S. Air Base in Germany, Zelenskiy repeated his plea for Western nations to supply more long-range missiles and lift restrictions on using them to hit targets such as airfields inside Russia.

Austin said Washington and its allies would continue to give strong support to Ukraine in fighting Russia's invasion, announcing another $250 million in U.S. security assistance.

But, questioned by reporters, the Pentagon chief pushed back on the idea that allowing deep strikes inside Russia with Western weapons would be a game-changer.

He said Russia had already moved aircraft that launch glide bombs into Ukraine beyond the range of U.S.-supplied ATACM missiles.

"There's no one capability that will in and of itself be decisive in this campaign," Austin told reporters at the end of the meeting.

He also said Ukraine had capabilities of its own - such as drones - to hit targets inside Russia that were beyond the reach of ATACM and British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles.

"There are a lot of targets in Russia - big country, obviously," Austin said. "And there's a lot of capability that Ukraine has in terms of UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) and other things to address those targets."

Among other donations, Germany pledged to supply an additional 12 self-propelled howitzers to Kyiv, while Canada said it planned to send 80,840 surplus small unarmed air-to-surface rockets as well as 1,300 warheads in the coming months.

Zelenskiy made his first appearance at a Ramstein meeting at an important moment in the 2-1/2-year-old war.

Ukrainian forces have made a surprise offensive into Russia's Kursk region even as Russian forces focus on seizing the city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine, a logistics hub for Kyiv's war effort.

"We need to have this long-range capability not only on the occupied territory of Ukraine, but also on Russian territory, yes, so that Russia is motivated to seek peace," Zelenskiy said, in remarks that drew support from countries including Baltic nations Lithuania and Estonia.

'RED LINES'

Zelenskiy has long pushed back against allies who have supplied long-range weapons but told Kyiv they cannot use them deep inside Russia for fear of instigating a direct conflict between the West and Russia's President Vladimir Putin.

In his remarks on Friday at Ramstein, Zelenskiy said: "Russia's attempts to draw red lines simply do not work."

The talks in Germany came as Americans prepare for a November presidential election that could have major implications for Ukraine. Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate, has promised to stand with Ukraine.

Former President Donald Trump, the Republican candidate, has vowed to resolve the Ukraine war immediately on taking office with possible peace talks that might require Kyiv to cede territory. Trump and many of his supporters are skeptical of the billions of dollars in aid Biden's administration has poured into Ukraine's war effort.

At Ramstein, Austin gave statistics on the toll the war has taken on Russian forces, estimating more than 350,000 Russian troops have been killed or wounded. He said Ukrainian forces have sunk, destroyed, or damaged 32 Russian Navy vessels and pushed Russia's Black Sea Fleet further east.

Zelenskiy said that about 6,000 Russian soldiers had been killed or wounded in Ukraine's Kursk offensive.

"Today we control an area of more than 1,300 square kilometres in the Kursk region and this includes 100 settlements," Zelenskiy said, adding that a large part of that territory was abandoned by Russian troops.

But Moscow has also been pounding cities across Ukraine with missiles and drones in some of its largest attacks since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022,

"The number of air defence systems that have not yet been delivered is significant," Zelenskiy said.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukrainian losses: situation in Kursk Region

The Ukrainian armed forces lost up to 300 military personnel and 12 pieces of equipment over the day in the Kursk Region, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.

In total, the enemy has lost over 10,400 servicemen since fighting began in the region.

The Russian military repelled two attacks by enemy assault groups towards Matveyevka and Olgovka, and foiled Ukrainian attempts to attack three settlements.

TASS has gathered the key news about the unfolding situation.

Operation to neutralize Ukrainian forces

- Units of the battlegroup North, backed by army aviation and artillery fire, repelled two attacks by enemy assault groups towards the settlements of Matveyevka and Olgovka over the day.

- The Russian military also foiled Ukraine's attempts to attack Borki, Komarovka and Maryevka.

- Enemy accumulations of manpower and military hardware were struck near the settlements of Apanasovka, Borki, Vishnevka, Vnezapnoye, Gordeyevka, Kruglenkoye, Kazachya Loknya, Kositsa, Leonidovo, Martynovka, Malaya Loknya, Novoivanovka, Novaya Sorochina and Snagost in the Kursk Region.

- Russian jets struck Ukrainian reserves and armored vehicles in 15 settlements of the Sumy Region.

Ukraine's losses

- Over the day, Ukraine lost up to 300 servicemen and 12 armored vehicles, including two armored personnel carriers and 10 armored combat vehicles. Two artillery guns, a radar station and 14 vehicles were also destroyed.

- Since the beginning of hostilities, Ukraine’s losses have amounted to more than 10,400 troops, 81 tanks, 41 infantry fighting vehicles, 74 armored personnel carriers, 599 armored combat vehicles, 339 vehicles, 76 artillery pieces, 24 multiple rocket launchers, including seven M142 HIMARS and five US-made M270 MLRS, eight anti-aircraft missile launchers, two transport-loading vehicles, 19 electronic warfare stations, seven counter-battery radars, two air defense radars, eight pieces of engineering equipment, including two engineering demolition vehicles and a UR-77 demining unit.

Elections

- The Kursk Region Election Commission has decided to ban people from taking pictures or shooting video at polling stations, except for duly accredited media representatives, Chairwoman of the Regional Election Commission Tatyana Malakhova said.

- Kursk residents are coming to vote at polling stations during the regional election of the governor, despite the missile alerts heard in the city from time to time, Chairwoman of Precinct Election Commission (PEC) No. 3 Irina Altukhova told TASS.

Aid to residents

- People affected by the fighting have received payments of more than 1.3 billion rubles ($18 million), the Russian Emergencies Ministry’s press service told TASS.

Reuters/Tass

A Chinese company recently published a series of texts between its customer service and a woman who claimed her daughter had become pregnant after wearing underwear bought from the company.

The unnamed company made the allegations made by an alleged customer public as a warning that such stunts could put entrepreneurs out of business. Apparently, a woman claiming to have purchased underwear from the company on Taobao, one of China’s largest online retail platforms, contacted customer support to complain that her daughter had become pregnant after wearing a pair of brand-new underwear. Despite staff’s attempts to convince the disgruntled woman that such a thing wasn’t possible, she insisted that it was the only way her daughter could have gotten pregnant and demanded an explanation.

All attempts to convince the woman that her theory was physiologically impossible failed, so in the end customer service told her that its factory staff consisted exclusively of women and their boss had gotten a vasectomy, so the girl’s pregnancy had nothing to do with the company.

“My daughter is pregnant after wearing your underwear,” the woman wrote on a private messaging board, to which the company’s staff answered that “underwear cannot be used as a means of transmission of pregnancy”.

Fearing that the woman could go public with her own version of the story, the company decided to publish the messages between her and its customer service on social media so people could see just how nonsensical her claim was. Unsurprisingly, the post went viral, attracting lots of humorous comments and theories on how the woman’s daughter had become pregnant. Some were certain that the girl had feigned ignorance to avoid being scolded by her mother, while others came up with even wilder theories such as her getting pregnant after swimming in a public pool.

After the story went viral online, the CEO of the company posted on its official channels that he had tried contacting the woman directly to learn more about this bizarre problem, but after checking her phone number, he learned that she was an influencer who was likely hoping to draw more attention to herself by creating this strange scandal.

“I hate this kind of people,” the man wrote, accusing the woman of making up a story for attention and ignoring the risk of dealing a “devastating blow” to businesses such as his. Some people will actually believe such wild claims and the rumors they spread can actually get a factory shut down or put it out of business.

Oddity Central

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) on Thursday said it is not yet in its full market pricing of petrol.

The Executive Vice President, Downstream of the NNPC Ltd, Segun Adedapo, disclosed this while speaking on the ARISE TV morning show on Thursday.

“We are not at our full market pricing of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) yet, and that’s why the behaviour of PMS pricing in Nigeria cannot be compared to those markets where the prices are fully market-based,” he said.

In recent months, fuel scarcity hit major cities across Nigeria, with attendant effects on businesses and households. This has also prompted commercial bus drivers to increase their fares in major towns and cities, including the nation’s capital. As a result, black marketers have made brisk business selling to willing buyers at higher prices ranging from N1,000 to N1,200 and some, even higher.

On Tuesday, NNPC Ltd adjusted the pump price of petrol to N897 from N617 as motorists and commuters grumbled amid the uncertainty. Other independent stations have also adjusted their pump prices, in some instances above N900 per litre.

Speaking on Thursday, Adedapo said the current increase in petrol pump price does not reflect free market conditions.

“If you look in section 205 of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), that’s the Act that gave birth to NNPC Limited, it tells you that petroleum prices or fuel prices were based on unrestricted free market conditions. And so, when you have a situation where fuel prices remain the same, that’s what is unusual. You won’t see that in other climes, where you have prices fixed for a long period.

“It’s actually supposed to move in consonance with changes and market conditions. During the summer months, prices are high because it’s a driving season, in the winter months, prices come down and things like that. So, that’s what the PIA provides for, prices should move with the seasons. You expect to see prices drop in those climes where petrol prices are market-based, but the opposite is our situation.

“And if you’re going to do a comparison, you want to check out the equivalent of those prices that you see in those climes and compare them to the prices here. You’ll find out that they’re still way higher than the prices we’re offering when you bring them to common currency,” he said.

He explained that the PIA provides for a free-market petrol pricing system where different players can source the product and sell at market-based prices.

“It should be a free market, unrestricted market-based conditions…what’s sustainable is the unrestricted free market pricing of PMS. That way, competition takes over, and Nigerians will get the best.

“Everyone will compete for market share, and the quality of service will improve. That feeling of entitlement by marketers or companies in the business will go away because they will compete against each other to serve consumers better,” he added.

Speaking further on what the state-owned oil company is doing to address the petrol scarcity in the country, he said the NNPC is working with all the marketers to resolve the issues.

“We are working with all of the marketers. You know we have almost a thousand stations around the country, but that’s not enough. We are working with all of the marketers, engaging with them to ensure that fuel stations open early and close late and make sure that there’s enough fuel in all of the stations.

“So, we are ensuring that deliveries are made to stations. We are doing our best to make sure that there are no diversions,” he added.

He noted that the exchange rate was impeding on the operations of the NNPC Ltd with the company experiencing challenges with foreign exchange liquidity.

“I can assure you that we have a good relationship with our suppliers, and as we speak, we don’t have a problem with the supplies coming in. Yes, we do have a challenge with payments, and that’s largely due to the fact that some FX illiquidity, it’s obvious, and that really is the challenge. As much as we are able to, we are making payments to them,” he said.

Supply

Adedapo said NNPC will supply a total of 17.6 million barrels of crude oil to Dangote Refinery between September and October.

He explained that the move is part of the federal government’s push to drive local production of petroleum products.

“We have supplied about 30 million barrels of crude oil to Dangote refinery so far, and this month alone, we will be providing 6.3 million barrels of crude oil to Dangote refinery in seven cargoes and in October.

“We will be providing another 11.3 million barrels of crude oil to Dangote refinery in 13 cargoes. So we are doing everything we can to make sure this situation abates as soon as possible,” he said.

PT

The Yoruba Council of Elders, YCE, Wednesday, told President Bola Tinubu, in an unmistakable term, that Nigerians are “suffering deeply” under his administration asking him to meet short term needs of the people before pursuing a long term vision.

The elders’ council through its Secretary General, Oladipo Oyewole, stressed that with millions of Nigerians

living without food, fuel and light, Tinubu needs to go back to drawing board and fashion out measures that will bring immediate comfort to the people.

YCE, in a statement, noted that it remains hopeful that Nigeria will have a turnaround.

“However, going by scanty information available on Government pursuits and activities, there is, presently, a lot of suffering in the land.”

“Be that as it may, we in YCE stand on our strong position that the interest of the masses to live a good life should be given full attention.”

“Without regular supply of electricity and with the official announcement of increase in the price of petroleum products (PMS), the current hardship cannot but increase in daily living by Nigerians”.

“The Federal Government ought to immediately pursue every avenue to make available to our people, the dividends of democracy. Not through distribution of palliatives (that does not seem to filter to the bottom) but by putting in place avenues to enhance proper and quality living through effective governance administration.

“Every Nigerian should be entitled to enjoy our common resources. Indeed, Nigerians are suffering deeply at this time….. no light, no fuel, no food.

“Mr. President should, without delay, go back to the drawing board to attend to the short term needs of Nigerians (the immediate needs of the people) whilst pursuing the long term vision of making Nigeria a better place for growth and for development”.

“As Elders, we demand immediate succour for the people to boost the welfare of Nigerians so that all can live in comfort and harmony. As far as this elders council is concerned, a lot of administrative work by Government is (absolutely) required for the masses of this country to live, stay alive as respectable and responsible people.”

The state of this nation today, YCE said, is a pill that has a bitter taste.

“The Administration of Tinubu should do something quickly to ensure proper steering of its intentions to establish and install better governance in Nigeria. Infact, the Presidency should do all possible to alleviate the suffering of all Nigerians immediately and without delay”.

Vanguard

PRESS RELEASE

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) officially confirms the selection of Chris Olufunmilola Okunowo and Morenikeji Okunowo as the new Asiwaju Onigbagbo Akile Ijebu and YEYE Asiwaju Onigbagbo Akile Ijebu  respectively.

Their selection and confirmation to the prestigious titles are subsequent to their proven track records in diverse areas of service to the Christian Community in Ijebuland and beyond.

No doubt, the distinguished couple possesses the qualities and traits required to hold these esteemed positions in the Christian Community of Ijebu land.

Moreover, their interpersonal relationship beyond border, leadership prowess and dedication have consistently played significant roles at improving the life of humanity and enhancing the cultural heritage, which earned them respect and admiration among their peers leading to Okunowo being honored with the title of  Bobasuwa II of Ijebuland  (the first Hereditary Chieftaincy Title in Ijebuland) by Oba S.K Adetona, the Awujale and Paramount Ruler of Ijebuland in particular and other Honorary Titles in Yorubaland in general.

The last holder of the this important title was the late founder of the First City Monument Bank, Subomi Balogun.

Signed:

Secretary, Christian Association of Nigeria, (CAN)

September 3, 2024

Israeli drone strike kills Palestinian gunmen amid more West Bank raids

Israeli forces killed six Palestinian militants in the town of Tubas and in a nearby refugee camp in the occupied West Bank early on Thursday, the military said, as a major operation in the territory stretched into a second week.

The incidents took place during raids in different areas of the West Bank that have involved hundreds of soldiers, police and intelligence officers backed by helicopters, drones and armoured vehicles - the biggest Israeli military action in the territory in months.

In Tubas, a city in the north of the Jordan Valley where 10 people have been killed over the past week, hundreds of mourners joined the funeral procession, including dozens of armed men firing into the air.

The Israeli military said three drone strikes hit a militant cell that posed a threat to soldiers in Tubas, killing a number of individuals including Mohammad Zakaria Zubeidi, whom it described as a "significant terrorist" in the Jenin area.

Palestinian health officials said the strikes killed five people and wounded three. The five were claimed as members by the armed wing of the Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad.

A heavily damaged car parked in a garage area was surrounded by blood stains where the men were killed in the strike.

A sixth Palestinian, identified as a 16 year-old by Palestinian health officials, was also killed in the area of Far'a, near Tubas, during an exchange of fire with Israeli security forces.

The military said he was armed with an explosive device but there was no claim from any of the militant groups that he was a member.

In the same operation around Far'a, the military said a drone strike hit a number of fighters who threw explosives and opened fire on security forces. However there were no reports of deaths in the incident from Palestinian authorities.

Israeli forces remained in Tulkarm on Thursday and in the flashpoint city of Jenin, historically one of the main centres of armed Palestinian groups in the West Bank.

The area was captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, and Palestinians envisage it as part of an eventual state also including Gaza and East Jerusalem.

The nine-day operation has left a trail of burned and damaged houses in Jenin and more than 20 km of roadway dug up by armoured tractors in what the Israeli military says is a tactic needed to neutralize buried roadside bombs.

Water and electricity services have also been disrupted, while thousands of people have been ordered from their homes in parts of the city. Health authorities have also said ambulances have faced problems getting through Israeli cordons around the city's main hospital.

At least 39 Palestinians have been killed across the West Bank during the operation, according to Palestinian health authorities. Most of those have been armed fighters but some uninvolved civilians have also been killed, including a 16-year-old girl. One Israeli soldier was also killed.

The West Bank has seen heightened unrest since the outbreak of the war between Israeli forces and Hamas in the Gaza Strip last October, with Israeli military actions, attacks by Palestinian militants on Israelis, and violence by Jewish settlers against Palestinian communities.

Reuters

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine could cause ‘global nuclear disaster’ – Putin

Ukrainian attacks on Russian nuclear power plants (NPP) could lead to a global disaster, President Vladimir Putin has warned. He suggested that Kiev think about what could happen if Moscow responded in kind.

Speaking at the plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) on Thursday, Putin was asked to comment on what Moscow claims are regular Ukrainian raids on the Zaporozhye and Kursk NPPs, both located not far from the frontline.

“Those are very dangerous terrorist acts. One could only imagine what would happen if we responded in kind. What would happen to the whole part of Europe over there.”

Ukraine currently operates three of its own nuclear power plants, one in the south and two in the west of the country.

Russian troops captured the Zaporozhye NPP, the largest facility of this kind in Europe, in the early days of the conflict in 2022. After the entire region overwhelmingly voted to join Russia in the autumn of the same year, the facility was made state property.

As the front line lies not far from the plant, Moscow and Kiev have traded accusations about who is behind several attacks on the facility. The security situation at the plant is being monitored by an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) mission, which has so far refused to assign blame to either side.

Meanwhile, concerns about the security situation at the Kursk NPP arose in early August when Ukraine launched its largest-to-date cross-border incursion into Russia. According to Putin, Kiev has already tried to launch an attack on the plant, which reportedly involved drones. Russia’s deputy envoy to the UN, Dmitry Polyansky has warned that Western reluctance to rein in Kiev could trigger “a nuclear incident with tragic consequences for the whole of Europe.”

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Britain to send 650 air defence missiles to Ukraine in latest support

The British government said on Friday it would provide Ukraine with 650 lightweight multi-role missiles worth 162 million pounds ($213.13 million) to help protect the country from Russian drones and bombing.

Russia last week unleashed its largest air attack on Ukraine since the full-scale warbegan early in 2022. Ukraine has made repeated requests for more air defence support to defend itself from missile and drone attacks.

The new supply of missiles was announced as British defence minister John Healey attended the Ukraine Defence Contact Group, an ad-hoc coalition of some 50 nations, at a U.S. air base in Germany.

The Ministry of Defence said, in keeping with the new government's commitment to speed deliveries of aid to Ukraine, the first batch of missiles announced on Friday were expected to arrive by the end of the year.

"This new commitment will give an important boost to Ukraine's air defences," Healey said in a statement.

The Ministry of Defence said the missiles made by Thales have a range of more than 6 kilometres (3.73 miles) and can be fired from a variety of platforms on land, sea, and air.

Last Monday, Russia fired more than 200 missiles and drones at Ukraine, killing seven people and striking energy facilities nationwide in what Kyiv called the war's "most massive" attack.

($1 = 0.7601 pounds)

RT/Reuters

When I was invited to Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, in June, I didn’t know what to expect. I had not visited the place since 2005. Even though I had been to nearby Rivers and Delta States several times, Bayelsa didn’t cross my mind.

To make matters worse, the state was often in the news for the wrong reasons. Not that it was an exception, but press headlines seemed to suggest that if you wanted the most depressing news about intra-party wrangling, post-election disputes, or the scariest stuff about kidnapping and youth militancy, Bayelsa was the place to go.

Bayelsa, the home of Nigeria’s first president from the south-south and one of the jewels of Nigeria’s oil reserve, also appeared to be one of its most volatile spots.

I didn’t plan to go there. And as if to validate my lethargy, days before this visit, there was something in the news that Bayelsa was the leading state in the prevalence of monkeypox. I kept the news to myself to save my family from panic. It was now looking like a suicide mission.

To go or not?

Yet, if Yenagoa was Nigeria’s chaos capital, it didn’t show in the voice of Esueme Dan-Kikile, the general manager corporate affairs of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), who never once wavered in his commitment to me to read my book there.

When anxiety and prejudice nearly prevailed, I yielded to Dan-Kikile’s reassuring calmness and my nagging curiosity for adventure. 

After 19 years of mental pictures, mostly from unflattering news reports, I decided to face the demon. By a quirk of fate, I used the longer route – Warri to Yenagoa. What a trip this second missionary journey turned out to be!

If a picture is worth a thousand words, one travel mile is worth two thousand. Words sometimes fail to describe the joys and excitement of new faces, places, sounds, and smells of travel. 

Jonathan was “king”

The last time I visited, former President Goodluck Jonathan was governor. The state was nine years old, and there was only one road in and out of the capital. 

Bayelsa, located in southern Nigeria, edges the Atlantic Ocean. It was the hotbed of militancy by youths who, sometimes at the behest of politicians, took hostages for ransom and blew up oil and gas pipelines as bargaining chips. Its people are mostly fishermen and farmers whose environment and toils have been ruined for decades by oil spills and the ravages of gas flaring.

This visit felt different from when I landed at the airport in Warri, Delta State, for the three-and-a-half-hour drive to Yenagoa. 

The East-West Road

After over N350 billion and 18 years, the construction of the East-West Road, highway to the six states in the Niger Delta region and gateway to the East is still on. They say it would take nearly three times that amount, and God knows how long to finish. 

This was what Senate President Godswill Akpabio said four years ago when he was Minister of the Niger Delta Affairs – that the road, which NDDC was handling under his supervision, would cost about N1 trillion naira to complete.

Large portions of it were still impassable as of last week. Where you could drive freely for a mile or two, you had to look out for barricades and sand-filled drums at makeshift checkpoints where the security men and local youths appear to have agreed on a joint approach and a standard extortion formula. 

“Tollgate ahead, off the mic!”

If this sounds confusing, you haven’t heard the more confusing part. Extortion doesn’t only happen on the highway. Four years ago, just before Akpabio said the East-West Road might cost N1 trillion to finish, a “tollgate” was mounted for him inside Nigeria’s parliament in Abuja.

A joint session of Nigeria’s Senate and House of Representatives was conducting an audit of the NDDC, and the Commission had not completed the East-West Road after many years and billions of naira spent. As Akpabio proceeded to open the can of worms after hinting that the contracts for the road were awarded to companies belonging to his interlocutors, the committee chairman and current Minister of Interior Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo interjected: “Off your mic! Honourable Minister, it’s OK, off the mic!”

That interjection became the national joke for killing any potentially embarrassing thing that should be said. Talking too much is against the convention at any tollgate – whether in Abuja or on the East-West Road. Off the mic, pay the toll, and move.

Akpabio, an accomplished toll collector, should have known the tradition. According to a NEITI report in 2013, the NDDC received about N400 billion between 2007 and 2011, which is almost one-quarter of its 20-year existence. If the Commission were a state with a revenue of N168 billion in 2011, for example, it would be the sixth highest earning in the country, displaced only by Lagos, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers. 

Yet, as the car taking me to Yenagoa drove by, the most prevalent evidence that the Commission is working on the East-West Road is the enormous square slabs, each engraved with its name erected shamelessly within every two kilometres or so. It would be a surprise if this work is finished in another 18 years, even if Nigeria robbed a Chinese bank for N1 trillion.

Waterfront and petrol queues

After nearly three hours of driving, we finally arrived in Yenagoa, turning off at the Yenagoa-Mbiama part of the East-West Road at Igbogini Junction onto Glory Drive. The driver said the new road was constructed last year. The one-road state capital had a new access road, which I later learned was the third.  

In Yenagoa, the makeshift food shops on wooden stilts at the waterfront at the end of Alamieyeseigha Road, just a stone’s throw from the imposing Content Board Tower, were great. The food, smell, neon lights, music, and the energy of the solicitous food vendors courting mostly young customers were hard to resist. 

The place reminded me of Tampa Bay in Florida – if, for a moment, from behind any of the wooden shacks, you looked far beyond the large waterweeds and abandoned wooden canoes at the shore to the Ocean just at the horizon. 

On our way to the venue of the book reading at Golden Tulip the next day, we saw long queues of vehicles snaking for miles from a nearby NNPC filling station where drivers were waiting to buy petrol. 

It’s heartbreaking that residents in this state, home of Oloibiri, where crude oil was first discovered in Nigeria and home to the country's fourth highest concentration of oil wells, must go through this to buy petrol. My driver said drivers unable to buy petrol the same day would leave their vehicles at the station and return the next day. They are used to it. I shook my head.

Read the book!

The book reading was electrifying. It was attended by a fine collection of students from four universities in the state with their teachers. Accomplished writers and professionals from other walks of life were present, too. The audience's enthusiasm and determination to seize the moment for their own good were remarkable. 

Dan-Kikile spoke from the heart about NCDMB’s passion for upskilling capacity at institutional and individual levels; the moderator, Doubra Timi-Wood of Channels TV, made the reading a shared moment of intimacy, and the audience loved it. 

The cure for my lethargy was facing my fears. I’m glad I did. 

** Ishiekwene is Editor-In-Chief of LEADERSHIP and author of the new book Writing for Media and Monetising It.