News Report: Fear And Frustration In Nigeria As Millions At Risk Of Phone Suspension

Crowd Waiting To Register At An NIMC Office 

Courtesy: AFP

"If I don't have my phone, I don't make money," said Raphael Ajih, resting on a rusty metal chair, his hands clenched on his lap.

The government of Africa's most populous country has ordered telecom operators to block the SIM cards of anyone who fails to register for a National Identity Number (NIN) by February 9.

Across the country, many like Ajih are trying to comply with the directive, only to be frustrated by days-long waits to do the paperwork, often in large crowds despite the Covid pandemic.

The idea behind the NIN is to create a single ID database for Nigeria's 200 million people, replacing the hotchpotch of documents, from drivers licences to voter cards, that citizens use to identify themselves.

Article: Facing 2021: Notes To The Nigerian Left

Madunagu 

By Edwin Madunagu  

 

The last paragraph of my last published article for the year 2020, titled “Study notes on state and state failure” (December 22) started with a number of questions to the Nigerian Left. Please note that, our wishes notwithstanding, we do not see or present the Nigerian Left, as of today, as an undifferentiated entity. Rather, we realistically see it as a movement of various segments and fighting vanguards united by a common history of successes and failures as well as commitment, faith and hope.  

 

The questions were: “So, judging from the multitude of crises partially listed in the opening paragraph of this piece, has the Nigerian state failed? Is it failing? Is the summons: “revolution or state failure” real? In other words, is a fundamental change of agenda called for in the Nigerian Left?” My answer, which I called provisional, deliberately avoided a direct contact with the questions because it would have been unhelpful to attempt to answer them directly.  

Special Report: The Next 100 Days: Positioning Africa At The Forefront Of The Biden Administration

President Biden Being Sworn In

(The new U.S. administration must double down on, not shy away from engagements with African energy opportunities by facilitating U.S. private sector investment in natural gas and renewables and eschewing a return to aid-driven diplomacy)

On Wednesday, U.S. President Joe Biden was sworn into office, ushering in a new administration, new foreign policy and a new approach to U.S. trade and investment in Africa.

For its part, the Trump administration had not been short on growing U.S. private sector involvement in Africa, specifically under its trademark initiative, Prosper Africa. Designed to strengthen bilateral trade and investment, the initiative was launched in 2019 and supported by the Better Utilization of Investments Leading to Development (BUILD) Act. Signed by former President Trump in 2018, the BUILD Act consolidated the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and USAID’s Development Credit Authority into the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), doubling the limit on investments from $29 billion under OPIC to $60 billion under the DFC.

U-Report: ANLCA BOT Conducts Elections Into Western Zone Chapt ers’ Executive Committees And Appoints Comrade John Ofobike As Leader Of ANLCA In Western Zone

Reported by a Citizen Reporter

The Board of Trustees (BOT) of ANLCA having patiently waited after exhausting all available avenues for a honest and sincere reconciliation, it decided to bare its constitutional fangs by invoking relevant Sections (Section 13, Subsection 4 (a-d) Pages 23-24) of the Supreme Constitution of ANLCA 2008, and leverage on the various court orders/judgments/injunctions to play its role of reactivating and stabilizing ANLCAm.

News Release: "Nigerian Citizens Stranded In Southern Africa Due To Inability To Have Their Passports Renewed"-Alaigbo Development Foundation

We have received several distress calls from Nigerian Citizens (over 1000) who are stranded all over Southern Africa (Botswana, Swaziland, Lesotho and South Africa); unable to travel out of those countries due to the failure of the Nigerian Consulate in South Africa to renew their passports. Some of these citizens have been waiting since June 2020.