Tuesday 31 January 2017

A 10-year-old is girl reported to have detonated a bomb in northeast Nigeria as another attack killed one at a mosque, a civilian vigilante said on Tuesday.
Musa Ahmad, who works with the military against Boko Haram Islamists, said the incident happened at about 11:30 am in Banki, near the Cameroon border in Borno state.
“A girl of around 10 came by the military barracks and was trying to cross the road into the IDP (internally displaced persons) camp,” he told AFP.
“She was asked to stop by soldiers. But she ignored them. They threatened to shoot her if she didn’t stop. She obeyed and she was asked to lift up her hijab.
“She did and explosives were found to be strapped on her. Suddenly she pulled on the trigger and exploded.”
No-one else was injured, said Ahmad, who added it was the second attempt on the camp in recent weeks.

Malaria drugs fail for first time on patients in UK


The treatment for the malaria parasite has failed for the first time in patients being treated in the UK, doctors say.
Reports claim that the drug combination was unable to cure four patients, who had all visited Africa.
However, team at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said it was too early to panic but warned things could suddenly get worse and demanded an urgent appraisal of drug-resistance levels in Africa.

Malaria parasites has been a major killer of the under-fives with one child dying from the disease every two minutes.

The Sins of My Brother

As the undertakers put my brother’s corpse into the dug ground, my heart was heavy and overwhelmed by regret. I could have stopped this. I began to cry profusely. No one could fathom the reason for my sudden wail.  As I laid on the ground lamenting so bitterly, I began to think about how it all started. . .
My brother’s attitude changed after he changed his friends. His former friends were gentle, relatable and somewhat like family. The ones he spent time with at this time were wild, noisy and criminal-looking.
On a certain day, I came home about two hours earlier from school because I had a running stomach. To my surprise, my house had a repugnant smell similar to the one I avoid under the bridge, close to church: smell of Indian hemp or weed, I am not even sure.
My pace increased as my stomach pain seized at that moment. I took curious steps, opened the door gently and traced the smell to my brother’s room. I opened the door and received the shock of my life. . .my 16 year old brother was smoking something definitely more harmful than the normal cigarette these gatemen smoked around, along with his friends. They were all shocked to see me. I left to my room and cried very seriously. There went the one I used to look up to.
He begged me not to play the ‘amebo squad’ by reporting to my parents and that it was his first time and he was not going to do it again, stressing that he only did this just to prove to his friend that he was man enough to do what they did. Oh, how I wish I didn’t listen to him!
Things grew from bad to worse. My parents would leave the house by 6:00am in the morning and return to meet a well-arranged house, choking with smell of air freshener. My brother’s new found friends will come by very early, even before I leave for school and go some minutes after I have returned.  My brother even became more confident, he started smoking more often, I knew this because I usually see shards of burnt papers on the floor of his toilet before he carries out his post-smoking sanitations. I still kept my mouth shut, thinking I was protecting him from my parent’s wrath.
I came back from school one sunny afternoon, very hungry, hoping to immediately cook some packs of noodles. I entered the house with the usual speed that becomes me whenever I am pressed. When I checked to greet my brother in his room, I met him lying on the ground of the choking room helplessly, alone, without his friends. He was breathing really fast as if gasping for air after an arduous race. I called my parents with his phone and in no time they were around. My parent were utterly dismayed with what they saw.
We rushed him to the family hospital. After sitting at the reception for a long time, the doctor came and spoke to my father. He said my brother vomited a while ago and apparently had eaten a lot of food with so much feed. My brother had cooked beans with a lot of weed and eaten it alone. He broke the news my parents were never ready to hear,  ‘’We are sorry, we lost him.’’
I could not control the guilt that ran through me, I could have stopped this. My parents could not forgive themselves for not taking a closer look at him before it came to that. Whoever could or could not take the blame did not change anything – the consumption of weed killed my brother.

Customs seizes 661 pump-action rifles in Lagos

The Nigeria Customs Service has seized 661 pieces of pump-action rifles from China, concealed with steel doors and other merchandise goods, which came in through Lagos port, Comptroller-General of Customs, Hameed Ali said on Monday.
According to Ali, the Federal Operations Unit (FOU), while on patrol, intercepted a Mark truck with registration number BUG 265 XG conveying a 40ft container with number; PONU/825914/3 along Mile 2-Apapa Road, Lagos.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the consignment was cleared from Lagos port.
The comptroller-general said the truck was immediately taken to FOU premises for physical examination and 49 boxes containing 661 pieces of pump-action rifles concealed with steel doors were revealed.
Ali said the rifles were under absolute prohibition, adding that its importation was illegal.
The suspects are Oscan Okafor (an importer), Mahmud Haruna (a clearing agent), and Sadique Mustapha (accompanying the consignment to its destination).
He said customs officers who were involved in the clearance of the containers were in the custody of Comptroller Mahmud Haruna of FOU Zone “A”.
Ali said that the seizure underscored the determination of the service to enforce all laws relating to importation and exportation of goods into and out the country thereby contributing to the economy, security and well-being of the country.
The comptroller-general said that the seizure was commendable and represented the new normal rule in the service “where most officers and men are on a daily basis ensuring that illegalities are not allowed unchecked.”
He said the seizure would be handed over to the appropriate authority.

Nigerian student becomes first black woman President of Harvard Law Review


A Nigerian student, Imelme Umana, has made history has the first black woman to be elected as President of Harvard Law Review.
According to Clutch, Umana is a PhD candidate "interested in the intersection between government and African American studies by exploring how stereotypes of black women are reproduced and reinforced in American political discourse."

Another notable African to become President of Harvard Law Review is Barack Obama who was elected the first black President in 1990.