Nigeria Has Not Released Crime Statistics In Four Years. Why?

While the police has frameworks in place including approved funding to gather data, the federal statistical agency says it has not been cooperative. The last time Nigeria released a crime statistics report was June 2018 and experts say this is costly for a country wrestling with insecurity across various fronts. The federal agency in charge …

Poor Treatment Of Young Africans Living With HIV Threatens Global Eradication Plans

Young people living with HIV in West and Central Africa say they still face abuse, discrimination, and disappointing healthcare services. This reality, in turn, makes ending the epidemic as a public health threat in the next decade a lot more difficult. E.L. found out she was HIV positive eight years ago. When her husband cautioned …

The Anatomy Of A Terror Attack In Northwest Nigeria

Reconstructing a typical terrorist attack based on interviews with dozens of victims across three states in the region. It all started 11 years ago, or six, or maybe more recently — depending on what community you are from and how soon they got to you. Before that, you had not grown accustomed to the explosive …

Food Prices Are Shooting Up In Northwest Nigeria, And There’s One Prime Suspect

More farmers are downing tools, fearing they may become victims of terror attacks. As a result, food items are scarcer, driving prices through the roof — beyond the reach of the poor. When Esther Maiwada moved to Gusau, capital of the northwestern state of Zamfara, nine years ago, one measure of maize was sold for …

Death, Starvation, New Terror Recruits … Aftermath Of Borno’s IDP Resettlement

The government insists it is resettling the displaced people for their good, but so far it hasn’t seemed that way. For many of the returnees, almost everything that could go wrong has. When Gambo Muhammad, 72, left his hometown of Sidiya Kari in Kala Balge, Northeast Nigeria, he felt he had no other choice. Rampaging terrorists …

Nigeria’s Intention For IDPs And How It Treats Them Are Miles Apart

IDPs should not have to struggle to access basic resources or fear that their rights would be violated — if only the country implemented a better part of its own policy. Since it returned to democratic rule in 1999, Nigeria has faced a steady rise in the number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). Ethnic fault …

Nearly 10,400 Killed In Nigeria In 2021, Worst Toll In 6 Years

Likewise, victims of kidnapping in the country were over 5,000 last year — equally the worst rate since 2015 at least. In 2021, Nigeria recorded its worst insecurity-related death toll since 2016, an analysis of data collected by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) has shown. At least 10,398 persons were killed across the country between Jan. …

Guilty Until Proven Innocent: How Nigeria Further Preyed On Terror Victims

It took three to six years of agonising detention and total separation from their families for Mu’azu and Muhammad to be “cleared” as having nothing to do with the notorious terror group, Boko Haram. The people of Andara, a town in Northeast Nigeria, were worried sick when Boko Haram invaded in 2014 and started dictating how …

Her Husband’s Death ‘At The Hands Of Nigerian Soldiers’ Drove Her Crazy — Literally

The Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria’s Northeast is taking a toll on victims’ mental health, and this is not receiving as much attention. Saraya’s life took a turn for the worse when her partner was killed in 2014. She had been happily married to Awaza for three years, and they both lived quietly in Taradan, …

Igbo Passengers Attacked In Jos? No, Pictures From Zimbabwe, Southern Nigeria

The police command in Plateau State, North-central Nigeria, has also debunked the misleading claim. About four pictures went viral on Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 29, with the claim that they depicted an attack in Jos, North-central Nigeria, involving between 230 and 250 Igbo passengers. But the images are not recent and were shot in unrelated circumstances. …