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 Blockchain  Ogoniland, situated off the coast of the Gulf of Guinea in southeastern Nigeria, is considered the most polluted region along the Niger Delta and among the worst in the world. Even though the Niger Delta is rich in resources, poverty, pollution and unemployment are rife. One of its primary resources is oil, and consequently, many companies take advantage of the region. According to the  United Nations Environment Programme  (UNEP), the oil industry has been a key factor in Nigeria’s economy for 50 years. As a result of oil drilling and spills by Shell and other companies, however, the land has been devastated, the vegetation decimated, fish numbers depleted, and surrounding mangroves, swamps and creeks contaminated. Consequently, the livelihoods of many fishermen and farmers have been destroyed. In 2011, the UNEP said that it could take up to 30 years for full environmental restoration to be achieved in Ogoniland; but a lack of accountability appears...

Africa Egyptian antiquities workers with three ancient mummies discovered in the tomb of Amenemhat, a goldsmith, at the Draa Abul-Naga necropolis near the Nile city of Luxor. His name was Amenemhat, and he lived in Egypt about 3,500 years ago, toiling away as a royal goldsmith whose work was dedicated to an ancient Egyptian sun god. A wooden sacophagus was among the items unearthed. The niche dates to Egypt’s 18th dynasty New Kingdom era — about the 15th century BC, the antiquities ministry said. KHALED DESOUKI / AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES After five months of digging under an unforgiving sun, a team of  Egyptian  archaeologists unearthed the tomb belonging to the goldsmith who had lived in the desert province of Luxor, the authorities said on Saturday. The jeweler, who lived during the 18th dynasty (about 1567 B.C. to 1320 B.C.), had dedicated his work to Amon-Re, the most powerful deity at the time. Amenemhat’s tomb was found in Draa Abul-Naga, a necropolis ...

President Muhammadu Buhari Kunle Aderinokun in Lagos and Tobi Soniyi in Abuja President Muhammadu Buhari has said that Nigeria cannot afford to sell forex to parents seeking to fund their children education abroad. This president’s position on forex allocation for school fees of Nigerian students studying abroad was part of the interview Buhari granted to Aljazeera television during his trip to Qatar last weekend, which was posted on the TV’s website sunday. Buhari said his position on the forex allocation issue followed a discovery that the high demand for forex by parents of the students studying abroad to pay their wards’ tuition fees had been putting unnecessary pressure on the Naira, which in turn affects Nigerian economy. Convinced that the practice is responsible for the current free fall of the currency, Buhari said the country could no longer continue to sell dollars to parents to sponsor their wards in schools abroad. He, however, said any parent who could afford forex ou...

After buying up digital currency transfer company PayCash, Daimler has signaled it may use digital currency to build up its presence in Africa. DAIMLER: ‘CLEAR SIGNAL OF FURTHER AFRICAN GROWTH’ The continent is providing huge demand for transport networks, yet businesses are continually faced with financing problems, the vehicle giant  told  industry magazine Autconomy this week. “We are already present in over 30 marketplaces in Africa and are still expanding both our product range and our service operations network,” said a spokesperson. “This is a clear signal that we expect further growth in Africa.” The scale of under access to financing means in developing economies is staggering. Two billion individuals and 200 million companies lack suitable support, Autconomy says, giving a clear advantage to digital currency-based alternatives, which businesses can use to cut out hungry middlemen. When Daimler  quietly purchased  Luxemburg-based digital cu...

The Israeli regime will collapse like the apartheid regime in South Africa as oppression will not last long, says a political commentator.  “They (Zionists) are going to ... manage the Gaza and the West Bank exactly like the apartheid [regime] in South Africa and will collapse one day,” John Phoenix said. “It is not going to be long before the collapse [of the Israeli regime], because that’s not going work for a long time,” to commit crime and get away with others’ support, Phoenix told Press TV on Wednesday.   While Palestinians are living in two tiny sections of their historic homeland surrounded by fascist settlers, “there is no room for so-called two states,” the activist said. “There will be no such thing called two states” because Israeli Prime Minister is seeking to put pressure on the Palestinian people and create a so-called Jewish state, "which in fact means a Zionist state," he added. “The Zionist dream is to have a so-called pure Jewish state, which is a ...

Lagos— ONE hundred and sixty-one Nigerians, who have been stranded in Libya voluntarily returned to the country yesterday on board an Airbus 329 with registration number Nouvelair TS-INB. The returnees journey back  to Nigeria was facilitated by International Oganisation for Migration, IOM, after the Federal Government asked for its assistance after confirming that some Nigerians were  willing to return home. The aircraft conveying the returnees landed at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, around 3:30pm yesterday aboard the chartered aircraft and the returnees were received at the Hajj Terminal by the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA. The group was made up of 101  females and 60 males, seven children, and two infants. There were also three unaccompanied minors while three of the deportees needed medical care. Addressing newsmen at the Hajj Camp wing of the airport where the returnees were profiled, the Director General of NEMA, Alhaji Moha...

A 17-year-old Cameroonian has won Google's annual coding award, despite the partial shutdown of internet in his country. Nji Collins Gbah is the first African to win the competition. The population of the English-speaking North West and South West regions of Cameroon are elated after teenager Nji Collins Gbah became the first African winner in Google's annual coding competition. The 17-year-old beat all odds, including the internet blackout imposed by the government, to emerge the winner. The Cameroonian government cut off the internet in the English-speaking regions four weeks ago, saying this was necessary to quell unrest and to stop people from using social media to spread what the government calls "anti-state messages." Protests began in October last year, targeting the alleged marginalization of English speakers by Cameroon's francophone majority. Since then, at least six protestors have been shot dead and hundreds have been arrested. Undeterred by all t...

FILE PHOTO: Former President, Goodluck Jonathan The Peoples Democratic Party remains Nigeria’s strongest and biggest party despite losing the 2015 presidential election, and will win the next general election, former President Goodluck Jonathan has said. Mr. Jonathan said current efforts at reforming the party are “a clear sign” the PDP will win in 2019. The former president said this on Monday in Abuja while receiving a report from the Strategy Review and Inter-Party Affairs Committee of the PDP. “Yes we lost the presidential election but that doesn’t diminish us. Every other party still knows that PDP is a leading party,” said Mr. Jonathan who received the team in his House in Abuja. “Losing the presidency is something temporary. We should be able to get that position back as long as we are able to get our acts together. I am happy that you people are working towards that,” he said. Mr. Jonathan was the party’s candidate in ...

By Pap Saine and Lamin Jahate By Pap Saine and Lamin Jahateh BANJUL (Reuters) - Gambia's new government has told the United Nations it will remain in the International Criminal Court (ICC), state media reported on Monday, reversing the previous administration's plan to withdraw from the tribunal. Former president Yahya Jammeh announced in October that he would pull Gambia out of the ICC, accusing the world body of ignoring alleged war crimes of Western nations and seeking only to prosecute Africans. But President Adama Barrow, who defeated Jammeh in a December election, pledged during the campaign to undo Jammeh's decision, restore human rights and repair the country's badly-damaged foreign relations. "As a new government that has committed itself to the promotion of human rights ... we reaffirm The Gambia's commitment to the principles enshrined in the Rome Statue of the International Criminal Court," said a statement read on state television and r...

Reuters ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari discussed a possible new arms deal with U.S. President Donald Trump by telephone on Monday to help the West African nation fight terrorism, the Nigerian presidency said. Nigeria has been fighting since 2009 against an insurgency by Boko Haram militants trying to set up an Islamic state in the remote northeast. The unrest has killed thousands and displaced more than two million people. Abuja has been trying to persuade the U.S. to sell it military aircraft, a request being reviewed by Congress. "President Trump assured the Nigerian president of U.S. readiness to cut a new deal in helping Nigeria in terms of military weapons to combat terrorism," the presidency said in a statement. Buhari is currently on medical leave in Britain. It gave no other details of the call, their first since Trump's inauguration, except that the U.S. president had invited Buhari to Washington. Under Buhari's predecessor Good...

Boko Haram Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno state on Monday released the grim statistics of deaths and material losses suffered by the state due to the Boko Haram insurgency. Mr. Shettima gave the data at the annual Murtala Mohammed memorial lecture held at the Shehu Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja. The governor, who delivered a paper “Managing the Boko Haram Crisis in Borno State, Experiences and Lessons for a Multiparty, Multiethnic and Multireligious Nigeria”, said the insurgency has led to the deaths of almost 100,000 persons, based on estimates by community leaders in the state over the years. “The Boko Haram insurgency has led to deaths of almost 100,000 persons going by the estimates of our community leaders over the years,” he said. This casualty figure is the highest ever provided by any government official from a state where remote areas which witness attacks by the insurgents are difficult to reach. “Two million, one hundred and fourteen thousand (2,114,000) person...

The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, on Monday canvassed patronage for Nigerian doctors, declaring their services better than their counterparts abroad. Adewole said this during the commissioning of the Maternity and Neonatal Wards and Central Pharmacy Building at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex (OAUTHC), Ile-Ife in Osun. The minister commended the hospital management for the effective services rendered for the masses, charging them to publicise the hospital services for more patronage. He dismissed speculations that the hospital’s services were limited and that it had no effective medical equipment. He reiterated the plan of the Federal Government to provide standard healthcare for people across the nation. He emphasised that the Rapid Response Initiative (RRI) of the Federal Ministry of Health would continue to provide quick assistance especially to the less privileged. “The RRI will continue for the citizenries to benefit the more. “...

South Africa will introduce a national minimum wage of 3,500 rand ($261) per month in 2018, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Thursday, according to a Reuters report. The announcement follows protracted negotiations between the government and labour unions. Nigeria’s current minimum wage is N18,000 ($60) with organised labour asking it be increased to at least N50,000 ($166), despite several state and local governments defaulting on the existing amount. The Nigerian government has not acceded to labour’s request amidst a biting recession that has crippled Africa’s largest economy. Workers have meanwhile complained the N18,000 is way below a living wage and cannot meet basic needs of workers. Supporters of a South African minimum wage say it can stimulate growth as workers can spend more, and reduce inequality. Critics say it could lead to increased unemployment as employers will be unable to afford higher wage bills. Credit ratings agencies have said agr...

Votes cast by Somali parliamentarians are counted in the first round of the presidential election on Wednesday in the capital, Mogadishu. Farah Abdi Warsameh/ AP A surprise winner has been declared in Somalia's presidential election — Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo, a former prime minister and the popular favorite who was running against the incumbent president. Somali lawmakers cast their votes in a heavily fortified airport in a country plagued by regular militant attacks. Twenty candidates were  whittled down to three  after the first round — including the incumbent, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who had been accused of vote-buying. According to the U.N. Assistance Mission in Somalia, Mohamud won the most votes in the first round, followed by Farmajo, a former prime minister and the eventual winner. "And even though the process was rife with corruption from all sides, a vote for Farmajo is seen as a vote against corruption," as NPR's Eyder Peralta reports from Nairobi,...

The Somali Government, on Tuesday, announced a ban on flights arrival and departure from Mogadishu Airport and also beefed up security ahead of the Wednesday presidential elections. The Transport and Civil Aviation Minister, Ali Ahmed, informed travel agencies of the flights suspension as well as traffic movement in the capital during the elections. “We inform travel agencies that flights at Aden Adde Airport will be suspended on Wednesday for the presidential election,” Mr. Ahmed said. The minister said that this would not affect other local airports in the country, as the election would take place only in the capital city. According to him, all major roads in Mogadishu will be closed for two days till the conclusion of the election. The Mogadishu Mayor, Yusuf Jimale, imposed a ban on traffic movement in Mogadishu to ensure security of the presidential elections. The Horn of Africa nation, which has been under near daily attacks from the Al-Shabaab terror group, plan...

FORMER Vice President of Nigeria Atiku Abubakar privately owned University,  the  America University of Nigeria, AUN,  Yola has been described by Google as one of world’s leading centers of excellence. Also as part of moves to boost ICT infrastructure in the Institution, Google, an  Internet multilingual and social networking and identity service  has entered into a  major collaboration effort with the University, just as  the AUN gained a grant of USD 112,400 (about N17,000,000) from the internet giants. According to AUN, it has  been working on this collaboration for almost a year and under this agreement, the University will use funds from Google to purchase goods and services that will help support and expand its network. In a statement by the Chief Information Officer of AUN, Mr. Julius Ayuk Tabe SUnday, the University announced that the collaboration will also boost its Internet availability on campus. Six other universities, Ghan...