Nigeria's military is urging people in three Northwestern states to leave forested areas ahead of a bombing campaign targeting bandits and terrorists, according to local broadcast stations and a military official. An advertisement running on local television and radio stations warned people in Zamfara, Katsina and the Birnin Gwari area of Kaduna state to leave the forests in advance of a "heavy bombardment." Murtala Alhasan Umaru, general manager at Zamfara state TV and radio, showed the advertisement to Reuters and said the military asked them to play it. There are versions in local pidgin English, Hausa, Kanuri and Fulani. A…

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy demanded a special United Nations tribunal impose "just punishment" on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, including financial penalties and stripping Moscow of its veto power in the Security Council. Hours earlier, president Vladimir Putin had ordered Russia's first wartime mobilisation since World War Two. DIPLOMACY/POLITICS * Russia and Ukraine carried out an unexpected prisoner swap, the largest since the war began and involving almost 300 people, including 10 foreigners. * Putin's thinly veiled threat to use nuclear weapons was "dangerous and reckless rhetoric", NATO's secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said. * "If the territorial integrity of our…

Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State has said Nigerians are fed up with governments at all levels, warning that the electorate would shock politicians and political parties in the forthcoming 2023 elections. Speaking to journalists in Benin, Edo State capital, on Tuesday, Obaseki said politicians should expect surprise from the electorate due to poor governance and inefficiency. “Nigerians are fed up with the inefficiencies and failures of government officials and other representatives and will reject the same if nothing is done to change the narrative. No political party today can beat its chest and say they will win or have…

Nigeria's total public debt rose 3% to $103.3 billion in the second quarter of this year, largely driven by local borrowing to finance the budget deficit, the Debt Management Office (DMO)said. Nigeria's deficit has grown this year due to the high cost of a fuel subsidy at a time when oil revenue has fallen due to crude theft and vandalism of pipelines. The DMO said in its latest data that public debt increased from $100.07 billion as of March this year to $103.3 billion by the end of June. Although the debt constitutes 23% of the country's gross domestic product…