Five American senators have asked Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, to re-designate Nigeria as a country of particular concern (CPC). In December 2020, the US listed Nigeria among countries blacklisted for “violating religious freedom” under the CPC designation. However, in November 2021, Nigeria was removed from the list. In a June 29, 2022 letter, the senators questioned why Nigeria was “inexplicably” removed “despite no demonstrable improvement in the country’s religious freedom conditions”. They cited the attack on St Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo state and the lynching of Deborah Samuel, a female student of Shehu Shagari College of…

German authorities on Friday returned to Nigeria the first two of more than 1,100 priceless sculptures known as the Benin Bronzes looted by Europeans in the 19th century. British soldiers looted some 5,000 of the artifacts - intricate sculptures and plaques dating back to the 13th century onwards - when they invaded the Kingdom of Benin, in what is now Southsouth Nigeria, in 1897. The spoils made it into museums around Europe and the United States. "This is a story of European colonialism. We should not forget that Germany played an active role in this chapter of history," said German…

Russia flattened part of an apartment building while residents slept on Friday in missile attacks near Ukraine's port of Odesa that authorities said killed at least 21 people, hours after Russian troops abandoned the Black Sea outpost of Snake Island. Residents in the resort village of Serhiivka helped workers pick through the rubble of the nine-storey apartment block, a section of which had been destroyed in the early-morning strike. Walls and windows of a neighbouring 14-storey apartment block were damaged by the blast wave. Nearby holiday camps were also hit. "We came here to the site, assessed the situation together…

Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says some challenges are undermining the effectiveness of the whistleblowing policy. President Muhammadu had recently said around $386 million was recovered in 2021 through the policy enacted by his administration in an attempt to curb corruption and repatriate looted funds. Speaking on Thursday at a townhall meeting organised by the African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL) in Awka, Anambra state, the EFCC expressed worry over the declining number of whistleblowers in spite rewards offered to informants. The programme, which was supported by the MacArthur Foundation in collaboration with Anambra Civil Society Network…