The Santuario Della Beata Vergine Maria Delle Grazie, in Italy’s Lombardia region, is an old church famous for having a real taxidermied crocodile hanging from the ceiling.

What’s the last thing you expect to see when you look up in a church? Granted, there are plenty of interesting answers one can think of, but ‘a crocodile’ definitely ranks up there with the quirkiest of them.

But if you travel to the small municipality of Curtatone, in Lombardia, Italy, you’ll find a church with a five-century-old crocodile hanging from the ceiling. It’s a peculiar sight, to say the least, but one that has been around for as long as anyone can remember. How the croc wound up at the Santuario Della Beata Vergine Maria Delle Grazie is, and will probably remain a mystery, but its purpose had been linked to religious symbolism.

In ancient times, Christianity associated reptilian creatures like snakes, dragons, and crocodiles with evil, either as personifications of the devil or simply animals that lead humans to sin. So having it chained high up in the vault of the church served both as a warning for churchgoers, but also as a symbol of victory of good over evil.

While it might look like a prop at first, this is a real embalmed Nile crocodile (Crocodilus niloticus) believed to be at least 500 years old, with the church itself dating back to the 13th century. Over the years, many legends surrounding the origin of the animal circulated around Lombardia, but the two most popular ones involve a local animal menagerie and two brave brothers who fought the animal.

Some believe that the crocodile was caught and killed after escaping a private exotic zoo on the estate of Francesco Gonzaga, while others claim that the animal one day attacked two brothers resting on the banks of the Mincio River. One of them asked for the help of the Holy Virgin, and armed with a knife attacked and killed the crocodile.

According to another local legend, the crocodile was let out of its cage when a circus stopped in the area for a show, taking refuge among the reeds and lotus flowers. It is said the crocodile was even blessed with the gift of human speech by the Holy Virgin.

Whether you believe in these stories or not, the hanging crocodile of the Santuario Della Beata Vergine Maria Delle Grazie is a worthwhile attraction. It’s quirky, but it also speaks to the taxidermy skills of the monks whose job it was to turn the crocodile into a permanent exhibit.

Interestingly, this is not the only Italian church with a real crocodile on display. The Church of Santa Maria delle Vergini, in Macerata, and the Santuario della Madonna delle Lacrime, in Ponte Nossa, have their own stuffed crocodiles.

Oddity Central

Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has declared a two-day nationwide mass protest over the economic hardship being faced by Nigerians.

The two-day warning protest would be held on February 27 and 28.

Benson Ukpa, NLC national head of information, confirmed the development.

He said the decision was reached during an emergency session of the NLC held in Abuja on Friday.

On February 8, the NLC and Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) gave a 14-day ultimatum to the federal government over the rising cost of living in the country.

In a joint statement, the unions said the government failed to honour the 16-point agreement that was reached on October 2, 2023, with them.

The labour movements accused the government of neglecting the welfare of Nigerians and the workers.

They warned that “everything must be done within the two weeks to avoid a situation where we may be compelled to take appropriate steps to protect Nigerian workers and masses”.

“These agreements which were reached with the federal government were focused on addressing the massive suffering and the general harsh socioeconomic consequences of the ill-conceived and ill-executed IMF/World Bank induced hike in the price of PMS and the Devaluation of the Naira,” the statement reads.

“These dual policies have had, as we predicted, dire economic consequences for the masses and workers of Nigeria.”

“Widespread Hunger is now ravishing millions of Nigerians, with the Workers purchasing power significantly eroded, while insecurity has assumed an increasing dimension. Nigerians are left wondering where their next meals will come from and what tomorrow might bring.”

The NLC and TUC had also issued a “stern ultimatum” to the federal government to honour their part of the understanding within 14 days from February 9.

The Cable

Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) has vowed to suspend operations on Monday.

Its National President, Yusuf Lawal Othman, made this known in a press statement he issued in Abuja on Thursday.

He noted that the statement is an official announcement from the association’s headquarters that the members are parking their trucks from Monday.

Reason provided for the strike action is because “what we spend on operation is more than what we get in total: both in local and bridging.”

According to him, members have been operating at a loss and it is no longer sustainable for them to endure the losses. 

The President said, “We will have to suspend operations from Monday. We cannot continue to operate at a loss. Most people have parked. A lot more are going to park.”

The President disclosed that NARTO’s efforts at soliciting the intervention of all the key stakeholders in the Federal Government and industry have not yielded positive results.

Othman revealed that the association has written letters to table the plight of unbearable cost of operation to the Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu; Minister of Petroleum Resources; Director General, Department of State Services (DSS); Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) Chief Executive Officer; Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) Group Chief Executive Officer; and the Marketers.

He said: “We have written letters up to the level of the Chief of Staff. We have written to the Minister of Petroleum Resources (Oil). I will send you the copy. We have written to DG SSS. We have written to the GCEO. 

“We have written to the Authority Chief Executive. We have written to the Major Marketers.”

He stressed that despite the notification to the above stakeholders, “No response.”

Analysing the market situation, which the members have endured for several months, he recalled that the same freight rate that was in force while President Muhammadu Buhari was in government is still subsisting.

According to him, the N32 Lagos to Abuja freight rate that was implemented while the dollar was N650 is still retained now that dollar is N1,615.

He said, “Everybody is aware that all our consumables in terms of operation are not produced in the country.

“So, by virtue of the rate of dollars, every consumable has increased. But the freight they are paying us has been the same even during Buhari’s time.

“So how is that feasible? During Buhari’s time, the dollar was N650. Today, the dollar is now N1,615. The average freight from Lagos to Abuja is N32.” 

Continuing, he explained that   “What I mean by local, you load Lagos, you discharge in Lagos. And bridging, you load from Lagos, you come to Abuja. Lagos to Lagos, we are paid N120,000.

“AGO alone to distribute fuel within Lagos is N140,000 because it is N1,400 per litre. So, they give you N120,000 and you spend N140,000. So, how do you want to operate?

“Talk less about the cost of vehicles, cost of loading, driver’s allowance. That is for local. For bridging, Lagos to Abuja, they give us N32.

“If you have a truck of 40,000 litres, you are talking of N1,280,000-N1,216,000. Less 5% of the amount of N1,280,000 Withholding Tax N64,000. Less 55,000 loading expenses and 15,000 driver allowance. Total expenses N134,000 while balance is N1,146,000. AGO is N1400 for 900 litres, totalling N1, 260,000. There is a total loss of N114,000.

“Meanwhile the cost of a New truck head and tank is N95 million and used is N50 million.So imagine the amount invested on each truck?”

Daily Trust

Ministers of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have adopted a treaty to create a union of states aimed at fostering economic and political integration in the Sahel region of West Africa.

The military-ruled countries last month announced their exit from the Economic Community of West African States, the 48-year-old regional bloc they helped to found. They criticize Ecowas for failing to assist them in their fight against a sprawling Islamist insurgency that threatens their existence.

“Our decision to withdraw is irreversible,” Kassoum Coulibaly, defense minister of Burkina Faso, said during a meeting of ministers in the capital of Ouagadougou late Thursday. Ecowas cannot “divert us from our common goals of defeating terrorism, putting our countries on the path of development and exercising full sovereignty on all fronts,” he said.

The union to be known as the Alliance of Sahel States was first formed in September by the three countries to support each other in the fight against militants. The trio of governments all came to power via coups in the last three years.

The adoption of the treaty Thursday will result in the establishment of the union’s initial organs, namely the college of heads of state, the council of ministers and the representatives of parliament, according to a communique.

Bloomberg

Satellite photos show Egypt building a wall near Gaza Strip as Israeli offensive on Rafah looms

Egypt is building a wall and is leveling land near its border with the Gaza Strip ahead of a planned Israeli offensive targeting the border city of Rafah, satellite images analyzed Friday by The Associated Press show.

Egypt, which has not publicly acknowledged the construction, repeatedly has warned Israel not to forcibly expel the more than 1 million displaced Palestinians now in Rafah into its territory while Israeli troops battle the militant group Hamas for a fifth month.

Israel’s defense minister said Friday that Israel has “no intention” of pushing Palestinian civilians across the border into Egypt. However, the preparations on the Egyptian side of the border in the Sinai Peninsula suggested that Cairo is preparing for such a mass ejection, a scenario that could threaten a 1979 peace deal with Israel that’s been a linchpin for regional security.

The Egyptian government did not respond to requests for comment Friday from the AP. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry on Feb. 11 issued a statement warning Israel over the possible Rafah offensive and its “displacement of the Palestinian people.”

The satellite images, taken Thursday by Maxar Technologies, show ongoing construction on the wall, which sits along the Sheikh Zuweid-Rafah Road some 3.5 kilometers (2 miles) west of the border with Gaza. The images show cranes, trucks and what appear to be precast concrete barriers being set up along the road.

Those satellite images correspond to features seen in a video released by the London-based Sinai Foundation for Human Rights on Feb. 12. The video shows a crane lifting concrete walls into place along the road.

The construction “is intended to create a high-security gated and isolated area near the borders with the Gaza Strip, in preparation for the reception of Palestinian refugees in the case of (a) mass exodus,” the foundation said.

Nearby as well, construction crews appear to be leveling and clearing ground for an unknown purpose. That can also be seen in imagery from Planet Labs PBC of the area. The Wall Street Journal, quoting anonymous Egyptian officials, described “an 8-square-mile (20-square-kilometer) walled enclosure” being built in the area that could accommodate over 100,000 people.

Homes and farmland in the area previously had been razed during Egypt’s war on an affiliate of the Islamic State group in the area.

Hard-line officials within Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government have raised the possibility of pushing Palestinians out of Gaza despite strong opposition from Israel’s main ally, the United States. The Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank are lands the Palestinians hope to have for their future state.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, a member of the country’s three-man War Cabinet, said Friday that there were no plans to push Palestinians into Egypt.

“The state of Israel has no intention of evacuating Palestinian civilians to Egypt,” Gallant told reporters. “We respect and value our peace agreement with Egypt, which is a cornerstone of stability in the region as well as an important partner.”

A report by the Israeli Intelligence Ministry, drafted six days after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw over 250 others taken hostage, included a proposal of moving Gaza’s civilian population to tent cities in the northern Sinai, then building permanent cities and an undefined humanitarian corridor.

In the time since, the Israel-Hamas war has laid wide swaths of the seaside enclave to waste and killed more than 28,600 people, mostly women and children, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza.

AP

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukrainian troops withdraw from Avdiivka as ammunition shortage bites

Ukrainian troops withdrew from the devastated eastern town of Avdiivka, Ukraine's new army chief said in the early hours of Saturday, paving the way for Russia's biggest advance since May 2023 when it captured the city of Bakhmut.

The withdrawal, announced as Ukraine faces acute shortages of ammunition with U.S. military aid delayed for months in Congress, aimed to save troops from being fully surrounded by Russian forces after months of fierce fighting, Kyiv said.

General Oleksandr Syrskyi, who took the helm of the Ukrainian military in a major shakeup last week, said Ukrainian forces had moved back to more secure positions outside the town that had a pre-war population of 32,000.

"I decided to withdraw our units from the town and move to defence from more favourable lines in order to avoid encirclement and preserve the lives and health of servicemen," he was quoted as saying in an armed forces statement.

The loss of the town nearly two years into Russia's full-scale invasion may give President Volodymyr Zelenskiy a stronger case to make to the West for more urgent military aid as he addresses the Munich Security Conference on Saturday morning.

U.S. President Joe Biden had said on Thursday that Avdiivka risked falling to Russian forces because of ammunition shortages following months of Republican congressional opposition to a new U.S. military aid package for Kyiv.

Capturing Avdiivka is key to Russia's aim of securing full control of the two provinces that make up the industrial Donbas region, and could hand President Vladimir Putin a battlefield victory as he seeks re-election next month.

Avdiivka has borne the brunt of mounting offensive pressure by Russian forces in the east as wavering Western military aid has compounded the fatigue of troops fighting for almost two years.

"We are taking measures to stabilize the situation and maintain our positions," Syrskyi said.

There was no immediate comment about the withdrawal from the Russian Defence Ministry, Zelenskiy or the Ukrainian defence minister.

OUTGUNNED AND OUTNUMBERED

Russia stepped up its offensive on Avdiivka in October and Ukraine's positions had been looking increasingly fraught for weeks.

The Third Assault Brigade, a prominent Ukrainian infantry assault unit, was rushed into the town to help reinforce troops this week as other Ukrainian forces pulled back from the southeast of the town.

The unit described the fighting as "hell" and said on social media that Ukrainian defenders had been outnumbered by Russian forces by a ratio of about six to 100 in some places.

Russia has not given details of its losses in the brutal fighting for the town, but Ukrainian officials and Western military analysts say its advances have come at a staggering cost in terms of personnel and armoured vehicles.

The town, where fewer than 1,000 residents are now left, lies just north of the Russian-held bastion of Donetsk which Ukraine lost control of in 2014 when Moscow's proxies began an uprising. Avdiivka has a vast coking plant that has stopped functioning during the war.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine facing ‘many other’ defeats – Pentagon

The Ukrainian government desperately needs billions more in aid from the US, a senior Pentagon official has admitted, citing the critical situation in Avdeevka, a frontline town in Donbass.

Earlier this week, the US Senate approved a $95 billion aid package that includes $61 billion to fund Ukraine’s war against Russia, but the House of Representatives failed to sign off on the measure before a two-week recess.

“We do see that Ukrainians are running short on critical supplies, particularly ammunition, and we see this as something that could be the harbinger of what is to come if we do not get this supplemental funding,”the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Without this money, the official said, Ukraine won’t stand a chance against the “superior” Russian military and “we also will find many other locations along the forward line of troops that will be running low on supplies, on critical ammunition.”

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Thursday that “Avdeevka is at risk of falling into Russian control,” also citing this as the reason Congress should approve Ukraine funding.

Numerous Western outlets have been reporting for the past several weeks about Ukraine’s frontline problems. The New York Times predicted a “cascading collapse along the front” at some point this year without the Western billions, the Financial Times spoke about the lack of artillery ammunition, while the Washington Post highlighted Kiev’s manpower deficit, which no amount of Western funding can fix.

The latest reports from Avdeevka, a fortified Ukrainian stronghold since 2014, spoke of Russian troops reaching several key locations in the city and coming close to trapping the already badly mauled Ukrainian 110th Mechanized Brigade.

The Ukrainian military has called the situation “difficult but under control”and said its units were “maneuvering in threatened directions” to relieve the 110th. One of the units that has reportedly been sent to the city is the 3rd Assault Brigade, a Western-armed unit consisting of many fighters from the neo-Nazi ‘Azov’ regiment.

Reuters/RT

During five years as a romance scammer, Christopher, now 24, posed as an American army man to prowl social media platforms and dating sites in search of his next victim, and successfully tricked up to 50 women into sending a total of £55,400.

Speaking to Money Mail, the self-confessed reformed scammer reveals the deceptive and cruel tricks he used to seduce women across the English-speaking world from the UK to the US, Canada and Australia.

Christopher, who is using a pseudonym and now works as a consultant at fraud-busting group Social Catfish, started scamming in 2016 as a way of making easy money during his second year of university in Nigeria.

‘I had no money and my family was broke so I had to do something. I chose to go into scamming,’ he says.

‘I know people might not understand, but I’m a professional and it was my full-time job. It took months to get to that level, like training on the job,’ he says. ‘I scammed every day of my life at the time.’

Christopher says he used a 40-page bible for scammers in Nigeria entitled How To Make A White Woman Fall In Love With You From Online Chat.

The book, which has been shown to Money Mail by SocialCatfish, offers a step-by-step guide for romance scammers with scripts of romantic phrases, conversation starters and questions that it promises will make vulnerable people ‘fall head over heels in love with you’.

It says the types of women who are ‘easier to get’ and who will ‘fall in love with you ASAP without much stress’ are those over the age of 40.

It says: ‘They are working hence they have the money you need. Also, being single at 40, they are eager for love.’

Once the target is identified, the playbook instructs scammers to do their research before chatting up their ‘client’.

‘You will want to find out everything you can before chatting [to] her as this will help later on. Check her [social media] bio for information.

‘It can be her hobbies, her pets, job, passion, if she has kids, where she lives, what she loves etc.

‘You can take a pen and paper and list them [next] to her name. This is something I like doing.’

For the opening message, it recommends complimenting women on their activities or what they enjoy and asking a question relating to it. It says: ‘You want to go gentle and different. Do not send a “hi...” There are many people that have sent her hi before. You want to send something that will make her like you from the very first text. Something that will make her open your message and her heart for you.

‘For example, if on her Facebook profile she has pictures of her dogs you can use a line like: “Hi, I just spent the last 10 minutes debating if those cute dogs beside you are mountain shepherds or Belgian Malinois. Please help me here ...they are super cute btw”.’

Another suggestion is: ‘You always have the best music in your stories! I’d love to swap playlists.’

Once the conversation is flowing, the book says to ‘make it about her’. It says: ‘Oyinbo women [a Nigerian term for Western women] like talking about themselves. They will think you care and will fall in love.’

Next, it instructs the criminals to compliment women using one of 60 suggested phrases, such as: ‘I can’t believe I found someone like you’ and ‘Your mind is just as sexy as your beauty’.

Women are more susceptible to messages at night, it claims: ‘Get to know her time zone and text her around 10pm. Night is when you can easily get her to fall for you. You will have her full attention, and if the chat goes well, she will sleep thinking about you.’

Scammers are told to take their time in asking for money to build trust first. It says: ‘Spend days talking about random things. It can be time-consuming, but it’s totally worth it.’

When it comes to asking for money, it instructs to ‘ask without looking like you are asking’ for example: ‘When she asks about your day you can tell her it was bad then tell her you are broke, you are behind your mortgage and they will kick you out next week and you have exhausted every means to get money.

‘By herself, she will offer to give you money. If you want a new phone you can tell her your phone is bad and you won’t be able to chat anymore.’

These tricks have been widely used by romance scammers, including Christopher himself. But did he feel guilty for tricking lonely women? ‘No, I did feel bad at the start, but at some point I stopped,’ he says. ‘I was making good money. I never felt for these people and didn’t let any emotion kick in.’

Christopher says he was arrested in Nigeria but never charged over his romance scams.

He adds that he used social media platforms Facebook and Instagram to contact women as well as dating websites. He primarily targeted women in their 50s and 60s who appeared to be recently divorced or widowed.

‘I can take advantage of that. The dating apps make it easy because you can set your interest on your profile to a particular age and it brings up people of that age group,’ he says.

His profile showed pictures of a man he had found online who was in the army and he told women he was American and had been deployed to either Afghanistan, Israel or Korea.

Christopher says he had no prescribed opening line, but said what came to mind when looking at that woman’s profile to personalise the message. At any one time, he would be in one or two relationships, speaking to women round the clock – from his lecture halls to the middle of the night to make up for time difference.

He would wait until he had gained their trust before asking for money. He says: ‘It would depend on the victim how long I waited to ask for money. I have gotten money in three days before but sometimes it takes months. I would make sure to message every single day.

‘One time I met this woman who had a boyfriend but she broke up with him because of me and was giving me $400 within a few days. I said I cared about her and I would do everything for her. She was 35 and white, working at a communications company. She gave me $400 (£317). We talked for four months,’ he says.

The 24-year-old says he had a range of false excuses to ask for money, which included saying he needed money to take a flight and spend the rest of his life with the woman or to replace his uniform: ‘I started with small amounts and always said I would pay everything back.’

His biggest windfall came from a 61-year-old American woman, he says, who sent him a total $30,000 (£23,700) during their one-year relationship. However, she used Social Catfish, a company that verifies online identities using reverse image searches, and was able to track Christopher down.

When he was confronted by the woman whose life he ruined, he says he felt terrible and is happy he no longer has to scam to make a living.

The National Crime Agency says that the majority of romance scams originate from fraudsters in West Africa – Nigeria and Ghana, in particular.

Christopher says he was open with his girlfriends and explained why he was messaging women day and night. ‘There’s a lot of poverty so a lot of people go into it here – they are used to it so it was never a problem.’

Christopher reveals that the biggest tell that you’re speaking to a scammer is if they won’t show their face via video call.

‘Avoid anyone who says they cannot meet because they are in the military or live overseas,’ he says. If they confess love too quickly and demand the same in return, it is a scam.

Daily Mail

A professional organizer shares her decluttering secrets.

Decluttering your home is a notoriously difficult task. What makes it so hard is that decluttering isn't just about stuff—it's also about emotional baggage and unfinished business. Regardless of our desire to simplify our homes and lives, our attachment to objects can make it difficult (or near-impossible) to let them go.

We tend to ask ourselves the wrong questions when deciding what to keep and get rid of: "Could this be useful one day? Did someone give this to me? Did I pay a lot of money for this item?" Instead, Shira Gill, a professional organizer known for her transformative closet makeovers, asks us to think differently. "These questions are rooted in guilt, obligation, and fear," she says, "and will provide you with the justification to keep just about anything!"

If you find yourself struggling to let go of clutter, it could be that you're just asking the wrong questions, Gill explains. Ready to kick your clutter to the curb? Gill recommends asking yourself the five questions below.

Would I buy this item for full price today?

When sorting through your stuff, this is a great first question. If you wouldn't choose to pay money to bring this item into your home today, then it's time to let it go. Plain and simple.

Would it impact my daily life not to have this item?

Were talking to you, bulky camping gear, inherited sets of dishware, and endless rolls of gift wrap. Think about your current goals and lifestyle, and be real about which items support and enhance your life, and which items just get in the way. Keep any items that are essential to your daily life or that you reach for regularly, and be a little more critical when it comes to those items you only use once per year. If you're holding onto a pair of ice skates but only go to the rink once every few years, it may be better to let go of them and rent skates next time.

Is this item really worth the space it's taking up in my home?

Sure, it might be fun to host a waffle-making party one day, but if you're short on storage space, ask yourself if that bulky waffle iron (or ice cream maker or ping pong table, etc.) is actually worth the real estate it takes up in your home the other 364 days of the year. If these items are creating clutter without adding value to your life, it's time to pass them on.

Do I own a similar item that I like better?

Consider volume when deciding whether to keep or donate an item. Most people have far more than they actually use and can benefit from practicing restraint. If you have eight wine openers, pick the best one and donate the rest. If you have 15 black T-shirts, decide how many you actually need, and then select your favorites from the pile. The same goes for spatulas, umbrellas, and even hairbrushes.

Could this item be useful/helpful to another person?

This question is especially helpful for considering items that were expensive or gifted to you but that you just don't use. If you know the item in question will just gather dust for the next five years, give it to someone who could truly use it. It always feels great to practice generosity, and donating to others can help you swiftly streamline your home. It's a win-win.

Keeping these questions in mind as you declutter your home will help keep you focused on creating a space that supports your life. After you ask these five questions, you'll only be left with things that are truly meaningful and functional.

Real Simple

As the rising cost of living continues to bite, many in northern Nigeria are turning to rice grains that millers normally reject after processing or sell to farmers to feed their fish.

These are referred to in the Hausa language, widely spoken in the north, as afafata, which means "battling" because they are literally a battle to cook and eat as the grains are so hard.

"A few years ago, people didn't care about this type of rice, and we usually threw it away along with the rice hulls, but times have changed," Isah Hamisu, a rice mill worker in the northern city of Kano, told the BBC.

Despite the grains being broken, dirty and tough, afafata's cheaper price has made it more attractive for humans and helped poorer families to be able to afford to eat one of the staple foods in the country.

Fish farm owner Fatima Abdullahi said her fish love it but because people are now eating afafata, its price has risen.

Prices in Nigeria are increasing at their fastest rate for nearly 30 years. On top of global pressures, President Bola Tinubu's cancellation of the fuel subsidy plus the devaluation of the currency, the naira, have added to inflation.

A standard 50kg (110lb) bag of rice, which could help feed a household of between eight and 10 for about a month, now costs 77,000 naira ($53; £41). This is an increase of more than 70% since the middle of last year and exceeds the monthly income of a majority of Nigerians.

In the face of this many are struggling to cope and in some states there have been cost-of-living protests.

Earlier this month in Niger state, central Nigeria, protesters blocked roads and held placards saying that they were being suffocated by the rising prices.

A few days later there was a similar demonstration in Kano in the north-west. In the aftermath, Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf admitted there was starvation in his state and said a solution must be found.

The solution, for now, for some is found in afafata.

Hajiya Rabi Isah, based in Kano state, told the BBC that if it were not for this type of rice her children would go hungry as she cannot afford the normal kind.

"Normal rice is 4,000 naira ($2.70) per bowl which is beyond my means, I can only afford afafata which is 2,500 naira ($1.69) now," she said. One bowl of rice from the market can feed an average family in Kano for a day.

"Without afafata, feeding my family would be a major issue for me."

Market sellers have also noticed a difference.

Saminu Uba, who works in Kano's Medile market, said the afafata side of his business is booming.

"Most people can no longer afford normal rice and they come for this which is cheaper even though it tastes less good," he told the BBC.

One of his customers, Hashimu Dahiru, admits people are having to find ways of adapting.

"The cost of goods is alarming - in just two months the price of everything has doubled,'' he said.

"Our wives spend hours removing stones and dirt from the rice before cooking and even then it ends up tasting not nice, but we have to eat to survive."

The presidency has said it is doing all it can about the situation, including the distribution of more than 100 tonnes of grains such as rice, millet and maize in the hope that it would cushion the effects of inflation and help lower the market price.

But the president's aide Bayo Onanuga upset many recently when he said that Nigeria still had one of the lowest costs of living in Africa.

The increasing price of rice is not a new problem though.

Tinubu's predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, banned the importation of rice to encourage more Nigerian farmers to grow the crop, but local producers have been unable to meet the demand.

Before then Nigerian markets were filled with rice from Thailand at an affordable price for many.

Tinubu has lifted import restrictions, but now the shortage of foreign currency and the falling value of the naira has made bringing in rice trickier.

BBC

The consumer price index (CPI), which measures the rate of change in prices of goods and services, rose to 29.9 percent in January 2024 — up from 28.92 percent in the previous month.

National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) disclosed this in its CPI report for January, released on Thursday.

According to the bureau, food inflation also surged to 35.4 percent in the month under review.

The bureau said the January 2024 headline inflation rate showed an increase of “0.98% points when compared to the December 2023 headline inflation rate”.

“On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 8.08% points higher compared to the rate recorded in January 2023, which was 21.82%,” the report reads.

“This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in January 2024 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., January 2023).

“Furthermore, on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in January 2024 was 2.64%, which was 0.35% higher than the rate recorded in December 2023 (2.29%).”

According to the NBS, this means that in January 2024, the rate of increase in the average price level is more than the rate of increase in the average price level in December 2023.

FOOD INFLATION RATE ROSE TO 35.4 PERCENT

The NBS report also said the food inflation rate in January 2024 was 35.41 percent on a year-on-year basis — 11.1 percent points higher compared to the rate recorded in January 2023 (24.32 percent).

According to the bureau, the rise in food inflation was caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, oil and fat, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fish, meat, and fruit.

“On a month-on-month basis, the Food inflation rate in January 2024 was 3.21%, this was 0.49% higher compared to the rate recorded in December 2023 (2.72%),” the report said.

“The rise in the Food inflation on a Month-on-Month basis was caused by a rise in the rate of increase in the average prices of Potatoes, Yam & Other Tubers, Bread and Cereals, Fish, Meat, Tobacco, and Vegetable.

“The average annual rate of Food inflation for the twelve months ending January 2024 over the previous twelve-month average was 28.91%, which was a 7.38% points increase from the average annual rate of change recorded in January 2023(21.53%).

The report also said Kogi, Kwara, and Rivers states spent more on food in January.

“In January 2024, Food inflation on a Year-on-Year basis was highest in Kogi (44.18%), Kwara (40.87%), and Rivers (40.08%),” the NBS said.

On the other hand, Bauchi (28.83 percent), Adamawa (29.80 percent), and Kano (30.08 percent) recorded the slowest rise in food inflation on year-on-year basis.

The Cable