More than 500 personnel of the National Hospital, Abuja (NHA), left its services in search of greener pastures in the last two years, its Chief Medical Director, Mahmud Raji, has disclosed.

According to the CMD, most of them went abroad in search of better working conditions.

“The way they leave is a very hurtful thing for all hospital administrators.

“The most pitiful and worrisome aspect of it is the amount of money the Nigerian government has invested into each of these individuals as a doctor, a nurse, a pharmacist, a physiotherapist or whoever it is that leaves.

He said that the brain drain syndrome was an almost everyday activity as he treats two or three files of young people wishing to leave.

“Sometimes, not only young people; some people have actually gone through the ranks with lots of experience that they could teach other people. So, Nigeria is losing so much, painfully.

“Here, we have lost a number of quite senior doctors, especially the middle cadre doctors, and the very young ones.

“Nurses have also left from the middle cadre and the younger ones. Some of our medical engineers are hotcakes outside and have left.

“I must tell you, Nigeria trains people so much, Nigerian graduates and staff are well sought after, all over,” he added.

On reasons for their departure, he said that remuneration and job satisfaction had always topped the list.

“For instance, if a doctor or a nurse comes here, he or she needs to see an environment that is quite serene, quite beautiful, even to rest in a very comfortable area during their one hour break.

“At least you are able to have something to eat, replenish your energy before you go back to the next phase of work, but usually, in our hospitals in Nigeria, we don’t have such.

“In terms of the remuneration, it may not be as good as what you would expect elsewhere. Even though I must say the purchasing power in Nigeria is far better than the purchasing power elsewhere and our money is still able to buy something.

“We should also look at the unsolved problem of inter-professional rivalry that also eats into people’s psyche. People should be comfortable with the next person they’re working with, be it a nurse, a physiotherapist or whoever.”

Raji also said that the necessary equipment needed to work were not there and when these equipment are either non-existent or obsolete, the healthcare practitioners feel that more should have been done.

He, however, said that past governments had tried by taking very decisive stance on matters of health.

The current government has also put in a lot to rejig the health sector, he added.

“From what we can all see, the current administration has actually rekindled that hope in us that in the next couple of months, at couple of years, we will be able to see a change or a shift in this mindset among Nigerian health professionals eager to leave the country.

“Hopefully, we should even be able to attract them to come back while we retain the ones that are here.”

He, however, said that NHA had employed various strategies to try to retain the healthcare personnel working in it.

“I may not be able to change their remuneration since this is within the purview of government, we try to pacify them because remuneration is usually the first thing people complain about.

“Secondly, in terms of welfare, at least we have tried as much as possible to relieve some of them.

“We have established cooperatives to assist staff, either financially or in whichever way they can be supported to get mortgages for their homes and other things.

“On our own, we sometimes get these mortgage organisations to come and assist our staff. We have been able to get some buses to relieve the stress that the staff get in conveying themselves from work back home and from home to work.

“We are trying to also make the environment where they work a bit more serene and accommodating for them. This would require a lot of funding, but at least with the little that we are able to get, we are able to do bit by bit.”

In terms of training, he said that since training out of the country may be expensive, the hospital arranges local trainings and, when it is able to, it supports them to go for trainings within the country and sometimes out of the country as the funds allow.

The CMD said the hospital was also trying to fix the equipment that were not working efficiently or not working at all.

“Through budgetary and intervention pathways, we are also trying to get in some more new equipment that will make them happy while doing their jobs.

“When you go to our laboratories now, you will see that they are not as they used to be.

“We have so many automated machines; with these machines, all you need to do is just to put in samples and then the thing runs by itself, unlike earlier on where a person will have to run this, after this, you do that. So, now, they have it a bit easier.

“They also feel like, yes, we are working where we would wish to have flown to, to work. So we are upgrading our laboratories or rather, to a very large extent, we are comfortable to call them automated laboratories.

“That’s what we are trying to do, at least in our own little ways, to make life better and the good thing is, some of them do appreciate it.

“But, however much you try, some people are already fixated on leaving,” he said.

On the issue of inter-professional rivalry in the healthcare profession, he said that even though it exists in other institutions, at NHA, there has been some sort of a very harmonious relationship.

He added that hardly were there local strikes at NHA in the last couple of years because of that harmonious relationship.

“But the staff are not in isolation as they also mingle with other people outside.

“So, once in a while you would hear such complaints, but then some of these issues are actually realistic that you find in other centres and it can really be quite bad.

“It sometimes affects the function of some of such organisations but we are lucky here that we are able to, at least, control it.”

To put an end to it or at least control it, he said that several attempts were made to resolve the problem, but sometimes when solutions were about coming, some other bodies may lobby to stop it.

He recalled that a couple of years ago, a certain committee was set up by the Federal Government to look into it and the committee made some recommendations.

“I am not sure those recommendations have been fully implemented, but things might probably have changed now such that it’s time to probably have a new committee set up to look into this.

“I assure you that with the current administration and the mandate given by the president to resolve the issues in healthcare and the ministers we have running the ministry, people have the confidence that they have the roadmap to solving this problem.

“We have to look at it holistically such that you don’t just see doctors as a group, solve their problem, but while solving their problem you will have problem of nurses.

“So also, when you call the nurses and solve their problem, you cause a problem for the radiologist or the pharmacist and things like that.

“From the feelers we’re having from our interactions with those of our leaders in the ministry now, they’re likely going to look at it in that holistic manner, where it should be a win-win for all facets of healthcare.”

 

The Guardian

Hamas hounds Israeli forces in main Gaza cities

Palestinian gunmen kept up attacks against Israeli forces on Sunday in the Gaza Strip's two main cities, weeks after they were overrun by troops and tanks, in a sign Hamas still maintains some control ahead of any potential truce.

Nearly four months into the war triggered by the Palestinian Islamist group's deadly cross-border rampage in Israel, there was persistent fighting in Gaza City in the north of the densely populated enclave, and in Khan Younis to the south.

At the weekly Israeli cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said 17 of Hamas' 24 combat battalions had been dismantled. The rest, he said, were mostly in the southern Gaza Strip - including Rafah, on the enclave's Egyptian border.

"We'll take care of them, too," he said, according to a statement from his office. Hamas does not publish its losses.

The prospect of a push into Rafah has piled pressure on the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians who have fled their homes elsewhere and are sheltering there. It also worries Cairo, which has said it will not admit any influx of Palestinian refugees in what it describes a bid to prevent any permanent dispossession.

An Israeli official told Reuters, however, that the military would coordinate with Egypt, and seek ways of evacuating most of the displaced people northward, ahead of any Rafah ground sweep.

Palestinians reported Israeli tank shelling and air strikes there, including one that killed two girls in a house.

As mourners bade farewell to the dead children, a relative, Mohammed Kaloub, said the air strike hit a room full of women and children in Rafah's al-Salam neighborhood.

"There is no safe place in Gaza, from the wire fence to the wire fence (borders from north to south), there is no safe place," he told Reuters.

Palestinian health officials said eight people were killed in separate Israeli air strikes on Deir Al-Balah areas in the central Gaza Strip. Deir Al-Balah is the second city in the enclave where Israel has not yet deployed tanks.

After conducting partial pullouts from Gaza City in the past few weeks that enabled some residents to return and pick through the rubble, Israeli forces have been mounting incursions. Netanyahu described these on Sunday as "mopping-up operations".

Before dawn on Sunday, air strikes destroyed several multi-storey buildings, including an Egyptian-funded housing project, residents said. The military said it killed seven Hamas gunmen in northern Gaza and seized weaponry. Israel's Army Radio said troops in the area were trying to penetrate two Hamas bunkers, a mission it said could take two weeks amid clashes at the sites.

"Gaza City is being wiped out," one resident who asked not to be named told Reuters. "The (Israeli) pull-out was a ruse."

'NEUTRALISING' TUNNELS

In Khan Younis, overnight Israeli shelling killed three Palestinians, medics said. Residents reported street fighting raging in western and southern areas of the city, where Israel said a soldier was killed in a Palestinian attack on Saturday.

Troops in Khan Younis seized a Hamas compound and killed several gunmen, the military said. Netanyahu said Israeli forces in the city were "neutralising" Hamas tunnels that run throughout Gaza, enabling gunmen to hole up and launch ambushes.

"This demands more time yet," he told his ministers.

Gaza health authorities, who do not differentiate between militants and civilians in their tallies, said on Sunday more than 27,300 Palestinians have been confirmed killed since the war began. They say that 70% of those killed have been women and children. Thousands more are feared lost amid the ruins.

Israel says it has killed some 10,000 gunmen in its campaign to annihilate Hamas after the Oct. 7 attack by the group, which is sworn to Israel's destruction. In the rampage, 1,200 people were killed and 253 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

More than 130 hostages are still in Gaza, and their possible release by Hamas is among issues under discussion in Egyptian- and Qatari-mediated negotiations, that are backed by the United States, to secure a truce.

Hamas has demanded an end to the war. Israel rules that out but is open to a temporary truce.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi hosted French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne in a meeting on Sunday that Sisi's office said emphasized Egypt's collaborative efforts to establish a ceasefire and deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza.

 

Reuters

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Zelenskiy says he might replace several Ukraine officials, not just military

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in an interview broadcast on Sunday, said he was considering a "reset" to replace several senior officials.

Speculation has gripped Ukraine for weeks over suggestions that the president was about to dismiss the highly popular commander, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi. The two have been at odds over the conduct of the nearly two-year-old Russian invasion of Ukraine.

But Zelenskiy said any changes went beyond replacing a single person to harness efforts to oust Russian troops.

"When I speak of turnover, I have in mind something serious that does not concern a single person, but the direction of the country's leadership," Zelenskyi told Italian state RAI television when asked about Zaluzhnyi.

His comments were voiced over in Italian.

"It is a question of the people who are to lead Ukraine. A reset is necessary, I am talking about a replacement of a number of state leaders, not only in the army sector.

"I am reflecting on this replacement. Is a question for the entire leadership of the country."

To win the war, Zelenskiy said, "We must all push in the same direction, we cannot be discouraged, we must have the right and positive energy, negativity must be left at home. We can't take on giving-up attitudes."

Differences have come to the fore since a Ukrainian counteroffensive launched last year made only limited gains against Russian forces well dug in along the 1,000-km (600-mile) front line in Ukraine's south and east.

In an essay for the Economist last November, Zaluzhnyi said the war had entered a new phase of attrition. That drew a rebuke from the president.

Last week, as speculation over his dismissal intensified, he set out his case in a commentary for broadcaster CNN for new electronic means of warfare.

He also said some Ukrainian institutions were keeping the country from achieving its objectives, including efforts to build an effective fighting force to match Russian numerical superiority through "unpopular measures" like mass moblisation.

Zaluzhnyi has earned the admiration of Ukrainians for overseeing operations to repel Russian forces advancing on Kyiv at the outset of the war and subsequent advances that recaptured large swathes of territory in the south and northeast.

On two occasions in the past week, Ukrainian media issued a torrent of reports that Zaluzhnyi's dismissal was imminent. In at least one instance, the president's spokesperson denied the commander had been replaced.

Questions were also raised over whether Zaluzhnyi had been offered an alternative job, like an ambassadorship, and who might replace him.

Two leading possible candidates were Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of land forces, and Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Ukrainian defence ministry's intelligence directorate.

 

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukrainian authorities admit stagnation at front due to delays in arms supplies

Ukraine's leadership admits that the ground conflict with Russia has become stagnant due to delays in arms deliveries.

"As for the situation on the ground, stagnation is obvious, because there were delays in the supply of weapons, and this leads to mistakes," Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said in an interview with the first channel of Italian state television RAI.

However, he positively assessed the operations at sea and noted that Ukraine needs not only ammunition, but also modern military equipment.

Vladimir Zelensky also considers it necessary to renew the entire administrative and management personnel of the country, not only in its military department.

"We need a reset and a new start <...>. This concerns not one person, but a group of managers and not only in the military sector," he said in an interview with the first channel of the Italian State Television RAI, answering a question about the possible resignation of the Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Valery Zaluzhny.

 

Reuters/Tass

The promotion of peaceful and inclusive societies is the focus of goal number 16 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It also broached “access to justice for all and building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.”

Strong institutions are necessary to respond effectively to the needs and concerns of nationals and are better placed to hold those in authority accountable.

The former President of the United States of America, Barack Obama, while addressing the Ghanaian Parliament during a courtesy visit to Ghana in 2009, remarked as follows: “No country is going to create wealth if its leaders exploit the economy to enrich themselves, or police can be bought off by drug traffickers. No business wants to invest in a place where the government skims 20 per cent off the top, or the head of the Port Authority is corrupt. No person wants to live in a society where the rule of law gives way to the rule of brutality and bribery. That is not democracy; that is tyranny, and now is the time for it to end. Africa doesn’t need strong men; it needs strong institutions.”

And what did Obama mean by Africa needing strong institutions, rather than strong men? The wisdom of these words is that strong institutions will help deliver democratic dividends in a consistent and just manner.

Obama, having African roots, knows Africa and Africans. In Africa, a leader is like an emperor who straddles over where he is boss. A local government chairperson sees the area as his farm and a Nigerian president has Pharaonic powers courtesy of the constitution.

No one among their staff can tell them what is right. Those staffers fear being discarded and not seen as ‘loyal’ for daring to be candid. They are well aware of what they will lose if that happens. And the emperors, having drunk from the chalice of absolute power, which absolutely corrupts, do not want in their circle those who do not say see him as infallible.

And this is one reason there is rampant corruption everywhere. Anybody at the helm of any ministry, department, or agency is lord of the manor there and does everything according to their whims and caprices.

However, countries with weak institutions that buckle under the leadership of men rarely succeed because of the absence of state institutions that can establish and enforce rules. And because, in the absence of such, you have strong men at the helm, seldom do they subject themselves to the rule of law as the leadership tends to personify the institution. Ego runs the institutions.

There are ways to get it right as a nation. First, our leaders need to rethink their idea of leadership. A leader is to be there to serve and not to lord it over others; to give hope and uplift, not to render hopeless and cast down the people into penury. A leader must be someone ready to lead for the sake of God.

Then there must be justice. I will never tire of hammering it to all who care to listen that Usman Dan Fodiyo, who said “The death of a thousand good men is not as tragic as having an unfit man in a position of national leadership,” wrote in his book, Bayan Wujub al-Hijrah alal ibad, that “A kingdom (nation) can endure with unbelief, but it cannot endure with injustice.”

To get justice, we must strengthen our legal and judicial systems. We need to reform our laws; and improve the capacity and independence of our judges and lawyers. This will earn the system more respect and bring back the people’s trust which is being steadily eroded.

And where the courts have adjudicated, we must respect that judgement. This is important for institutions saddled with safeguarding our democracy.

This brings me to the face-off if it can be termed that, between the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

“The Supreme Court, in a judgement on October 14, 2021, affirmed Edozie Njoku as the national chairman of the party, upholding the decision of an appellate court that recognised him as such.

However, INEC and its chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, have not accepted the judgement of the apex court as it keeps hobnobbing with the faction of the party not recognised by the courts of competent jurisdiction.

If a state institution like INEC, or any other for that matter, refuses to obey court orders, what will become of the nation?

We have had instances in which the government and its institutions showed disdain for court judgements. The resultant effect of such is that the citizens become less law-abiding and less respectful of law enforcers, as well as less fearful of punishment for breaking the law.

The danger is that such escalate in proportion that the justice system and punitive facilities get overwhelmed. The rule of law is trampled upon if those running institutions have their way, and this leads to a bleak future.

To show how strong institutions and the legal system are elsewhere, read this:

On July 3, 2019, a federal appeals court denied President Donald Trump’s border attempt to construct a wall between the United States and Mexico using funds unauthorised by Congress.

The ruling upheld two earlier district court orders that together permanently blocked the administration from building wall sections along the southern border in New Mexico, Arizona and California, using $2.5 billion in diverted military funds.

The lawsuit, brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on behalf of the Sierra Club and the Southern Border Communities Coalition (SBCC), challenged the president’s abuse of emergency powers to secure border wall funds Congress denied.

And that was how it stood, with the president and all institutions concerned with that matter obeying the two lower courts’ orders, until 31 July 2020, when in a 5-4 decision, the US Supreme Court allowed the construction to continue.

Can we have such a scenario in Nigeria?

Some people run lucrative six-figure side hustles from their backyards. Others, off their cellphones.
Launching one of your own can be pretty simple if you know where to start. That’s according to Kathy Kristof, whose blog has reviewed more than 500 different side gigs, and Cody Berman, who co-runs an online course called Gold City Ventures that teaches people how to start online businesses.
Both experts say you can start a side hustle and determine if it’ll be successful in three straightforward steps:
1. Figure out what you can monetize: Any side hustle starts with one question, says Kristof: How can you monetize “interests and skills [and] resources” you already have? Once you’ve decided which side hustle could make sense, figure out your probable time commitments.
2. Decide if you need a platform: Think about how much of your business you want to do alone, Kristof says. Building an audience from scratch is doable, and likely your most profitable option. It can also be challenging and time-intensive, which is why plenty of people choose to outsource some of that work. Dog-walking app Rover, for instance, is free to join and connects you to customers who are already looking for your services, but keeps a 20% cut of each dog walk. 
3. Give it a try: The most important part of starting a side hustle is getting going, says Berman. “I have so many friends who have been talking about starting a side hustle for two years, and they’re still in the planning phase,” he says. “You have to create that first product, even if it sucks. ... Go out and test it.”

Berman adds that, ultimately, "it comes down to the side hustler. I think you can be successful with more side hustles than you think ... I honestly think people [who succeed] don’t give up.”

 

CNBC

Amnesty International Nigeria (AIN), Kukah Center, Yiaga Africa, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) and Socio-Economic Rights & Accountability Project (SERAP) are among 48 groups which think insecurity is spiralling out of control in Nigeria.

They lamented that the nation is grinding to a halt as a result of banditry, kidnapping and other forms of criminality.

In a report under the auspices of Civil Society Organizations in Nigeria under the auspices of the Civil Society Joint Action Group, Community of Practice Against Mass Atrocities and Nigeria Mourns, unveiled last week (Monday, January 29) and titled ‘End Mass Atrocities, Secure Nigeria and Ensure Accountability for Victims’, the groups called “on the Nigerian government to take actionable steps to end the endemic insecurity, mitigate further attacks by kidnap syndicates and terrorist groups, and, account for persons missing in these attacks”.

They gave the breakdown of Nigerians killed or abducted by criminal elements in the eight months of the Tinubu administration (243 days as of January 26) as 2,423 and 1,872 respectively. The report shows that June 2023 was the deadliest month as 507 deaths were recorded, followed by December 2023 when 446 were killed.

In July 2023, 320 died, 275 in August, 232 in September, 224 in November, 215 in October and 171 in January 2024. Between May 29 and May 31, the first two days of the Tinubu administration, a total of 33 persons, according to the report, were killed. The full report:

“The security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government” (Section 14(2) (b) CFRN 1999 (as amended).

Civil Society Organizations in Nigeria under the auspices of the Civil Society Joint Action Group, Community of Practice Against Mass Atrocities, and, Nigeria Mourns, are deeply concerned by the deteriorating state of security across Nigeria and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, and therefore call on the Nigerian government to take actionable steps to end the endemic insecurity, mitigate further attacks by kidnap syndicates and terrorist groups, and, account persons missing in these attacks.

Over the past decade and a half, insecurity in Nigeria has spiraled due to a variety of violent phenomena, including but not limited to terrorist activities in the entire northern region of the country, terror pillages otherwise known as ‘banditry’ in the North-West, farmer-herder violence in the Middle Belt including the Benue Valley, secessionist struggles in the South-East, piracy in the southern coast of the country, inter-communal attacks, political violence, cult-gang violence and kidnapping. These forms of insecurity have jeopardized the security and wellbeing of Nigerians, and have progressively deteriorated over the years.

Endemic insecurity has persisted over the last three administrations, including that of President Buhari, who, as a former military general, had gained public trust to run as president by promising to curb the then fledgling insecurity. Mass atrocities fatality tracking across the country by Nigeria Mourns reveals that in President Buhari’s second term alone (2019 to 2023), at least 24,816 Nigerians lost their lives, and at least 15,597 persons were abducted. This alarming trend has continued in spite of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s assurance at the beginning of his presidency in May 2023 to tackle insecurity. It has now been 8 months since

President Tinubu took his oath of office and yet, things have failed to improve. Our tracking shows at least 2,423 people have been killed in mass atrocities-related incidents and at least 1,872 persons were abducted since the beginning of President Tinubu’s administration till January 26, 2024. We are particularly concerned about the upsurge in abductions, noting that at least 230 incidents, in most of which multiple victims were involved, occurred within the first 2 weeks of January 2024 alone.

Under siege

Several communities across the country, including the Federal Capital Territory, the seat of government itself, are under siege, with entire families and in some cases, communities taken hostage. Residents are being forced to flee due to repeated attacks by terrorists, kidnappers and other organized criminal groups. Kidnapping for ransom demands has become a disturbing norm, without appropriate response from the authorities.

For instance, this week, 30 villagers were abducted in an attack on Tashar Nagule village of Batsari local government area of Katsina State. This comes on the heels of the abduction of 23 people in Kawu community in Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory on 11 January. Similarly, 50 people, including 36 women were abducted in an attack on Magizawa community in Kaura Namoda Local Government Area of Zamfara state. Over 400 people were killed in repeated attacks on communities in Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau State including the gruesome massacre of over 200 people in Bokkos and Barkin-Ladi communities in Mangu Local Government on the eve of Christmas in 2023.

Ambushes

Road ambushes have made interstate travel more perilous. Reported incidents such as the abduction of 30 passengers near Katari along the Kaduna-Abuja highway and the kidnapping of 45 passengers in Orokam on the Benue-Enugu route underscore the gravity of the situation.

Even homes are no longer safe. Homes in rural communities in Northern Nigeria have for over a decade contended with terror pillages; and more recently, urban centers including the Federal Capital Territory have witnessed a surge in invasions in which citizens are being abducted for ransom even within the confines of their homes.

Crowdfunding

Failed, by law enforcement, families are resorting to publicly crowdfund to pay ransoms without interference from the government. The reticence of government to this trend is acquiescence to the payment of ransoms. We note that the same government was quick to freeze the bank accounts of donors and recipients of funding for #EndSARS, but fails to take concrete action to protect citizens against organized crime. We are equally dismayed by the willingness of some political leaders and politically exposed persons to publicly support ransom payments; and question their values and alliances. Their actions and utterances reflect lack of faith in the system of which they are guardians, and their nonchalant attitude towards the potential consequences, including directly funding future attacks. We consider that their stance emboldens perpetrators and further erodes the trust of citizens in their government’s capacity and sincerity.

Obtaining an education has become a risky venture for learners, teachers, and parents due to school abductions. Businesses are also suffering from the effects of this state of affairs.

Farming communities are losing their resilience against perennial pillages, and traders can no longer ply roads safely. Foreigners no longer feel safe to visit and invest, and far too many resources that could have been invested in businesses are being paid out as ransoms and fortifying private security.

Grinding to a halt

In case the government has failed to notice, the entire nation is slowly grinding to a halt due to insecurity.
We are concerned that the current administration has continued the legacy of failing to decisively deal with the atrocious onslaughts against citizens within the nation’s borders, and that Nigerians who are being further impoverished by the escalating insecurity, now perpetually live in fear of being attacked, abducted or killed.

The government has continued to fail in its primary duty of ensuring the security and welfare of all citizens as mandated in Section 14(2) (b) of the Constitution, and in its obligation to enforce and fulfill its citizens’ right to life, according to Section 33 of the Constitution.

State of emergency

We hereby call upon President Bola Tinubu as the lead agent of government to urgently:

• Fulfill its constitutional imperative of safeguarding the lives of all citizens
• Declare a state of emergency on kidnapping and other forms of terrorism
• Enhance the country’s security infrastructure by conducting an audit of the responsibility matrix within security agencies and departments of government, bolster their capabilities and deployment of technology to effectively address the evolving challenges of insecurity
• Promptly prosecute the 400 sponsors of terrorism arrested under the Buhari regime
• Uncover and prosecute those responsible for the misappropriation of the $460 million earmarked for the provision of CCTV cameras in the Federal Capital Territory
• Implement more decisive measures to promptly secure the release of all abducted victims
• Create a register of victims of abductions and other forms of mass atrocities
• Recognize and address the floundering economy, corruption and human rights violations as exacerbating factors of Nigeria’s insecurity
• Engage citizens on best practices for ending insecurity, including disincentivizing the payment of ransoms.
• Provide holistic psychosocial support for abduction survivors and their families;
• Promptly investigate and decisively prosecute all individuals implicated in fueling insecurity;
• Investigate the financial flow of organized criminal groups and identify the sponsors and beneficiaries.

Prayers

Our thoughts and prayers are with victims and the families who have to continually deal with the trauma of losing their loved ones to insecurity. We also stand in solidarity with those families who vigilantly await the return of their abducted loved ones.

We call on the government to fulfill its primary duty of protecting lives, as mandated by Section 14 (2) (b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) to guarantee its continued legitimacy.

As a coalition of organized civil society groups across Nigeria and as individual organizations, we pledge to continue to amplify the voices of citizens and demand accountability of the government on your behalf. God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria!

Signed:

• African Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development (Centre LSD)
• African Centre for Media & Information Literacy (AFRICMIL)
• African Initiative for Peacebuilding, Advocacy and Advancement (AfriPeace)
• Almajiri Child Rights Initiative (ACRI)
• Alliances for Africa
• Amnesty International Nigeria (AIN)
• Borno Coalition for Democracy and Progress (BOCODEP)
• BudgIT
• Cedar Seed Foundation
• Centre for Community Excellence, Zamfara (CENCEX)
• Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD)
• Citizens Advocacy for Social & Economic Rights (CASER)
• Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC)
• Clean Technology Hub
• Cleen Foundation
• Community Outreach for Development and Welfare Advocacy (CODWA)
• Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA)
• CSO Accountability and Transparency Initiative (CATi)
• Enough Is Enough (EiE)
• Global Rights
• International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) Nigeria
• Keen and Care Initiative (KCI)
• MILID Foundation
• Neighbourhood Environment Watch Foundation
• Network of Women with Disabilities and Disabled People in Leadership Initiative
• Nextier SPD
• Nigeria Network of NGOs (NNNGO)
• NULAI Nigeria
• OrderPaper Advocacy Initiative (OAI)
• Organization for Community Civic Engagement (OCCEN)
• Partners West Africa Nigeria (PWAN)
• Partnership for Justice
• Praxis Centre
• Resource Centre for Human Rights & Civic Education (CHRICED)
• Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC)
• Sesor Empowerment Foundation
• Social Action, Nigeria
• Socio Economic Rights & Accountability Project (SERAP)
• Srarina Initiative for Peace, Justice and Development
• Stephanie Peacebuilding and Development Foundation (SPADEV)
• TAF AFRICA
• Tap Initiative
• TechHer
• The Benue We Deserve Foundation (BenDeF)
• The Kukah Centre
• We The People
  47.Women Advocate Research & Documentation Centre (WARDC)
• Yiaga Africa
• In the following pages, security experts provide advisory on how Nigerians can avoid being kidnapped and way out of insecurity in Nigeria.

 

Vanguard

At least four police officers were killed in Nigeria's northeast Borno state after a gun battle with suspected Islamist insurgents, a police spokesperson said on Saturday.

Borno has been the heartland of an insurgency by Boko Haram and splinter outfit Islamist State West Africa Province (ISWAP) for more than a decade in the northeast, where they continue to carry out deadly attacks against civilian and security targets.

Borno state police spokesperson Nahum Daso Kenneth said the militants had on Friday night attacked Gajiram town in the Nganzai local government area, some 82 kilometres (51 miles) from Maiduguri, the state capital.

"Our men engaged them in a gun battle (and) they denied the terrorists access to the town, and repelled the attack. Unfortunately, four policemen have paid a supreme price," Kenneth said, adding that calm had returned to the town.

ISWAP fighters are known to operate in Nganzai, where they carry out sporadic attacks against security forces and residents.

Nigeria is grappling with widespread insecurity, including armed bandits who kidnap for ransom in the northwest, deadly farmer-herder clashes in the central belt and separatist and gang violence in the southeast.

 

Reuters

National Hajj Commission of Of Nigeria (NAHCON) has fixed N4.9m as fare for the 2024 Hajj exercise. 

The commission had earlier fixed N4.5m as the deposit for the year even as many intending pilgrims were unable to pay the deposits.

In a statement on Saturday, Fatima Sanda Usara, Assistant Director, Public Affairs, NAHCON disclosed that intending pilgrims from Southern states were required to pay N4,899,000 as Hajj fare; those from the Northern states will pay N4,699,000, for the Hajj and pilgrims from Yola and Maiduguri center will pay a fee of N4,679,000 for the 2024 Hajj.

The commission blamed the increase on the high foreign exchange rate, a major crisis confronting Nigeria’s economy.

Also the commission has given intending pilgrims till February 12th to enable it transfer the money to the service providers before the February 29th deadline.

Pilgrims paid slightly above N3m in the previous year’s Hajj.

The statement read in full:

“It would be recalled that the Chairman of National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Jalal Ahmad Arabi had initially aimed to maintain the 2024 Hajj fare at N4.5 million that was charged as initial deposit.

“The prospects had remained high until the well-known Naira crash that occurred mid-week. Regrettably, the recent instability in the Dollar exchange rate compelled a necessary adjustment despite commendable efforts by NAHCON Chairman, Arabi to maintain cost of the year’s Hajj at the said rate.

“Arabi had actively negotiated substantial discounts with service providers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in late January, striving to alleviate costs for intending pilgrims.

“However, the volatile currency situation within the week necessitated the Commission to take a drastic decision to consolidate the gains achieved in lowering the cost of services for the Hajj, without which the price of 2024 Muslim pilgrimage might have shot to about N6,000,000 (six million Naira).

“Consequently, intending pilgrims from Nigeria’s Southern center are required to pay N4,899,000 as Hajj fare; those from the Northern center will pay N4,699,000, for the Hajj and pilgrims from Yola and Maiduguri center will pay a fee of N4,679,000 for the 2024 Hajj.

“While expressing his regret, Arabi stated that this is the will of Allah, because the Commission, facing a tight deadline of 25th February, has limited time to explore further options to remain within the range of N4.5million which he assiduously worked for. Consequently, NAHCON announces the feasible cost of Hajj to meet the impending remittance deadline.

“Intending pilgrims are therefore advised to balance their Hajj fare by Monday 12th of February accordingly to enable the Commission transfer the funds before the imminent deadline.

“NAHCON assures the public of its commitment to ensuring a smooth and successful Hajj pilgrimage for all participants despite the challenges posed by foreign exchange factors. The Commission appreciates the understanding and cooperation of the Nigerian Muslim community during these times.”

 

Daily Trust

Israel issues its most detailed warning yet to Hezbollah, while the war in Gaza marks 4 months

Israel’s military on Saturday issued its most detailed warning yet to Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon that it would be “ready to attack immediately” if provoked, as it recounted its actions along the northern border during four months of war in Gaza and made a rare acknowledgement of dozens of airstrikes inside Syria against the militant group.

“We do not choose war as our first priority, but we are certainly prepared,” military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said, adding: “We will continue to act wherever Hezbollah is present, we will continue to act wherever it is required in the Middle East. What is true for Lebanon is true for Syria, and is true for other more distant places.”

The comments followed the defense minister’s warning that a cease-fire in Gaza against the militant group Hamas wouldn’t mean Israel wouldn’t attack Hezbollah as needed.

Efforts to close wide gaps between Israel and Hamas in pursuit of a cease-fire continued in the region where concerns about a wider war with Iran-allied groups remain. A top Hamas official, Osama Hamdan, said they were studying the proposal put forward by the U.S., Egypt, Qatar and Israel but insist on Israel accepting conditions including a permanent cease-fire.

The war in Hamas-run Gaza has leveled vast swaths of the tiny besieged enclave, displaced 85% of its population and pushed a quarter of residents to starvation. The Health Ministry in Gaza said Saturday that 107 people were killed over the past 24 hours, bringing the wartime total to 27,238. More than 66,000 people have been wounded.

In Gaza’s southernmost town of Rafah, at least 17 people including women and children were killed in two separate airstrikes overnight, according to the registration office at Abu Yousef al-Najjar hospital where the bodies were taken.

The first strike hit a residential building east of Rafah, killing at least 13 people from a single family. Four women and three children were among the dead, hospital officials said.

“Two children are still under the rubble, and we don’t, still we don’t know anything about them,” relative Ahmad Hijazi said. The second strike hit a house in Rafah’s Jeneina area, killing at least two men and two women.

More than half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million has taken refuge in Rafah and surrounding areas.

Israel’s defense minister warned earlier in the week that Israel might expand combat to Rafah after focusing on Khan Younis, southern Gaza’s largest city. While the statement alarmed aid officials and international diplomats, Israel would risk significantly disrupting relationships with the United States and neighboring Egypt if it sends troops into Rafah, a key entry point for aid.

In Khan Younis, where Israel’s military said operations would continue for several days, the Palestinian Red Crescent said at least 11 people were injured when Israel’s military fired smoke bombs at displaced people sheltering at its headquarters.

It followed a siege that Israel’s military has laid on the Red Crescent’s facilities for 12 days, the group said, adding that it had documented the killing of 43 people, including three staff members, inside the buildings by Israeli fire during that time.

Israel’s military didn’t address the charity’s allegations of firing on the buildings, the killings or the blocking of access, and asserted that the Al-Amal Hospital facilities had adequate fuel and electricity.

Israel says it is determined to crush Hamas and prevent it from returning to power in Gaza, an enclave it has ruled since 2007, in response to its Oct. 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war.

Hamas still holds dozens of the roughly 250 hostages taken in the attack, after more than 100 were released during a one-week truce in November. Those releases were in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.

Thousands of people gathered again in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening for anti-government protests to express growing frustration at how Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his administration have handled the war.

“If we need to stop the war now and call for a cease-fire in order to bring those people back home to their families, and start to rebuild them and take care of them, that’s the most important thing for us to do,” said one protester, Karen Levy.

In a sign of Hamas’ resilience despite Israel’s deadly air and ground campaign in the past four months, four residents and a senior official in the militant group said it has begun to resurface in areas where Israel withdrew the bulk of its forces a month ago, deploying police officers and making salary payments to some of its civil servants in Gaza City.

Four Gaza City residents told The Associated Press that in recent days, police officers deployed near police headquarters and other government offices, including near Shifa Hospital, the territory’s largest. The residents said they saw subsequent Israeli airstrikes near the makeshift offices.

The return of police marks an attempt to reinstate order in the devastated city, a Hamas official told AP, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

The official said the group’s leaders had given directions to reestablish order in parts of the north where Israeli forces had withdrawn, including by helping prevent the looting of shops and houses abandoned by residents who heeded Israeli evacuation orders and headed to southern Gaza.

Since seizing control of Gaza nearly 17 years ago, Hamas has operated a government bureaucracy with tens of thousands of civil servants, including teachers and police who operate separately from the group’s secretive military wing.

Israeli military leaders had said they had broken up the command structure of Hamas battalions in the north, but that individual fighters were continuing to carry out guerrilla-style attacks. Israel claims to have killed more than 9,000 Hamas fighters.

 

AP

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine hits Russia's Volgograd oil refinery in latest drone attack, source says

Two Ukrainian attack drones struck the largest oil refinery in southern Russia on Saturday, a source in Kyiv told Reuters, detailing the latest in a series of long-range attacks on Russian oil facilities.

Local authorities in Russia said earlier that a fire had been extinguished at the Volgograd refinery following a drone attack. Oil producer Lukoil, which owns the refinery, later said the plant was working as normal.

The Kyiv source said the operation by the SBU security service struck the primary processing facility, without which the refinery could lose significant production capacity.

Ukrainian officials seldom take responsibility publicly for deep strike attacks on Russian territory.

The Volgograd refinery is the latest in a series of facilities to be targeted by drones. Kyiv sees such infrastructure as important for the Kremlin's war effort.

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The source told Reuters such drone attacks would continue.

"By hitting oil refineries working for the Russian military-industrial complex, we not only cut off the logistics of fuel supplies for enemy equipment, but also reduce funds into the Russian budget," the source said.

The distance between the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv near the Russian border and the southern Russian city of Volgograd is more than 600km.

Russia has been conducting regular long-range missile strikes on targets in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion, prompting Kyiv to scramble for ways to close the gap on Moscow's more advanced military technology.

Ukraine has sought to spur innovation in drone technology and to support the production of long-range drones to allow it to strike back.

** Russia says 15 killed in Ukraine attack on bakery in occupied east

Russia's emergencies ministry said its workers had retrieved the bodies of 20 people from the rubble following a Ukrainian attack on a building housing a bakery in the city of Lysychansk in the occupied eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk on Saturday.

The ministry shared video of emergency workers lifting two bloodied people onto stretchers and carrying them in the darkness out of the ruins of a building.

The ministry said previously that its workers rescued 10 people and handed them to doctors.

From the design and color of the building and a sign matching file imagery of the area, Reuters was able to confirm the location of a separate, daytime video the emergencies ministry shared. It matches a location on Google maps identified as Adriatic Restaurant on Moskovska Street, Lysychansk.

However Reuters was unable to independently verify the date of the footage filmed, nor of any other details of the report coming out of an area Russia said it annexed in 2022.

Ukrainian officials have not made any statement on the incident.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said "dozens of civilians" were in the building at the time of the attack and that Western weapons were used.

The Russian-controlled Luhansk Information Centre said Ukraine shelled the bakery using the U.S.-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).

Russia's state-run TASS news agency quoted a Russian-installed official in operational services as saying the average age of the victims was "35 years, plus or minus five years."

"There are no children among the dead at the moment, but the removal of rubble is still ongoing," it quoted the official as saying.

Earlier, Leonid Pasechnik, put in charge of Ukraine's Luhansk region by Moscow, said dozens of people may be under the rubble.

 

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukrainian forces lose up to 1,825 servicemen, six tanks in Krasny Liman area

Russia’s battlegroup Center has occupied more advantageous positions in the Krasny Liman area, repelling 19 Ukrainian attacks and wiping out up to 1,825 enemy servicemen over the week, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

"In the Krasny Liman area, Russia’s battlegroup Center took more advantageous positions and repelled 19 enemy attacks. It hit the manpower and equipment of the 60th and 63rd mechanized brigades, the 12th special purpose brigade and the 13th Ukrainian National Guard brigade near Kirovsk, Yampolovka in the Donetsk People's Republic, Chervonaya Dibrova, Kuzmino in the Lugansk People's Republic, as well as the Serebryansky forestry," the ministry said, adding that the enemy lost up to 1,825 servicemen, six tanks, 13 armored combat vehicles, 36 vehicles and six field artillery guns.

Also, twenty-six Ukrainian troops have surrendered over the past week, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.

In addition, the Russian Armed Forces launched 37 group strikes with precision weapons and drones on Ukraine’s decision-making centers and military-industrial complex, as well as arsenals and military airfield infrastructure over the past week, the Defense Ministry said.

"Between January 27 and February 3, the Russian Armed Forces carried out 37 group strikes with precision weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles against the decision-making centers, facilities of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine’s armed forces, as well as military airfield infrastructure, arsenals and fuel bases. In addition, deployment sites of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ units, nationalist formations and foreign mercenaries were hit. All designated targets were hit," the Defense Ministry said.

Kupyansk area

The Ukrainian Armed Forces’ losses exceeded 750 troops in the Kupyansk area over the past week, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.

"The enemy suffered losses in more than 750 service members, a tank, nine armored combat vehicles, 21 vehicles, as well as eight field artillery guns," the ministry said.

The Russian Armed Forces have pressed ahead with getting their positions better along the frontline in certain sections of the Kupyansk area over the past week, as they have liberated Tabayevka and repelled 41 Ukrainian attacks, the Defense Ministry said.

"In the Kupyansk area, units of Battlegroup West liberated Tabayevka in the Kharkov Region and carried on improving their positions along the frontline in certain sections. Over the past week, Russian troops repelled 41 attacks by assault groups of the 30th, 32nd, 44th, and 60th mechanized brigades, the 57th motorized infantry brigade, the 25th airborne and 95th airborne assault brigades as well as the 103rd territorial defense brigade near Sinkovka and Tabayevka in the Kharkov region, Novoselovskoye in the Lugansk People’s Republic and Terny in the Donetsk People’s Republic," the ministry said.

Donetsk area

Russia’s battlegroup South repelled 22 Ukrainian attacks in the Donetsk area over the week and improved its positions along the front line, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.

"In the Donetsk area, Russia’s battlegroup South improved its position on the front line and repelled 22 enemy attacks," the statement said.

The Ukrainian armed forces have suffered losses in more than 2,245 troops, five tanks and 19 armored combat vehicles in the Donetsk area over the past week, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.

"During this period, the Ukrainian armed forces’ losses amounted to over 2,245 service members, five tanks, 19 armored fighting vehicles, 63 vehicles, 28 field artillery pieces and two combat vehicles of the Grad MLRS," the ministry said.

In addition, it was reported that air strikes, artillery fire and the fire with heavy flamethrower systems had inflicted losses on the Ukrainian armed forces and National Guard near Verkhnekamenskoye, Artyomovskoye, Krasnoye, Kleshcheyevka, Kurdyumovka, Andreyevka, Belogorovka, Pereyezdnoye and Georgiyevka in the Donetsk People’s Republic.

South Donetsk area

The Russian Armed Forces’ battlegroup Vostok (East) had repelled nine attacks of the Ukrainian army in the South Donetsk area over the past week, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.

"In South Donetsk area, units of the Vostok Group of Forces repelled nine Ukrainian army’s attacks by cohesive actions," the ministry said.

The weekly losses of the Ukrainian armed forces in the South Donetsk area amounted to up to 735 military personnel and two tanks, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.

"The Ukrainian armed forces’ losses amounted up to 735 Ukrainian troops, two tanks, six armored fighting vehicles, 17 vehicles, 12 field artillery pieces, and two Grad MLRS combat vehicles," the statement said.

It was also reported that units of Ukraine’s 58th and 72nd mechanized brigades, the 79th air assault brigade, as well as the 127th and 128th territorial defense brigades suffered losses near Novomikhailovka, Konstantinovka, Ugledar, Staromayorskoye, Makarovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic, and near Priuytnoye in the Zaporozhye Region.

Zaporozhye area

The Ukrainian armed forces have suffered losses of over 385 military personnel in the Zaporozhye area over the past week, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

"In the Zaporozhye area, Russian troops repelled an attack by an assault detachment of Ukraine’s 108th territorial defense brigade near Lugovskoye and inflicted losses on Ukrainian armed forces’ manpower and hardware near Rabotino, Nesteryanka, Pyatikhatky, Kamenskoye, Malaya Tokmachka and Orekhov in the Zaporozhye Region," the ministry said.

According to the ministry, the enemy suffered losses in more than 385 troops, one tank, nine armored fighting vehicles, 19 vehicles, 15 field artillery pieces and one Grad MLRS combat vehicle.

Kherson area

Ukraine’s armed forces have suffered losses of up to 290 military personnel and four tanks in the Kherson area over the past week, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.

"In the Kherson area, as a result of Russian forces’ pre-emptive strikes supported by aircraft and artillery, losses were inflicted on manpower and hardware of the 35th, 36th and 38th marine brigades, the 121st, 123rd and 124th territorial defense brigades near Nikolayevka, Tyaginka, Ivanovka, Tokarevka, Antonovka and Yantarnoye in the Kherson Region," the ministry said.

According to the ministry, the enemy suffered losses in up to 290 Ukrainian troops, either killed and wounded, four tanks, two armored fighting vehicles, 26 vehicles, 11 motorboats, and 12 field artillery pieces.

Air Force and air defenses

Russian aircraft and air defenses have brought down 20 air-launched guided missiles, 53 MLRS rockets and 423 drones of the Ukrainian armed forces over the past week, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.

"The Air Force and air defense units intercepted 20 air-launched guided missiles, including four HARM anti-radiation missiles, one JDAM air-to-surface guided bomb, 53 projectiles fired from the HIMARS, Uragan, and Olkha MLRS, as well as 423 unmanned aerial vehicles," the statement said.

Tally of destroyed equipment

It was reported that since the launch of the special military operation, 568 airplanes, 265 helicopters, 11,678 unmanned aerial vehicles, 462 air defense missile systems, 14,893 tanks and other armored fighting vehicles, 1,215 combat vehicles equipped with MLRS, 7,952 field artillery pieces and mortars, as well as 18,179 units of special military equipment have been destroyed.

 

Reuters/Tass