Central Bank of Nigeria interventions in the power, manufacturing and aviation sectors have risen to N5.6tn in three years.

The soft loans were advanced amid the continued and varied challenges facing the key sectors of the economy.

The apex bank loans to the three sectors were obtained from the CBN result and accounts between 2020 and 2022.

The reports which showed credit concentration in the various sectors of the economy indicated that power, aviation and manufacturing sectors recorded an aggregate ofN5.6tn in loans from the central bank.

CBN under its suspended governor, Godwin Emefiele, competed with commercial banks in aggressive lending to some sectors of the economy. The apex bank loans however came in single-digit interest rate and long repayment tenor.

The breakdown revealed that CBN’s receivables and other assets in the power and aviation sector of Nigeria were N50.6bn in 2022, a decline of 96.4 per cent from N1.39tn in 2021.

Also, in the power and aviation sector, it reported N935bn in 2020.

In the manufacturing sector, it reported N1.23tn in 2022, an increase of 33.46 per cent from N919.03bn in 2021. In addition, its concentration in the manufacturing sector was at N1.07tn in 2020.

From the 2022 result and accounts, the apex bank revealed that its total receivables and others was N47.39tn from N43.18tn reported in 2021. Receivables from the Federal Government contributed a significant portion.

Director-General of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Segun Ajayi-Kadir, said the association had made several attempts to secure credit facilities from the apex bank, but did not receive any feedback on any of the occasions it wrote to the CBN.

He said, “We have 2,500 manufacturers. We have asked the CBN which manufacturers they are supporting, so we can collaborate with them, they have not obliged us. We are a coordinated group. We work together. So, to lump us together with other sectors that have non-performing loans, I don’t understand what they are talking about.”

Punch

National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted $20 million cash suspected to be counterfeit.

The agency said its operatives found the stash on Friday during a stop and search operation along Abaji-Lokoja road in the federal capital territory (FCT).

In a statement on Sunday, Femi Babafemi, NDLEA spokesperson, said the suspected fake dollars was recovered from a bus coming from Lagos to Abuja, while the driver of the vehicle has been arrested.

The agency also seized illicit drugs recovered at a warehouse in Alaba market in Lagos state.

The warehouse is said to be owned by a wanted billionaire drug baron who parades as an automobile spare parts dealer.

The NDLEA spokesperson said the illicit drugs recovered from the warehouse are worth N4,820,500,000.

“Recovered from the warehouse owned by a wanted billionaire drug baron, include: 1.4 million (1,400,000) pills of tramadol 225mg weighing 826kgs; 3.2 million (3,200,000) pills of codeine with gross weight of 3,360kgs; and 2,841 cartons of codeine syrup containing 284,100 bottles with 28,410 litres of the psychoactive substance, with a combined street value of four billion eight hundred and twenty million five hundred thousand naira (N4,820,500,000) only,” the statement reads.

Babafemi said the NDLEA operatives arrested a suspect, Paulinus Ojukwu, who acts as the chief security officer to the wanted suspect.

The Cable

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukrainians torn by evacuation calls as Russian shells fall in northeast

Ukrainians living in the northeastern Kupiansk district close to Russia's border on Sunday found themselves torn between the will to stay and protect what they have built and the desire to flee from Russian artillery fire.

"If you said the evacuation is going well," Dmytro Lozhenko, who runs a volunteer group that helps civilians flee the fighting, said on television, "It would sound like a bit of sarcasm."

Regional authorities announced a mandatory evacuation of civilians from near the Kupiansk front earlier this month due to daily Russian shelling.

The artillery toll on Sunday, Ukraine's prosecutor general said, began in the morning with an attack on the city of Kupiansk that sent a 45-year-old man to hospital in serious condition.

At 1:20 p.m., the second shelling of the city center injured three civilian men, including an emergency medical assistant, and a 20-year-old woman.

About three hours later, a third round injured a policeman. Homes, cars, garages, a business, a post office, a gas pipeline, and an educational institution were damaged, the prosecutor's office said.

It said casualty figures were still being clarified, but Oleh Synehubov, the Kharkiv regional governor, said in a post on Telegram that the morning shelling injured 11 civilians, seven of them seriously.

In an interview on Ukrainian television, Lozhenko said about 600 people had been evacuated from the area in the past 10 days, more than 120 of them children.

But what is now a mandatory evacuation, he said, may yet become a forced one, "at least for families with children and for people with reduced mobility, who cannot look after themselves."

In one village in Kupiansk district, he said, it was only after Russia bombed out almost two entire streets that people started to leave. "The worst thing about evacuation is that people have been living in this war for a long time, and many of them are very used to shelling."

It was tough to tell people in Kupiansk who had adapted to the situation that they would be safer "in shelters, dormitories in other cities."

Russia denies deliberately targeting civilians in its invasion of Ukraine, which has killed thousands, uprooted millions, and destroyed cities.

** Russia says Ukrainian drones attack four regions

Russia said Ukrainian drones had attacked four separate regions in a flurry of attempted strikes on Sunday, injuring five people and forcing two of Moscow's airports to briefly divert flights.

Russia's Kursk, Rostov and Belgorod regions, all of which border Ukraine, reported attempted drone strikes, while Russia's defence ministry said it had jammed a Ukrainian drone in the Moscow region, forcing it to crash in an unpopulated area.

Russia's aviation watchdog said it had briefly halted flights to the city's Vnukovo and Domodedovo airports in response.

The Kursk region's governor said five people had been injured and a fire had broken out when a drone hit Kursk city's railway station.

Rostov's governor said no injuries or damage had occurred.

Later on Sunday, Russia's Defence Ministry said it had prevented two separate drone strikes on the Belgorod region, the border province most regularly attacked by Ukraine. The local governor said on Telegram that 12 airborne targets had been downed on the approaches to Belgorod city, before later saying only three drones had been shot down.

Ukrainian drone strikes both on border regions and on the Russian capital have become increasingly common in recent months, with repeated strikes on Moscow's financial district.

Russia said in May that two Ukrainian drones had tried to attack the Kremlin.

Ukraine typically does not comment on who is behind attacks on Russian territory, although officials have publicly expressed satisfaction over them.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine ‘running out of options’ – WaPo

Ukraine is running out of options in its counteroffensive against Russian forces, as Kiev’s time-window to gain advances is closing, the Washington Post has reported.

In an article on Sunday, the US outlet is claiming that Ukraine’s counteroffensive, which was launched in early June and was initially expected to see Kiev taking back significant territory, currently “shows signs of stalling.”

“Kiev’s advances remain isolated to a handful of villages, Russian troops are pushing forward in the north and a plan to train Ukrainian pilots on US-made F-16s is delayed,” the newspaper wrote.

Ukrainian and Western officials might be calling for patience but “the window of time for Ukraine to conduct offensive operations is limited”because of the “inhospitable weather” in the region in autumn and winter, the article reads.

“Without more advanced weapons slated to bolster the front line or fully committing forces still being held in reserve, it is unlikely that Ukraine will be able to secure a breakthrough in the counteroffensive, according to analysts,” WaPo pointed out.

The article also warned that “the inability to demonstrate decisive success on the battlefield [by Kiev forces] is stoking fears that the conflict is becoming a stalemate and international support could erode.”

Calls for Washington to cut back on its military and financial aid to Ukraine “are expected to be amplified” in the wake of the US presidential election in 2024, it added.

Earlier this week, the Post also cited a classified US intelligence report, which suggested that “Ukraine’s counteroffensive will fail to reach the key southeastern city of Melitopol,” and that the aim of severing Russia’s land bridge linking Donbass with Crimea in the southern province of Zaporozhye won’t be achieved this year.

According to Russian estimates, Ukraine has failed to make any significant gains, but lost more than 43,000 troops and nearly 5,000 pieces of heavy equipment since the launch of its counteroffensive. Kiev has so far claimed the capture of several villages, but these appear to be located some distance away from main Russian defense lines.

** US doesn’t have enough ballistic missiles for Ukraine – FT

The US is not in a position to supply Ukraine with tactical ballistic missiles in quantities that could help turn the tide in its counteroffensive, the Financial Times has reported. The British newspaper also cited several experts who question whether this type of weaponry could help Kiev achieve a major breakthrough at all.

In its article on Sunday, the FT, citing unnamed American officials, claimed that the US simply does not produce enough tactical ballistic missiles, those which Ukraine has been asking for, to “make a significant difference on the battlefield.”

In addition, according to the FT report, another consideration preventing the shipment of such projectiles is that such action could lead to a further escalation of the conflict with Russia.
Samuel Charap, a senior political scientist at Rand Corporation, told the media outlet that Ukraine’s insistence on laying its hands on long-range missiles is misplaced. The expert stressed that rockets like these are “no magic wands” and are unlikely to solve the hurdles of minefields and entrenched Russian defenses that Kiev’s forces are currently facing.

The FT quoted some US officials as warning that the extent of US military aid could shrink as the 2024 presidential election looms. A possible reelection of Republican Donald Trump adds another layer of uncertainty, given his repeated pledges to end the conflict as soon as he assumes office, the article noted.

Meanwhile, in Germany – another country which Kiev has asked for long-range missiles – a survey released by ARD-DeutschlandTrend on Friday showed that 52% of respondents are firmly opposed to such deliveries, with 36% in favor.

So far, top German officials, including Chancellor Olaf Scholz, have appeared reluctant to hand over Taurus missiles to Ukraine. The rocket boasts a range of approximately 500 kilometers (310 miles).

Back in May, the UK became the first nation to provide Kiev with this type of weaponry, sending its Storm Shadow cruise missiles, with a range of over 250 kilometers.

Last month, France followed suit, supplying Ukraine with its own localized version of the Storm Shadow, named SCALP. 

Moscow has repeatedly warned Western countries against sending weapons to Ukraine, arguing that by doing so, they are only prolonging the conflict and are also becoming engaged in a “proxy war” against Russia.

Reuters/RT

Many political disputes in recent years have been framed as battles between economic rationality and eruptions of irrationality that we label populism. But cognitive psychologists and economists would point out that political irrationality is hardly confined to populist insurgents. As a general matter, most political leaders are focused on practical matters and do not necessarily think deeply about the ideas they expound.

Among the early modern cartographers of political irrationality was Vilfredo Pareto, who died one hundred years ago, on August 19, 1923. Born in 1848, that year of liberal hope (and revolution) across Europe, Pareto died after witnessing the liberal order’s demise and the tragedy of World War I. Nowadays, his name pops up most often in references to “Pareto optimality” (when no further action can be taken to benefit someone without harming someone else) or the “Pareto principle” (the idea that around 80% of outcomes stem from only 20% of causes).

It is hard to imagine Pareto betting that he would be remembered for these ideas. His father, an engineer, had bequeathed him a scientific and mathematical education, and he had applied that to a managerial career that kept him busy into his 40s.

While still in business, he involved himself in liberal politics in Florence, where he became a pugnacious polemicist and learned economist. Eager for his voice to be heard, he corresponded with French economists and published in their language, always taking pains to develop contacts wherever he could. He wrote to Britain’s Liberal prime minister, William Gladstone, and Gladstone wrote back.

Among his many correspondents, the most frequent was Maffeo Pantaleoni, a career academic ten years his junior but far more accomplished when the two of them started to exchange letters. Pareto expressed appreciation for an essay by Pantaleoni, but he had spotted a few flaws in it. Instead of reacting grudgingly, Pantaleoni quickly discerned that his pen pal was a genius. He duly kept all his letters and was instrumental in Pareto’s move to academia. In 1893, Pareto succeeded Léon Walras, a founder of neoclassical economics, in his chair at the University of Lausanne.

There, Pareto embraced teaching vigorously, but his enthusiasm for economics faded. He wanted to move to sociology, because he had come to see human life as dominated by illogical actions. Having already played a considerable role in formalizing modern economics, he would soon also end up at the fountainhead of twentieth-century political science and sociology.

As a young man, Pareto saw free trade as obviously beneficial to all, and military spending as detrimental to many. Yet his own country, Italy, moved away from free trade and embarked on extravagant, brutal colonial expansions. While Pareto was quick to diagnose this behavior as the result of influence by special interests, he wondered why so many other people went along with it.

The function of political ideologies, as Pareto saw it, was to put lipstick on a pig. The fundamental nature of politics is that somebody rules and many more obey – and not even democracy can change that.

But the fact that somebody must rule does not mean that the same people rule forever. On the contrary, history is a cemetery of defunct ruling classes. When a ruling class becomes too self-referential and incapable of integrating new elements, its time is up.

Pareto did not think history and politics could be understood from the self-serving narratives of the protagonists. Rather, developments should be subjected to a scientific inquiry that goes beyond the surface of “derivations,” not stopping at the reasons people provide to explain their own behavior. Pareto understood that people’s actions stem from deep-rooted motives – what he called “residues” – which they then must rationalize. We are all constantly inventing justifications to make the non-rational appear rational.

Pareto saw “rationalism” as just another “intellectual religion,” and intellectuals as no less susceptible to pseudo-scientific creeds than anybody else. The next time you scroll through your social-media feed, consider whether all those advocating “right” causes have actually thought deeply about them. How many have actually read all the literature they cite, or engaged with opposing views? Often, what we think is contingent on our need to belong.

In politics, two “residues” (triggers of action) are of paramount importance. On the one hand, there are “rentiers” who value stability, oppose change and newcomers, and tend to live on land rent or fixed income. Pareto characterizes their “residue” as the “persistence of aggregates” – such as customs, traditions, social classes, and so forth.

On the other hand, there are “speculators” who thrive on change and the pursuit of innovation, but who also tend to manipulate government for their own ends. Pareto describes their “residue” as the “instinct for combination,” which suggests an ability to invent ever-new things.

Both rentiers and speculators are necessary for a country to thrive, but Pareto saw the second category as more likely to gain control of society, particularly when government is expanding. They are at home in large-scale, ambitious “schemes” – regardless of whether the aim is to win a war, reduce inequality, or make bureaucracy more efficient.

Pareto’s sketches of the world before WWI resemble the world we live in now. He saw financial engineering at the service of government as basically fraudulent; he ridiculed those who believed that taxes were a fee we pay for services; and he regarded inflation and public debt as instruments for “plundering” specific segments of the population.

In the long run, governments do not pay their debts, and they will tax people as much as they can. Speculators are better at surfing the wave and profiting from these tendencies, whereas rentiers (or pensioners and others on fixed incomes) are more likely to end up paying the bill.

Today more than ever, politics is about believing and belonging. Polarization has made the right and the left into ardent champions of their respective causes. Both believe that if they don’t win, the world will go to the dogs. Public intellectuals today are fully invested in this rhetoric.

Of course, Pareto himself was a man of passions, who ardently believed in liberty and tolerance. Yet he somehow forced his political realism on himself, not in the service of some fetish for neutrality, but because he saw lucidity as his ultimate duty.

Project Syndicate

As an entrepreneur, you're probably used to keeping yourself busy all day long, crossing items off your to-do list. 

But if you're looking to give your productivity an unexpected boost, you may want to temporarily embrace an uncomfortable feeling: boredom. 

Boredom is one of the most underutilized productivity tools in today's world.

Boredom will inevitably give you something back in return, be it a solution, a new approach, or a new way of looking at things. The only trick? You must let yourself be bored. 

Here are four key reasons why boredom is good for your productivity. 

You remember fleeting, yet important tasks

Boredom has a way of dredging up all those things you've been meaning to finish. Your mind eventually unwinds and relaxes, and a wave of to-dos floods your conscious mind. And what if no specific tasks come to mind? 

At the very least, you'll be inspired to check your aging to-do list for a refresher on what needs to be done.  

And in some cases, you may be so bored with boredom that you'll tackle something, anything, if only to occupy your mind for a while. Now would be an opportune time to get started on those taxes, file those business trip expenses, or delete files from your computer desktop. 

Often, as soon as you begin a task, you're reminded of a whole slew of other things that need your attention. And just like that, you've found several smart solutions to your boredom. 

You can create marvelous new things

You don't know what your mind can produce when it's given a chance to lay fallow. Boredom has birthed all sorts of wonderful things in the world: companies, websites, projects, books, apps, partnerships, expeditions, and beyond. Face boredom head-on and see where it leads you. 

Maybe you'll be inspired to start that blog you've been meaning to write or develop a new way to catalog that fabric. 

Perhaps you'll create a new coffee-based drink that takes the world by storm or automate an existing administrative system in your business. And maybe you'll be filled with a revolutionary concept for your next business venture. 

You build stronger relationships

Boredom can help strengthen your relationship muscles and grow your network. How? You're naturally drawn toward other people. You want to see what other people are doing at the present moment. Your curiosity is at an all-time high.  

You can use this to your advantage by taking time to genuinely connect and reconnect with others from a place of wonder. Maybe this is a time to schedule a meeting with a client you haven't spoken to in a long time. You could reconnect with a colleague or a vendor to see what they're up to. 

Another byproduct of reconnecting with others is that you might just land yourself a new project or assignment that will keep you duly occupied for the next several weeks or months. 

You gain perspective in your business

Being bored in and of itself may not seem like an exciting way to spend your time. Yet boredom allows you to fully engage in the cycle of business and life. 

It's a literal hard reset that can give you much-needed information about your current situation. That is, if you're willing to fully open your eyes and be honest with yourself. 

Boredom will force you to take a hard look at your business as a whole and help you reassess and make future plans. You can use this reflection time as motivation and inspiration to break free from a business rut. 

Think about what you'd like to accomplish in your business in the next 30, 60, and 90 days. Take a step further and think about what you'd like to see in six to 12 months. The next step is to roll up your sleeves and get to work. 

Inc

Director of Payment Systems Management of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Musa Jimoh, who doubles as the Chairman of Nigeria Electronic Fraud Forum (NeFF), yesterday disclosed that accumulated Electronic Fraud (E-Fraud) within the banking sector and payment systems network has led to a loss of N9.5 billion so far in 2023.

Jimoh, speaking at the Q3 2023 general meeting of NeFF in Lagos, where stakeholders converged to discuss “New Strategies for Combating E-Fraud in a cashless Environment”, called for enhanced collaboration within the payment systems’ ecosystem to curtail the rise in E-Fraud.

Jimoh said: “We are gathered to see how we can secure our environment, how we can secure our digital environment, and how we can secure cyberspace. We all keep our money in electronic form.

“Today, we are here to continue that conversation to look at new strategies by which we can combat E-fraud. If we don’t combat the cyber criminals, they will take us down and disrupt the entire system. So, we all need to work together to see how we can make life extremely difficult for cybercriminals.

“We need to look at new ways, new techniques, and more efficient manners by which we can improve and guard against the banking and payment infrastructure and educate ourselves on how we can safeguard our bank credentials or tokens and all the information that the banks have provided to us to safeguard. The more information we have about what they’re doing, the more we are protected.

“The objective is to have zero fraud, but you know, this is a gradual process because as you’re building techniques, they’re also exploiting other areas. As more people come into the financial sector, as more transactions happen, people are vulnerable and so we need enlightenment, education. We will continue to push it, which is why it’s going to be a very long journey.

“But I know that with the kind of enlightenment and the push by the bankers’ committee, and other stakeholders, a lot of Nigerians will be well educated to know that they have to keep all the accounting details very secret and therefore we anticipate that the incidence of fraud we taper down almost to zero.”In giving insights into E-fraud data in 2023, the Managing Director of Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), Premier Oiwoh noted that the industry in 2023 recorded its highest actual loss value of N2.7 billion in January while June 2023 had the lowest value of over N800 million.

He added that the highest fraud count in the last six months was recorded in May 2023 with 11,716 records while the lowest count was in June 2023 with 6,240.Represented by the Chief Risk Officer, NIBBS, Temidayo Adekanye, he said: “Recently, we had the cashless policies from CBN, which was incurring a dramatic increase in the volume of transactions in the industry which variably has the impact of the volume of fraud in the industry itself. Now, the increase and efficiency have also meant that fraud has dramatically increased across the industry. For Q1 2023, the total fraud reported through the industry forum portal was at N5.1 billion.

“For fraud trends over the last five years, in 2019, we’re looking at about N3 billion and currently 2023, we are looking at about N9.5 billion to date. Fraud losses have increased dramatically over the last five years.

”He further stated that in recent periods, scammers have developed a method to redirect funds via betting platforms and wallet accounts, resulting in minimal success rates for recovering those funds through these avenues due to insufficient identifications.

Adekanye said: “What we see most is the fact that the primary channels are the betting platforms. So once the money hits the betting platform or a wallet account or in some cases, POS agents, once it is cashed out, it is a black hole. There is no way you can recover that money. We’re talking about potentially 5 per cent recovery rates across the industry. So, we all have to identify those betting and wallets accounts, POS agents, cryptocurrency accounts, and in some cases purchases.”

Also, the CBN Director, accompanied by the Managing Director Fidelity Bank, Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe, and other stakeholders unveiled the NeFF official website to aid collaboration and information sharing to curtail E-fraud.Onyeali-Ikpe said the gradual escalation of E-Fraud is beginning to erode customers’ trust in the financial system. She emphasised the need for a swift and decisive approach to address E-fraud within the financial sector.

She said: “As technology continues to advance at an unprecedented pace, our reliance on digital transactions have grown exponentially. However, with the rise of these digital interactions, the threat of E-fraud has become a significant challenge affecting individuals, businesses, and the industry. The data we have from the NiBBS is that the volume of electronic payment transactions in Nigeria increased by 298 per cent Year-on-Year.

“The banking industry lost a total of N14.3 billion to electronic fraud in 2022 up from N12.7 billion in 2021. As Q1 2023 is about today it’s N5 billion and then the problem here is that the trend so far shows that if this continues unchecked, it would rise to N20 billion for the full year.“E-fraud has permeated multiple industries, spanning from banking and finance to e-commerce and beyond. These cybercriminals leverage advanced methods to exploit vulnerabilities, gaining unauthorised access to crucial data and funds. The repercussions of e-fraud are not limited to financial losses; they also extend to eroding trust and eroding brand reputation.”

Thisday

Niger’s self-declared military leader on Saturday proposed a return to democracy within three years and warned the regional bloc against using military force.

Abdourahamane Tiani, an army general and leader of last month’s coup, said he had given the government 30 days to develop a framework for a return to democracy after a transition period that “cannot exceed three years.”

He stressed that foreign military intervention to restore constitutional order would have “repercussions on the entire region.”

“It’s largely thanks to the professionalism and courage of our force that Niger has remained the lock that prevents hordes of terrorists from destabilizing our entire region,” Tiani said in an address on state TV Tele Sahel. “Let’s be clear, if we’re attacked, it wont be a walk in the park.”

The developments come after the West African regional bloc, while still hoping to solve the crisis in Niger by diplomatic means, said it stands ready to apply force to overturn the July 26 coup if talks fail.

A delegation from the Economic Community of West African States arrived in Niger on Saturday to meet with the country’s military leaders and ousted President Mohamed Bazoum.

Kathleen FitzGibbon has arrived in Niamey to lead the US mission in Niger, the US State Department said on Saturday. FitzGibbon, a career diplomat with extensive experience in Africa, will “bolster efforts to help resolve the political crisis at this critical time.”

Soldiers led by Tiani, chief of the presidential guard, seized power in July and took Bazoum hostage. He remains in detention along with his family and government members. Ecowas has taken a hard line against the soldiers by closing borders, issuing harsh sanctions and activating a standby force.

Top military officers representing the bloc’s member-states had completed a plan to enter Niger, Abdel-Fatau Musah, the economic group’s commissioner for political affairs, peace and security, said after meetings in Accra, Ghana’s capital, on Friday.

The junta and its allies, neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso — both of which are under military rule — are preparing to counter a possible military intervention.

“In the event of an attack, our leaders have said that we’re ready. We’re prepared to support Niger,” Burkina Faso’s Defense Minister Kassoum Coulibaly told Russia’s state-owned news agency, RIA, after the military chiefs’ meeting in Accra.

Western Ally

Coup leaders had no intention of collaborating with the Kremlin-backed Wagner mercenary group or harming the deposed president, junta-installed Prime Minister Ali Lamine Zeine told the New York Times.

Niger has been a key Western ally and a relative bastion of stability in one of the world’s most volatile regions. The US has a military drone base in the country, and France has about 1,500 troops stationed there, targeting insurgents affiliated with al-Qaeda and Islamic State in cooperation with Nigerien forces.

The landlocked nation, more than twice the size of France, ranks among the least-developed countries. It has a population of over 25 million and one of the highest birth rates in the world.

Bloomberg

Supporters of Niger's junta were forced on Saturday to halt a census of people willing to volunteer for non-military roles in defence against a possible intervention by West African powers, saying they had been overwhelmed by the numbers who turned up.

Thousands of mostly young men had massed outside a stadium in the capital Niamey hours before the scheduled start-time of the event - a sign of the strong support for the junta, which has defied international pressure to stand down after the July 26 ouster of President Mohamed Bazoum.

"In all our calculations and our understandings, we never thought we could mobilize (this number of people)," said Younoussa Hima, co-organiser of the initiative dubbed "The Mobilisation of Young People for the Fatherland."

"So it is really difficult for us today to do this work. That is what made us halt this census," Hima said by the stadium after the crowds dispersed.

West Africa's main regional bloc, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), on Friday said it had agreed an undisclosed "D-Day" for a possible military intervention if diplomatic efforts fail - an escalation that could further destabilise a conflict-torn and impoverished region.

Organisers of the Niamey recruitment drive said they did not intend to sign up volunteers for the army, but rather to gather a list of people willing to lend their civilian skills in case ECOWAS attacks.

But many of those around the stadium appeared keen to fight.

POSSIBLE ATTACK

"They called on the youth to respond to a possible attack on our soil. And we are ready for any attack," said blogger Tahirou Seydou Abdoul Nassirou.

"My life, I give my life to my country," he said, wiping a tear from his eye as other young men nodded and cheered his words.

An ECOWAS delegation flew into Niamey on Saturday to hold talks with the junta, showing that efforts to resolve the standoff peacefully are still underway.

The level of support for the junta across Niger has been hard to assess, but thousands attended a previous rally at the stadium on Aug. 11 and applauded coup leaders' vow to stand up to the bloc.

At the stadium on Saturday, 35-year-old Kader Haliou said patriotism was not the only motivation for those wanting to help the junta.

"Most of the young people who have come are unemployed. Getting registered is a blessing for us given the idleness and lack of work," he said.

The coup and subsequent international sanctions have piled extra pressure on Niger's struggling economy. It is one of the world's least developed countries with more than 40% of the population living in extreme poverty, according to the World Bank.

Reuters

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Seven killed, 144 wounded in Russian missile strike on Ukraine's Chernihiv

Seven people including a 6-year-old girl were killed, 144 wounded, and 41 were in hospital after a Russian missile struck a central square in the historic northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv on Saturday, Ukrainian officials said.

"I am sure our soldiers will give a response to Russia for this terrorist attack," President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address, delivered early on Sunday at the end of a visit to Sweden. "A notable response."

He said that of the 144 people injured, 15 were children, and named the girl killed as Sofia. Fifteen others were police officers, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on Telegram. Klymenko said most of the victims were in vehicles, crossing the road, or returning from church.

Regional governor Viacheslav Chaus said 41 people were in hospital on Saturday.

Zelenskiy said the strike on Chernihiv, a city of leafy boulevards and centuries-old churches about 145 km (90 miles) north of Kyiv, coincided with the Orthodox holiday of the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord.

Debris was scattered across a square in front of the damaged theatre and surrounding buildings, where parked vehicles were heavily damaged. A 63-year-old who only gave her first name, Valentyna, showed the damaged balcony in her apartment opposite the theatre.

"It is horrific. Horrific. There were wounded, ambulances and broken glass in here. Nightmare. Just nightmare," she said.

The roof of the neoclassical theatre was torn off by the strike.

Russia has attacked Ukrainian cities far from the frontline with missiles and drones as part of the full-scale invasion that began in February 2022.

People leaving church and others passing by were among those hurt when the missile hit the theatre, where a meeting was taking place, Chaus said.

Law enforcement agencies were looking into how Russians became aware of the event, which he said included business and community representatives but Ukrainian media reported involved drone manufacturers. Both sides have widely used drones on the battlefield.

An event organizer said all the participants, including engineers, members of the military and volunteers, were asked to go to an air raid shelter in the theatre when the alarm sounded, but some people went outside.

"All those who took shelter remained safe," Maria Berlinska, a co-founder of the Dignitas Fund, whose fundraising includes money for drones for the frontline, said in a Facebook post.

A wounded woman said her friend pulled her out of one of the damaged buildings after a part of the ceiling fell on her head.

The streets were stained with blood trails and strewn with scraps from first-aid supplies that had been used to treat the wounded.

** Ukraine's long F16s training process has begun -defence minister

Training had begun for Ukrainians to operate U.S. F16 fighter jets but it would take at least six months and possibly longer, Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said on Saturday, two days after a U.S. official said F-16s would be transferred to Ukraine once its pilots were trained.

Reznikov said in a TV interview that six months of training was considered the minimum for pilots, but it was not yet known how long it would take to train engineers and mechanics. Ukraine wants the sophisticated U.S.-made warplanes so it can counter the air superiority of Russia, whose forces invaded the country in February 2022.

"Therefore, to build reasonable expectations, set a minimum of six months in your mind, but do not be disappointed if it is longer," he told Kanal 24 anchor Andriana Kucher, who shared the interview on her YouTube channel.

A U.S. official said on Thursday that Washington had approved sending F-16s to Ukraine from Denmark and the Netherlands to defend against Russia as soon as pilot training was completed.

Reznikov said he would not give details on where and when the training was taking place.

The training included technical language training, as the usual basic English level was insufficient, he said.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine attacks Russian military airfield – MOD

A military air base in Western Russia came under attack from an explosives-laden drone on Saturday, the Russian Defense Ministry has reported. Military officials added that while the attack was thwarted, one aircraft still sustained damage.

In its statement, the ministry detailed that the incursion took place at about 10am Moscow time. According to the statement, the “Kiev regime” was behind the “terrorist attack” in Novgorod Region.

The UAV was detected by the airfield’s personnel and destroyed by small arms fire, the ministry revealed. “A fire broke out on the airfield as a result of the terrorist attack, which was swiftly extinguished by firefighting units,” the statement said.

While the incident did not cause any casualties, one plane was damaged.

Later in the day, the ministry added that one drone had been brought down over Belgorod Region, which borders Ukraine, with electronic warfare systems thwarting a similar attack over Moscow Region.

According to military officials, neither incident caused casualties or damage on the ground.

Numerous drone attacks have been attempted on Russian territory over the past several months, with UAVs shot down even over Moscow. The Russian authorities have accused Kiev of staging the attacks. The Ukrainian leadership, while stopping short of claiming responsibility, has hinted that it was indeed behind the aerial incursions.  

Back in May, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) claimed it had foiled a drone attack on a military airfield near the city of Ivanovo in central Russia.  

Last December, several UAVs targeted Dyagilevo and Engels military airfields, located 500km (310.7 miles) and 700km (435 miles) from Ukrainian territory, respectively. Six people were killed on the ground, with two planes receiving minor damage as a result, according to officials.

** US officials admit they missed opportunity for Ukraine peace – Politico

American officials have told Politico that they may have “missed a window”to push for peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. Speaking anonymously, they conceded that Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley “had a point” when he offered a grim pronouncement on Kiev’s chances for victory last year.

More than two months into Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russian forces, Kiev has failed to capture more than a handful of hamlets and villages in Zaporozhye region, and has lost at least 43,000 men and nearly 5,000 pieces of equipment in the process, according to the latest figures from the Russian Defense Ministry. Although the Ukrainian government still insists it can retake all of its claimed territory by force, Washington is increasingly unsure.

“We may have missed a window to push for earlier talks,” a US official told Politico on Friday, adding that “Milley had a point.”

Speaking in New York in November, Milley said that a military victory would likely be unachievable for Ukraine, and that Kiev could use the wintertime pause in fighting to enter negotiations with Moscow and avoid any further losses. 

His comments reportedly angered Kiev and caused panic in the White House, which rushed to reassure the Ukrainian leadership that it would continue to support President Vladimir Zelensky’s maximalist aims – which include retaking Crimea, an historic Russian territory that voted to rejoin the Russian Federation in 2014.

Media reports suggest that Washington has been divided on the idea of peace talks since at least last year, with President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken vehemently rejecting negotiations, against the wishes of some members of the military and intelligence agencies. This split persisted as Ukraine geared up for its counteroffensive, with reports indicating that despite Biden’s and Blinken’s optimism, the Pentagon knewKiev wasn’t ready for the operation, and the CIA expected it to end in failure.

Pessimism is now spreading in the White House, another anonymous official told Politico, saying that the Biden administration is increasingly asking itself “If we acknowledge we’re not going to do this forever, then what are we going to do?”

Milley has continued to suggest a diplomatic solution to the conflict. “If the end state is ‘Ukraine is a free, independent, sovereign country with its territory intact’... that’s gonna take a long, long time, but you can also achieve those objectives — maybe, possibly — through some sort of diplomatic means,” he told the Washington Post this week.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that any negotiations will be held “not with Zelensky, who is a puppet in the hands of the West, but directly with his masters.” The Kremlin also maintains that any potential peace deal will have to recognize the “new territorial reality” – that the regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, and Zaporozhye will not be ceded back to Ukraine.

Reuters/RT

When death became ubiquitous and cheap as air, afflicting the young and the old in their scores, Yoruba of old said it had become three-for-a-penny. There was what they called iyo olo’kan (one-penny salt). Ookan was a penny and the least of the denominations of the money of the time. A mound of salt was sold for a penny. Death that harvested people in their prime, unannounced, they also likened to creepy, parasitic mistletoe – afomo. It is a leathery-leaved parasitic plant which grows on apple, oak, and other broadleaf trees in the forest and also sticks to trees, either of cocoa or kolanut. Farmers watch out for an afomo on their crash crops because, the moment a tree gets infested with it, it is on its way to barrenness. While the mistletoe has no root of its own, it bores roots inside the trunk of its host and starves the tree of nutrients. 

Afomo, however, has a dual usage. In refrains of chants for mercy and favour, afomo is a regular. It is chanted to remind the universe that all trees of the forest, including palm trees, have mercy on the mistletoe – ti’gi t’ope ni s’anu afomo. They also chant that the mistletoe has no roots but has every tree as its kindred (afomo o ni gbongbo, igi gbogbo ni ba tan). Wherever you see the afomo, it is a bloodsucking leech. That is what death has become in this land; it puts its hideous cap on the young, the old, male and female while those put in charge of lives of the people dance on unconcerned. 

Last week, on August 14 and 15 respectively, like an afomo or, if you like, in the surreptitious manner of a wolf, men of terror crept into the Nigerian and Nigerien military forces. By the time they were done piercing their maniacal incisors into the raw flesh of soldiers of both countries, caked blood, mangled flesh, weeping and wailing were left in their trails. Terrorists and bandits literally washed their bloodsucking hands with the gallant blood of patriotic soldiers. The Nigerian soldiers were killed in two attacks. The first was in an ambush around Kundu village in the Shiroro local government area of Niger state and the second, the downing of a Nigerian Air Force MI-171 helicopter on a casualty evacuation mission near Chukuba village in same Shiroro local council area. While the Nigerian Defence spokesman, Edward Buba, itemized fatalities recorded in the attacks to include three officers and 22 soldiers, with seven wounded, foreign news agencies said the casualties were “at least, 36.” The downed Air Force Mi-171 helicopter killed all occupants on board which included 14 officers and men, inclusive of two pilots and two crew members. The number also factored into it bodies of those earlier killed in action in the earlier operation. If the afomo must cling to every tree of the forest, must it weave its parasitic self round well-tended trees as well?

A day after the Nigerian attack, at least 17 Nigerien soldiers were also killed in an attack said to have been masterminded by armed groups at a place near the Nigerien border with Mali. A detachment of the Nigerien Armed Forces (FAN) roving between Boni and Torodi was ambushed near the town of Koutougou, 52km southwest of Torodi by a deadly band of terrorists. Twenty of the soldiers were mortally injured and eventually evacuated to Niamey, the capital. The Nigerien army however said it “neutralized” more than 100 assailants as they retreated from where they inflicted sorrow, tears and blood on Niger. This particular area, which is the border area, a convergence point for central Mali, northern Burkina Faso and western Niger, had been noted to be an epicenter of violence by armed groups linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS) in the Sahel region. This repeated bloodshed has provoked anger in the Sahel, fuelling military takeovers in three African countries of the Sahel since 2020. Niger Republic is the latest casualty of this military takeover as the coup which ousted President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26 was attributed to the growing insecurity in the country.

On a national television last week, Edward Gabkwet, Air Commodore and Director of Public Relations and Information of the Nigerian Air Force, was contrite at the thought of wastages of the lives of his military colleagues. In his defence of the Nigerian army however, he made it look as if death was a regular afomo for soldiers that required no societal hoopla. Which should not be. In a release he issued thereafter, entitled We will not give in to terrorists’ propaganda, Gabkwet said, “like all military organizations involved in counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations, incidences of fatalities, mishaps and crashes are sometimes inevitable.”

The Nigerian Army has struggled to defoliate the gravity of the Shiroro attacks. Both Gabkwet and Buba, deploying all euphemistic equivalents available to them, have attempted to mis-tag the downing of the military helicopter as a crash due ostensibly to foggy weather. This must be in apparent deference to patriotism. Two military sources however told Reuters that the Air Force helicopter was most likely brought down “after gang members shot at it.”Abdullahi Abubakar, a renowned terrorist who is also popularly known as Dogo Gide, later claimed responsibility for shooting down the helicopter. In a viral video, he said, “By God’s grace, this is what we will be showing you. These are dead bodies of Nigerian soldiers that attacked us with the aim of killing us. They wanted to kill Dogo Gide. But Dogo Gide by God’s grace is still alive and he will not die (by soldiers’ bullets). These are soldiers lying on the ground. Look at them…and their helicopter lying wasted. I want you people to repent because we don’t have any problem with anyone. We’ll not kill anyone except those who plan to attack us.”

It will be recalled that in the last two years, especially under former president Muhammadu Buhari, bloodsucking gangs of heavily armed men called bandits, terrorists or other synonyms, have wreaked irreparable havocs on Nigeria’s northwest. They kidnapped Nigerians in their thousands, killed hundreds and rendered life unlivable in that part of Nigeria. Forget the bally-ho and muscle-flexing, attacks coordinated by gangs, especially the deadly ones who are locally referred to as bandits, have seemed to confound Nigeria's security forces. The frightening number of casualties recorded in the process will appear to daily test the brawns and resolve of Nigerian soldiers to the limits. In August 2019, highly influential The Wall Street Journal had alleged that, on the eve of Buhari’s visit to Borno State, over 1,000 soldiers massacred by insurgents were secretly interred at a secret cemetery in Maimalari Barracks, Maiduguri. They were suspected bodies of soldiers killed in a then recent attack on the Melete barracks. The journal quoted military sources, some of whom said, “They moved the bodies from the morgue into the unmarked graves under cover of darkness… We could see the headlamps and the torches of the engineering division digging the graves.” While the Nigerian Army flatly denied this allegation, many families who were secretly contacted were said to have exploded in cries and anguish.

In the last few years, it has been the lot of Nigerian soldiers to ceaselessly tackle violent, deadly herder-farmer crisis in the north central. This includes a 13-year old interminable insurgency waged against the Islamist groups of Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) in the northwest. Added to all these is the spate of general insecurity in the southwest and the blood-baiting nuisance of Unknown Gunmen in the southeast.

As the menace of insecurity has become a common security decimal in Nigeria, it stands to reason that Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) must naturally elude Nigeria. In a report by the Punch newspaper last week, at least 77 percent of both North-Central and North-West states are today struggling with low revenue, poor foreign investments and huge debt profiles occasioned by incidences of banditry. The states are Zamfara, Katsina, Niger, Plateau, Kano, Jigawa, Kebbi, Nasarawa, Sokoto and Kaduna. The paucity of IGR in those states has resulted in their entering the unenviable foyer of states that can seldom survive without federal allocations, said Punch. In the last two years, the states had borrowed over 12 times more than they earned. As no investor takes their wealth to volatile places, the report’s finding was that “at least 60 percent of both North-Central and North-West states did not attract any foreign investments in two years due to the rising cases of banditry.”

With the above as backcloth, it was anticipated that President Bola Tinubu, while nominating his cabinet ministers, would properly factor into the nomination the prime place of a secure Nigeria. The connect between security and investment has been said to be immeasurable. Those who would man Nigerian state security architecture were thought to be men who would be above the vagaries of politics. But Muhammed Badaru and Bello Matawalle were all we got as Ministers of Defence nominees.

While many an appointee has perforated the thesis of pure professionalism as answer to the drudgery and underperformance in public office, no one has been able to render redundant the place of experience in public office performance. It reminds me of the Tapa tribe and its estimation of the potency of unorthodox medicine. The Nupe, traditionally known as the Nupawa by Hausa and Tapa by the Yoruba due to an ancestry they both share (this was where the legendary Oba Sango’s mother reportedly hailed from) are an ethnic group dominant in Niger and Kwara states. When a local herbal medical practitioner flaunts the efficacy and healing powers of their phial in the presence of a Tapa, they ask if the practitioner had suffered from the ailment they profess to heal and, was it the same medicine that let them off the hook? It is a medicinal philosophy that harps on practice.

Badaru’s Jigawa, as governor, was one of the most volatile states in the northwest. Same is Matawalle’s Zamfara. Like most of the states in the region, both states convulsed under attacks by gunmen, known locally as bandits. Bandits’ subjects of attacks in those states were mainly rural communities and travelers. Thousands of people were killed while abduction was one of the notorious manifestations of the absence of authority in the states. Zamfara, for instance, faced one of the worst kidnap-for-ransom syndicates in the history of Nigeria under Matawalle, resulting in the kidnap of 29 phone repairers last year. Under him, Zamfara was a lawless haven for bandits where life was a replica of the Hobbesian brutish, nasty and short life. So, how did the duo of Badaru and Matawalle, the physicians who could not satisfy a Tapa’s practical quest for self-healing, by healing themselves, heal Nigeria’s insecurity?

Between the two countries of Nigeria and Niger Republic, they lost over 50 soldiers to attackers last week. While the governmental and military elites of the two countries see figures in those fallen soldiers, their families see breadwinners, fathers and children whose lives were cut in their prime. In the homes of those fallen soldiers, melancholy must have been an unwelcomed guest which forced itself in at dinner time. Many of the children of the fallen soldiers may never be the same again, with several destinies forced to make u-turns and emergency fatal landings.

Decision-makers should not make death the peremptory afomo that clings to patriotic and gallant soldiers at will. Doing this will necessitate adequately equipping soldiers to confront enemies of the people, as well as making wars only last resorts. Nigeria has fought so many wars in Africa and beyond and came out garlanded. In Liberia, Sierra-Leone, Somalia, Darfur and many other wars, Nigerian soldiers emerged with garlands and encomiums. To now imagine that same soldiers are now expendable in the hands of poorly trained local bandits and insurgents is a matter for concern. As Gabkwet said, indeed soldiering involves counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations and soldiers, by that very fact, will always record incidences of fatalities, mishaps and crashes that will cling to them like afomo. However, casualties can be minimized and soldiering should not necessarily be a death sentence.

Each time a soldier falls, I imagine the cataclysm that befalls their homes. I have witnessed it and speak from experience. When ECOWAS flexed muscles about the D-Day for Niger war on Friday, I wonder how many of those leaders’ children will lead the battalions of fighters. It is an avoidable war and for the sake of all mothers, just as they do in recitation of incantations, let us all chant to ask that ECOWAS leaders, as afomo mercifully embraces all trees of the forest, have mercy on mothers of soldiers in those West African countries as ti’gi t’ope ni s’anu afomo. The alternative is to have Bola Tinubu, Faure Gnassingbé, Nana Akufo-Addo and other West African leaders’ children lead the platoons to war. If the leaders do this, they will feel the pinches, the midnight sleeplessness, the worries, the nightmares that mothers of soldiers at war go through. And eventually, the indescribable pain families feel each time their sons are plucked in their infancies. This is not to talk of the eternal latex - the oje – that oozes out of their body stems each time mothers get bereaved of their gallant soldier children.