Feature

By Muhammed Bello In the past three years, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has shifted from promises to performance. The evidence is at our seaports, at land borders, in revenue figures, and now on the African stage. Under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, the Service is showing that a government agency can secure the country and still make business easier. Technology Is Changing Trade The biggest shift is in how goods move. With B’Odogwu, the indigenous digital platform built by the NCS, clearing processes are faster and more transparent. Importers and exporters are spending less time and less…

By Dr. M. A. Dan-Hassan ABSTRACT Boreholes are among Nigeria’s most important pathways to groundwater, particularly where public water systems are unreliable or absent. Yet a borehole that produces water is not necessarily a successful water-supply asset. Failure may occur through unsuccessful drilling, low or declining yield, excessive drawdown, defective construction, pump and electromechanical breakdown, contamination, poor operation and maintenance, or institutional weaknesses. The implications extend beyond engineering performance. When a protected water point fails, households may shift to less reliable or less safe sources, reducing water availability for hygiene and sanitation and potentially increasing exposure to microbial or chemical…

By Gloria Chinyere Okwu I was told to keep my diagnosis private but I am determined to show the reality of breast cancer and reject the stigma that prevents women seeking treatment. ''Madam, this looks like breast cancer, and if it is, we will chop off your breast.” That was how the doctor welcomed me into the chaotic world of cancer in 2017 when I was 32 years old. He had his back to me, but kept on talking, peering into the specimen bottle. For a moment, I could no longer hear him. I thought of my three children, the…

*'If you started running, they shot you' *'They Opened Fire Without A Care In The World, Shooting Indiscriminately' "If you ran into a room, they set the room on fire," says Fatima, describing a recent attack on her village in Zamfara, north-western Nigeria. "If you came out and started running, they shot you." The gunmen, who struck at 02:00 am, split into groups to surround residents: one at the village entrance, one in the centre and one at the back. "They opened fire without a care in the world, shooting indiscriminately," the 55-year-old quietly tells the BBC World Service. It…

By Ajifa Solomon When Fatima Muhammad was told to drown her infant son or abandon him in the forest to die, she brushed off the ludicrous suggestions fuelled by superstition. But when people began to run away, some screaming profanities at the sight of him, she knew they meant it. His crime was being born with Down’s Syndrome. Alameen was born in 2015, the fourth of Muhammad’s six children. He is happy and playful at home, his mother says; a child who loves to draw and dance. He communicates using the basic sign language he is slowly learning and the…

By Ike Abonyi Today marks not merely the passage of another year, but a commemoration of the profound and lasting impact of a leader whose political philosophy and personal conduct have fundamentally reshaped the definition of leadership in contemporary Nigeria. As His Excellency Peter Onwubuasi Gregory Obi reaches his 65th birthday having been born on July 19, 1961, I pay tribute to a friend, an individual of exceptional intellect, strong character, and unwavering dedication to public service. The Nature Of A Change Agent Peter Obi's political trajectory has consistently been characterised by a drive to challenge and improve upon the…

Murky water first tore down a perimeter fence, then bubbled into the yard before spilling into every room. Within minutes, electronics, kitchen appliances, furniture, documents and academic certificates lay submerged. With the water rising rapidly, Daniel Ebiesua evacuated his home in the Shogunle area of Lagos, with his wife, their two-week-old baby, four-year-old son and his mother-in-law to a neighbour’s upstairs apartment. There they stayed trapped for four hours, helplessly watching the flood swallow the streets below. “It was a painfully difficult evening for my family and me,” he says of the evening of 28 June. “I had to relocate…

*Reception Party Shakes Abuja By our reporter It was an electric atmosphere yesterday in Garki, Abuja, as rejoicing family, friends, associates, admirers and other happy minds with strong affection for young Miss Ummul-Kathum Maccido converged on a popular leisure spot to celebrate her call to Bar. At the well organized, well-attended reception that oozed scents of panache, the guests,dressed resplendently, and from virtually all parts of the country, embraced the rollicking ambience, amplified by the pulsating music belted out by the DJ, drowning themselves in the mood of celebration of one destined for the stars. Twenty-six-year-old, fair-skinned Ummul-Kalthum was as…

Ethiopian refugee Helana Wolde locked his home and watched on television as thousands of angry demonstrators marched through South Africa this week calling for foreigners like him to ​leave. His wife and their three South African-born children were terrified, he said in the shop in downtown Durban where he sells coffee ‌and lentils. But after leaving Ethiopia 21 years ago to escape political persecution, he does not see going back as an option. While thousands of immigrants packed up and left South Africa ahead of the June 30 protests, many more feel their best option is to stay, even though…

Beneath the shade of the wide-spreading branches of a neem tree, five young gang members wearing camouflage and beanies and cradling AK47 rifles took refuge from the harsh midday sun. They passed around cold bottles of water and a popular energy drink called Fearless. To their left, a dreadlocked teenager with his own rifle rested on one of three motorcycles parked on the sparse grass. To their right, another teenager sat with his back to the others, rolling a spliff. The rendezvous of some of the most dreaded men in Nigeria took place near Batsari, a settlement in the north-western…