More than 200 Nigerian girls are still missing after having been abducted by extremists. But meanwhile, how's your gluten-free granola? asks First Dog on the Moon Get all your needs met at the First Dog shop if what you need is First Dog merchandise and prints Continue reading... ...
Goodluck Jonathan meets principal of girls' school and says 'everything must be done' to free the 276 still held Nigeria's president, Goodluck Jonathan, held meetings through the night with security, school and state officials and issued a new directive that "everything must be done" to free the 276 girls held captive by Islamist extremists, one of his advisers said on Sunday. It was the...
Boko Haram is a vile manifestation, yet the liberal press stays silent, fearful of 'demonising the other' Terrorists from a religious cult so reactionary you don't have to stretch the language too far to describe it as fascistic attack a school. The assault on a civilian target, filled with non-combatant children, has a grotesque logic behind it. They call themselves "Boko Haram", which translates...
Warning issued of plan to attack a Sheraton hotel in Nigeria's main commercial hub by 'groups associated with terrorism' The US has warned its citizens of a plan to attack one of two Sheraton hotels near Lagos, Nigeria's main commercial hub which attracts many foreign business people and which so far has been spared by the country's violent Islamist militants. In a statement on its website, the State...
People are finally paying attention to the 300 girls abducted by Boko Haram for going to school. Now what can we do? No girl should be a hero for getting an education. But for many girls around the world, walking through the schoolhouse doors isn't a right or an assumption: it's a victory over conservative fanatics some of whom carry guns. The latest story of girls violently denied an education comes...
Thirty-year-old woman went into premature labour on Boeing 777 flight from Nigeria to London A British Airways plane has had to make an emergency landing after a passenger went into premature labour and gave birth on board. The 30-year-old woman, who was 26 weeks into her pregnancy, was one of 296 passengers on the Boeing 777 flying from Nigeria to London. Continue reading... ...
Kyari Mohammed teaches in north-east Nigeria, where Islamic militants have kidnapped dozens of school girls. He believes recent attacks mark a dangerous new phase in the insurgency The world is waking up to Boko Haram . More than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped from the classes last month remain missing. A car bomb in Abuja on 1 May killed at least 19 people . I live in fear of Boko Haram. The groups insurgency...
Witnesses and security officials recount how Boko Haram militants rolled into Chibok and kidnapped 300 schoolgirls Just before midnight on 14 April in Chibok, north-east Nigeria, pastor Enoch Mark's phone rang. Half asleep, it took him a while to make sense of the voice talking rapidly down the line. Eventually four words penetrated: "Boko Haram are coming." The caller, a friend in a neighbouring...
The Nigerian government spend more time bickering about how many Chibok girls may or may not be missing than actually looking for them. Now ordinary people have had enough of inaction, says Tracy McVeigh The abduction of more than 230 schoolgirls from a rural school in Chibok, Nigeria by the Islamic terror group Boko Haram, and the failure of the Government to act despite clear local intelligence...
Mothers, fathers and other Chibok locals march on scene of kidnapping carrying placards reading 'Find Our Daughters' Hundreds of parents in Nigeria, many dressed in red, held a day of protest on Thursday in the town where the kidnapping of more than 100 schoolgirls by Islamists has left families lurching from fury to despair. In Chibok, the town in Borno state where suspected Boko Haram insurgents...
Bomb exploded on a busy road near a checkpoint just days before city is to host the World Economic Forum on Africa A car bomb exploded on a busy road in Nigeria's capital on Thursday night, killing at least 12 people. The bomb exploded near a checkpoint across the road from a bus station where a massive explosion on 14 April killed at least 75 people. That blast was claimed by the Islamic extremist...
UN adviser also to visit Nigerian president, Goodluck Jonathan, for talks on rescue of teenagers kidnapped by Boko Haram Gordon Brown has called for international military assistance, such as air support, to be offered to the Nigerian government in the hunt for around 200 teenage girls abducted by Islamist militants from a school more than two weeks ago. The former prime minister said he had approached...
Children's minister halts all adoption from Nigeria with immediate effect following arrests of pregnant women in Lagos Denmark has suspended adoptions from Nigeria less than a month after Lagos police arrested eight people at a suspected baby factory. "I have decided to suspend all adoption from Nigeria with immediate effect," Denmark's minister for children tweeted. "We must do everything...
Nigeria likes to present itself as the face of Africa rising. But its response to the kidnapping has belonged firmly in the other African narrative: hopeless Africa When historians want to understand how a state functioned at some earlier time, they look for a period of civil crisis. In Britain, outbreaks of the plague provide key benchmarks of the sophistication of administrators. Studying evidence...
Nigerian protesters march on parliament to call for immediate rescue of hostages abducted from Chibok by Boko Haram Nigerian protesters have marched on parliament to demand the government and military do more to rescue scores of schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram Islamists more than two weeks ago. Dubbed "a million-woman march" and promoted on Twitter under #BringBackOurGirls, the protest...
Mass abduction of schoolgirls by Boko Haram prompts furious protests accusing government of failing to act Protesters are calling for a "million-woman march" in the Nigerian capital on Wednesday over the government's failure to rescue scores of schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram Islamists two weeks ago. Angry Nigerian parents lashed out at the government on Tuesday as a local leader claimed...
Once a game reserve renowned for its wildlife, Sambisa is now a key stronghold for Islamic insurgents, and a place of fear for the people of Borno state. Bodunrin Kayode reports for The Nation A few months ago, the name Sambisa Forest meant nothing to many Nigerians. Not anymore. It has come to signify terror and home to the terrorist group Boko Haram . The forest is now almost mythical for so many...
The kidnapping of 234 girls from a physics exam by Boko Haram grabbed the world's attention. But this isn't isolated fear of school has become ingrained in northern Nigeria Halimatu Usman, 14, spends her days doing house chores in her home of Marte, near Lake Chad in Borno state, Nigeria. Her school has been shut to pre-empt attacks from members of the Jama'atul Alhul Sunnah Lidda'wati wal Jihad or...
Gender empowerment projects that focus on girls leave out half of the equation. Our panel suggests ways to engage boys and men to end discrimination Challenge misogyny in public: Some of our most powerful work has been when we've held senior male politicians and public figures accountable for misogynistic statements or abusive behaviour. The documentary film Can't Just Fold Your Arms shows our case...
Relatives say they have been told of mass weddings involving insurgents and some of the girls abducted two weeks ago For two weeks, retired teacher Samson Dawah prayed for news of his niece Saratu, who was among more than 230 schoolgirls snatched by Boko Haram militants in the north-eastern Nigerian village of Chibok. Then on Monday the agonising silence was broken. When Dawah called together his extended...