Nigeria

Sanusi JangebeCopyright: Sanusi Jangebe

Two mothers in northern Nigeria have told the BBC how Friday’s school kidnapping is terrifying parents.

More than 300 schoolgirls were abducted in the early hours of the morning by unidentified gunmen from a school in north-western Zamfara state.

“Most parents are withdrawing from school,” Aisha Muktar, a fashion designer with three children, told BBC OS.

She lives in Katsina state, where 300 boys were taken from their boarding school in December, and says kidnapping for ransom is widespread as the country lacks basic security.

But after that incident, at a school that was only an hour's drive away, Ms Muktar says her eight-year-old was scared.

He kept asking what he should do if this happened to him if he went to boarding school.

“I didn’t have an answer,” she said.

Hawwa Dodo, who runs a food business in Katsina, agrees the frequency of the mass kidnappings is alarming.

“It’s very close to us, very close to home,” Ms Dodo said.

“I was a product of boarding school and I know how good it is, but I don’t think I can ever let my two kids go to boarding school.”

You can listen to Aisha Muktar and Hawwa Dodo on BBC OS on the World Service.

Camera ModaCopyright: Camera Moda

Five African-born designers have opened the Milan Fashion Week, a first for Italy's most prestigious couture show.

The co-founder of the collective "Made in Italy", Michelle Ngonmo, called the event, which was pre-recorded because of the coronavirus pandemic, a first step towards a more equal society.

She acknowledged the debt owed to the Black Lives Matter movement, but said the five designers she had picked had demonstrated that the "Made in Italy" label was not a question of skin colour but of know-how.

The five - Fabiola Manirakiza from Burundi, Claudia Gisele Ntsama from Cameroon, the Senegalese Mokodu Fall, Joy Meribe of Nigeria and the Moroccan Karim Daoudi - all learnt some of their skills in Africa but are now naturalised Italian citizens.

Previously, the presentation of the collections of black designers was confined to Afro Fashion Week, which launched in Milan with a show in 2016.

Ms Ngonmo was featured on the BBC's documentary Being Black in Italy.

An attack on Tuesday by suspected Boko Haram militants in Nigerian north-eastern city of Maiduguri in Borno state has killed at least 10 people and injured 47 others.

State governor Babagana Zulum said the attackers fired rocket propelled grenades into densely populated areas in the city, including a children's playground.

He said the grenades were launched from the outskirts of the city.

Pictures released by local authorities show dozens of injured people in hospital, including children.

Governor Zulum on Wednesday visited two hospitals where the injured were being treated.

He said the use of long distance bombs by insurgents was part of a new trend that needed to be stopped.

A similar attack on the city took place in July when three rockets left four dead and three wounded.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but Maiduguri is the birth place of Boko Haram, and the city has frequently been targeted by the insurgents.

The Boko Haram insurgency, which has lasted for more than a decade, has killed at least 36,000 people and displaced two million in north-eastern Nigeria.

BBCCopyright: BBC

The capital of Borno state in northern Nigeria has been struck by mortar shells, with some reports saying 10 people died and many more were wounded.

Residents of Maiduguri told the BBC multiple projectiles had been fired from the outskirts of the city.

No group has said it carried out the attack.

Maiduguri is the birthplace of Boko Haram and has frequently been attacked by the insurgents.

Since it began in 2009, the jihadist conflict has killed 36,000 people and displaced around two million from their homes in north-east Nigeria.

Oman has suspended arrivals from 10 countries for a fortnight starting on Thursday, to limit the spread of Covid-19.

Out of the 10, eight are African countries: Sudan, South Africa, Nigeria, Tanzania, Ghana, Ethiopia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

The two others are Brazil and Lebanon.

Oman's decision also applies to arrivals from elsewhere if they have passed through any of the suspended countries in the 14 days prior to applying to enter the sultanate

Omani citizens, diplomats, health workers and their families are exempted from the suspension, according to the body in charge of dealing with Covid-19 in the sultanate.

Oman’s ministry of health earlier this month said travellers, especially those from East African countries, had accounted for 18% of new infections.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Findings of a survey in Nigeria suggest that rates of infection from Covid-19 in the country are much higher than previously reported.

The results indicate that one in five of those tested in the states of Lagos, Enugu and Nasarawa have been infected.

In the country’s largest city, Lagos, as many as four million people could have contracted the disease, although the official total is currently 54,000.

The survey was conducted in September and October by the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the Institute for Medical Research.

The head of the NCDC said the results of the survey made Nigeria’s vaccination efforts "even more important".

More than 1,800 people have died in the country from Covid-19.

Officials recently approved the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine for use in Nigeria, but it’s not clear when it will receive its first doses.

BBCCopyright: BBC

Tuk-tuk drivers have gone on strike in Nigeria's Kano state leaving commuters to walk to work on Monday morning.

The strike is in protest against a N100 ($26 cents; £19p) daily levy imposed by the Kano state government.

The authorities in the northern state say the tax will help raise funds to improve infrastructure.

One of the drivers of the three-wheeler vehicles more commonly called Adaidaita-Sahu here, Sani Ibrahim, told the BBC that he will not return to work until the government scraps the new tax.

Some passengers told me that they walked tens of kilometres to get to work.

BBCCopyright: BBC

I found one commuter Hajiya Hajara resting his leg, unhappy about the strike.

“My leg is paining me but I have to go out, this strike is needless and government should do all it can to resolve this because we the poor people are the ones suffering,” he said.

Officials of Kano Traffic Agency say they are over a million tuk-tuks in Kano, which is Nigeria's most populous state.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Children should feel safe at school, but recent news about abductions are making parents anxious.

“Many people are saying that sending children to school is a difficult decision," says the BBC’s Ishaq Khalid in Abuja.

Just last week, dozens of students and staff were kidnapped by gunmen from their boarding school in Kagara, Niger state.

This abduction was just the latest in a series of similar incidents that have made the headlines in recent years.

“You would be right to say that kidnapping and ransom payment is now the most thriving industry in the country," says Bulama Bukarti, a security analyst at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.

But who’s behind these kidnappings? And what can be done to stop them from happening?

Find out more in Monday’s edition of Africa Daily.

Subscribe to the show on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.

BBCCopyright: BBC

The authorities in Nigeria's north-western state of Niger say they have secured the release of undisclosed number of people who were abducted in a bus last week.

It’s not clear how the state government was able to secure their release.

They were reportedly coming back from a wedding when they were abducted by gunmen.

Criminal gangs often carry out kidnappings for ransom in parts of Nigeria.

News of their release comes a day after another community was attacked by gunmen in the state.

Residents from the town of Gurmana told the BBC that the gunmen arrived around on Saturday evening and started shooting. Many fled into the nearby Kaduna river.

Seven bodies were recovered from the river and 20 are still missing, presumed dead.

There’s been a wave of insecurity across the north-western state in recent weeks.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has has sent condolences to the families of seven soldiers who died in a plane crash in the capital, Abuja.

The authorities have launched an investigation into the crash.

The Nigerian Air Force said the families of all the victims had been informed of the deaths.

President Buhari described them as "dedicated and courageous".

The plane took off from Abuja and was headed to Minna, in the northern state of Niger, when it turned back following engine failure, according to the military.

It crashed short of a runway.