A 24-hour curfew has been imposed in Minna, Niger State, after protests erupted over the deaths of 37 suspected illegal miners who were being held by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC). The deaths have triggered a government investigation, the suspension of senior NSCDC personnel and growing questions about the conditions inside the…
The deaths of 37 suspected illegal miners in NSCDC custody in Niger State have triggered a high-level investigation and renewed questions about how detainees are treated after arrest. The victims were among scores of people arrested during operations against suspected illegal mining around the M.I. Wushishi and Lukoto areas of Minna on September 15 and…
At least 37 people have reportedly died after inhaling toxic fumes during an alleged illegal oil siphoning operation in Okrika, Rivers State. The incident has once again exposed the deadly risks surrounding Nigeria’s illegal oil trade, but it also points to a deeper problem in the Niger Delta: the lack of safe and reliable livelihoods…
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency’s latest destruction of cannabis farms in Edo State has reopened an argument Nigeria has struggled with for years: is the country destroying an illegal drug problem, or destroying a potential legal industry before it has decided what that industry could become? On August 17, NDLEA operatives destroyed two cannabis…
Two very different political moments in Nasarawa and Bauchi are raising the same uncomfortable question ahead of Nigeria’s 2027 elections: what happens when political competition becomes more about money and weakened institutions than the quality of leadership? A video circulating online shows Hajiya Maryam Wadada, wife of APC Nasarawa governorship candidate Senator Ahmed Wadada, distributing…
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intensified its crackdown on drug trafficking, arresting multiple suspects across Nigeria after uncovering cocaine and other illicit drugs concealed in fake plantains, beverage cartons and modified vehicle fuel tanks. One of the most high-profile arrests involved a 67-year-old Nigerian-British woman, identified as Mary Yetunde Barek, who was…
