August 27, 2021

3 Groups of Students Freed in Nigeria in 24 Hours

LAGOS – Authorities in northern Nigeria announced three separate groups of kidnapped students were freed within 24 hours, prompting speculation late Friday that large ransoms had been paid to the gunmen blamed for a spate of recent abductions.

Among those now free are some of the youngest children ever taken hostage in Nigeria, a group of 90 pupils who had spent three months in captivity. Hours after those youngsters were brought to the Niger state capital, police in Zamfara state said that 15 older students also had been freed there.

Then late Friday, word came of a third hostage liberation in Kaduna state. Thirty-two more of the students taken from a Baptist high school in early July also had been freed, according to the Rev. Joseph Hayab, chairman of the Kaduna state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria.

The wave of releases comes after more than 1,000 students have been kidnapped since December, according to an AP tally. While earlier school abductions had been blamed on Islamic extremists in the northeast, authorities have only said that bandits are behind the latest kidnappings for ransom.

“The happiness can’t be quantified,” said Yahya Aliyu Babangida, 54, a teacher whose two children aged 7 and 17 were among those who had been kidnapped from the Salihu Tanko Islamic School in Tegina in late May.

Some of the kidnapped preschoolers who spent months in captivity were just 4 years old, and authorities said Friday that one child had died during the ordeal. Several others were undergoing medical treatment after their release late Thursday.

“They are exposed to this harsh weather, no food, mosquitos everywhere,” he said. “Some of them had never been outside the comfort of their homes.”

News of the children’s release was celebrated across Nigeria, where abductions have stepped up pressure on the government to do more to secure educational facilities in remote areas.

But questions remained Friday about how much ransom had been paid to secure the children’s release, and if so whether that could in turn fuel further abductions by the unknown armed groups referred to locally as bandits.

Muhammad Musa Kawule, 42, acknowledged paying intermediaries in hopes of securing his 6-year-old daughter’s freedom.

“I spent a lot of money but today, I’m happy,” he told The Associated Press on Friday. He did not specify how much he had paid nor whether government officials had been involved.

The youngsters were later brought to the Niger state capital, Minna, where they underwent medical checkups and met the governor. Video showed scores of children as young as kindergartners coming out of white minibuses, the little girls wearing long blue hijabs known as chadors.

While Nigeria has seen scores of school abductions for ransom, the Niger state kidnappings left people aghast because the children were so young. The ramifications also could be long lasting as parents reconsider whether to send their children to school.

“This has affected the morale and confidence of the people and has even made parents think twice before they send their children to school,” Niger state Gov. Abubakar Sani Bello said of the children’s abduction. “We will do whatever it takes to bring (the kidnappers) to justice.”

As the attacks have mounted across the north, there are also signs they are becoming more violent.

After one kidnapping at a university in Kaduna state earlier this year, gunmen demanded ransoms equivalent to hundreds of thousands of dollars. They killed five students to compel other students’ parents to raise the money and later released 14.

Also Friday, Zamfara state police spokesperson Mohammed Shehu said that 15 other students had been handed over to officials on Friday, 11 days after they were abducted from the College of Agriculture and Animal Science in Nigeria’s troubled northwest.

It was not immediately clear how they were rescued, but the students are now being looked after by Zamfara state officials and will soon be reunited with their parents, authorities said.

Source: Voice of America

August 27, 2021

De Beers, National Geographic Form Partnership to Protect Botswana’s Okavango Delta

GABORONE – Mining giant De Beers and the National Geographic Society have announced a partnership to protect the waters and endangered animals of Botswana’s iconic Okavango Delta. The vast UNESCO World Heritage wetland is threatened by climate change and agricultural activities.

The five-year project, “Okavango Eternal,” will see De Beers and National Geographic work with local communities to deliver ecological solutions aimed at preserving the 16,000 square kilometers of the delta.

Bruce Cleaver, De Beers Group CEO, says in a statement the company is committed to preserving the delta for future generations.

He says the project will help protect the delta’s source waters and ensure the protection of wildlife corridors to ensure the free movement of animals.

Cleaver says it is important to support livelihoods, particularly in the eco-tourism sector hard hit by COVID-19 travel restrictions.

Koketso Mookodi, National Geographic country director for the project, says the protection of the delta is an “urgent” priority.

“It is exciting to see this level of support and partnership at a time when coming together to protect this one-of-a-kind place is so urgently needed. The people of the Okavango basin rely on its life-giving waters, and we must unite our efforts to do everything in our power to ensure that they continue to flow for the future of the people and the wildlife that call this place home,” she said.

The Okavango Delta forms part of a large conservation area known as the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA), which covers five southern African countries.

Nyambe Nyambe, KAZA executive director, says the project presents an exciting opportunity for local communities and protecting the environment.

“It is a welcome development,” he said. “The threats that the Okavango Delta faces are real [and] range from climate change, potential for agriculture development, large-scale water abstraction and infrastructure development, and related threats. All these threats cannot be addressed by one entity, so partnerships are very welcome.”

The delta is one of Botswana’s prime tourist attractions, drawing an average of 50,000 visitors per year.

Source: Voice of America

August 27, 2021

COVID Pandemic Dampens Africa’s Economic Growth

NAIROBI, KENYA – Three years ago, nearly every country in Africa agreed to be part of a continental free trade area intended to lower tariffs and boost economies. But the agreement has yet to be fully implemented because of restrictions stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The World Bank says the Africa Continental Free Trade Area Agreement set up the largest free trade bloc in the world, and has the potential to pull 30 million people out of poverty.

The agreement reduces tariffs between African countries and, the World Bank says, could boost Africa’s combined GDP by $450 billion by 2035.

But those prospects may not materialize because many countries in Africa have yet to fully open their economies due to health restrictions to combat the spread of the coronavirus.

Kennedy Adede, founder of Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO), which works in poor neighborhoods in Nairobi, says the lack of employment opportunities has to be addressed.

“People are going through a lot of hardship, people are more scared of dying from hunger than dying from this virus and that has become a challenge. How do we solve that? That’s why this is not just about the vaccine alone,” Adede said. “It needs a multi-angle [approach] to fight this economically to ensure that we drive more jobs. If you think in Africa right now, the population of young people is scary and if they don’t trust what we are saying, then we are gone.”

Speaking at a recent webinar, John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that if Africa was better prepared to combat the pandemic, the free trade area would be flourishing.

“It’s really for us in public health to continue to make sure that we place the public health agenda at the center of political dialogues, at the center of the economic dialogue. Look at the damage the pandemic has caused to our continental aspiration for the continental free trade area. I will argue that without this pandemic, that whole aspiration, the developmental agenda would have been at a very different level today in the continent,” Nkengasong said.

Nearly 18 months into the pandemic, just 2.5% of Africa’s 1.3 billion people are vaccinated. The African CDC wants to vaccinate 60% of the population by the end of 2022.

The agency says Africa had received 123.5 million vaccine doses by mid-August. The continent secured the vaccine through bilateral agreements and COVAX, a global initiative that seeks to provide vaccine to developing countries.

African countries will also share some 400 million Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses, which are being manufactured in South Africa.

But Nkengasong says Africa is still not receiving enough vaccine.

“When COVID just started, it was very difficult for anyone in Africa to know somebody who has died of COVID but now is a common thing we know, and that is pushing that you see lines of people out there. So the first doses of vaccines that we supplied in the continent, some of those ended up in wastage because we were dealing with misinformation. The challenge we have now is that people are saying here we are with open arms, ready to get the jab, but the jabs are not there,” Nkengasong said.

Africa’s economy is still expected to grow 3.4% this year, but that’s of little consequence to the tens of millions who are struggling to find a steady income as the virus takes away jobs and lives.

Source: Voice of America