Nigeria
Explosion at illegal oil refinery in Nigeria kills over 50
More than 50 people were killed and many injured when an explosion rocked an illegal oil refinery in southeastern Nigeria, state officials and police said Saturday.
The death toll may be more than 100, according to a report in the Lagos-based Punch newspaper. The fire was reported to have spread to nearby properties.
The fire broke out Friday night and quickly spread to two fuel storage areas at the illegal crude oil refinery, causing the complex to be “engulfed by fire which spread rapidly” within the area, said Declan Emelumba, the Imo State commissioner for information.
The immediate cause of the explosion and the extent of the deaths, injuries and damage were being investigated, Emelumba said.
READ: Nigeria attacks: Hundreds reported killed as bandits target villages
Multiple videos posted on social media showed a gruesome scene, with people’s charred remains reduced to skeletons and cinders. The Associated Press was unable to independently verify them.
“A lot of people died. The people who died are all illegal operators,” said Michael Abattam, spokesman of the Imo State Police Command.
The Imo state government was looking for the owner of the refinery where the explosion occurred and declared him a wanted individual, an official said.
Nigeria attacks: Hundreds reported killed as bandits target villages
At least 200 people in Nigeria's northwestern Zamfara state have been killed in a wave of vicious attacks by armed militants, residents say.
The attacks are believed to be in response to military air strikes that killed more than 100 fighters on Monday and forced others from forest hideouts, reports BBC.
Gunmen burnt homes and mutilated the bodies of their victims in the assault.
A resident of one of the villages told the Reuters news agency the militants were shooting "anyone on sight".
The attacks are the latest in a wave of violent attacks in northwest Nigeria, where the central government has long been at war with a number of local criminal groups it has described as bandits.
On Friday it was initially reported that more than 100 people had been killed by suspected "bandit" militants in the region, after some 300 gunmen on motorbikes arrived in as many as nine communities between Tuesday and Thursday night.
READ: Nigeria building collapse deaths climb to 36, dozens missing
Idi Musa, a resident of another village, told AFP that the attackers also stole "around 2,000 cattle".
Meanwhile, local media has reported that armed groups appear to be abandoning hideouts in forested areas in response to sustained government attacks, instead moving towards the western part of Zamfara state.
In a statement issued on Saturday, Nigeria's President, Muhammadu Buhari, pledged that the government would not relent in its battle with the militants.
"Let me reassure these besieged communities and other Nigerians that this government will not abandon them to their fate because we are more than ever determined to get rid of these outlaws," Mr Buhari said.
"The latest attacks on innocent people by the bandits is an act of desperation by mass murderers, now under relentless pressure from our military forces."
On Wednesday, the Nigerian government officially labelled bandits as terrorists, allowing security forces to impose tougher sanctions on the groups and their supporters.
Nigeria's armed forces said this week they had killed 537 "armed bandits and other criminal elements" in the region and arrested 374 others since May last year.
READ: 30 killed as gunmen attack rural area in Nigeria's northwest
Thousands of Nigerian troops have been deployed to fight the armed groups, a sophisticated networks of criminals who operate across large swathes of territory, often stealing animals, kidnapping for ransom and killing those who confront them.
Nigeria building collapse deaths climb to 36, dozens missing
The number of bodies recovered from a collapsed high-rise apartment building in Nigeria’s most populous city has risen to 36, an emergency official told The Associated Press Thursday.
Ibrahim Farinloye of Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency said 15 bodies more bodies have been recovered from the site in Lagos since Wednesday afternoon, including two earlier reported by AP.
As the rescue effort entered day four Thursday, hopes started to grow thin for dozens of families and residents who lined up at the entrance of the premises and begged to join in the rescue effort, ignoring warnings by gun-wielding soldiers that they should stay away from the scene.
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“They couldn’t allow me to check whether my son is alive or dead,” said Abel Godwin, who traveled 722 kilometers (448 miles) from the nation’s capital, Abuja, to check the hospital where victims are being treated in search of his 18-year-old son who had been employed at the site.
No survivors have been rescued from the pile of debris since Tuesday, with nine of those brought out alive earlier in stable condition.
The 21-story luxury apartment building that was being built toppled Monday while construction workers were on the site, some of whom were artisans who started work that day.
It’s unknown how many people could still be trapped inside the rubble, but one construction worker at the scene had estimated that 100 people were working there when it collapsed, meaning that 55 people could still be missing.
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Segun Akande of the Nigerian Red Cross has told The AP that though rescue efforts continue, “the chances are very slim; very, very slim,” that survivors remain.
When the building collapsed, it took about 3 hours for officials to launch the rescue effort. That angered families and residents who further complained that the search for survivors is not fast enough, despite the use of four excavators, life-detecting tools, water and oxygen. Rescue workers are fatigued.
The governor of Lagos has given an independent panel 30 days to unravel the cause of the accident and whether the project developers had fully complied with building laws. The six-member panel is also to examine whether there were any lapses by state regulators in overseeing the project.
“We feel a lot of concerns of family members. People are indeed upset,” Governor Sanwo-Olu told those present at the site on Wednesday. “I can assure you we are doing everything,” he said, promising that criminal charges will be filed against those indicted in the disaster.
Building collapses in Nigeria are frequent, including in Lagos which recorded four such accidents last year, resulting in five casualties including three children. Authorities continued to face immense pressure over the latest incident amid accusations that they failed to heed previous warnings and adopt past recommendations.
“I think there is only one material testing laboratory in Lagos today. Recommendations were made over 10 years ago, let’s have other certified laboratory testing places,” said David Majekodunmi, chairman of the Lagos chapter of the Nigerian Institute of Architects.
At least 3 dead after high rise in Nigeria collapses
A 21-story apartment building under construction collapsed in an upscale area of Nigeria's largest city, killing at least three people and leaving dozens more missing, officials and witnesses said on Monday.
Lagos Police Commissioner Hakeem Odumosu confirmed the deaths, but added that three survivors had been pulled from the rubble in Ikoyi by Monday evening. Officials arriving at the scene were confronted by crowds of people venting their anger that rescue efforts started several hours after the collapse.
Read: 30 killed as gunmen attack rural area in Nigeria's northwest
Olayemi Bello told The Associated Press that five of his friends were trapped in the building and he feared the worst.
“When they work finish, they will come outside and they will play with us and talk about the work,” he said. “Now, nobody. All of them are dead.”
Construction worker Eric Tetteh said that he and his brother had managed to escape. But he estimated that more than 100 people were inside the building at the time it crumbled into a pile of debris.
Workers said the high rise apartment building had been under construction for about two years, and it was not immediately known what had caused the collapse.
Read: 3 groups of students freed in Nigeria in 24-hour period
However, such incidents are relatively common in Lagos because enforcement of building code regulations is weak. Other observers blame shoddy work by private developers eager to meet demand for housing in the megacity.
30 killed as gunmen attack rural area in Nigeria's northwest
Gunmen have killed at least 30 people in northwest Nigeria in the latest round of violence in which hundreds have been killed so far this year and thousands more displaced.
Aminu Tambuwal, Sokoto state governor, said Monday that the gunmen stormed Goronyo community on Sunday evening to carry out the attack that lasted through the night. The area attacked is just 75 kilometers (46 miles) away from the Sokoto state capital, unlike past attacks which were in more remote areas.
Read:Gunmen abduct 30 students from school in northwest Nigeria
“Between last night, yesterday evening till this morning, we were greeted with a very dastardly attack in Goronyo local government, particularly Goronyo township, where scores and tens have lost their lives and still counting. We’re not sure of the figure. But it is 30 something,” Tambuwal said in a statement.
The governor was speaking when he received Lt. Gen. Farouk Yahaya, Nigeria’s army chief of staff, who recently commissioned special military operations to bring under control the country's rising violence.
Those operations, in addition to extreme measures such as blockades of telecommunications and curfews, have not stopped the armed groups from attacking communities. The gunmen often kill dozens of residents in areas with little security presence.
In Sokoto, one of the most affected states where the bandits have taken advantage of the large swathes of land that are not patrolled along the border with the neighboring country of Niger, residents have told AP that some attacks are not heard of until days or weeks after they have occurred.
“We are under bandits now,” state lawmaker Amina Al-Mustapha recently told AP of violence in the Sabon Birnin area of Sokoto. "No single village has not been attacked."
Children and women have also been targeted in the violence. The gunmen often abduct women and have kidnapped more than 1,400 schoolchildren over the past year, according to UNICEF.
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It is a “very trying moment” for Nigeria, the Sokoto governor said, adding that Nigeria is “bedevilled by many security challenges in our own area here, particularly banditry, kidnapping and other associated crimes.”
It has been difficult for the government to stop the attacks because often the gunmen outnumber Nigerian security personnel in affected villages and are also better equipped, according to Nnamdi Obasi of the International Crisis Group. He said a “serious deficit of will” by government officials across all levels contributes to the prolonged crisis.
Gunmen abduct 30 students from school in northwest Nigeria
Gunmen have attacked a school in northwestern Nigeria and kidnapped at least 30 students just weeks after a similar attack in the region, authorities said Friday.
Nigerian governor says 279 kidnapped schoolgirls are freed
Hundreds of Nigerian schoolgirls abducted last week from a boarding school in the northwestern Zamfara state have been released, the state’s governor said Tuesday.
Hundreds of Nigerian schoolgirls taken in mass abduction
Gunmen abducted 317 girls from a boarding school in northern Nigeria on Friday, police said, the latest in a series of mass kidnappings of students in the West African nation.
Africa CDC: New virus variant appears to emerge in Nigeria
Another new variant of the coronavirus appears to have emerged in Nigeria, Africa’s top public health official said Thursday, but he added that further investigation was needed.
Death toll from weekend massacre by Boko Haram in Nigeria 110, not 43: UN
At least 110 people were killed in the weekend attack on farm workers in northeast Nigeria by Boko Haram, the UN humanitarian coordinator in the country said on Sunday, making it the deadliest raid on civilians this year in the country.