This Week in Nigeria: Nigerian 'Underwear Bomber' Sentenced to Life

This Week: News

‘Underwear bomber’ sentenced to life

Umar Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian-born ‘underwear bomber’ who attempted to blow up a US-bound flight in 2009, has been sentenced to life in prison. Abdulmutallab pleaded guilty to eight charges in relation to his attempt to detonate a bomb on a Detroit-bound airbus flight which had 259 passengers on-board. Abdulmutallab showed no remorse during his sentencing and described the bomb as a “blessed weapon” while telling the court the Quran obliges every Muslim to participate in Jihad.

25 of 119 prison escapees apprehended

25 out of the 119 inmates who escaped from the Katon-Karfe prison in Kogi State last Wednesday have been apprehended. The Kogi State Police Command of the Nigerian Prison Service caught the suspects in villages close to the Katon-Karfe area while others were caught near the Lokoja-Abuja highway. A manhunt has been launched to find the remaining inmates. The jailbreak, thought to have been organised by armed robbers, resulted in the death of one warder.

Finance minister reassures international investors

The federal government’s decision to source N1.24 trillion ($7.9 billion) from international money-lenders will not plunge the country into another debt crisis, assured Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. Okonjo-Iweala spoke to media as she commenced a road show in which she will brief international fund managers who invested in the Nigerian Sovereign Eurobond in January. She promised investors on the safety of their investments while stating that Nigeria has adopted a 30% of debt to GDP ratio which is half of the international standard “because we want to be really careful”.

Boost for ailing cotton industry

Plans to revive Nigeria’s ailing cotton industry received a boost last week as the federal government signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the West African Cotton Company with the aim of increasing production. Nigeria’s turnover from cotton in the 1980s was in excess of $8.9 billion and represented approximately 25% of the country’s manufacturing GDP. This has declined over the years to as little as $300 million. Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Akinwunmi Adesina claimed that the new agreement would help productivity increase by 120,000 tonnes of seed cotton a year to 700,000 by 2015.

Offshore activities academy to receive extra $10 million

The Samsung Nigeria Technology Academy, a partnering project between Samsung Heavy Industries and Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics is set to receive an additional $10 million. The academy is set to train 250-300 graduates each year in offshore activities such as industrial welding fabrication and storage and offloading vessels. The project hopes to have a knock-on effect for the Nigerian employment market as the country looks to increase local content in the petroleum industry.

This Week: Politics

The Katon-Kafre jailbreak in Kogi State effortlessly highlights the fragile boundaries between security and politics. The relative ease with which the criminals freed inmates is both surprising and worrying. And as soon as one looks at the overcrowded, barely inhabitable conditions in prisons in tandem with reforms that are far from being implemented, it is clear that local-level security issues are being overlooked.

Attributing the blame for the attack seems to have largely overshadowed the actual event, with even the slightest gunshot north of the river Niger is being blamed on the Islamic sect Boko Haram. Regardless of how many inmates are returned or how quickly the perpetrators can be brought to justice, it should help to refocus the government’s attention on the penal reform.

The theme of implementation has once again been at the forefront of a flurry of reforms in the economic sphere. A common question in relation to Nigeria’s economic recovery is “Will these projects ever see the light of day?” The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on cotton production, the Public Private Investment Partnership for the Lagos-Ibadan expressway and all other deals meant for the reformation of Nigeria's economy all sound appealing but have yielded little or no end product. Soon after the media fanfare fills citizens with hope after a contract is signed and money is exchanged, projects are neglected and oversight mechanisms are ignored. The auditor general for governmental federations has complained on numerous occasions about the lack of cooperation hindering his work and the absence of a government body that ensures that such jobs/contracts are actually completed. If there is no real structure for ensuring their completion, the question of when these projects will be completed seems hollower by the day. 

Writers of the week:

‘Market Law for Job Creation in Nigeria’ by Peter Alexander Egom explains how the numerous government promises regarding the creation of employment have failed to come to fruition. The article aims to create a wider understanding of Nigeria’s inability to create jobs and the law of the markets. The stranglehold of Nigeria’s economy by the international institutions and markets is explained alongside the interest rate black hole, opening readers’ eyes to the problems Nigeria really faces under the surface.

‘The Leaders Nigeria Needs’ by Harvard Professor Jacob Olupona for This Day Newspaper is an in-depth piece that delves into the leadership and structures needed for Nigeria to realise her potential. He examines the education system, cultural and traditional values, and entrepreneurial know-how needed for Nigeria to move forwards.

Website of the week:

YouWiN, which stands for Youth Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria, is a programme initiated by the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Communication Technology and the Ministry of Youth Development. The annual business plan competition will take place once a year for budding entrepreneurs under the age of 40. The competition hopes to unearth the business leaders of tomorrow and winners will receive a government grant. The pilot scheme aims to generate 80,000-110,000 new jobs over three years and increase the business acumen of Nigerian youths.

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