At least 1,000 members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kano State have defected to the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), aligning themselves with the Kwankwasiyya movement led by Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso.

The defection took place in Tofa and Ghari Local Government Areas of the state.

They were welcomed by the state party chairman, Dr. Hashimu Suleiman Dungurawa, during a ceremony held at both locations.

Daily Trust reports that the event was marked by the flag-off of the NNPP’s chairmanship campaign ahead of the upcoming local government elections.

Among the notable attendees were the NNPP candidates for the elections, Yakubu Ibrahim Adis of Tofa and Hashimu Mai Sabulu of Ghari.

Both candidates voiced confidence in NNPP’s growing strength in the region, especially with the influx of new members.

The mass defection is seen as a significant boost for the party as it prepares for the elections, solidifying its foothold in Kano, a key base of Kwankwaso’s political influence.

[DailyTrust]

The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari, has said that the removal of the Premium Motor Spirit(Petrol) subsidy by the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration has brought about price parity.

According to Channel Television, Kyari disclosed this in a recent interview with journalists.

He spoke on the back of the recent hike in fuel by NNPCL retail outlets to N1,030 per liter from N898.

Speaking on the important of fuel subsidy in June last year, Kyari said that it lead to an end to price arbitrage and deincentivized fuel smuggling to neighbouring countries.

“In the last 40 sometime years, PMS has always been subsidized. Fuel Subsidy created arbitrage, that is difference between the price in one location to the other.

“When Mr President announced the removal of fuel subsidy in June what it did was to calibrate price. There is no longer in the value of anyone taking the product to the borders”, he said.

Recall that in June 2024, Tinubu announced fuel subsidy removal which saw the price of fuel increase to above N517 per liter from around N238.

DAILY POST reports that the price hike increased several times in the last months as it stood at N1030 per liter in Abuja.

[DailyPost]

The Divisional Police Officer of Agbarho Police Station in Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State was ambushed and killed on Sunday night.

The Delta Police Command confirmed the incident to The Nation on Monday morning. 

Spokesman of the Command, SP Bright Edafe, said: “It is confirmed, the DPO Agbarho was killed and the Orerokpe DPO was injured. It was an ambush”.

The DPO was said to have resumed at the station just a few days ago.

According to sources, the DPO with his Orerokpe counterpart, CSP Paul and their men were ambushed around 1am at Owodokpokpo – the rail station axis of the town, while on their way for an operation. 

It was learnt that the Orerokpe DPO was rushed to an undisclosed hospital in critical condition. 

Several residents of the area who spoke with The Nation on Monday morning recounted their sleepless night as a result of the heavy sounds of gunshots.

[TheNation]

The World Bank says 26 poorest countries worldwide “are deeper in debt than at any other time since 2006,” while being increasingly vulnerable to natural disasters and other catastrophes.

In its analysis, the World Bank found that these 26 nations, which have an annual per capita income of less than 1,145 dollars a year, “are poorer today on average than they were on the eve of Covid-19, even though the rest of the world has largely recovered.”

“Yet international aid as a share of their GDP [gross domestic product] has dwindled to a two-decade low, starving many of much-needed affordable financing,” the World Bank said in a press release.

According to the world bank, the 26 nations examined are home to some 40 per cent of the global population most affected by poverty.

It added that 22 of the 26 low-income countries listed are in Africa, plus Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen and North Korea.

Government debt is now 72 per cent of economic output on average, the highest level recorded in 18 years.

According to the World Bank, the ability of low-income economies to obtain low-cost financing has largely been exhausted, making the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) “their single-largest source of low-cost financing from abroad.”

The IDA plays a key role in the fight against global poverty. It provides grants and nearly interest-free loans to the most vulnerable economies and is crucial for the 26 poorest of them, according to the World Bank.

The World Bank also noted that low-income economies are much more prone to natural disasters than other developing countries.

According to the report, natural disasters caused annual losses averaging two per cent of economic output between 2011 and 2023, five times higher than the average for low-middle-income countries.

The costs of adapting to climate change are also far higher for low-income economies.

(dpa/NAN)

The Minister of Sports, John Enoh, has condemned the Libyan authorities’ treatment of the Super Eagles team ahead of its second leg match slated for Tuesday in the country.

The Nigerian contingent, who were billed to land in Benghazi for the second leg of their 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Libya, scheduled for Tuesday, was unexpectedly diverted mid-flight to Al Abraq, a small airport typically reserved for hajj operations.

The unexpected diversion left the players and officials stranded without any assistance from the Libyan Football Federation, which failed to provide transportation.

Reacting to the development in a statement on Monday, Enoh said he had reported the incident to all necessary authorities, adding that the focus was the safety of the senior men’s team.

The minister described the current situation of the Super Eagles as an ‘almost hostage’ situation.

The statement reads, “I strongly condemn the obnoxious treatment meted out to players and officials of the Senior National Team, the Super Eagles, who arrived in Libya yesterday, the 13th of October, for the reverse version of the match played on Friday in Uyo, the AFCON 2025 Group D qualifiers.

“The National Team was en route to Benghazi but was diverted on approach the airport(with very scant attention to their safety) to Al Abaq Airport, which is hours away from Benghazi, where their match is slated to take place.

“All through the night, I have escalated the matter and involved all necessary authorities. From the Foreign Affairs Minister, the National Security Adviser, the DG NIA, Amaju Pinnick, our CAF Executive member. I have also remained in touch with both the president of the NFF, who is on the ground with the team and the Chairman of Value Jet, owners of the plane that airlifted the team to Libya.

“All hands must be on deck to protect our National Team. The Team have succinctly stated that they have been unattended to for upwards of about 15 hrs since arrival, with no food, no accommodation, left in a mosquito-infested environment and cordoned off by Libyan security not to step out of the airport, and they have access to nothing. To say the least, they face an almost ‘hostage’ situation. These are sportsmen set to compete in an AFCON qualifying match come Tuesday!

“For now, our primary concern is the safety of the members of our national team. With the events of the past hours, their safety is not guaranteed, and the team insists they’re unable to go ahead with the match not just because of the trauma and consequent psychological torture but also because of fear for their safety.

The minister stated that he had directed the Nigeria Football Federation President to lay a formal complaint to the Confederation of African Football to take action on the matter.

He said, “As Sports Minister, I have instructed the NFF president to lay a formal complaint to CAF without prejudice to any actions already taken. This must be on record and thoroughly addressed. This morning, I was on a conference call with the CAF President and CAF Secretary General.

“While the CAF President’s concern seems to be what to do to get the national team to participate in tomorrow’s match, I have instead informed CAF that the concern of the Government and people of Nigeria is first, the safety of the team and their safe return, urging that CAF should focus on working with us to achieve this. There must be a serious adverse conseqùence to the Libyan football federation for this unspeakable behaviour.

“This can not be done by insisting that Nigeria still takes part in this match, given the very obvious situation. I strongly condemn the obnoxious treatment meted out to players and officials of the Senior National Team, the Super Eagles, who arrived in Libya yesterday, the 13th of October, for the reverse version of the match played on Friday in Uyo, the AFCON 2025 Group D qualifiers.

“The National Team was en route to Benghazi but was diverted on approach the airport(with very scant attention to their safety), to Al Abaq Airport, which is hours away from Benghazi, where their match is slated to take place.”

Enoh stated that he has escalated the ill-treatment meted out to the Super Eagles by the Libyan authorities since they landed at the Al Abaq Airport on Sunday to all concerned authorities.

He added, “All through the night, I have escalated the matter and involved all necessary authorities. From the Foreign Affairs Minister, the National Security Adviser, the DG NIA, Amaju Pinnick, our CAF Executive member.

“I have also remained in touch with both the president of the NFF, who is on the ground with the team and the Chairman of Value Jet, owners of the plane that airlifted the team to Libya. All hands must be on deck to protect our National Team.

“The Team have succinctly stated that they have been unattended to for upwards of about 15 hrs since arrival, with no food, no accommodation, left in a mosquito-infested environment and cordoned off by Libyan security not to step out of the airport, and they have access to nothing.

“To say the least, they face an almost ‘hostage’ situation. These are sportsmen set to compete in an AFCON qualifying match come Tuesday! For now, our primary concern is the safety of the members of our national team.”

The world is in turmoil. Various peoples are planning, strategising and re-strategising. The Middle East is meeting, especially as war is being brought to its doorsteps. The Americans want their November elections quickly out of the way so they can focus on their domination the world, irrespective of who wins the elections.

Their European first cousins are quite busy with the same agenda, but also how to handle their domineering first cousin in the North. Some ask: should Europeans not abandon the unwinnable war in Ukraine just as Benjamin Netanyahu has abandoned the Israeli hostages in Gaza and, let President Zelensky fool himself around the world with his stupid “Victory Plan”?

Russia and China are fairly focused even as South America and the Caribbean are uniting to find solutions to their problems.

All are busy strategising, except Africa bogged down with an African Union, AU, which has impaired vision and a poor leadership at its Commission whose chair, Moussa Faki Muhammad, is beholden to a fumbling France. As the rest of the world prepares for a possible international conflagration, African leaders are busy hopping from one foreign capital to the other attending ‘summits’.

When African leaders fly to Washington attending US-Africa Summit, Beijing for China-Africa FOCAC, Tokyo for Japan-Africa TICAD, Moscow for Russia-Africa Summit, Istanbul for Turkey-Africa Summit, Seoul for South-Korea- Africa Summit, Brussels for EU-Africa ‘Partnership’ and is summoned by a confused Zelensky for an Ukraine-Africa Summit, what time would they have to govern? Are there no costs to the African countries for these travels with retinue of officials who must be paid Estacode? The 55 African countries are behaving like cows led by a foreign herder or his under-aged child, armed with nothing more than a stick.

 While we wait for the next African leaders’ summit, perhaps called by Kosovo, it is time we start thinking. For a start, why can’t African leaders have a common position at these endless summits rather than allow the host to pull individual African leaders into a side room for so called bilateral talks?

Africa is suffering from such low esteem that after October 4, 2024 when the European Court of Justice, ECJ, ruled that European countries must stop stealing the fisheries and agricultural products of Western Sahara and, the European Union arrogantly vowed to continue, no African country raised a voice! Yet the Europeans are supposed to be our partners who for centuries have been lecturing the world about separation of powers and obeying court judgements. So, why don’t we have the courage to tell them to obey the final judgement of their own court?

A fundamental thing Africa lacks is leadership, and you do not need to be an elected or appointed leader of the AU, to provide that leadership. One of the most trying periods in Africa was in 1975-76 when the US insisted that the pro-people MPLA party in Angola, must be stopped from governing the new country. Rather, it instructed Africa to choose one of its two puppets: Holden Roberto of the FNLA or Jonas Savimbi of UNITA.

 When this was resisted, the US cobbled a force composed of the FNLA, UNITA, American mercenaries and Apartheid South Africa’s military to overrun Angola. When this was not working well, it sent its Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, on a trip through Africa directly warning African countries not to recognise the MPLA government. But at the January 11, 1976, OAU, now AU, Summit in Addis Ababa, then Nigeria Head of State, General Murtala Muhammed, stood up to denounce the US. He declared that: “Africa has come of age. It’s no longer under the orbit of any extra continental power. It should no longer take orders from any country, however powerful.”

Nigeria was not holding any position in the continental organisation when it took that principled stand that swayed the continent and, led to the recognition of the MPLA government.

Today, 48 years later, Nigeria needs to once again, step out to lead Africa out of a quagmire. First, let me alert the African people that the joint statement by the EU President von der Leyen and High Representative/Vice-President Josep Borrell that Europeans will not obey the European Court ruling on resources being stolen from Western Sahara, is not so much about a wilful and pointed rejection of a decision of their own court. It is more a plan to ensure a type of unending Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Africa. The Palestinian conflict has its roots in the November 2, 1917 colonial Britain gift of Palestinian lands to European Jews and adherents of Judaism. Britain gave the lands it did not own, to other peoples.

This is what the United States also did in Africa. On December 4, 2022, it issued its infamous ‘Proclamation on Recognizing The Sovereignty Of The Kingdom Of Morocco Over The Western Sahara.’ It read in part: “I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim that, the United States recognizes that the entire Western Sahara territory is part of the Kingdom of Morocco.”

So, the US purports to give the Western Sahara lands it does not own, to Morocco. What the European Union is doing, is simply to implement the US proclamation which will ensure an unending conflict on the African continent.

Nigeria needs to step in and lead Africa out of this Euro-American trap. What we need to do is first to tell the EU it cannot be lawless in Africa. Two, that Europeans must obey their own court by stopping the theft of Western Sahara wealth. Three, drag the EU to the International Court of Justice, ICJ, over the matter just as South Africa, dragged Israel over the massacre in Gaza. Four, take the EU and its leadership before the United Nations. Five, demand that Morocco obeys the outstanding judgements of the ICJ, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the European Court. Six, get the AU to sanction Morocco for its occupation of a member country, and assist the Saharawi to live in peace within secured borders.

To effect these, the Tinubu administration should immediately stop any trade with Morocco on products like phosphate and fisheries looted from Western Sahara. It should ban all sardines from Morocco unless the latter can prove that they are not from Western Sahara waters. Also, it should stop the Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline passing through Western Sahara unless it gets the endorsement of the POLISARIO government.

Generally, Nigeria should help get Africa to reset so it is no longer played around like ball on the world field.

Super Eagles forward, Victor Boniface, has raised his voice after the team were left stranded at Al Abraq International Airport in Libya, ahead Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier against the Mediterranean Knights.

Blueprint reports that Super Eagles players and officials were stranded at the airport after arriving in Libya on Sunday evening, a development which has prompted the NFF to mull boycotting the game.

Speaking on the incident via his X account on Monday morning, Boniface, a Bayer Leverkusen forward said the Nigerian team have been stranded at the Libyan airport for about 13 hours.

“Been at the airport for almost 13 hours no food no wifi nowhere to sleep. African we can do better,” Boniface wrote.

[blueprint]

Nigeria’s oil production, including condensates, declined to 1.544 million barrels per day (bpd) in September 2024, down from 1.570 million bpd in August 2024, reflecting a 1.7 per cent decrease month-on-month.

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) revealed this in its October 2024 Crude Oil and Condensate Production report.

Developing story…

[Vanguard]

Last week, I attended the book launch of renowned author and writer, Professor Tunde Olusunle. He launched two books. One of them is *Oriṣiriṣi: Vistas on contemporary politics in Nigeria.* In the book, the author noted how “Nigeria’s political class has perfected the art of recycling mediocrity,” One of the highlights of the book is “leadership ineptness”. I can bet that if the author had delayed the book launch, he would have added the proposed *Bola Ahmed Tinubu Federal University of Nigerian Languages* to the list of *Oriṣiriṣi!*

What God cannot do, does not exist. A bill seeking to establish the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Federal University of Nigerian Languages has passed its first reading in the House of Representatives. For the first time, Nigerian languages will be taught in a specialised university. The reason is simple. Nigerian languages are well sought after around the world, including my native *Igala* language in Kogi State. I am also glad because the *Ngas* language in Plateau State would also gain prominence and my wife would be happy. I can’t thank Rt. Hon Benjamin Kalu, the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives enough for sponsoring such an important bill in the country’s legislative annals.

From what I gathered, the school would be located in Aba, in Abia state, and aims to “promote the study and use of Nigerian languages and culture for national development.” The institution will offer academic and professional programmes, including diplomas, degrees, and postgraduate research with a focus on Nigerian languages and cultures. It aims to “produce socially mature persons with the capacity to communicate, understand, and use Nigerian languages for national development”. We indeed have great thinkers in the country.

The last time I checked, there are *62 federal universities in Nigeria.* This almost works out at two federal universities per state in the nation’s 36 state structure. This number is too low for Rt Hon Benjamin Kalu and his co-sponsors. They want it to be at par with state universities across the country and for the larger population to be “socially mature to communicate, understand and use the Nigerian languages for national development.” This is good because the only problem they have identified is that Nigerians are not socially mature in the use of national languages, and it has hindered sustainable growth and development in the country.

Let me put it simply. The sponsors of this bill need to be chaperoned to Eagle Square in the “three arms zone” in Abuja and thoroughly flogged. The consultants who developed the concept notes should be conscripted into the Nigerian Army and deployed to the theatre of counter-insurgency operations in the North East. Let them use their conceptual “ingenuity” for the benefit of the country up there. This is what they have reduced the country to. It might be a political strategy as the proposed university would be cited in Aba, a city that is known for commerce and industry. However, what I know is that there is a *National Institute for Nigerian Languages (NINLAN),* also in Aba, Abia State. According to relevant information, “NINLAN is an Inter-University Centre for Nigerian Language Studies, under the regulation of the National Universities Commission (NUC) in Aba and established in 1993 as the apex institution for research, teaching, documentation, and coordination of studies in Nigerian languages.”

NINLAN’s mission is “to have accurate documentation of all Nigerian languages and develop standard orthographies for them by the year 2025, promote the study and use of Nigerian languages and to be the apex world-class centre for teaching, learning, and research into Nigerian languages, leading ultimately to a linguistic foundation for national unity, industrialization and socio-economic growth.” What I do not know is whether the plan is to change NINLAN to Bola Ahmed Federal University of Nigerian Languages. More so, NINLAN is a Federal Government tertiary institution and a unique and specialized tertiary educational Institution that runs a range of programmes. For example, the Institute currently runs three academic programmes. Its National Certificate of Education (NCE) programme is a combined honours programme in a Nigerian language and any other subject.

The Nigerian Language options include Efik, Fulfulde, Hausa, Ibibio, Igbo, Kanuri, Tiv, Urhobo and Yoruba. The Institute runs a Sub-Degree/Diploma Programme in Nigerian Languages, Communication Studies, Education, Linguistics, Library and Information Science, Translation Studies, and French, leading to the award of Diploma. It also runs Postgraduate diploma courses in Education (PGDE), Linguistics (PGDL), Translation Studies (PGDTS), Library and Information Science (PGDLIS), Communication Studies (PGDCOM); and a 12-month Graduate Conversion Programme for Graduates of disciplines other than Nigerian Languages.

Now here is the main gist. In August 2024, the federal government approved the upgrade of the National Institute for Nigerian Languages (NINLAN) into a degree-awarding institution to offer full-time degree programs in a range of disciplines that includes Bachelor’s degrees in Early Education, Business Education, Library and Information Science, Igbo and Community Studies, Igbo Language, Linguistics, and Mass Communication. Starting from the 2024/2025 academic session, NINLAN will deliver these courses in affiliation with Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka.

In the light of the above revelation, I do not know what Rt. Hon. Benjamin Kalu is up to with the quest to establish a Bola Ahmed Tinubu Federal University of Nigerian Languages in Aba again. Is it to rival the National Institute for Nigerian Languages? Because his proposal is a very obvious duplication. Maybe he wants to add to the list of federal universities in his home state as the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives. Maybe he wants to position himself for relevance in the political hierarchy of the state and the country. And the choice of name for the proposed institution is indicative. These are my assumptions and I stand to be corrected. Did I remind us that Nigerian language are thought in most conventional Nigerian universities? Have we forgotten the long existing *Institute for African Studies* at the University of Ibadan which is a repository of various Nigerian cultures?

However, I have a suggestion to help the bill scale second reading. The proposed university should be sited in the federal capital territory and with campuses in all states in the federation because the objective is to “promote the study and use of Nigerian languages and culture for national development.”. Please don’t get me wrong. I am excited because I am *Igala* and the *Igala* language would be studied across the country too. The “ingenuity” of Rt. Hon Benjamin Kalu and the co-sponsors of the bill must be commended and appreciated. This is another *Oriṣiriṣi.*

Ocheja, a military historian and doctoral researcher, is an alumnus of the Nigerian Defence Academy.

In a period of less than four weeks, representatives from 186 countries that confirmed their participation would be assembling in the splendid city of Baku, the Azerbaijani capital to showcase their efforts to limit global warming and host discussions to prepare for future climate change.

The expected delegates, numbering between twenty to forty thousand, coupled with about the same number of activists and other interested parties are expected to discuss the adaptation and mitigation efforts required to achieve significant positive outcomes in the coming years towards tackling climate change.

Each country has its nationally determined goals and priorities (NDCs), and these are also the points of dissonances.

Azerbaijan, speaking through their minister of environment Mansour Babayev, says they want this year’s summit to give attention to making climate finance more available, accessible and affordable to developing countries so that they can achieve their climate ambitions and implement their their NDCs.

Beyond the hackneyed issues of mitigation and adaptation, the hosts this year have stated the goal of working with others to find ways for an increase in financing climate mitigation by the Least Developed Countries, LDCs.

Determined to assist these African and other developing countries to prepare themselves well with platforms and the usual debates, Azerbaijan dispatched several teams to visit to hear the expectations and vulnerabilities of those countries.

If this works out well, Africa would be delighted with this vision and commitment of Azerbaijan’s long-serving national leader, President Haydar Aliyev and his people who have shown a rare willingness and commitment to climate positive actions much earlier than the growing, intense awareness of the climate action seen in recent years.
Azerbaijani capital, Baku (they say its historically correct name is Baki) is a repository of climate actions and policies for as long as the city had been in existence. A visit to the sprawling city would convince even the most disinclined critics that its choice as the host of COP29 global conference is not by accident.
When my hotel said at the point of check-in that their fitness centre was unfortunately out of use, I asked to be shown a public park runners could use.

For those readers who would be there 11-22 next month, November for this event, they would see that virtually all the major city streets are characterized by greenery, designed as parks and gardens geared towards sustainable lifestyles. This is the city as it had always been, not a design change or make-believe to attract the hosting rights of the COP.

Away from capital, even the newly-recovered, Armenian-occupied territories around Nagorno-Karabakh in the latest round of war between the neighbouring countries have been designated as a “Green Energy Zone.”
With this, the region is set to witness a climate resilient development that would transport it to the future in terms of greenery and resilience.

The country’s passion for the green agenda is equally manifested by the achievements of two key sectors – oil and gas and electric energy sectors.

As is Nigeria, Azerbaijan is an oil and gas economy. They are not in OPEC but they are, like Russia -the world’s second largest oil producer- in a sort of community with the organization, working together to decide the price of oil and other oil commodity policies. Together, they make up what they call “OPEC plus.”

It then follows that the country would be concerned, as we are here, with the growing Western rhetoric of a hastened, total ban on the use of fossil fuels. Until the Russian war with Ukraine started, the developed economies of the West were taking a number of concretely aggressive measures to limit oil production and its uses, telling their banks to stop funding oil and gas development in countries such as ours.
Azerbaijan today produces between 700,000-800,000 thousand barrels a day and SOCAR, the fully state-owned national oil and gas company headquartered in Baku is currently making strategic shift as it evolves from a traditional oil and gas company to a comprehensive energy provider with medium and long-term decarbonization targets they would further unveil at COP29.

In October 2023, Azerbaijan completed a 230 MW solar plant in Garadagh, near Baku, sending another strong message of their passion for their green agenda. This was quickly followed by the laying of the foundation of two new stations to bring available capacity to 1GW (one gigawatt), marking a major step in the march to their energy transition.

In the medium term, Azerbaijan aims to generate 30 per cent of its energy from renewable sources by 2030.

While the country’s available electricity supply is put at 5 GW, regular consumption is currently at about 3.5G W, rising to a maximum of up to 4.5 GW.

Azerbaijani food culture is, as to be expected, significantly different from our own. But visiting Nigerians would have plenty to eat – and pleasantly 6 in the Old City, parts of which are designated as UNESCO heritage sites.

The French have a great reputation for being consumers of bread, but the Azerbaijanis eat on the average 100 per cent more bread than do the French citizens.

The Hausas will find themselves at home with their grilled meats-some of it much like our suya- and their Chay (tea), served freshly brewed, hot, and strong.

The Yorubas would not miss their hot peppered meals. Baku is not like other places where you ask them to give hot peppers, and they bring you curry powder or Tabasco. If they ask for it, they will

Although 90 per cent of them are Muslim, they don’t flock to the mosques as we do here. After 70 years of communist control under the Soviet system, many don’t remember how to pray five times in a day. Or even the direction of the Qibla. Yet, here and there, you can see women in their Hijab and a designated prayer place in public places. The city has beautiful mosques and a colourful orthodox-type cathedral.

When you see the free flow of alcohol and its consumption, you would think you are in a European capital or a major metropolis. In addition, they have a budding wine industry that has begun receiving global recognition.
In readiness for the climate conference, the host country has transformed the Baku stadium into a multi-venue meeting centre. The UN agencies alone have 120 meeting pavilions. There are several medical centres and a large number of fire trucks in the facility. The Green Zone has a setting to contain well-ordered demonstrations and protests, usually characterizing COP. Anything outside the approved protest guidelines will be met with a firm response. This country places law and order on a very high level, and a warning to our activists is that they should not take this lightly.
The city itself has prepared a list of 144 hotels in the third, fourth, and five-star categories, and the booking platforms are already released. A user-friendly, fast-track visas platform is available 24/7, and transportation would be available free of charge.

Baku, which is notorious for its slow movement of traffic, is promising transport management using mostly buses. Given the big inflow of people during the conference, this should mark a reduction of carbon imprint.
Negotiators at the Glasgow COP26 climate change summit agreed in November 2021 to create a global carbon credit offset trading market. By this, countries could emit a certain amount of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases (GHGs) and to sell the excess number of credits allowed them by the UN.

Africa, which in total is responsible for only two per cent of the world’s greenhouse emissions, is increasingly becoming more or less the shopping mall for carbon credits.
A growing number of African countries see a strategic opportunity to leverage the continent’s renewable resources to earn money while advancing global climate goals.
This is, however, being seen by the activist community as a precursor to a new colonial rule in Africa.

Rich countries, including some in the Middle East, are on a buying spree of swathes of African forests under the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change, UN-FCCC, to counter emissions by preventing deforestation.

Gabon, one of the most forested African countries, is on the record as the first country on the continent to make carbon credits available for sale.

Since then, others, including Kenya, Malawi, Togo, Burundi, and Rwanda, have entered the trade.

For example, a company called Blue Carbon, founded by Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum, a member of the royal family of Dubai, has signed MOUs with the governments of Liberia, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe to manage huge swathes of their forests and produce carbon credits from conservation activities.
Notable carbon projects in Kenya include the Northern Rangeland Trust Carbon Project, the Kasigu Wildlife Corridor Project, and the Mikono Panuja Project.

These projects, in a way, give the wealthy countries and corporations a lisence to continue to pollute the planet.

Last year, the Vice President of Nigeria inaugurated a committee of experts to advise the government on the activation of a sustainable carbon market.

On the basis of this committee’s recommendations, the government is hoping to ensure the creation of “an efficient carbon market ecosystem” expected to fetch the country more than two thousand, five hundred million Dollars ($2.5 billion). Nigeria has a very hard decision to make.

With growing fears of such deals tending to
breach community land ownership and violate people’s rights to have a say in the development of their land, African governments are coming under increasing criticism from international NGOs, urging them to halt the relapses into colonialism by the way of foreign rule over their territories.

How all these play out – the pro and con- at COP29 – will have a significant impact on the African, nay world order.

Shehu, journalism and PR practitioner.