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Nigeria grapples with end of fuel subsidy

By Alexandre Martins Lopes: Nigerians are struggling with surging fuel prices after newly elected President Bola Tinubu declared an end to popular subsidies, a move analysts and experts said was long overdue. On his first day in office, Tinubu kept to his campaign...

Nigeria: Bandits raid six villages in north, kill 30 civilians

Armed men killed 30 people in weekend raids on six villages in Nigeria's north, a region regularly hit by criminal violence and clashes between communities, local police have said. The bloodshed is the latest outbreak of inter-communal violence which the country's...

Nigeria: ISWAP ambushes army unit, kills several soldiers

Several Nigerian soldiers died in an attack on a military convoy in the Lake Chad region by jihadist fighters aligned with the Islamic State group, security forces said Tuesday.  The convoy was hit by militants from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP)...

Nigeria: Cash-strapped Boko Haram kidnaps herders for ransom

Boko Haram jihadists have kidnapped 30 ethnic Fulani herders near northeast Nigeria's Lake Chad, demanding ransom for their release, fishermen and the head of an anti-jihadist militia told AFP Tuesday. The militants in eight boats stormed the fishing and herding...

Fuel truck blast kills five in Lagos

Posted On 12 October 2020

A gas-laden truck exploded and caught fire early Thursday in Nigeria’s commercial capital Lagos, leaving five dead and three others seriously injured and destroying dozens of homes and shops, the emergency services said.  The incident — the latest in a string of fuel accidents in Nigeria — occurred at around 6am as the truck was offloading gas at a depot in the district of Baruwa-Ipaja, Ibrahim Farinloye of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) told AFP.   He said rescue workers promptly deployed to the scene. “We have recovered five charred bodies and rescued three others — a woman and her children — from the scene,” he said.
Farinloye said those injured were receiving treatment “for severe burns” at a nearby hospital, while efforts were being stepped up to put out the flames.    He said over 40 houses, 89 shops and many vehicles were burnt in the inferno.  He said a running generator inside the gas depot was suspected of causing a spark that triggered the blast.
Fuel accidents are common in Nigeria, often entailing pipelines or trucks transporting oil or petrol (gasoline), rather than gas. Most people live in poverty even though the country is the biggest oil producer on the continent, with around two million barrels per day.  Some incidents happen when residents try to siphon off oil or petrol from pipelines or when tanker drivers crash on ill-maintained roads.  Last month, a petrol-carrying truck overturned on a road in lokoja, the capital of central Kogi state, killing 23, including students and burning several buildings and vehicles.  Also in the same month, a gas exploded inside a plant at Iju-Ishaga area of Lagos, leaving dozens critically injured and buildings and vehicles burnt.  In March, a gas explosion in the city killed at least 20 people, injured many more and destroyed around 50 buildings.
AFP

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Nigerian army drone hits village in Kaduna State, kills civilians

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