my guest is nigeria's finance minister, zainab ahmed. what is her plan to avert financial meltdown, as well as help deliver stability? finance minister zainab ahmed in the nigerian capital, abuja, welcome to hardtalk. so, we are hearing warnings of a third covid wave in africa, where only about 1% of the population has been vaccinated. what is the situation like in nigeria? well, thank you very much, zeinab, for having me. thankfully for us, covid—19 pandemic has been well contained. so far, what we've seen in terms of the numbers is that it is declining in nigeria. between the past three months, the decline rate is about 23%. so it's a good story for us. we're continuing the vigilance of trying to make sure that another variant that would be more devastating than the one we have had does not come into nigeria. so it's well contained, and we're hopeful that will not escalate. all right. well, glad to hear that. let's look at the economic crisis, though, unleashed on the whole of the continent because of the global economic downturn as

but the fact is, nigeria is dealing with a lot at the moment and it is all extremely consequential. nigeria, the economy is not in great shape, which means people look for alternatives. in some cases, extreme alternatives. you remember back in 2014, when the medicine group booker, harass my global headlines, were ducting nearly 300 school girls from the town of chia book. but it's still happening with an $800.00 students have been kidnapped in the north west of nigeria since december. and these are separate from the islamist insurgency, sent it on the northeast. here's some detail for you. this is from the armed conflict location and event data project. all these kidnapping events. they've mapped out a just from the 1st 4 months of this year. that's after abduction and forced disappearance events more than doubled back in 2020. i had the different interpretation on this bond shot, the pink spike that you see in 2014. that's when the book on her, on she book kidnappings, happened, but 20202021. so a huge increase in abductions by communal militias. those are the ones in blue and more worryin

many a carried out in nigeria and waters. many countries in west africa and the gulf of guinea have tied the matter time secure to that of the continents biggest economy and for good reason. a significant number of the 32 attacks carried out in the 1st quarter of 2021 happened in nigeria, territory waters ship operators hope with the countries deployment of additional vessels like this. 17 interceptor boats 10 aircraft including goals will help to keep the number down. in addition to the loss of lives and equipment, many businesses have closed. there was a time in the country that we had almost time right. the problem was due to the the, the pirate and the last a lot of business, they have to lose out on reno, nevada, going on. and she says, getting them back will be hard as new threats a merging we have that come from you room and on. i mean, they feel i recall on the much respect is read on on red minus ship operators, navigating the gulf of guinea. now pay insurance premiums, similar to what is paid by those in wars zones.

and not as rhetoric, then nigeria cannot stay together." you've got to do something about the way the states are allowed to take decisions with security and how they spend their money and all the rest of it. so, zeinab, nigeria is a democracy in every true sense of the word. we have a constitutional review process going on right now. there is an effort by the parliament going into every state of the federation. every nigerian is able to come to that process and give their views. at the end of the day, there will be maybe a referendum or some decision on how best to amend the constitution. that's an ongoing process, and we should watch that process closely and see how it unfolds. if the majority of nigerians want a devolution, like you give an example, then that is what will happen. their parliaments at the state level will take that decision, and then the constitution can be amended, we're implementing the constitution as it is, and we're implementing it to follow the rule of law. because that's one very clear suggestion that's been made â€

and in nigeria. do you admit that it has left a significant portion of the population quite exposed to this particular strategy? i mean, you have the u. n, for example, saying that it's making it difficult to get internally displaced. people aid. you have leading security organization saying that he spoke to her rom factions that these affiliated, you know, and similar groups are taking advantage of the space can created by the super cap military strategy. and they're moving around more freely. they're building support, they're building their networks. you have to bear in mind that this is a conflict that is taking place in a very difficult to read. as i said earlier, within a very complex cross border area where 4 african countries meet, where there are hundreds of islands due to the receding leg. chad, so you know, it's not that straightforward. you can also, if you want focus on the reset of the, the return of, of individuals that have been living in internally displaced camps to, to towns and vil

, nigeria operates a democratic, still on government. like i said. so what about some offers over the rule of law we uphold. so let's talk about democracy in the earlier this month. the government band, twitter. can you explain that move? i can explain it because the simple explanation is that niger, as i said, operates a democratic system of government. we've had 6 successive elections every 4 years in a since 999. 1 of the, the, the important the most one of the most important norms of, of democracy is freedom of speech which nigeria of holt's, which nigeria celebrates which idea protects. but you cannot use, you cannot allow that certain elements to use those democratic, mister ambassador, i want to ask why? so it or what the down wasn't it because the platform took down president to harvest tweets for violating its abuse for me, their policy. and no that's, that's not the reason. the reason why it was shut down. it was because twitter has been airing, pictures, videos, and the vituperation of, of people that i look into. and robert n

this nation is| nigeria. this nation is burning _ nigeria. this nation is burning l— nigeria. this nation is lturning-— nigeria. this nation is burnint. :, , :, burning. i also hope they have the way of _ burning. i also hope they have the way of getting _ burning. i also hope they have the way of getting the - the way of getting the criminals because if they don't get the criminals and are not negotiating with them, we are in trouble. negotiating with them, we are in trouble-— negotiating with them, we are in trouble. father, keep watch over your _ in trouble. father, keep watch over your children. _ in trouble. father, keep watch over your children. you - in trouble. father, keep watch over your children. you are - in trouble. father, keep watch | over your children. you are the keeper— over your children. you are the keeper of— over your children. you are the keeper of zions, _ over your children. you are the keeper of zions, you _ over your children. you are the keeper of zions, you never- keeper of zions, you never sleep _ keeper of zions, you never sleep or— ke

that is what is happening in nigeria now. the press has been saying, fulani men are criminals, killers, the nation is charged against fulani. innocent people. while we were filming, there is news of victory and rejoice, the missing sisters from the forestry school. they finally made it home. theirjoyful prayers this time, as the girls are reunited with their family. rejoice and victory, you're home. welcome home. ijoined them on a video call from lagos. what is it like to have your daughters home with you, how do you feel? now that the this thing has happened to you, this terrible thing, are you going to apply to university? what about you, rejoice, are you scared? especially if you have to sleep there? the students' release was negotiated by sheikh gumi. the return is not an uncommon experience. the majority of children who have been kidnapped in the last eight months have gone home. but there is no doubt that education here has been deeply disturbed. the subject is what, plural. the answer is plural. even before the kidnapp

in nigeria. do you admit that it has left a significant portion of the population quite exposed to this particular strategy? i mean, you have the u. n, for example, thing, but it's making it difficult to get internally displaced. people aid. you have leading security organizations saying that these vocal, hiram's factions that these affiliated, you know, and similar groups are taking advantage of the space can created by the super cap military strategy. and they're moving around more freely. they're building support, they're building their networks. you have to bear in mind that this is a conflict that is taking place in a very difficult terrain. as i said earlier, within a very complex cross border area where 4 african countries meet, where there are hundreds of islands due to the receding late chad. so you know, it's not that straightforward. you can also, if you want focus on the receptor the, the return of, of individuals that have been living in internally displaced camps to, to towns and vi

a model the boo hurry, government wants for nigeria. we're open to going to abrasion from any part of the wood. i don't know how far they've gone, but i do know that it was there was contact with china about building an infinite firewall. i'm if as a government you place it back to you want to wipe it off to the people circumvented by the d p. and you're not going to see that you understand that the band is effected, it's high. i, while it's quite an extremely expensive, i know the chinese government very well and where they have interest, they don't mind even saying, you know what, let's funded for you guys. and that's where i think all my jerry and need to because the problem is not the fit to national. you need the the breath and i just copy the asked what to do with it would cover not everyone cares about that. you care about it right here. this month than the next 2 years of the government will be what people turning to algeria now and a historic moment. the 1st parliamentary elections there since former president i've done these b

and now the reason i'll use ita lagos, nigeria, well civilian rule returned to nigeria in 1999, but it's still facing major challenges despite being africa. largest economy, it does have high unemployment and more than 33 percent of adults minus job many blame it on widespread corruption. recession and last year's drop in oil prices on groups of killed more than 36000 people in the past 10 years. displacing about 2400000 in the northeast and in central and north west nigeria, there's violence between farmers and ethnic for lonnie herders as well as which lenses and criminal gangs. ah, okay, let's bring in guests in a boucher we have mike at you for a former director of nigeria state security service in washington dc. we have america, ankle head of the africa practice that the racial group and from coventry in the u . k. a. u. mussa a political analyst. welcome to you all mike, at your for coming to 1st. what hasn't or what has president hurry done since the last election that has got the country into such a mess? well i think that the missing is if you believe that's what for the protect

in nigeria. do you admit that it has left a significant portion of the population quite exposed to this particular strategy? i mean, you have the u. n, for example, saying that it's making it difficult to get internally displaced. people aid. you have leading security organization saying that these vocal rom factions that these affiliated, you know, and similar groups, are taking advantage of the space can created by the super cap military strategy. and they're moving around more freely. they're building support, they're building their networks. you have to bear in mind that this is a conflict that is taking place in a very difficult to read. as i said earlier, within a very complex cross border area where 4 african countries meet, where there are hundreds of islands due to the receding leg. chad, so you know, it's not that straightforward. you can also, if you want focus on the reset the, the, the return of, of individuals that have been living in, internally displaced comes to, to towns and vil

this is nigeria, and it's titled ego hunters with lot guns. and this was a very common type showing sort of the barbarity or the savagery of africans and particularly as hunters. and so this particular image is basically just showing them in their everyday coding. and you can see that it's actually been stage to some extent because you have 2 individuals on either side who are kneeling and sort of looking directly at the camera. so they're the and understanding of cooperation and collaboration between the image in photography as carefully selected both objects and mess around things for those in the business of sending postcards, there was a commercial interest in making images that tantalize or in some ways to get into a preexisting by you can see that clearly in images from frances colonial encounter with north africa, faces with women who did not conform with their exotic fancy the photographer simply made up photo that did. ah, they had this mythology of algerians is kind of over sexualized. they had the image of the hair in their mind, bu

in nigeria. this administration is looking to correct and the negative media report sometimes also few these acts of violence, the kidnapping, the terrorism. so it's the media's fault. it's the media's fault that there's an estimated $700.00 students kidnapped for ransom since december in your country. that's not what i'm saying. certainly not. it's not the media's fault, but it has for the few of some of the violence as we've seen of recent. you have to bear in mind that nigeria is the most populous country in africa. it's a nation of 200000000 people, so certainly there would be absolute violence. there would be all sorts of issues, particularly since we have endured years of, of, of under development, which this administration is looking to reverse. you mentioned that the government is taking action. i want to look at some of that action because the senate is considering making it illegal to pay ransom to kidnappers. is that the government's plan to punish the victims the parents in the face o

the older men would be able to block much of nigeria. the threats were real, and since then, it has been day after day, young nigerians and organizations defying and still tweeting. we have yet to hear of any prosecutions. nora: how is it going down the fact that president donald trump is praising nigeria's leader for what he has done for this twitter ban? >> i think people are divided. donald trump is surprisingly popular among some nigerians that see him as the kind of leader that a country, perhaps, like nigeria needs. there are also many people that say this just shows that this man was undemocratic. it goes against everything that nigeria is supposed to stand for as a democracy. the fact that trump endorses it shows the nigerian government is wrong on this front. nora: will this help or harm president bihari politically? >> i think it will definitely be harmful. the majority of the population is useful and they are switched on, provident to the internet. twitter has been used for a lot of popular movements like the anti-police bruta

their voice is something that nigeria government was not happy about. then at least in $3.00, pay them to heidi, 3 kids, any reaction to the current after you can get that across the country. but then he kind of put, posted the tree, the tree top so that it actually reaches its rules under the gay shows. and then they deleted these 2 after the division of the street, the government of an idea that was of course on re. and then they said the tree top was what was my as it was, was targeting the government. and what it brought out saying on treats out was undermining this page security. so this guy saying that today's not rocking is against the government, but then treat the hot said that they're going to investigate based on their going to put, puts out the, the official reaction. alright, so it's clear that the government is unhappy with twitter. but what about ordinary nigerians? how have they been reacting to this move this, this isn't this suspension of 3 top indefinitely. of course i got an i j as you have to know that nigeria is probably the bigges

twitter users in nigeria have been very angry. they say this is undemocratic. nigeria is africa's largest democracy and many see this as a step backwards for the country. many also pointing out to the fact that president buhari was a military dictator in this country in the �*80s and they see this latest move as a continuation of that legacy. twitter has issued a statement, as they say they are deeply concerned by the suspension of their services in nigeria and say they will work towards reinstating a service for its users here. there are about 150 million internet users in nigeria and according to the authorities here just over 60% of those use twitter, so it is a huge market for the social media company. it will be really desperate to try and rebuild relationships with the government. for a little bit of context, this has happened because twitter deleted a post by president buhari earlier this week. they said it breached its rules in that post. many nigerian users flagged it because they felt it was a threat to a secessionist movement in the south—east of

the nigerian government has suspended twitter in nigeria indefinitelyfor undermining nigeria's corporate existence. here s our correspondent mayenijones. on saturday morning, twitter users in nigeria woke up to find that they no longer had access to their accounts. that's using most mobile phone networks. on wi—fi, you could still access the website and the hashtag "thank god for vpn" has been trending, suggesting many users have managed to find a way to use the website by using virtual private networks. the nigerian government had announced on friday that it had planned to suspend all of twitter�*s activities in the country. at the time it was unclear what they meant by that. it seems they have now decided to block access to the website. telecoms companies that operate in nigeria released a statement saying that they had received a directive from the government to suspend twitter and that they had complied, but they did say that they followed the united nations provisions on freedom of communication and that they agreed with those. twitter users in nigeria have been very angry. they

>> which -- nigeria was not set, and so one of the things have did nigeria is for one, polio. we sort of had the structures in place including unicef supported communications platforms at the rural and q&a levels. one of the things really did was try to create -- to support the vaccination, and that help significantly. but then certain, initially there was also, not initially. cities -- [inaudible] and the primary health care manages immunization, so -- [inaudible] we have thought it was a given that -- [inaudible] [inaudible] vaccinate health care worker and frontline workers so we had -- so in this vaccine we had frontline workers for covid-19 vaccination. frontline workers -- prioritize the elderly, then later we -- [inaudible] and it subsequently -- [inaudible] that has no comorbidities. we find a lot of hesitancy even among -- so we had to come and just like -- [inaudible] we had to develop linkages with private sector. we had to have the communication channels. then we had to communicate to thin using the communication structures internally. we had a lot of confidence in

and so in the case of nigeria, nigeria make an executive ruling or illegal ruling. you're obligated to follow that there is though a very pragmatic challenge, which is how does one enforce a ban? and i suspect what nigeria is trying to do is block the ip address is associated with twitter and try to to do sort of an infrastructure level block. that's a hard thing to do as just as china. china is block twitter, but you can see tens of millions of people inside china accessing twitter through other means. the great firewall is not always a very effective firewall, certainly not for china. and i suspect not for nigeria either. jim, i could sit and chat to all day about this, but they tell me i've gotta get some other news. thank you so much for your time. really do appreciate it. thank you. yeah. and then use the head of things. the truth is still our us intelligence agency is a family just wrapped up a study of u. f. o encountered by american military bats. and the 4th as well as the lakers title defense over the crushed out of the n, b a r g the hello there. the heat

my ties to nigeria, the fact that my father lives in nigeria, i have relatives in nigeria and i hear all the time what's happening there and of course, care deeply about what's happening. the twitter suspension was very concerning and remains a source of concern because a nigeria that can play a constructive role in africa and west africa in the larger-- and the rest of africa is really, it's critical, right? and so, seeing any signs of closing of political states. seeing any signs that we are restricting free speech. that's are things that are deeply concerning to me as somebody who cares about africa and as an american and cares about free speech and understands how important having those freedoms here in the united states has been to us, you know, growing and helping to perfect our multi-racial democracy, which is very much a work in progress. ... if i look at what we have accomplished here and sticking to those values of free speech when i see that in nigeria and elsewhere around the continent it is very concerning to me. >> yes and also freedom of speech and w when you think abo

my degree, the federal capital of nigeria is born. i states, over the past 10 years, the fight against the terrorist group of bulk of rom, has repeatedly up ended people's lives. perhaps the most fertile ground, the young creative startups. and yet the city has a small emerging start help st. entrepreneurs like mohammed to see a huge potential and how much is the founder of the co development hub or cd hub in my glory? this is where he sees the future of the regions jobs in 2018, the hub is become a training center. a tech enthusiasts, a meeting points for creative young people and a lead for digital storytellers have done so many solution and innovation program for young people to build on the ideas and also to expand it, to generate ideas, but not only to generate ideas, but also to see how they can be a benefit to society using the ideas without much support from people so far more 100 any payment change over $1000.00 people in strategic communication, graphic design, and healthy. they also help young people like the team shami rea

my degree, the federal capital of nigeria is born. i states, over the past 10 years, the fight against the terrorist group of bulk of rom, has repeatedly up ended people's lives. perhaps the most fertile ground, the young creative thought of. and yet the city had a small emerging start help seen entrepreneurs like mohammed to see a huge potential. and how much is the founder of the co development hub or cd hub in my glory. this is where he sees the future of the regions job since 2018. the hub has become a training center for tech in via a meeting points for creative young people. and lots of digital story tell us, have done so many solution and innovation program for young people to build on the ideas and also to aspire. to generate ideas where not only to generate ideas, but also to see how they can be a benefit to society in india, when ideas without much support from people so far more 100. and if team of trained over 1000 people in strategic communication, graphic design and photography, they also help young people like the team

ah, ah, ah ah, this is news live from berlin, nigeria, this is suspending twitter indefinitely, accusing it of double standards. this comes after the messaging platform remove suppose from the countries president, but not from a separate leader. will have the latest from legal. also coming up on congress marked the anniversary of the gentlemen square massacre. police off the side for the annual vigil is usually held, but crowns gather outside to remember the pro democracy protestors who were killed in beijing in 1989. ah. ah. i'm marrying i haven't seen welcome. nigeria government says it is suspending twitter indefinitely. best after the company deleted a controversial tweet from the country president social media platform or move the post from president mohammed a will hardy saying it violated the science rules against abusive behavior. in the tween harvey threatened to punish members of a session. this movement in the country, se nigeria is information ministry accused twitter of double standards, ignoring violence messages from a separatist leader. while the countries information min