Nigeria hit by snaking queues at the pumps amidst petrol crisis

Thanks very much for staying with us. Time now for across Africa, our weekly look at stories from across the continent. I’m Georgia Calvin Smith and this week motorists in Nigeria face huge queues at petrol stations across major cities as frustration grows of the multi headed crises triggered by the highest inflation to have hit Nigeria in almost 3 decades. Also known locally as the Menzang, the Xylophone has a small but dedicated following in Cameroon. We hit up a festival dedicated to its sounds in Yaounde that’s attracted aficionados from across the continent and we head out on the road with the roaming chef. Former Rugby * Kenyon Dennis Onbachis scored a try with his cooking. Switching his passion from the pitch to the plate has earned him a pretty pretty solid online following. But first, Nigerians faced crippling queues at the petrol pumps this week as commuters waited for hours to fill up, sometimes overnight. The latest fuel shortage has bumped up the cost of public transport as some gas stations have upped prices by more than 15%. Overall, the country is also facing the highest inflation in 28 years, topping 33.2%. This week the government tried to offset the strain by raising public sector salaries by between 25 and 35%. But President Bulla Tanubu’s removal last year of petrol subsidies and foreign currency controls have contributed to the skyrocketing cost of food and essentials. That’s left millions struggling to get by. Margaret can no longer make ends meet as her monthly salary of €23 cannot cover the rent of the room she shares with her daughter. The cost of living in Nigeria is increasing by the day. The financial strain has forced two other of her children to drop out of school. Every day we wake up and come to think and they come to think I’m going to feed my daughter, I’m going to cook, I’m going to send money to my children. In the village is very, very tough. Inflation in Nigeria top that it represents in March, the highest is been since 1996. Shola is a fashion designer and is worried about losing customers. She uses imported fabrics that has suppliers purchasing dollars. The Naira’s value has plummeted by 49% so she has had to hike her own prices by 50%. Can imagine what you purchase for like 500. You’re purchasing for like 1000 to 1005. So it’s and you you can’t just arbitrarily just start increasing, increasing the the the cost of making an outfit. With a market of 220 million consumers, the Nigerian economy is now dominated by service and agriculture sectors. Many of its supplies are imported and the country needs a lot of foreign currency. But the rising cost of living can’t only be blamed on the weakening of the naira. Economists also point to the conflict effect on agriculture. As farmers and herdsmen continue to clash in central and northern Nigeria, we can have immediate salutary effects if only the federal government of Nigeria is able to summon the political will and the military capacity to recapture the agricultural economy from the hands of the terrorists that have besieged it. The Nigerian government is hoping for a loan of $2.25 billion from the World Bank. More than 50% of this will be used to support social programs. Well, At the end of April, the DL Congo sent a cease and desist order to tech giant Apple over its alleged use of illegally exploited minerals traced back to the country’s embattled east. Now exploitation of the so-called 3 TS, tungsten tin and tantalum has long been dominated by armed groups operating in the volatile region and global attempts to regulate their trade have not made much headway. Lohan Bersdecker tells us more. They are known as the three TS tin, tungsten and tantalum, essential minerals for the fabrication of electronics, the majority of which can be found in the DRC together with gold. They’ve been nicknamed conflict minerals due to their central role in fuelling ongoing violence in the country’s east. For the past 30 years, armed groups have been competing over these resources, often forcing civilians, including children, to work in the mines in order to finance their operations, a security and human rights crisis that’s deteriorated further since M23 rebels launched a fresh insurgency over two years ago. Since 2009, a mechanism known as the International Tin Supply Chain Initiative attempts to regulate the trade of these minerals and to ensure they don’t come from conflict zones. But the program has come under scrutiny after a 2015 report by British NGO Global Witness accused it of facilitating the laundering of tainted materials. According to the NGO, 90% of 3 tea minerals exported by Rwanda in 2021 were illegally smuggled into the country from the DRC, now known locally as the Menzang. The xylophone has a small but dedicated following in Cameroon, now a festival dedicated to the traditional and versatile instrument wrapped up in Yaounde. Recently after during an aficionados from across the continent and our team was also there soaking up the sounds. The air triumphed with sounds of traditional music during the opening ceremony of the International Xylophone Festival in Yaounde. Held at Club Noir on the outskirts of the capital of Cameroon, it captivated audiences who watched as xylophone virtuosos competed against each other. 17 year old Armani has been playing the instruments since childhood. We’ve had the xylophone at home since I was very young. I just immersed myself in the instruments since it was already in my environment from time to time I tried it out and one day I could do it. This third edition of the Yaounde International Xylophone Festival drew musicians from all over the world, including big names like Mali’s Mustafa Dembele. The festival also offered up compositions that fuse traditional African music and jazz, A mix of that went down with even the most experienced listeners. There are some talented young xylophone players here in Cameroon and we’re really working together to restore the image people have of this instrument. The xylophone is really important in Africa, it’s part of our tradition. He left. Panqui is a driving force behind the festival. He is a passionate fan of the xylophone and fears that the instruments won in popularity in Africa means it’s rich. Sounds risk falling. Silence. The xylophone risks disappearing if we do nothing. This is because it’s been gradually overshadowed. In a few years time, if we don’t do something to protect our own culture, it will practically disappear. Although it is recognised by UNESCO as part of humanity’s intangible cultural heritage, the xylophone is not very popular with contemporary African youth. The festival is doing what it can to turn up the volume on the ancestral instrument. After a successful international rugby career which took him to the Olympics, Kenya’s Dennis Onbachi’s travels took him in a very different direction and he began prioritising self-care, both mental and physical, and turned to cooking. And it turned out that there is a big appetite out there for the offerings of the man who’s now been dubbed the roaming chef. Tomatoes roughly chopped Dan, a catch phrase heard by millions. Dan with his shorts and punchy videos. Former rugby player Denis Zombachi has won over 2,000,000 TikTok users. My cuisine, I will say it’s it’s continental because my cuisine is inspired by by sports, by through my travelling sports. So for me, I I I look at food as a as a means of travelling the world without having a passport. Between national selections, 2 World Cups and the Olympic Games in 2016, Dennis Humbachi has represented his country on the rugby pitch for over a decade, until 2018, when he was diagnosed with a bipolar disorder. Yes, I was good in sports, I was successful. But outside there, you know, when when the stadium lights are off, I’m like, my life is a bit empty. So I need something else to feel it. And then I was like, yeah, I’ll try, I’ll try food. So it was a challenge. Yeah, It sort of kept me sane, kept me through my depressive periods. And yeah, that’s how my love with food started. In a society where mental health is often looked down upon, Umbachi hopes to break the stigma. At the end of the day, it’s just it’s just like diabetes, maybe diabetes of the brain, you know, the same way diabetic has to take insulin from time to time. You have to take your meds from time to time. My diabetes has to go see the doctor for check UPS here and there. You have to go see your therapist, psychiatrist, away from the pitch. This former athlete now hopes to open his own restaurant as a legacy for his children. Now, as East Africa struggles with unprecedented flooding elsewhere on the continent, drought has taken hold across southern Africa and Zambia, Malawi, Botswana lakes and rivers have dried up. And it’s not just people struggling, Dozens of hippos trapped in a pool of mud. Just a few months ago, this river was flowing freely. Today it’s completely dried out and it’s wildlife has nowhere to flee to. We’re experiencing a severe drought in our village, this pondered water, but it’s completely dried up. Our animals get stuck in this muddy pond every day. When they try to drink the water, there’s absolutely no water. As you can see, even the hippos are stuck, induced by the El Nino weather pattern, which should last until May. This is one of the region’s worst droughts in four decades. Since January 2024, extreme climate shocks have killed more than 130 people and destroyed over 2,000,000 hectares of crops. Across southern Africa, the river has gone dry. We are currently not getting any clients as we used to. The fishing industry has gone down. Trees are slowly dying. It is not even large green as you used to experience. Our canoes have run dry and people are actually suffering. In Botswana, thousands of people have been forced to flee to the north of the country, close to the wetter national parks. We’ve moved temporarily because of the drought. We’ve lost most of our livestock, especially the younger calves. Since we’ve moved here, the situation has gotten better. Our animals are better. I hope we’ll survive the droughts. 24 million people in Southern Africa are now facing what the UN calls acute hunger and water scarcity has also aggravated the cholera outbreak in the region which has killed over 4000 people since the start of 2023. Well, that’s it for across Africa for now, but thanks for joining us and do so again if you can. Till then take care. Sao Paulo, a vibrant city today but with deep scars from the past. In this building, thousands of prisoners were tortured. 50 of them didn’t make it out. 60 years after voices ring out over the horrors of the dictatorship, voices that refuse to be stifled and demand justice. The Centre for the Preservation of Political Memory holds memories and warnings A contested past and ongoing quest for truth and justice. Brazil’s Dark Era on France 24 and france24.com.