SR SahelReporters

By Aviashima Toom, Abuja  The Nigerian Navy has commended the Federal High Court sitting in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, for convicting and sentencing nine persons arrested for crude oil theft during an operation in February. According to a statement by the Director Navy Information, Nigerian Navy, Navy Captain, Abiodun Folorunsho in Abuja said nine convicts were sentenced on September 14, 2026, to five years’ imprisonment on Count One and 10 years on Count Two, without the option of a fine. The suspects were arrested by the Nigerian Navy on February 7, 2026, during an intelligence-led operation under Operation DELTA SENTINEL while allegedly stealing crude oil from an oil wellhead identified as ASABO-D in Ibeno Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. The Navy described the conviction as a significant development in the fight against crude oil theft and other forms of economic sabotage, noting that successful enforcement operations must be followed by effective prosecution an...

By Senator Uche Ekwunife, CON The recent visits of Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, to Anambra and Imo states have been described as a demonstration of the Federal Government’s commitment to inclusive development and grassroots empowerment. Speaking on the significance of the visits, Senator Uche Ekwunife, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for the 2027 Anambra Central Senatorial Election, said the First Lady’s engagements in the Southeast had provided a strong link between federal interventions and the needs of communities at the grassroots. Ekwunife, who said she witnessed the engagements firsthand, described Senator Tinubu’s arrival at the Chinua Achebe International Airport in Anambra as a significant moment for the people of the state. According to her, the launch of the National Community Food Bank Programme for the Southeast zone in Amawbia was one of the major highlights of the visit. She said the programme would provide critical ...

By Aviashima Toom, Abuja  Nigeria is facing a growing environmental crisis, with communities across the country increasingly exposed to flooding, gully erosion, desertification, deforestation, coastal erosion, oil pollution, waste pollution and land degradation. The severity and nature of the environmental threats vary significantly from one ecological zone to another, according to government assessments and climate-risk mapping. While states in the North are battling desertification, drought and declining vegetation, the South-East is experiencing severe gully erosion. In the Niger Delta, oil pollution is compounded by flooding and coastal erosion, while major urban centres such as Lagos, Kano and Ibadan face growing pressure from flooding, waste and rapid urbanisation. Northern states face desertification threat The environmental crisis is particularly severe across the northern belt, where Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Yobe and ...

By Aviashima Toom, Abuja Every June 5, the world pauses to talk about the environment. Governments issue statements.  Ministries organise clean-up exercises. Schools hold tree-planting campaigns. Civil society groups stage rallies, seminars and awareness walks. Social media fills with messages about protecting nature, reducing plastic pollution and fighting climate change. Then the day passes. The banners come down, the speeches end, the cameras move on to the next event—and an important question remains: what happens afterwards? For many environmental advocates, the real test of environmental governance is not how loudly governments celebrate World Environment Day, but what they do on June 6 and every other day that follows. In Nigeria, where communities continue to grapple with flooding, erosion, deforestation, plastic pollution, oil pollution, poor waste management and the effects of a changing climate, environmental challenges do not operate according to an internat...

By Aviashima Toom, Abuja  Ogoni Cleanup: Ten years after the promise, between progress and the pollution The promise came with the weight of history. On June 2, 2016, the Federal Government formally launched the cleanup of Ogoniland in Rivers State, following the damning findings of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on decades of oil pollution in the region. For communities that had watched their farmlands deteriorate, their creeks become polluted and their livelihoods disappear, the announcement represented more than another government programme. It was a promise of environmental justice. Nearly a decade later, however, the Ogoni cleanup presents a complicated picture — one in which government says significant progress has been recorded, while residents, environmental advocates and independent reports continue to raise questions about the pace, coverage and visible impact of remediation. It is this gap between promise and reality that the Environmental Me...

By Aviashima Toom, Abuja  The Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN) says its troops recorded significant successes in the fight against terrorism, kidnapping and other security threats across the country between September 4 and 10, 2026. The military disclosed that 17 terrorist fighters, alongside their family members, surrendered to troops in Borno State during sustained operations in the North-East. According to the Director, Defence Media Operations, Major General Michael Onoja, the terrorists surrendered between September 4 and 7 in Monguno town and along the Gwoza-Limankara Road in Gwoza Local Government Area of Borno State. Onoja said the terrorists cited harsh living conditions, hunger and lack of basic provisions in their enclaves on the Mandara Mountains as reasons for abandoning the groups. He added that troops on September 8 intercepted a female abductee and her one-year-old child near Gava in Gwoza LGA. The victim, an indigene of Chinene, reportedly told troops that...

Across Benue, Kogi, Taraba and Adamawa, expanding gullies are consuming farmland, threatening homes and cutting off roads. As governments announce interventions and billions of naira are committed to erosion control, residents are asking: why does the water keep winning? By Aviashima Toom, Abuja The earth is opening up beneath communities. What begins as a narrow channel after heavy rainfall can, over time, become a deep and expanding gully. Water follows the path, cutting deeper into the soil with every storm. Farmland disappears. Roads crack and collapse. Houses that once stood safely away from the danger begin to edge closer to the precipice. For residents of erosion-prone communities in Benue, Kogi, Taraba and Adamawa States, this is no longer a distant environmental threat. It is happening in their backyards. Across the four states, erosion is eating into farmland, threatening homes and public infrastructure, disrupting movement and putting livelihoods at risk. But ben...