The absolute beginners' guide to Pidgin

The launch of BBC Pidgin on the World Service is recognition that our English is not ‘broken’, but beautiful. Here’s what you need to know about it.

The launch of BBC Pidgin will come as a bit of a shock to many African parents and headmasters, and will leave many others confused as to why the world’s foremost exponent of the Queen’s English, the BBC World Service, is investing in what is often called “broken English”.

Lamido Sanusi, Kano's 'progressive fraud', takes aim at child marriage in Nigeria

Lamido Sanusi II, Nigeria’s second highest Islamic authority, is on a mission to end child marriage.

As the emir of Kano in northern Nigeria, one of 13 states where there is no minimum age for marriage, he is well placed to understand the issue. Yet Sanusi, a hugely symbolic religious figure, is at pains to point out that it is a social rather than scriptural problem.

“Every day you’re dealing with young girls who are withdrawn from school and are married, often into abusive or vulnerable situations, then divorced and left with nothing,” says Sanusi.

“There is an idea in the north [of Nigeria] that child marriage is Islamic, but it is not an article of faith, it is something societies decide for themselves.”

Although the legal age for marriage is 18, the Nigerian constitution allows states to set their own limits. This gives child marriage a legal and cultural foothold in regions across the country, including Kano and other areas of the largely Muslim north.

According to Girls Not Brides, a coalition of more than 700 organisations working to end early and forced marriage, 76% of girls in Nigeria’s north-west are married before they turn 18.

The juju curse that binds trafficked Nigerian women into sex slavery

Traditional west African ‘healers’ and Sicilian psychiatrists are struggling to help free Nigerian women forced into prostitution

Every night as dusk falls in Piazza Gastone in the Noce district of Palermo, a tall, imposing Ghanaian woman dressed in traditional west African robes stands before a small congregation sweating in rows of plastic chairs before her.

The Pentecostal Church of Odasani has been converted from an old garage in a backstreet into a place of worship, albeit one unrecognised by any formal faith group. But what many of the congregation – largely young Nigerian women – have come for tonight is more than prayer; it is freedom.

“Nigerian women come to me for help, they have bad spirits that have been put inside their bodies by people who want to make money from them,” says the self-proclaimed prophetess, as she prepares to start her service.

Strike: FG orders federal hospitals to recruit casual doctors

The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, has directed chief medical directors and medical directors of federal hospitals to immediately engage the services of locum doctors to augment the services of consultants, National Youth Service Corps doctors and  medical doctors on internship pending the resolution of the ongoing strike by the National Association of Resident Doctors.

The order was contained in a circular with Ref. No. C. 3132/Vol. V/116, addressed to all CMDs/MDs of federal tertiary health institutions across the country.

Adewole said the move became imperative in order to reduce the increased workload of consultants, NYSC doctors and house officers,  thereby preventing reduction in quality of service delivery to patients.

The minister had earlier approved the use of armed forces, police and the Federal Road Safety Corps in health facilities to ensure the continuous delivery of health care services across the country.

Cancer Patient Wins Record $417 Million Payout In Johnson & Johnson Talc Case

As Johnson & Johnson faces thousands of U.S. lawsuits over potential cancer risks of its talc-based products, a California jury ordered the company Monday to pay $417 million in damages to a terminally ill woman.

Eva Echeverria, 63, who is undergoing treatment in hospital for ovarian cancer, testified through a video deposition that she’d used Johnson’s Baby Powder for feminine hygiene for more than 50 years before halting the practice in 2016, the Los Angeles Times reported. She only stopped after watching a news story about a woman with ovarian cancer who had also used the talc for a similar purpose, she said.

At the time, Echeverria had already been treated for ovarian cancer for almost a decade. 

A Los Angeles Superior Court jury awarded Eva Echeverria, who has an incurable form of ovarian cancer, a record $70 million in compensatory damages and $347 million in punitive damages on Monday.  (Lucas Jackson / Reuters)

Agreeing with the plaintiff that there was a connection between her cancer and her use of Johnson & Johnson’s products containing talc, a Los Angeles Superior Court jury awarded Echeverria $70 million in compensatory damages and $347 million, a record total in punitive damages on Monday. 

Nigeria ranks third in global internet crimes behind UK, U.S., says NCC

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says Nigeria currently ranks third globally in cyber crimes behind the UK and the U.S.

NCC’s Chief Executive Officer, Prof. Umar Danbatta, disclosed this on Tuesday at the ongoing 2017 Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Lagos.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the conference’ theme is: “African Business: Penetrating through Institution Building”.

Danbatta, at a breakout session with the sub-theme: “The Business of Cyber Law, Internet Policy and Privacy Rights”, moderated by Mr Augustine Alegeh (SAN) a former NBA President, said the number of internet users in Nigeria has hit 91.6 million.

“About N127 billion was the estimated loss to cybercrime in Nigeria in 2015; Nigeria ranks third in global internet crimes behind the UK and U.S.

“A critical factor militating against Africa’s economic resurgence is the weakness of its institutions.

“Nigeria ranks 169 out of 199 on the World Bank’s ease of doing business rankings; we are in a middle of a revolution and the rise of what we call the networked society.

Oldest Kids In Class Do Better, Even Through College

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Starting kindergarten later could boost kids' grades and improve their odds of attending a top college. Being the youngest kid in class can hurt their academic performance.

Children who start school at an older age do better than their younger classmates and have better odds of attending college and graduating from an elite institution. That's according to a new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Many parents already delay enrolling their children in school, believing they'll do better if they're a bit older. It's sort of "academic red-shirting," says one of the study's authors, David Figlio, an economist at Northwestern University, using a term that originated in college athletics and refers to recruits who are held out of games for a year.