Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps

where prisoners or people who are supposed to be on trial were being transported to the Lagos State Magistrate Court in a black Maria and they were stuffed in there and they suffocated.

And what is horrifying about this situation and why I think it reminds me of what happened in NSCDC custody in Niger State is that these men suffocated for hours and they were screaming and they were banging on the walls of the van and no one did anything.

If you remember, I don't know if you guys saw what happened with the end bad governance protesters who were taken to court and people were just seeing children.

They were children and they were fainting in court.

Now let's talk about what happened in Niger State because some things have been confirmed and some things are still being investigated.

As of now, 37 individuals were killed or died in state custody.

They were picked up in Mina, which is the Niger state capital, and NSCDC says that they were illegal miners.

Now, witnesses have come out and said that they were not illegal miners, that they were artisanal miners, but that is still under investigation.

Yeah.

So, yeah, what does he want to do? I'm sure they're going to, you know, I think also called on the federal government to explain the status of the Pagmi, P-A-G-M-I in Niger State and the circumstances surrounding the deaths of 37 suspected illegal minors in NSCDC custody.

Pagme, where's Pagme? Pagme is the presidential artisanal gold mining development initiative established under former president Mohamedou Buhari.

Yeah, man.

Should African countries accept deportees who are not their citizens? The Central Bank of Nigeria has reduced its monetary policy rate from 26.5% to 23%, a move that could make loans cheaper.

Will this rate cut improve access to affordable loans? The NSCDC has arrested 24 personnels over the death of 37 suspected illegal minors in custody.

Investigations are ongoing.

Who should be held accountable for their deaths? Samuel Atiko, an economic specialist, is joining us for insights on these critical stories.

That could bring down any government in the world.

I mean, we need to remember the institutional responsibility.

You can't take 37 people, right? They died by being detained by NSCDC.

So yeah, the states, whether I would like it or not, have a duty of care.

Ethiopian Airlines said that, uh, they are suspending their operations there indefinitely due to what's going on there.

Uh, and then we've heard that, uh, the Tigrayan forces have captured the main airport in the region's capital, Mekelle.

Uh, and then after that, uh, there comes reports that, uh, the Tigrayan forces are announcing they are engaged, and they have ordered their troops, uh, to engage in combat against the federal forces after accusing the federal forces of, you know, launching an invasion.

So it seems that things have been, you know, dramatically changing throughout today, and this comes, uh, in the backdrop of deteriorating relationships and increasing tensions in the past few days.

And it, it was just three days ago that Tigrayan forces, together with other six armed groups in Ethiopia, announced that they're forming a new alliance aimed at toppling the government, the central government.

Uh, and it seems that all these fears that have been sounded over the, over the past few months that Ethiopia might be sliding back to full civil war are, are leading up to this.

These market traders in the Tigrayan capital, Mekelle, expressed their concern.

For sure, our children's education will be affected, and the infrastructure will be destroyed.

So last week, Tuesday, a group of men were arrested at a mining site that the government says is an illegal mining site, but we have not independently been able to verify this.

One of the men I spoke to told me that they were just sitting down doing their daily job as usual, And then the NSCDC mining rangers, which is a new section that was set up by the Niger state government in 2024 to crack down on illegal mining in the state.

So they came, they met them and they arrested them immediately.

Some of them were even eaten at the time.

Hoodlums have taken control where even street lights have been stolen.

But the federal government of Nigeria has also set up a panel of people that will investigate this case properly.

And the team of NSCDC officials that were on duty during this incident, including the state commandant, they have been sent to the headquarters in Abuja and they were paraded.

So they are presently in custody.

Anyway, let's keep going.

So, Bargo says the 37 detainees died in the custody of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps, or as we know it, NSCDC, in north-central Niger state.

He announced three days of mourning for the victims, his press secretary, Bologi Ibrahim, said in a statement.

They had been in detention since the security agency carried out arrest on Tuesday and Wednesday over suspicion of illegal mining in the state, head of the NSCDC in Niger, Suberu, Siaka and Yivye said in a statement Thursday.

Anivia said, while the agency suspects a disease, the detainees bodies have been sent to the local hospital for further medical examination to establish the actual cause of death.

He did not elaborate on the type of disease.

They wouldn't be able to have enough breathing strength to take in oxygen.

But one of the surviving miners is saying they sprayed something in the cell after putting us inside and people started falling down.

Ka whakawhiti ki tāwahi in nāiane, in international news, 37 suspected illegal gold miners, many of whom were children, were found dead in the prison cells of a paramilitary group in Nigeria last Thursday.

The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, or NSCDC, had raided suspected illegal gold mines in the city of Minna, where children aged 14 to 18 had worked in the mines.

The NSCDC initially blamed the deaths on an outbreak, but an intelligence report has suggested that overcrowding and poor ventilation were responsible.

Protests over the deaths broke out on Thursday evening in Minna, with police attempting to disperse the crowds by firing tear gas.

The state governor, Mohamed Omaro Bago, said an inquiry into the deaths had begun with three days of mourning declared.