Focus on Africa
Why Nigeria risks floods from waters released by Cameroon
Nigeria warns of massive potential flooding after neighbouring Cameroon releases dam waters. Why has Nigeria failed to construct a buffer dam over the years?
We look at cybersecurity and its best practice in Africa
And why is Hungary sending soldiers to Chad?
Presenter: Audrey Brown Producers: Blessing Aderogba, Charles Gitonga, Rob Wilson, Patricia Whitehorne and Bella Hassan Technical Producer: Francesca Dunne Senior Producer: Paul Bakibinga Editors: Andre Lombard and Alice Muthengi
- Broadcast on:
- 20 Sep 2024
- Audio Format:
- other
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Start getting your best night's sleep in sheets that get softer and softer for years to come. Try their sheets with a 30-night guarantee, plus for a limited time, get 20% off your first order at bolinbranch.com. Code, buttery. Exclusions apply. See site for details. Hello, I'm Audrey Brown, and today in Focus on Africa, we're talking about cybersecurity on the continent. Five countries are leading the index that rates best practices. We'll be discussing which ones they are and what they're doing right. They are all giants in terms of international cooperation and putting out best practices. Something else they are doing is investing in digital capacity of youths in particular, because when you look at regions where youth capacity in digital development is not there, there is usually an increase in cyber criminal activity in such areas. And why is Hungary a relatively small country in central Europe sending troops to Chad in the Sahel? It's Friday the 20th of September. First, we go to Nigeria. Take a listen to this. It's the sound of water. A lot of water. And its water being released from the lat do dam in Cameroon, millions upon millions of litres of the life-giving stuff, is pouring down in a raging torrent. On-lookers are watching in amazement. This is not an accident and it's not a drill. It's a necessity for the Cameroonian authorities to preserve the integrity of the dam when there are floods. The problem is that this release can lead to life-threatening floods downstream. And in this case, downstream means in a neighbouring country, Nigeria. People there have lived through this in previous years. And it's an experience they'd rather not live through again. We prayed out we knew floods this year because last year, when it flooded, we suffered. We went to our neighbour's house, but after a while, that house also got flooded. We understand that the flood is coming again. Last time flowed, many people were suffering, no place to stay, no food to eat. The community, the old community, was flooded, no hope. People lose hope because they thought the flood would never go again. Going to the way the flood was rising. Those voices there from Nigeria. The government of Nigeria has just issued a warning to millions of people who live in 11 states directly in the path of the waters that, due to heavy rains in the region, Cameroon has alerted them to the possibility that it might need to open the floodgates. From what we've just heard, people appear to be helpless in the face of the consequences of this action by Cameroon. Surely, that can't be right. Why would Cameroon be allowed to do this? Seems like Nigeria missed a step in the process. Philip Jagpour is an environmentalist in Nigeria, and he's been answering some of these burning questions. We're going to start with Cameroon. Why does the government need to release water from the dam? We've been having unusually heavy rains in that region, not on Cameroon and not on Nigeria. Now you have the Ladudam in Cameroon, which services farmers for irrigation and other purposes. But Cameroon is upland and Nigeria is low land. So once the dam, the waters and the dam, due to the heavy rains, reaches a certain threshold. The waters will have to be released to avoid the catastrophic breakdown of the dam. But Nigeria was supposed to build up the COB of ADAP to assimilate like a bar stop, you know, from the flow of water from the Ladudam, which we have not done. That's where the catastrophe usually comes from. And how long since Nigeria was meant to have built this dam? I think Nigeria was supposed to have built this dam around 1979 or 1981. So that's over 40 years now, and Nigeria has not done anything about it. No, building a dam takes a long time. So since 1979, 1980, the dam has still not yet been built. Success of governments have come and gone. Why has Nigeria not built this dam? Because it's clearly absolutely necessary for the people who live in the area and for Cameroon as well. Why you said something, building a dam takes on time, but we are talking about over 40 years now. I don't think Nigeria likes the resources to build it down. But I don't think the Nigerian authorities have grasped the importers and the necessity of building this dam, because for years, we've not really enriched the climate crisis, which is escalating as we speak. So suddenly, the impacts are getting more. The year in the air out, images of communities from the water, the impact on food security has been felt. Now the authorities are gradually waking up. But then, Martin has been said, no, the deaths in our sand dam which Nigeria was supposed to build. And civil society groups, organizations like us, the remaining development initiative, have been raising the alarm that the crisis that we're experiencing, the flooding that completely avoided both. All Nigeria will need to do is build a dam outside dam, like it was supposed to do since 1979. And then we will not have this one who address. The water is supposed to be a blessing, not a cause. The water can be used for the other purposes. But now, people see water at the cost. So once the clouds change, they just feel that disaster is coming. And these things are completely avoidable, even Nigeria. I mean, that's what it is supposed to do, in terms of building the deaths in our sand dam to assimilate what has, what has, what has, what has, what has, what does that mean to the risk. I'm failing to understand why the Nigerian government has not built this dam and why it's not being held accountable for not having built the dam. Just give us an idea of the mind of the Nigerian state that has made them resistant to building this dam. And, you know, I don't understand it. And I think our listeners are also wondering, why would you not do this? Well, I think the same sense of loss that you are feeling, that why can't they just do this thing and save people with these disasters? That is the same feeling we have. Some people have to be held to accounts. Some people have to take responsibility. Some jobs have to be lost for not doing what they are supposed to do. And some people have to be arrested for not doing what they are supposed to do, because it is a responsibility on the meaning of water resources, for instance. To ensure that this dam is built, so that these disasters can be avoided. The reason why this ineptitude on the part of public officials those who are supposed to build it dam and have not done it, there is why this continues because we have not held the government's sanction anyone for all these years of flooding that way. We are completely avoidable. That is really the problem is. How do you think it affects Cameroon's decision-making? If they know that there's no dam on the other side, and people's lives are going to be devastated, does that affect whether they let the water through into Nigeria or not? Cameroon's business is not defined Nigeria before the waters are released. The agreement when the lockdown was built, was that Nigeria was also supposed to build a buffer dam. So there was an agreement. The Cameroonians are fulfilled. After the agreement, the Nigerian part of the agreement is what has not been fulfilled. So it's not the problem of the Cameroonians. They will not allow the abdomen to bust. So it's not the problem. It's our problem. But do you think it affects the decision-making? Because they know what's going to happen in Nigeria to people on that side. Well, one thing that has improved is that now the election in Nigerian authorities. In this case, the election got us that in seven days time they started releasing waters. So they have no idea what they are supposed to do. There was an agreement for us to build our own buffer dam. We have not built it. It's not that we are lacking the financial resources to do it. It's not that we lack the manpower. It's just people in government who don't see the future, who don't see the seriousness of these things. And for disaster capital, it's really all. If this happens, it may be an opportunity for them to get some ideas, to share to people and diversify. It's so it's impossible to corruption the long run. Why should I just find them a little too bitter to once? Why? And in the actual as it is today, ask the average Nigerian who is doing what is steeped us about the dusting outside dam, which is supposed to be the buffer dam. Maybe this time around, because the means of water resources came out this time around to see that the Cameroonan authorities are unnotifying the Nigerian side that they're going to reuse water. This is the first time we are going to be hearing it. It had never happened before. Last year, 2023, the waters have been released in Cameroon for seven days after that didn't notify the Nigerian side. But this time around, it's the other way around. They've notified Nigeria that on seven this time, it's going to be missed. So that is an improvement. I was an improvement on our side, that the means of water resources will come out from now and say this is what's going to happen. So this is the first time it is happening. It has never happened before. And did you say anything about what they're going to do for the people who are going to have to move? All he said was that these states who prepared were back with their people. That's all. Nothing else, in levels that are going to suffer for this, in levels that are out of practice state. So it's not that of course he has come out to say this is going to happen, but there has not been anything concrete in terms of what will happen to people who live in those areas. Those people are only be told to go about wins. And how many people more or less are we talking about? Oh, you are talking about millions of people. You are talking about nearly 20,000 million people. That's what we're talking about here. Thank you very much. Thank you. Philip Jagpo, an environmentalist in Nigeria. Every once in a while you hear of a massive cybersecurity attack. It could be a data leak hacking of a system that runs a government service or even breaches of privacy on your own data on your device. It's something we can't ignore. The more technology advances the more we become exposed to these threats. Sometimes all it takes is clicking on a link online. Countries around the world have had to build legal and actual defenses so that we can operate with security in digital spaces. Several African countries are leading by example, according to the Global Cyber Security Index. It shows that Mauritius, Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania and Rwanda are global role models on how to keep people and institutions safe digitally. To help us understand the dynamics of cybersecurity in Africa, we called upon Nene, if you're an ajufo, a professor of law and technology at Leeds Beckett University and vice chairperson of the African Union Cybersecurity Experts Group. Okay, so when we talk about cybersecurity, what do we actually mean? Cybersecurity focuses on protecting networks. If you like devices and even data from unauthorized or criminal use, but also on that imagined relationship between countries when you think about cybersecurity governance and cyber crime. So sometimes you look at cybersecurity, imagine solely from a cyber criminal perspective, but also the regulations, the national security part of it, the international cooperation between countries, the treaties, the laws, and even the social legal aspects of it all focus on cybersecurity and making the internet safe for everyone. So the Global Cybersecurity Index by the International Telecommunication Union has ranked countries. So when they do that ranking, what are they looking at? What scores high and what doesn't? So this is not the first time the ITU is doing that index. And generally is usually focused on five strategic issues. They look at regulation, which is the legal measures. And they also look at technical aspects, which also looks at like infrastructure, the digital equipment required to sustain the security of cyberspace and cyber resilience. They look at organizational capacity. For example, the institutions that are there, the authorities that are there and sharing cybersecurity, they look at capacity development, how well a country is developing itself to be resilient to cyber threats. They also look at cooperation. So five of them, they look at legal, technical, organizational capacity development and cooperation. So five African countries performed really well this year, Mauritius, Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, and Rwanda. So what are they doing right? I will start off with Mauritius to say what Mauritius is actually doing well. Interestingly, Mauritius is ranked in all of the categories as doing well in all of them. Mauritius may come across as that sort of small country. But I think Mauritius is our biggest cyber security export. Since far back, Mauritius has focused on legal framework. Mauritius is one African country that has ratified the Mallebo Convention, which is the African Union Convention on Cyber Security and Pestino Data Protection. It has also ratified the Cyber Crime Convention, which is the Budapest Convention. Mauritius is known as the huge and best country with the computer emergency response team. So they have a near perfect strong computer emergency response team. In terms of organizational capacity, they have all the right authorities two, four, seven points of contact, technical ability. Even before now, we used to call Mauritius the digital hub of Africa. And so all of those things add value. But interestingly, if you look at a country like Ghana, Ghana, well, there are aspects. Ghana meets all the aspects, but false shots on one of them. But then Ghana has a multi-stakeholder approach to cyber security. And this is interesting. Cotton back to the question you've asked earlier as to what is cyber security. Ghana understands that cyber security is not just about crime, but also a people-centered approach, vulnerabilities, weaknesses, how to protect people. And so it takes a multi-stakeholder approach where non-militarized approach to cyber security is adopted. You have the banks involved, you have the institutions involved, you have schools involved in cyber security, they involve everyone in making decisions. These countries also have something in common, which is cooperation. Kenya, Mauritius, Rwanda, they are all giants in terms of international cooperation and putting out best practices. And that is something very, very important for the region, because cyber crime is not tied to any geographically proximate location. Something else they are doing is investing in digital capacity of youth in particular. So what about the countries that didn't perform very well? Burundi, Central African Republic, Eritrea, Guinea-Bissau, what are they needing to improve? Cyber security is a social dilemma issue. It's not just a criminal issue. And the problem is in many parts of Africa, you have conflicts. And so there is usually a focus on the same issue rather than the same issue. You know, some of these countries, if highlighted, they do not have the adequate laws, the adequate legal measures to address these issues. In some of these countries you've mentioned, there is a lack of infrastructure to effectively counter cyber crimes at international standards at global best practices. There's a lack of prioritization. So all these countries based on my research, they don't even prioritize cyber crime. Central African Republic, for example, it's not, you know, seen as an issue. So it allows for that loophole for people to take advantage of such places. There is also that imbalance where you have capacity, laws and all of that. So what are the topmost concerns or threats to cyber security on the continent? And I know that, as you said, it's not confined to a geographic location, but there might be specific concerns arising out of conditions on the continent. There are quite a lot of them. I don't know if on the news about three weeks ago, Interpol made an arrest. Over 300 arrests from the West African region, a group called Black Axe. And Interpol was saying that the rate of cyber crime emanating from the West African region is alarming. And you see that the huge concerns, there are actually many of them. I can't, you can't even particularly single out one. Run somewhere is a huge issue in the continent now. And that is because of the style of oppression for ransomware activities, where a young person or anyone can go to a shop is like going to a shop. You buy these two and you deploy it yourself. You do not need technical expertise. There is also huge influx of commercially available spyware in the region. Hacking is there. Financial frauds are there. Child pornography. Online child sexual exploitation has become a huge market in the African region. A lot of them. And that ties back to this concerns about lack of effectively good framework, lack of effective law enforcement capabilities to address these issues. The 419 scam, the romance scam, the online fraud, we're having sex caution on the increase. And it's actually a huge concern. Sex caution has become a huge concern. And it's one of the things on the Ghanaian cybersecurity agenda, for example. Now you are the vice chairperson of the African Union Cybersecurity Experts Group, which gladdens my heart because I want to ask how much of a priority is cyber security on the continent given that countries operate at different levels, for instance of digitization, have different socioeconomic circumstances, have different political systems. Absolutely. Now, first of all, I want to highlight that the dynamic with the African Union is quite different from other regional groups. For example, the European Union would make decisions, regulatory decisions, substantive decisions for member states. It is not the same with the African Union. The African Union cannot encroach into the sovereignty of African states. But the African Union itself has prioritized cyber security. Cyber security is a cross-cutting theme of the digital transformation agenda, 2020, 2030. Cyber security is also a flagship project of the AU 2063 agenda, which is why the African Union Cybersecurity Group was created. So when we're giving the mandate in 2019, the main focus was to enhance cybersecurity in the region. So if you know, for example, the African Union has the Malibu Convention. African Union Cybersecurity and Personal Data Protection Convention. Now, like you pointed out, it is actually very disheartening that only 15 African countries out of the 55 African countries have ratified this convention, which touches back on your point about the fact that countries do whatever they want. They have their individual agenda, so you can't force them to ratify. Meanwhile, that convention provides a platform for many people. There are also political reasons, for example, countries who understand internet shutdowns as cybersecurity, which is affecting the economy in many parts of Africa. Sometimes it affects youth involvement. You also can't particularly tell them you can't do this because they have their own individualized agenda, political independence, sovereignty. You were just mentioning that many African countries and the tendency they have to militarize cyberspace by internet shutdowns and blocking of certain services, like social media platforms and so on, especially during times of social unrest. When countries do that, are they breaking international laws? Yes, I would say it clearly. Yes, yes. It is a question of not just understanding awareness and what we understand as our obligations on the international law. It is clear now that access to the internet is embedded in the right to freedom of information, freedom of expression, freedom of speech. And so shutting down the internet arbitrarily would actually be a breach of human rights obligations and international law obligations of states. But now there are aspects to look at it. So for example, we agree that the internet can exacerbate tensions during conflict, during wars. If you think about the Rwanda genocide and how telecommunication was a true, true hate speech, we can also reflect on that in present times. But we also have to declare on why we shut down internet. You can't say you must do good even if the heavens were fought. So it's a case of categorizing why internet is shut down. Remember, human rights are not absolute. So even the freedom of information can be taken away in certain instances like public emergency. But when it is not necessary, when it is not proportional, when it is not based on a legitimate aim, then internet shut down, like you put it, is against international law. It totally breaches international law. And states should not shut down the internet arbitrary, for no reason. Nana Ifyan Ajufo, a professor of law and technology at Leeds Beckett University, she's also vice chairperson of the African Union Cyber Security Experts Group. This is Focus on Africa from the BBC World Service. This Halloween, ghoul all out with Instacart. 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And now to the Sahel, a region that generates a lot of coverage in the news, being as it is a hotspot for insurgency, instability and insecurity. It is also a region rich in essential and rare minerals, like lithium, gold, bauxite and uranium. In recent years, it has been the focal point for geopolitical competition between eastern and western interests. Russia, China, the U.S. and France have been particularly active with the Sahel. Enter Hungary, a smallish, landlocked central European country, which is said to deploy about 200 soldiers to Chad. Hungary, a member of the European Union, is way smaller than Chad, and not particularly well known in relation to other members of the EU or NATO. So why send troops to Chad? Budapest says it is to a help in Germany in a fight terrorism and to provide humanitarian assistance. Nosmod Baramosi is Africa brief writer for Foreign Policy magazine, and she thinks there's a bit more to it than that. Hungary usually works within the European Union when it comes to sort of peacekeeping deals. This time it's going it alone. It's such a small country, you know, it's got a population of 10 million. So to be striking a military deal with Chad is very unusual indeed. So the Hungarian parliament okay this deal in November last year. On what basis are they thinking or did they do it? What's the official reason why they're going into Chad? Well, the official reason is supposedly to fight terrorism and illegal migration to Europe. They are there officially to train and advise Chadian troops in order to kind of maintain security and stop so much migration coming from the Sahel to Europe. But everybody and their uncle in Europe has been doing this for the last however many years. It hasn't worked. How affected is Hungary really by migration into Europe? I can't imagine that many people go too hungry. I know it was used to be one of the through roots, but is there interest that specific? Not via, you know, from Africa not via that route. There are not many Africans going via the Sahel that you know will be coming through Hungary. What's also kind of strange about the deal is that it's for 200 troops to a country that is, you know, twice the size of France. It's nearly 14 times larger than Hungary. So 200 troops will just simply not survive in that type of border force. So what's going on actually? There's reason to believe that Viktor Orburn, the Hungarian Prime Minister, is attempting to sort of use the same strategy as Russia in terms of using these small security deals not only to facilitate critical minerals deals, but also to kind of gain influence on the continent. Why would Hungary want to gain influence in Africa? Yeah, there are some experts that believe that, you know, because Hungary has such close ties to the Kremlin, that this deal is really to further Russia's interests in the Sahel. I would argue that probably Viktor Orburn is sort of hoping to develop Hungary as a regional foreign power in Africa. Hungary sought a similar military deal with Niger until a July 2023 coup sort of scuppered that, you know, wrecked Orburn's plans, and now it's striking the same deal with Chad. What sort of resources does Chad have that Hungary wants? Chad is rich in critical minerals. It's rich in lithium. It's rich in gold. Some experts believe that Hungary would be interested in, but I also think it is about securing this influence, securing this footprint in the Sahel. Chad is at a very sort of strategic location in where it is within the Sahel. It's right at the crossroad between northwest and central Africa. It's close to Egypt. It's close to Nigeria. It's close to Niger. So all of these sort of, if you want to achieve any kind of strategic power on the continent, Chad is the best place to do that. Hence why so many foreign powers have their soldiers stationed in Chad. France, which has been reducing its influence into Sahel, still has at least a thousand or so soldiers in Chad. But as you say, there are so many other foreign powers that have troops in that part of the region, part of Africa. So it's kind of quite a crowded neighborhood. Why does Hungary want to carve out its niche in such a crowded field? If you want to achieve big influence in Africa, Chad is really the best place to do that, mainly because of its strategic location, but also because it has so many internal power rivalries going on within its military. The Idris Debbie is fighting rebels, not only within his leadership, but from all fronts. And therefore, he is looking for all of these allies to sort of secure his own position. And therefore, it's the easiest country to achieve that influence with. Why would Chad be doing this? Hungary sending troops to Chad. Well, planning to send troops to Chad was under the invitation of Idris Debbie himself. He asked the Hungarian leadership about it last year in October. And essentially, he is trying to legitimize and secure his own leadership. He is somebody that came to power in not a legitimate way. Yes, he won elections that were held in May, but there were no other sort of serious opponents that were allowed to run against him. He took power previously from his late autocratic father, who himself seized power in a coup. So Idris Debbie's son is trying to legitimize himself. Viktor Oban is looking to establish a foothold on the continent. Why Hungary, though, for Chad? Chad is more interested in ensuring that he has that the military leadership has as many allies as possible from the West in order to keep Debbie in power and to secure his position. Last year, US intelligence warned Chad that Chadian rebels were looking to attempt a coup. These were Chadian rebels based in the Central African Republic. Since then, he's fostered relationship with Vladimir Putin. He is renegotiating terms with the US on its troops. It's kept. It's one of the few, it's actually the last country in the Sahel to still have French troops stationed in the country. So this is essentially part of his sort of balancing act in terms of getting as much support as possible. It's an interesting move, don't you think? Given that Viktor Oban and Hungary, you won't necessarily consider themselves, consider them to be part of the West almost, even though they are in the EU. They've very definitely been at odds with other members of the EU by their close ties with Russia. And of course, I mean, Donald Trump detailed the world recently that Viktor Oban likes him and admires him. But I'm not sure that Viktor Oban is that popular in other EU centers. You know, Hungary, let's not forget, is a part of NATO. So it is still, although small and unlikely to achieve any kind of major security, it's unlikely to make an impact within Chad itself. But it is part of NATO and it is still a significant ally to have in terms of putting all your ducks in one row and making sure that you're spreading your allies as widely as possible. Nosmod Baramosi, Africa briefwriter for Foreign Policy magazine. Focus on Africa was put together by Blessing Adiroba in Lagos, Charles Kitonga in Nairobi, and Rob Wilson, Patricia Whitehorn and Bella Hassan here in London. Francesca Dunne was our technical producer, Paul Barcubingo, our senior producer. Andrea Lombard and Alice Medengi are our editors. I'm Audrey Brown, and we'll talk again next time. Good taste is easy to spot, but hard to pin down. You know it when you see it. And in today's culture, there's no greater signifier of taste than the car you drive. You want something sophisticated, but not stodgy. Daring yet classic, approachable, but with an air of opulence. That's where the Range Rover Evoke comes in. The reductive exterior is an elegant expression of Range Rover DNA, and the chiseled, taillight graphics give the Evoke a sense of motion even at standstill. Explore the Range Rover Evoke at Land RoverUSA.com. Imagine the softest sheets you've ever felt. Now imagine them getting even softer over time. That's what you'll feel with Bolen Branch's best-selling signature sheets in 100% organic cotton. In a recent customer survey, 96% replied that Bolen Branch sheets get softer with every wash. Start getting your best night's sleep in sheets that get softer and softer for years to come. Try their sheets with a 30-night guarantee, plus, for a limited time, get 20% off your first order at bullandbranch.com. Code "Buttery." Exclusion supply. See site for details. [BLANK_AUDIO]