By Emmanuel Nduka
2021 was a year of highs and lows for Africa’s most populous nation.
Faced with the popular Coronavirus pandemic, scarce/dwindling resources and insecurity, Nigeria and Nigerians still managed to pull through.
Here are 21 highpoints of the year 2021 in Nigeria:
January
1. President Muhammadu Buhari makes top military shake-up. Leo Irabor is named Chief of Defence Staff, Ibrahim Attahiru became Chief of Army Staff, A. Z. Gambo became commander of the Navy, and I. O. Amao became commander of the Air Force.
2. Dutch court ordered Shell Nigeria to pay Ogoni farmers punitive damages for a 2007 oil spill in the Niger Delta region.
February
3. After the South Korean Trade Minister dropped out, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala became the leading candidate to head the World Trade Organization (WTO). She was subsequently elected, and became the first woman and the first African to hold the post.
4. One student killed, 41 others (students, teachers, family members) kidnapped by bandits in Kagara, Niger State.
5. Seven killed as military plane crashes in Abuja.
6. Bandits kidnap at least 317 schoolgirls in Zamfara State.
March
7. President Buhari received the Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine of 3.92 million doses provided by the U.N. COVAX program.
8. 30 students kidnapped from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Mando, Kaduna State.
April
9. 1844 inmates freed in Owerri prison break
10. 20 students, two staff kidnapped by bandits in Greenfield University, Kaduna State.
May
11. Nigeria’s Army Chief, Attahiru, 11 other top military officials die in plane crash.
12. Bandits kidnap nearly 200 students from an Islamic school in Tegina, Niger State.
June
13. Twitter takes down one of President Buhari’s tweets and temporarily suspends his account
14. Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed announced that Twitter’s operations in Nigeria would be “suspended” indefinitely, arguing that the company engages in activities that “are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence”. Under directives issued pursuant to the suspension, Twitter was blocked by all internet service providers in Nigeria till date.
15. Nigeria Government arrests, extradites Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) from Kenya.
July
16. Bandits shoot down military plane, pilot escapes unhurt.
17. Nigerian Government arrests Yoruba nation agitator, Sunday Igboho.
August
18. President Buhari signs the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) into law.
October
19. Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) launches eNaira, the country’s digital currency.
November
20. 21-storey building under construction collapsed in Lagos.
December
21. Gunmen burn over 20 passengers in Sokoto State.
