Global Pulse

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  • UK’s ‘dismal’ Eurovision song choices to be examined by MPs

    UK’s ‘dismal’ Eurovision song choices to be examined by MPs

    The United Kingdom’s long-running string of lackluster results at the Eurovision Song Contest has drawn official parliamentary scrutiny, after the nation’s 2026 entry landed firmly in last place with just a single point.

    Sam Battle, performing under the stage name Look Mum No Computer, claimed the bottom spot at this year’s contest with his entry “Eins, Zwei, Drei”. His poor finish is far from an isolated outcome for the UK: in 2023, singer Mae Muller finished second-from-last, and in 2021, James Newman ended the competition in last place with zero points, often referred to in Eurovision circles as “nul points”. Over the past 15 years, only one UK entry has placed higher than 15th position: Sam Ryder’s 2022 performance of “Space Man”, which earned the UK a second-place finish, bested only by Ukraine’s winning entry from Kalush Orchestra.

    Coming up in 2027, the contest will be hosted in Burgas, Bulgaria, and the event will mark a somber milestone for the UK: it will have been 30 full years since the nation last claimed Eurovision victory. That 1996? No, it was 1997, when Katrina and the Waves took the top prize with their hit “Love Shine A Light”, scoring 227 points to secure the win.

    Currently, the selection of the UK’s Eurovision entry is handled primarily by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), often in partnership with a major record label or music management firm. Unlike many other competing nations, which opt for public, televised national selection contests to choose their entry, the UK has not used this open selection format since 2019’s *Eurovision: You Decide*. Even that experiment failed to deliver better results: selected act Michael Rice went on to finish last in that year’s international contest held in Tel Aviv, Israel.

    The cross-party parliamentary Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee has announced it will probe the roots of the UK’s poor performance. Committee chair Dame Caroline Dinenage outlined the inquiry’s core goals, saying: “We want to get to the bottom of who chooses our entrant, on what basis and whether our dismal record of achievement in recent years [Sam Ryder to one side] is the result of bad song choice, weak performance… or something else.”

    The inquiry is part of the committee’s broader “State of Play” series, which allows members of the public and stakeholders to request evidence sessions on issues of public concern. Over the coming months, the committee is expected to call senior BBC leaders and leading music industry experts to give evidence in public hearings, alongside accepting written submissions from interested parties. No firm timeline for the first hearing has been announced, but after reviewing all testimony, the committee will likely publish a formal report with actionable recommendations for the BBC to revamp its selection process.

    Dinenage highlighted the stark contrast between the UK’s global musical reputation and its Eurovision track record, noting: “This application interested us because of the UK’s reputation for scoring ‘nul points’, coming bottom, or close to bottom in recent years at Eurovision, despite having world-class song writers and musicians.” Despite the poor results, the Eurovision final remains one of the most-watched annual music events in the UK, with millions of viewers tuning in each year to watch the live broadcast and follow the final vote count.

  • Nigerian police probe 37 deaths in custody of suspected illegal miners

    Nigerian police probe 37 deaths in custody of suspected illegal miners

    A devastating incident in north-western Nigeria has left 37 suspected illegal miners dead while in government detention, triggering official investigations, public mourning and sharp disputes over the cause of death, local authorities have confirmed.

    The group of young men was taken into custody on Tuesday by security forces on suspicion of engaging in unlicensed mining activities near Borgu, a community in Niger state – a mineral-rich region that has long been a hub for small-scale informal gold extraction. Two days after their arrest, all 37 detainees were found dead inside a detention facility operated by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

    In an initial statement, the NSCDC attributed the mass death to an apparent outbreak of infectious disease, specifically naming diphtheria – a severe bacterial infection that can turn fatal without prompt medical intervention. However, an intelligence document shared with the AFP news agency has presented an alternative narrative, claiming the deaths stemmed from extreme overcrowding and inadequate ventilation in the holding cell where the suspects were held. Relatives of the deceased have gone further, rejecting the official disease explanation entirely and alleging the suspects were deliberately killed while in custody.

    In a press conference held Thursday, Niger state governor Mohammed Umaru Bago described the incident as “sad and tragic”, announcing that a senior NSCDC commander has already been taken into custody in connection with the deaths. Bago has also declared a three-day period of official mourning across the state, and postponed the launch of election campaigning previously scheduled to begin ahead of January’s polls.

    Nigerian police have launched an independent probe into the incident. “The Niger State Police Command has commenced an immediate investigation into the unfortunate death of suspected illegal miners while in the detention facility of the NSCDC”, police spokesman Wasiu Abiodun confirmed in an official statement. The bodies of all 37 victims have been transferred to the general hospital in Minna, the capital of Niger state, to undergo post-mortem examinations to determine the exact cause of death.

    The incident shines a renewed spotlight on long-running issues surrounding informal gold mining in central Nigeria. According to government officials and independent analysts, unregulated competition for the region’s gold reserves has been a key driver of widespread criminal gang violence across the state. A 2024 investigation by SwissAid also found that a large share of the gold extracted from illegal mines in the region enters global supply chains through illicit trafficking networks.

  • British woman rescued in Malawi shootout that left four suspected kidnappers dead

    British woman rescued in Malawi shootout that left four suspected kidnappers dead

    A 47-year-old British national held captive by kidnappers for nearly six days in southern Malawi has been freed in a dramatic police operation that left four suspected abductors dead and a top-ranking police officer injured, Malawi law enforcement officials have confirmed.

    Nusrat Osman, a long-term Malawi resident who works for a local auditing firm and originally hails from Leicester in the UK, was recovered on Thursday during a targeted raid on a location in the outskirts of Blantyre, the country’s second-largest city. A shootout broke out when responding officers encountered the kidnappers, who were armed with a military-grade AK-47 assault rifle and a sidearm. All four suspects were hit by gunfire during the exchange and later died of their wounds after being transported to a local medical facility, the Malawi Police Service said in an official statement.

    Deputy Inspector General of Police Noel Kayira, who took part in the rescue mission, was also struck by gunfire during the clash. Authorities confirmed he is currently receiving hospital care and remains in a stable condition as of the latest update.

    Following her successful extraction, Osman was reunited with her family and immediately taken to a hospital for routine evaluation and care, including physical and mental health assessments, according to local media reports. Osman had been abducted on September 11 from Blantyre’s Mount Pleasant neighborhood: she was driving to her home when four unidentified men blocked her car, forced her into their vehicle, and abducted her at gunpoint.

    Her disappearance triggered a large-scale, cross-agency search operation, with Malawi authorities offering a substantial reward of 30 million Malawian kwacha (equivalent to roughly $17,000 USD or £12,500 GBP) for any information that would lead to her safe recovery and the arrest and conviction of the perpetrators.

    Investigators have faced multiple unanswered questions in the case in the days since the abduction. Notably, no ransom demand was ever received from the captors, and no communication was received from the group after Osman was taken – a detail that has left law enforcement confused as they work to establish a motive. Police have not yet released the identities of the four dead suspects, nor have they shared details of how intelligence teams tracked the group to the raided location. Authorities also have not confirmed whether additional accomplices remain at large.

    Osman, who is married with two young children, has lived and worked in Malawi for several years. Before the rescue, her family issued heartfelt public appeals for her safe return, describing the weeks of uncertainty as deeply traumatizing and urging anyone with even small details of her whereabouts to contact law enforcement immediately.

    The UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office confirmed to the BBC shortly after the abduction that it was aware of the incident and had been in constant contact with local Malawian authorities to support the search effort.

    Kidnappings of foreign nationals are considered relatively rare in Malawi, so the abduction sparked widespread anxiety among both the southern African nation’s business community and the small population of British expatriates living in the country. In a statement after the rescue, authorities urged the general public to remain calm as investigators continue to piece together the full sequence of events that led to the kidnapping and the subsequent rescue operation. Police say their investigation into the incident remains ongoing.

    For more reporting from across the African continent, visit BBCAfrica.com, or follow BBC Africa on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

  • Watch: US military fighter jet crashes during training exercise

    Watch: US military fighter jet crashes during training exercise

    A U.S. military F-16 fighter aircraft has crashed while conducting a scheduled training exercise in the state of Michigan, newly released on-site footage confirms. Visual content captured shortly after the incident clearly shows thick plumes of smoke billowing into the sky alongside intense flames erupting from the crash site, where the wreckage of the jet rests.

    Military sources have confirmed that the pilot was able to initiate emergency ejection protocols before the aircraft impacted the ground, a procedural move that is designed to preserve aircrew safety in catastrophic in-flight emergencies. As of initial reports, no additional updates on potential ground damage or injuries to bystanders have been released, and military officials have launched a formal investigation to determine the root cause of the crash. Training exercises for military aircraft are regularly held across the United States to maintain pilot proficiency and operational readiness, though mechanical failures or unexpected in-flight issues can occasionally lead to dangerous incidents like this one.

  • Zara Larsson criticises White House for using her song in deportation video

    Zara Larsson criticises White House for using her song in deportation video

    Popular Swedish pop artist Zara Larsson has become the latest high-profile musician to publicly rebuke the Trump White House for the unauthorized use of her work in political social media content, calling out the administration for pairing her track *Midnight Sun* with footage of immigration enforcement raids in what she describes as a dehumanizing and divisive messaging push.

    The short-form video posted to the White House’s TikTok account spliced together raw footage of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and other law enforcement officers detaining undocumented individuals, showing suspects being handcuffed and loaded into transport vehicles. The White House cleverly reworked a lyric from Larsson’s track to caption the clip: “never ending deportations,” a direct play on the song’s original line “never-ending midnight sun.” Though the White House has since removed Larsson’s audio from the post, the video itself remains visible on the administration’s official TikTok feed.

    Larsson responded quickly to the unauthorized use, posting a three-minute reaction video to her own social media channels that had amassed more than 4.2 million views as of recent counts. In the clip, she shared a clip of the original White House post before cutting to a selfie-style response where she held an L-shaped hand gesture against her forehead in a clear sign of criticism.

    “That is so dehumanizing,” Larsson told her followers in the video. “These people in this video — they’re real people. The vast majority of these people who are undocumented are regular people with jobs and they’re just trying to have a better future. It’s so crazy how everything is so memefied and so ‘ha-ha-ha,’” she added. The artist also noted that her original lyrics for *Midnight Sun* were written to celebrate the connection between people and the natural world, making the White House’s repurposing of the track to promote hardline immigration policies even more inappropriate. She accused the administration of using her work to deepen political division in the country.

    This is not the first time Larsson has clashed with the Trump administration over unauthorized use of her music. Earlier in 2026, she publicly condemned a campaign video featuring Donald Trump dancing that was set to her hit track *Lush Life*. Larsson is far from alone in pushing back against the White House’s social media practices: a growing number of top music artists have demanded the administration remove their work from political content, with multiple high-profile incidents forcing the White House to take down audio from past posts.

    Earlier this year, Taylor Swift’s *August* was removed from a Trump administration reel after the artist’s team intervened, while Olivia Rodrigo had one of her tracks pulled from a White House video after she publicly condemned its use for what she called “hateful propaganda.” Singers Ariana Grande and Sabrina Carpenter have also issued separate public warnings demanding the Trump administration stop using their music in political social media content.

    The BBC has reached out to the White House to request comment on Larsson’s accusations, with no official response issued as of yet.

  • UN investigators find ‘reasonable grounds’ US committed war crimes in Iran

    UN investigators find ‘reasonable grounds’ US committed war crimes in Iran

    A United Nations independent fact-finding mission has concluded there is credible evidence to hold that the United States committed war crimes in two opening-day strikes against civilian targets during the US-Israeli military campaign on Iran, according to a formal report published Thursday.

    The deadliest of the two attacks targeted Minab Elementary School, a clearly marked civilian education facility, claiming a minimum of 150 lives, roughly 120 of whom were children. A second assault hit an easily identifiable sports complex and surrounding residential neighborhood in Lamerd, another southern Iranian city.

    In its official assessment submitted to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, the mission confirmed the finding of reasonable grounds to back the charge that the U.S. carried out the war crime of indiscriminate attacks that caused mass civilian casualties and widespread damage to civilian infrastructure. The document is not a binding judicial ruling, but carries significant diplomatic and moral weight for global human rights accountability efforts.

    Investigators detailed that the Minab school was hit by a Tomahawk cruise missile, launched as part of a broader operation targeting an adjacent Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) base. Crucially, the mission ruled out the claim that the strike was the result of an off-target errant missile or unintended collateral damage from an attack on the nearby military site. According to the report’s text, the closest IRGC installation sits just 72 meters from the school building, and investigators confirmed the school itself was the intended impact point.

    Citing anonymous sources briefed on an internal U.S. probe, The New York Times previously reported that U.S. Central Command officers generated target coordinates for the strike using outdated intelligence supplied by the Defense Intelligence Agency. While the internal U.S. investigation found the American military was most likely culpable for the attack, the Trump administration has repeatedly refused to accept any responsibility for the civilian deaths.

    The UN report also outlines damning findings for the second strike on the Lamerd sports complex. The New York Times revealed earlier this year that the U.S. deployed a previously untested new ballistic weapon, the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM), for this combat attack. The PrSM is designed to detonate just above its target, dispersing thousands of lethal tungsten pellets across a wide area.

    The mission concluded that by selecting the PrSM for use in a densely populated civilian area, U.S. forces launched an attack that intentionally put civilian lives and property at risk, with reckless disregard for the foreseeable scale of death and injury. Investigators added that the weapon system, which spread an estimated 180,000 tungsten pellets across the civilian area, could not be focused on a single specific military target, and its harmful effects on civilians could not be constrained as required by international law.

    The UN assessment ultimately found both attacks qualified as indiscriminate assaults that violated the core principle of distinction between military and civilian targets laid out in international humanitarian law. This report marks one of the most high-profile global accountability findings against a major military power for actions in a recent Middle Eastern conflict.

  • Judge orders Trump to give 30 days’ notice before any ‘demolition’ at Kennedy Center

    Judge orders Trump to give 30 days’ notice before any ‘demolition’ at Kennedy Center

    A long-simmering legal and political battle over Washington D.C.’s iconic John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts took a new turn this week, when a U.S. federal judge imposed a critical transparency requirement on the Trump administration ahead of any potential structural changes to the historic venue.

    U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper issued the ruling Thursday, mandating that the White House must provide a minimum of 30 days advance public notice before moving forward with any demolition work at the center. The order comes in response to widespread alarm sparked by recent comments from former President Donald Trump, who publicly warned the performing arts venue could be “ripped down” if renovations do not move forward under his administration’s plan.

    The trigger for this latest legal development was a widely circulated photograph captured Wednesday, showing Trump aboard Air Force One reviewing a placard that appeared to bear the headline “Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED.” The image immediately reignited tensions between the Trump administration and critics who have opposed the administration’s plans for the site, a national memorial built by an act of Congress to honor assassinated President John F. Kennedy.

    This ruling is not the first legal clash between the court and the Trump administration over the Kennedy Center. Back in May, Judge Cooper already ordered the removal of Trump’s name from the building’s facade, in response to a lawsuit filed by Democratic Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, an ex officio member of the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees. Beatty’s suit has long sought to block unauthorized changes to the memorial and reverse the decision to add Trump’s name to the structure.

    In the weeks leading up to this latest ruling, the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees — which is chaired by Trump and counts multiple members of his cabinet and political allies among its ranks — voted for the third time since February to shutter the venue for a two-year period. Trump defended the vote on Truth Social following the meeting, claiming the board approved the closure “almost unanimously” on the grounds of critical public safety. He has repeatedly argued the venue is in severe disrepair, and that attaching his name to the building would unlock the private and public funding needed to carry out comprehensive renovations.

    “I think that the Trump administration should certainly have recognition because, frankly, if we don’t do that, it’s going to close,” Trump told reporters during a stop in Charlotte, North Carolina on Wednesday. “It’ll end up being ripped down.”

    In court documents filed ahead of Thursday’s ruling, Kennedy Center Executive Director Matt Floca clarified that the planned temporary closure would initially last seven days to address immediate safety hazards, “unless extended.” But Beatty urged the judge to issue a clear order to block any unannounced demolition, arguing the administration’s comments and the Air Force One photograph made clear the threat to the historic structure was immediate.

    Following the hearing, Judge Cooper not only issued the 30-day notice mandate, he also ordered the Trump administration to submit a full, detailed public report on the scope of the planned temporary closure and emergency repairs, with formal written notification required for any future changes to the project’s scope.

    Critics of the administration’s plan have long pushed back on claims that the Kennedy Center is beyond repair, arguing that the need for major renovations has been exaggerated. They also note that any permanent changes to the national memorial require formal approval from Congress, as the body that established the site in 1963 following Kennedy’s assassination. Legal analysts say the latest ruling adds a new layer of oversight that will slow any major changes to the venue while the court case proceeds.

  • US fans with Ed Sheeran tickets are left ‘torn’ by Macklemore controversy

    US fans with Ed Sheeran tickets are left ‘torn’ by Macklemore controversy

    Ed Sheeran’s worldwide Loop Tour has entered full damage control mode after a rapidly escalating controversy over the removal of pro-Palestinian opening act Macklemore has dragged the pop superstar and his fanbase into the center of the fraught geopolitical debate over the Israel-Gaza conflict.

    The crisis erupted earlier this week after event organizers removed Macklemore from the tour’s lineup, following the rapper’s on-stage public statement calling for freedom for Palestine. In an unprecedented show of solidarity, every remaining supporting act on the tour has stepped down in the wake of Macklemore’s ousting, leaving the tour without its full advertised roster ahead of upcoming shows across North America, Mexico and South America.

    As Sheeran prepares to take the stage for his first performance since the controversy spiraled, ticket-holders across the United States remain deeply divided over how to respond to the unfolding crisis. A range of fans interviewed by the BBC shared conflicting perspectives, from calls for boycotts and refunds to steadfast support for the pop star’s neutral stance.

    Damien Given, a fan from Northern Ireland holding tickets to Sheeran’s upcoming Philadelphia show, says he remains torn over whether to attend. He accuses Sheeran of acting disingenuously, pointing out that the artist openly expressed support for Ukraine following Russia’s 2022 invasion, contradicting his current claim that concerts should not become platforms for political debate. Given also criticized Sheeran for a lack of transparency around the decision to remove Macklemore, calling the rapper’s treatment unfair. Despite his frustration, Given says he is leaning toward attending the show due to a deeply personal emotional connection to Sheeran’s music: *Thinking Out Loud*, one of the star’s biggest hits, was the first dance at his wedding to his late wife Kellie, who passed away from ALS in 2024 four years after her diagnosis.

    Other fans have struck a more sympathetic tone toward Sheeran, framing the situation as an unwinnable conflict no matter what decision he made. Longtime fan Patti Ann, who plans to attend Sheeran’s October show in Atlanta, says she fully supports the star’s response. She agrees that concert venues are not appropriate spaces for political discussion, noting that Sheeran remains bound by contractual and financial obligations to venue operators that he cannot easily exit. “Believe what you want, just don’t press it on me,” Ann said of the political tensions playing out on the tour.

    Backlash has come from all sides of the debate, however. Jewish-American fan Matt Jaye from Florida was outraged by Macklemore’s pro-Palestinian comments and initially requested a refund from Ticketmaster for his November Tampa show, a request that was denied. While he welcomed Macklemore’s removal from the lineup, he argues that Sheeran still bears responsibility for allowing the protest to happen in the first place. If Sheeran claims to be strictly apolitical, Jaye says, he should hold all supporting acts on his tour to that same standard. Jaye added that he believes Sheeran owes an apology to the Jewish community for making a segment of his audience feel deeply uncomfortable.

    For some other ticket-holders, the primary concern centers on whether their scheduled shows will go ahead as planned. Heather Park, a 49-year-old fan attending a show this weekend, says she is worried the ongoing controversy could lead to last-minute cancellations. While she argues that Macklemore’s removal was unfair and a violation of free speech, Park says she prefers to separate the political drama from the music, noting that Macklemore was always just a bonus to her main goal of seeing Ed Sheeran perform. “I still like the music,” she confirmed.

    In the days since the controversy broke out, calls for a widespread boycott of the tour have spread across social media, and secondary market ticket prices for all remaining shows have dropped as demand softens. For his part, Sheeran has released a public statement responding to the backlash, saying that he has been “appalled by the conflict between Israel and Palestine” but has no intention of entering the ongoing political debate around the crisis. The pop star emphasized that concert-goers attend his shows to experience music, not engage with political discussion, and pushed back against claims he was personally responsible for Macklemore being dropped from the lineup. Many fans, however, have criticized that response as evasive, leaving the tour in crisis mode as it navigates competing pressures from all sides of the charged conflict.

  • My dream was to be a doctor, now it could come to zero

    My dream was to be a doctor, now it could come to zero

    ### Pakistan’s Order to Deport Afghan Medical Students Sparks Outcry Over Future of Young Aspirations

    For a young Afghan woman who uses the pseudonym Nooria, the dream of becoming a doctor was forged in tragedy. Growing up in an Afghan village, she watched a 13-year-old boy die from appendicitis because blocked roads prevented him from reaching care in time. That moment, paired with her own academic potential, convinced her that she could be the help that so many rural Afghans desperately need. Today, that dream hangs by a thread, caught in the middle of deteriorating cross-border relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan’s Taliban government.

    Nooria is one of hundreds of Afghan medical and dental students studying in Pakistan who now face deportation back to Afghanistan, where the Taliban has barred women from all education beyond primary school and banned them from medical training. Under an order issued earlier this month by Pakistan’s Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), all Afghan students enrolled in Pakistani medical and dental institutions must return to their home country, with regulatory action threatened against colleges that fail to comply. A temporary stay order from the Lahore High Court has paused immediate deportation for students like Nooria in Punjab province, but the next court hearing is scheduled for Friday, and there is no guarantee the protection will be extended.

    The crisis comes amid a broader wave of deportations that has swept Pakistan over the last two years. According to United Nations data, more than two million Afghans have left Pakistan since 2023, with hundreds of thousands forcibly deported. The surge in expulsions comes as bilateral relations between Pakistan and the Taliban-led Afghan government have collapsed dramatically. Islamabad accuses the Taliban of harbouring anti-Pakistan militant groups on Afghan soil, a charge the Taliban government denies.

    The PMDC’s order has sparked widespread condemnation from human rights groups and former diplomatic officials. Amnesty International has decried the decision as “patently discriminatory and arbitrary”, noting that Pakistan is bound by international human rights law to protect the right to education without discrimination based on national origin. Multiple former Pakistani ambassadors to Afghanistan have also called on the PMDC to reverse course, with one describing the order as “shocking” and framing it as a test of Pakistan’s “humanity, compassion and moral responsibility”.

    The PMDC has declined to comment further on the order while the court case is ongoing, but the regulator’s legal representative has told the BBC that none of the affected Afghan students are officially registered with the PMDC. The students, however, say that registration is the responsibility of their host colleges, not individual students, pointing to a PMDC notification issued earlier this year that directs colleges to handle student registration. Afghan student representatives estimate that roughly 1,000 medical and dental students across Pakistan are affected by the order, 65% of whom hold valid student visas. About 15% have either had their visas canceled or have not yet applied, while the remaining 20% are still awaiting visa approval.

    While Pakistan’s foreign ministry has stated that Afghan students with valid visas and registered for legitimate courses will be allowed to complete their studies, students say they have yet to see any practical change to their situation. For Nooria, who is in her final year of medical school in Lahore, the stakes could not be higher. She escaped Kabul as the Taliban advanced, won a scholarship to study medicine in Pakistan, and has spent the last five years sacrificing everything – time with family, social connections, even personal rest – to reach her final year of training. Her final exams are just months away, but deportation would mean all that work counts for nothing.

    “These five years I have sacrificed everything that would be zero, multiplied by zero,” Nooria said. “And then I would become a poor and helpless Afghan female, facing this destiny. I cannot imagine this.”

    Another final year student, Mubin, shared similar despair. He says the order gave students just days to evacuate college accommodation, leaving him completely shocked and disoriented. Many students who have finished their coursework but not completed their required practical House Job training fear they will lose all their academic credits if deported, forcing them to restart their entire medical education from scratch – if they are even allowed to study at all in another country.

    For women like Nooria, deportation back to Afghanistan is not just the loss of an education – it is the end of any chance to build a career, help her community, or escape the systemic gender discrimination imposed by the Taliban. As the court prepares to rule on the temporary stay, the future of hundreds of young Afghans who dared to pursue a better future remains deeply uncertain.

  • ‘This is our company’: Nigerians show off oil wealth after share-buying frenzy

    ‘This is our company’: Nigerians show off oil wealth after share-buying frenzy

    Across Nigeria, a ground-shaking shift in the country’s energy and investment landscapes has turned ordinary citizens into part-time oil industry owners, igniting a national wave of investor enthusiasm that has flooded trading platforms and dominated social media feeds. What started as an ambitious vision from Aliko Dangote, Africa’s wealthiest billionaire and Nigeria’s most iconic business leader, to create a “people’s IPO” has turned into the largest share offering in African history, capturing the imagination of a nation grappling with widespread economic hardship.

    On Monday, more than 4 billion shares in Dangote’s sprawling Lagos-based oil refinery hit the public market – accounting for just over 3% of the company’s total equity. The offering was structured to be accessible to everyday Nigerians, with a minimum purchase requirement of just 10 shares, equal to roughly $4 (or £3). This low barrier to entry has opened up stock market investing to thousands of first-time participants, turning casual citizens into joke-playing “part-owners” of a facility that has already reshaped Nigeria’s entire oil sector.

    Social media has erupted with playful memes and viral content celebrating the new status of small investors. One widely shared video shows a Nigerian stopping a speeding delivery truck owned by Dangote’s company, lecturing the driver against being reckless with “our company property.” Other memes show small stakeholders dialing up Dangote directly to weigh in on corporate strategy. A new slang term, “Yangote” – a Hausa language pun that translates roughly to “we all own a share now” – has quickly risen to the top of Nigeria’s social media trending charts.

    The unprecedented demand caught popular mobile trading platforms off guard. Leading Nigerian investment app Bamboo crashed entirely on the IPO’s opening day, overwhelmed by the surge of user activity trying to purchase shares. In a public statement after the outage, the platform apologized to users, acknowledging “We know we let you down.”

    Observers say this level of national excitement is almost unprecedented in Nigeria’s modern investment history. Public affairs analyst Jamil Ubah noted that the IPO has tapped into a deep-seated dream of financial advancement for a population where millions struggle to cover basic daily expenses. “I think the hope for the common man is that his money will grow into something big, and don’t forget this is coming at a time when many are struggling as the economy is not doing great,” Ubah explained in an interview with the BBC.

    That enthusiasm has translated directly into action for first-time investors like 25-year-old clothing vendor Idris Lawal Musa, who made his first ever stock market purchase by sinking 21,000 naira ($16, or £12) into 40 shares. “It is no longer Dangote but ‘Yangote’, the company belongs to us now,” Musa told reporters, laughing. Like many small investors participating in the offering, Musa said he plans to sell quickly if the share price rises, fitting with his background as a small business trader.

    The explosive popularity of the IPO also reflects a longer-term shift in Nigeria: the rise of a new investment culture among young Nigerians, who have increasingly embraced mobile trading platforms, digital savings products and cryptocurrency over the past decade. Pre-IPO hype spread rapidly across social media, with users sharing step-by-step investment guides, debating the refinery’s market valuation, and urging friends and family to join in to avoid missing out on the opportunity. That FOMO (fear of missing out) has pulled many first-time investors into the market who have little prior experience with stock risk.

    Even amid the national frenzy, financial experts have issued clear warnings about the potential downside of the hype. Shares can just as easily decrease in value as they can rise, meaning inexperienced investors could lose part or all of their initial investment. Financial analyst Shuaib Uwais cautioned that prospective buyers should not treat the IPO as a guaranteed path to quick wealth. He urged investors to carefully weigh multiple risks that could impact the refinery’s future performance, including disruptions to crude oil supply, unexpected operational challenges, shifting regulatory policies, and global fluctuations in demand for refined petroleum products. “If for any reason the company experiences difficulty in sourcing its raw materials, there could be challenges,” Uwais noted.

    Despite these risks, the IPO marks a major milestone for both Nigeria’s economy and Dangote’s years-long project to end the country’s reliance on imported refined fuel. Until the Dangote refinery launched operations two years ago, Nigeria – Africa’s largest crude oil producer – had no large-scale domestic refining capacity, forcing it to import nearly all finished petroleum products for domestic use. Today, the 700,000-barrel-per-day facility meets most of Nigeria’s domestic fuel demand, transforming the country’s energy sector. For Dangote, the public share offering is designed to raise capital to fund further expansion of the business – a goal that thousands of newly minted small Nigerian shareholders are now eager to support.