Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development

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Join us this at 11:00 am (WAT) for a dialogue on State Obligations and Democratic Backsliding in West Africa.

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The CJID, through its Media in National Elections (MiNE) project, invites stakeholders across West Africa to a Democracy Day Dialogue on State Obligations and Democratic Backsliding in West Africa on Friday, 12 June 2026, at 11:00 am (WAT).

The conversation will examine why several African states are failing to meet their democratic commitments under ECOWAS and African Union frameworks, and what this means for elections, governance, and the rise of authoritarianism in the region.

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🔗Register now: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_YP_Aba9WT5GnTntzSkMAsw #/registration

Nigeria’s billion-naira wood market faces an existential threat from illegal logging and biodiversity loss. Beyond these, illegal wood logging has evolved into one of the drivers of insecurity across communities in North-central Nigeria and the Benin Republic by financing the activities of terrorists in these regions.

Confronted with deepening poverty and worsening insecurity, many families living at the edge of forest reserves in these regions find themselves at the precipice of survival and complicity, gradually losing their lands to devastation and gun-wielding criminal groups.

Yakubu Mohammed's investigative report, commissioned by CJID, highlights the operations of terrorist groups who overrun forests in many communities in North-central Nigeria and establish illegal wood logging syndicates to finance their activities.

Read the full story on Premium Times: https://www.premiumtimesng.com/features-and-interviews/863962-investigation-the-illegal-timber-trade-fuelling-terrorism-in-north-central-nigeria-benin.html