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Africa Live: Criticism as Nigerian state names airport after Tinubu - BBC News Africa Live: Criticism as Nigerian state names airport after Tinubu - BBC News
(32 minutes later)
Film star Idris Elba, who is leading the construction of a smart city in Sierra Leone, says he took on the project to change the stereotypical perception of Africa. The Nigerian government has identified schools in at least 14 states and the capital, Abuja, as vulnerable to attacks following a renewed wave of mass abductions of students.
Elba is building the eco-city on the rural Sherbro Island off the coast of West Africa along with Siaka Stevens, a grandson of Sierra Leone's former president, who shared the same name. Hajia Halima Iliya, the national coordinator of state-run Financing Safe Schools in Nigeria, said the agency had collected data to guide intervention measures.
They are partnering with the renewable energy company Octopus Energy Generation. The agency was formed after the 2014 abduction of hundreds of girls from Chibok in the north-eastern Borno state.
The island city will have a wind and solar farm to provide power to residents. Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Benue, Yobe, Katsina, Abuja, Kebbi, Sokoto, Plateau and Zamfara are among the most vulnerable states, according to the agency.
Currently, less than a third of homes in Sierra Leone have electricity. This comes amidst a surge in kidnappings in Nigeria.
"Are we ever gonna make a profit? I don't think so, but it is about being self-reliant, it's about bringing an economy that feeds itself, that has growth potential," Elba told the BBC Newsday programme. The country's spate of abductions worsened on Saturday as more than a dozen students and four women were kidnapped from a school in Gada, Sokoto.
"I'm very keen to sort of reframe the way Africa is viewed. We often view the framing of Africa as an aid model and this opportunity is completely different," he added. Parents of the kidnapped students have urged the government to help secure their release.
Elba told Newsday that the city is intended to attract business and innovation, while also appealing to holidaymakers and empowering local communities.
The actor also plans to set up a film studio there, along with a retirement home for his mother.
Elba's mother is a Ghanaian who moved to the UK, while his late father was of Sierra Leonean origin.
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