Britain won't accept Nigeria's anti-gay law

Britain and other western countries would not tolerate any law that prescribes punishment for gays as being enacted by the National Assembly, British High Commissioner to Nigeria Andrew Lloyd has said.

The Senate passed a bill on Tuesday outlawing same-sex marriages as well as banning public displays of affection between homosexual couples, with a provision of a 14-year jail term for anyone entering into same-sex marriage or civil union.

"It is wrong to punish people for mere expression of their relationships or for choosing to become what they have chosen for themselves," Mr. Lloyd told journalists in Dutse yesterday, shortly after holding a meeting with Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido.

"Punishment is infringement upon their fundamental human rights and the western countries would not condone the action," he added.

British Prime Minister David Cameron had earlier warned that his country will consider withholding aid from countries that do not recognise gay rights.

But Senate President David Mark said during debate on the bill on Tuesday that "our values are our values... If there is any country that does not want to give us aid or assistance just because we want to hold on to our values, that country can keep her aid and assistance."

Lloyd yesterday said countries have rights to exhibit their cultural and religious norms but laws punishing expression of one's sexuality should not be a yardstick for transgression on the individuals.

He said though Western nations were not trying to impose their culture or religions on other countries, it was imperative to avoid molestation, harassment or stigmatisation of any same-sex persons.

Lloyd argued that the recent pronouncement by the British Prime Minister to sanction countries that refused to recognise the rights of the sexuality of some people is being overblown by the media.

But he stressed the importance of such countries conceding to people the right to belong to whatever sex group they chose instead of punishing them.

The bill must still be voted on by the House of Representatives and signed by President Goodluck Jonathan before it becomes law.

It spells out a 14-year jail term for anyone entering into same-sex marriage or civil union.

Those who abet or aid such unions could receive 10 years, as would "any person who registers, operates or participates in gay clubs, societies and organisations."

The bill also sets out a 10-year sentence for "any person who ... directly or indirectly makes public show of same-sex amorous relationships".

Daily Trust

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14 years jail term for same sex marriage offenders

The Senate yesterday outlawed same-sex marriage in the country by passing into law the bill prohibiting the practice with offenders subject to 14 year jail term on conviction.

This follows the third reading of the bill for an Act to prohibit the marriage or civil union entered into between persons of the same sex and the solemnisation of same marriages.

Unanimously passing the bill into law, the Senate while invalidating the marriage entered into in the country by persons of the same-sex, also voided same-sex marriages contracted abroad in Nigeria.

Reacting to the passage of the bill, former transport minister, Chief Ebenezer Babatope congratulated the senate for doing a very good job, saying that same-sex relationship is alien to the country.

'That the bill they have passed is in accordance with the wishes of a resounding majority of the Nigerian people. It is not good for a country to get involved in such moral degeneracy as same-sex relationship.

Gay is very alien to the African culture. One should congratulate the senate for doing a great job.

Similarly, Second Republic governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, said the passage of the anti-same sex bill is proper, arguing that the Nigerian Constitution and the Nigerian laws are not secular.

'90 per cent of Nigerians are either Christians or Muslims. Remember too that the Nigerian Constitution says that Nigerians are under God,' Musa said.

The Senate, therefore, prescribed a 14-year-jail term for persons who enter into same-sex marriages, and said it is an offence to register gay clubs, societies and organisations with offenders liable to 10 years imprisonment on conviction.

Also, a 10-year-jail term awaits any person or group of persons that witness, abets and aids the solemnisation of same-sex marriage and supports the registration as well as operation of gay clubs and societies.

The senate further said the marriage entered into between persons of the same sex shall not be solemnised by any religious body and in any other place in the country.

It added that no certificate issued to persons of same-sex marriage shall be valid in the country, saying that only marriages contracted between a man and a woman either under Islamic law, customary law or the Marriage Act is valid.

The law further prohibits the public show of amorous relationship directly or indirectly and empowered state high courts to prosecute offenders.

Speaking on the importance of the legislation, Senate President David Mark described the controversy generated by the bill as unnecessary.

He said same-sex marriage is 'against our culture, traditions and beliefs.'

Senator Umaru Dahiru while presenting the report of the joint committee that handled the bill, said 'Nigeria cannot afford to sit idly by and allow our cultural heritage to be eroded by this foreign practice that is alien to our cultural values, traditional norms and religious beliefs.'

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70,000 newborns contract HIV a year in Nigeria

Despite campaigns to stop HIV transmission, more than 70,000 thousand newborn children still contract the virus from their mothers through delivery.

Director-general of National Agency for Control of AIDS (NACA), Prof John Idoko, has attributed the problem to mothers not being able to seek proper intervention to stop the virus from passing onto their children at birth.

Of an estimated 210,000 children born with the virus, at least one-third of the cases occur in Nigeria, a situation Idoko described as "unacceptable."

At a press briefing commemorating World Aids Day 2011, themed Getting to Zero, Idoko said Nigeria must do the same as other countries that have successfully interrupted transmission of the virus from mothers to children.

He added that the technology and intervention for Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission is quite available and operational in the country but was being practised in only 500 centres which was grossly inadequate to cater for the needs of most pregnant women.

NACA dedicated the day to Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission.

"While we have noticed a reduction in HIV prevalence in Nigeria, the high rate in some states is still a source of concern to national HIV response," Idoko said.

"We will try to make testing available for every pregnant woman because it is not acceptable that 60,000 to 70,000 children are born HIV positive annually.

"More women [about 1.72 million] than men are living with HIV in Nigeria as a result of inequity in the social, political and economic status of women in Africa in general and in Nigeria in particular."

He also stated that the agency had established a national call centre for HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases in Nigeria.

When fully operational, subscribers from any network would be able to assess it using mobile service telecoms provider.

The call centre is in its final stages of establishment, said Idoko, adding that it has been granted use of an off-net shortcode 6222 for its operations.

He explained: "This means that when the national call center is commissioned, subscribers from any network will be able to access the call center using the "off-net" short code from any mobile telecoms service provider."

Daily Trust

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Bill banning gay marriage approved in Nigeria

Nigeria’s Senate voted Tuesday to criminalize gay marriage, instituting prison terms of more than a decade for violations in a nation where gays and lesbians already face discrimination and abuse.

The bill heads to Nigeria’s House of Representatives, who have to approve the bill and send it to President Goodluck Jonathan for his signature before it becomes a law. However, public opinion — and lawmakers’ calls for even harsher penalties for being gay — shows wide support for the measure in the deeply religious nation.

“Such elements in society should be killed,” Sen. Baba Dati said during the debate.

Under the measure, couples who marry could face up to 14 years in jail, and witnesses or anyone who helps couples marry could be sentenced to 10 years behind bars. That’s an increase over the bill’s initial penalties.

Homosexuality is already technically illegal in Nigeria, a country evenly divided between Christians and Muslims that is nearly universally opposed to homosexuality. In the areas in Nigeria’s north where Islamic Shariah law has been enforced for about a decade, gays and lesbians can face death by stoning.

Across the African continent, many countries have made homosexuality punishable by jail sentences. Ugandan legislators introduced a bill that would impose the death penalty for some gays and lesbians, though it has not been passed into law two years later. Even in South Africa, the one country where gays can marry, lesbians have been brutally attacked and murdered.

The proposed law also has drawn the interest of European Union countries, some of which already offer Nigeria’s sexual minorities asylum based on gender identity. The British government also recently threatened to cut aid to African countries that violate the rights of gay and lesbian citizens. However, British aid remains quite small in oil-rich Nigeria, one of the top crude suppliers to the U.S.

International opinion also didn’t seem to trouble lawmakers. During the debate, televised live from National Assembly in Nigeria’s capital Abuja, Senate President David Mark said Nigeria would not bow to international pressure on any legislation.

“Anybody can write to us, but our values are our values,” Mark said. “No country has a right to interfere in the way we make our laws.”

AP

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