A Nigerian atheist released from a psychiatric unit to which his Muslim family committed him by force has said he is getting death threats for blaspheming against Islam.
Mubarak Bala, a 29-year-old chemical process engineer, said he is in hiding in predominantly Muslim northern Nigeria where sharia law holds and some interpretations deem blasphemy punishable by death.
"People are threatening me, I mean life-threatening threats," he said on Thursday. He said he was too frightened of drawing attention and wouldn't allow an Associated Press video journalist or photographer to come to his hiding place.
Bala said that since he renounced Islam and declared himself an atheist, he has not only lost the trust of his father and elder brother, but many friends.
"Most of my friends condemn me and tell me I am bound for hell and that in an Islamic state, I would be killed. Blasphemy is a serious thing here," said Bala, who describes himself on his Twitter page as an ex-Muslim.
North-east Nigeria is in the throes of an insurgency by extremists bent on turning all Nigeria into an Islamic state under sharia law, though half of Nigeria's 170 million people are Christian.
The uprising has killed thousands and increased tensions between Muslims and Christians in a country where adherents of both faiths are passionately religious.
Bala said he wants to leave northern Nigeria but first is trying to reconcile with his family, especially the father, two uncles and older brother who beat him up, drugged him and committed him to the psychiatric ward of Kano city's Aminu Kano teaching hospital.
News of his plight came through tweets that he sent on a smuggled telephone from the hospital toilet.
Businessman Bamidele Adeneye, who had been corresponding with Bala about humanism through social media before he was committed, saw one of his desperate SOS messages and mobilised help through the #FreeMubarak Twitter campaign and the London-based International Humanist and Ethical Union.
Adeneye said he has also been getting death threats. "I'm getting calls from people who say 'Where do you live, we are coming to get you.'"
But he said he would continue to help Bala because: "That man is intelligent, his only sin is being honest about what he believes."
He helped organise assistance from Kano lawyer Muhammad Bello Shehu, who said he had been preparing to take Bala's case to court when the doctors discharged all patients because of a strike.
"Currently Mubarak has said he wants to reconcile with the family before he leaves and we have had some family meetings, that is ongoing right now, and they appear apologetic, to a certain extent," Shehu said.
Shehu is seeking an independent psychiatric evaluation of Mubarak's health to counter the claims of hospital doctors that he has psychological problems, and family claims that he suffered a "personality change" that led to his renunciation of Islam, he said.
Bala's father, Muhammad Bala, did not immediately respond to phone calls and text messages.
In a blog, the father describes himself as a journalist and director general of Kano state's Directorate of Societal Reorientation, one of the bodies that enforces Islamic sharia law.
Guardian
Related story: In Northern Nigeria - man sent to mental institute for being atheist
Friday, July 4, 2014
Thursday, July 3, 2014
Africa's richest man Nigerian Aliko Dangote to build Health Centres in Nigeria
According to the Daily Post Nigeria, Dangote, who is the chairman of the Dangote Foundation, made the pledge during a video conference with Bill Gates, co-Chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, Governor of Kano. The purpose of the video conference, which was coordinated from the Kano government House, was to hold a 2014 mid-year review of their tripartite partnership on routine immunization
In 2012, the Kano state government signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Dangote Foundation to support a free routine immunization exercise in the state. The MOU is a 3-year collaboration which aims at eradicating polio and on improving primary health care delivery in Kano. Among other things, the MOU makes for the provision of sufficient supply of routine immunization vaccines and other consumables, supports a free routine immunization exercise in the state and makes provision for the training of health personnel. According to the World Health Organization, Nigeria is one of 3 countries (the other two being Afghanistan and Pakistan) that remain polio-endemic. Kano, which has a significant population of under-immunized children, has historically been one of the most vulnerable places. In June, the Kano government recorded a fresh case of Wild Polio Virus in Sumaila, a small village in the state, making it the third case to be uncovered in the state this year.
Dangote, who is Africa’s wealthiest man with a fortune estimated at $25.9 billion, was born in Kano. He said he was encouraged to build the new centers because of the commitment of the state government towards providing better healthcare services for the people, and he assured Governor Kwankwaso that his foundation will work with the Kano state government to strengthen its immunization programme.
Bill Gates, on the other hand, expressed satisfaction at the level of progress the government had made on Polio eradication, and expressed his hopes that the government would sustain its enthusiasm in that direction even in the face of threats of violence.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has been actively involved in funding polio eradication initiatives in Nigeria. Among other things, the Foundation has a $25 million agreement in place with the World Bank to support the purchase of about 100 million doses of oral polio vaccine (OPV) in Nigeria.
Forbes
Related stories: Video - Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote expanding cement business
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
Nigerian Laureate Wole Soyinka says Boko Haram worse than Nigerian's Civil War
Nigeria is suffering greater carnage at the hands of Islamist group Boko Haram than it did during a secessionist civil war, yet this has ironically made the country's break-up less likely, Nigerian Nobel Literature Laureate Wole Soyinka said. Speaking to Reuters at his home surrounded by rainforest near the southwestern city of Abeokuta, Soyinka said the horrors inflicted by the militants had shown Nigerians across the mostly Muslim north and Christian south that sticking together might be the only way to avoid even greater sectarian slaughter.
The bloodshed was now worse than during the 1967-70 Biafra war when a secessionist attempt by the eastern Igbo people nearly tore Nigeria up into ethnic regions, he added.
"We have never been confronted with butchery on this scale, even during the civil war," Soyinka said in his front room, surrounding by traditional wooden sculptures of Yoruba deities on Tuesday.
"There were atrocities (during Biafra) but we never had such a near predictable level of carnage and this is what is horrifying," said the writer, who was imprisoned for two years in solitary confinement by the military regime during the war on charges of aiding the Biafrans.
Soyinka, a playwright and one of Africa's leading intellectuals who still wears his distinctive white Afro hairstyle, turns 80 in two weeks. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986, the first African writer to receive it.
A million people died during the Biafra war, though mostly through starvation and illness, rather than violence.
Boko Haram's five-year-old struggle to carve out an Islamic state from its bases in the remote northeast has become increasingly bloody, with near daily attacks killing many thousands.
The conflict's growing intensity has led Nigerian commentators to predict it may split the country, 100 years after British colonial rulers cobbled Nigeria together from their northern and southern protectorates.
"I think ironically it's less likely now," Soyinka said. "For the first time, a sense of belonging is predominating. It's either we stick together now or we break up, and we know it would be not in a pleasant way."
GOVERNMENTS LET IN RELIGION
Boko Haram's abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls in April drew unprecedented international attention to the insurgency and pledges of aid from Western powers, but violence has worsened.
Boko Haram fighters frequently massacre whole villages, gunning down fleeing residents and burning their homes.
Nigeria, amalgamated by the British in 1914, brought together often historically antagonistic peoples - principally the largely Muslim Fulani, Hausa and Kanuri of the North, and the Yoruba, Igbo and other peoples of the mostly Christian south.
Several regional movements have launched low-level independence campaigns that get little national attention. But Soyinka said fewer people were shrugging off Boko Haram's menace.
"It's almost unthinkable to say: 'well, let's leave them to their devices.' Very few people are thinking that way."
Attacks spreading southwards, including three bombings in the capital since April, showed it was not a just a northern problem.
"The (Boko Haram) forces that would like to see this nation break up are the very forces which will not be satisfied having their enclave," he said. "(We) are confronted with an enemy that will never be satisfied with the space it has."
Soyinka blamed successive governments for allowing religious fanaticism to undermine Nigeria's broadly secular constitution, starting with former President Olusegun Obasanjo allowing some states to declare Sharia law in the early 2000s.
"When the spectre of Sharia first came up, for political reasons, this was allowed to hold, instead of the president defending the constitution," he said.
Soyinka sees both Christianity and Islam as foreign impositions.
"We cannot ignore the negative impact which both have had on African society," he told Reuters. "They are imperialist forces: intervening, arrogant. Modern Africa has been distorted."
He added that while the leadership of Boko Haram needed to be "decapitated completely", little had been done to present an alternative ideological vision to their "deluded" followers, driven largely by economic destitution and despair.
Reuters
Related stories: Video - Wole Soyinka on CNN discussing state of Nigeria, Boko Haram and the kidnapped school girls
New Nigerian leaders needed to tackle Boko Haram - Wole Soyinka
President Goodluck Jonathan signs in pension bill into law
The new law repeals the 2004 Pension Reform Act No. 2 and prescribes a 10-year jail term for pension thieves.
The Senate and the House of representatives had respectively passed the new 2014 Pension Reform Bill which also accommodates employees of private firms in the Contributory Pension Scheme.
On his the Twitter handle, Presidential Media Aide, Reuben Abati on Tuesday, said the new law, which covers private organizations with at least three or more employees, prescribes a 10-year jail term for anyone who misappropriates pension funds.
A working document of the Pensions Commission made available to PREMIUM TIMES shows that the new law also makes it mandatory for a refund three times the amount embezzled by the thief.
“The Pension Reform Act 2014 has consolidated earlier amendments to the 2004 Act, which were passed by the National Assembly. These include the Pension Reform (Amendment) Act 2011 which exempts the personnel of the Military and the Security Agencies from the CPS as well as the Universities (Miscellaneous) Provisions Act 2012, which reviewed the retirement age and benefits of University Professors.
Furthermore, the 2014 Act has incorporated the Third Alteration Act, which amended the 1999 Constitution by vesting jurisdiction on pension
matters in the National Industrial Court.
“Operators who mismanage pension fund will be liable on conviction to not less than 10 years imprisonment or fine of an amount equal to three-times the amount so misappropriated or diverted or both imprisonment and fine” the document read.
The new law repeals that of 2004, as sanctions under the old law were considered no longer sufficient deterrents against infractions of the law.
“Furthermore, there are currently more sophisticated mode of diversion of pension assets, such as diversion and/or non-disclosure of interests and commissions accruable to pension fund assets, which were not addressed by the PRA 2004. Consequently, the Pension Reform Act 2014 has created new offences and provided for stiffer penalties that will serve as deterrence against mismanagement or diversion of pension funds assets under any guise,” the document read.
The 2014 Act also empowers PenCom, subject to the fiat of the Attorney General of the Federation, to institute criminal proceedings against employers who persistently fail to deduct and/or remit pension contributions of their employees within the stipulated time. This was not provided for by the 2004 Act.
The Act also empowers PenCom to take proactive corrective measures on licensed operators whose situations, actions or inactions jeopardize the safety of pension assets, which was the reverse with the 2014 Act.
It also makes provisions for the repositioning of the Pension Transition Arrangement Directorate, PTAD, to ensure greater efficiency and accountability in the administration of the Defined Benefits Scheme in the federal public service such that payment of pensions would be made directly into pensioners’ bank accounts in line with the current policy of the Federal Government.
It makes provisions that will enable the creation of additional permissible investment instruments to accommodate initiatives for national development, such as investment in the real sector, including infrastructure and real estate development. This is provided without compromising the paramount principle of ensuring the safety of pension fund assets.
The Act also expanded the coverage of the Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS, in the private sector organizations with three employees and
above, in line with the drive towards informal sector participation.
The 2014 Pension Reform Act reviewed upwards, the minimum rate of Pension Contribution from 15 per cent to 18 per cent of monthly emolument, where 8 per cent will be contributed by employee and 10 per cent by the employer.
“This will provide additional benefits to workers’ Retirement Savings Accounts and thereby enhance their monthly pension benefits at retirement”.
In the event of loss of jobs, the new Act reduces the waiting period for accessing benefits from six months to four months. This is done in order to identify with the yearning of contributors and labour.
The Pension Reform Act 2014 makes provision that would compel an employer to open a Temporary Retirement Savings Account, TRSA, on behalf of an employee that failed to open an RSA within three months of assumption of duty. This was not required under 2004 Act.
Premium Times
The Senate and the House of representatives had respectively passed the new 2014 Pension Reform Bill which also accommodates employees of private firms in the Contributory Pension Scheme.
On his the Twitter handle, Presidential Media Aide, Reuben Abati on Tuesday, said the new law, which covers private organizations with at least three or more employees, prescribes a 10-year jail term for anyone who misappropriates pension funds.
A working document of the Pensions Commission made available to PREMIUM TIMES shows that the new law also makes it mandatory for a refund three times the amount embezzled by the thief.
“The Pension Reform Act 2014 has consolidated earlier amendments to the 2004 Act, which were passed by the National Assembly. These include the Pension Reform (Amendment) Act 2011 which exempts the personnel of the Military and the Security Agencies from the CPS as well as the Universities (Miscellaneous) Provisions Act 2012, which reviewed the retirement age and benefits of University Professors.
Furthermore, the 2014 Act has incorporated the Third Alteration Act, which amended the 1999 Constitution by vesting jurisdiction on pension
matters in the National Industrial Court.
“Operators who mismanage pension fund will be liable on conviction to not less than 10 years imprisonment or fine of an amount equal to three-times the amount so misappropriated or diverted or both imprisonment and fine” the document read.
The new law repeals that of 2004, as sanctions under the old law were considered no longer sufficient deterrents against infractions of the law.
“Furthermore, there are currently more sophisticated mode of diversion of pension assets, such as diversion and/or non-disclosure of interests and commissions accruable to pension fund assets, which were not addressed by the PRA 2004. Consequently, the Pension Reform Act 2014 has created new offences and provided for stiffer penalties that will serve as deterrence against mismanagement or diversion of pension funds assets under any guise,” the document read.
The 2014 Act also empowers PenCom, subject to the fiat of the Attorney General of the Federation, to institute criminal proceedings against employers who persistently fail to deduct and/or remit pension contributions of their employees within the stipulated time. This was not provided for by the 2004 Act.
The Act also empowers PenCom to take proactive corrective measures on licensed operators whose situations, actions or inactions jeopardize the safety of pension assets, which was the reverse with the 2014 Act.
It also makes provisions for the repositioning of the Pension Transition Arrangement Directorate, PTAD, to ensure greater efficiency and accountability in the administration of the Defined Benefits Scheme in the federal public service such that payment of pensions would be made directly into pensioners’ bank accounts in line with the current policy of the Federal Government.
It makes provisions that will enable the creation of additional permissible investment instruments to accommodate initiatives for national development, such as investment in the real sector, including infrastructure and real estate development. This is provided without compromising the paramount principle of ensuring the safety of pension fund assets.
The Act also expanded the coverage of the Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS, in the private sector organizations with three employees and
above, in line with the drive towards informal sector participation.
The 2014 Pension Reform Act reviewed upwards, the minimum rate of Pension Contribution from 15 per cent to 18 per cent of monthly emolument, where 8 per cent will be contributed by employee and 10 per cent by the employer.
“This will provide additional benefits to workers’ Retirement Savings Accounts and thereby enhance their monthly pension benefits at retirement”.
In the event of loss of jobs, the new Act reduces the waiting period for accessing benefits from six months to four months. This is done in order to identify with the yearning of contributors and labour.
The Pension Reform Act 2014 makes provision that would compel an employer to open a Temporary Retirement Savings Account, TRSA, on behalf of an employee that failed to open an RSA within three months of assumption of duty. This was not required under 2004 Act.
Premium Times
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
Car Bomb detonates at market in Maiduguri, Nigeria
A car bomb exploded Tuesday in a market in Maiduguri, the northeast Nigerian city that is the birthplace of Boko Haram Islamic extremists, reducing stalls, goods and vehicles to piles of trash. Dozens of people are feared dead, witnesses said.
Witnesses blamed Boko Haram extremists who are accused of a series of recent bomb attacks in the West African nation.
Tuesday’s explosives were hidden under a load of charcoal in a pickup van, according to witnesses who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
Trader Daba Musa Yobe, who works near the popular market, said the bomb went off just after the market opened at 8 a.m., before most traders or customers had arrived.
Stalls and goods were reduced to debris as were the burned-out hulks of five cars and some tricycle taxis set ablaze by the explosion.
Yobe said security forces cordoned off the area but had a hard time keeping people out, though they warned there could be secondary explosions timed to target rescue efforts.
Witnesses said they saw about 50 bodies. They said the toll may be worse but fewer than normal traders and customers were around because most people stay up late to eat during Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting from sunrise to sunset.
A security official at the scene confirmed the blast, saying many casualties are feared. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to speak to the press.
Explosions last week targeted the biggest shopping mall in Abuja, Nigeria’s central capital, killing 24 people; a medical college in northern Kano city, killing at least eight; and a hotel brothel in northeast Bauchi city that killed 10. It was the third bomb blast in as many months in Abuja, and the second in two months in Kano. In May, twin car bombs at a marketplace also left more than 130 dead in central Jos city and killed at least 14 people at a World Cup viewing site in Damaturu, another town in the northeast.
Maiduguri, a city of more than 1 million people, has suffered many attacks. In March, twin car bombs killed more than 50 people at a late-night market where people were watching a football match on a big screen.
Boko Haram has attracted international attention and condemnation since its April abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls from a northeastern town.
Nigeria’s military announced Monday night that it had busted a terrorist intelligence cell and arrested a businessman who “participated actively” in the mass abduction that caused outrage around the world.
It was unclear if the first arrest of a suspect in the kidnappings could help in rescuing at least 219 girls who remain captive. Boko Haram is threatening to sell the girls into marriage and slavery if Nigeria’s government does not exchange them for detained insurgents.
Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade said in a statement that businessman Babuji Ya’ari belonged to a vigilante group fighting Boko Haram and used that membership as cover “while remaining an active terrorist.”
He said information yielded by Ya’ari’s detention had led to the arrests of two women — one who worked as a spy and arms procurer and another described as a paymaster.
Boko Haram has adopted a two-pronged strategy this year of bombings in urban areas and scorched-earth attacks in northeastern villages where people are gunned down and their homes burned.
On Sunday, suspected extremists sprayed gunfire on worshippers in four churches in a northeastern village and torched the buildings. At least 30 people were reported killed there.
The extremists have been attacking with more frequency and deadliness in recent months.
Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday condemned the recent attacks. A statement said “The president assures all Nigerians once again that the federal government and national security agencies will continue to intensify ongoing efforts to end Boko Haram’s senseless attacks until the terrorists are routed and totally defeated.”
The inability of the military to curb attacks has brought international criticism, with the United Nations noting the government is failing in its duty to protect citizens. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a statement Monday “reiterates the readiness of the United Nations to support Nigeria as it responds to this challenge in a manner consistent with its international human rights obligations.”
AP
Related stories: Boko Haram attack Christians in Northern Nigeria - At least 40 dead
Video - Bomb blast in the capital Abuja, Nigeria - At least 21 confirmed dead
Witnesses blamed Boko Haram extremists who are accused of a series of recent bomb attacks in the West African nation.
Tuesday’s explosives were hidden under a load of charcoal in a pickup van, according to witnesses who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
Trader Daba Musa Yobe, who works near the popular market, said the bomb went off just after the market opened at 8 a.m., before most traders or customers had arrived.
Stalls and goods were reduced to debris as were the burned-out hulks of five cars and some tricycle taxis set ablaze by the explosion.
Yobe said security forces cordoned off the area but had a hard time keeping people out, though they warned there could be secondary explosions timed to target rescue efforts.
Witnesses said they saw about 50 bodies. They said the toll may be worse but fewer than normal traders and customers were around because most people stay up late to eat during Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting from sunrise to sunset.
A security official at the scene confirmed the blast, saying many casualties are feared. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to speak to the press.
Explosions last week targeted the biggest shopping mall in Abuja, Nigeria’s central capital, killing 24 people; a medical college in northern Kano city, killing at least eight; and a hotel brothel in northeast Bauchi city that killed 10. It was the third bomb blast in as many months in Abuja, and the second in two months in Kano. In May, twin car bombs at a marketplace also left more than 130 dead in central Jos city and killed at least 14 people at a World Cup viewing site in Damaturu, another town in the northeast.
Maiduguri, a city of more than 1 million people, has suffered many attacks. In March, twin car bombs killed more than 50 people at a late-night market where people were watching a football match on a big screen.
Boko Haram has attracted international attention and condemnation since its April abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls from a northeastern town.
Nigeria’s military announced Monday night that it had busted a terrorist intelligence cell and arrested a businessman who “participated actively” in the mass abduction that caused outrage around the world.
It was unclear if the first arrest of a suspect in the kidnappings could help in rescuing at least 219 girls who remain captive. Boko Haram is threatening to sell the girls into marriage and slavery if Nigeria’s government does not exchange them for detained insurgents.
Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade said in a statement that businessman Babuji Ya’ari belonged to a vigilante group fighting Boko Haram and used that membership as cover “while remaining an active terrorist.”
He said information yielded by Ya’ari’s detention had led to the arrests of two women — one who worked as a spy and arms procurer and another described as a paymaster.
Boko Haram has adopted a two-pronged strategy this year of bombings in urban areas and scorched-earth attacks in northeastern villages where people are gunned down and their homes burned.
On Sunday, suspected extremists sprayed gunfire on worshippers in four churches in a northeastern village and torched the buildings. At least 30 people were reported killed there.
The extremists have been attacking with more frequency and deadliness in recent months.
Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday condemned the recent attacks. A statement said “The president assures all Nigerians once again that the federal government and national security agencies will continue to intensify ongoing efforts to end Boko Haram’s senseless attacks until the terrorists are routed and totally defeated.”
The inability of the military to curb attacks has brought international criticism, with the United Nations noting the government is failing in its duty to protect citizens. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a statement Monday “reiterates the readiness of the United Nations to support Nigeria as it responds to this challenge in a manner consistent with its international human rights obligations.”
AP
Related stories: Boko Haram attack Christians in Northern Nigeria - At least 40 dead
Video - Bomb blast in the capital Abuja, Nigeria - At least 21 confirmed dead
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