Monday, June 15, 2015
Video - Illegal gin brewing thrives in Nigeria
The sap is first mixed with sugar and left to ferment for seven days in sealed blue barrels. Rusted oil drums are then placed over a hot fire and the fermented alcohol poured in. The alcohol evaporates, passes down small pipes through a vat of cold water where it condenses and then drips out into a bucket as a clear, refined gin -- or "Ogogoro" as it's called locally.
The government agency that regulates alcohol production and sales in Nigeria insists any product processed with chemicals and labeled for sale must be licensed. But local distillers like Gabriel are largely ignored by the authorities.
"This one we produce is done in a local way and nothing will happen to you because we source if from the tree," explains Gabriel. "The one others produce is a chemical one and if you take that one, it will cause harm to your body."
'I make it strong'
In the last few months, there has been a spate of mass deaths from drinking poisoned local gin. In Rivers state, in Nigeria's Niger Delta region, over 38 people are thought to have died after drinking at a local gin joint.
The problem is that often the alcohol is laced with chemicals, like methanol, to increase the longevity and taste.
NAFDAC, Nigeria's Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, has announced a nationwide ban on the consumption of local gin.
"We are also warning members of the public to avoid the consumption of all kinds of locally produced spirits, unregistered bitters and related drinks for now," NAFDAC said in a statement.
But it has had little impact on the streets, where Nigerians often use Ogogoro not only to help them relax, but also believe it has medicinal effects.
At Gabriel's small distillery, with his five friends, he says he can make up to 400 liters of gin a day. And market women still come with their jerry cans to be filled.
"I make it strong, because if you don't make it strong, people won't come to buy," says Gabriel.
The smoke rises in a haze above the distillery, and there is a sweet smell of palm sap in the air. Gabriel and his colleagues sit and play checkers in the humidity.
As one of the buckets fills, Gabriel stands from his checkers game for the final stop -- the taste test. He takes a swig from a small bottle, shakes his head and smiles.
CNN
Nigerian player Ugo Njoku gets banned for 3 games at 2015 Women's World Cup
Nigeria's Ugo Njoku has been given a three-match ban for elbowing Australia's Sam Kerr during Friday's Women's World Cup Group D match.
The offence by Njoku, who came on as a substitute, went unpunished during the game, which Nigeria lost 2-0.
However Fifa's disciplinary committee later examined the video footage and handed the 20-year-old the ban.
With Nigeria unlikely to progress, she will miss the final game against the US plus their next two official matches.
Earlier in the tournament France striker Camille Abily escaped punishment for a similar incident with England defender Laura Bassett.
But the referee did not penalise Abily, Fifa did not review the incident and the Football Association did not contest Fifa's decision.
BBC
The offence by Njoku, who came on as a substitute, went unpunished during the game, which Nigeria lost 2-0.
However Fifa's disciplinary committee later examined the video footage and handed the 20-year-old the ban.
With Nigeria unlikely to progress, she will miss the final game against the US plus their next two official matches.
Earlier in the tournament France striker Camille Abily escaped punishment for a similar incident with England defender Laura Bassett.
But the referee did not penalise Abily, Fifa did not review the incident and the Football Association did not contest Fifa's decision.
BBC
Friday, June 12, 2015
Boko Haram kill 43 in Borno, Nigeria
Boko Haram gunmen killed at least 43 people and burnt down three villages in northeast Nigeria, residents told AFP Thursday, the latest in an upsurge of attacks by the Islamist militants.
Dozens of rebels on motorcycles stormed Matangale, Buraltima and Dirmanti in restive Borno state on Tuesday, opening fire on villagers before looting and burning homes, fleeing residents said.
News of the assault was slow to emerge due to poor communication in the region after Boko Haram destroyed telecoms masts in previous attacks.
"They came around 4:00 pm (1500 GMT) on 20 motorcycles, three gunmen on each, and attacked Matangale before proceeding to Buraltima and Dirmanti," said resident Dala Tungushe.
"They killed 43 people and burnt all the houses in the three villages after looting food supplies," Tungushe, who fled Matangale to Biu, some 90 kilometres (56 miles) away.
Matangale was worst hit by the attack as the attackers opened fire at an open well outside the village where residents had gathered to fetch drinking water and do their laundry.
"The Boko Haram gunmen opened fire on the crowd at the well where they killed around 16 people," said Bulama Karuye, another resident.
"In all, we lost 43 people in the attacks. All the three villages were completely burnt."
He added the number of casualties could have been much higher had some of the villagers not been away at a weekly market around 40 kilometres away.
Hundreds of residents of the affected villages, particularly women and children, fled to nearby Damboa town where they had sought refuge in a primary school, both Tungushe and Karuye said.
They said the attackers came from nearby Sambisa Forest, a major Boko Haram stronghold from where hundreds of women and children kidnapped by the militants were rescued during recent military operations.
Troops and local hunters from Damboa pursued the fleeing attackers into the bush and a gunfight erupted.
"The soldiers and the hunters brought back a pickup truck and some motorcycles they recovered from the Boko Haram attackers... but we don't know how many of the gunmen they killed," Tungushe said.
More than 150 people have been killed by Boko Haram since President Muhammadu Buhari took power on May 29, vowing to crush the militants and end their bloody six-year insurgency.
AFP
Dozens of rebels on motorcycles stormed Matangale, Buraltima and Dirmanti in restive Borno state on Tuesday, opening fire on villagers before looting and burning homes, fleeing residents said.
News of the assault was slow to emerge due to poor communication in the region after Boko Haram destroyed telecoms masts in previous attacks.
"They came around 4:00 pm (1500 GMT) on 20 motorcycles, three gunmen on each, and attacked Matangale before proceeding to Buraltima and Dirmanti," said resident Dala Tungushe.
"They killed 43 people and burnt all the houses in the three villages after looting food supplies," Tungushe, who fled Matangale to Biu, some 90 kilometres (56 miles) away.
Matangale was worst hit by the attack as the attackers opened fire at an open well outside the village where residents had gathered to fetch drinking water and do their laundry.
"The Boko Haram gunmen opened fire on the crowd at the well where they killed around 16 people," said Bulama Karuye, another resident.
"In all, we lost 43 people in the attacks. All the three villages were completely burnt."
He added the number of casualties could have been much higher had some of the villagers not been away at a weekly market around 40 kilometres away.
Hundreds of residents of the affected villages, particularly women and children, fled to nearby Damboa town where they had sought refuge in a primary school, both Tungushe and Karuye said.
They said the attackers came from nearby Sambisa Forest, a major Boko Haram stronghold from where hundreds of women and children kidnapped by the militants were rescued during recent military operations.
Troops and local hunters from Damboa pursued the fleeing attackers into the bush and a gunfight erupted.
"The soldiers and the hunters brought back a pickup truck and some motorcycles they recovered from the Boko Haram attackers... but we don't know how many of the gunmen they killed," Tungushe said.
More than 150 people have been killed by Boko Haram since President Muhammadu Buhari took power on May 29, vowing to crush the militants and end their bloody six-year insurgency.
AFP
Thursday, June 11, 2015
15 year old child bride acquitted for murdering 35 year old husband
A teenage girl threatened with the death penalty for murdering her 35-year-old husband in Nigeria, faces an uncertain future after being released from prison.
15 year-old Wasila Tasi’u was accused of killing Umar Sani and three other men with rat poison shortly after they were married. She has spent the last 10 months locked up as her case dragged on, held up by judicial staff strike action and administrative delays.
Speaking to the Guardian, Tasi’u’s lawyer, Hussaina Ibrahim from theInternational Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), said her client has no hope of returning home, such was the publicity garnered by the case.
With Ibrahim’s help, a foundation has taken on Tasi’u’s case and the hard work of returning her to normal life. The Isa Wali Empowerment Initiative which aims to get young girls into education, will support Tasi’u in the months to come. She will live with a foster family, for the foreseeable future.
Maryam Uwais, a lawyer based in Nigeria who has been following the case contacted the Guardian to say she had spoken to Tasi’u shortly after her release, who is “overjoyed” at her new found freedom.
“Apprehension, relief and then gratitude were emotions that were manifest today, upon the release of Wasila,” she said.
“An entirely avoidable tragedy, leaving in its wake four dead men and a thoroughly traumatised little girl. Poison – the only feasible escape to freedom – devised from the wild imagination of a naive, depressed little girl caught up in a painful forced marriage to a much older man. A tough lesson for families, communities and a government that is still ambivalent about sanctioning the perpetrators of child marriage.”
Ibrahim says her client, bubbly and full of life when she met her for the first time, has become more withdrawn, quiet and even depressed during her time in jail. Educational opportunities are limited in the prison in Kano city where she has been held, and to this day Tasi’u can neither read nor write.
Throughout her trial, which was conducted in English meaning the defendant could not understand a word, Tasi’u was threatened with execution. Reporters in court described her struggling to control her emotions during proceedings, frequently breaking down in tears.
In the weeks since Prosecutor Lamido Abba Soron-Dinki asked the high court in Gezawa, Kano state, to “terminate the case” of culpable homicide against Tasi’u in May, her visitation rights have been limited with even her family prevented from seeing her. Ibrahim’s lawyer has been stopped from taking her young teenage daughter to see Tasi’u, depriving the child of one of her few regular interactions with people her own age.
“I think they were worried that she would try to escape,” said Ibrahim, when trying to offer an explanation for the cut in visiting rights, in the weeks after her release was first mooted.
The case has drawn international condemnation from rights groups, who say the decision to pursue the death penalty against a teenager violates international law. Others have characterised Sani and Tasi’u’s relationship as one characterised by “systematic abuse”.
After a presentation was made to the court by Kano’s attorney general on Tuesday, calling for the defendant to be released, Judge Mohammed Yahaya agreed to drop the charges and allow Tasi’u to be free.
In Nigeria, child marriage is common, despite national laws prohibiting it.
The Child Rights Act, introduced in 2003, raised the minimum age of marriage for girls to 18, but the legislation has not been ratified by states in the Muslim-dominated north of the country where child marriage is common, with nearly half of girls married by the age of 15 and 78% by the time they hit 18. In the country as a whole, 7% of girls in the country are married before the age of 15, according to the charity Girls Not Brides.
The Kano state government has agreed to offer compensation to Sani’s family, according to local reports.
The charity Girls Not Brides, which has campaigned extensively on the issue of child marriage in Nigeria and beyond, issued this statement on Tasi’u’ release.
“Wasila’s case reflects some of the impossible situations that child brides face. Wasila is one of 15 million girls a year who are married as children, a practice that is not limited to any one region, culture or religion. Her case demonstrates the importance of not only preventing child marriage but also ensuring that child brides receive the support and services they need.”
Related story: Child bride kills 35 year old groom and three others with poison
The Guardian
15 year-old Wasila Tasi’u was accused of killing Umar Sani and three other men with rat poison shortly after they were married. She has spent the last 10 months locked up as her case dragged on, held up by judicial staff strike action and administrative delays.
Speaking to the Guardian, Tasi’u’s lawyer, Hussaina Ibrahim from theInternational Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), said her client has no hope of returning home, such was the publicity garnered by the case.
With Ibrahim’s help, a foundation has taken on Tasi’u’s case and the hard work of returning her to normal life. The Isa Wali Empowerment Initiative which aims to get young girls into education, will support Tasi’u in the months to come. She will live with a foster family, for the foreseeable future.
Maryam Uwais, a lawyer based in Nigeria who has been following the case contacted the Guardian to say she had spoken to Tasi’u shortly after her release, who is “overjoyed” at her new found freedom.
“Apprehension, relief and then gratitude were emotions that were manifest today, upon the release of Wasila,” she said.
“An entirely avoidable tragedy, leaving in its wake four dead men and a thoroughly traumatised little girl. Poison – the only feasible escape to freedom – devised from the wild imagination of a naive, depressed little girl caught up in a painful forced marriage to a much older man. A tough lesson for families, communities and a government that is still ambivalent about sanctioning the perpetrators of child marriage.”
Ibrahim says her client, bubbly and full of life when she met her for the first time, has become more withdrawn, quiet and even depressed during her time in jail. Educational opportunities are limited in the prison in Kano city where she has been held, and to this day Tasi’u can neither read nor write.
Throughout her trial, which was conducted in English meaning the defendant could not understand a word, Tasi’u was threatened with execution. Reporters in court described her struggling to control her emotions during proceedings, frequently breaking down in tears.
In the weeks since Prosecutor Lamido Abba Soron-Dinki asked the high court in Gezawa, Kano state, to “terminate the case” of culpable homicide against Tasi’u in May, her visitation rights have been limited with even her family prevented from seeing her. Ibrahim’s lawyer has been stopped from taking her young teenage daughter to see Tasi’u, depriving the child of one of her few regular interactions with people her own age.
“I think they were worried that she would try to escape,” said Ibrahim, when trying to offer an explanation for the cut in visiting rights, in the weeks after her release was first mooted.
The case has drawn international condemnation from rights groups, who say the decision to pursue the death penalty against a teenager violates international law. Others have characterised Sani and Tasi’u’s relationship as one characterised by “systematic abuse”.
After a presentation was made to the court by Kano’s attorney general on Tuesday, calling for the defendant to be released, Judge Mohammed Yahaya agreed to drop the charges and allow Tasi’u to be free.
In Nigeria, child marriage is common, despite national laws prohibiting it.
The Child Rights Act, introduced in 2003, raised the minimum age of marriage for girls to 18, but the legislation has not been ratified by states in the Muslim-dominated north of the country where child marriage is common, with nearly half of girls married by the age of 15 and 78% by the time they hit 18. In the country as a whole, 7% of girls in the country are married before the age of 15, according to the charity Girls Not Brides.
The Kano state government has agreed to offer compensation to Sani’s family, according to local reports.
The charity Girls Not Brides, which has campaigned extensively on the issue of child marriage in Nigeria and beyond, issued this statement on Tasi’u’ release.
“Wasila’s case reflects some of the impossible situations that child brides face. Wasila is one of 15 million girls a year who are married as children, a practice that is not limited to any one region, culture or religion. Her case demonstrates the importance of not only preventing child marriage but also ensuring that child brides receive the support and services they need.”
Related story: Child bride kills 35 year old groom and three others with poison
The Guardian
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Video - President Muhammadu Buhari promises to be tracked online
While he was running for election, Nigeria's new President, Muhammadu Buhari, made a lot of campaign promises.Now a civil group is using online tools to ensure he delivers on the pre-election promises.
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