Thursday, March 31, 2011

Video - Goodluck Jonathan's presidential debate



Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan takes part in the final presidential debate ahead of nationwide elections. VOA West Africa correspondent Scott Stearns has the story.


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Barack to Obama - You can't afford to fail


United States President Barack Obama has warned the Goodluck Jonathan-led administration to avoid rigging and violence during the forthcoming general election in Nigeria.


Speaking through Ambassador Johnnie Carson, the United States assistant secretary on African affairs, in Washington DC, President Obama urged Nigerians to demonstrate their ability to hold fair and democratic elections as the country prepares for legislative, presidential and state balloting scheduled for April 2, April 9 and April 16 respectively.


Saying it is "absolutely essential" that Nigeria holds better elections in 2011 than it held in 2007, the diplomat noted that the 2007 elections "were deeply flawed and, in fact, were poorly administered and poorly run".


"The 2007 elections in no way reflected the ability and the capacity of Nigeria to organise and run successful elections. In 2011, the Obama administration wants to see Nigeria reverse its 'trajectory of bad elections' and substantially improve its election management and processes," he said.


Carson warned that a flawed electoral process will lead to a loss of confidence by Nigerians in their leaders, their country's governing institutions and democracy itself, stressing that this an opportunity for Nigeria to demonstrate its capacity to both manage and hold democratic elections, which are the desire of the people.


Although the level of violence in the run-up to the elections is not as serious as it was in 2007, Carson said the violence already perpetrated has been "too much".


He called on Nigerian security authorities to do everything they can to ensure the safety of polling places and prevent violence, harassment and intimidation against Nigerian voters and candidates.


"Violence has no place in a democratic society or in a democratic electoral process, and all of the country's leaders ... must work to do everything they can to make these elections as free of violence and intimidation as possible," he said.


The assistant secretary praised Attahiru Jega, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, for doing "an outstanding job of managing this process and helping to reshape an election commission whose reputation had been deeply tarnished by the leadership."


The United States has supported Jega's efforts through technical assistance and funding.


Carson urged all election officials to respect Jega's leadership and direction, and added that Nigeria's state-level election officials will also be scrutinized for their conduct.


Carson said there are 17 presidential elections scheduled to occur in Africa during 2011 and the Obama administration would be watching all of them. He said that to strengthen democracy, the focus should be on the institutions rather than the individual candidates.


"The era of 'big man' politics in Africa should be history and behind us," he said. "It is good, strong institutions which are most important."


All Africans have a right to participate in the election of their local, regional and national leaders, and those elections "should be transparent, fair and credible," Carson said.


"Election commissions should be independent of executive control and authority and independent of political manipulation," he said. The electoral process, he added, should be "monitored by domestic groups as well as international groups and open to observation by the media."


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Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Nigeria's HIV Prevalence Rate Drops to 4.1 Percent

In line with predictions, Nigeria's national HIV prevalence rate has continued its downward trend first witnessed in 2001.


Result of the latest HIV Sero-Prevalence Sentinel Survey conducted among the antenatal clinic attendees in Nigeria puts the overall 2010 National HIV prevalence at 4.1 per cent - down by 0.1 percent from the 2008 figure.


An estimated three million persons are living with HIV - positioning Nigeria in the No. 2 spot of week, Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, attributed the decline to the effectiveness of HIV prevention/ intervention strategies adopted in the country.


Giving insight into the sentinel survey, Chukwu He said the epidemic has affected all parts of the country with varying degrees of severity.


"The overall National HIV prevalence for 2010 ANC Sentinel Survey is 4.1 per cent with prevalence ranging from 1.0 per cent in Kebbi to 12.7 per cent in Benue state. The prevalence was generally higher in urban than rural areas. However, eight states had a higher rural prevalence than urban and the highest survey site-specific prevalence of 21.3 per cent was observed in Wannune, a rural site in Benue State.


"The trend analysis of HIV prevalence among youths aged 15-24 years which is a crude index of new infection gave evidence of declining prevalence from 2001 to 2010 (6.0 per cent in 2001, 5.3 per cent in 2003, 4.3 percent in 2005, 4.2 per cent in 2008 and 4.1 per cent in 2010). This has given us some rays of hope that our prevention/interventions strategies are working."


Currently, about 1.5 million people including 212,720 children are still in need of AIDS treatment.


By the end of 2009, there were 1,074 health facilities where HIV counseling and testing services can be accessed, 670 health facilities providing services on Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV, and 393 health facilities providing Anti retroviral services.


The Minister said the National Sero-prevalence Sentinel Survey among the antenatal clinic attendees provides information on the HIV epidemic and its distribution in the country.


Information provided by the sero - prevalence is aimed at sensitising all stakeholders to take appropriate measures towards prevention, control and mitigating the impact of HIV.


The first ANC sero-prevalence survey conducted in 1991 put the National prevalence at 1.8 per cent and over the years, the prevalence rose to 4.5 per cent in 1995/96, and peaked at 5.8 per cent in 2001 before it started declining. Nine rounds of the surveys have been conducted since 1991 with the latest being the 2010.


Report of the 2010 HIV sero-prevalence sentinel survey conducted among the ANC attendees in Nigeria would be put to further use in planning for a better life for all PLWH in Nigeria and for the actualisation of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG).


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Life Imprisonment for Indians Shipping Fake Drugs to Nigeria

In a radical move to stamp out the menace of counterfeited pharmaceutical products, India has approved life imprisonment for any of her businessmen involved in the production and distribution of fake drugs in Nigeria.


The new action plan aimed at arresting the seemingly intractable incidence of fake and counterfeit drugs in Nigeria is contained in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by both countries on March 16, this year, in New Delhi, India.


The MoU also makes it mandatory for the Indian government to confiscate the equipment used by any convict in producing the products, while he would also stand the risk of forfeiting his property to the authorities.


THISDAY investigation in New Delhi revealed that the agreement was signed by India's Joint Secretary in the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Arun Jha, and Nigeria's Director-General (DG) of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr. Paul Orhii.


It was also gathered that the agreement was signed in the presence of India's Minister of External Affairs, Mr. Somanahalli Mallaiah Krishna, and his Nigerian counterpart, Mr. Odein Ajumogobia (SAN), after both parties had discussed ways to strengthen economic and bilateral ties.


Speaking to THISDAY on phone Tuesday, one of the joint secretaries at the country's Ministry of External Affairs, Mr. Gurgit Singh, said: "We do not support corruption. We do not support bad business practices. Any Indian, who is caught in the business of counterfeiting any of our fast-moving pharmaceutical products in Nigeria, should be prosecuted."


Singh also said as a deliberate policy of the government to prove that the country was serious with the new initiative to stamp out the trend, added: "India is not only interested in actions that will eradicate the menace, she will also pay for the cost of prosecuting any suspect of the counterfeited product traced to India or to any Indian firm."


Expatiating on the policy thrust, he said the MoU also contained a N300,000 compensation payable to any informant that gives the agency any tip-off that would uncover the source and producers of counterfeited products.


According to him, the Indian government had equally agreed to collaborate with NAFDAC in capacity building training programme, provide funding for the training of medical engineers, as well as the Nigerian government in investigation of suspects.


Addressing African journalists, also Tuesday in his office, Krishna said his country had placed on the table, a $5.4 billion credit package for African countries to access over a five-year period, starting from 2009.


He said the package was designed to give an impetus to infrastructure development, including railways, information technology, power generation, physical connectivity, crop diversification and capacity building in agriculture.


He said the African continent "figures prominently on the foreign policy radar of India" and expressed happiness that the relationship between the continent and his country "has blossomed into multi-faceted association where each one of us contributes significantly".


The minister also said: "Indian partnership with Africa has been consultative and responsive. We have created a three-tier engagement with Africa: at pan-African, regional and bilateral levels. We have been guided by the wishes and priorities of our African friends in working together in institutional capacity building, human resource development, science and technological cooperation, enhancing agricultural productivity and food security, development of infrastructure, and in other areas."


Since democratic rule returned in Nigeria in 1999, the country's trade volume with India has increased substantially, surging from $293.71 million to $8 billion in the 2009/2010 fiscal year.


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Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Video - Nigeria's Sesame Street tackles HIV



Christian Purefoy reports on the celebrated children's show making its Nigerian debut.


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