Nigeria gets first female fighter pilot

She's a blessing to womenfolk, the military and the nation, judging by her achievement - and her name. Blessing Liman, a 25-year-old lady from Kaduna State, has become Nigeria's first female military pilot.

The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) at the weekend commissioned her along with 126 others who completed the Direct Short Service Course 2010/11 Cadets of 325 Ground Training Group at the NAF Base, Kaduna.

Liman said she was very excited and proud to make history. She said: "It is very uplifting and I feel very proud of myself though it has been very challenging. Coming from the civil war and the civil mentality, the Air Force has done a great job because it has changed our orientation.

"I believe that all females have equal opportunity to dignify their rights in whatever adventure they choose they can do."

Blessing, who wants to encourage other females, called on other womenfolk to see her feat as a challenge for them to explore their capabilities "for nation-building".

Speaking at the occasion, the Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Mohammed Dikko Umar, said the successful passing out from cadet training of the first female pilot was "a very laudable achievement" to the nation.

The armed forces were directed to produce female combatants, he said, in order to give impetus to gender equality in the polity as part of President Goodluck Jonathan's transformation agenda - as well as affirm the belief that women can make valuable contributions to nation building.

Umar said by producing the first female military pilot, NAF had given a good account of itself and justified the vision of its founding fathers as a veritable tool for nation-building.

He noted that although the Federal Government had taken steps to address the internal security situation across Nigeria, there was the need for the armed forces to be abreast of the general security situation in the country.

"Your primary responsibility is ensuring national security and the territorial integrity of our dear nation; hence I need to remind you where your loyalty lies," he said, charging members of the armed forces to cultivate harmonious relationships with the populace without compromising military values.

This Day

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Late President Umaru Yar'Adua last few weeks as President

Nigeria's late President Umaru Yar'Adua grew so weak while in office he needed once to be carried by a soldier off a runway during a state visit to Togo, ultimately becoming unable to speak in the last weeks of his life, according to a new book by his former spokesman.

The book by Olusegun Adeniyi tells of how the ill leader became a political pawn in a charade that saw soldiers deployed without authorization and rumors of a possible coup float among the elite in the oil-rich nation. It also describes the rise of militancy in the oil-rich country's crude-producing southern delta, including how a militant leader stole thousands of machine guns from Nigerian army depots.

Though portraying his former boss in a largely flattering light, Adeniyi's book shows how tenuous democracy is in a nation plagued by vote-rigging and that cast off military rule only 13 years ago.

"If we will be honest with ourselves, we all know how we rig elections in this country," Adeniyi quotes Yar'Adua as saying during a closed-door January 2008 meeting about the corrupt election that saw him become the nation's leader. "We compromise the security agencies, we pay the electoral officials and party agents while on the eve of the election we merely distribute logistics all designed to buy the vote."

The Associated Press obtained an advance copy of "Power, Politics and Death: A Front-Row Account of Nigeria Under the Late President Yar'Adua" from the author, who now writes a column for ThisDay newspaper. Reuben Abati, a spokesman for current President Goodluck Jonathan, declined to comment on the book. A spokesman for the ruling People's Democratic Party did not respond to a request for comment.

In the book, Adeniyi acknowledges Yar'Adua's ascension to power through a rigged 2007 presidential election. Yar'Adua, already sickly from a chronic kidney condition, weakened quickly under the strain of the presidency.

Those around him tried to protect his image. Adeniyi recounts instructing a cameraman from the state-run television network to film the president from the side only in one instance in 2008 to hide Yar'Adua's swollen face after an allergic reaction.

Yar'Adua then had "minor surgery" in Germany, but could only work a few hours a day, if at all, after the procedure, Adeniyi writes. As he grew sicker, Yar'Adua began receiving medical treatment in Saudi Arabia with government officials suspecting that "American security agents had penetrated the (German) hospital and had gained access to the president's health profile," according to the book.

At one point during a trip to Togo, the military officer assigned to Yar'Adua had to drape traditional robes over his arm to hide the fact he needed to nearly carry the president off a landing strip, the book claims.

Yar'Adua departure in late November 2009 for a several-month stay at a hospital in Saudi Arabia set up a constitutional crisis that saw government grind to a halt in the OPEC member nation. The National Assembly ultimately voted to empower then-Vice President Jonathan to serve as acting president. Yar'Adua was whisked back into Nigeria's capital Abuja under the cover of darkness days later, apparently unable to talk. He apparently was brought back so those close to Yar'Adua could exert control over Jonathan.

Soldiers deployed to the Abuja airport to escort Yar'Adua home in an ambulance without Jonathan's knowledge, the book claims. The next day, rumors of a possible coup flourished.

"There were fears among (Jonathan's) closest aides he could be shot by the soldiers," the book claims.

It later adds: "Signals from the military were also hazy, with fears that some soldiers could take out both Yar'Adua and Jonathan."

Yar'Adua died on May 5, 2010. Jonathan was sworn in as president the next day.

The book also describes the Yar'Adua-led amnesty program offered to militants in the country's Niger Delta, where foreign oil firms have pumped crude oil for more than 50 years. Despite the billions of dollars earned yearly from oil sales, the region remains desperately poor and polluted.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta was the region's premier militant group, its rise aided by a series of weapons thefts engineered by the group's alleged leader Henry Okah from Nigerian military depots, Adeniyi writes. The theft of thousands of weapons, including pistols, machine guns and rocket launchers, "was so staggering and the crime so well organized that the investigating team could hardly determine the exact amount of arms removed," Adeniyi writes.

Okah, who denies leading the militant group, now faces terrorism charges in South Africa over a dual car bombing Oct. 1, 2010, in Abuja that killed at least 12 people. Six soldiers were sentenced to life in prison over the arms thefts.

AP

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20 million unemployed in Nigeria

Twenty million Nigerian youths are unemployed and are a security threat, the Federal Government has warned.

The Minister of Youths and Social Development Mr. Bolaji Abdullahi in a presentation to the Senate Committee on Youths and Women Affairs yesterday also lamented what he described as the negligible return on the annual N43 billion expended on the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme.

The Minister at an interactive session also revealed that security had become a primary consideration in the deployment of corps members even as he disclosed plans to redirect the scheme towards national priority areas as agriculture, education, rural health and infrastructure.

Abdulahi told the Senator Helen Eseune led committee that the unemployment figure estimated at 41.6% was about the highest in the world noting that the lack of employment opportunities coupled with a sense of hopelessness make the youth susceptible to violence, crime, and terrorism.

Abdulahi told the Senators that besides the medium- to long-term impact on national productivity that the high rate of unemployment portends real and present danger to the sanctity of the country. He asserted that the figure in Nigeria was well above the 25% average rate for North Africa and the Middle East which have been rocked by civil unrest largely spearheaded by unemployed youths in those regions.

He said: "there are clear intimations of this already, given the role of the youths in the 2011 post-election violence and the increasing incidence of religious extremism typified by the Boko Haram menace. But there is even a danger of escalation, at a high political, economic, social and security cost to our country."

The Minister who noted that there were developmental initiatives across various sectors and tiers of government aimed primarily to address the problem of unemployment in Nigeria, however, regretted that the efforts were hardly visible.

"Unfortunately, most of these initiatives fall short in terms of scope and scale. All put together, current interventions in the public, private and non-profit sector reach fewer than 100, 000 youth per year (out of more than 20 million unemployed youths).

"In addition, the subsisting initiatives are limited by not being youth-specific, by poor collaboration and cooperation across the sectors, by outdated and theoretical training models, and by distance from the grassroots."

Speaking on the NYSC programme, the Minister who disclosed that plans were on to reposition it, stressed that the focus of the service would now be on national priority such as Agric, Education, Rural health and infrastructure, adding that the greatest challenge facing the NYSC was that it was no longer possible to send corps members to states without first putting in mind, the issue of security.

Vanguard

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Nigeria rejects U.S. criticism over anti-gay law

The Federal Government of Nigeria, yesterday, rejected the criticism by the United States Government following Senate’s outlawing of same sex marriage, insisting that same sex marriage is not only alien to Nigeria’s social and cultural believes but also undemocratic since majority of Nigerians are against it.

The government, therefore, asked the US and other countries opposed to the Senate’s passage of the bill banning same sex marriage, to respect Nigerians’ independence, democracy and sovereignty.

This came as the Senate, yesterday, insisted that the law banning same sex marriage in Nigeria remains while members of House of Representatives have vowed that the decision by President Obama to fight discrimination against gays and lesbians abroad by using foreign aid and diplomacy would not deter the House from passing the bill on same sex marriage.

Meanwhile, the US also vowed to use diplomacy and $3 million in foreign aid to help expand the rights of gays.

Disclosing this during the World Human Rights Day, US Secretary of States, Mrs Hillary Clinton, argued that the definition of human rights must be amended to account for sexual diversity.

Fielding questions from State House Correspondents, after a prolonged weekly Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting presided over by President Goodluck Jonathan, Minister of Information, Mr Labaran Maku, maintained that Nigeria was an independent country and reserved the right to make laws through democratic institutions to govern the country.

While urging the US government and citizens to respect Nigeria’s democratic institutions such as her elected lawmakers, the minister said if the ban on same sex marriage eventually becomes law, it therefore means that majority of Nigerians want the existing ban legalised.

Maku said although the Senate action alone had not made the bill a law, Nigeria reserved the right to make laws based on the peoples’ values and culture.

Maku said: “We reserve the right to make laws without apologies to anyone. Our laws will be guided by our own interests and values.”

He also noted that foreign countries that were not happy with laws made in Nigeria were free to express their views “but they should also know how our democracy works.”

According to him, “let me say this, the reported comments by the US Government about the proposed law by the Senate about same sex marriage in Nigeria has not fully come to government for a position. But let me say this, we live in a democracy, we live in a free country, we live in an independent country. And in every democracy, as you know, there are institutions, there are laws and also there are cultures, there are beliefs and values in every nation.

“The proposed law by the Senate, as you know Senate has passed a version of a law relating to same sex marriages, that law has not yet gone through House of Representatives not to talk of becoming a law that will be forwarded to the president for assent.

“It is a process that is going on normally through the Nigerian legislature, the same way every law is passed in every democracy, we have not reached that point where it has become law.

“But even if it does become law, as you do know, Nigeria reserves the right as an independent nation to live under laws that are democratically passed by the National Assembly.”

Ban stays—Senate

Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Publicity, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, who reacted to a memo by the President of the United States, Obama, calling on US missions abroad to resist any discrimination against same sex marriages, said the action of the Senate was for the interest of Nigeria.

Abaribe maintained that the US directive did not in any way affect Nigeria, noting that the Senate has completed its work on same sex marriage law.

He further ruled out the possibility of diplomatic row between the two countries on account of the law, adding that both countries are sovereign states with jurisdictions to make law to govern themselves without outside interferences.

He said: “The Nigerian Senate will have no reaction to a directive that was given by the President of the United States to their employees. They are giving directives to their missions abroad; we have nothing to say about that. It is their internal affairs.

“Whatever they do is their own business, the business of the Nigerian Senate is to make laws, good laws for Nigeria and for those living within the territory boundaries of Nigeria and the Nigerian Senate has already done what it feels it is in the best interest of Nigeria and the matter has ended in the Senate as far as we are concern and now we move to the next stage of law making which is to be passed in the House of Representatives subsequently to go to the President of Nigeria for assent.”

In interviews with Vanguard in Abuja shortly after the Bill on same sex marriage was officially read on the floor of the House, a cross section of members of the House remained adamant in their opposition to same sex marriage, saying “American values cannot be imposed on us by the American government.”

In his reaction, Minority Whip of the House, Hon. Samson Osagie, said Nigeria could not be arm-twisted by America to trade its value system just because it wants to play to the sentiments of the American public.

“It is only appropriate that as Africans we uphold out cherished traditional values. It is scriptural that marriages are recognised between a man and a woman. It debases our value when you begin to tolerate marriage between people of same sex. For me, I believe this is one bill that is popular and will enjoy the support of majority of members of the House.

On his part, Chairman, House Committee on Capital Market and Institutions, Hon. Herman Hembe dismissed the American position as a non-issue that would have no impact on the decision of the House.

He said: “How can the American president want to dictate to us how to make laws in our country? The whole issue smacks of colonial arrogance which will only serve to galvanise all members of parliament to ensure that the Bill is passed.

Deputy Leader of the House, Hon. Leo Ogor said: “President Obama has goofed in his reaction. Why would America want to dictate to a sovereign country which law to make and which one not to make? How can the depraved ways of a minority become the standard for law making in Nigeria? The bill will enjoy overwhelming support in the House of Representatives and no amount of threat can make us change our mind.”

US earmarks $3m to expand rights of gay

According to her, “some have suggested that gay rights and human rights are separate and distinct, but in fact they are one and the same. Gay rights are human rights, and human rights are gay rights.

“Today, I want to talk about the work we have left to do to protect one group of people whose human rights are still denied in too many parts of the world today. In many ways, they are an invisible minority. They are arrested, beaten, terrorized, even executed. “

In addition, Clinton said, “Many are treated with contempt and violence by their fellow citizens while authorities empowered to protect them look the other way or, too often, even join in the abuse.

They are denied opportunities to work and learn, driven from their homes and countries, and forced to suppress or deny who they are to protect themselves from harm. I am talking about gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people, human beings born free and given bestowed equality and dignity, who have a right to claim that, which is now one of the remaining human rights challenges of our time.”

Vanguard

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Nation in darkness - Government grants license to independent electricity producers

In a practical move to take the nation out of darkness through private sector-driven scheme, the Federal Government yesterday issued a total of 20 licences to independent power producers in the country.

And going by the provisions of a new set of regulations being finalised by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), state governments would from January 2012 have the power to generate and distribute electricity in their states.

The independent power producers are expected to add a total of 6,258 megawatts (mw) of electricity to the national grid within the next 36 months. A distribution licence was also issued to Aba Power Limited in Aba.

To give further confidence to the new entrants, the government also issued a special trading licence to the Nigerian Bulk Trading Company Plc., assuring the operators that the bulk trader had started operations and would procure whatever power they produce. The Federal Government has also announced a N20 billion take-off fund to the Nigerian Bulk Trading Company Plc.

Perhaps, the most remarkable of the licences was the one issued to Zuma Energy Nigeria Limited to produce 1200mw from coal deposits in Itobe, Kogi State. The licence represents a concrete manifestation of government’s resolve to utilise the nation’s mix for power generation.

Eight of the licences were for off-grid generation, 10 are grid-connected licences and two for embedded generation.

Chairman of the NERC, Sam Amadi, stressed that five other licencees were undergoing scrutiny for the possible issuance of similar licences.

He described the issuance of the licences as a landmark event for the sector, noting that the approval to the bulk trader to start operations was also a major boost to the reforms in the sector.

Chairman of the Independent Power Producers Association of Nigeria, Prof. Jerry Gana, expressed joy that some of the impediments that had hindered independent power producers from operation in the last one year had been resolved by the government.

He urged the owners of the licences to ensure speedy start of work “such that Nigerians will begin to enjoy stable power sooner than expected.”

He charged the Federal Government to fund the bulk trader, stressing: “That is our key agency. We sell to them when they produce and they make the investment worthwhile.”

Presenting the licences, Minister of Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji, expressed joy that government had addressed most of the challenges independent power producers were facing in the country.

“From the budget of the Ministry of Power, we are giving N20 billion to the bulk traders so that they will have money to pay for power from power producers. We are also giving N20 billion to NELMCO to assist in buying over most of the liabilities of the government power operators in preparation for the privatisation.    The privatisation is moving forward and we expect that by the second or third quarter of next year, we should have concluded the process and handed the sector over to private concerns,” he said.

On the challenges with the electricity workers, Nnaji said:  “The Federal Government is addressing all the concerns of Labour. We want to, once again, assure them that it is from their midst that the workforce for the sector would come. The operators will, no doubt, require the immense experience many of them have gathered over the years.”

The minister charged the independent power producers to take advantage of government’s efforts in addressing their challenges to give power to Nigerians.

The issue of power generation and distribution had pitched the states against the Federal Government. The states had felt discouraged by their inability to generate and distribute power in their states.

The NERC will present the document on this to the National Economic Council (NEC) at its next meeting. After its review by stakeholders, the regulation is to be sent to the Ministry of Justice for gazeting. The regulation will set the standards for independent electricity distribution network operators. Before now, the Federal Government held on to the exclusivity of power generation and distribution for commercial purposes apart from some big industries that were given the licence to produce limited units for industrial use.

Chairman of NERC, Amadi, who spoke at a stakeholders’ meeting on the review of the draft document in Abuja yesterday, noted that states which had the capacity to generate electricity would now be able to do so from January.

The regulations, he added, would ensure that “all the cost associated with transmission is bypassed. It is embedded with the distributor locally. It can cure acute shortages of power in the short and long run. A state that has the capacity can have partnership with private sector, set up a power plant to carter for the need of the state.”   He said the regulation was motivated by the agitation of states that had clamoured for the devolution of the exclusivity of the Federal Government to generate power.

“Instead of running parallel lines through the cities, you can have power embedded in your state, if you have enough capacity. For instance, Rivers has sufficient capacity. Instead of taking it to the grid, you can have power embedded in the state and the surplus you can sell to the grid if you like. What is required is that you have sufficient capacity to distribute that power. That is why we are bringing these new regulations. The cost of evacuating power to the grid and later transmitted back for use locally will be removed.”

Guardian

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