Nigerian gay activist Michael Ighodaro confronted the nation’s president at a formal dinner in Washington, D.C., Wednesday, challenging him regarding Nigeria’s antigay laws and climate.
President Goodluck Jonathan was guest of honor at a $200-a-plate dinner hosted by the Corporate Council on Africa and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, timed to coincide with this week’s U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit. Ighodaro exchanged words with the president about Nigeria’s Anti-Same-Sex Marriage Act, which Jonathan signed into law in January.
The act provides for up to 14 years in prison for people who enter into a same-sex marriage and also criminalizes other declarations of gay relationships, advocacy for LGBT rights, and gatherings in LGBT clubs. Ighodaro, who has lived in the U.S. since 2012, expressed concern to Jonathan about reports of increasing violence against LGBT Nigerians since the law’s enactment.
Ighodaro said that Jonathan replied, “The situation of homosexuals in Nigeria is delicate, but during this week the topic has come up a lot, and it is something we will continue to look into, especially the attacks. If you think the law is unconstitutional, you have the right to go to court and fight [to strike] it down.”
That was most likely a reference to the recent Uganda Constitutional Court ruling invalidating that nation’s Anti-Homosexuality Act. The court’s objection to the law was based on the manner in which it was adopted, not its content.
Ighodaro has firsthand experience with antigay violence. He fled Nigeria in 2012 after an attack that he believes was motivated by homophobia. The beating left him with several broken bones, and the day after it occurred, he received numerous death threats by phone and email. He is now a fellow at the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission in New York.
Jonathan made a vague reference to the situation of LGBT people in Nigeria toward the end of his speech at the dinner, saying many discussions during the summit have focused on “the issue of sexuality” in his nation. He also mentioned the activities of Boko Haram, the radical Islamic group that abducted hundreds of female students from a boarding school in April and has carried out attacks in northeastern Nigeria for several years. Dozens were killed in its raid on the town of Gwoza Wednesday.
Advocate
Related stories: US Senators want Nigeria sanctioned for anti-gay law
Video - Nigeria's anti-gay law denounced
Friday, August 8, 2014
U.S. to seize loot of half a billion dollars from deceased Nigeria President Sani Abacha
Officials said the forfeiture of $480 million, which was authorized by a federal judge in Washington, D.C., Wednesday, sets a record for so-called "kleptocracy" actions. The U.S. froze the assets in March.
“Rather than serve his county, General Abacha used his public office in Nigeria to loot millions of dollars, engaging in brazen acts of kleptocracy,” said Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell. “With this judgment, we have forfeited $480 million in corruption proceeds that can be used for the benefit of the Nigerian people."
The forfeited assets, from banks in France, Ireland, the U.K. and the Channel Islands, represent the proceeds of corruption during and after the military regime of Gen. Abacha, who became president via military coup on Nov. 17, 1993, and held power until his death on June 8, 1998. According to a Justice Department press release, "The ultimate disposition of the funds will follow the execution of the judgment in each of these jurisdictions."
NBC
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Switzerland returns Sani Abacha's loot
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Nigeria's electricity problem
The NEPA people came the other day. Actually, their official name has changed, but NEPA — an acronym for the utility formally known as the National Electric Power Authority — is easier to say and jibes so well with our expectations: Never Expect Power Always.
Though the organization is now called the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, the new name doesn’t work as an acronym, though its initials, P.H.C.N., are popularly agreed to stand for: Problem Has Changed Name.
I had been expecting them. They come about once a month, a van containing a crew of four or five guys, going from house to house, ready to cut off your power if you lack proof that your payments are up to date — and turn it back on for an $8 reconnection fee, or any reasonable under-the-table amount. Alas, I was in arrears.
I owed several months for the electricity they had barely been providing. Even though about 85 percent of Nigeria’s urban areas and 30 percent of rural areas are on the power grid — the result of years of government monopoly and its attendant corruption — the supply is intermittent at best. I’ve been getting about three hours a day, if lucky, and even then rarely at a stretch. Sometimes you don’t get any power for three or four days. Like many people here, I rely on a private generator to bridge the gaps.
Things were supposed to get better since the government announced with great fanfare (almost a year ago now) that it had privatized the power-distribution network. But one didn’t need to be an engineer to understand that decades of neglect, in this as in other areas of national life, can hardly be fixed in a few months.
It’s difficult for nonprofessionals to work out the complicated structures involved, but generally speaking the government now generates electricity and private companies distribute it. These companies tend to be much more aggressive than the government had been because they need to repay bank loans and recoup other start-up costs. Their employees, like all workers in Nigeria, are paid very poorly. It is therefore understood that a man must augment his income any way he can.
The affable crew boss who confronted me was sincerely understanding as I explained to him how my problem had begun six months ago, when my monthly bill jumped from $30 to nearly $185. But arguing was pointless. After my power was cut, pending payment of past bills and the reconnection fee, he suggested that perhaps it would be best for me to go state my case at my local P.H.C.N. office. I should have known better.
The official I was directed to wait for was calm, considering the confusion and mass irritation swirling around him. When my turn finally came, he looked over my latest bill, frowned, and began to tap away on his keyboard. Finally, he looked up at me and explained that my previous bills had been too low; they had been adjusted upward based upon estimates of my power consumption.
In any case, he added, my meter was obsolete. I tried to explain that my meter still functioned, but he cut me short, demanding to know why I hadn’t applied for one of the new prepayment cards, which deduct money automatically as electricity is used. I explained I had been told that none were available — to put my name on a waiting list. (Payment cards may be more efficient, but they offer less opportunity for the state to collect cash payments, or impose fines.) He shrugged and called the next customer.
I decided to take my case up a notch. But the senior manager I appealed to at the head office the next day shook his head. There was nothing he could do but demand payment in full. However, he added, I was in luck. The card meter was now available. For “just” $275, and they could fix one for me — after I had settled the outstanding bill.
So now I was looking at fees of around $525. I went home and discussed the problem with my wife, but in truth there was nothing to discuss and we both knew it. We already paid $215 a month to run our generator, which is not powerful enough to draw water from the well I had dug when the state water authority, equally comatose, finally stopped supplying us many years ago.
To say that this couldn’t have happened at a worse time assumes that there is ever a good time to be hit with an outrageous bill. We had just embarked on major renovations, and a newspaper that had hired me to write a weekly column suddenly and without explanation stopped paying.
Then there was always “the Nigerian factor,” which is to say the uncertainties of life in a country where even the power of the government itself is something of a fiction. This is most obviously demonstrated by the fact that none of the more than 200 schoolgirls who were abducted over three months ago by Boko Haram terrorists have been rescued (although a few of them managed to escape).
So time passed, the next monthly bill appeared, and hard on its heels came the men with their ladders to disconnect defaulters.
This time I fudged the truth, explaining that I had met with the senior manager, and that we had worked out a payment plan. No use. They cut the power line to my house.
I went to my local office and paid something on account, and got a stern warning to settle up once and for all as quickly as possible — or else.
And yet, even as I write this, I’m not as perturbed as perhaps I should be. Cutting corners has become a way of life for all Nigerians, great and small. We don’t expect anything better, which is why we are so quiescent under conditions that should ordinarily make people rise up and say, enough is enough.
But power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely, and, in their own small way, so do power shortages.
Written by Adewale Maja-Pearce
New York Times
Related stories: Video - Aljazeera covers Nigeria's steps to improve its poor electricity supply
Video - Nigerian economy growing despite epileptic power supply
Though the organization is now called the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, the new name doesn’t work as an acronym, though its initials, P.H.C.N., are popularly agreed to stand for: Problem Has Changed Name.
I had been expecting them. They come about once a month, a van containing a crew of four or five guys, going from house to house, ready to cut off your power if you lack proof that your payments are up to date — and turn it back on for an $8 reconnection fee, or any reasonable under-the-table amount. Alas, I was in arrears.
I owed several months for the electricity they had barely been providing. Even though about 85 percent of Nigeria’s urban areas and 30 percent of rural areas are on the power grid — the result of years of government monopoly and its attendant corruption — the supply is intermittent at best. I’ve been getting about three hours a day, if lucky, and even then rarely at a stretch. Sometimes you don’t get any power for three or four days. Like many people here, I rely on a private generator to bridge the gaps.
Things were supposed to get better since the government announced with great fanfare (almost a year ago now) that it had privatized the power-distribution network. But one didn’t need to be an engineer to understand that decades of neglect, in this as in other areas of national life, can hardly be fixed in a few months.
It’s difficult for nonprofessionals to work out the complicated structures involved, but generally speaking the government now generates electricity and private companies distribute it. These companies tend to be much more aggressive than the government had been because they need to repay bank loans and recoup other start-up costs. Their employees, like all workers in Nigeria, are paid very poorly. It is therefore understood that a man must augment his income any way he can.
The affable crew boss who confronted me was sincerely understanding as I explained to him how my problem had begun six months ago, when my monthly bill jumped from $30 to nearly $185. But arguing was pointless. After my power was cut, pending payment of past bills and the reconnection fee, he suggested that perhaps it would be best for me to go state my case at my local P.H.C.N. office. I should have known better.
The official I was directed to wait for was calm, considering the confusion and mass irritation swirling around him. When my turn finally came, he looked over my latest bill, frowned, and began to tap away on his keyboard. Finally, he looked up at me and explained that my previous bills had been too low; they had been adjusted upward based upon estimates of my power consumption.
In any case, he added, my meter was obsolete. I tried to explain that my meter still functioned, but he cut me short, demanding to know why I hadn’t applied for one of the new prepayment cards, which deduct money automatically as electricity is used. I explained I had been told that none were available — to put my name on a waiting list. (Payment cards may be more efficient, but they offer less opportunity for the state to collect cash payments, or impose fines.) He shrugged and called the next customer.
I decided to take my case up a notch. But the senior manager I appealed to at the head office the next day shook his head. There was nothing he could do but demand payment in full. However, he added, I was in luck. The card meter was now available. For “just” $275, and they could fix one for me — after I had settled the outstanding bill.
So now I was looking at fees of around $525. I went home and discussed the problem with my wife, but in truth there was nothing to discuss and we both knew it. We already paid $215 a month to run our generator, which is not powerful enough to draw water from the well I had dug when the state water authority, equally comatose, finally stopped supplying us many years ago.
To say that this couldn’t have happened at a worse time assumes that there is ever a good time to be hit with an outrageous bill. We had just embarked on major renovations, and a newspaper that had hired me to write a weekly column suddenly and without explanation stopped paying.
Then there was always “the Nigerian factor,” which is to say the uncertainties of life in a country where even the power of the government itself is something of a fiction. This is most obviously demonstrated by the fact that none of the more than 200 schoolgirls who were abducted over three months ago by Boko Haram terrorists have been rescued (although a few of them managed to escape).
So time passed, the next monthly bill appeared, and hard on its heels came the men with their ladders to disconnect defaulters.
This time I fudged the truth, explaining that I had met with the senior manager, and that we had worked out a payment plan. No use. They cut the power line to my house.
I went to my local office and paid something on account, and got a stern warning to settle up once and for all as quickly as possible — or else.
And yet, even as I write this, I’m not as perturbed as perhaps I should be. Cutting corners has become a way of life for all Nigerians, great and small. We don’t expect anything better, which is why we are so quiescent under conditions that should ordinarily make people rise up and say, enough is enough.
But power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely, and, in their own small way, so do power shortages.
Written by Adewale Maja-Pearce
New York Times
Related stories: Video - Aljazeera covers Nigeria's steps to improve its poor electricity supply
Video - Nigerian economy growing despite epileptic power supply
Nigerian government declares ebola outbreak a 'national emergency'
The Minister of Health, Onyebuchi Chukwu, on Wednesday described the Ebola outbreak in the country as a “national emergency’’. Mr. Chukwu made the statement at an emergency meeting convened by the House of Representatives Committee on Health over the Ebola outbreak in Abuja.
He said that out of six Nigerians diagnosed with the Ebola virus, one died on Tuesday while the five others were receiving treatment. The minister said that everyone in the world now was at risk, adding that the experience of Nigeria had opened the “eyes” of the world to the reality of Ebola.
Mr. Chukwu faulted a report on the curative powers of bitter kola on Ebola. According to him, there was no empirical evidence to show that bitter kola will prevent or cure Ebola. Commenting on the issue, the Project Director, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Abdulsalami Nasidi, disclosed that 70 Nigerians were currently under surveillance for the disease.
Mr. Nasidi said Patrick Sawyer arrived Nigeria about two weeks ago, had 70 primary and secondary registered contacts of which 39 were hospital contacts and 22 airport contacts. Mr. Sawyer’s contacts, it was disclosed, comprised officers of the State Security Service, Nigerian Immigration Service, airport support personnel and medical personnel that attended to him.
The Director, Port Health Services in the Health Ministry, Sani Gwarzo, said restrictions had been placed on the repatriation of corpses of Nigerians abroad into the country. He said that this was part of efforts to contain the Ebola outbreak in Nigeria. Mr. Gwarzo said that more personnel were required by the health ministry to man and screen travellers at the country’s several travel points.
Earlier, the Chairman, House Committee on Health, Ndudi Elumelu, said the committee reconvened to find out how many Nigerians were infected with the Ebola virus. He explained that the committee also sought to know what the ministry was doing to curb the spread of the virus. According to him, Ebola is what most Nigerians are currently worried about and measures must be taken to protect Nigerians.
Premium Times
Related stories: 2nd ebola case confirmed in Nigeria
Nigeria racing to contain ebola outbreak after virus kills Liberian in Lagos
He said that out of six Nigerians diagnosed with the Ebola virus, one died on Tuesday while the five others were receiving treatment. The minister said that everyone in the world now was at risk, adding that the experience of Nigeria had opened the “eyes” of the world to the reality of Ebola.
Mr. Chukwu faulted a report on the curative powers of bitter kola on Ebola. According to him, there was no empirical evidence to show that bitter kola will prevent or cure Ebola. Commenting on the issue, the Project Director, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Abdulsalami Nasidi, disclosed that 70 Nigerians were currently under surveillance for the disease.
Mr. Nasidi said Patrick Sawyer arrived Nigeria about two weeks ago, had 70 primary and secondary registered contacts of which 39 were hospital contacts and 22 airport contacts. Mr. Sawyer’s contacts, it was disclosed, comprised officers of the State Security Service, Nigerian Immigration Service, airport support personnel and medical personnel that attended to him.
The Director, Port Health Services in the Health Ministry, Sani Gwarzo, said restrictions had been placed on the repatriation of corpses of Nigerians abroad into the country. He said that this was part of efforts to contain the Ebola outbreak in Nigeria. Mr. Gwarzo said that more personnel were required by the health ministry to man and screen travellers at the country’s several travel points.
Earlier, the Chairman, House Committee on Health, Ndudi Elumelu, said the committee reconvened to find out how many Nigerians were infected with the Ebola virus. He explained that the committee also sought to know what the ministry was doing to curb the spread of the virus. According to him, Ebola is what most Nigerians are currently worried about and measures must be taken to protect Nigerians.
Premium Times
Related stories: 2nd ebola case confirmed in Nigeria
Nigeria racing to contain ebola outbreak after virus kills Liberian in Lagos
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Footage appears to show Nigerian soldiers slitting throats of suspected Boko Haram militants
Footage obtained by human rights group Amnesty International and released on Tuesday appears to show Nigerian soldiers slitting the throats of Boko Haram suspects and dumping their bodies in a mass grave.
Nigeria's military is battling an increasingly vicious Islamist insurgency by Boko Haram, which wants to carve an Islamic state out of religiously mixed Nigeria. But its forces frequently come repeatedly under fire for human rights abuses, including torture and extrajudicial killings they usually deny.
It was not possible to independently verify the video, which also includes images of suspects being pulled off the back of trucks and beaten by soldiers and allied civilian militias.
Amnesty said the extrajudicial killings occurred shortly after Boko Haram's attack on a detention center in Giwa Barracks, in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, on March 14.
Nigerian Defence spokesman Major-General Chris Olukolade, who normally bristles at suggestions of abuses by Nigerian soldiers, said in at statement that "the military authorities view these grave allegations very seriously.
"Much as the scenes depicted in this video are alien to our operations and doctrines, it has to be investigated to ensure that such practices have not crept, surreptitiously, into the system," Olukolade said.
He emphasized that such behavior would be counter to the training Nigerian troops are given.
"That level of barbarism and impunity has no place in the Nigerian military. Respect for the sanctity of life is always boldly emphasized in our doctrinal training," he said.
In the most gruesome of the videos, suspects are kept to one side while graves are dug. Then the grave is shown half-full of bodies. A half-naked man is pulled from a truck and held down while a man in military uniform slices his neck open with a combat knife, hurling his body into the pit. The scene is repeated with another suspect on the same bloodied patch at the edge of grave.
The footage comes a week after Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau released a video of his fighters beheading a Nigerian soldier -- a standard practice for the militants. Amnesty's report also shows the aftermath of a Boko Haram attack on a village that the rights group said had killed 100 people.
Amnesty said 4,000 people had been killed in the conflict this year.
A military operation since May last year has aimed to crush the rebels. But they have proved remarkably resilient and have struck back in attacks that increasingly target the civilian population, killing hundreds.
"This shocking new evidence is further proof of the appalling crimes being committed with abandon by all sides in the conflict ... what does it say when members of the military carry out such unspeakable acts and capture the images on film?" said Salil Shetty, Amnesty International's secretary general.
"Numerous testimonies we have gathered suggest that extrajudicial executions are, in fact, regularly carried out by the Nigerian military," she added.
Rights groups argue that such acts by the military are not only wrong but counter-productive, as they fuel much of the anger that has helped drive the insurgency over the past five years. It is also a primary reason cited by U.S. and British forces for not giving Nigeria more counter-insurgency support.
Boko Haram was a largely non-violent clerical movement against Western culture until the killing of its founder, Mohammed Yusuf, in police custody transformed it into a full- scale armed rebellion.
Olukolade said forensic experts would study the footage "in order to ascertain the veracity of the claims with a view to identifying those behind such acts. This will ... stimulate necessary legal action against any personnel or anyone found culpable in accordance with the provisions of the law."
Reuters
Related story: Video - The state of Nigerian governance and Boko Haram
Nigeria's military is battling an increasingly vicious Islamist insurgency by Boko Haram, which wants to carve an Islamic state out of religiously mixed Nigeria. But its forces frequently come repeatedly under fire for human rights abuses, including torture and extrajudicial killings they usually deny.
It was not possible to independently verify the video, which also includes images of suspects being pulled off the back of trucks and beaten by soldiers and allied civilian militias.
Amnesty said the extrajudicial killings occurred shortly after Boko Haram's attack on a detention center in Giwa Barracks, in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, on March 14.
Nigerian Defence spokesman Major-General Chris Olukolade, who normally bristles at suggestions of abuses by Nigerian soldiers, said in at statement that "the military authorities view these grave allegations very seriously.
"Much as the scenes depicted in this video are alien to our operations and doctrines, it has to be investigated to ensure that such practices have not crept, surreptitiously, into the system," Olukolade said.
He emphasized that such behavior would be counter to the training Nigerian troops are given.
"That level of barbarism and impunity has no place in the Nigerian military. Respect for the sanctity of life is always boldly emphasized in our doctrinal training," he said.
In the most gruesome of the videos, suspects are kept to one side while graves are dug. Then the grave is shown half-full of bodies. A half-naked man is pulled from a truck and held down while a man in military uniform slices his neck open with a combat knife, hurling his body into the pit. The scene is repeated with another suspect on the same bloodied patch at the edge of grave.
The footage comes a week after Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau released a video of his fighters beheading a Nigerian soldier -- a standard practice for the militants. Amnesty's report also shows the aftermath of a Boko Haram attack on a village that the rights group said had killed 100 people.
Amnesty said 4,000 people had been killed in the conflict this year.
A military operation since May last year has aimed to crush the rebels. But they have proved remarkably resilient and have struck back in attacks that increasingly target the civilian population, killing hundreds.
"This shocking new evidence is further proof of the appalling crimes being committed with abandon by all sides in the conflict ... what does it say when members of the military carry out such unspeakable acts and capture the images on film?" said Salil Shetty, Amnesty International's secretary general.
"Numerous testimonies we have gathered suggest that extrajudicial executions are, in fact, regularly carried out by the Nigerian military," she added.
Rights groups argue that such acts by the military are not only wrong but counter-productive, as they fuel much of the anger that has helped drive the insurgency over the past five years. It is also a primary reason cited by U.S. and British forces for not giving Nigeria more counter-insurgency support.
Boko Haram was a largely non-violent clerical movement against Western culture until the killing of its founder, Mohammed Yusuf, in police custody transformed it into a full- scale armed rebellion.
Olukolade said forensic experts would study the footage "in order to ascertain the veracity of the claims with a view to identifying those behind such acts. This will ... stimulate necessary legal action against any personnel or anyone found culpable in accordance with the provisions of the law."
Reuters
Related story: Video - The state of Nigerian governance and Boko Haram
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