Nigeria recalls sacked whistleblower

A whistleblower sacked for exposing alleged fraud at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2016, Ntia Thompson, has been reinstated.

Mr. Thompson, an assistant director in the Servicom Unit of the Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa (DTCA), was first suspended on December 19, 2016.

He was later disengaged from service on February 23, 2017, for exposing fraud to the tune of $229,000 and N800,000.

The fraud was alleged to have been committed by Mohammed Kachallah, the Director-General of DTCA.

The move came just two months after the Muhammadu Buhari administration, through the Executive Council of the Federation, approved the whistle-blowing policy, promising full protection and restitution for any informant against harassment, intimidation or victimisation.

The case is currently being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Earlier in March, two civic groups had called for the reinstatement of the whistleblower.

In an open letter sent to PREMIUM TIMES, one of the groups, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, had given the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, a seven-day ultimatum to recall Mr. Thompson who was sacked after exposing the alleged fraud.

But apart from Mr. Thompson, two other whistleblowers, Aaron Kaase of the Police Service Commission (PSC) and Murtala Ibrahim of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), are facing similar ordeals.

Mr. Kaase has been on suspension without pay since May 21, 2016, while Mr. Ibrahim, on his part, was dismissed outright, report said.

Reacting to the news of Mr. Thompson’s reinstatement on Monday, the Africa Centre for Media and Information Literacy, AFRICMIL, described Mr. Thompson’s reinstatement as a triumph of good over evil.

A statement signed by the coordinator of the organisation, Chido Onumah, said the way government treats such cases gives Nigerians an idea of how seriously whistleblowing should be taken as an anti-corruption policy of government.

“Ntia’s case is a triumph of good over evil and it gives us hope that we are moving in the right direction on the whistle blower policy,” the statement said.

AFRICMIL, however, reminded the government that in much the same way the whistleblower was persecuted, Messrs. Kaase and Ibrahim are also being persecuted.

The organisation, therefore, called on the relevant agencies of government and the ministers supervising these institutions to urgently take necessary steps to return these workers to their offices and investigate the misconduct they reported. It called on investigating bodies to speed up the process of investigation and ensure that those indicted are made to face the full wrath of the law.

“While it is ethically correct to recall a dismissed whistleblower, it is also morally right that action is taken on the reported wrongdoing in a just manner,” the statement said.

“Only through that way can the confidence of potential whistleblowers be sustained.”

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Bomb blasts kill nine in northeast Nigeria

At least nine people were killed and 13 wounded in a series of blasts that took place late Sunday night and early Monday morning in Maiduguri, the capital city of Borno, a northeast Nigerian state. While no group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, they are likely the work of the Islamist militant group Boko Haram, which frequently targets the region. In a signature move for Boko Haram, the majority of the blasts were carried out by female suicide bombers.

The first attack occurred at 10:20 p.m. local time on Sunday when a male suicide bomber killed a security guard at the University of Maiduguri. About an hour later, four female suicide bombers detonated explosives in residential buildings on the outskirts of the city, killing eight people. Finally, at 4:20 a.m. local time on Monday, a third blast at the University of Maiduguri resulted in the deaths of its perpetrators: two female suicide bombers.

All together, 16 people—including the suicide bombers—were killed in the attacks, the Borno police commissioner, Damian Chukwu, announced Monday. Three days earlier, the state security agency said they had thwarted suspected bombings across four cities in northern Nigeria, including Maiduguri. The attacks were scheduled to occur during festivities celebrating the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month.

While Boko Haram does not always claim responsibility for its attacks, the group is said to have killed more than 20,000 people since launching a military campaign to overtake northeast Nigeria in 2009. In recent weeks, a series of attacks in and around Borno have killed dozens. On June 19, a pair of attacks at a mosque and nearby residence—likely carried out by Boko Haram—killed 12 people. Both attacks were led by female suicide bombers in a village near Maiduguri. Less than two weeks earlier, on June 7, militant fighters targeted mosques in eastern Maiduguri with explosives and anti-aircraft guns, killing 17 and injuring 34. The raid, if indeed the work of Boko Haram, would be the group’s deadliest this year, according to Amnesty International.

While Boko Haram is concentrated in northeast Nigeria, the group is known to target neighboring countries like Chad, Cameroon, Benin, and Niger. Over the weekend, suspected Boko Haram militants attacked five islands near Lake Chad, killing eight soldiers and wounding 18. Despite these ongoing assaults, Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari, has insisted that Boko Haram is near defeat. In December, Buhari argued that the militant group was “done for” in the Lake Chad Basin area. A year earlier, Buhari claimed that Nigeria had “technically won the war” against Boko Haram.

According to Buhari, Boko Haram is no longer capable of carrying out “conventional attacks” on communication centers and large groups of people, having resorted instead to guerrilla tactics. Indeed, although the group continues to wage attacks in the region, its threat appears to have weakened. Recent data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Dataset indicates that the al-Qaida affiliate al-Shabaab overtook Boko Haram as Africa’s deadliest terror group in 2016.

The Atlantic

Video - Nigeria's resources take strain as population grows rapidly

Nigeria is by far the most populated country in Africa, but its projected growth is causing real concern. A recent report by the United Nations suggests the its population will surpass that of the United States by 2050. This means Nigeria is on track to becoming one of the most densely populated countries in the world. But can its infrastructure and resources match up? Deji Badmus takes a look at what this rapid growth means for Nigeria's economy.

President Buhari's Eid speech in Hausa criticised

Like many national leaders, Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari wished his country well on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, this weekend.

In a short message aired on several media outlets, he said he hoped the "lessons of Ramadan" - virtues such as self-denial, and generosity to the poor - would endure, and appealed to his countrymen to live in peace.

It was the first time Mr Buhari's voice has been broadcast since he left the country in early May for medical treatment for an undisclosed ailment, Nigeria's Guardian website reports.

There have been concerns over his health, and the paper says the message should debunk rumours that he has developed a speech impairment.

But the fact that the message was delivered in Hausa, the main language of President Buhari's native northern Nigeria, was not well received by everyone.

Most Nigerians are either Muslims or Christians, and the Muslim community comprises two of the country's biggest ethnic groups - the Hausa and Fulani. Tensions exists between various communities, and feature calls for secession from some in the communities of the oil-rich south.

'An outrage'

Reno Omokri, an aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan, said "Ideally, the President should have spoken in English first."

"How can a national leader address Nigerians in a sectional language?" he asked in a Facebook post. "He is not the president of only those who can speak Hausa! This is an outrage!"

Mr Buhari's message also elicited criticism from others.

A spokesman for the Igbo community accused him of turning the country into a "banana republic", The Daily Post website reported.

Others even questioned the authenticity of the message, saying it should be investigated to ascertain whether it truly was Mr Buhari speaking, the Punch website said.

"Away from Nigeria for almost 50 days, the first message to Nigerians is in Hausa. And you people say Buhari & his handlers are not daft?" asked one scornful commentator on Twitter.

BBC

Calls for law against female genital mutilation to be introduced in Nigeria

Preston Development Foundation, a non-governmental organization in Nigeria, on Thursday organized a program in Abuja to campaign against female genital mutilation.

The World Health Organization said Nigeria has the highest prevalence rate of FGM in the world, with about 40 million women said to have undergone the practice in the country, thus indicating about 41 per cent prevalence.

The awareness stunt, held at the Federal Ministry of Health car park at the Federal Secretariat, Abuja, required the campaigners to lie on the ground as a sign of advocating against the practice, and to symbolize the harm it does to women, especially during child birth.

According to the WHO, FGM includes all procedures involving the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia for cultural and non-medical reasons.

Zikar Elendu, programme officer, PDF, said the organisation embarked on the awareness campaign because of new cases in the country.

She urged the federal government to take stringent measures to campaign against the practice, especially within the hospital environment.

“Our lying down here symbolizes what happens to many of those cut during child birth. Many of them die during child birth, many of them have difficulty during labour because they have been cut, most of them cannot enjoy the sexual aspect of life and it is wrong”.

Ms. Elendu said women cut were punished for crimes they were yet to commit.

“It is like sending them to jail for a crime they have not committed. Female Genital Mutilation makes girls pay a lifetime price for an “offence” they did not and might never commit.

“Promiscuity which is arguably the major reason for female circumcision in Nigeria has been proven to be more related to poverty, peer influence, poor parental supervision and drug use and not necessarily being uncircumcised. FGM is a violation of the human rights of girls and women”.

She said 40 million women and girls in Nigeria have undergone FGM and urged government to take serious measures to fight the practice.

“At PDF, we believe that FGM is more than a policy. We believe that behind every statistical expression is a victim, a girl child that has paid a lifetime price. We want the layman on the street to know about the dangers of FGM. We want every mother to know that FGM is in no way an empowerment. We want women to know that FGM has never been about the girl’s good or happiness.

“That is why we have organised this awareness stunt and social media campaign to demand action in order to end FGM. We hereby urge urgent action from the government as well as communities to end FGM,” she said.

Ms. Elendu said government passing a law against it would go a long way to reduce the practice and pains women go through during child birth.

Nwando Onuigbo-Chatta, the knowledge management officer of the organisation, said Nigeria might be able to reduce the high rate of maternal mortality if FGM is stopped as it is one of the causes of death during child birth.

“Though there is no statistics in the country to specify how many people lose their lives during child birth due to complications of FGM, it is a known fact that some people die during the process because they have been cut.

“We want more than just words for the government to ban the practices, we want action, as we believe if the government join hand with us to prosecute people who carry out these acts, we will be to discourage people and get an end to it,” she said.

A survey conducted by the United Nations Population Funds, UNFPA, in 2015 showed that the practice was high in the South-West in spite of the geo-political zone’s high literacy and awareness rate.

The report said Osun State still ranked highest in the prevalence of Female Genital Mutilation practice in Nigeria with over 76.3 per cent, followed by Ekiti which had 71.2, Oyo, 69.7; Ebonyi, 55.6; Imo, 48.8; and Lagos, 44.8 per cent.

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