Tuesday, September 15, 2020

Nigerian porn star arrested 'for filming' at sacred Osun Osogbo ground

 A filmmaker has been arrested for allegedly recording a pornographic movie at the Osun Osogbo sacred grove in western Nigeria, police say.
The sacred forest, home to Osun, the Yoruba goddess of fertility, is a UN-designated World Heritage Site.

Police said the man, Tobiloba Jolaosho, popularly known as King Tblak HOC, was arrested for allegedly recording a "sex movie" in the forest.
Neither he nor his lawyer have commented.
Osun Osogbo is on the outskirts of the city of Osogbo, the Osun state capital.

Mr Jolaosho is a popular porn movie producer with a huge following, and snippets of the video, which allegedly showed him dressed in the white robe of adherents of the Osun deity, were posted on his website and social media accounts.

'Breached public peace'
 
It is not clear when the recording was done or how he entered the forest, which can be easily accessed from many routes.
Police spokesman Opalola Yemisi told BBC Yoruba that the movie producer will appear in court following an investigation as his conduct "could have breached public peace".

A follower of the deity, Yemi Elebuibon, said Mr Jolaosho had desecrated the grove, which was a sacred land where worshippers from Nigeria and elsewhere offer prayers and sacrifices to the Osun goddess.

"The traditional worshippers in charge of the grove will decide on what punishment to mete out to him, after the police concludes its investigation," Mr Elebuibon told the BBC's Busayo James-Olufade.

Declared it a World Heritage Site in 2003, the UN's cultural organisation, Unesco, described the Osun Osogbo sacred grove, as "one of the last remnants of primary high forest in southern Nigeria" and "as the abode of the goddess of fertility Osun, one of the pantheon of Yoruba gods".

The Osun goddess, according to Yoruba mythology, was one of the many wives of Sango, a powerful deity in Yoruba folklore.

Famous all over the world

 
Every year, thousands of people attend the Osun Osogbo festival, a traditional celebration that is thought to be 600 years old.

The two-week festival is considered to be the biggest annual traditional religious event of the Yoruba people and attracts thousands of worshippers and spectators from both Nigeria and the rest of the world.

Devotees believe that the sacred grove forest is one of the last remaining places that the spirits, or "Orishas" reveal themselves to bless them.

The festival is marked with daily performances of people dancing, singing, playing the drums and showing off elaborate costumes to appease the goddess Osun,.

The Nigerian filmmakers risking jail with lesbian movie Ife



Two Nigerian filmmakers face the prospect of imprisonment if they ignore the stern warning of the authorities and proceed with the release of a movie about a lesbian relationship.
The dramatic face-off with the regulators - the Nigerian Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) - is worthy of a film itself.

Producer Pamela Adie and director Uyaiedu Ikpe-Etim are determined that Ife (meaning "love" in the Yoruba language) reaches a Nigerian audience, but the NFVCB says it will not be approved as it violates the country's strict laws on homosexuality.

International premiere


To get around this, the filmmakers are planning a surprise online release to catch the regulators off-guard. The NFVCB, however, is diligently monitoring all digital platforms to prevent the movie from getting out.

According to NFVCB boss Adebayo Thomas, Adie and Ikpe-Etim could be jailed for promoting homosexuality in a country where same-sex relationships are forbidden and can carry a 14-year sentence.

They are organising a private screening in the commercial capital, Lagos, at the end of the month, for which they believe they do not need to get permission.
Ife will also get an international premiere in Canada in October.

Adie said the aim of the film was to show an accurate picture of lesbian and bisexual women in Nigerian movies.

If a lesbian woman does appear in a standard Nollywood movie they are often portrayed as being possessed, influenced by bad friends or forced into homosexuality and always needing "saving", she told the BBC.

"You rarely see stories about LGBT people, especially about queer women that speak to the realities of our lives.

"Ife was made to bridge the gap and to get the conversation going in Nigeria."

Coming out to a Nigerian mother

Ife is a story about two women falling in love as they spend three days together. They "then have their love tested by the realities of being in a same-sex relationship in a country like Nigeria", according to the publicity for the film.

If July's trailer, where sex is hinted at but not actually shown, is anything to go by, then Ife certainly pushes the boundaries of telling the LGBT story by Nigerian movie standards.

In one shot, the two protagonists, Ife and Adaora are in bed talking about love and the challenges faced by LGBT people especially within their families.

Their conversation forms the spine of the teaser for the film.

"I told my mum first, took her about a week to come to terms with it," Ife, played by Uzoamaka Aniunoh, says talking about revealing that she was a lesbian.

"Which is short for a Nigerian mother," interjects Adaora, played by Cindy Amadi.
"Is it too soon to say I might be in love with you?" asks Adaora as they cuddle.
"We are lesbians, this is the perfect time," answers Ife.

'It has to be censored'

Homosexuality is an extremely contentious issue in many parts of Africa and Nigeria is no different.
It is a highly religious and traditional society and its influential Christian and Muslim organisations oppose homosexuality.

As a consequence, Nigeria is one of 30 countries on the continent where it is criminalised.
The legislation outlawing same-sex relationships was passed in 2014 and built on the colonial-era prohibition of sodomy. Police in Nigeria have cracked down on people suspected of homosexuality, forcing most into hiding.

The feeling of being sidelined and the need to challenge beliefs that homosexuality is immoral is what inspired director Ikpe-Etim to take on the project.

"Before now, we have been told one-sided stories. What we are doing with this film is normalising the queer experience, we are normalising the LGBT romance.

"It will begin to erase that shame that LBQ [lesbian, bisexual and queer] women face," she told the BBC.

The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) community in Africa is becoming increasingly vocal and visible, thanks to the internet providing a space for films, talk shows and websites.

But that has not stopped filmmakers from getting into trouble with authorities.
The head of the NFVCB said there was no space for Ife or other homosexual movies in Nigeria, citing the law.

"There's a standing law that prohibits homosexuality, either in practice or in a movie or even in a theatre or on stage. If it's content from Nigeria, it has to be censored," Mr Thomas told the BBC.
He said that whatever the platform was, "as long as it's Nigerian content and it's telling a Nigerian story, then we have a right to it".

But there is no plan for large-scale screenings of Ife in Nigerian cinemas or selling the DVD, as the producers want to make it available online as pay-on-demand.
But even that will get them into trouble with the regulators.

Increasing acceptance of LGBTQ people

"If it did not pass through NFVCB and it is released, the filmmakers will be prosecuted according to the law," Mr Thomas said.

"As long as it's Nigerian content, we will pull it down because we have collaborations with Google, YouTube and other key players."

But that has not deterred the producers and Adie says her team will continue as planned, as they believe they have done nothing wrong and do not plan to seek permission for an online release.
This is not the first time an LGBTQ-themed movie has fallen foul of regulators on the continent.
Stories of Our Lives, a collection of five short films based on stories of LGBTQ life in Kenya was banned in 2014 for being "contrary to national norms".

This was also the fate of Rafiki, Kenya's first film about a lesbian relationship, which went on to be the East African nation's first film to premiere at the Cannes film festival and also receive an Oscar nomination.

Inxeba/The Wound, a South African film about a relationship between two men in the context of the Xhosa initiation ritual was also banned from mainstream South African cinemas in 2018.
Despite the set-backs, some in the LGBTQ community in Africa say they are gradually gaining confidence and acceptance and link it to the increased visibility in films and literature which are encouraging greater tolerance among younger generations.

A 2019 survey of attitudes in Nigeria showed an increase in acceptance of LGBTQ people - though the balance was still tilted against them.

Some 60% of Nigerians surveyed said they would not accept a family member who was LGBTQ, but this was significantly lower than the 83% who put themselves in that category in 2017.
The need for further change is why people like Ikpe-Etim want to keep telling the stories of the LGBTQ community.

"As a member of an under-represented group, you are constantly at the mercy of people who don't understand what it means to be queer.
"I knew if I wanted the society to view LGBTQ people in a different light, I had to tell the full story," she said.

By Azeezat Olaoluwa

BBC 


Related stories: Producer of Nigeria’s new history-making lesbian film has a cunning plan to beat homophobic censors

Video - Nigeria's anti-gay law denounced

Floods, food shortages threaten to push Nigeria into food crisis

Mal Shehu Ladan took a boat across what was, until this month, a growing rice paddy. Now, like thousands of hectares of rice in Nigeria's Kebbi state, it is under water.

"Almost all my farm has been flooded. I didn't harvest any rice," Ladan told Reuters News Agency. "It's going to be devastating."

Floods early this month across northwest Nigeria destroyed 90 percent of the two million tonnes that Kebbi state officials expected to harvest this autumn, the head of the state branch of the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria told Reuters. The loss amounts to some 20 percent of the rice Nigeria grew last year, and the waters are still rising.

Further south, outside Nigeria's capital, Abuja, chicken farmer Hippolite Adigwe is also worried. A shortage of maize forced him to sell most of his flock of more than 1,000 birds, and the 300 he has left are hungry. Chicken feed prices have more than doubled, and he is not sure how long he can cope.

Twin crises, floods and maize shortages, come just after movement restrictions and financing difficulties caused by COVID-19 containment measures complicated spring planting.

Some farmers and economists said it could push Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, into a food crisis. Rice is the country's staple grain, and chicken is a core protein.

"There is a real fear of having food shortages," Arc Kabir Ibrahim, president of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria told Reuters. "The effect on the food system is going to be colossal."

Nigeria took roughly 4,000 tonnes of millet and sorghum from the regional economic bloc's (ECOWAS) strategic stocks last month and released 30,000 tonnes of its own maize. It also gave four companies special permission to import maize.

The prominent Nigerian Economic Summit Group has called for "a complete overhaul" of agriculture policy.

Problems accessing foreign exchange to import food are adding to shortages. In July, the central bank added maize to a list of items for which importers are banned from using its dollars. Rice and fertiliser were already on the list, along with other items that Nigeria wants to be made locally.

Last week, even as food prices spiked, President Muhammadu Buhari promised that not one cent of central bank dollars would go to food or fertiliser imports, as Nigeria would continue encouraging local farmers over imports.

Importers can use dollars from pricier parallel markets. But these are tough to find due to an oil price crash that has cut Nigeria's core source of foreign exchange.

Switching grains

Rice prices had already risen substantially due to a land border closure last year that aimed to stamp out smuggling and boost local production.

Peter Clubb of the International Grains Council said the spike drove consumers to eat maize instead. This, along with a disappointing crop late last year and the foreign exchange issues, boosted maize prices to 180,000 naira ($470) per tonne from approximately 70,000 naira ($183) in March.

Farmers sid that consumers grappling with inflation, as well as the first rise in fuel prices since 2016 and a power price spike, can only pay so much more for food.

Ayodeji Balogun, chief executive at commodities exchange Afex, said the central bank's lending scheme for farmers has significantly expanded output, and can work long term.

But the coming months will be tough. Fertiliser prices hit a record after a COVID-19 outbreak shut down country's sole urea plant for two weeks, meaning more farmers will skip fertilisers, limiting crop yields.

"The worst is yet to happen," Balogun said. "It is a problem across grains."

Buhari has pledged more support, and Agriculture Minister Muhammed Sabo Nanono visited the northwest area this weekend and promised to provide farmers with high-quality seeds and to set up a special committee to ensure they have all they need to plant new crops as soon as possible.

Adigwe, the chicken farmer, said he thinks barring foreign food in order to help farmers is not a bad idea, but "there are some factors that were not considered."

"Can local production sustain the population of Nigeria?"


Al Jazeera

Friday, September 11, 2020

Nigerian doctors suspend strike to allow government time to meet demands

Nigerian resident doctors on Thursday suspended a strike to allow the government time to meet its demands over pay and working conditions amid the spread of the coronavirus, the head of the doctors’ union said.

The National Association of Resident Doctors resolved to suspend the strike “to give government time to address our demands,” said Aliyu Sokomba, president of the union, in a WhatsApp message to Reuters.

The strike began on Monday, and included 16,000 resident doctors out of a total of 42,000 doctors in the country, including those who worked in COVID-19 treatment centres, he had said earlier this week.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, has more than 55,000 confirmed coronavirus infections and more than 1,000 deaths.

Resident doctors are medical school graduates training as specialists. They are pivotal to frontline healthcare in Nigeria as they dominate the emergency wards in its hospitals.

The union last went on strike in June, demanding better benefits and more protective equipment for battling coronavirus. They are still demanding, among other things, life insurance and hazard allowances.

A labour ministry statement earlier this week said the government had spent 20 billion naira ($52.53 million) on hazard allowances for healthcare workers in April, May and June, and had met the bulk of the doctors’ demands.


Reuters

Thursday, September 10, 2020

Video - What’s being done to keep learning going in northern Nigeria?



In observance of the first-ever ‘International Day to Protect Education from Attack’ on 9 September, The Stream is partnering with Witness to discuss a new documentary on the subject. Ahmad the Architect follows Ahmad Buba, a man on a mission to help his native Nigeria undo the harm caused by Boko Haram, an armed group that doesn’t believe in Western education, and for more than a decade has bombed schools, killed teachers and kidnapped students. The film focuses on Ahmad’s efforts to build twenty four boarding schools for orphans of the violence and fourteen mosques. According to UNICEF, the attendance rate in Northern Nigeria is roughly 53 percent. While Boko Haram is largely to blame for the lack of education, various other factors play into the abandonment of learning including lower value on the education of girls, joblessness and drug use. In this episode of The Stream, we discuss the efforts to fix Nigeria’s debilitated education system and efforts to revive the schools.