The recent row between Nigeria and the United States over assisted military training may not be unconnected with the inability of the Nigerian government to fulfill its own part of the deal.
Two months ago, the Federal Government of Nigeria cancelled the military training arrangement it had with the United States without providing official reasons to the public.
In a terse statement regretting the premature termination of the training, the US Embassy in Lagos had last month stated that the cancelled training was to be the third in a series of training programmes the US military was handling with its Nigerian counterpart with the goal of helping the Nigerian Army build capacity to counter the Boko Haram insurgents.
However, in an interview with select journalists at his residence in Lagos yesterday, the US Ambassador to Nigeria, James Entwistle, disclosed that there was an agreement between Nigeria and America on the provision of equipment and trainers for the Nigerian military, which Nigeria failed to honour.
He said: “We had, at Nigeria’s request, agreed to train some battalion, in my opinion, some of the best trainers in the world have been provided by the United States. The agreement was that we would provide the trainers and the Nigerian Army would provide the equipment we need to properly conduct the training and that was agreed well ahead of time as part of our partnership.
“This was not something we were going to do for Nigeria; it was something we were going to do together as partners. We were able to do a bit of this and it got to a point where we were waiting for these equipment to be provided for us to finish the training, but the decision by the Nigerian government, as I understand it, was ‘no that is enough; we don’t want to finish this training’. Frankly, that was a disappointment to us given that we had provided that symbol of our commitment. As to what motivated your government, I don’t know. I will encourage you to put that question to them.”
Entwistle, whose breakfast meeting with the select journalists was centred on the donation of a decommissioned warship, NNS Okpabana, to Nigeria by the US, further reiterated the US position on the forthcoming general elections.
“The United States’ position on the election is quite clear. For the past years I have been talking about the importance of non-violence in the elections. I have been doing that and I have seen that the civil society and the Nigerian media have taken this up too. I even went to one or two of Tuface’s hip-hop concert ‘Vote not fight’ campaign. So, that is the message the United States will continue to preach, especially to urge all candidates to probably commit themselves that they will not support or engage in violence before, during and after the elections. I think that is key in any democracy,” he said.
He described the recent shooting during a political rally in Rivers State as ugly, saying: “The incident in Rivers was very sad. I condemned it, but that underlines to me why our campaign against violence is so important.”
According to Entwistle, no other country has supported Nigeria in its quest to
overcome terrorism in recent times more than the US.
“In terms of what is happening in the North-east and military relationship, we have all seen in recent months a lot of stuff about the US imposing an arms embargo. I am here to tell you as President Obama’s personal representative to this country that that is nonsense; that is not true.
“We have given this ship, NNS Okpabana as part of our commitment to strengthen security in Nigeria. We have a number of discussions on the way right now. A good portion of the assistance we give every day on the war against terror are things I can’t talk about that much, but I can assure you that no partner is doing more to assist Nigeria in its fight against terror now than the United States of America. We have seen the most unfortunate incident in Baga and that underlines to me the importance of continuing this fight.
“We are still talking about a number of equipment, different kinds of helicopters that can be more appropriate to that kind of thing. But, what are our human rights considerations? When I got here about two years ago, there were discussions about the conduct of the Nigerian Army in the North-east about the treatment of the civilian population. It was reported in your media. This is not something we came up with.
“Nigerians themselves were focusing on it. So, we have had a lot of discussions with the Nigerian Army about the need to, as you fight terror, you also have to protect the civilian population and keep them on your side.
“We have learnt the hard way in our own counterterrorism that if you lose the trust and support of the civilian population, you’ve lost everything. So, we have had that conversation. Indeed, much of the trainings that we’ve done with your army in the U.S. have focused on that kind of thing, effective leadership and how do you operate against an enemy that is hard to identify? That mixes into the civilian population, how do you fight that kind of enemy while at the same time respecting the civilian population? I am not a military man but it strikes me that this is a very difficult thing to do.”
On small arms proliferation in the Gulf of Guinea, he said: “I think small arms proliferation is something that is difficult to control because the arms are small. They are easy to smuggle. We think that in providing NNS Thunder and Okpabana they can gradually help against that. But they can also help against the broader issue of security in the Gulf of Guinea, which is a trans-national issue. It affects all the countries of this region. It also affects foreign investments. Oil companies want to get forward, like deep water. Security is paramount. We think it can also help Nigeria’s struggle against oil theft and (illegal) oil bunkering. It is an array of issues in relations to our broad issue of security with Nigeria.”
As in time past, Entwistle insisted that Nigeria would not disintegrate as being bandied about by some people.
The Ambassador said: “I have been plagued by that question ever since I got this job. I have gone back and looked, I can’t find any government report that said US thought Nigeria would disintegrate in 2015, may be some think-tank or somebody outside the government said it, I don’t know. But, in my opinion as US Ambassador to this country, I am not worried in the least that Nigeria is going to disintegrate in 2015. Do you face big challenges now? Of course you do. So does my country. But, I see a Nigeria that if you can do what needs to be done in the coming years on security, on corruption and all of those things, I think the future for Nigeria is very bright.”
He added: “Whenever I travel around this country, I always try to go to the universities and have big sessions to give talks to students and have questions and answers and whenever I do that, I leave with incredible sense of optimism about Nigeria when I get to know your best and brightest. So, are there challenges for Nigeria under the horizon? Sure, but I have no doubt that Nigeria will muscle them, will move on.
“Will it be easy? Of course not. Nothing is easy in this life… We are now here in 2015, I don’t know what you see but I can’t see those signs that Nigeria will disintegrate. I see signs of growth and I say that not to minimise the challenges that you have.”
This Day
Related story: Nigeria cancels U.S. military training
Friday, January 9, 2015
President Goodluck Jonathan begins re-election campaign
Nigeria’s president, Goodluck Jonathan, formally began his campaign for re-election on Thursday, taking the fight to a key opposition stronghold with a mass rally.
All roads to the venue on Lagos Island were cordoned off and armed soldiers and police searched the crowds, many of them dressed in the red, white and green of Jonathan’s Peoples Democratic party (PDP).
The vote is due to go ahead on 14 February but there are fears that polling could be ruled out in swaths of the country’s north-east because of sustained violence by Boko Haram militants. The national electoral body has said there are no plans to postpone.
Jonathan, a 57-year-old southern Christian, is pushing for a second four-year term, calling for more time to build on his first and complete his “transformation agenda”. Two-page advertisements in national newspapers on Thursday proclaimed: “Goodwork in progress … Vote goodwork … vote Goodluck.”
The main opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) has denounced Jonathan’s presidency as a failure, highlighting his inability to end the Islamist insurgency and tackle endemic corruption. Nigeria is also reeling from a fall in global crude prices that has forced a revision of the 2015 budget estimates and a devaluation of the currency against the US dollar.
“Under his watch, Nigeria has become No 1 in broken promises,” read one advertisement supporting the APC candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, a former military ruler.
On Wednesday Jonathan’s campaign chief, Femi Fani-Kayode, described Buhari as a “great danger” for the unity of the country. He said the 72-year-old from the Muslim-majority north, who is standing for the presidency for the fourth time since 1999, “represents a return to an ugly past which is best forgotten”.
Fani-Kayode also questioned Buhari’s democratic credentials and described his record in public office as “shameful and disastrous”. Buhari ousted the civilian president Shehu Shagari in a military coup in 1983 and his 18-month rule was characterised by a hardline stance on corruption.
“We do not believe that Nigeria ought to be run by a man that is not capable of tolerating dissent or by a political party like the APC that has no sense of remorse, restraint or decency,” Fani-Kayode said.
The APC, a coalition of opposition parties, is seen as having its best chance of winning power since Nigeria returned to civilian rule 16 years ago. It said the PDP was running scared. “The real danger to democracy in Nigeria is Jonathan,” said the party’s spokesman Lai Mohammed. “Before he came into office in 2010, Nigeria was a united country. But it is no more now.
“[Buhari] is also a good party man. The orgy of violence, armed robbery, killings, kidnappings and other forms of crime under Jonathan’s watch is unprecedented in the history of Nigeria. We have more than 20,000 sq km of our land now occupied by Boko Haram.”
The opposition has previously denounced a secret police raid on its Lagos offices and the teargassing of opposition MPs outside parliament last year as politically motivated. This week the APC claimed that Buhari supporters were shot as they made their way to a rally in the southern oil city of Port Harcourt on Tuesday.
The Guardian
All roads to the venue on Lagos Island were cordoned off and armed soldiers and police searched the crowds, many of them dressed in the red, white and green of Jonathan’s Peoples Democratic party (PDP).
The vote is due to go ahead on 14 February but there are fears that polling could be ruled out in swaths of the country’s north-east because of sustained violence by Boko Haram militants. The national electoral body has said there are no plans to postpone.
Jonathan, a 57-year-old southern Christian, is pushing for a second four-year term, calling for more time to build on his first and complete his “transformation agenda”. Two-page advertisements in national newspapers on Thursday proclaimed: “Goodwork in progress … Vote goodwork … vote Goodluck.”
The main opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) has denounced Jonathan’s presidency as a failure, highlighting his inability to end the Islamist insurgency and tackle endemic corruption. Nigeria is also reeling from a fall in global crude prices that has forced a revision of the 2015 budget estimates and a devaluation of the currency against the US dollar.
“Under his watch, Nigeria has become No 1 in broken promises,” read one advertisement supporting the APC candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, a former military ruler.
On Wednesday Jonathan’s campaign chief, Femi Fani-Kayode, described Buhari as a “great danger” for the unity of the country. He said the 72-year-old from the Muslim-majority north, who is standing for the presidency for the fourth time since 1999, “represents a return to an ugly past which is best forgotten”.
Fani-Kayode also questioned Buhari’s democratic credentials and described his record in public office as “shameful and disastrous”. Buhari ousted the civilian president Shehu Shagari in a military coup in 1983 and his 18-month rule was characterised by a hardline stance on corruption.
“We do not believe that Nigeria ought to be run by a man that is not capable of tolerating dissent or by a political party like the APC that has no sense of remorse, restraint or decency,” Fani-Kayode said.
The APC, a coalition of opposition parties, is seen as having its best chance of winning power since Nigeria returned to civilian rule 16 years ago. It said the PDP was running scared. “The real danger to democracy in Nigeria is Jonathan,” said the party’s spokesman Lai Mohammed. “Before he came into office in 2010, Nigeria was a united country. But it is no more now.
“[Buhari] is also a good party man. The orgy of violence, armed robbery, killings, kidnappings and other forms of crime under Jonathan’s watch is unprecedented in the history of Nigeria. We have more than 20,000 sq km of our land now occupied by Boko Haram.”
The opposition has previously denounced a secret police raid on its Lagos offices and the teargassing of opposition MPs outside parliament last year as politically motivated. This week the APC claimed that Buhari supporters were shot as they made their way to a rally in the southern oil city of Port Harcourt on Tuesday.
The Guardian
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Nigeria ranks highest for Christians killed around the world for faith reasons
Nigeria topped the list of Christians confirmed to have been killed for faith-related reasons around the world last year, according to an annual survey monitoring religious freedom, which says radical Islamists were the main persecutors of Christians, not only in the Middle East but increasingly in sub-Saharan Africa.
Open Doors, an international group supporting persecuted Christians worldwide, said on Wednesday Islamic militants posed the greatest threat to the faith in 18 of the 20 countries that its annual World Watch List says are toughest for Christians.
Rankings are based on the group’s analysis of violence against Christians and official or informal restrictions on rights to practice their faith, convert from other religions and enjoy the same civil liberties as other citizens.
Topping the list of Christians confirmed to have been killed for faith-related reasons were Nigeria at 2,484 and Central African Republic at 1,088, with Syria and Iraq – where Islamic State militants have driven hundreds of thousands of Christians from areas they control – at 271 and 60, respectively.
“Islamic extremism has two global centres of gravity. One in the Arab Middle East, but the other is in sub-Saharan Africa,” researcher Ron Boyd-MacMillan wrote in a report accompanying the survey.
“Even Christian majority states are experiencing unprecedented levels of exclusion, discrimination and even violence,” he wrote.
North Korea topped the list of countries most hostile to the world’s largest faith for the 13th consecutive year followed by Somalia, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Sudan, Iran, Pakistan, Eritrea and Nigeria. Christianity has an estimated 2.2 billion followers compared with Islam at 1.6 billion.
The 4,344 Christians killed in the survey year to October 31 were more than double the 2,123 victims in 2013, it said.
Boyd-McMillan said rising persecution was less due to the major incidents of violence during the year than to what he called “increased cultural marginalization” making daily life ever more difficult for Christians.
These trends had also grown in countries with religious nationalist movements such as Hindu-majority India and Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka, he said. China registered the most attacks on churches, at 258.
On the positive side, the report said the Middle East’s splintered Christian groups “have drawn together in a remarkable new unity”, especially in Syria, and Muslim leaders opposed to Islamic State have shown more support for Christian minorities.
Reuters
Open Doors, an international group supporting persecuted Christians worldwide, said on Wednesday Islamic militants posed the greatest threat to the faith in 18 of the 20 countries that its annual World Watch List says are toughest for Christians.
Rankings are based on the group’s analysis of violence against Christians and official or informal restrictions on rights to practice their faith, convert from other religions and enjoy the same civil liberties as other citizens.
Topping the list of Christians confirmed to have been killed for faith-related reasons were Nigeria at 2,484 and Central African Republic at 1,088, with Syria and Iraq – where Islamic State militants have driven hundreds of thousands of Christians from areas they control – at 271 and 60, respectively.
“Islamic extremism has two global centres of gravity. One in the Arab Middle East, but the other is in sub-Saharan Africa,” researcher Ron Boyd-MacMillan wrote in a report accompanying the survey.
“Even Christian majority states are experiencing unprecedented levels of exclusion, discrimination and even violence,” he wrote.
North Korea topped the list of countries most hostile to the world’s largest faith for the 13th consecutive year followed by Somalia, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Sudan, Iran, Pakistan, Eritrea and Nigeria. Christianity has an estimated 2.2 billion followers compared with Islam at 1.6 billion.
The 4,344 Christians killed in the survey year to October 31 were more than double the 2,123 victims in 2013, it said.
Boyd-McMillan said rising persecution was less due to the major incidents of violence during the year than to what he called “increased cultural marginalization” making daily life ever more difficult for Christians.
These trends had also grown in countries with religious nationalist movements such as Hindu-majority India and Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka, he said. China registered the most attacks on churches, at 258.
On the positive side, the report said the Middle East’s splintered Christian groups “have drawn together in a remarkable new unity”, especially in Syria, and Muslim leaders opposed to Islamic State have shown more support for Christian minorities.
Reuters
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
The Naira drops as Central Bank controls choke trading
The naira weakened a second day and Nigerian stocks headed for biggest drop since 2010 as central bank measures to protect the currency of Africa’s largest crude producer from falling oil prices stifled trading.
There were nine trades in the naira between 9 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. in Lagos, compared with 122 in the same period four weeks ago, according to data compiled by Bloomberg from at least 39 local and international banks. The naira weakened 0.8 percent to 185 per dollar, extending losses over the past three months to 11 percent, the most of 24 African currencies tracked by Bloomberg.
The Abuja-based regulator last month told banks to clear foreign exchange positions daily, having previously allowed them net-open positions of 1 percent of shareholder funds. The move has made it difficult for non-Nigerian investors to exit their holdings, according to Samir Gadio, head of African strategy at Standard Chartered Plc.
“For those who remain in Nigeria, it’s become virtually impossible to get out,” he said by phone from London. “There’s a risk that these measures last as long as the central bank feels it doesn’t have the ability to control the exchange rate.”
Calls to the mobile phones of Ibrahim Mu’azu, a spokesman for the central bank, weren’t picked up and he didn’t immediately respond to e-mailed questions. The steps are short-term measures to stabilize the market, he said last month.
Naira Devaluation
Nigeria, which relies on oil for 70 percent of its budget and over 90 percent of exports, has been battered by Brent crude prices more than halving since June to under $52 a barrel. The central bank raised interest rates to a record 13 percent and devalued its target exchange rate for the naira to 5 percent either side of 168 per dollar in November. Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala proposed cutting this year’s budget by 8 percent.
The Nigerian Stock Exchange All Share Index (NGSEINDX) plunged 4.2 percent, the most on a closing basis since March 2010, to 32,533.21. Volumes amounted to 66 percent of the three-month daily average. Nigerian Breweries Plc fell 9.6 percent for the biggest one-day fall since December 2004. United Bank for Africa Plc, the country’s third biggest bank by assets, slipped 7.4 percent to the lowest level since Dec. 22.
Bloomberg
There were nine trades in the naira between 9 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. in Lagos, compared with 122 in the same period four weeks ago, according to data compiled by Bloomberg from at least 39 local and international banks. The naira weakened 0.8 percent to 185 per dollar, extending losses over the past three months to 11 percent, the most of 24 African currencies tracked by Bloomberg.
The Abuja-based regulator last month told banks to clear foreign exchange positions daily, having previously allowed them net-open positions of 1 percent of shareholder funds. The move has made it difficult for non-Nigerian investors to exit their holdings, according to Samir Gadio, head of African strategy at Standard Chartered Plc.
“For those who remain in Nigeria, it’s become virtually impossible to get out,” he said by phone from London. “There’s a risk that these measures last as long as the central bank feels it doesn’t have the ability to control the exchange rate.”
Calls to the mobile phones of Ibrahim Mu’azu, a spokesman for the central bank, weren’t picked up and he didn’t immediately respond to e-mailed questions. The steps are short-term measures to stabilize the market, he said last month.
Naira Devaluation
Nigeria, which relies on oil for 70 percent of its budget and over 90 percent of exports, has been battered by Brent crude prices more than halving since June to under $52 a barrel. The central bank raised interest rates to a record 13 percent and devalued its target exchange rate for the naira to 5 percent either side of 168 per dollar in November. Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala proposed cutting this year’s budget by 8 percent.
The Nigerian Stock Exchange All Share Index (NGSEINDX) plunged 4.2 percent, the most on a closing basis since March 2010, to 32,533.21. Volumes amounted to 66 percent of the three-month daily average. Nigerian Breweries Plc fell 9.6 percent for the biggest one-day fall since December 2004. United Bank for Africa Plc, the country’s third biggest bank by assets, slipped 7.4 percent to the lowest level since Dec. 22.
Bloomberg
Shell to pay 55 million pounds for oil spills in Nigeria
The mud stinks and the crabs caught in the swamps around the town of Bodo in the Niger delta still smell of light crude oil.
But the 15,600 Ogoni farmers and fishermen whose lives were devastated by two large Shell oil spills in 2008 and 2009 will be celebrating on Wednesday as the company’s Nigerian subsidiary announces a £55m settlement.
British banks will start to transfer 600,000 naira (about £2,100) into each of the local people’s accounts and the community will be given millions to build health clinics and refurbish its schools.
The settlement, split £35m for individuals and £20m for the Bodo community, avoids Shell having to defend a potentially embarrassing London high court case which was due to start shortly. It is thought to be the largest payout to any African community following environmental damage and the first time that compensation for an oil spill has been paid directly to affected individuals rather than to local chiefs.
“It’s several years’ earning. I don’t think I have ever seen a happier bunch of people. The minimum wage in Nigeria is 18,000 naira a month and 70% of the Bodo population live below the poverty line. Every single one of the 15,600 has said yes to the deal,” said London lawyer Martyn Day whose team of 20 has just returned from the delta after negotiating the settlement and helping to set up thousands of bank accounts for Ogoni people who did not have one.
Shell’s first offer to the Bodo community in 2011 is understood to have been £4,000. This was raised to £18m in 2013 but was also rejected. According to Shell, the villagers had demanded £300m for the damage done.
In a seperate development, the company’s Nigerian subsidiary Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) said it expected to start to clean up its pollution in the Bodo fishing grounds and swamps “within months”. Shell had initially estimated that around 4,000 barrels of oil were spilt in the two events, but oil experts calculated from film footage that it could have been 60 times as much. According to Amnesty International, Shell had intentionally underestimated the spills in an attempt to minimise compensation payments. This was denied by Shell.
The company welcomed resolution of the case but blamed oil thieves for most of the many spills that occur every year in the delta.
“From the outset, we’ve accepted responsibility for the two deeply regrettable operational spills in Bodo. We’ve always wanted to compensate the community fairly and we are pleased to have reached agreement,” said Mutiu Sunmonu, Managing Director of SPDC. “However, unless real action is taken to end the scourge of oil theft and illegal refining, which remains the main cause of environmental pollution and is the real tragedy of the Niger Delta, areas that are cleaned up will simply become re-impacted through these illegal activities,” he said.
But Amnesty International accused Shell of trying to evade its responsibilities and said thousands of other people living near its old pipelines were at risk from spills.
Audrey Gaughran, the charity’s director of global issues, said: “Oil pollution in the Niger Delta is one of the biggest corporate scandals of our time. Shell needs to provide proper compensation, clear up the mess and make the pipelines safer, rather than fighting a slick PR campaign to dodge all responsibility.”
Styvn Obodoekwe, a spokesman for the Nigerian centre for environment, human rights and development said: “Oil giant Shell’s long-overdue compensation payout to a community devastated by oil spills is an important victory for the victims of corporate negligence.”
Legal firm Leigh Day, who represented the Bodo community, warned that the pay-out could now lead to other Nigerian oil spill cases being heard in the London courts rather than in Nigeria.
“This will open the door. We have four or five other cases which we have been asked to look at. We and others will look to bring other cases. We are pleased that Shell has done the decent thing but it is deeply disappointing that it took them six years to take this case seriously and to recognise the true extent of the damage caused to the environment and to those who rely on it for their livelihood,” said Day.
Chief Sylvester Kogbara, chairman of the Bodo Council of Chiefs and Elders said: “The community can start to live again. For the last few years people here have had no income at all. It has been very painful. We cannot start fishing again but we start business and begin to trade. There is some optimism again.
“For now, the Bodo community is very happy that this case has been finally laid to rest. The hope is that this will forge a good relationship with Shell for the future, not only with the Bodo people but with all the Niger Delta communities that have been impacted in the same way as us,” said Kogbara. “We hope that Shell will take their host communities seriously now... and clean-up the whole of Ogoniland.”
Shell and other oil companies were slated by the UN Environment programme, Amnesty International and the Nigerian government for their lack of action in cleaning up dozens of major spills in Ogoniland. The 400sq mile coastal region which, under the leadership of Nigerian writer Ken Saro-Wiwa, rose peacefully against the company in the 1990s in protest against spillages, is one one of the least developed regions in Nigeria.
The Guardian
Related stories: Shell on the verge of selling Nigeria oil fields for $5bn
Nigeria cuts oil price benchmark due to falling global oil prices
But the 15,600 Ogoni farmers and fishermen whose lives were devastated by two large Shell oil spills in 2008 and 2009 will be celebrating on Wednesday as the company’s Nigerian subsidiary announces a £55m settlement.
British banks will start to transfer 600,000 naira (about £2,100) into each of the local people’s accounts and the community will be given millions to build health clinics and refurbish its schools.
The settlement, split £35m for individuals and £20m for the Bodo community, avoids Shell having to defend a potentially embarrassing London high court case which was due to start shortly. It is thought to be the largest payout to any African community following environmental damage and the first time that compensation for an oil spill has been paid directly to affected individuals rather than to local chiefs.
“It’s several years’ earning. I don’t think I have ever seen a happier bunch of people. The minimum wage in Nigeria is 18,000 naira a month and 70% of the Bodo population live below the poverty line. Every single one of the 15,600 has said yes to the deal,” said London lawyer Martyn Day whose team of 20 has just returned from the delta after negotiating the settlement and helping to set up thousands of bank accounts for Ogoni people who did not have one.
Shell’s first offer to the Bodo community in 2011 is understood to have been £4,000. This was raised to £18m in 2013 but was also rejected. According to Shell, the villagers had demanded £300m for the damage done.
In a seperate development, the company’s Nigerian subsidiary Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) said it expected to start to clean up its pollution in the Bodo fishing grounds and swamps “within months”. Shell had initially estimated that around 4,000 barrels of oil were spilt in the two events, but oil experts calculated from film footage that it could have been 60 times as much. According to Amnesty International, Shell had intentionally underestimated the spills in an attempt to minimise compensation payments. This was denied by Shell.
The company welcomed resolution of the case but blamed oil thieves for most of the many spills that occur every year in the delta.
“From the outset, we’ve accepted responsibility for the two deeply regrettable operational spills in Bodo. We’ve always wanted to compensate the community fairly and we are pleased to have reached agreement,” said Mutiu Sunmonu, Managing Director of SPDC. “However, unless real action is taken to end the scourge of oil theft and illegal refining, which remains the main cause of environmental pollution and is the real tragedy of the Niger Delta, areas that are cleaned up will simply become re-impacted through these illegal activities,” he said.
But Amnesty International accused Shell of trying to evade its responsibilities and said thousands of other people living near its old pipelines were at risk from spills.
Audrey Gaughran, the charity’s director of global issues, said: “Oil pollution in the Niger Delta is one of the biggest corporate scandals of our time. Shell needs to provide proper compensation, clear up the mess and make the pipelines safer, rather than fighting a slick PR campaign to dodge all responsibility.”
Styvn Obodoekwe, a spokesman for the Nigerian centre for environment, human rights and development said: “Oil giant Shell’s long-overdue compensation payout to a community devastated by oil spills is an important victory for the victims of corporate negligence.”
Legal firm Leigh Day, who represented the Bodo community, warned that the pay-out could now lead to other Nigerian oil spill cases being heard in the London courts rather than in Nigeria.
“This will open the door. We have four or five other cases which we have been asked to look at. We and others will look to bring other cases. We are pleased that Shell has done the decent thing but it is deeply disappointing that it took them six years to take this case seriously and to recognise the true extent of the damage caused to the environment and to those who rely on it for their livelihood,” said Day.
Chief Sylvester Kogbara, chairman of the Bodo Council of Chiefs and Elders said: “The community can start to live again. For the last few years people here have had no income at all. It has been very painful. We cannot start fishing again but we start business and begin to trade. There is some optimism again.
“For now, the Bodo community is very happy that this case has been finally laid to rest. The hope is that this will forge a good relationship with Shell for the future, not only with the Bodo people but with all the Niger Delta communities that have been impacted in the same way as us,” said Kogbara. “We hope that Shell will take their host communities seriously now... and clean-up the whole of Ogoniland.”
Shell and other oil companies were slated by the UN Environment programme, Amnesty International and the Nigerian government for their lack of action in cleaning up dozens of major spills in Ogoniland. The 400sq mile coastal region which, under the leadership of Nigerian writer Ken Saro-Wiwa, rose peacefully against the company in the 1990s in protest against spillages, is one one of the least developed regions in Nigeria.
The Guardian
Related stories: Shell on the verge of selling Nigeria oil fields for $5bn
Nigeria cuts oil price benchmark due to falling global oil prices
Nigeria comes second in most internet addicted countries in the world
The country most addicted to the Internet is Brazil, according to a new study from business consultancy A.T. Kearney. The study surveyed people who go online at least once a day, and found that 51% of Brazilian Internet users said they were online all day long, while 20% go online more than 10 times a day. This is largely due to access to smartphones; the country has the second highest smartphone penetration in South America.
Unsurprisingly, most of those who spend the most time online are young (53% were aged 16-35) and unmarried (also 53%). And a lot of Internet use is driven by social networking: In Brazil, those surveyed spend 58% of their time online on social networking sites—more than in any other country.
Nigeria and South Africa, where 66% and 61% of survey respondents respectively go online at least once an hour, come in second and third for heavy Internet use. Their rates are nearly double that of China, where only 36% of respondents reported hourly use.
Substance
Related stories: Video - Nigeria's answer to amazon.com
Nigeria's growing video game industry
Unsurprisingly, most of those who spend the most time online are young (53% were aged 16-35) and unmarried (also 53%). And a lot of Internet use is driven by social networking: In Brazil, those surveyed spend 58% of their time online on social networking sites—more than in any other country.
Nigeria and South Africa, where 66% and 61% of survey respondents respectively go online at least once an hour, come in second and third for heavy Internet use. Their rates are nearly double that of China, where only 36% of respondents reported hourly use.
Substance
Related stories: Video - Nigeria's answer to amazon.com
Nigeria's growing video game industry
Monday, January 5, 2015
Bitcoin exchange market coming to Nigeria
Nigeria bitcoin users will be happy to learn that we are pleased to announce the launch of the the Naira market on ICE³X. The Market will officially begin trading on the 12th January 2015, but users are able to sign up and verify their accounts from today. An exclusive agreement with Nigerian payment processor, VoguePay, now allows clients to trade bitcoin in their native Naira using their existing VoguePay wallets to fund their transactions, which execute on the robust trading platform that ICE³X have been developing over the last 2 years.
Being a full order book exchange, ICE³X affords VoguePays’ clients in Nigeria the opportunity to place buy/sell orders for bitcoin instantly with further integration possibilities already in place to provide full crypto-merchant services to customers.
According to the Nigeria Communications Commission, in June 2013 the country had 48.1 million active internet subscriptions through mobile phone networks, yet this space has been largely ignored by the internet currency advocates.
“As the biggest economy in Africa, with over 40 million people connected to the internet in one way or another, it’s only natural that Nigeria is looking to take part in the opportunities that the internet affords everyone around the world. With our daily lives becoming more global and the world population & migration statistics ever increasing, it makes perfect sense to have a global mechanism, accessible by all, which operates in a self regulated eco-system, as “payment rails” for the masses connected via the web.
We have to be realistic though, the Bitcoin technology has yet to be packaged and applied correctly for it to be a mainstream alternative currency, but as an agnostic payment settlement mechanism within a larger framework it ticks all the boxes and could perhaps have a significant impact on shaping the Nigerian digital economy landscape. It is a market that simply just cannot be ignored any longer” – Gareth Grobler, Founder ICE³.
VoguePay is an online payment processor whose vision is to offer buyers and sellers a secure and easy-to-use means of transacting business online. They combine local and international knowledge and apply this to keep business connected with cutting edge financial technology. Their executive and research teams are based in Canary Wharf, London’s financial district with their development, operations and professional services groups located in Lagos, Africa’s largest market.
Through this unique opportunity VoguePay are pioneering cross border processing capabilities using Bitcoin in Africa and not just Nigeria Bitcoin businesses. The company is dedicated to bringing secure and effective payment processing facilities to Nigeria and is rapidly expanding their product offering to include alternative currencies.
“It’s been an amazing year for VoguePay. As we recently launched our latest platform (V 2.0), thousands of transactions have already experienced our unique service that our platform has to offer; and we are excited to be recognised as the best Nigerian online payment platform. Building relationships with reputable companies such as iceCUBED in South Africa, who are also focused on making e-payment accessible to as many people as possible; we will continue to set the pace of the Nigerian online payment industry. The example we are setting will pave the way for young African entrepreneurs to foster better business relationships, making the online markets more accessible to millions of Africans.” -VoguePay Compliance and Marketing director, Geoffrey Weli Wosu.
The Naira Market on ICE³X is currently live in the production environment and users are currently being verified in anticipation of the official market opening on 12th January 2015. ICE³X have been operating a successful bitcoin exchange in their native currency, Rand, since August 2013 and are also launching the Dollar and Sterling markets on the exchange at the end of January 2015.
ICE3X
Related stories: Bitcoin interest grows in Nigeria
PayPal coming to Nigeria
United Nations possibly stepping in to avert execution of Nigerian soldiers
The UN may have stepped in to avert the execution of the 54 Nigerian soldiers who were recently convicted and sentenced to death for refusing to fight against the insurgent group Boko Haram, if indications from a Non-Government Organisation (NGO) are anything to go by.
According to the Nigeria-based Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), the Office of the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Arbitrary or Summary Executions, Mr. Christof Heyns, has promised “appropriate action including communication to the government of President Goodluck Jonathan'' to avert the soldiers' execution.
SERAP said in a statement sent to PANA Sunday that the promise followed a petition submitted to Mr Heyns in December 2014 in which the group asked five UN human rights independent experts to individually and jointly use their “good offices and positions to urgently request the Nigerian government and its military authorities not to carry out the mass death sentences imposed on 54 Nigerian soldiers for what the government claimed was disobeying a direct order from their commanding officer.”
“SERAP has been in discussion with Johel Dominique at the Office of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, arbitrary or summary executions both on the telephone and via email. Johel Dominique has confirmed that the Special Rapporteur is considering appropriate action to avert the imminent execution of 54 soldiers on death row in the country.
''We have also confirmed to the Special Rapporteur that SERAP has the consent of Mr Femi Falana, SAN, the legal counsel to the 54 soldiers to file the petition,” the NGO said.
It welcomed the decision by Mr. Heyns to intervene in the matter, saying given his longstanding human rights commitment and achievements, ''we have absolutely no doubt that Mr Heyns will work assiduously to ensure that justice is done in this matter and we wish him well as he strives to do that.”
On 17 Dec., 2014, a Nigerian military court convicted 54 soldiers for conspiracy to commit mutiny and sentenced them to death by firing squad.
The facts of the case indicate that the soldiers, from the 111 Special Forces, were charged for disobeying a direct order from their commanding officer, Timothy Opurum, a Lieutenant Colonel, to take part in an operation to recapture Delwa, Bulabulin and Damboa in North-east Borno State from Boko Haram terrorists on 4 Aug. 2014
The conviction and sentence have generated controversy in Nigeria, with key opposition leaders and some retired military officers saying the soldiers, who claimed they were poorly equipped, were right to refuse to fight against a better-armed insurgent group.
Nigerian military courts have been engaged in a spate of trials resulting from the actions or inaction of troops deployed to battle the insurgency. Twelve other soldiers were sentenced to death in Sept. 2014 while many other trials are pending.
PanaPress
Related stories: Former General criticizes Nigerian army for sentencing 54 soldiers to death
According to the Nigeria-based Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), the Office of the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Arbitrary or Summary Executions, Mr. Christof Heyns, has promised “appropriate action including communication to the government of President Goodluck Jonathan'' to avert the soldiers' execution.
SERAP said in a statement sent to PANA Sunday that the promise followed a petition submitted to Mr Heyns in December 2014 in which the group asked five UN human rights independent experts to individually and jointly use their “good offices and positions to urgently request the Nigerian government and its military authorities not to carry out the mass death sentences imposed on 54 Nigerian soldiers for what the government claimed was disobeying a direct order from their commanding officer.”
“SERAP has been in discussion with Johel Dominique at the Office of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, arbitrary or summary executions both on the telephone and via email. Johel Dominique has confirmed that the Special Rapporteur is considering appropriate action to avert the imminent execution of 54 soldiers on death row in the country.
''We have also confirmed to the Special Rapporteur that SERAP has the consent of Mr Femi Falana, SAN, the legal counsel to the 54 soldiers to file the petition,” the NGO said.
It welcomed the decision by Mr. Heyns to intervene in the matter, saying given his longstanding human rights commitment and achievements, ''we have absolutely no doubt that Mr Heyns will work assiduously to ensure that justice is done in this matter and we wish him well as he strives to do that.”
On 17 Dec., 2014, a Nigerian military court convicted 54 soldiers for conspiracy to commit mutiny and sentenced them to death by firing squad.
The facts of the case indicate that the soldiers, from the 111 Special Forces, were charged for disobeying a direct order from their commanding officer, Timothy Opurum, a Lieutenant Colonel, to take part in an operation to recapture Delwa, Bulabulin and Damboa in North-east Borno State from Boko Haram terrorists on 4 Aug. 2014
The conviction and sentence have generated controversy in Nigeria, with key opposition leaders and some retired military officers saying the soldiers, who claimed they were poorly equipped, were right to refuse to fight against a better-armed insurgent group.
Nigerian military courts have been engaged in a spate of trials resulting from the actions or inaction of troops deployed to battle the insurgency. Twelve other soldiers were sentenced to death in Sept. 2014 while many other trials are pending.
PanaPress
Related stories: Former General criticizes Nigerian army for sentencing 54 soldiers to death
President Goodluck Jonathan sister passes away
President Goodluck Jonathan’s younger sister, Nancy Jonathan-Olei, died on Sunday, a statement from the family said.
The announcement is contained in a statement issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Reuben Abati, in Abuja.
According to the statement, Mrs Jonathan-Olei, 52, passed on in the early hours at a hospital in Yenagoa after a brief illness.
It said that the burial arrangements would be announced later by the family.
Premium Times
The announcement is contained in a statement issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Reuben Abati, in Abuja.
According to the statement, Mrs Jonathan-Olei, 52, passed on in the early hours at a hospital in Yenagoa after a brief illness.
It said that the burial arrangements would be announced later by the family.
Premium Times
Sunday, January 4, 2015
Boko Haram seize army base in north-eastern Nigeria
The militant group Boko Haram has seized a town and key multinational military base in north-eastern Nigeria, officials and eyewitnesses say.
A senator in Borno state said troops had abandoned the base in the town of Baga after it was attacked on Saturday.
Residents of Baga, who fled by boat to neighbouring Chad, said many people had been killed and the town set ablaze.
Baga, scene of a Nigerian army massacre in 2013, was the last town in the Borno North area under government control.
It hosted the base of the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF), made up of troops from Nigeria, Chad and Niger.
Set up in 1998 to fight trans-border crime in the Lake Chad region, the force more recently took on Boko Haram.
Boko Haram attacks towns and villages on an almost daily basis, abducting people including young boys and girls, BBC Africa analyst Mary Harper reports.
The military, which includes Western advisers and surveillance, seems incapable of dealing with the problem, she adds.
'Helter skelter'
Residents who fled to Chad said they had woken to heavy gunfire as militants stormed Baga early on Saturday, attacking from all directions.
They said they had decided to flee when they saw the multi-national troops running away.
Maina Maaji Lawan, senator for Borno North, told BBC World Service civilians had run "helter skelter" - "some into the forest, some into the desert".
Communications with the town were cut off and exact information about casualty numbers could not be confirmed, he said.
"We are very dispirited," the senator added.
Confirming that the military had abandoned the base, he said people's frustration knew "no bounds" over the apparent fact that the military had not fought back.
"There is definitely something wrong that makes our military abandon their posts each time there is an attack from Boko Haram," the senator said.
A senator in Borno state said troops had abandoned the base in the town of Baga after it was attacked on Saturday.
Residents of Baga, who fled by boat to neighbouring Chad, said many people had been killed and the town set ablaze.
Baga, scene of a Nigerian army massacre in 2013, was the last town in the Borno North area under government control.
It hosted the base of the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF), made up of troops from Nigeria, Chad and Niger.
Set up in 1998 to fight trans-border crime in the Lake Chad region, the force more recently took on Boko Haram.
Boko Haram attacks towns and villages on an almost daily basis, abducting people including young boys and girls, BBC Africa analyst Mary Harper reports.
The military, which includes Western advisers and surveillance, seems incapable of dealing with the problem, she adds.
'Helter skelter'
Residents who fled to Chad said they had woken to heavy gunfire as militants stormed Baga early on Saturday, attacking from all directions.
They said they had decided to flee when they saw the multi-national troops running away.
Maina Maaji Lawan, senator for Borno North, told BBC World Service civilians had run "helter skelter" - "some into the forest, some into the desert".
Communications with the town were cut off and exact information about casualty numbers could not be confirmed, he said.
"We are very dispirited," the senator added.
Confirming that the military had abandoned the base, he said people's frustration knew "no bounds" over the apparent fact that the military had not fought back.
"There is definitely something wrong that makes our military abandon their posts each time there is an attack from Boko Haram," the senator said.
Related stories: Boko Haram kidnap 40 boys and young men in remote village
Saturday, January 3, 2015
Parents of kidnapped schoolgirls appeal to U.N.
Parents of 200 Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by Islamist rebels in April said they were appealing directly to the United Nations for help after losing hope that the Nigerian government would rescue them.
A group lobbying for government action on behalf of the parents met with U.N. Women, the head of the U.N. representation in Nigeria, and with officials of the U.N. Office for West Africa last month. The group has also appealed to UNICEF, campaign spokeswoman Bukola Shonibare said.
U.N. officials were not immediately available for comment.
"If the government cannot take action, we are asking for the UN to come in and help and if they reject, we just don't know what to do," Reverend Enoch Mark, leader of the parents, told Reuters. Two of his daughters were kidnapped.
It is not clear what any U.N. agency could do without Nigerian government approval.
More than eight months since the abduction of the girls from Chibok, in remote northeastern Borno state, parents say they are still in the dark about what the government is doing.
A presidential spokesman said efforts to free them continue but that details of the missions are too sensitive to publish.
On April 14, Boko Haram militants raided the school while the girls were taking exams. They loaded 270 of them onto trucks. Around 50 escaped shortly afterwards.
Boko Haram, which is fighting for an Islamic state and whose name means "Western education is sinful", had been kidnapping children for more than a year, but the scale of this attack shocked the world and sparked a #BringBackOurGirls Twitter campaign that drew in celebrities including Michelle Obama.
The five year old insurgency has killed thousands of people, displaced more than a million and raised fears voting in presidential elections on February 14 will be impossible across stretches of the northeast.
"The Chibok community is pained, we cannot take this anymore," Dauda Iliya, spokesman for the Chibok community in Abuja, said at a New Year's Day rally of parents, adding that they had written to the United Nations to "protest this neglect and nonchalance by the government."
President Goodluck Jonathan says the government is trying to free the girls but a botched rescue mission would endanger them.
Dozens, possibly hundreds, have been kidnapped since the Chibok attack. Two weeks ago, gunmen abducted 172 women and children from Gumsuri, 24 km from Chibok.
Reuters
A group lobbying for government action on behalf of the parents met with U.N. Women, the head of the U.N. representation in Nigeria, and with officials of the U.N. Office for West Africa last month. The group has also appealed to UNICEF, campaign spokeswoman Bukola Shonibare said.
U.N. officials were not immediately available for comment.
"If the government cannot take action, we are asking for the UN to come in and help and if they reject, we just don't know what to do," Reverend Enoch Mark, leader of the parents, told Reuters. Two of his daughters were kidnapped.
It is not clear what any U.N. agency could do without Nigerian government approval.
More than eight months since the abduction of the girls from Chibok, in remote northeastern Borno state, parents say they are still in the dark about what the government is doing.
A presidential spokesman said efforts to free them continue but that details of the missions are too sensitive to publish.
On April 14, Boko Haram militants raided the school while the girls were taking exams. They loaded 270 of them onto trucks. Around 50 escaped shortly afterwards.
Boko Haram, which is fighting for an Islamic state and whose name means "Western education is sinful", had been kidnapping children for more than a year, but the scale of this attack shocked the world and sparked a #BringBackOurGirls Twitter campaign that drew in celebrities including Michelle Obama.
The five year old insurgency has killed thousands of people, displaced more than a million and raised fears voting in presidential elections on February 14 will be impossible across stretches of the northeast.
"The Chibok community is pained, we cannot take this anymore," Dauda Iliya, spokesman for the Chibok community in Abuja, said at a New Year's Day rally of parents, adding that they had written to the United Nations to "protest this neglect and nonchalance by the government."
President Goodluck Jonathan says the government is trying to free the girls but a botched rescue mission would endanger them.
Dozens, possibly hundreds, have been kidnapped since the Chibok attack. Two weeks ago, gunmen abducted 172 women and children from Gumsuri, 24 km from Chibok.
Reuters
Boko Haram kidnap 40 boys and young men in remote village
Suspected Boko Haram militants have kidnapped about 40 boys and young men in a raid on a remote village in north-eastern Nigeria, residents say.
People who fled Malari village in Borno state and arrived in the state capital, Maiduguri, late on Friday said the men had been taken on New Year's Eve.
Last year Boko Haram abducted about 200 girls from a boarding school in Borno.
More than 2,000 people were killed in militant violence last year in north-eastern Nigeria.
Boko Haram has been waging an insurgency since 2009, and is seeking to create an Islamic state in north-eastern Nigeria.Whisked away
In the latest incident, Malari residents said gunmen had come to the village in pick-up trucks and ordered all males to come out and listen to a sermon.
Young men were then rounded up and taken into a nearby forest.
Last month suspected Boko Haram militants stormed another village, Gumsuri. A survivor told the BBC that 33 villagers had been killed and about 200 people kidnapped.
Militants attacks have increased since three Nigerian states - Borno, Adamawa and Yobe - were put under emergency rule more than 18 months ago.
The kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok in April sparked international outrage.
Despite military assistance from countries such as China, France, the UK and the US, the girls have not yet been rescued.
BBC
People who fled Malari village in Borno state and arrived in the state capital, Maiduguri, late on Friday said the men had been taken on New Year's Eve.
Last year Boko Haram abducted about 200 girls from a boarding school in Borno.
More than 2,000 people were killed in militant violence last year in north-eastern Nigeria.
Boko Haram has been waging an insurgency since 2009, and is seeking to create an Islamic state in north-eastern Nigeria.Whisked away
In the latest incident, Malari residents said gunmen had come to the village in pick-up trucks and ordered all males to come out and listen to a sermon.
Young men were then rounded up and taken into a nearby forest.
Last month suspected Boko Haram militants stormed another village, Gumsuri. A survivor told the BBC that 33 villagers had been killed and about 200 people kidnapped.
Militants attacks have increased since three Nigerian states - Borno, Adamawa and Yobe - were put under emergency rule more than 18 months ago.
The kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok in April sparked international outrage.
Despite military assistance from countries such as China, France, the UK and the US, the girls have not yet been rescued.
BBC
Friday, January 2, 2015
Video - Nigeria and Cameroon join forces to fight Boko Haram
Nigeria and Cameroon now appear to be making concerted effort in the fight against the militant Islamic sect Boko Haram. Cameroon launched air strikes on the sect for the first time this week killing dozens of militants. Nigeria is carrying out similar strikes on the insurgents, pushing them out of towns they had captured.
Nigerian army dismisses 203 soldiers
The Nigerian Army has dismissed 203 soldiers after a secret court martial held in the dead of the night, for allegedly disobeying a direct order from their commanding officer, PREMIUM TIMES has learnt.
One of the sacked soldiers, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the soldiers were dismissed for asking for support equipment, following the army’s plan to convey them in a tipper for an operation in Bama and Gwoza, two strongholds of Boko Haram insurgents.
The soldier, who is originally of the 19th Battalion in Okitipupa in Ondo State, but attached to the 7th division in Maiduguri, said the army detained them for over 90 days before dismissing them after a midnight trial. He said they are owed up to five months in unpaid salaries.
Narrating the event that led to their dismissal, the soldier said his unit reconvened in Maiduguri last August, after they were dislodged by the insurgents in Damboa in an operation where their commanding officer and several other soldiers were killed.
He said they were given two weeks pass and that at the expiration of their pass, they were issued new uniforms, boots and 30 rounds of bullets each as opposed to the statutory 60 rounds. And were going to be conveyed in a tipper lorry to Gwoza and Bama for an operation.
He said having engaged the insurgents in several past battles, majority of the soldiers argued that the operation would be fierce, and therefore requested support equipment.
“So we asked for support weapons. No support weapon was provided. Our CO (Commanding Officer) said he would discuss with the GOC (General Officer Commanding) of the 7 Division at the headquarters. When he came back, he said we should stand down. We thought all was well,” our source said.
But the request made by the soldiers fetched them more than they bargained for.
The next day their new CO, Mohammed A, a lieutenant colonel from 195 battalion, Agenebode, ordered them to submit their weapons and uniforms or be charged with mutiny.
“On the morning of 16 of August, after the GOC briefing, our commander started calling our names and he said anyone whose name is called should submit their uniform and weapon. He added that anyone who failed to do that would be charged for mutiny. We were surprised at what was happening.
“He started from the most senior soldier among us, a warrant officer who had served for almost 30 years. They asked us to go back to the barrack. It is a war zone and our weapons had been taken from us. Staying around was of no use so we left Maiduguri back home.”
The next order from the army hierarchy was for the soldiers to report to the 4th Brigade headquarters in Benin where they were detained for three months.
“They kept us in the fenced field at the officers’ mess in 4th battalion headquarters. When we first arrived at Benin they took statements from us and took it to Maiduguri. The original charge against us was for deserting but after our statements were taken they changed the charge to disobedient to particular order. They said we disobeyed the CO’s order. They seized our phones, we couldn’t communicate with our families for the 90 days we were kept in detention,” our source said.
After they were released on December 24, they were conveyed to their various units. The soldier said on getting to their units, a court martial was set up at about 11.30 p.m. where they were tried and dismissed. He said the next morning, they were evicted from the barrack with their families.
“It was dismissal without benefits. After 17 years in service. Even people that served for 30 years were dismissed without benefits. We had no legal representation.”
Army spokesperson, Olajide Laleye, a Brigadier General, could not be reached for comments on Thursday. Calls and messages to his telephone were not answered or returned.
The dismissal of the 203 soldiers followed a wave of court-martialling of other soldiers for mutiny and other offences.
On December 24, a military court-martial that sat in Abuja sentenced four soldiers to death by firing squad for alleged mutiny.
That judgment came just about a week after another batch of 54 soldiers were condemned to death for refusing to fight the deadly Boko Haram sect.
The 54 soldiers belonged to the 111 Special Forces battalion attached to the 7 division of the army in Maiduguri. They are to die by firing squad, the military court ruled.
The soldiers were accused of disobeying a direct order from superior officers to take part in an operation aimed at dislodging Boko Haram terrorists from Delwa, Bulabulin and Damboa in Borno State.
The soldiers said they refused to take part in the operation because the Army did not provide them with the required combat and support equipment needed for such operations.
Earlier, in September, 12 soldiers were sentenced to death for allegedly shooting at a car conveying their commanding officer, Ahmed Mohammed, a Major General.
The attack occurred May 14 at the army’s 7 Division, Maimalari Barracks in Maiduguri, headed at the time by Mr. Mohammed.
Others were also sentenced to life in jail for criminal conspiracy and attempt to commit murder.
The soldiers revolted after some of their colleagues were ambushed and killed by Boko Haram extremists, an attack they blamed their commander for.
Yet, more soldiers remain on trial for their conducts in the fight against the extremist sect, and face being sentenced to death.
On December 23, another batch of 118 soldiers were transported from Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, to face charges in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
It is not clear when the troops would be arraigned before the military court, but our sources said unlike their colleagues who were convicted December 17, the 118 soldiers are accused of offences less than mutiny.
Also, 22 top officers, including a brigadier general, are being held at the Ikeja Military Cantonment in Lagos, preparatory to being arraigned for yet unclear offences.
They could not be arraigned on December 22 because the court was not properly constituted.
Their arraignment has now been scheduled for a date in January.
The convicted soldiers, apart from the four that were sentenced December 24, have been moved to Lagos to await appeal, pardon or execution.
Premium Times
Related stories: Former General criticizes Nigerian army for sentencing 54 soldiers to death
Some Nigerian soldiers refuse to fight Boko Haram until given new weapons
One of the sacked soldiers, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the soldiers were dismissed for asking for support equipment, following the army’s plan to convey them in a tipper for an operation in Bama and Gwoza, two strongholds of Boko Haram insurgents.
The soldier, who is originally of the 19th Battalion in Okitipupa in Ondo State, but attached to the 7th division in Maiduguri, said the army detained them for over 90 days before dismissing them after a midnight trial. He said they are owed up to five months in unpaid salaries.
Narrating the event that led to their dismissal, the soldier said his unit reconvened in Maiduguri last August, after they were dislodged by the insurgents in Damboa in an operation where their commanding officer and several other soldiers were killed.
He said they were given two weeks pass and that at the expiration of their pass, they were issued new uniforms, boots and 30 rounds of bullets each as opposed to the statutory 60 rounds. And were going to be conveyed in a tipper lorry to Gwoza and Bama for an operation.
He said having engaged the insurgents in several past battles, majority of the soldiers argued that the operation would be fierce, and therefore requested support equipment.
“So we asked for support weapons. No support weapon was provided. Our CO (Commanding Officer) said he would discuss with the GOC (General Officer Commanding) of the 7 Division at the headquarters. When he came back, he said we should stand down. We thought all was well,” our source said.
But the request made by the soldiers fetched them more than they bargained for.
The next day their new CO, Mohammed A, a lieutenant colonel from 195 battalion, Agenebode, ordered them to submit their weapons and uniforms or be charged with mutiny.
“On the morning of 16 of August, after the GOC briefing, our commander started calling our names and he said anyone whose name is called should submit their uniform and weapon. He added that anyone who failed to do that would be charged for mutiny. We were surprised at what was happening.
“He started from the most senior soldier among us, a warrant officer who had served for almost 30 years. They asked us to go back to the barrack. It is a war zone and our weapons had been taken from us. Staying around was of no use so we left Maiduguri back home.”
The next order from the army hierarchy was for the soldiers to report to the 4th Brigade headquarters in Benin where they were detained for three months.
“They kept us in the fenced field at the officers’ mess in 4th battalion headquarters. When we first arrived at Benin they took statements from us and took it to Maiduguri. The original charge against us was for deserting but after our statements were taken they changed the charge to disobedient to particular order. They said we disobeyed the CO’s order. They seized our phones, we couldn’t communicate with our families for the 90 days we were kept in detention,” our source said.
After they were released on December 24, they were conveyed to their various units. The soldier said on getting to their units, a court martial was set up at about 11.30 p.m. where they were tried and dismissed. He said the next morning, they were evicted from the barrack with their families.
“It was dismissal without benefits. After 17 years in service. Even people that served for 30 years were dismissed without benefits. We had no legal representation.”
Army spokesperson, Olajide Laleye, a Brigadier General, could not be reached for comments on Thursday. Calls and messages to his telephone were not answered or returned.
The dismissal of the 203 soldiers followed a wave of court-martialling of other soldiers for mutiny and other offences.
On December 24, a military court-martial that sat in Abuja sentenced four soldiers to death by firing squad for alleged mutiny.
That judgment came just about a week after another batch of 54 soldiers were condemned to death for refusing to fight the deadly Boko Haram sect.
The 54 soldiers belonged to the 111 Special Forces battalion attached to the 7 division of the army in Maiduguri. They are to die by firing squad, the military court ruled.
The soldiers were accused of disobeying a direct order from superior officers to take part in an operation aimed at dislodging Boko Haram terrorists from Delwa, Bulabulin and Damboa in Borno State.
The soldiers said they refused to take part in the operation because the Army did not provide them with the required combat and support equipment needed for such operations.
Earlier, in September, 12 soldiers were sentenced to death for allegedly shooting at a car conveying their commanding officer, Ahmed Mohammed, a Major General.
The attack occurred May 14 at the army’s 7 Division, Maimalari Barracks in Maiduguri, headed at the time by Mr. Mohammed.
Others were also sentenced to life in jail for criminal conspiracy and attempt to commit murder.
The soldiers revolted after some of their colleagues were ambushed and killed by Boko Haram extremists, an attack they blamed their commander for.
Yet, more soldiers remain on trial for their conducts in the fight against the extremist sect, and face being sentenced to death.
On December 23, another batch of 118 soldiers were transported from Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, to face charges in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
It is not clear when the troops would be arraigned before the military court, but our sources said unlike their colleagues who were convicted December 17, the 118 soldiers are accused of offences less than mutiny.
Also, 22 top officers, including a brigadier general, are being held at the Ikeja Military Cantonment in Lagos, preparatory to being arraigned for yet unclear offences.
They could not be arraigned on December 22 because the court was not properly constituted.
Their arraignment has now been scheduled for a date in January.
The convicted soldiers, apart from the four that were sentenced December 24, have been moved to Lagos to await appeal, pardon or execution.
Premium Times
Related stories: Former General criticizes Nigerian army for sentencing 54 soldiers to death
Some Nigerian soldiers refuse to fight Boko Haram until given new weapons
Suicide bomber attacks church goers in Gombe, Nigeria
A suicide bomber blew himself up at the gates of a church in Nigeria's northeastern city of Gombe during a New Year service, wounding at least eight people, according to an official for the country's Red Cross.
No group has caimed responsibility for the overnight attack.
"There was an explosion outside the ECWA church this morning. A suicide bomber who was restrained from getting into the church blew himself up," Abubakar Yakubu, who heads the Nigeria Red Cross in Gombe, said.
"Luckily no one was killed but some people were mildly injured."
A witness said the man arrived during the service at the Evangelist Church of West Africa and refused to park his motorcycle outside a security barrier set up by volunteers.
"He insisted on riding through the barrier," Dahiru Badamasi, who lives in the neighbourhood, was quoted by AFP news agency as saying.
"It was while he was arguing with the volunteers that his suicide belt exploded."
String of attacks
Northeast Nigeria has been targeted by a string of attacks blamed on Boko Haram.
Gombe, capital of the eponymous state, has until recently been spared the violence that has shaken the neighbouring states of Yobe, Borno and Adamawa, where Boko Haram has taken around 20 towns.
Boko Haram, which is waging an insurgency to carve out an Islamist state, is mainly focused on the three northeastern states.
However, it frequently set off bombs in other states as well targeting civilians.
Thursday's blast was the second attack in two days in Gombe and the fourth attack in two months.
The city's military barracks were attacked by a suicide bomber on New Year's Eve.
On December 22 two explosions in northern Nigeria - one of them in Gombe - killed at least 20 people.
Seven others died in a bus explosion on Wednesday in a village close to Potiskum, in Yobe state.
President's promises
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, who has been frequently criticised for failing to stop Boko Haram, promised on Thursday to re-equip and re-position the armed forces "to enhance their capacity to win the ongoing war against terror and insurgency."
"We will bring justice to the savage terrorists known as Boko Haram. They will be defeated," he said.
"We will not forget. We will not look the other way."
Jonathan, who is up for re-election in February, has made these types of promises before.
However, the violence has continued while private militias have increasing stood in for Nigeria's military in the fight against Boko Haram.
Experts have cast doubt on Nigeria's ability to hold the planned national elections in February due to rising unrest in parts of the northeast.
Aljazeera
No group has caimed responsibility for the overnight attack.
"There was an explosion outside the ECWA church this morning. A suicide bomber who was restrained from getting into the church blew himself up," Abubakar Yakubu, who heads the Nigeria Red Cross in Gombe, said.
"Luckily no one was killed but some people were mildly injured."
A witness said the man arrived during the service at the Evangelist Church of West Africa and refused to park his motorcycle outside a security barrier set up by volunteers.
"He insisted on riding through the barrier," Dahiru Badamasi, who lives in the neighbourhood, was quoted by AFP news agency as saying.
"It was while he was arguing with the volunteers that his suicide belt exploded."
String of attacks
Northeast Nigeria has been targeted by a string of attacks blamed on Boko Haram.
Gombe, capital of the eponymous state, has until recently been spared the violence that has shaken the neighbouring states of Yobe, Borno and Adamawa, where Boko Haram has taken around 20 towns.
Boko Haram, which is waging an insurgency to carve out an Islamist state, is mainly focused on the three northeastern states.
However, it frequently set off bombs in other states as well targeting civilians.
Thursday's blast was the second attack in two days in Gombe and the fourth attack in two months.
The city's military barracks were attacked by a suicide bomber on New Year's Eve.
On December 22 two explosions in northern Nigeria - one of them in Gombe - killed at least 20 people.
Seven others died in a bus explosion on Wednesday in a village close to Potiskum, in Yobe state.
President's promises
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, who has been frequently criticised for failing to stop Boko Haram, promised on Thursday to re-equip and re-position the armed forces "to enhance their capacity to win the ongoing war against terror and insurgency."
"We will bring justice to the savage terrorists known as Boko Haram. They will be defeated," he said.
"We will not forget. We will not look the other way."
Jonathan, who is up for re-election in February, has made these types of promises before.
However, the violence has continued while private militias have increasing stood in for Nigeria's military in the fight against Boko Haram.
Experts have cast doubt on Nigeria's ability to hold the planned national elections in February due to rising unrest in parts of the northeast.
Aljazeera
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Video - Insecurity in Nigeria likely to Impact General Elections
Millions of voters in Nigeria could miss participating in the country's next General Election, unless security is urgently restored in the restive northeastern part of the country. Government forces recently stepped up offensive against Boko Haram militants. But that offensive is yet to restore peace in larger part of the region.
Related story: Displaced Nigerians from Boko Haram violence might not be able to vote in Presidential elections in 2015
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Video - Nigeria's revised GDP stands at $510 billion
When Nigeria's Statistician general eventually released the rebased GDP figure, it was $510billion, surpassing expectations. But sparking fears the huge size of the economy could stagnate growth in a country that had consistently averaged a growth rate of 6.5 percent.
Related stories: Video - Nigeria's hidden trillion dollar economy
Video - Nigeria is now Africa's biggest economy
Former General criticizes Nigerian army for sentencing 54 soldiers to death
A retired army general, Ishola Williams, has condemned the Nigerian Army for imposing the death sentence on 54 soldiers accused of mutiny, saying the soldiers were justified in refusing to join operations without being properly equipped.
Mr. Williams said the soldiers were right in disobeying orders that would lead to certain death as a result of the failure of their commanding officers to provide them the necessary equipment.
On December 17, 2014 after a secret trial in Abuja, 54 soldiers of the 111 Special Forces battalion charged with criminal conspiracy to commit mutiny and mutiny were sentenced to death by firing squad by Nigerian Army’s 7 division General Court Martial.
The military said the soldiers disobeyed the order of their commanding officer to take part in an operation to dislodge Boko Haram terrorists from Delwa, a town close to Maiduguri.
Some of the accused soldiers testified that they refused to take part in the operation following the failure of the army to provide them with the necessary support equipment.
The soldiers were later transferred to Lagos where they await either the confirmation of the sentence, an appeal, a pardon or execution.
Military sources and the lawyer representing the soldiers, Femi Falana, told PREMIUM TIMES last week that they troops were held under deplorable conditions, and were denied food and care.
Contributing to a debate on an online group, AfricanWorldForum, about a statement by Governor Rotimi Ameachi of Rivers State, that the condemned soldiers had the right to protest the government’s failure to equip them, Mr. Williams, who resigned from the army as a major general, said the military hierarchy is prosecuting the soldiers to cover its failure.
“Those playing politics with the lives of these soldiers who were being sent to commit suicide in the name of fatherland and they refused, have to be ashamed,” he said. “The army’s top hierarchy is covering up its weaknesses by court-martialling these soldiers. The staff from the HQ (defence headquarters) and the generals are to blame. Period.
Mr. Williams was the Chief of Defence Operations, Planning and Training, at the Defence Headquarters before resigning in 1993.
“Anywhere in the world a soldier/soldiers is /are allowed to disobey orders which will lead to certain death because of poor officership and inadequate logistics,” he said.
According to him, in the military, “there are no bad soldiers but bad officers.”
Mr. Williams, a former honorary Secretary General of Transparency In Nigeria (TIN) and currently the executive secretary of a security research organisation, Pan African Strategic and Policy Research Group (PANAFSTRAG), said while he was in the military the soldiers he knew were not mutinous and a good court would dismiss the death sentence.
“The South African constitution allows soldiers to protest. The Nigerian soldiers that I know and commanded during my career are not mutinous and will not be mutinous.
“You may wish to speak to CJTF(Commander of the JTF) in Maiduguri to be able to indict these soldiers. In a good court of law the death sentence will be not upheld,” he said. “Stop playing Politricks and Polifun with the lives of young men who were put in harm’s way without the method and tools in an environment in which demons are going crazy.
“It is sad and wicked to be unfair to them. Why were the Court-Martial (CM) held in secret? Even the presidency has not made any statement on this issue because it knows the circumstances in which these soldiers were operating. In other climes, before the CM, the Concerned Service Chief and Commanders would have resigned their commissions.”
Mr. Williams said the soldiers were right in disobeying orders that would lead to certain death as a result of the failure of their commanding officers to provide them the necessary equipment.
On December 17, 2014 after a secret trial in Abuja, 54 soldiers of the 111 Special Forces battalion charged with criminal conspiracy to commit mutiny and mutiny were sentenced to death by firing squad by Nigerian Army’s 7 division General Court Martial.
The military said the soldiers disobeyed the order of their commanding officer to take part in an operation to dislodge Boko Haram terrorists from Delwa, a town close to Maiduguri.
Some of the accused soldiers testified that they refused to take part in the operation following the failure of the army to provide them with the necessary support equipment.
The soldiers were later transferred to Lagos where they await either the confirmation of the sentence, an appeal, a pardon or execution.
Military sources and the lawyer representing the soldiers, Femi Falana, told PREMIUM TIMES last week that they troops were held under deplorable conditions, and were denied food and care.
Contributing to a debate on an online group, AfricanWorldForum, about a statement by Governor Rotimi Ameachi of Rivers State, that the condemned soldiers had the right to protest the government’s failure to equip them, Mr. Williams, who resigned from the army as a major general, said the military hierarchy is prosecuting the soldiers to cover its failure.
“Those playing politics with the lives of these soldiers who were being sent to commit suicide in the name of fatherland and they refused, have to be ashamed,” he said. “The army’s top hierarchy is covering up its weaknesses by court-martialling these soldiers. The staff from the HQ (defence headquarters) and the generals are to blame. Period.
Mr. Williams was the Chief of Defence Operations, Planning and Training, at the Defence Headquarters before resigning in 1993.
“Anywhere in the world a soldier/soldiers is /are allowed to disobey orders which will lead to certain death because of poor officership and inadequate logistics,” he said.
According to him, in the military, “there are no bad soldiers but bad officers.”
Mr. Williams, a former honorary Secretary General of Transparency In Nigeria (TIN) and currently the executive secretary of a security research organisation, Pan African Strategic and Policy Research Group (PANAFSTRAG), said while he was in the military the soldiers he knew were not mutinous and a good court would dismiss the death sentence.
“The South African constitution allows soldiers to protest. The Nigerian soldiers that I know and commanded during my career are not mutinous and will not be mutinous.
“You may wish to speak to CJTF(Commander of the JTF) in Maiduguri to be able to indict these soldiers. In a good court of law the death sentence will be not upheld,” he said. “Stop playing Politricks and Polifun with the lives of young men who were put in harm’s way without the method and tools in an environment in which demons are going crazy.
“It is sad and wicked to be unfair to them. Why were the Court-Martial (CM) held in secret? Even the presidency has not made any statement on this issue because it knows the circumstances in which these soldiers were operating. In other climes, before the CM, the Concerned Service Chief and Commanders would have resigned their commissions.”
Related stories: 54 Nigerian soldiers sentenced to death by firing squad
Saturday, December 27, 2014
Father gives away 13 year old daughter to be suicide bomber for Boko Haram
A 13-year-old says her father gave her to Boko Haram extremists and that she was arrested after refusing to explode a suicide bomb in Kano, Nigeria’s second largest city in the north.
Nigeria has suffered numerous suicide bombings in recent months carried out by girls and young women. That has raised fears that the insurgents are using kidnapped girls.
The girl told a news conference Wednesday night that she saw many people being buried alive at the Boko Haram camp where her father took her in Bauchi state, east of Kano.
She said her captors asked if she wanted to go to paradise and, when she said yes, explained she would have to be a suicide bomber.
“When I was told I would have to die to enter paradise, that I would have to explode a bomb and die, I said I cannot do it,” she said.
When they threatened to kill her, she allowed them to strap her into a vest primed with explosives, saying “I was afraid to be buried alive.”
Two other girls detonated their bombs at Kano’s textile market on Dec. 10. Police said the attack killed four people and wounded seven, including the girl.
The West African nation’s home-grown Boko Haram group attracted international condemnation when its fighters kidnapped 276 schoolgirls from a boarding school in northeast Chibok town in April. Dozens escaped but 219 remain missing.
Thousands of people have been killed and 1.6 million driven from their homes in the 5-year-old uprising to create an Islamic state in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation of 160 million people divided between mainly Muslims in the north and Christians in the south.
Police Superintendent Adenrele Shinaba said the girl was arrested in the hospital with a leg wound. A taxi driver took her to the hospital, and she said she left her suicide vest on the seat. The driver alerted police.
Shinaba said she will remain in custody while investigations continue. He said they had been unable to find her father, who the girl said belongs to Boko Haram.
New York Daily
Nigeria has suffered numerous suicide bombings in recent months carried out by girls and young women. That has raised fears that the insurgents are using kidnapped girls.
The girl told a news conference Wednesday night that she saw many people being buried alive at the Boko Haram camp where her father took her in Bauchi state, east of Kano.
She said her captors asked if she wanted to go to paradise and, when she said yes, explained she would have to be a suicide bomber.
“When I was told I would have to die to enter paradise, that I would have to explode a bomb and die, I said I cannot do it,” she said.
When they threatened to kill her, she allowed them to strap her into a vest primed with explosives, saying “I was afraid to be buried alive.”
Two other girls detonated their bombs at Kano’s textile market on Dec. 10. Police said the attack killed four people and wounded seven, including the girl.
The West African nation’s home-grown Boko Haram group attracted international condemnation when its fighters kidnapped 276 schoolgirls from a boarding school in northeast Chibok town in April. Dozens escaped but 219 remain missing.
Thousands of people have been killed and 1.6 million driven from their homes in the 5-year-old uprising to create an Islamic state in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation of 160 million people divided between mainly Muslims in the north and Christians in the south.
Police Superintendent Adenrele Shinaba said the girl was arrested in the hospital with a leg wound. A taxi driver took her to the hospital, and she said she left her suicide vest on the seat. The driver alerted police.
Shinaba said she will remain in custody while investigations continue. He said they had been unable to find her father, who the girl said belongs to Boko Haram.
New York Daily
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
Travel ban from Christmas Eve to Sunday imposed in Borno and Yobe
All vehicle movement in Nigeria's north-eastern Borno state has been banned from Christmas eve to Sunday morning to prevent attacks by militant Islamists, the army has said.
The decision has led to thousands of people rushing to get to their destinations, correspondents say.
Neighbouring Yobe has barred vehicles from entering or leaving the state.
Boko Haram militants have targeted churches during previous festive seasons.
The group bombed the St Theresa Catholic Church in Madalla near the capital, Abuja, on Christmas Day 2011, killing at least 43 people.
On Christmas Eve 2010, at least 32 people were killed in bomb blasts targeting churches in central Plateau state, which straddles Nigeria's mainly Muslim north and the Christian south.'Fear of massive attacks'
Boko Haram's insurgency has been most intense in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, the three states where a state of emergency was imposed last year to beat back the militants.
However, the group has stepped up attacks since then, seizing large swathes of territory in Borno and capturing hundreds of people, including women and children, during raids on towns and villages.
Army spokesman Colonel Sani Usman said security reports indicated that Boko Haram planned to launch "massive attacks" during the Christmas period in Borno, especially on the state capital Maiduguri.
In order to guarantee public safety, people would not be able to travel by road in Borno from 18:00 local time (19:00 GMT) on Wednesday to 07:00 on Sunday.
People providing essential services such as medical care would be exempted, Col Usmani said.
BBC Nigeria analyst Ibrahim Shehu Adamu says similar bans were imposed during previous Christian and Muslim festive seasons and most people heeded them by walking to religious services or the homes of relatives.
The move is aimed at preventing Boko Haram from transporting explosives in cars or using motorbikes to carry out hit-and-run raids, he says.
The less restrictive travel ban in Yobe is not surprising, as it has not been as badly affected as Borno by the insurgency, he adds.
Boko Haram launched its insurgency in Nigeria in 2009 to create an Islamic state.
At least 2,000 civilians have been killed by the group this year.
The kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls by Boko Haram in April from the town of Chibok in Borno sparked international outrage.
BBC
The decision has led to thousands of people rushing to get to their destinations, correspondents say.
Neighbouring Yobe has barred vehicles from entering or leaving the state.
Boko Haram militants have targeted churches during previous festive seasons.
The group bombed the St Theresa Catholic Church in Madalla near the capital, Abuja, on Christmas Day 2011, killing at least 43 people.
On Christmas Eve 2010, at least 32 people were killed in bomb blasts targeting churches in central Plateau state, which straddles Nigeria's mainly Muslim north and the Christian south.'Fear of massive attacks'
Boko Haram's insurgency has been most intense in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, the three states where a state of emergency was imposed last year to beat back the militants.
However, the group has stepped up attacks since then, seizing large swathes of territory in Borno and capturing hundreds of people, including women and children, during raids on towns and villages.
Army spokesman Colonel Sani Usman said security reports indicated that Boko Haram planned to launch "massive attacks" during the Christmas period in Borno, especially on the state capital Maiduguri.
In order to guarantee public safety, people would not be able to travel by road in Borno from 18:00 local time (19:00 GMT) on Wednesday to 07:00 on Sunday.
People providing essential services such as medical care would be exempted, Col Usmani said.
BBC Nigeria analyst Ibrahim Shehu Adamu says similar bans were imposed during previous Christian and Muslim festive seasons and most people heeded them by walking to religious services or the homes of relatives.
The move is aimed at preventing Boko Haram from transporting explosives in cars or using motorbikes to carry out hit-and-run raids, he says.
The less restrictive travel ban in Yobe is not surprising, as it has not been as badly affected as Borno by the insurgency, he adds.
Boko Haram launched its insurgency in Nigeria in 2009 to create an Islamic state.
At least 2,000 civilians have been killed by the group this year.
The kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls by Boko Haram in April from the town of Chibok in Borno sparked international outrage.
BBC
Monday, December 22, 2014
Bomb explosion in Gombe, Nigeria leaves scores dead
Scores of people are feared killed after an explosion ripped through a crowded motor park in Gombe town, Gombe State, residents have said.
A journalist based in the state, Mallam Tildee, told PREMIUM TIMES that the blast occurred at Dukku Motor Park early Monday.
Mr. Tildee said he was on his way to the scene of the blast and would be able to give casualty figure later.
The spokesperson of the police in the state, Fwaje Atajiri, could not be reached for comments.
A similar blast had occurred in November at the Gombe line motor park, killing scores of commuters, drivers and traders.
Premium Times
A journalist based in the state, Mallam Tildee, told PREMIUM TIMES that the blast occurred at Dukku Motor Park early Monday.
Mr. Tildee said he was on his way to the scene of the blast and would be able to give casualty figure later.
The spokesperson of the police in the state, Fwaje Atajiri, could not be reached for comments.
A similar blast had occurred in November at the Gombe line motor park, killing scores of commuters, drivers and traders.
Premium Times
Boko Haram video shows the massacre of civilians
A new video from Boko Haram extremists shows gunmen shooting civilians lying face down in a dormitory and a leader saying they are being killed because they are “infidels.” The video, released to journalists late Saturday, comes two days after fleeing villagers reported that the extremists were rounding up older adults and killing them in two schools in Gwoza, in northeast Nigeria. “From now, killing, slaughtering, destructions and bombing will be our religious duty anywhere we invade,” the gunmen’s leader says in the video. “This is not the right time for us to keep prisoners.” The setting appears to be a school, which the leader says is in Bama, a town 40 miles north of Gwoza. Details about the shooting in the video were not available.
AP
AP
Friday, December 19, 2014
54 Nigerian soldiers sentenced to death by firing squad
A human rights lawyer says 54 soldiers have been sentenced to death because they embarrassed Nigeria's military by demanding weapons to fight Islamic extremists, and says they were justified in not going on what would have been a suicidal mission.
Defense attorney Femi Falana said Thursday he will take all legal measures to prevent authorities from carrying out a "genocidal verdict" of death by firing squad delivered Wednesday night by a court-martial.
A statement from Falana describes evidence given during the court-martial that is an indictment of Nigeria's military establishment and, the lawyer said, the reason journalists were barred from the trial.
All the soldiers convicted are aged between 21 and 25 and most joined the army around 2012, he said.
With little or no training, they were deployed against Nigeria's home-grown Islamic extremist group, Boko Haram. The lawyer charged that money for salaries and to purchase arms is often diverted by corrupt officers.
"Instead of bringing such unpatriotic officers to book, the military authorities have engaged in the diversionary tactics of wasting the lives of innocent soldiers by sentencing them to death without any legal justification," Falana charged.
He said Boko Haram on July 9 attacked the soldiers when the battalion of 750 troops was down to just 174. The extremists killed 26 soldiers including three officers and seriously injured 82. The soldiers demanded to be properly armed and were assured this would happen, he said.
Instead, the battalion was ordered Aug. 4 to recapture three towns controlled by Boko Haram. The few soldiers who deployed were ambushed and kidnapped. When some weapons were made available Aug. 8, a second group of soldiers recaptured the towns and liberated their colleagues, Falana said.
"They were commended for their bravery and sacrifice. But for some inexplicable reasons, the army authorities ordered that the soldiers be charged with mutiny for allegedly exposing the armed forces to embarrassment by asking for weapons!" his statement said.
Falana told The Associated Press another 43 soldiers including a few officers remain on trial for mutiny and cowardice for refusing to fight the extremists.
CBS
Related stories: 12 Nigerian soldiers sentenced to death for mutiny
Some Nigerian soldiers refuse to fight Boko Haram until given new weapons
Wives of Nigerian soldiers protest the lack of resources troops have to combat Boko Haram
Defense attorney Femi Falana said Thursday he will take all legal measures to prevent authorities from carrying out a "genocidal verdict" of death by firing squad delivered Wednesday night by a court-martial.
A statement from Falana describes evidence given during the court-martial that is an indictment of Nigeria's military establishment and, the lawyer said, the reason journalists were barred from the trial.
All the soldiers convicted are aged between 21 and 25 and most joined the army around 2012, he said.
With little or no training, they were deployed against Nigeria's home-grown Islamic extremist group, Boko Haram. The lawyer charged that money for salaries and to purchase arms is often diverted by corrupt officers.
"Instead of bringing such unpatriotic officers to book, the military authorities have engaged in the diversionary tactics of wasting the lives of innocent soldiers by sentencing them to death without any legal justification," Falana charged.
He said Boko Haram on July 9 attacked the soldiers when the battalion of 750 troops was down to just 174. The extremists killed 26 soldiers including three officers and seriously injured 82. The soldiers demanded to be properly armed and were assured this would happen, he said.
Instead, the battalion was ordered Aug. 4 to recapture three towns controlled by Boko Haram. The few soldiers who deployed were ambushed and kidnapped. When some weapons were made available Aug. 8, a second group of soldiers recaptured the towns and liberated their colleagues, Falana said.
"They were commended for their bravery and sacrifice. But for some inexplicable reasons, the army authorities ordered that the soldiers be charged with mutiny for allegedly exposing the armed forces to embarrassment by asking for weapons!" his statement said.
Falana told The Associated Press another 43 soldiers including a few officers remain on trial for mutiny and cowardice for refusing to fight the extremists.
CBS
Related stories: 12 Nigerian soldiers sentenced to death for mutiny
Some Nigerian soldiers refuse to fight Boko Haram until given new weapons
Wives of Nigerian soldiers protest the lack of resources troops have to combat Boko Haram
Nigeria fighting to defend currency after global oil price drop
Nigeria's central bank has brought in further measures to support its currency, the naira.
Buyers of foreign currency must use that money within 48 hours or be forced to sell it back at the rate set by the central bank.
The naira hit record lows this week of more than 187 against the dollar.
The prolonged fall in the oil price is causing serious problems for Nigeria, which is heavily dependent on the commodity.
Nigeria, which is Africa's largest oil producer, receives 70% of government revenue and 90% of all foreign exchange earnings from oil.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) warned it would impose sanctions on anyone who did not follow its new rules. Bet
Speculators are betting on further falls in the naira by buying foreign currency in the hope that they will be able to buy more when they reconvert their money back.
In November, the CBN devalued the naira to 168 against the dollar, but its action has not stopped it falling further.
Earlier this week, Nigeria was forced to revise its budget because of the dramatic fall in the price of oil.
Its finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said its economy will now grow at 5.5% this year, rather than 6.4%.
In a separate development, Nigerian oil workers agreed to call off a strike that started on Monday.
A spokesman for one of the unions involved, Pengassan, said the government had given assurances that it would address union concerns over refinery maintenance.
This includes a renewed push to get a long-delayed bill passed in parliament, aimed at overhauling the industry and improving maintenance.
BBC
Related story: Nigeria cuts oil price benchmark due to falling global oil prices
Buyers of foreign currency must use that money within 48 hours or be forced to sell it back at the rate set by the central bank.
The naira hit record lows this week of more than 187 against the dollar.
The prolonged fall in the oil price is causing serious problems for Nigeria, which is heavily dependent on the commodity.
Nigeria, which is Africa's largest oil producer, receives 70% of government revenue and 90% of all foreign exchange earnings from oil.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) warned it would impose sanctions on anyone who did not follow its new rules. Bet
Speculators are betting on further falls in the naira by buying foreign currency in the hope that they will be able to buy more when they reconvert their money back.
In November, the CBN devalued the naira to 168 against the dollar, but its action has not stopped it falling further.
Earlier this week, Nigeria was forced to revise its budget because of the dramatic fall in the price of oil.
Its finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said its economy will now grow at 5.5% this year, rather than 6.4%.
In a separate development, Nigerian oil workers agreed to call off a strike that started on Monday.
A spokesman for one of the unions involved, Pengassan, said the government had given assurances that it would address union concerns over refinery maintenance.
This includes a renewed push to get a long-delayed bill passed in parliament, aimed at overhauling the industry and improving maintenance.
BBC
Related story: Nigeria cuts oil price benchmark due to falling global oil prices
Thursday, December 18, 2014
Boko Haram kidnap 100 villagers
Militants have stormed a remote village in north-eastern Nigeria, killing at least 33 people and kidnapping at least 100, a survivor has told the BBC.
He said that suspected Boko Haram militants had seized young men, women and children from Gumsuri village.
The attack happened on Sunday but news has only just emerged, after survivors reached the city of Maiduguri.
Meanwhile, Cameroon's army says it has killed 116 Nigerian militants who had attacked one of its bases, AFP reports.
Residents told the BBC the armed militants attacked the border town of Amchide on Wednesday, arriving in two vehicles with many others on foot.
They raided the market area, setting fire to shops and more than 50 houses.
No group has said it carried out either attack but officials have blamed Nigerian-based Boko Haram militants.
More than 2,000 people have been killed in militant violence this year alone, mostly in north-eastern Nigeria, near the border with Cameroon.
The villagers who were kidnapped were from Gumsuri, not Bintiri, as was earlier reported by the BBC.
The survivor of the Gumsuri attack said that afterwards he returned to the village, about 70km (43 miles) south of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, and helped bury 33 bodies.
He said he went from house-to-house to ascertain how many people were missing.
His testimony was confirmed to BBC Hausa by a local official. Neither person wanted their names to be published.
An official told the AFP news agency that a vigilante group that had protected the village from previous attacks was overpowered.
"After killing our youths, the insurgents have taken away our wives and daughters," a resident who fled to Maiduguri told AFP.
In Cameroon, the army said vehicles from its elite battalion had been caught in an ambush on Wednesday.
"At the same time... the Amchide military base was attacked by hundreds of fighters from the sect, but the response from our defence forces was instant and appropriate," AFP quotes it as saying.
One Cameroonian soldier was killed and an officer is missing, it reports. Death penalty
BBC Nigeria correspondent Will Ross says the kidnappings are yet another example of just how vulnerable the communities of north-east Nigeria are and how the military has not been able to offer sufficient protection, despite promises of a massive deployment of soldiers supported by the air force.
The military has had problems of indiscipline amid reports of soldiers being poorly equipped, he says.
On Wednesday a Nigerian court martial handed down death sentences to 54 soldiers who had refused to take part in an operation last August to recapture three town overrun by the militants.
The soldiers, who were found guilty of mutiny, had complained that they did not have the weapons needed to take on the jihadists.
Boko Haram has been waging an insurgency since 2009 and is seeking to create an Islamist state in north-eastern Nigeria.
Attacks have increased since three states - Borno, Adamawa and Yobe - were put under emergency rule more than 18 months ago.
The kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok in Borno state in April sparked international outrage.
Despite military assistance from countries such as China, France, the UK and US, the girls have not yet been rescued.
BBC
Related story: Video - The state of Nigerian governance and Boko Haram
He said that suspected Boko Haram militants had seized young men, women and children from Gumsuri village.
The attack happened on Sunday but news has only just emerged, after survivors reached the city of Maiduguri.
Meanwhile, Cameroon's army says it has killed 116 Nigerian militants who had attacked one of its bases, AFP reports.
Residents told the BBC the armed militants attacked the border town of Amchide on Wednesday, arriving in two vehicles with many others on foot.
They raided the market area, setting fire to shops and more than 50 houses.
No group has said it carried out either attack but officials have blamed Nigerian-based Boko Haram militants.
More than 2,000 people have been killed in militant violence this year alone, mostly in north-eastern Nigeria, near the border with Cameroon.
The villagers who were kidnapped were from Gumsuri, not Bintiri, as was earlier reported by the BBC.
The survivor of the Gumsuri attack said that afterwards he returned to the village, about 70km (43 miles) south of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, and helped bury 33 bodies.
He said he went from house-to-house to ascertain how many people were missing.
His testimony was confirmed to BBC Hausa by a local official. Neither person wanted their names to be published.
An official told the AFP news agency that a vigilante group that had protected the village from previous attacks was overpowered.
"After killing our youths, the insurgents have taken away our wives and daughters," a resident who fled to Maiduguri told AFP.
In Cameroon, the army said vehicles from its elite battalion had been caught in an ambush on Wednesday.
"At the same time... the Amchide military base was attacked by hundreds of fighters from the sect, but the response from our defence forces was instant and appropriate," AFP quotes it as saying.
One Cameroonian soldier was killed and an officer is missing, it reports. Death penalty
BBC Nigeria correspondent Will Ross says the kidnappings are yet another example of just how vulnerable the communities of north-east Nigeria are and how the military has not been able to offer sufficient protection, despite promises of a massive deployment of soldiers supported by the air force.
The military has had problems of indiscipline amid reports of soldiers being poorly equipped, he says.
On Wednesday a Nigerian court martial handed down death sentences to 54 soldiers who had refused to take part in an operation last August to recapture three town overrun by the militants.
The soldiers, who were found guilty of mutiny, had complained that they did not have the weapons needed to take on the jihadists.
Boko Haram has been waging an insurgency since 2009 and is seeking to create an Islamist state in north-eastern Nigeria.
Attacks have increased since three states - Borno, Adamawa and Yobe - were put under emergency rule more than 18 months ago.
The kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok in Borno state in April sparked international outrage.
Despite military assistance from countries such as China, France, the UK and US, the girls have not yet been rescued.
BBC
Related story: Video - The state of Nigerian governance and Boko Haram
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
Adidas to extend kit sponsorship with Nigerian Football Federation
Adidas, has provisionally extended its kit sponsorship deal with the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, pending a contract renewal.
The Chairman of NFF, Amaju Pinnick, told reporters on Tuesday in Abuja that the football house plans to renew the contract, which would expire at the end of December.
According to Mr. Pinnick, the leadership crisis that engulfed the NFF is responsible for the delay in the renewal of the kit sponsorship contract.
"We requested for an extension which has been granted to us and we will see how we can tidy up and get Adidas back because we have a prime commodity in the Super Falcons playing in the World Cup next year.
"We have thirteen national teams not just the Super Falcons; the truth is, if we don't sit down to do things properly, there is no way you are going to achieve any good result.
"If you jump into a problem, it lingers as a problem.
"So we are taking our time sitting down and looking at it to come out with something that you will see and say I am proud to be a Nigerian".
Adidas, which has been kitting Nigerian national teams for about a decade now, entered into the about-to-expire deal with NFA in 2011.
The total value of the deal is worth about 10 million euro, a massive increase from the 200,000 euro deal of the contract which expired in 2010.
Premium Times
Related story: Adidas drops Nigeria Football Federation
The Chairman of NFF, Amaju Pinnick, told reporters on Tuesday in Abuja that the football house plans to renew the contract, which would expire at the end of December.
According to Mr. Pinnick, the leadership crisis that engulfed the NFF is responsible for the delay in the renewal of the kit sponsorship contract.
"We requested for an extension which has been granted to us and we will see how we can tidy up and get Adidas back because we have a prime commodity in the Super Falcons playing in the World Cup next year.
"We have thirteen national teams not just the Super Falcons; the truth is, if we don't sit down to do things properly, there is no way you are going to achieve any good result.
"If you jump into a problem, it lingers as a problem.
"So we are taking our time sitting down and looking at it to come out with something that you will see and say I am proud to be a Nigerian".
Adidas, which has been kitting Nigerian national teams for about a decade now, entered into the about-to-expire deal with NFA in 2011.
The total value of the deal is worth about 10 million euro, a massive increase from the 200,000 euro deal of the contract which expired in 2010.
Premium Times
Related story: Adidas drops Nigeria Football Federation
$7.92 billion lost by Nigeria in 1 year due to corruption
A total of $7.92billion in illicit capital flowed of out Nigeria in 2012, according to the latest report released by the US-based non-profit research and advisory organisation, Global Financial Integrity (GFI).
For the year 2012, only Nigeria and South Africa are the two African countries ranked in the top 20 countries for illicit financial outflows. Nigeria was ranked 17th behind South Africa, which ranks 9th with cumulative illicit financial outflows of $29.13 in 2012.
According to the report, “Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries: 2003-2012,” emerging economies lost a whopping $991.2billion in facilitating crime, corruption and tax evasion.
However, in the 10-year period between 2003 and 2012, Nigeria was ranked 10th with a cumulative of $157.46billion, surpassing South Africa which was ranked 12th with a cumulative $122.14billion. Also, Nigeria and South Africa are the only two African countries that were ranked for illicit financial outflows in the 10-year period between 2003 and 2012.
“The fraudulent mis-invoicing of trade transactions was revealed to be the largest component of illicit financial flows from developing countries, accounting for 77.8 percent of all illicit flows, highlighting that any effort to significantly curtail illicit financial flows must address trade mis-invoicing,” said the report.
Frontline political activist, Chris Nwokobia, said that the report vindicates the position of former CBN governor, Sansui Lamido, that $20billion was missing from the coffers of the federal government.
According to Nwokobia, when Sanusi said that $20billion was not missing, many dismissed him as playing politics and he was harassed out of office.
“This report is only saying that what Sanusi said was correct. Nigeria has always been corrupt but this is the first time that corruption is driving the wheel of state,” Nwokobia said.
The report, authored by GFI’s chief economist Dev Kar, and GFI’s junior economist Joseph Spanjers, reveals that “illicit financial flows hit a historic high of $991.2 billion in 2012 – marking a dramatic increase from 2003, when illicit outflows totalled a mere $297.4 billion.”
It also notes that illicit outflows are “growing at an inflation-adjusted 9.4 percent per year, amounting to double global GDP growth over the same period.”
“As this report demonstrates, illicit financial flows are the most damaging economic problem plaguing the world’s developing and emerging economies,” said GFI president Raymond Baker, a longtime authority on financial crime. “These outflows – already greater than the combined sum of all FDI and ODA flowing into these countries – are sapping roughly a $1trillion per year from the world’s poor and middle-income economies.”
Fuel scarcity: TOTAL is holding Nigerians to ransom – SSS
The Department of State Services (DSS) has blamed the ongoing nationwide strike embarked upon by members of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) on oil giant, TOTAL Nig. Plc., saying that the company reneged on an agreement with the union.
DSS spokesperson Marilyn Ogar, while addressing the media yesterday on the strike, urged Nigerians associated with TOTAL’s management to compel it to end the suffering they had imposed on Nigerians by keeping the said agreement.
Ogar further disclosed that the matter was brought to the DSS office by PENGASSAN officials in November, following which the Service summoned TOTAL’s managing director Elizabeth Proust, saying the oil giant’s recalcitrance triggered the industrial action.
“The issue is the ongoing strike by NUPENG and PENGASSAN which is biting hard on all Nigerians. We want to state that in November, 2014, PENGASSAN had written the Service to make a formal complaint about the transfer of Elo Victor Ogbonda to Lagos from Port Harcourt by TOTAL after she was elected as a zonal executive of the union,” said Ogar.
“Consequently, this Service summoned the managing director of TOTAL, Elizabeth Proust, on November 5, 2014, to resolve the dispute. It was agreed that Ogbonda would be re-instated, posted back to Port Harcourt and granted leave of absence for the period she would serve as an executive of PENGASSAN.”
Ogar said that PENGASSAN later informed the DSS that TOTAL had reneged on its promise to recall Ogbonda.
“Consequently, this Service contacted TOTAL and was informed that the company will not go back on its sack order. All entreaties to the company failed, thus culminating in the current strike and the attendant fuel scarcity,” Ogar said.
Fuel scarcity continues as oil workers shun FG meeting
- Oil workers insists on meeting with President
The ongoing fuel scarcity in the country may continue as the meeting called at the instance of the supervising minister of labour and productivity, Kabiru Turaki, to broker peace and resolve the industrial action by the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has been rescheduled for Thursday, December 18, 2014.
The development followed the inability of the aggrieved oil workers’ unions and their officials to turn up for the meeting earlier scheduled for Tuesday, December 16, at the minister’s office.
However, Kabiru Turaki was absent at the meeting, officials from the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, top directors at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity, including the permanent secretary, Clement Iloh, were all present.
After several hours of waiting for NUPENG and PENGASSAN executives to turn up for the meeting, the permanent secretary then publicly announced the postponement of the meeting to Thursday.
He said, “This meeting was called by this ministry to trash out the issues that must have necessitated this current strike and other problems in the sector. However, this meeting has been postponed to Thursday, December 18 by 11am. We sincerely apologise for this postponement”.
As the strike enters the third day, both unions have hinged the latest strike on federal government’s inconsistent policy in carrying out turnaround maintenance of the nation’s ailing refineries, including effecting reduction in pump prices of petrol in line with the slump in global prices of crude oil.
They also accused the government of not being able to evolve new strategies to combat issues related with pipeline vandalism and crude oil theft, and the delay by the National Assembly to pass the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).
Others are the non-implementation of the Nigeria Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act, expected to reflect Nigerians in management positions and expatriate quota law.
Despite federal government’s self-rating of having accomplished so much in road construction, NUPENG and PENGASSAN have expressed sadness at the appalling state of access roads to refineries and oil depots’ facilities, as well as insecurity all over the country that has reportedly led to the death of their members.
NUPENG president, Igwe Achese, however, told reporters that the union shunned the meeting because “it will lead to nothing at the end of the whole exercise.”
Inside sources told our reporter that the oil workers would only attend a meeting which President Goodluck Jonathan will preside.
According to Achese, government has a penchant for organising meetings when industrial issues have gone from bad to worse but has never shown consistency in implementing resolutions that emanate from such meetings.
He said there has been series of meetings between the oil unions and the minister of petroleum resources, Diezani Allison-Madueke, to resolve these issues but such meetings failed to yield any tangible results.
He chided government for abandoning the Turnaround Maintenance (TAM) policy of the refineries, adding that their major grouse was poor supply of crude oil to service the refineries while several oil vessels with fuel products are at the seaport waiting to be discharged for sale in Nigeria.
“We cannot be party to a meeting that will ultimately lead to nothing at the end of the day. What we want to see is a situation where government makes commitment by implementing some of these demands we have raised, not series of meetings.
“It will surprise you to know that in the past eight months, we have been meeting with the minister of petroleum resources and other stakeholders in the petroleum industry, yet these meetings yielded nothing.
“You heard the ministry of petroleum resources bragging that there are over 17 oil vessels at the seaport waiting to discharge fuel, how do you explain the turnaround maintenance initiated by the government itself.
“We want to see regular supply of crude oil to the refineries so as to stop the importation of fuel from other countries which do not even have oil deposits in their soil. What is government doing about the turnaround maintenance it initiated and the Petroleum Industry Bill before the National Assembly?” he queried.
Leadership
For the year 2012, only Nigeria and South Africa are the two African countries ranked in the top 20 countries for illicit financial outflows. Nigeria was ranked 17th behind South Africa, which ranks 9th with cumulative illicit financial outflows of $29.13 in 2012.
According to the report, “Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries: 2003-2012,” emerging economies lost a whopping $991.2billion in facilitating crime, corruption and tax evasion.
However, in the 10-year period between 2003 and 2012, Nigeria was ranked 10th with a cumulative of $157.46billion, surpassing South Africa which was ranked 12th with a cumulative $122.14billion. Also, Nigeria and South Africa are the only two African countries that were ranked for illicit financial outflows in the 10-year period between 2003 and 2012.
“The fraudulent mis-invoicing of trade transactions was revealed to be the largest component of illicit financial flows from developing countries, accounting for 77.8 percent of all illicit flows, highlighting that any effort to significantly curtail illicit financial flows must address trade mis-invoicing,” said the report.
Frontline political activist, Chris Nwokobia, said that the report vindicates the position of former CBN governor, Sansui Lamido, that $20billion was missing from the coffers of the federal government.
According to Nwokobia, when Sanusi said that $20billion was not missing, many dismissed him as playing politics and he was harassed out of office.
“This report is only saying that what Sanusi said was correct. Nigeria has always been corrupt but this is the first time that corruption is driving the wheel of state,” Nwokobia said.
The report, authored by GFI’s chief economist Dev Kar, and GFI’s junior economist Joseph Spanjers, reveals that “illicit financial flows hit a historic high of $991.2 billion in 2012 – marking a dramatic increase from 2003, when illicit outflows totalled a mere $297.4 billion.”
It also notes that illicit outflows are “growing at an inflation-adjusted 9.4 percent per year, amounting to double global GDP growth over the same period.”
“As this report demonstrates, illicit financial flows are the most damaging economic problem plaguing the world’s developing and emerging economies,” said GFI president Raymond Baker, a longtime authority on financial crime. “These outflows – already greater than the combined sum of all FDI and ODA flowing into these countries – are sapping roughly a $1trillion per year from the world’s poor and middle-income economies.”
Fuel scarcity: TOTAL is holding Nigerians to ransom – SSS
The Department of State Services (DSS) has blamed the ongoing nationwide strike embarked upon by members of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) on oil giant, TOTAL Nig. Plc., saying that the company reneged on an agreement with the union.
DSS spokesperson Marilyn Ogar, while addressing the media yesterday on the strike, urged Nigerians associated with TOTAL’s management to compel it to end the suffering they had imposed on Nigerians by keeping the said agreement.
Ogar further disclosed that the matter was brought to the DSS office by PENGASSAN officials in November, following which the Service summoned TOTAL’s managing director Elizabeth Proust, saying the oil giant’s recalcitrance triggered the industrial action.
“The issue is the ongoing strike by NUPENG and PENGASSAN which is biting hard on all Nigerians. We want to state that in November, 2014, PENGASSAN had written the Service to make a formal complaint about the transfer of Elo Victor Ogbonda to Lagos from Port Harcourt by TOTAL after she was elected as a zonal executive of the union,” said Ogar.
“Consequently, this Service summoned the managing director of TOTAL, Elizabeth Proust, on November 5, 2014, to resolve the dispute. It was agreed that Ogbonda would be re-instated, posted back to Port Harcourt and granted leave of absence for the period she would serve as an executive of PENGASSAN.”
Ogar said that PENGASSAN later informed the DSS that TOTAL had reneged on its promise to recall Ogbonda.
“Consequently, this Service contacted TOTAL and was informed that the company will not go back on its sack order. All entreaties to the company failed, thus culminating in the current strike and the attendant fuel scarcity,” Ogar said.
Fuel scarcity continues as oil workers shun FG meeting
- Oil workers insists on meeting with President
The ongoing fuel scarcity in the country may continue as the meeting called at the instance of the supervising minister of labour and productivity, Kabiru Turaki, to broker peace and resolve the industrial action by the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has been rescheduled for Thursday, December 18, 2014.
The development followed the inability of the aggrieved oil workers’ unions and their officials to turn up for the meeting earlier scheduled for Tuesday, December 16, at the minister’s office.
However, Kabiru Turaki was absent at the meeting, officials from the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, top directors at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity, including the permanent secretary, Clement Iloh, were all present.
After several hours of waiting for NUPENG and PENGASSAN executives to turn up for the meeting, the permanent secretary then publicly announced the postponement of the meeting to Thursday.
He said, “This meeting was called by this ministry to trash out the issues that must have necessitated this current strike and other problems in the sector. However, this meeting has been postponed to Thursday, December 18 by 11am. We sincerely apologise for this postponement”.
As the strike enters the third day, both unions have hinged the latest strike on federal government’s inconsistent policy in carrying out turnaround maintenance of the nation’s ailing refineries, including effecting reduction in pump prices of petrol in line with the slump in global prices of crude oil.
They also accused the government of not being able to evolve new strategies to combat issues related with pipeline vandalism and crude oil theft, and the delay by the National Assembly to pass the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).
Others are the non-implementation of the Nigeria Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act, expected to reflect Nigerians in management positions and expatriate quota law.
Despite federal government’s self-rating of having accomplished so much in road construction, NUPENG and PENGASSAN have expressed sadness at the appalling state of access roads to refineries and oil depots’ facilities, as well as insecurity all over the country that has reportedly led to the death of their members.
NUPENG president, Igwe Achese, however, told reporters that the union shunned the meeting because “it will lead to nothing at the end of the whole exercise.”
Inside sources told our reporter that the oil workers would only attend a meeting which President Goodluck Jonathan will preside.
According to Achese, government has a penchant for organising meetings when industrial issues have gone from bad to worse but has never shown consistency in implementing resolutions that emanate from such meetings.
He said there has been series of meetings between the oil unions and the minister of petroleum resources, Diezani Allison-Madueke, to resolve these issues but such meetings failed to yield any tangible results.
He chided government for abandoning the Turnaround Maintenance (TAM) policy of the refineries, adding that their major grouse was poor supply of crude oil to service the refineries while several oil vessels with fuel products are at the seaport waiting to be discharged for sale in Nigeria.
“We cannot be party to a meeting that will ultimately lead to nothing at the end of the day. What we want to see is a situation where government makes commitment by implementing some of these demands we have raised, not series of meetings.
“It will surprise you to know that in the past eight months, we have been meeting with the minister of petroleum resources and other stakeholders in the petroleum industry, yet these meetings yielded nothing.
“You heard the ministry of petroleum resources bragging that there are over 17 oil vessels at the seaport waiting to discharge fuel, how do you explain the turnaround maintenance initiated by the government itself.
“We want to see regular supply of crude oil to the refineries so as to stop the importation of fuel from other countries which do not even have oil deposits in their soil. What is government doing about the turnaround maintenance it initiated and the Petroleum Industry Bill before the National Assembly?” he queried.
Leadership
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
Displaced Nigerians from Boko Haram violence might not be able to vote in Presidential elections in 2015
At least 1.5 million people displaced by the Islamist insurgency in north-east Nigeria may not be able to vote in elections if the law is not changed, an electoral official has told the BBC.
Discrepancies in the law needed to be resolved in "very good time" or people could be disenfranchised, he added.
Ex-military ruler Muhammadu Buhari will challenge President Goodluck Jonathan in the February election.
Boko Haram's insurgency has mainly affected opposition strongholds.
Last year, Mr Jonathan imposed a state of emergency in the north-eastern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe in a bid to curb the insurgency.
However, Boko Haram has stepped up attacks since then and has declared an Islamic state in areas it controls.'Staggered voting'
BBC Nigeria reporter Will Ross says it is not clear whether the elections will take place at all in states under emergency rule.
But the Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec) said it was determined to ensure that the elections took place in all parts of the country.
The vote could be held on a staggered basis and areas could be secured with "proper deployment" of the security forces, Inec spokesman Nick Dazzang told BBC Focus on Africa.
Inec was distributing voter cards to displaced people, many of whom were living in camps, but discrepancies in Nigeria's Electoral Act needed to be "reconciled", he added.
It stated that people could "transfer" their registration to where they were living but it also stated that they needed to vote where they were registered, Mr Dazzang said.
"We are concerned that the way the law is structured now, unless it is amended in very good time, some of them will be disenfranchised," he told BBC Focus on Africa.
Our reporter says the election is expected to be one of the most keenly fought since the end of military rule in 1999 - and that has prompted some warnings of potential violence.
BBC
Related story: Video - The state of Nigerian governance and Boko Haram
Discrepancies in the law needed to be resolved in "very good time" or people could be disenfranchised, he added.
Ex-military ruler Muhammadu Buhari will challenge President Goodluck Jonathan in the February election.
Boko Haram's insurgency has mainly affected opposition strongholds.
Last year, Mr Jonathan imposed a state of emergency in the north-eastern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe in a bid to curb the insurgency.
However, Boko Haram has stepped up attacks since then and has declared an Islamic state in areas it controls.'Staggered voting'
BBC Nigeria reporter Will Ross says it is not clear whether the elections will take place at all in states under emergency rule.
But the Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec) said it was determined to ensure that the elections took place in all parts of the country.
The vote could be held on a staggered basis and areas could be secured with "proper deployment" of the security forces, Inec spokesman Nick Dazzang told BBC Focus on Africa.
Inec was distributing voter cards to displaced people, many of whom were living in camps, but discrepancies in Nigeria's Electoral Act needed to be "reconciled", he added.
It stated that people could "transfer" their registration to where they were living but it also stated that they needed to vote where they were registered, Mr Dazzang said.
"We are concerned that the way the law is structured now, unless it is amended in very good time, some of them will be disenfranchised," he told BBC Focus on Africa.
Our reporter says the election is expected to be one of the most keenly fought since the end of military rule in 1999 - and that has prompted some warnings of potential violence.
BBC
Related story: Video - The state of Nigerian governance and Boko Haram
Aliko Dangote to invest $2 billion in oil refinery
Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest businessman, is increasing the size of his investment in an oil refinery, petrochemical and fertilizer plant by more than a fifth to $11 billion despite a looming slowdown in Africa’s biggest economy, reported the London-based Financial Times.
The project could eventually revolutionise Nigeria’s energy sector by slashing fuel imports, eliminating costly rackets associated with subsidies and crude oil swaps, and add billions of dollars in value to petroleum exports.
Mismanaged for years, Nigeria’s state-owned refineries work at a fraction of installed capacity. Therefore the country, Africa’s leading oil producer, imports most of its petrol and diesel requirements.
Dangote has deep pockets and a long record as an industrialist, having converted his trading empire into a vast conglomerate, which produces cement, sugar, flour and other basic commodities and is estimated to be worth more than $22 billion.
Speaking to the Financial Times at his headquarters in Lagos, he said the refinery and petrochemicals project should be completed by the end of 2017 and thereafter have a lifespan of decades.
He is planning an additional $2 billion of investment, he said, on top of the $9bn he announced just over a year ago, to double production of polypropylene and to add production of polyethylene, two raw materials used to make plastics.
Nigeria’s economy has diversified over the past 15 years thanks to the rapid growth of services. But it still depends on oil for more than 90 per cent of export earnings, and 70 per cent of state revenues.
The country has been hit hard by the drop in oil prices, with the central bank haemorrhaging foreign reserves before devaluing the official exchange rate for the naira by eight per cent last month.
Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the finance and economy minister, has forecast a percentage point slowdown in growth to below six per cent.
But the economic turmoil in Nigeria has in no way undermined the case for the investment, said Dangote. “Nigeria needs it and Africa needs it.”
He said his company, the Dangote Group, had already begun laying foundations outside Lagos, the commercial capital, and had raised nearly two-thirds of the initial foreign currency requirement needed before the naira began to slide on weaker world oil prices.
“The devaluation will increase our dollar costs. But most people in the oil business have slowed down or suspended projects. So I think we will get very good deals in terms of building. That will compensate,” he said.
He acknowledged that the broader economic impact of the falling oil price was a concern. “But it may also be a blessing in disguise because Nigeria will have to work harder to diversify the economy, especially when it comes to foreign exchange earnings,” he said.
“We as a group had seen this coming,” he said, adding that by the time the plant, which is partly being financed with a loan from the central bank, is up and running, “we won’t require a single dollar from the Central Bank of Nigeria. . . . With our export-orientated goods including cement, fertiliser and petrochemicals, we will be earning as much as $9 billion annually.”
Dangote drew inspiration for the project from India’s Ambani family, whose Reliance Industries faced down sceptics to build the largest refinery in the world at Jamnagar in the late 1990s, giving it a dominant position in the Indian market.
“We won’t make our money back for five to six years. If I deploy that capital in buying blocks to sell oil even with the falling oil price, we could recover the money in three to four years. So the real beneficiary is the government,” Dangote said.
This Day
Related story: Video - Aljazeera speaks with Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote
The project could eventually revolutionise Nigeria’s energy sector by slashing fuel imports, eliminating costly rackets associated with subsidies and crude oil swaps, and add billions of dollars in value to petroleum exports.
Mismanaged for years, Nigeria’s state-owned refineries work at a fraction of installed capacity. Therefore the country, Africa’s leading oil producer, imports most of its petrol and diesel requirements.
Dangote has deep pockets and a long record as an industrialist, having converted his trading empire into a vast conglomerate, which produces cement, sugar, flour and other basic commodities and is estimated to be worth more than $22 billion.
Speaking to the Financial Times at his headquarters in Lagos, he said the refinery and petrochemicals project should be completed by the end of 2017 and thereafter have a lifespan of decades.
He is planning an additional $2 billion of investment, he said, on top of the $9bn he announced just over a year ago, to double production of polypropylene and to add production of polyethylene, two raw materials used to make plastics.
Nigeria’s economy has diversified over the past 15 years thanks to the rapid growth of services. But it still depends on oil for more than 90 per cent of export earnings, and 70 per cent of state revenues.
The country has been hit hard by the drop in oil prices, with the central bank haemorrhaging foreign reserves before devaluing the official exchange rate for the naira by eight per cent last month.
Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the finance and economy minister, has forecast a percentage point slowdown in growth to below six per cent.
But the economic turmoil in Nigeria has in no way undermined the case for the investment, said Dangote. “Nigeria needs it and Africa needs it.”
He said his company, the Dangote Group, had already begun laying foundations outside Lagos, the commercial capital, and had raised nearly two-thirds of the initial foreign currency requirement needed before the naira began to slide on weaker world oil prices.
“The devaluation will increase our dollar costs. But most people in the oil business have slowed down or suspended projects. So I think we will get very good deals in terms of building. That will compensate,” he said.
He acknowledged that the broader economic impact of the falling oil price was a concern. “But it may also be a blessing in disguise because Nigeria will have to work harder to diversify the economy, especially when it comes to foreign exchange earnings,” he said.
“We as a group had seen this coming,” he said, adding that by the time the plant, which is partly being financed with a loan from the central bank, is up and running, “we won’t require a single dollar from the Central Bank of Nigeria. . . . With our export-orientated goods including cement, fertiliser and petrochemicals, we will be earning as much as $9 billion annually.”
Dangote drew inspiration for the project from India’s Ambani family, whose Reliance Industries faced down sceptics to build the largest refinery in the world at Jamnagar in the late 1990s, giving it a dominant position in the Indian market.
“We won’t make our money back for five to six years. If I deploy that capital in buying blocks to sell oil even with the falling oil price, we could recover the money in three to four years. So the real beneficiary is the government,” Dangote said.
This Day
Related story: Video - Aljazeera speaks with Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote
Monday, December 15, 2014
Former Minister of Education Dr. Oby Ezekwesili suggests Nigerian government no longer commited in rescuing kidnapped schoolgirls
The #BringBackOurGirls group yesterday, lamented the neglect of the Chibok girls by the federal government, even as the whole attention has been moved to the issue of 2015 elections.
Speaking at the daily sit-out of the group yesterday, one of its leaders and the former minister of education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili said it has become clearer to the people that the government has no plan to bring back the girls after eight months of their abduction.
Ezekwesili further wondered why up until now, nobody has any concrete information as to where the girls are or what is being done to rescue them and other people that have been abducted or stop insurgency.
The BBOG also queried what the Ministry of Youth Development, headed by Boni Haruna is doing to educate the youths of the North against joining insurgency even as they are being neglected, terrorised and even killed by the insurgents.
"For the youths of the Northeast, particularly the Chibok girls, their various rights have been despicably and traumatically violated without adequate relief in sight. The Ministry of Youths has not firmly intervened to ensure that schools there are adquately secured.
"The BBOG is alarmed at the extent to which the state has failed these youths. It is also disheartening to note that the ministry has essentially not been seen to be proactive in the going situation. It has not also offered any worthwhile support for the growing number of displaced youths grappling for survival in displaced persons camps.
"We are extremely concerned too that the ministry whose mandate includes inculcating in the youth human rights values, social justice, equity, fairness and gender equality; has shown no discernable concern about the fate of the abducted 219 Chibok girls, even as the universally recognised season of goodwill approaches," the group explained.
The group also warned that Nigeria is becoming divided into two nations. The people in the Northeast, who are really suffering the insurgency and the other group of Nigerians, who are living their lives and not bothered about what is happening in the Northeast; and that this trend is not good for the country.
Leadership
Related stories: 11 parents of some of the kidnapped schoolgirls now dead
Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan finally meets with parents of kidnapped schoolgirls
Speaking at the daily sit-out of the group yesterday, one of its leaders and the former minister of education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili said it has become clearer to the people that the government has no plan to bring back the girls after eight months of their abduction.
Ezekwesili further wondered why up until now, nobody has any concrete information as to where the girls are or what is being done to rescue them and other people that have been abducted or stop insurgency.
The BBOG also queried what the Ministry of Youth Development, headed by Boni Haruna is doing to educate the youths of the North against joining insurgency even as they are being neglected, terrorised and even killed by the insurgents.
"For the youths of the Northeast, particularly the Chibok girls, their various rights have been despicably and traumatically violated without adequate relief in sight. The Ministry of Youths has not firmly intervened to ensure that schools there are adquately secured.
"The BBOG is alarmed at the extent to which the state has failed these youths. It is also disheartening to note that the ministry has essentially not been seen to be proactive in the going situation. It has not also offered any worthwhile support for the growing number of displaced youths grappling for survival in displaced persons camps.
"We are extremely concerned too that the ministry whose mandate includes inculcating in the youth human rights values, social justice, equity, fairness and gender equality; has shown no discernable concern about the fate of the abducted 219 Chibok girls, even as the universally recognised season of goodwill approaches," the group explained.
The group also warned that Nigeria is becoming divided into two nations. The people in the Northeast, who are really suffering the insurgency and the other group of Nigerians, who are living their lives and not bothered about what is happening in the Northeast; and that this trend is not good for the country.
Leadership
Related stories: 11 parents of some of the kidnapped schoolgirls now dead
Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan finally meets with parents of kidnapped schoolgirls
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