Nigeria: Falling Quality of Leaders

Wole Olaoye
27 June 20, 2011
Please cast your mind back a few decades. Consider the sheer class and panache of the average politician on the regional or federal level and try a comparison with the pathetic group we call politicians today. Is the difference clear?

Perhaps one of the reasons for the all too prevalent degenerate behaviour in the society is the shortage of good examples. In those days, the youth could dream of hoping to be an Eyo Ita or Joseph Tarka in future. Ita was the Premier of the Eastern Region before Dr. Azikiwe came back to the East to mount the saddle. Both Ita and Azikiwe were cerebral people; in fact Ita was a professor. Both men were inspirational speakers. A young man growing up in the Eastern Region did not need to go out of his environment for good examples. The galaxy of politicians was a treasure trove of inspiration. In the same vein, a young person growing up in the middle belt area could never miss what Joseph Tarka's United Middle Belt Congress symbolized. Tarka was young and passionate. He didn't have degrees like some of his contemporaries but he more than made up for that with his peerless direction of the middle belt's quest for greater political space; he was one politician who showed that one could be entrenched in the trenches in one corner of Tiv land and still affect the lives of one's people and the nation at large.
I have highlighted Ita and Tarka because they both emerged on the political scene from humble minority groups. I could as well have started this piece with the obvious champions of the First Republic - Azikiwe, Tafawa-Balewa, Bello and Awolowo. Is there any politician in the land today that is fit to untie the political sandals of any of the four titans mentioned above? Last week when I saw the picture of the children of Abubakar Tafawa-Balewa with President Jonathan during their visit with him, I replayed the interview their father had with the British Broadcasting Corporation in London on his way to New York shortly after Nigeria declared its independence from colonial rule. Thanks to the internet, you can share the thrill of Balewa's golden voice at www.youtube.com/watch?v=4twfjk3hoA4. You didn't have to be in the same political party with Balewa to acknowledge that he was a well-spoken representative of the federal republic. Indeed, even if I say so, his spoken English was better than that of the English reporters who interviewed him.
What impact did the Balewas, the Awolowos, the Ahmadu Bellos, the Azikiwes have on the youth of their era? Stupid question. The only time we ever had leaders of Triple-A grading was in the First Republic; the survivors of that era who made it to the Second Republic (Zik, Awo, Aminu Kano) still kept their halo and were rewarded electorally by the people. But generally the quality of leadership on offer in the Second Republic was far lower than what we had in the First Republic. It says a lot that today we are looking back at the scandal-rife Second Republic as some of the most glorious years of Nigeria. There are no thinkers anymore. You can't even find one golden voice. Pray, where is the Balewa of the present dispensation? I mean can you show me one contemporary politician who could have been adjudged as capable of making a successful career in broadcasting just like Balewa? Is there any of them that can be described as a sage like Awo? Which of these so-called leaders in this bombing era could be credited with the political savvy of Zik or the organizational ability of Ahmadu Bello? When you consider the sacrifices made by people like Tarka, Aminu Kano, Mariere and others, you wonder if those who rule the pasture today deserve to be called political leaders.
In fact the more crucial question today is what do our politicians stand for?
In the area of theatrics we used to have people who profoundly affected the political space with the words they uttered: the K.O. Mbadiwes ("Man of timbre and calibre"), the Mbonu Ojikes ("Boycott the boycottables), the Adegoke Adelabus ("Everybody has his own peculiar mess").
Profound statements came from the direction of regional leaders like Ahmadu Bello (to Azikiwe: "Let us understand our differences. I'm a Muslim and a Northerner. You are a Christian, an Easterner. By understanding our differences, we can build unity in our country".) Today, there is no attempt at understanding anything or appreciating the differences between our different peoples. We have tribal champions who want to appropriate everything to themselves and their immediate families. We fail to realize that ethnic and religious multiplicity is beautiful and that all we have to do is understand where the other man is coming from so that we can provide for his sensibilities. The political space is being narrowed by the day. Nationalists of yore have crept back to their states and local governments and are venting views so narrow that one fears that eventually they might simply creep back into their mothers' wombs!
Awolowo told us the cold truth when he said, "Nigeria is not a nation. It is a mere geographical expression". Instead of working on cobbling out a nation our leaders prefer to live a lie, mouthing nationalistic platitudes when convenient and retreating to their village squares when the political chips are down. Had Awo been alive to witness the Boko Haram phenomenon, he would have reminded us as he did decades ago that "Violence never settles anything right: apart from injuring your own soul, it injures the best cause. It lingers on long after the object of hate has disappeared from the scene to plague the lives of those who have employed it against their foes."
This nation used to have thinkers as leaders. The great Zik once admonished politicians to learn from sports. In his words, "I may not be the fastest runner in my team nor its most cagey miler, nor its nimble hurdler, nor its most classical jumper... but it is certain that I can be the most obedient, the most loyal, the most faithful and the most friendly member of my team by not seeking by word or deed to gain an unfair advantage over my teammates".
Now, there are no quotable quotes; only verbal epilepsy in the name of speeches; only bombs as a means of attracting attention. The quality of leadership has nose-dived at every level. There is a shortage of good examples. This is not meant to sound crazy, but it seems we can make meaningful progress going forward only if we cast a reflective glance backwards.

allafrica.com/stories/201106271624.html

‘Nigeria, Africa need cultural reform for positive leadership’

Tuesday, 28 June 2011 00:00 Hope Moses-Ashike

For enhanced leadership in Nigeria and across Africa through positive change in people attitude and disposition, there must be cultural transformation that will drive the new way of life.
Experts say this has become necessary to build leadership institution policy framework, entrepreneurial spirit and human capital development.

They believe that these characteristics will engender democratic change and give citizens the right capacity to monitor leadership and ask for change before colossal errors are made in governance.
Pat Utomi, presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Mega Party (SDMP), in the last election, who delivered a lecture on “Economic stagnation in Africa: An example of the paradox of poverty in Nigeria,” at the maiden edition of the annual retreat programme on management and leadership organised by the Association of Professional Bodies of Nigeria (APBN), in collaboration with Lagos Business School (LBS) and Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM) in Lagos, said if culture is reformed it can save policymaking, how institution evolve, the commitment to building human capital, and entrepreneurship.
According to him, “the challenge of solidarity with Africa is that of helping develop the leadership capacity to affect culture in this way and to be able to speak up when bad leadership emerges before it does irreversible damage.”
Addressing participants at the event, Segun Ajanlekoko, president of APBN, said the retreat is an initiative of the APBN executive council which has the blessing of the board of the association to equip those entrusted with authority and management of the nation’s institutions.
“Today’s event is therefore significant in various respects as it signals a milestone as well as another phase in the Association’s developmental strides and value added to the special skills of professionals in various disciplines to improve our services and practices,” he said.
The objective of the retreat include to promote optimum conditions of operations for the association’s different professional bodies, to further promote co-operation among the bodies using the retreat platform and to promote excellence in the Association’s services to the society.
As an annual programme, it is expected that members in various discipline will take advantage of it to enrich, broaden and deepen their knowledge. This, he said, will enable them gain competence beyond areas of specialisation and at the same
time prepare them for leadership position and national service to contribute their quota to the country’s development.
According to him, the dynamic management like leadership is often fired up fired up by vision and the will to succeed. To succeed and progress, organisations need positive, constructive dynamic and creative management and leadership skills be it in business, industry, government and non-governmental organisations.
“As leaders, we must be imbued with vision, discipline, wisdom, courage, humility, tact and diplomacy, exude inspirational power, exercise executive ability/capacity and also make good decisions in the interest of sustainability of our professions,” he said.

businessdayonline.com/NG/index.php/news/111-politics/23732-nigeria-africa-need-cultural-reform-for-positive-leadership

Abell 2744: Pandora's Cluster of Galaxies



Explanation: Why is this cluster of galaxies so jumbled? Far from a smooth distribution, Abell 2744 not only has knots of galaxies, but the X-ray emitting hot gas (colored red) in the cluster appears distributed differently than the dark matter. The dark matter, taking up over 75 percent of the cluster mass and colored blue in the above image, was inferred by that needed to create the distortion of background galaxies by gravitational lensing. The jumble appears to result from the slow motion collision of at least four smaller galaxy clusters over the past few billion years. The above picture combines optical images from the Hubble Space Telescope and the Very Large Telescope with X-ray images from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. Abell 2744, dubbed Pandora's cluster, spans over two million light years and can best be seen with a really large telescope toward the constellation of the Sculptor.

Tomorrow's picture: open
 
 
 
blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=6890267152832711033

Islamic banking stirs up controversy in religiously-divided Nigeria

The governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria is fielding criticism for exacerbating the country's sectarian problems by allowing Islamic banking to make its debut in Nigeria.

By Alex Thurston, Guest blogger / June 27, 2011

Since last week, English and Hausa media in Nigeria have been closely following a controversy over Islamic banking in the country. At the center of the controversy is Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the dynamic and outspoken governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Since his tenure began in July 2009, Governor Sanusi’s bold moves to fire bankers and restructure banks have attracted worldwide attention. This year he is one of Time‘s 100 most influential people. Sanusi is no stranger to controversy: he has already locked horns with Nigerian lawmakers and the International Monetary Fund. Neither is he a stranger to the intricacies of Islamic thought: he is the grandson of an emir of Kano, he holds a degree in shari’a from Sudan, and he has debated religious topics with some of Nigeria’s most famous Muslim leaders.

announcement that the CBN has given the go-ahead for JAIZ Bank, which the press calls “the first Islamic bank in the country,” and Tuesday’s issuance of final guidelines pertaining to Islamic banking in Nigeria. Although, as Next points out, “a draft framework for non-interest banking was issued in March 2009 by the [CBN], its position on Islamic banking did not become much of an issue until a few months ago when the final guidelines were released.” Sanusi ordered the guidelines to be rewritten in order to address and/or incorporate criticisms, but some Christian groups continue to denounce the changes.
For example, Bishop David Bakare of the Kaduna State chapter of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) accuses Sanusi of harboring sectarian loyalties and of exacerbating interreligious tensions at a delicate moment:
“Honestly, if Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi had done this advocacy for Islamic banking as a religious leader, it would have made a better sense than as a government official. Therefore, Sanusi should come out and tell the nation whose errand he is running and for who he speaks; is it for himself, Islam, or government of Nigeria?
“The PFN, Kaduna State, strongly condemns the Central Bank governor’s Islamic banking agenda at a time like this in Nigeria when we are still battling to douse the tension created by the last ‘political’ crisis with all the evident religious manifestations.This obviously is an insensitive and reckless act of the highest order coming from such a high ranking officer of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“No right thinking Nigerian would ordinarily venture into such a sensitive matter at any time in such a nation like Nigeria without an evil motive to create more tension in the nation or worse still to start another religious fighting such as had never been before in this nation.“Somebody, please, help tell Sanusi to let the sleeping dog lie, and not put the nation into another avoidable distraction and dangerous crisis. We call on President Goodluck Jonathan not to wait until trouble begins before acting.”
Similarly, the powerful Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) calls the introduction of Islamic banking a move to “Islamize Nigeria.”
Sanusi has responded to criticisms by saying that the attention to Islamic banking at CBN predates his tenure and that what is called “non-interest banking” attracts the involvement of non-Muslims as well, including backers of the JAIZ Bank. Sanusi has also highlighted the presence of Islamic banking systems in other countries around the world, including the United Kingdom.
The controversy has relevance for at least three reasons. First, it affects Muslim-Christian relations, and shows how interreligious tensions appear not only “on the ground” in terms of physical conflict, but also in debates among elites over questions of national policy. Second, it forms part of ongoing changes in Nigeria’s financial system. Finally, this controversy will be another challenge – and opportunity – for Governor Sanusi, who is one of the most important figures now in Nigerian politics. Judging from the wide press coverage the controversy is receiving, many Nigerian elites will be watching closely to see how the controversy unfolds.
For those wanting more background on how Islamic banking works, I recommend starting with the BBC’s Q&A, Reuters’ Factbox, or the Financial Times‘ Beginner’s Guide.
I was not able to find the most recent guidelines from CBN on Islamic banking, but here are the guidelines issued in December (.pdf).
– Alex Thurston is a PhD student studying Islam in Africa at Northwestern University and blogs at Sahel Blog.
csmonitor.com/World/Africa/Africa-Monitor/2011/0627/Islamic-banking-stirs-up-controversy-in-religiously-divided-Nigeria/(page)/1

Africans planning electric power with climate change in mind

Africa is set to be hit hard by climate change, and it already faces the highest electric power costs in the world. But new initiatives could put Africa at forefront in adapting alternative energies.

By Scott Baldauf, Staff writer / June 28, 2011
 
Johannesburg, South Africa

In ancient Rome, the way to stay in power was to provide bread and circuses. In much of Africa, the key is to keep the lights on.
This week, riots turned the normally peaceful streets of Dakar, Senegal, into a civic warzone not seen since the last time Vancouver, Canada, hosted a hockey match. Burning tires – and worse, burning office buildings for the local power company – were left behind wherever protestors went, loudly showing their anger about the inability of the state electric company, Senelec, to keep up with growing demand for power. Some towns, like Mbour, 80 kilometers from Dakar, have gone 48 hours without electricity.
Power cuts are daily affairs across the African continent. Electricity is such an unreliable commodity in Nigeria, for instance, that Nigerians have nicknamed their electric power company PHCN “Please Hold Candle Now.” (The real name is Power Holding Company of Nigeria.) Even in South Africa, the continent’s most developed economy, electric power cuts are becoming increasingly common, with “load shedding” sending whole neighborhoods into darkness for peak power-use hours.
Think you know Africa? Take our geography quiz.
Climate change is going to make this current problem even worse, development experts predict, since Africa is the continent likely to suffer the most from the drastic changes in temperature and rainfall, according to World Bank studies. But while African nations are faced with growing discontent over their inability to plan ahead, there are encouraging signs that they are teaming up with international investment institutions like the African Development Bank and with individual donor nations like China and India to meet the growing need for infrastructure, says Bob Pittman, vice president of climate change programs for the African Development Bank in Tunis.
“African governments and the African people are already taking charge to create the solutions to their problems,” says Mr. Pittman, after attending a climate change conference in Cape Town. Particularly on the growing challenges of climate change, which can mean reduced access to rainwater in some areas, and growing needs for electricity in others, “Africans are in the lead in developing some of the processes for meeting the problem of climate change.”
African citizens bear the highest electricity tariffs in the world, Pittman says, a cruel burden for a continent that has a disproportionately high number of people living at or below the poverty line. Yet that very fact is already pushing African nations to develop alternative power sources such as wind and solar, which are too expensive to develop in countries that have cheaper access to fossil fuels.
“Those who do pay high tariffs are finding that solar in rural areas is a suitable technology,” says Pittman. “And in Kenya, a wind power project on Lake Turkana is being developed. Kenya plans to have 30 percent of its power based on wind power.”
“African governments and the African people are not being coerced into making these plans,” says Pittman. “We’re just trying to run and keep up with them and stay relevant in this changing world.”


csmonitor.com/World/Africa/Africa-Monitor/2011/0628/Africans-planning-electric-power-with-climate-change-in-mind

Army - Boko Haram Tactics, Strange to Us

Maiduguri, Abuja and Jalingo — The Nigerian Army has said the tactics employed by the Islamic fundamentalist sect, Boko Haram, in its operation is strange to it, but assured Nigerians that it is equal to the threat, adding that it will soon unveil strategy to tackle the group.

Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt-General Azubuike Ihejirika, who made this revelation at the opening of the Second Quarter Chief of Army Staff Conference in Abuja Monday, said: "The tactics they employ is relatively new to the country," and vowed to stop them.
He promised to unfold new strategies that would effectively end the growing security threats posed by the sect, who had been terrorising some sections of the country.
He said: "Nigerian Army having studied the method of operation (in collaboration with other security agents), very soon the country will notice improvement and new security agreements."
The COAS said the presence of soldiers at strategic places in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) since last Thursday was part of the emerging strategies to enforce and maintain security in the current atmosphere of terrorism caused by the spate of bombings across the country.
He advised the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) residents to brace up for the unintended inconveniences being created by the recent joint security stop-and-search checks led by the Army, effectively taking the task of securing lives and properties in the nation's capital from the Nigerian Police Force.
"The enforcement of security at the hands of soldiers on vehicles is because they are being proactive, while there will be searches on the road. Nigerians should be able to adapt to the temporary security measures," he said.
Ihejirika further disclosed that one key item of the meeting which was purely security measures would be a closed door meeting as general officers commanding (GOCs) and commanders would receive briefing on how to confront the menace of Boko Haram once and for all.
He emphasised that the purpose of the conference was to take stock of the first and second quarter activities especially in the areas of security responsibilities in various commands.
According to him, the meeting would also discuss ways of improving elections and analysis of areas of improvement.
Speaking earlier, the Chief of Policy and Plans, Maj-Gen O. Akinyemi, noted that the current security challenges, especially the problem of Boko Haram in some parts of the country, was one of the contemporary challenges that needed to be immediately addressed.
Akinyemi said that deliberations during the conference would come up with recommendations and strategies towards addressing these challenges.
He noted that the presentations and discussions during the first quarter conference as well as the implementations of the decisions arrived at during the conference contributed in no small measures to the successes achieved by the Army in support of the election process as they had received accolades from various quarters for its conduct during the elections.
"Some lessons must have been learnt which could assist the Army to improve in possible future internal security tasks," he said.
The blast followed a similar one that was detonated in the same city a day earlier that left 25 dead and 12 injured.
Monday's explosion, which was as a result of detonated bombs planted around the Customs office building in Maiduguri occurred at about 2.30pm.
THISDAY gathered that the bombs were targeted at the Customs office and a hospital located at the centre of the ancient town.
Confirming the incident, Commandant of the Joint Military Task Force, Maj-General Okechukwu Nwaogbo, said the child hawkers were killed in the blast. He also disclosed that several other persons were injured.
The commandant of the Joint Military Task Force established by the Federal Government to checkmate the menace of the Islamic fundamentalist sect, had earlier revealed that the mayhem visited on the state on Sunday by alleged members of the group was an ambush and not bomb blasts as earlier reported.
Nwaogbo, who refused to give the figure of casualties, said investigations revealed that between eight and 10 members of the group came on about seven motorcycles to the local drinking joint, set the place on fire and took strategic positions.
The commandant of the task force tagged "Operation Restore Order", said he would not be able to give the number of casualties as the figure might increase as there were still some persons on critical list at the hospital, but said: "We lost lives there but not as high as being reported."
Nwaogbo also disclosed that two persons were in custody and were assisting the taskforce in its investigations. He said the two persons were sent by some people to go on surveillance of churches in Maiduguri.
He said intelligence on the group revealed that they were asked to mingle with worshippers and bring report back to their principals but were lucky to be apprehended by church members who brought them to his men.
The commandant said they were helping with investigations and his men were already going after their principals, assuring the residents of Maiduguri that the task force was not out to intimidate anybody.
He said his men were deployed to ensure the safety of lives and property and to cooperate with everybody in the task of getting this done.
In a similar development, the Borno State Commandant of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Bwala Hatsiwa, has said that to arrest the Boko Haram upsurge in the country then, teeth must be given to the current drug war.
Also, the Amnesty International has called on members of the Boko Haram to stop attacks on civilians after the bombing that killed as many as 25 in Maiduguri Sunday.
However, the group was silent on the attack on the Nigerian military and police but rather mentioned at the later part of a press statement issued yesterday that the Nigerian security forces had carried out mass arrests, tortured suspects and detained people without charge or trial for lengthy periods.
Paul Ohia, Michael Olugbode, Senator Iroegbu and Wole Ayodele

allafrica.com/stories/201106281128.html

...May split Nigeria like Darfur –Gambari


 Nigeria can not afford to ignore the festering terrorist attacks by Boko Haram sect and other internal security threats, but had better tackle it headlong to prevent the nation going the way of war-torn Sudan and Darfur.

Former Nigeria permanent representative to the United Nations, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, gave the advice yesterday as the guest speaker at a lecture organised by the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CEPACS), University of Ibadan (UI) to commemorate the World Refugee Day.

Gambari noted that recent events in the country such as the Boko Haram attacks, the bloody violence being perpetrated by members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers and militancy in the Niger-Delta region, among others were threats to national cohesion and economic development.
In his words: "They are pointers to the fact that ìthe nation is still far from being there."

Prof. Gambari, the current Special Representative of the Joint African Union (AU) and United Nations (UN) Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) especially observed that Nigeria shared so many affinities with Sudan, particularly in terms of plurality of religion and ethnicity, which made it susceptible to possible disintegration as the Central African country.

To this end, he said the situations must be critically studied for the country to learn how to prevent similar crisis.
The diplomat, who spoke on: The Challenges of Refugee and Internally Displaced Persons in Peace Processes and in Rapidly Changing Times: The Case of Darfur, said in as much as the nation’s intervention was needed in the war torn- Darfur, the Federal Government must put its house in order to prevent the country from suffering a similar fate.

His words: "There are seven million Sudanese of Nigeria origin in Sudan, the only country separating us is Chad, so Nigeria cannot ignore the conflicts in this area, we must study it and learn from it.
He tasked the Nigerian government to rise to the task and ensure that the human rights of the people and its democratic process were put in order.

He stressed the need for Nigerian leaders to prevent the normalisation of the seeming domestic abnormal situation as well as the abnormal situation in the crisis torn Darfur whereby huge numbers of internationally huge persons continue to live in camps and refugees reside abroad.

"Let us also remember that peace and security are prerequisites in the path to prosperity, therefore, Nigeria has a responsibility to contribute to the maintenance of peace and security in our region and continent. This country must work harder to establish internal cohesion, political stability and socio-economic development. This will enhance the credibility of its foreign policy.
He also lamented the increased number of refugees and internally displaced persons across the world, saying about 1.7 million people are currently displaced in Darfur while there were over 300 refugees in Chad.
Gambari said Nigeria had an obligatory leadership role in the region and must rise up to the challenge and prevent disintegration in the war ñtorn area.

He said, ìNigeria, with its immense human and natural resources has an obligatory leadership role in the region and the world. It is the strength of the Nigerian people and the strength of the institutions in the country that can translate this leadership into a force for good by strengthening our role in conflict prevention, peace keeping and peace building. I would like to reiterate that the nature of conflict has changed, Africa has changed and the Nigerian leadership is wanted, desired and needed. Today, Africa and the rest of the world expect us to lead our region in making the 21st century the African century.î

Earlier in his opening remarks, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Prof. Isaac Folorunso Adewole, appealed to Nigerian leaders to steer the country away from degenerating into arefugee situation by promoting good governance.
ìThe current situation in Darfur, Rwanda, Libya, Syria and Afghanistan is not far from us, unless we retrace our steps and embrace dialogue, with our current population of over 150million we are capable of displacing the entire West African sub region and African continent and causing huge political, social and economic dislocations.î
http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/june/21/national-21-06-2011-002.htmlFrom YINKA FABOWALE, Ibadan
Tuesday, June 21, 2011

...May split Nigeria like Darfur –Gambari

Missionaries tapping portable satellite technology in remote outposts

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By John Couwels, CNN
Orlando, Florida (CNN)


Christian missionaries have been traveling to remote regions around the world for centuries to spread, as they would describe it, the good news of Jesus Christ.
But now a tiny plastic and metal device packed with cutting-edge technology attached to a computer could accelerate the pace of spreading that news - like an answer to prayer.
The answer has come in the form of a satellite terminal that is smaller than a laptop computer.
 The device, a BGAN satellite terminal, brings the Internet to some of the most remote parts of the world.

Corporations, governments and television networks have used BGAN devices for years to communicate by e-mail, phones or to broadcast live video signals from remote locations.
Wycliffe Bible Translators has only just begun distributing these devices to translators and linguists working to translate the Bible into every spoken language.
Wycliffe's goal is the same today as that of their founder, Cameron Townsend, 80 years ago: translate the Bible into the language of indigenous people everywhere.
With approximately 6,900 languages in the world, the satellite terminal is expected to cut in half the amount of time left to translate the remaining 2,000-plus languages Wycliffe is working on or hopes to be working on soon. 
"It has increased the speed we thought it was going to take, 150 years. ... It's now going to be 2038 when it's completed," said Wycliffe's president and chief executive officer, Bob Creson.
Translators in the field can now communicate with linguists through e-mail on the satellite terminal, eliminating the huge amount of time needed to travel back and forth from district or regional offices.
Townsend found in 1917 while selling Spanish-language Bibles in Guatemala that a large majority of villagers throughout the countryside did not speak or read Spanish, the majority language of South America.
Townsend worked for more than a decade in a Mayan village in Guatemala learning the native language, Cakchiquel, creating an alphabet for it for the first time, and translating a Bible into the language.
Thus Wycliffe Bible Translators began, named after John Wycliffe, who in the 14th century translated the Bible into English, the language of the British working class.
Wycliffe translation coordinator Pedro Samuc - who grew up speaking Tzutujil, an indigenous Guatemalan Mayan language - says hearing the Bible in his native language has had a profound impact.
"When an indigenous person hears the message in their language, they understand that God loves them. ... It raises our self-esteem," especially after years of discrimination for just being indigenous, Samuc said through a translator.
 
A&D Global provided portable
satellite receiving station the
Global pCom300

"He loves us all the same," he said.
Burchrum Gail grew up speaking Jamaican Creole, or Patwa. As a Wycliffe translation coordinator in Jamaica, Gail agrees hearing the Bible in his native language generates a strong reaction.
"It validates me as a person. It also makes the scripture resonate more with me," he said.
"Whenever I hear God's word in my language, which has (had) such negative associations, it lifts me up and puts me on a level playing field with people who have the Bible in English, French or these prestigious European languages," Gail continued. The translation in his native tongue makes him want to "spread the word of God."
Samuc said he joined a translation project in Guatemala that began decades ago to translate the Bible into 22 Mayan languages, which have multiple dialects. So far the New Testament has been translated into 50 Mayan dialects. Only three remain, and Samuc said they will be completed in the next three years.
Wycliffe recently celebrated the "beginning of the end" for translation in the Americas, Creson said.
The average New Testament translation time has gone from 25 years down to seven thanks to the technological advancements, he said. "Those of us who understand Bible translation are saying that is really a big deal."
Wycliffe Bible Translators has only begun to distribute the satellite terminals to translators working in remote locations.
"This is a satellite system," said Bruce Smith with Wycliffe Associates. "You point up at the satellite and it works better than your Internet connection at home"
In some locations without electricity, solar panels are laid out in the sun to charge the batteries for the satellite terminal and computer.
Twenty-five more terminals will be deployed to Nigeria in June, said Smith, who helps deliver the units and train people how to use them.
"We are committed to alleviating Bible poverty in this generation," Creson said.
"And there is going to be a generation of people who are going to hear this good news message. That we're committed to, that they are not going to pass into eternity without ever hearing it."

 religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/06/17/missionaries-tapping-portable-satellite-technology-in-remote-outposts/?iref=allsearch


Muslim leader says violence in Nigeria is political, not religious

By Christian Purefoy, CNN
Every week CNN International's African Voices highlights Africa's most engaging personalities, exploring the lives and passions of people who rarely open themselves up to the camera. 
With some 70 million followers, Muhammad Sa'ad Abubakar is the spiritual leader of Nigeria's Muslim population.
As heir to the 200-year-old throne of West Africa's 19th-century Caliphate Empire, Abubakar is one of the most influential traditional rulers in the region.


Four years after he was appointed Sultan of Sokoto, he reigns at a time of deepening religious division in Nigeria, a nation almost evenly divided between Muslims and Christians.

religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/06/14/muslim-leader-says-violence-in-nigeria-is-political-not-religious

Malcolm X, Nation of Islam and Shaykh Abdalqadir - Islamic slavery of non-Muslims

June, 2011 | Lee Jay Walker

Posted on Sunday, June 26, 2011 9:39:41 PM by Milagros

Indeed, when Malcolm X visited Saudi Arabia he also forgot to tell his followers that slavery was in full flow in Saudi Arabia for much of the twentieth century. More important, slavery in Saudi Arabia of Africans and others was a reality when he had converted to Islam. Also, slavery only stopped in Saudi Arabia after non-Muslim nations put enormous pressure on this nation to stop this barbaric practice. [...] Buddhism, Hinduism and Orthodox Christianity did not enslave Africa; on the contrary, all the above faced Islamic slavery in their own lands. The institution of slavery is an Islamic reality and some Catholic and Protestant nations in Europe became involved in slavery but the principles of slavery during war can’t be found in the New Testament but it is justified in the Muslim Hadiths.


Thousands of Islamic institutions are supporting stealth jihad in the West and in nations like India. The terrorist threat is a minor issue because the vast majority of conversions are converted by kitman Muslims who are lying openly about the reality of history and the Hadiths and other Islamic texts.

Islam is an ideology which is not aimed at accommodation because at its core is the House of Islam and House of War.

When the Nation of Islam began to first grow and Malcolm X was spreading the Muslim faith you had several realities. This applies to Arab and Muslim slavery which still was ongoing in nations like Mauritania and Sudan. Also, when Malcolm X visited Mecca then why did he remain silent about slavery and the history of slavery in Saudi Arabia?

After all, Malcolm X converted to Islam in the early 1950s which is somewhat ironic.

This applies to slavery still being allowed in the land of Mecca and Medina. Therefore, while Malcolm X was talking about Muslim liberation is fellow Arab Muslims were still buying African slaves until 1962 in Saudi Arabia.

What is militant about throwing of “the white master’s name and religion” and then picking “the Arab masters identity and adopting a religion which enslaved Africa

Boko Haram kills three in Customs office attack

Tue, June 28, 2011 12:28:21 PM
Militants in NE Nigeria



By Our Reporter 17 hours 8 minutes ago

•THE SCENE OF HORROR: Burnt motorcycles after the Dalla bombings in which 25 people died
-Govt sets up Task Force to stop sect -Amnesty urges end to killings
NO fewer than three persons died yesterday when suspected members of the radical Muslim sect, Boko Haram, attacked a Customs office in Maiduguri.
Authorities quickly blamed Boko Haram, which on Sunday night dropped bombs that killed 25 people at local beer parlours in the Borno State capital. Boko Haram wants strict Shariah law implemented across the North.
The continued violence surrounding Maiduguri has left the city in fear as the authorities seem unable to stop the group from attacking at will.
The Federal Government has raised a Task Force, headed by Major-Gen. Jack Okechukwu Nwaogbo, to hunt down the Islamic sect.
Yesterday’s attack hit the Customs office as officials held a meeting, said Maj.-Gen. Nwaogbo. The assault included explosion of bombs and gunfire, which killed three people outside of the building, he said.
No fewer than two Customs officials were wounded in the attack.
On Sunday, Boko Haram members riding on motorcycles attacked three makeshift bars in the city.
Witnesses and others said about 25 people died in the beer parlour attacks. Nwaogbo declined to offer a casualty information yesterday during a news conference.
“What caused the killings of many people in the attacks were when about 10 gunmen riding seven motorcycles surrounded and took strategic positions at the beer sheds and shops and started firing at the people with their Kalashnikov rifles, before setting ablaze the entire makeshift shacks,” he said.
While no arrests have been made over the beer parlour attacks, he said police arrested two men carrying explosives at a church in the city. He said they had pretended they wanted to convert from Islam.
Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is sacrilege” in the Hausa language, is responsible for a rash of killings which have targeted police officers, soldiers, politicians and clerics in the North over the last year — including attacks on beer parlours.
They have also attacked churches and engineered a massive prison break. However, authorities say attacks intensified after the April 26 governorship elections kept the same political party in power.
Senate President David Mark has said the security challenges facing the nation will top Senate’s agenda as it reconvenes for the plenary session today.
The Senate President spoke when the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Ambassador Andrew Lloyd visited him in Abuja. He said Nigeria will be delighted to explore the British approach to insecurity in order to arrest the situation in Nigeria.
He reiterated the commitment of the government to ensuring adequate security to the citizenry.

Suspected radical Islamists kill 25 in Nigeria bombing

06/27/2011
Posted on Monday, June 27, 2011 1:50:41 AM by Uncle Miltie
Attackers throw 3 sets of explosives from motorbikes at drinking spot, military sources say; group wants strict Shari'a law in Nigeria.

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria - Suspected members of a radical Islamist sect threw bombs at a drinking spot in Nigeria's northeastern town of Maiduguri on Sunday, killing around 25 people, witnesses and military sources said.

The attackers -- who the military said were suspected members of the Boko Haram sect -- threw three sets of explosives from the back of motorbikes at around 5 p.m. (1600 GMT) and appeared to be targeting police officers, witnesses said.
"Around 25 people have been killed in a multiple bomb blast in the Dala ward of Maiduguri," a military official said, asking not to be named.
The National Emergency Management Agency said it was working with other rescue teams to evacuate the injured but gave no further details.
Insecurity in parts of northern Nigeria has rapidly replaced militant attacks on oil infrastructure hundreds of kilometers away in the southern Niger Delta as the main security threat in Africa's most populous nation in recent months.
Boko Haram, which says it wants a wider application of strict Shari'a Islamic law in Nigeria, claimed responsibility for a bomb blast 10 days ago outside the national police headquarters in the capital Abuja.
The sect has been responsible for almost daily killings and attacks on police and government buildings in and around Maiduguri, which lies near Nigeria's remote northeastern borders with Chad, Cameroon and Niger.
Boko Haram's former leader, self-proclaimed Islamic scholar Mohammed Yusuf, was shot dead in police custody during a 2009 uprising in which hundreds were killed. His mosque was destroyed with tanks and the security forces claimed a decisive victory.
But low-level guerrilla attacks on police stations and assassinations, including of traditional leaders and moderate Islamic clerics, intensified in the second half of last year.
President Goodluck Jonathan, who was sworn in for his first full term in office a month ago, has voiced support for dialogue with Boko Haram.
But the group has an ill-defined command structure, a variety of people claiming to speak on its behalf, and an unknown number of followers. Some security analysts say its supporters number in the thousands.
West African Islam is overwhelmingly moderate and the sect's ideology is not widely supported by Nigeria's Muslim population, the largest in sub-Saharan Africa, but poverty and unemployment have helped it build a cult-like following.

jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=226691

Blue Water Dreams

Why China wants an aircraft carrier.

BY JAMES HOLMES | JUNE 27, 2011

On a visit to Washington this month, Chinese Gen. Chen Bingde, chief of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) General Staff, confirmed what Asahi Shimbun and the Financial Times reported last December: China, he said, has officially committed itself to deploying aircraft-carrier task forces, a program that has evidently been under way since 2009. A Soviet flattop called Varyag, refitted and reportedly rechristened Shi Lang, may take to China's "near seas" for sea trials sometime around July 1. Whenever it takes place, the maiden cruise of the Varyag will mark a milestone in China's return to great power.
Any number of excellent technical studies of Beijing's carrier plans have appeared in recent years, and much ink has been spilled debating the ship's design characteristics: flight-deck configurations, launch and recovery systems, and propulsion plants. But to my mind, the best guide for figuring out what it all means in terms of China's naval strategy isn't the latest edition of Jane's Fighting Ships, but rather the two-plus-millennia-old History of the Peloponnesian War. In his chronicle of the protracted war between Athens and Sparta in the fifth century B.C., the Greek general and historian Thucydides proclaims that "three of the strongest motives" animating states' actions are "fear, honor, and interest." Peoples must arm lest they fall victim to the "law that the weaker should be subject to the stronger." China's aircraft-carrier ambitions can be seen in similar terms.
During his tenure as chairman of the early People's Republic, Mao Zedong took little interest in the sea, focusing instead on land defense. Even after the Great Helmsman's demise, Chinese leaders like Deng Xiaoping contented themselves with free-riding on U.S. maritime supremacy, reasoning that finite resources were better spent on economic development than on putting steel in the water. But with development came increasing reliance on the sea for imports of fuel and raw materials, not to mention exports of finished goods. Shipping lanes now figure prominently in China's foreign-policy calculus. Chinese statesmen accordingly fret that the United States will hold China's economic interests hostage during a crisis or war in the Taiwan Strait or elsewhere in maritime Asia, mounting a "distant blockade" to interdict the crucial sea routes on which Chinese commerce overwhelmingly depends.
Fear that the U.S. Navy will cut China's economic lifelines from afar beckons China's strategic gaze irresistibly seaward. An editorial in the official People's Daily last December captured China's broader geopolitical anxieties. The United States, the editors write, is intent on preserving "its hegemony across the world," including on the high seas in Asia. Focused on latter-day containment, Washington has stayed outside the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea. Why? Because, the editors write, it "considers exclusive economic zones to be international waters, which, by its hegemonic logic, should be included in the U.S. sphere of influence." In voicing their own fears, Chinese pundits -- not unreasonably -- impute fear to the United States. "Any fast-developing country," concludes the Daily, will be "instinctively seen" as a challenge to U.S. primacy. Such countries must construct strong military and naval forces, equipping themselves to resist a domineering America.
Such a bleak analysis would be instantly familiar to Thucydides, who found the "real cause" of the Peloponnesian War in the "growth of the power of Athens, and the alarm which this inspired in Sparta." Fear made great-power war "inevitable." From Beijing's standpoint, assenting to permanent U.S. maritime supremacy would amount to knuckling under to Thucydides's law condemning the weak to remain subservient to the strong. Dread of what U.S. leaders might do with overwhelming sea power helps account for China's quest for a great navy.
But why aircraft carriers specifically? Beijing is already fielding an impressive cruise-missile navy specifically designed to deny U.S. naval forces access to Asian seas and skies during a Taiwan confrontation or some other upheaval. Cruise missiles, augmented by submarines, ballistic missiles, and land-based tactical aircraft, would be far more lethal against the U.S. Navy than any carrier fleet Beijing will put to sea anytime soon. Writing in International Security, Boston College professor Robert Ross ascribes China's carrier-centric naval buildup to "naval nationalism." In this view, high-end warships represent tokens of great power that Beijing simply must have to fulfill its destiny as a seafaring state. Such talismans fire popular enthusiasm for nautical endeavors, and for the state that undertakes them.

History is not unimportant here. China still nurses memories of its long "century of humiliation" at the hands of seaborne conquerors like imperial Britain, France, Germany, and Japan. Starting with the First Opium War (1839-1842), imperial powers defeated the ruling Qing dynasty again and again, compelling Qing emperors to accept "unequal treaties" along with such indignities as foreign gunboats patrolling Chinese rivers. Such memories are a lot for Asia's historical central power to stomach. Furthermore, Chinese observers have looked around the U.N. Security Council and noticed that all five permanent members except China deploy aircraft carriers. Closer to home, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force operates light carriers known euphemistically as "helicopter destroyers"; South Korea has a similar vessel. Even Thailand has a flattop. The upshot is that a carrier will certify China's arrival as a sea power.
But there's more to China's navy than nationalism -- and there's more to the Chinese aircraft-carrier program than salvaging China's good name or keeping up with the Joneses. Beijing can use carrier task forces to uphold real, tangible interests. Most obviously, a PLA Navy carrier group could exit from the China seas through the Ryukyus, to Taiwan's north, or the Luzon Strait, to the island's south, during times of strife. By threatening the east coast of Taiwan, carrier groups would further complicate a tactical picture for the island's defenders that already verges on hopeless. The PLA already holds a commanding margin of superiority, so carrier operations would not decide a cross-strait war. But compelling the Taiwan Navy and Air Force to look eastward -- as well as westward and skyward -- would further disorient them, letting the PLA set the terms of engagement. PLA forces could thus prevail before the U.S. military could intervene, and Beijing would fulfill its dream of national unification with minimal disturbance to the regional order.
There's also the South China Sea, which has dominated headlines of late. Some Chinese-claimed islets in the Spratlys and Paracels are too small to fortify; carrier groups would provide a forward, mobile airfield from which to defend the islands, the adjacent waters, and the rich natural resources thought to lie in the seabed beneath. And as Beijing turns its gaze further southwest, carriers could anchor a PLA Navy presence in South Asia, should Chinese leaders opt to create a standing Indian Ocean squadron. Flattops could perform many functions, just as these multimission platforms have spearheaded U.S. naval operations since World War II.
Nor must Chinese carriers match their U.S. Navy counterparts on a ship-for-ship basis to achieve Beijing's goals. As noted before, the PLA Navy surface fleet benefits from dense land-based fire support. For instance, the PLA Second Artillery Corps, or missile force, is reportedly fielding the world's first anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM), a truck-launched weapon capable of striking ships under way hundreds of miles from Asian shores. There is no known defense against it. If the missile lives up to its hype -- and if Beijing acquires sufficient numbers of rounds -- U.S. Pacific Fleet commanders will be increasingly reluctant to venture westward of Guam. And if they do accept the losses inflicted by ASBM strikes, U.S. mariners will encounter land-based combat aircraft, quiet diesel submarines, and stealthy high-speed catamarans toting long-range anti-ship cruise missiles. Just reaching the combat theater could come at a steep cost.
If indeed the PLA converts the Western Pacific into a no-go zone for the U.S. Navy, it can uphold China's Thucydidean interests without ever risking a battle with its major antagonist. Land-based defenses may grant PLA naval commanders time to train pilots. It's a steep learning curve: In 1954 alone -- fully eight years after a jet fighter first landed aboard the carrier USS Franklin D. Roosevelt, and despite having developed sound concepts for flying jet aircraft from carrier decks -- the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps lost 776 aircraft and 535 airmen. China is by no means exempt from such hazards. Shore defenses also give China's navy a respite to work the engineering kinks out of the flattops themselves and to experiment with fleet tactics. Carriers steam in company with an entourage of escorts and logistics ships. It takes time to sort through various formations, defensive screens, underway replenishment techniques, and the like. Shore fire support affords the PLA leisure to devise its own approach to carrier operations, and it spares China the need for a costly, uncertain naval arms race with the United States. Why waste scarce resources?
By no means is combat readiness the sole motive propelling China's carrier ambitions. Carriers can prosecute numerous noncombat missions. After the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, for instance, Chinese pundits took note of how U.S. Navy vessels transiting the afflicted region rushed to the scene to render assistance. Hard power, in other words, enabled the soft kind, and Beijing felt sidelined. To remedy such shortcomings, it has built vessels like hospital ships and amphibious transports suitable for responding to natural and humanitarian disasters. Big-deck carriers would make a worthy addition to China's emerging disaster-relief repertoire.
And even these non-Thucydidean errands of mercy add luster to China's maritime reputation, bolstering the legitimacy of its naval enterprise and thus indirectly advancing its national interests. Great powers do well by doing good. Comforting the afflicted is not only worthwhile in its own right but helps the benefactor establish a track record for using its martial prowess wisely and humanely. Such a power eases suspicions of its intentions by furnishing international public goods that benefit not only China but its Asian neighbors. Beijing knows that to truly be a great sea power, you have to look -- and act -- the part.

 foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/06/27/blue_water_dreams

Qaddafi's 'why me?' moment: Who deserves an ICC arrest warrant more than him?

Posted By David Rothkopf Monday, June 27, 2011 - 5:05 PM
Imagine being Muammar al-Qaddafi. There you are, struggling with the day-to-day challenges of trying to get a decent colorist and botox doc to come to your bunker, and the International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for you for crimes against humanity. You're thinking, "crimes against fashion" sure, I would understand that. People are jealous they can't rock the gold epaulets like I do. But crimes against humanity? I'm just following the job description to which every other leader in my region adheres. Sure, I'm trying to put down a rebellion. Abraham Lincoln did the same thing, it resulted in way more killing and mayhem than has happened here, and he's on the five dollar bill.
"What about Assad?" he must be asking any remaining Ukrainian nurse practitioners as he is shuttled from one hiding place to another?

"What about the Bahrainis? What about Ahmadinejad? What about every one of my local colleagues who have dropped the hammer on the people trying to push us from office?"
"Heck, what about the NATO powers that were supposedly not authorized to pursue regime change here who keep "accidentally" bombing every place in town where I have stopped to take a nap?"
"What about George W.T.F. Bush?" he must be asking aloud while daubing shoe polish on his moustache and wondering silently who does Tom Selleck's? "He and Cheney violated every international law on the books, invaded a country, hundreds of thousands of innocent people died, and what do they get? Presidential libraries! Book contracts! State of the art pacemakers!"
Of course, Qaddafi has every reason to be bitter. The international community singled him out and has starkly and apparently unabashedly ignored far worse violations by Bashir al Assad, to pick just the most egregious case of a double standard. Not that Qaddafi doesn't deserve the arrest warrant issued by the ICC on Monday. Not that the world won't be a better place when he is out of office or better, behind bars paying for his brutality, his sponsorship for terror and his myriad abuses against his own people. But, if ever a guy was having a "why me" moment, it must be him as he reads about Syrian crackdowns, recalls the Iranian crackdown, watches as leaders from North Korea to China to Myanmar to Russia to Zimbabwe to Sudan to the Congo to Venezuela order their opponents locked up or worse.
That's the problem with the administration of international justice. It's not that the Qaddafis and the Mladics of this world don't deserve to end up in the slammer. It's not that they are not getting their just desserts. It's that justice is not applied equally around the world.
It's that among the anachronisms of our time, far too many leaders are able to hide behind an impenetrable veil of sovereignty when they commit acts that otherwise would be seen as indefensibly illegal. Too many are able to successfully justify their actions politically and even make moral cases for their immorality. Whereas with run-of-the-mill criminals, those who cooperate with the authorities end up living under an assumed name in witness protection programs, when crimes are committed on behalf of the authorities they start out under assumed names -- like self-defense or preserving order or honoring a faith or national heritage. In fact, most big time offenses actually might better be oxymoronically described as crimes on behalf of humanity.
For those who might be offended at the notion that a certifiable madman like Qaddafi could be considered in this context alongside an elected president of the United States, like George Bush, therein lies the rub. By purely objective criteria, which of these men's violations of international laws cost more lives?
Before you answer, ask yourself also: would the world be a better place if national leaders were more accountable under international law, had to be able to more clearly defend their actions? It may be seen as inflammatory, but it is an issue worth considering given the number of crimes that have been committed by states in the name of sovereign prerogatives. In fact, committing atrocities in the name of the state is only rivaled by committing atrocities in the name of religion as the most ruthless engine of mass murder in history.
The greater problem may well be that there are not enough judges, not enough jails, to accommodate all those who have abused their political power to commit the most unconscionable of crimes. That said, there is no harm in starting with Qaddafi, provided we have the appetite and the intention to get to the others as soon as space on the docket and jail space allow.

rothkopf.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/06/27/qaddafi_s_why_me_moment_who_deserves_an_icc_arrest_warrant_more_than_him
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