The Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 has repealed the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2004 by providing for, among other things, that no person or body corporate shall, except in a transaction executed through a licensed financial institution,
make or accept cash payments of a sum exceeding N5,000,000 (Five Million Naira) or its equivalent in the case of an individual, or N10,000,000 (Ten Million Naira) or its equivalent in the case of a body corporate
Any Financial Institution or Designated-Financial Institution that fails to comply with the above provision by making the appropriate compliance report to the regulatory authorities commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of not less than N250,000:00 (Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira) for an individual and not more than N1,000,000 (One Million Naira) for a body corporate, for each day that the contravention continues unabated.
Foreign Exchange Transfers
Also, any transfer to or from a foreign country of funds or securities in excess of US$10,000 (Ten Thousand United States Dollars) or its equivalent must be reported to the Central Bank of Nigeria (“CBN”), the Securities & Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and the Economic & Financial Crimes Commission (“EFCC”) within seven days from the date of the transfer transaction in question. The Report must indicate the names and addresses of the Sender, and of the Receiver of the funds or securities.
Customs Declarations
Any transportation of cash or of any negotiable instrument in excess of US$10,000 or its equivalent by individuals in or out of Nigeria must be declared to the Nigeria Custom Service who in turn is obligated to report such declarations to the CBN and the EFCC.
Any person who falsely declares or fails to make a declaration to the Nigeria Custom Service in pursuance of Section 12 of the Foreign Exchange (Monitoring and Miscellaneous) Act commits an offence and is liable on conviction to forfeit not less than 25% of the undeclared funds or negotiable instrument, or to a term of imprisonment of not less than two
(2) years, or to both the term of imprisonment and the forfeiture of the undeclared amount.
Know Your Customers (“KYC”)
All financial institutions in Nigeria with all designated non-financial institutions like Jewelers, Car and Luxury goods distributors, Chartered Accountants, Audit Firms, Tax Practitioners, Casinos, Clearing and Settlement agents, Legal Practitioners, Supermarkets, etc are required to verify the identity of their customers and update all relevant information on the customers regularly.
Financial Institutions and designated non-financial institutions are also obligated to scrutinise all on-going transactions that they undertake on behalf of their customers by ensuring that their customers’ transactions are consistent with the business and risk profile of the customers.
Where the customer is a public officer entrusted with performing a prominent public function, both within and outside Nigeria, the financial institution shall put in place for such a customer, an appropriate risk management system in addition to obtaining senior management approval to maintaining any business relationship with the public officer.
Declaration of Nature of Business – DNF
A designated non-financial institution whose business involves the one of cash transactions shall before commencing business submit to the Federal Ministry of Commerce a declaration of the nature of its business along with subsequently submitting a returns register of all its cash transactions above the limited set out in the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011.
Also, prior to any transaction involving a sum of US$1,000 or its equivalent, the designated non-financial institution must identify the customer by requiring him to fill a standard data form and have the customer submit copies of his or her international passport, driving license, national identity card or such other document bearing his or her photograph and or as may be prescribed by the Federal Ministry of Commerce.
A designated non-financial institution that fails to comply with the collation of data on its customers, the process that is more commonly referred to as KYC, and submit the returns requirements as above stated within seven days from the date of each relevant transaction, commits anb offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of N250,000:00 (Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira) for each day during which the offence continues unabated.
In addition to the above-mentioned penalty, the offending party could also suffer a suspension or a revocation or a withdrawal of his or her or its operating license by the appropriate licensing authority, and as the circumstances of the offence may demand.
Surveillance of Suspicious Transactions
Suspicious transactions of a frequent, unjustifiable or unreasonable nature, surrounded with unusual and unjustifiable complexity, and that appears to have no economic justification or lawful objective, and that may involve financing or are inconsistent with the known pattern of the account or business relationship with a customer are required to the reported to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (“EFFC”) within seven days of each of such transaction.
It is the responsibility of financial institutions and designated non-financial institutions to take all appropriate action to prevent the laundering of the proceeds of a crime or any illegal activity.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission with the Central Bank of Nigeria are authorised to, whenever they receive a report such as the one mentioned above, among other things, place a stop order not exceeding 72 hours on the account or transaction if it is suspected that such account is involved in the commission of a crime. This period could be extended where an application is made to the Federal High Court for such an extension.
The Federal High Court also has power to order that the funds and the accounts or securities referred to in the financial or designated non-financial Institution’s report should be block forthwith.
Any institution that fails to comply with the above provisions commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of N1,000,000:00 (One Million Naira) for each day during which the offence continues to be committed.
Exemption from Liability
The Directors, officers and employees of any financial institution or designated non-financial institution who complies with the provisions of this Act, in good faith, are not liable to having any civil or criminal proceedings bought against them by their customers for making a money laundering report.
Prohibition of Operating Anonymous Accounts
The opening and or maintaining of numbered or anonymous accounts by any person, financial institution or corporate body is prohibited by the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011.
Any individual or financial institution or corporate body that contravenes the above prohibition commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a term of imprisonment of not less than two years but not more than five years in the case of an individual offender.
Corporate and financial institution contraveners of the above prohibition are liable if convicted to a fine of not less than N10Million, and not more than N50Million, for each offence committed.
Banking Secrecy and Confidentiality
Section 13(4) of the 2011 Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act provides that “banking secrecy or the preservation of customer confidentiality shall not be invoked as a ground for objecting to the measures set out in sub-section (1) and (2) of this Section or for refusing to be a witness to facts likely to constitute an offence under this Act, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment, etc.) Act or any other law.”
Legal Practitioners & Clients Confidentiality Communications
Section 192(1) of the Evidence Act, 2011 protects professional communication between a client and his Legal Practitioner. Professional communications that are however made in furtherance of any illegal purpose or that are of any criminal or fraudulent nature are not protected from disclosure by the Lawyer/Client confidentiality rule even after the professional engagement of the Legal Practitioner has ceased.
However, where the Client elects to be a Witness in a judicial proceeding, the communication between the Client as a Witness and his Legal Practitioner will no longer be privileged provided that the subject matter of the evidence of the client is relevant to the judicial proceedings.
The parameters of a Client and Legal Practitioner privilege was tested in the matter of Abubakar v. Chuks (2007) 12 SC 1 @ 15-16 where the Supreme Court considered the provisions of the repealed Section 170 of the Evidence Act, 1945 and held that the restriction on a Legal Practitioner not to disclose at any time, confidential information between him and his client except where the Legal Practitioner has the express instructions of the client to disclose such information, does not apply to confidential communication or correspondence that are already in the public domain.
Money Laundering Offences and Penalties
Any person, whether an individual or a corporate body, who converts or transfers the resources or properties directly derived from any illegal trafficking in narcotic drugs and substances, or participates in any organised criminal group or undertakes terrorist activity, or engages in terrorism financing, human trafficking, sexual exploitation, smuggling, tax evasion, bribery and corruption, or carries out environmental crimes, kidnapping and hostage taking, illegal bunkering, illegal mining, insider trading and market manipulation, especially where these crimes are committed with the aim of either concealing or disguising the illicit origin of the resources or property or concealing any person involved in these crime(s) to evade the illegal consequences of the crimes, commits an offence under the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011.
Barring a repetition, it is also an offence for any individual or corporation or both to collaborate in concealing or disguising the genuine nature, origin, location, disposition, movement or ownership of the resources, property or rights derived directly or indirectly from the acts mentioned above.
The penalty on conviction for any of the offences mentioned above is a term of imprisonment of not less than five years but not more than 10 years.
It is immaterial when imposing punishment that the various aspects of the subject matter offence were committed in different jurisdictions or in different parts of the world.
Other Money Laundering Offences
Additional Money Laundering Offences include:-
i) Warning or in any way intimating the owner of suspected money laundering funds, of the making of any statutory report or refraining from making such a report.
ii) Destroying or removing a register or record required to be kept under the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act.
iii) Making or accepting cash payments contrary to the provisions of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act.
iv) Failing to report an international transfer of funds or securities.
v) Carrying out or attempting to carry out a money laundering offence under a false identity.
The penalties, on conviction, for the above listed offences (i) to (iii) is a term of imprisonment of not less than two years but not more than three years, or a fine of N500,000 and not more than N1,000,000. The penalty for making or accepting cash contrary to the provisions of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2011 is a forfeiture of 25% of the excess amount received or transferred.
It is also an offence to knowingly retain the proceeds of a criminal activity, or to conspire, aid and abet the commission of a money laundering offence.
Professional Ban or Suspension
Any person that is found guilty of an offence under this law may also be banned indefinitely or for a period of five years from practicing the profession which provided the opportunity for the money laundering offence to be committed.
http://businessdayonline.com/NG/index.php/law/legal-culture/29072-money-laundering-prohibition-act-2011
Huawei launches dual SIM Android phones in Nigeria
By Prince Osuagwu
Nigeria’s burgeoning mobile sector attracted yet another additional investor last week as Huawei Technologies Ltd, announced the introduction of series of mobile devices into the highly competitive Nigerian mobile phone market.
Huawei is regarded as one of the world’s biggest telecom service providers. It is also one of the prominent telecom Infrastructure providers for many telecom operators in Nigeria, playing in the B2B genre of the technology business for many years.
But now the company says its market survey has discovered a Nigeria with rich, untapped mobile market, begging to be explored.
As a way of grabbing its own share of the pie, the company rolled out an array of seven Qwerty plus touch android based smart phones hoping that they would delight Nigerians.
The flagship of the Android phones is the U8520, which is a dual sim smart phone that supports voice in one SIM and data on the other SIM. Unlike other dual-SIM smartphones the Huawei model has one SIM card slot that can work with 3G network, and the other slot compatible with the GSM network.
The new phone have varied features and styles targeted to meet individual needs ranging from full business (Smart phones) phones to full social networking, emails and internet browsing.
Boasting of high pixels, touch screens, hot spot/WiFi connectivity and sleek designs, the phones also run on the Android operating system which is the fastest growing operating system and targets young social networkers and those who have the youthful mind set.
Other models include the G1000+, G6150, G6005, U8650 and the Boulder U8350 smart phone as well as the S7 Slim Tablet. Though these are application-based high end level phones, Huawei promised that they were going to be affordable for the Nigerian customers.
Unveiling the series in Lagos the company’s Managing Director, Terminals, Mr Jacky Lee, promised that in the coming months, Nigerians from all business strata, social and economic status would have a phone that would help them bridge the digital divide without putting a hole in their pockets.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/10/huawei-launches-dual-sim-android-phones-in-nigeria/
Nigeria’s burgeoning mobile sector attracted yet another additional investor last week as Huawei Technologies Ltd, announced the introduction of series of mobile devices into the highly competitive Nigerian mobile phone market.
Huawei is regarded as one of the world’s biggest telecom service providers. It is also one of the prominent telecom Infrastructure providers for many telecom operators in Nigeria, playing in the B2B genre of the technology business for many years.
But now the company says its market survey has discovered a Nigeria with rich, untapped mobile market, begging to be explored.
As a way of grabbing its own share of the pie, the company rolled out an array of seven Qwerty plus touch android based smart phones hoping that they would delight Nigerians.
The flagship of the Android phones is the U8520, which is a dual sim smart phone that supports voice in one SIM and data on the other SIM. Unlike other dual-SIM smartphones the Huawei model has one SIM card slot that can work with 3G network, and the other slot compatible with the GSM network.
The new phone have varied features and styles targeted to meet individual needs ranging from full business (Smart phones) phones to full social networking, emails and internet browsing.
Boasting of high pixels, touch screens, hot spot/WiFi connectivity and sleek designs, the phones also run on the Android operating system which is the fastest growing operating system and targets young social networkers and those who have the youthful mind set.
Other models include the G1000+, G6150, G6005, U8650 and the Boulder U8350 smart phone as well as the S7 Slim Tablet. Though these are application-based high end level phones, Huawei promised that they were going to be affordable for the Nigerian customers.
Unveiling the series in Lagos the company’s Managing Director, Terminals, Mr Jacky Lee, promised that in the coming months, Nigerians from all business strata, social and economic status would have a phone that would help them bridge the digital divide without putting a hole in their pockets.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/10/huawei-launches-dual-sim-android-phones-in-nigeria/
Many children go unregistered in West Africa: NGO
DAKAR (AFP) – Some 66 percent of births still go unregistered in parts of Africa, children’s rights group Plan International said Monday as the world marked the world’s population hitting the seven billion mark.
“Who’s counting the unregistered children in West Africa?” the organisation said in a statement.
Plan warned of the need for children to have their births registered in these countries where populations are doubling every 20 years, and authorities are unable to keep up with the growing demand for schools, health clinics and housing.
“Many children are going without access to quality education and, with no birth registration, they are almost invisible with no access to their basic human rights,” the rights group said in their statement.
According to the United Nations State of the Population 2011 report, the population of Africa will more than triple in the 21st century and is expected to add another billion people to the globe in just 35 years.
Proof of identity is needed to sit national exams at primary school and is a key to prove children’s real age and origin in cases of trafficking and child labor.
“If we want later on to have good citizens in our cities, they must be counted from birth so that their opinion will be taken into account, their voice will be heard and they will be able to make a difference in their society.” said Adama Coulibaly, Plan’s regional director in West Africa.
According to the NGO, in Liberia, only 16 percent of children are registered, in Niger 32 percent.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/10/many-children-go-unregistered-in-west-africa-ngo/
“Who’s counting the unregistered children in West Africa?” the organisation said in a statement.
Plan warned of the need for children to have their births registered in these countries where populations are doubling every 20 years, and authorities are unable to keep up with the growing demand for schools, health clinics and housing.
“Many children are going without access to quality education and, with no birth registration, they are almost invisible with no access to their basic human rights,” the rights group said in their statement.
According to the United Nations State of the Population 2011 report, the population of Africa will more than triple in the 21st century and is expected to add another billion people to the globe in just 35 years.
Proof of identity is needed to sit national exams at primary school and is a key to prove children’s real age and origin in cases of trafficking and child labor.
“If we want later on to have good citizens in our cities, they must be counted from birth so that their opinion will be taken into account, their voice will be heard and they will be able to make a difference in their society.” said Adama Coulibaly, Plan’s regional director in West Africa.
According to the NGO, in Liberia, only 16 percent of children are registered, in Niger 32 percent.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/10/many-children-go-unregistered-in-west-africa-ngo/
In Niger Delta, one rebel leader faces a choice: computer engineering or fighting
As leaders of Nigerian militias promise to restart their war against the government in the oil-rich Niger Delta region, one young commander weighs life as a rebel vs. life as a computer engineer.
Nigerian rebels of the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force patrol the creeks of the Niger Delta near Port Harcourt in Nigeria September 28, 2004. Blessing Dumo is a commander in the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force, but would prefer to become a computer engineer after college if only there were job prospects.
George Esiri/Reuters/File
Blessing Dumo, a 30-year-old commander in the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force, belies the stereotype of a Niger Delta militant.
Yet, the Nigerian government has been unable or unwilling to follow through.
This cycle now spreads across the entirety of Nigeria. Boko Haram militants in Nigeria's mostly Muslim north have the same complaints as the boys in the Delta creeks. Those Islamists know the government only paid attention to the Delta when oil production was disrupted.
Men like Dumo, who worked their way from the creeks to university, are rare. Having to remain a militant would be devastating to him, he says, but he might have no other choice.
When asked about using violence for political gain, Dumo admits, "Of course it's wrong, very wrong.... But my government will not respond. Here we fight for our rights. We wake up in the morning wanting to go to work and there's no work. Our pockets are dry. What do you expect the youth to do?"
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2011/1030/In-Niger-Delta-one-rebel-leader-faces-a-choice-computer-engineering-or-fighting
Mr. Dumo looks, talks, and acts like any university student trying to find his way in the world. He speaks with enthusiasm about his computer science studies. He also expresses frustration at being unable to find a job, especially as he prepares to marry a woman named Virginia.
Dumo, who joined the militancy when he was 21, also talks about the joy of firing Kalashnikovs at Italian oil workers, the utility of kidnapping as a moneymaking venture, and his desire to wipe Muslim militant group Boko Haram off the map. He says he would like to leave the militant life behind after college but won't be able to if he has no job prospects.Dumo's dilemma captures many of the problems present in modern-day Nigeria. Civil society here is broken. Government officials are corrupt and unresponsive. Because of safety concerns, aid groups cannot operate in the areas in which they are needed most. Nonviolent movements are ignored. Economic growth, for many, is nonexistent.
The only thing that draws a response is violence. And only when the violence reaches a level that disrupts the Nigerian economy and the political classes are Delta residents' concerns addressed.Yet, the Nigerian government has been unable or unwilling to follow through.
This cycle now spreads across the entirety of Nigeria. Boko Haram militants in Nigeria's mostly Muslim north have the same complaints as the boys in the Delta creeks. Those Islamists know the government only paid attention to the Delta when oil production was disrupted.
Men like Dumo, who worked their way from the creeks to university, are rare. Having to remain a militant would be devastating to him, he says, but he might have no other choice.
When asked about using violence for political gain, Dumo admits, "Of course it's wrong, very wrong.... But my government will not respond. Here we fight for our rights. We wake up in the morning wanting to go to work and there's no work. Our pockets are dry. What do you expect the youth to do?"
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2011/1030/In-Niger-Delta-one-rebel-leader-faces-a-choice-computer-engineering-or-fighting
Move over Boko Haram, Nigeria's MEND rebels set to restart oil war in Niger Delta
Leaders of Nigeria's MEND rebel group – and other militia commanders in the oil-rich Niger Delta – say they're ready to launch fresh attacks after two years of relative quiet following a 2009 amnesty.
Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan gives a speech during the lunch "Unleashing Africa's Potential: A New Vision" in Perth Wednesday. The Niger Delta region has been targeted by Muslim groups Boko Haram and the Movement to Emancipate the Niger Delta (MEND) over governments' failure to keep promises.
Earlier this month, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan was forced to move a large outdoor celebration marking the 51st anniversary of Nigeria's independence from British colonial rule from Eagle Square, a large public space in the capital city of Abuja, to his presidential residence.
Boko Haram – the Muslim militant group that killed 23 in an Aug. 26 bombing on the United Nations headquarters in Abuja – had threatened the festivities.
But Boko Haram was not the only group to threaten an attack.
The Movement to Emancipate the Niger Delta (MEND) – a militant group from the oil-rich area of Nigeria's predominately Christian South – issued its own threat. It claimed responsibility for a bomb at a similar celebration last year, which killed 12 people, and said it would strike again.
MEND's threat was its most audacious public announcement in years – a sign of its growing frustration over the Nigerian government's decision to shift its attention to the country's mainly Muslim northern half, where Boko Haram operates.
It's also one of the latest signs that MEND and other militant groups that terrorize the Niger Delta region are set to revamp their campaign of attacks after remaining relatively quiet since amnesty was offered to top militant leaders in 2009.
Before the amnesty, in which some militant leaders agreed to put down their weapons in exchange for an unconditional pardon, MEND had been steadily ramping up the intensity and effectiveness of its attacks on oil facilities, causing global oil prices to spike repeatedly.
The amnesty calmed that, but systemic problems in the Delta – extreme poverty, environmental degradation, claims of exploitation by oil companies, and the ever-present threats of crime and violence – still exist.
MEND, while weakened in the wake of the amnesty, is strengthening again, determined to make Mr. Jonathan pay attention to the Delta's woes.
MEND and other militant groups typically speak to the media through spokespeople: Access to leadership is rarely granted.
In recent weeks, I traveled through the slums in and around Port Harcourt to interview high-ranking officials in MEND and the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force (NDPVF), the two largest and most capable militant groups operating in the Delta.
I also met with a general in the Icelanders, a smaller group that ruthlessly controls shantytowns along Port Harcourt's waterfront.
What these interviews reveal is a vibrant and active militant movement, simmering with anger and resentment over the government's failure to keep promises.
These groups are primed to fight Boko Haram, a movement they dismiss as irrelevant to Nigeria's future.
These leaders also say that the war they waged against the Nigerian government, which has been dormant in recent years, is about to begin again.
The amnesty brought about a decrease in kidnappings and attacks against foreign workers and oil installations. This year, these attacks are again becoming common
Boko Haram – the Muslim militant group that killed 23 in an Aug. 26 bombing on the United Nations headquarters in Abuja – had threatened the festivities.
But Boko Haram was not the only group to threaten an attack.
The Movement to Emancipate the Niger Delta (MEND) – a militant group from the oil-rich area of Nigeria's predominately Christian South – issued its own threat. It claimed responsibility for a bomb at a similar celebration last year, which killed 12 people, and said it would strike again.
MEND's threat was its most audacious public announcement in years – a sign of its growing frustration over the Nigerian government's decision to shift its attention to the country's mainly Muslim northern half, where Boko Haram operates.
It's also one of the latest signs that MEND and other militant groups that terrorize the Niger Delta region are set to revamp their campaign of attacks after remaining relatively quiet since amnesty was offered to top militant leaders in 2009.
Before the amnesty, in which some militant leaders agreed to put down their weapons in exchange for an unconditional pardon, MEND had been steadily ramping up the intensity and effectiveness of its attacks on oil facilities, causing global oil prices to spike repeatedly.
The amnesty calmed that, but systemic problems in the Delta – extreme poverty, environmental degradation, claims of exploitation by oil companies, and the ever-present threats of crime and violence – still exist.
MEND, while weakened in the wake of the amnesty, is strengthening again, determined to make Mr. Jonathan pay attention to the Delta's woes.
Access to top leaders
MEND and other militant groups typically speak to the media through spokespeople: Access to leadership is rarely granted.In recent weeks, I traveled through the slums in and around Port Harcourt to interview high-ranking officials in MEND and the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force (NDPVF), the two largest and most capable militant groups operating in the Delta.
I also met with a general in the Icelanders, a smaller group that ruthlessly controls shantytowns along Port Harcourt's waterfront.
What these interviews reveal is a vibrant and active militant movement, simmering with anger and resentment over the government's failure to keep promises.
These groups are primed to fight Boko Haram, a movement they dismiss as irrelevant to Nigeria's future.
These leaders also say that the war they waged against the Nigerian government, which has been dormant in recent years, is about to begin again.
Amnesty's short-lived effect
The amnesty brought about a decrease in kidnappings and attacks against foreign workers and oil installations. This year, these attacks are again becoming common According to interviews with two MEND generals – one who uses the alias TK and one who calls himself Eybele – this uptick in violence is planned.
TK and Eybele say there are four MEND generals. Each general has approximately 400 "boys," or soldiers, under his command, making the full MEND fighting force about 1,600. Both say they were former students and activists who turned to militancy when the Delta's problems were ignored.
Their independent descriptions of MEND's organization corroborate each other.
The generals say they answer to a man called Tomonu. It is unclear if they are referring to MEND's Gen. Godswill Tomunu, who has not been heard from since a BBC interview in 2006.
I met with TK in an alley of a waterfront slum. Eybele, the more polished and soft-spoken of the two, met me in the bedroom of one of his fighter's homes in a shantytown farther inland. Both decry the government's lack of progress toward improving infrastructure in the Delta and say that violence was the only way to bring attention to unacceptable living conditions.
"We want to live in an environment with good schools for our young ones, good piped-in water, good infrastructure," TK says. "We're living in shambles."
"The government promises and fails you," he continues. "If there's no revolution, this place will not be a better place."
Eybele stresses that renewed attacks against oil companies would be collateral damage in a war against the government, which he says did not live up to commitments made during amnesty negotiations.
"We survive through armed struggle," Eybele says. "Most of our boys need something meaningful, but they don't have it. The government is celebrating 51 years of independence while we have nothing. What are we celebrating for?"
"If the oil companies and the government can collaborate and give 50,000 jobs to [the] indigenous [people] so we can partake in the sharing of the system, it would go a long way to assist our people," he says.
Later that day, I met with Blessing Dumo, a young commander in the NDPVF, next to a pool in one of Port Harcourt's walled-in expatriate communities. When he approached the table I thought he was just a college student – indeed, he is studying computer science at a university in Port Harcourt. His arguments are grounded in political principles and he speaks with the conviction of an activist.
Mr. Dumo says the number of soldiers in the NDPVF is in the thousands. He shares many of the same complaints as TK and Eybele, but his anger is focused on the amnesty, which he calls a failure.
"We are not criminals and we're not taking amnesty," Dumo says. He joined the NDPVF to fight for indigenous rights, he says. "We accept the peace of the amnesty, but we're not taking the cash. I don't want to be paid, but I want the Niger Delta to get employed."
He reserves particular anger toward Royal Dutch Shell, which was forced to shut down a major pipeline here after it was bombed Oct. 6. Dumo neither confirms nor denies NDPVF's involvement in the attack.
"Shell is messing up the community, polluting the areas," he says. "Shell cannot stay in the Niger Delta. They are not a plus to us. They cause a commotion in our communities."
After Ateke Tom, the notorious leader of the Niger Delta Vigilante, accepted amnesty, the group split into smaller factions, according to sources close to the militancy.
One such group is the Icelanders, which controls slums along Port Harcourt's waterfront as well as on the island of Okrika in the Delta.
I met with an Icelanders general named JB in one of the shanties he controls. JB seems to lack the sophistication of the MEND generals or Dumo, but his passion is unmatched.
He throws his hands about as he rants about government inaction. His eyes are wild with rage as he compares the Niger Delta community to the Israelites, each deserving of a Promised Land.
His soldiers stand outside and watch me closely through an empty window frame.
"The Okrika man is silent. He is watching what the government will do," JB says. "If need be, we will come out again in our full force in arms."
JB is joined by his second in command, Lucky Lagogo, and a bodyguard named George. When I bring up Jonathan's amnesty offer, all three men become agitated.
"The amnesty paid a few people; a few people took that money. I want Goodluck [Jonathan] to pay everyone in the Niger Delta!" George shouts.
"The government [doesn't] honor gentlemen. They honor those who are radical. By paying the ones who are radical, you pay the gentle ones to become radical," says JB. "Let [amnesty payments] go around to all youths in Niger Delta. When it goes down to the youth, there will be peace."
JB leans over and puts his finger in my chest.
"You are a live witness," he says. "You came to this community today. You can see people struggling. They are supposed to be empowered by the government."
All of the militants I spoke with are dismissive of Boko Haram and the threat the Islamist group poses to the country.
The MEND generals say they sympathize with the group's grievances, but that they do not approve of their tactics, particularly the random killing of Christians and the burning of churches.
When I ask TK what would happen if Boko Haram entered the Delta, he waves the question away.
"Boko Haram should not come here," he says without elaborating.
Dumo is more animated in his criticism of the group. He says its members are looking for a payout similar to the one the Delta rebels were offered during amnesty.
"The answer is Western education," he says, referring to Boko Haram's name, which translates to "Western education is a sin." "To hell with Boko Haram."
JB, for his part, offers the Icelanders' services to fight Boko Haram. He says the Niger Delta brings oil wealth to the country while the north produces nothing.
"The problem of Boko Haram is not a problem," JB says. "We'll tell the nation to observe and declare a 48-hour war between Boko Haram and the Niger Delta youth."
"Let them see what happens. If it comes to that, we will be very much grateful," he adds. "We must shame them to the general public. Boko Haram has nothing to be proud of."
They say dissatisfaction with government efforts to improve the Delta, and frustration over Jonathan's focus on Boko Haram, will lead to an increase in MEND activity.
TK and Eybele say there are four MEND generals. Each general has approximately 400 "boys," or soldiers, under his command, making the full MEND fighting force about 1,600. Both say they were former students and activists who turned to militancy when the Delta's problems were ignored.
Their independent descriptions of MEND's organization corroborate each other.
The generals say they answer to a man called Tomonu. It is unclear if they are referring to MEND's Gen. Godswill Tomunu, who has not been heard from since a BBC interview in 2006.
Meeting in an alleyway
I met with TK in an alley of a waterfront slum. Eybele, the more polished and soft-spoken of the two, met me in the bedroom of one of his fighter's homes in a shantytown farther inland. Both decry the government's lack of progress toward improving infrastructure in the Delta and say that violence was the only way to bring attention to unacceptable living conditions."We want to live in an environment with good schools for our young ones, good piped-in water, good infrastructure," TK says. "We're living in shambles."
"The government promises and fails you," he continues. "If there's no revolution, this place will not be a better place."
Eybele stresses that renewed attacks against oil companies would be collateral damage in a war against the government, which he says did not live up to commitments made during amnesty negotiations.
"We survive through armed struggle," Eybele says. "Most of our boys need something meaningful, but they don't have it. The government is celebrating 51 years of independence while we have nothing. What are we celebrating for?"
"If the oil companies and the government can collaborate and give 50,000 jobs to [the] indigenous [people] so we can partake in the sharing of the system, it would go a long way to assist our people," he says.
An unassuming militant leader
Later that day, I met with Blessing Dumo, a young commander in the NDPVF, next to a pool in one of Port Harcourt's walled-in expatriate communities. When he approached the table I thought he was just a college student – indeed, he is studying computer science at a university in Port Harcourt. His arguments are grounded in political principles and he speaks with the conviction of an activist.Mr. Dumo says the number of soldiers in the NDPVF is in the thousands. He shares many of the same complaints as TK and Eybele, but his anger is focused on the amnesty, which he calls a failure.
"We are not criminals and we're not taking amnesty," Dumo says. He joined the NDPVF to fight for indigenous rights, he says. "We accept the peace of the amnesty, but we're not taking the cash. I don't want to be paid, but I want the Niger Delta to get employed."
He reserves particular anger toward Royal Dutch Shell, which was forced to shut down a major pipeline here after it was bombed Oct. 6. Dumo neither confirms nor denies NDPVF's involvement in the attack.
"Shell is messing up the community, polluting the areas," he says. "Shell cannot stay in the Niger Delta. They are not a plus to us. They cause a commotion in our communities."
Militancy bred in the slums
After Ateke Tom, the notorious leader of the Niger Delta Vigilante, accepted amnesty, the group split into smaller factions, according to sources close to the militancy.One such group is the Icelanders, which controls slums along Port Harcourt's waterfront as well as on the island of Okrika in the Delta.
I met with an Icelanders general named JB in one of the shanties he controls. JB seems to lack the sophistication of the MEND generals or Dumo, but his passion is unmatched.
He throws his hands about as he rants about government inaction. His eyes are wild with rage as he compares the Niger Delta community to the Israelites, each deserving of a Promised Land.
His soldiers stand outside and watch me closely through an empty window frame.
"The Okrika man is silent. He is watching what the government will do," JB says. "If need be, we will come out again in our full force in arms."
JB is joined by his second in command, Lucky Lagogo, and a bodyguard named George. When I bring up Jonathan's amnesty offer, all three men become agitated.
"The amnesty paid a few people; a few people took that money. I want Goodluck [Jonathan] to pay everyone in the Niger Delta!" George shouts.
"The government [doesn't] honor gentlemen. They honor those who are radical. By paying the ones who are radical, you pay the gentle ones to become radical," says JB. "Let [amnesty payments] go around to all youths in Niger Delta. When it goes down to the youth, there will be peace."
JB leans over and puts his finger in my chest.
"You are a live witness," he says. "You came to this community today. You can see people struggling. They are supposed to be empowered by the government."
All of the militants I spoke with are dismissive of Boko Haram and the threat the Islamist group poses to the country.
The MEND generals say they sympathize with the group's grievances, but that they do not approve of their tactics, particularly the random killing of Christians and the burning of churches.
'The answer is Western education'
When I ask TK what would happen if Boko Haram entered the Delta, he waves the question away."Boko Haram should not come here," he says without elaborating.
Dumo is more animated in his criticism of the group. He says its members are looking for a payout similar to the one the Delta rebels were offered during amnesty.
"The answer is Western education," he says, referring to Boko Haram's name, which translates to "Western education is a sin." "To hell with Boko Haram."
JB, for his part, offers the Icelanders' services to fight Boko Haram. He says the Niger Delta brings oil wealth to the country while the north produces nothing.
"The problem of Boko Haram is not a problem," JB says. "We'll tell the nation to observe and declare a 48-hour war between Boko Haram and the Niger Delta youth."
"Let them see what happens. If it comes to that, we will be very much grateful," he adds. "We must shame them to the general public. Boko Haram has nothing to be proud of."
QOTD
Only the very ignorant are perfectly satisfied that they know. To the common man the great problems are easy. He has no trouble in accounting for the universe. He can tell you the origin and destiny of man and the why and wherefore of things.
-- Robert Green Ingersoll, "Liberty In Literature" (1890)
-- Robert Green Ingersoll, "Liberty In Literature" (1890)
As The House of Reps Objects to Diaspora Voting
By Sonala Olumhense
Of all the jokes emerging from Abuja, the one from the House of Representatives has to be the most serious.
Last week, it suspended discussion of a bill which will amend the 2010 Electoral Law to extend voting rights to Nigerians abroad.
It is a simple proposition that is obvious especially in the lower house of bicameral legislatures worldwide: the more the number of citizens who are able to participate in national elections, the deeper that nation's democracy generally is. That is why every democratic nation is working to ensure that its citizens abroad are not deprived of their same voting rights simply because they have ventured beyond the border.
Nigeria, on this point, has a crying need. There are about 10 million citizens living abroad. They are important participants in the political process from the point of view of their education levels, advocacy and economic capability.
Many Nigerians that I know in the United States, for instance, are hardworking and patriotic people who are helping to raise not only their only families, but also support several other people in one way or another.
But they cannot vote.
I know Nigerians abroad who are helping to ensure that some hospitals receive equipment; that non-governmental organizations receive funding and facilities; that motherless babies homes receive clothes, milk and food; that students receive fees; that schools receive computers and books; and that village development projects are supported.
But they cannot vote.
I know Nigerians abroad who either organize conferences and workshops designed to help in some way or other in Nigeria, or who influence the invitation and sponsorship abroad, of Nigerians officials, in the long-distance hope that they will be proficient and productive in their work.
But they cannot vote.
I know Nigerians abroad who contribute to the Nigerian conversation in many ways; citizens who have demonstrated deep, patriotic concern and involvement for many years.
But they cannot vote.
I know Nigerians abroad who send home to friends and relatives every year, thousands of dollars. The funds are used to pay rent, school fees, hospital bills, medicines and food, and--in effect--disguise the grievous unemployment, thereby ensuring that most of our pompous politicians and officials do not get their throats slashed when they venture out of Abuja and the state capitals. These cash remittances add up to about $20 billion a year.
But they cannot vote.
The reason Nigerians abroad are disenfranchised is in the law. But the electoral commission has no problems with organizing participation for such Nigerians; it is a simple and increasingly inexpensive exercise that many nations already undertake every year, and Nigeria's electoral commission has expressed its readiness to implement it once empowered by law. If implemented, Nigerians in most countries will vote with far fewer problems that Nigerians in the country itself.
The bill in the House, which is sponsored by Representatives Victor Ogene, Aminu Shagari, Abubakar Momoh, Chris Azubuogu, Samson Osagie, and the Chairman of the House Committee on Diaspora, Representative Abike Dabiri-Erewa, will amended the 2010 Electoral Law to authorize INEC to "maintain as part of the National Register of Voters, a Voters' Register for Nigerians in Diaspora."
Several patriotic and enlightened members of the House immediately saw how the amendment would advance the cause of democracy in the country. Representatives Sekonte Davis, Abimbola Daramola and Nkoyo Toyo enthusiastically campaigned for it, obviously because it is vision, not physical height, that enables a person to see far forward.
But then entered the naysayers, among them Deputy House Leader Leo Okuweh Ogor (PDP, Delta State); the Deputy Minority Leader, Garba Datti Muhammad (CPC, Kaduna), and Kingsley Sunny Ebienyi (PDP, Enugu).
These officials roundly objected to extending the franchise to their compatriots abroad, without a single one of them articulating an intelligent excuse.
Indeed, the proceedings had not extended beyond the expression of the general principles of the proposed amendment when the Enemies of Progress began to line up behind the microphone.
Naysayer Number One was Mr.Ogor, a businessman who represents Isoko, declared that Nigeria was "not ripe" for it because she lacks the funds. Without even waiting for any estimates to be put on the table, he said, "We will all be here sourcing for funds to run the elections...The financial implication for this may turn out to be worse than the oil subsidy.”
It is something of a paradox that the Nigerians who spend a good deal of their sweat subsidizing a grievously an irresponsibly-managed economy are, in Mr. Ogor's calculation, to be denied the vote using an insulting and mindless "subsidy" argument.
But worse was to come.
Datti, who may have thought of being a newsman in a previous life, announced that Nigerians were spread out throughout the world. It would, therefore, be a "herculean task" to extend the vote to them, he said.
The most regrettable naysayer was Ebienyi, a veterinary surgeon who once served as Nigeria's ambassador in Spain. From his experience, the doctor of animals said, Nigeria is not ripe for dispora voting.
The truth is that Diaspora voting is, and ought to be, one of most compelling measures of a modern democracy. It is an easy tool for encouraging the registration of national population pools that are otherwise reluctant to declare their presence abroad, especially in situations such as ours where foreign missions are often incompetent, corrupt and hostile. Dr. Ebienyi certainly sounds as if he has superintended such an operation against Nigerians abroad.
Modern technology has made Diaspora voting comparatively easier than it was just one decade ago, and nations that include Ghana, Mali, South Africa, Senegal and Indonesia, are enthusiastically embracing it. Indeed, Representative Dabiri has pointed out that about 115 countries, 28 of them in Africa, have already implemented it.
What that means is that many countries that are "poorer" than Nigeria are implementing a process they accept not just as fair, but as a significant element in their democracies.
This underlines the point that the real obstacle here is not really the challenge of resources, but of political will. That is why a man such as Representative Ogar would oppose a bill of this nature with no recourse to facts, numbers or statistics.
A greater danger than Mr. Ogar is Dr. Ebienyi who, on account of his paper education and observation of established democracies, ought to know better. For such a man to attack this bill is evidence of the malice and contempt with which many Nigerian diplomats abroad treat their compatriots. Dr. Ebienyi's narrow-mindedness and backward thinking is an invitation to researchers and journalists to undertake a forensic examination of this pompous and pretentious legislator.
As it is, the House Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal has stood down the bill until the House has procedural access to the 2010 Electoral Law, which is the law in reference. I celebrate and encourage the sponsors of the bill and all those Representatives who have the heart and the vision to see what it represents.
The truth is simple: Nigeria cannot whine about African nations not respecting her any longer if she is not prepared to lead by example. We cannot preach good governance, political participation and pluralism, only to back off into cliches when the time comes to take action. Nigeria's legislature can enjoy no respect at the Inter-Parliamentary Union if it advertises itself internationally as shallow and backward.
I know there are politicians who are scared about Nigerians abroad for various petty reasons. But this is not about doing favours for anyone; it is not about reward for the billions of dollars in annual Diaspora remittances, it is about doing the right thing for Nigeria. Tens of millions of Nigerians abroad are an important segment of the nation's population, and it is important that they are finally allowed to enjoy a right they have been denied for a long time.
I invite Nigerians in the Diaspora to speak up on this matter. The website of the House is listed below the bill. On significant legislative activity of this nature, there is a need to compile a full list of all the legislators who are clearly working against the popular or patriotic imperative, so that we can be ready for them in every committee and every hallway of the National Assembly, in the mass media, and in their constituencies.
House of Representatives: http://www.nassnig.org/nass2/index.php
The bill [HB 02], "The Electoral Act [Amendment) Bill, 2011" is available at: http://www.nass.gov.ng/nass2/legislation.php
sonala.olumhense@gmail.com
http://saharareporters.com/column/house-reps-objects-diaspora-voting-sonala-olumhense
Of all the jokes emerging from Abuja, the one from the House of Representatives has to be the most serious.
Last week, it suspended discussion of a bill which will amend the 2010 Electoral Law to extend voting rights to Nigerians abroad.
It is a simple proposition that is obvious especially in the lower house of bicameral legislatures worldwide: the more the number of citizens who are able to participate in national elections, the deeper that nation's democracy generally is. That is why every democratic nation is working to ensure that its citizens abroad are not deprived of their same voting rights simply because they have ventured beyond the border.
Nigeria, on this point, has a crying need. There are about 10 million citizens living abroad. They are important participants in the political process from the point of view of their education levels, advocacy and economic capability.
Many Nigerians that I know in the United States, for instance, are hardworking and patriotic people who are helping to raise not only their only families, but also support several other people in one way or another.
But they cannot vote.
I know Nigerians abroad who are helping to ensure that some hospitals receive equipment; that non-governmental organizations receive funding and facilities; that motherless babies homes receive clothes, milk and food; that students receive fees; that schools receive computers and books; and that village development projects are supported.
But they cannot vote.
I know Nigerians abroad who either organize conferences and workshops designed to help in some way or other in Nigeria, or who influence the invitation and sponsorship abroad, of Nigerians officials, in the long-distance hope that they will be proficient and productive in their work.
But they cannot vote.
I know Nigerians abroad who contribute to the Nigerian conversation in many ways; citizens who have demonstrated deep, patriotic concern and involvement for many years.
But they cannot vote.
I know Nigerians abroad who send home to friends and relatives every year, thousands of dollars. The funds are used to pay rent, school fees, hospital bills, medicines and food, and--in effect--disguise the grievous unemployment, thereby ensuring that most of our pompous politicians and officials do not get their throats slashed when they venture out of Abuja and the state capitals. These cash remittances add up to about $20 billion a year.
But they cannot vote.
The reason Nigerians abroad are disenfranchised is in the law. But the electoral commission has no problems with organizing participation for such Nigerians; it is a simple and increasingly inexpensive exercise that many nations already undertake every year, and Nigeria's electoral commission has expressed its readiness to implement it once empowered by law. If implemented, Nigerians in most countries will vote with far fewer problems that Nigerians in the country itself.
The bill in the House, which is sponsored by Representatives Victor Ogene, Aminu Shagari, Abubakar Momoh, Chris Azubuogu, Samson Osagie, and the Chairman of the House Committee on Diaspora, Representative Abike Dabiri-Erewa, will amended the 2010 Electoral Law to authorize INEC to "maintain as part of the National Register of Voters, a Voters' Register for Nigerians in Diaspora."
Several patriotic and enlightened members of the House immediately saw how the amendment would advance the cause of democracy in the country. Representatives Sekonte Davis, Abimbola Daramola and Nkoyo Toyo enthusiastically campaigned for it, obviously because it is vision, not physical height, that enables a person to see far forward.
But then entered the naysayers, among them Deputy House Leader Leo Okuweh Ogor (PDP, Delta State); the Deputy Minority Leader, Garba Datti Muhammad (CPC, Kaduna), and Kingsley Sunny Ebienyi (PDP, Enugu).
These officials roundly objected to extending the franchise to their compatriots abroad, without a single one of them articulating an intelligent excuse.
Indeed, the proceedings had not extended beyond the expression of the general principles of the proposed amendment when the Enemies of Progress began to line up behind the microphone.
Naysayer Number One was Mr.Ogor, a businessman who represents Isoko, declared that Nigeria was "not ripe" for it because she lacks the funds. Without even waiting for any estimates to be put on the table, he said, "We will all be here sourcing for funds to run the elections...The financial implication for this may turn out to be worse than the oil subsidy.”
It is something of a paradox that the Nigerians who spend a good deal of their sweat subsidizing a grievously an irresponsibly-managed economy are, in Mr. Ogor's calculation, to be denied the vote using an insulting and mindless "subsidy" argument.
But worse was to come.
Datti, who may have thought of being a newsman in a previous life, announced that Nigerians were spread out throughout the world. It would, therefore, be a "herculean task" to extend the vote to them, he said.
The most regrettable naysayer was Ebienyi, a veterinary surgeon who once served as Nigeria's ambassador in Spain. From his experience, the doctor of animals said, Nigeria is not ripe for dispora voting.
The truth is that Diaspora voting is, and ought to be, one of most compelling measures of a modern democracy. It is an easy tool for encouraging the registration of national population pools that are otherwise reluctant to declare their presence abroad, especially in situations such as ours where foreign missions are often incompetent, corrupt and hostile. Dr. Ebienyi certainly sounds as if he has superintended such an operation against Nigerians abroad.
Modern technology has made Diaspora voting comparatively easier than it was just one decade ago, and nations that include Ghana, Mali, South Africa, Senegal and Indonesia, are enthusiastically embracing it. Indeed, Representative Dabiri has pointed out that about 115 countries, 28 of them in Africa, have already implemented it.
What that means is that many countries that are "poorer" than Nigeria are implementing a process they accept not just as fair, but as a significant element in their democracies.
This underlines the point that the real obstacle here is not really the challenge of resources, but of political will. That is why a man such as Representative Ogar would oppose a bill of this nature with no recourse to facts, numbers or statistics.
A greater danger than Mr. Ogar is Dr. Ebienyi who, on account of his paper education and observation of established democracies, ought to know better. For such a man to attack this bill is evidence of the malice and contempt with which many Nigerian diplomats abroad treat their compatriots. Dr. Ebienyi's narrow-mindedness and backward thinking is an invitation to researchers and journalists to undertake a forensic examination of this pompous and pretentious legislator.
As it is, the House Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal has stood down the bill until the House has procedural access to the 2010 Electoral Law, which is the law in reference. I celebrate and encourage the sponsors of the bill and all those Representatives who have the heart and the vision to see what it represents.
The truth is simple: Nigeria cannot whine about African nations not respecting her any longer if she is not prepared to lead by example. We cannot preach good governance, political participation and pluralism, only to back off into cliches when the time comes to take action. Nigeria's legislature can enjoy no respect at the Inter-Parliamentary Union if it advertises itself internationally as shallow and backward.
I know there are politicians who are scared about Nigerians abroad for various petty reasons. But this is not about doing favours for anyone; it is not about reward for the billions of dollars in annual Diaspora remittances, it is about doing the right thing for Nigeria. Tens of millions of Nigerians abroad are an important segment of the nation's population, and it is important that they are finally allowed to enjoy a right they have been denied for a long time.
I invite Nigerians in the Diaspora to speak up on this matter. The website of the House is listed below the bill. On significant legislative activity of this nature, there is a need to compile a full list of all the legislators who are clearly working against the popular or patriotic imperative, so that we can be ready for them in every committee and every hallway of the National Assembly, in the mass media, and in their constituencies.
House of Representatives: http://www.nassnig.org/nass2/index.php
The bill [HB 02], "The Electoral Act [Amendment) Bill, 2011" is available at: http://www.nass.gov.ng/nass2/legislation.php
sonala.olumhense@gmail.com
http://saharareporters.com/column/house-reps-objects-diaspora-voting-sonala-olumhense
Beyond the Financial Crisis: Germany's Plan to Regrow the Global Economy
by: Jeremy Rifkin
At the moment, Germany is embroiled in a fierce debate over how to save the Eurozone and, with it, the future of the European Union. Although stringent austerity programs will have to be enacted in the member countries to reduce government debt, and new regulatory mechanisms put in place to oversee European financial institutions and markets, there is a dawning realization that these measures alone will be insufficient to assure the future of Europe and its member states. What's required, above all else, is a new sustainable economic growth plan that can take Europe into the future. That's beginning to happen.
While the rest of the world is in a near panic over the prospect of a second collapse of the global economy, a fresh new economic wind is blowing across Germany. In discussions with German business leaders over the past several months, and in recent conversations with Chancellor Angela Merkel and key political leaders in Berlin, it has become clear that Germany is embarking on a journey into a new economic era. The German plan is based on the historical understanding that the great economic paradigm shifts in history occur when new communications revolutions converge and merge with new energy regimes. New energy revolutions make possible more expansive and integrated trade. Accompanying communication revolutions manage the speed and complexity of commercial activity made possible by the new flow of energy. Today, the distributed Internet communication revolution is converging with distributed renewable energies, giving birth to a powerful Third Industrial Revolution that is going to fundamentally change German society.
The Merkel administration has launched an ambitious effort to transition the West's leading exporting power into a Third Industrial Revolution (TIR). The federal government has teamed up with six regions across Germany to test the introduction of an "energy Internet" that will allow tens of thousands of German businesses and millions of home owners to collect renewable energies onsite, store them in the form of hydrogen, and share green electricity across Germany in a smart utility network, just like we now share information online. Entire communities are in the process of transforming their commercial and residential buildings into green micro-power plants, and companies like Siemens and Bosch are creating sophisticated new IT software, hardware, and appliances that will merge distributed Internet communications with distributed energy to create the smart buildings, infrastructure, and cities of the future.
The transition into the new Industrial Revolution is quickly picking up momentum. In May, the government announced that the country's 17 nuclear power plants would be shut down by 2022. Then, in late summer, the German Association of Energy and Water Companies reported for the first time that renewable energy sources now account for nearly 20% of the country's electricity, putting Germany ahead of schedule in its goal of producing 35% of its electricity from green energy by 2022. On September 12th, Dr. Dieter Zetsche, the Chairman of Daimler, unveiled the company's hydrogen fuel-cell car at the opening of the Frankfurt International Auto Show. The company that launched the Second Industrial Revolution 125 years ago with the invention of the gasoline-powered automobile has joined with seven industrial partners -- EnBW, Linde, OMV, Shell, Total, Vattenfall, and the National Organization of Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology -- in a partnership to establish hydrogen fueling stations across Germany in preparation for the mass production of zero-emission fuel cell vehicles in 2015, signaling the beginning of the post-carbon auto era and a Third Industrial Revolution.
The creation of a renewable energy regime, loaded by buildings, partially stored in the form of hydrogen, distributed via an energy internet, and connected to plug-in zero-emission transport, establishes the essential 5-Pillars of a Third Industrial Revolution. The forty year build out will create thousands of businesses and millions of sustainable jobs and position Germany as the leader in the next industrial revolution.
Germany's ability to export the new model throughout the European Union and in its partnership regions in the Mediterranean, North Africa, and beyond, will set the framework for the next great stage of European integration, and ultimately determine whether the European political experiment and the European Dream succeeds or fails.
The opportunity is clear. The European Union has 500 million consumers and an additional 500 million potential consumers in its partnership regions, giving it the prospect of becoming the largest and wealthiest internal commercial market in the world. The key is creating a seamless green energy infrastructure, electricity grid, and communication and transport network that will allow one billion people to engage in "sustainable" commerce and trade across the European continent and its periphery. This represents the next stage of European integration as a political union.
In May 2007, the European Parliament issued a formal written declaration endorsing the Third Industrial Revolution (TIR) vision as the long-term economic road map for the European Union. The Third Industrial Revolution is currently being implemented by the various agencies within the European Commission as well as in the member states.
Now, Germany, the economic engine of the European Union, has set out on a course to quickly transform its economy into the new economic paradigm and serve as a lighthouse for moving the Third Industrial Revolution infrastructure across the European space. To the extent that Germany can effectively create a sustainable and prosperous post-carbon Europe and transform the continent into the largest integrated market space in the world, Germany will prosper, and the European Union will come of age. Other continental markets and continental unions in Asia, Africa, and the Americas will likely follow suit.
The world community will be watching the German experiment closely to see whether this new economic model can serve as a template for ushering in a new economic era. Germany's future, as well as Europe's and the world, depends on its success.
Jeremy Rifkin is the author of The Third Industrial Revolution: How lateral Power is Transforming Energy, the Economy, and World.
At the moment, Germany is embroiled in a fierce debate over how to save the Eurozone and, with it, the future of the European Union. Although stringent austerity programs will have to be enacted in the member countries to reduce government debt, and new regulatory mechanisms put in place to oversee European financial institutions and markets, there is a dawning realization that these measures alone will be insufficient to assure the future of Europe and its member states. What's required, above all else, is a new sustainable economic growth plan that can take Europe into the future. That's beginning to happen.
While the rest of the world is in a near panic over the prospect of a second collapse of the global economy, a fresh new economic wind is blowing across Germany. In discussions with German business leaders over the past several months, and in recent conversations with Chancellor Angela Merkel and key political leaders in Berlin, it has become clear that Germany is embarking on a journey into a new economic era. The German plan is based on the historical understanding that the great economic paradigm shifts in history occur when new communications revolutions converge and merge with new energy regimes. New energy revolutions make possible more expansive and integrated trade. Accompanying communication revolutions manage the speed and complexity of commercial activity made possible by the new flow of energy. Today, the distributed Internet communication revolution is converging with distributed renewable energies, giving birth to a powerful Third Industrial Revolution that is going to fundamentally change German society.
The Merkel administration has launched an ambitious effort to transition the West's leading exporting power into a Third Industrial Revolution (TIR). The federal government has teamed up with six regions across Germany to test the introduction of an "energy Internet" that will allow tens of thousands of German businesses and millions of home owners to collect renewable energies onsite, store them in the form of hydrogen, and share green electricity across Germany in a smart utility network, just like we now share information online. Entire communities are in the process of transforming their commercial and residential buildings into green micro-power plants, and companies like Siemens and Bosch are creating sophisticated new IT software, hardware, and appliances that will merge distributed Internet communications with distributed energy to create the smart buildings, infrastructure, and cities of the future.
The transition into the new Industrial Revolution is quickly picking up momentum. In May, the government announced that the country's 17 nuclear power plants would be shut down by 2022. Then, in late summer, the German Association of Energy and Water Companies reported for the first time that renewable energy sources now account for nearly 20% of the country's electricity, putting Germany ahead of schedule in its goal of producing 35% of its electricity from green energy by 2022. On September 12th, Dr. Dieter Zetsche, the Chairman of Daimler, unveiled the company's hydrogen fuel-cell car at the opening of the Frankfurt International Auto Show. The company that launched the Second Industrial Revolution 125 years ago with the invention of the gasoline-powered automobile has joined with seven industrial partners -- EnBW, Linde, OMV, Shell, Total, Vattenfall, and the National Organization of Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology -- in a partnership to establish hydrogen fueling stations across Germany in preparation for the mass production of zero-emission fuel cell vehicles in 2015, signaling the beginning of the post-carbon auto era and a Third Industrial Revolution.
The creation of a renewable energy regime, loaded by buildings, partially stored in the form of hydrogen, distributed via an energy internet, and connected to plug-in zero-emission transport, establishes the essential 5-Pillars of a Third Industrial Revolution. The forty year build out will create thousands of businesses and millions of sustainable jobs and position Germany as the leader in the next industrial revolution.
Germany's ability to export the new model throughout the European Union and in its partnership regions in the Mediterranean, North Africa, and beyond, will set the framework for the next great stage of European integration, and ultimately determine whether the European political experiment and the European Dream succeeds or fails.
The opportunity is clear. The European Union has 500 million consumers and an additional 500 million potential consumers in its partnership regions, giving it the prospect of becoming the largest and wealthiest internal commercial market in the world. The key is creating a seamless green energy infrastructure, electricity grid, and communication and transport network that will allow one billion people to engage in "sustainable" commerce and trade across the European continent and its periphery. This represents the next stage of European integration as a political union.
In May 2007, the European Parliament issued a formal written declaration endorsing the Third Industrial Revolution (TIR) vision as the long-term economic road map for the European Union. The Third Industrial Revolution is currently being implemented by the various agencies within the European Commission as well as in the member states.
Now, Germany, the economic engine of the European Union, has set out on a course to quickly transform its economy into the new economic paradigm and serve as a lighthouse for moving the Third Industrial Revolution infrastructure across the European space. To the extent that Germany can effectively create a sustainable and prosperous post-carbon Europe and transform the continent into the largest integrated market space in the world, Germany will prosper, and the European Union will come of age. Other continental markets and continental unions in Asia, Africa, and the Americas will likely follow suit.
The world community will be watching the German experiment closely to see whether this new economic model can serve as a template for ushering in a new economic era. Germany's future, as well as Europe's and the world, depends on its success.
Jeremy Rifkin is the author of The Third Industrial Revolution: How lateral Power is Transforming Energy, the Economy, and World.
Gaddafi, son buried in secret location
MISRATA (AFP) – The body of Libyan ex-leader Muammer Gaddafi was buried overnight in a secret location after days of being put on display in a market freezer, a Misrata military council member said Tuesday.
The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Gaddafi’s remains were buried “overnight in a religious ceremony” along with the corpses of his son Mutassim and ex-defence minister Abu Bakr Yunis Jaber.
According to guards at the entrance to the market on the outskirts of Misrata, 215 kilometres (132 miles) east of Tripoli, a convoy of four or five military vehicles took away the bodies late Monday night to an unknown location.
Three religious leaders loyal to the ousted dictator prayed and performed a religious ceremony before the burial, the military council member said.
The father and two sons of the former defence minister were present when the bodies were picked up at the market, the source said.
The burials come amid raging controversy over the circumstances of Gaddafi’s death after he was taken alive during the fall of his hometown Sirte last Thursday.
Libya’s interim leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil said a commission of inquiry is to probe the strongman’s killing after foreign governments and rights group raised questions.
“In response to international calls, we have started to put in place a commission tasked with investigating the circumstances of Muammar Gaddafi’s death in the clash with his circle as he was being captured,” Abdel Jalil said on Monday.
The UN human rights office welcomed this announcement.
Disquiet has grown internationally over how Gaddafi met his end after National Transitional Council (NTC) fighters hauled him out of a culvert where he was hiding following NATO air strikes on the convoy in which he had been trying to flee his falling hometown.
Mobile phone videos show him still alive at that point.
The corpses of Gaddafi — with a bullet wound to the head — his son Mutassim, and decades-long confidant Abubakr Yunes had laid in a meat market freezer on the outskirts of the city of Misrata until Monday.
Libya’s interim prime minister Mahmud Jibril said in Jordan on Sunday that an autopsy report showed Gaddafi was killed in “crossfire from both sides.”
Since Friday, thousands of ordinary Libyans have viewed the bodies of the slain men, many taking pictures on their mobile phone.
Meanwhile a fuel tank exploded in Sirte late on Monday killing more than 100 people, NTC military commander Leith Mohammed said.
“There was an enormous explosion and a huge fire. More than 100 people were killed and 50 others wounded” Mohammed told AFP in Tripoli.
He said the scene was “a heart wrenching spectacle with dozens of charred bodies.”
The accidental explosion happened as a crowd of people waited near the fuel tank to fill up their cars.
The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Gaddafi’s remains were buried “overnight in a religious ceremony” along with the corpses of his son Mutassim and ex-defence minister Abu Bakr Yunis Jaber.
According to guards at the entrance to the market on the outskirts of Misrata, 215 kilometres (132 miles) east of Tripoli, a convoy of four or five military vehicles took away the bodies late Monday night to an unknown location.
Three religious leaders loyal to the ousted dictator prayed and performed a religious ceremony before the burial, the military council member said.
The father and two sons of the former defence minister were present when the bodies were picked up at the market, the source said.
The burials come amid raging controversy over the circumstances of Gaddafi’s death after he was taken alive during the fall of his hometown Sirte last Thursday.
Libya’s interim leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil said a commission of inquiry is to probe the strongman’s killing after foreign governments and rights group raised questions.
“In response to international calls, we have started to put in place a commission tasked with investigating the circumstances of Muammar Gaddafi’s death in the clash with his circle as he was being captured,” Abdel Jalil said on Monday.
The UN human rights office welcomed this announcement.
Disquiet has grown internationally over how Gaddafi met his end after National Transitional Council (NTC) fighters hauled him out of a culvert where he was hiding following NATO air strikes on the convoy in which he had been trying to flee his falling hometown.
Mobile phone videos show him still alive at that point.
The corpses of Gaddafi — with a bullet wound to the head — his son Mutassim, and decades-long confidant Abubakr Yunes had laid in a meat market freezer on the outskirts of the city of Misrata until Monday.
Libya’s interim prime minister Mahmud Jibril said in Jordan on Sunday that an autopsy report showed Gaddafi was killed in “crossfire from both sides.”
Since Friday, thousands of ordinary Libyans have viewed the bodies of the slain men, many taking pictures on their mobile phone.
Meanwhile a fuel tank exploded in Sirte late on Monday killing more than 100 people, NTC military commander Leith Mohammed said.
“There was an enormous explosion and a huge fire. More than 100 people were killed and 50 others wounded” Mohammed told AFP in Tripoli.
He said the scene was “a heart wrenching spectacle with dozens of charred bodies.”
The accidental explosion happened as a crowd of people waited near the fuel tank to fill up their cars.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/10/gaddafi-son-buried-in-secret-location/
Edo govt to immortalise Sam Loco
Edo State Government, Sunday, announced plans to immortalise the late veteran actor, Mr. Sam Loco Efe, who passed on in August. Governor Adams Oshiomhole said government will rename a street after Sam Loco while making his speech at the lying-in-state of late Loco at Oba Akenzua Cultural Centre, Benin.
Oshiomhole said: “In Edo State, I believe that it would not be enough to make all the rhetoric. We have decided to immortalise the late Sam Loco by naming a street after him. It will be a street that has been rebuilt and not one with potholes. When people drive on it they will remember the contributions of our late brother.
“Sam Loco, by his contributions, simply cannot possibly die because his works will be played back and even children yet unborn will be able to watch and see his contributions to Nigeria’s entertainment industry.
“As I remarked in the condolence register, Sam reconnected all of us in our living rooms at various times. Several governors sent me condolence messages.
“It shows that this man wrote his own history by his works. So to the family, you have every reason to be proud to say I am the son or the daughter of Sam Loco.”
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/10/edo-govt-to-immortalise-sam-loco/
Oshiomhole said: “In Edo State, I believe that it would not be enough to make all the rhetoric. We have decided to immortalise the late Sam Loco by naming a street after him. It will be a street that has been rebuilt and not one with potholes. When people drive on it they will remember the contributions of our late brother.
“Sam Loco, by his contributions, simply cannot possibly die because his works will be played back and even children yet unborn will be able to watch and see his contributions to Nigeria’s entertainment industry.
“As I remarked in the condolence register, Sam reconnected all of us in our living rooms at various times. Several governors sent me condolence messages.
“It shows that this man wrote his own history by his works. So to the family, you have every reason to be proud to say I am the son or the daughter of Sam Loco.”
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/10/edo-govt-to-immortalise-sam-loco/
Millionaire Nigerian Pastor TB Joshua's Church Linked To Fraudulent AIDS Claims
UK health officials are looking into the role of evangelical churches including the Synagogue Church of All Nations, with UK headquarters in Southwark, South London, for advising parishioners to abandon HIV drug treatments in favor of prayer according to a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) report.Already several AIDS patients who stopped taking their medications on the advice of their pastors have died.
In one example, the church's website claims: "Mrs Badmus proudly displays her two different medical records confirming she is 100% free from HIV-Aids following the prayer of Pastor T B Joshua."
According to the website of the Synagogue Church (SCOAN), by using anointing water "you are positioned for healing." "HIV-Aids healing" is listed on the church's website among "miracles" it says it can perform.
"Cancer healing" and "baby miracles" are also advertised.
The church's UK website promotes a monthly "prayer line" for which it says: "If you are having a medical condition, it is important you bring a medical report for record and testimony purposes."
Videos posted on the internet show its services in south London, in which participants who claim to have arthritis, asthma and schizophrenia say they have been healed after being sprayed with "anointing water" provided by the church.
Mary Buhari, 44 , from central London, told the BBC she had had a phone conversation with a representative of the church, in which she was told she could be cured of HIV."I was told they can cure any illness on Earth through prayer, including HIV," she said.
"We don't ask people to stop taking medication," the church added. "Doctors treat; God heals."
At least three people in London with HIV have died after they stopped taking life saving drugs on the advice of their Evangelical Christian pastors.
"We see patients quite often who will come having expressed the belief that if they pray frequently enough, their HIV will somehow be cured," said Prof Jane Anderson, director of the Centre for the Study of Sexual Health and HIV, in Hackney.
"We have seen people who choose not to take the tablets at all so sometimes die."
Conservative MP Norman Fowler condemned pastors giving this advice, saying: "It's dangerous to the public and dangerous in terms of public health."
"It's irresponsible," he said. “Pastors should instead "come off the air on it, look at things much more seriously, and not give this completely wrong advice to the public".
http://saharareporters.com/news-page/millionaire-nigerian-pastor-tb-joshuas-church-linked-fraudulent-aids-claims
US-EX-IM bank in Nigeria, offers $1b in credit facility
PRESSING its interest to engage Nigeria by offering financing options in key sectors of the economy, top officials of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (US-EX-IM) are in the country intent on reversing a situation where Nigeria is not tapping about 70 per cent of about $1 billion in products and financial facilities offered directly to the country by the US bank, Empowered Newswire reported, on Tuesday.
Nigeria’s Ambassador to the United States, Professor Adebowale Adefuye, said the chairman and president of the EX-IM bank of the United States, Mr Fred P. Hochberg, is currently visiting Nigeria. The visit, which began on Tuesday, will end tomorrow.
Hochberg would meet President Goodluck Jonathan and several other ministers; Federal Government officials and bank chief executive officers during the trip.
Adefuye, who is accompanying the US-EXIM bank officials, including the Vice-Chairman and Vice-President, Wanda Felton, on the trip to Nigeria, disclosed before leaving Washington DC that both “Nigeria and US EX-IM are expected to sign a Memorandum of Understanding, at the end of the visit.”
In line with this, US-EXIM bank has already authorised almost $30 billion exports since the beginning of 2011, of which a total of $1.5 billion was allocated to Sub-Saharan Africa and about $300 million authorisations went to Nigeria, mostly through the private sector buyers and mainly through Nigerian banks.
But the Nigerian Ambassador to the US said “this is only a fraction of the pre-approved guaranty of $1 billion that the bank has set aside for Nigeria.”
The US-EXIM bank Nigeria is one of only two countries in sub-Saharan Africa that enjoys a pre-approved credit facility, Angola being the other one. But both US-EXIM officials on the one hand, and Adefuye and the Federal Government on the other hand, are concerned that Nigeria has not been fully utilising US EX-IM products.
In fact there is worry that US-EXIM activities in the country have progressively decreased in recent times, according to Adefuye.
Consequently, the Nigerian private and public sectors, especially the small and medium enterprises, are said to be losing out on the opportunity to access cheap and long term funds through Ex-IM guaranties, credits, insurance and direct finance.
Adefuye said some of the reasons attributed to this, “include issues related to the banking crises that had bedevilled the country, seeming uncooperative attitude of the Nigerian banks, stringent EX-IM bank application and qualification requirements among others.
The visit is seen as a way to correct the situation and as part of Ambassador Adefuye’s goal of attracting American investments in the Nigerian economy “through robust engagements with the American private sector as well as encouraging the full participation of the Nigerian private sector in partnership with their American counterparts,” the envoy said.
The US EX-IM bank’s chairman visit was brokered by the Nigerian Embassy, after series of negotiations with the Bank including a meeting in March this year between a Nigerian delegation led by the then Senior Presidential Advisor on Power and now Minister of Power, Professor Bart Nnaji and Hochberg, EX-IM chairman and president.
Adefuye explained that “that meeting mutually decided that, in view of Nigeria’s position as one of nine global priority markets for the Bank, the chairman EX-IM should visit Nigeria; to re-engage with the Nigerian market, explore possibilities for expanding Ex-IM portfolio in Nigeria and build American investors’ confidence in the Nigerian economy.”
http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/news/29908--us-ex-im-bank-in-nigeria-offers-1b-in-credit-facility
Nigeria’s Ambassador to the United States, Professor Adebowale Adefuye, said the chairman and president of the EX-IM bank of the United States, Mr Fred P. Hochberg, is currently visiting Nigeria. The visit, which began on Tuesday, will end tomorrow.
Hochberg would meet President Goodluck Jonathan and several other ministers; Federal Government officials and bank chief executive officers during the trip.
Adefuye, who is accompanying the US-EXIM bank officials, including the Vice-Chairman and Vice-President, Wanda Felton, on the trip to Nigeria, disclosed before leaving Washington DC that both “Nigeria and US EX-IM are expected to sign a Memorandum of Understanding, at the end of the visit.”
In line with this, US-EXIM bank has already authorised almost $30 billion exports since the beginning of 2011, of which a total of $1.5 billion was allocated to Sub-Saharan Africa and about $300 million authorisations went to Nigeria, mostly through the private sector buyers and mainly through Nigerian banks.
But the Nigerian Ambassador to the US said “this is only a fraction of the pre-approved guaranty of $1 billion that the bank has set aside for Nigeria.”
The US-EXIM bank Nigeria is one of only two countries in sub-Saharan Africa that enjoys a pre-approved credit facility, Angola being the other one. But both US-EXIM officials on the one hand, and Adefuye and the Federal Government on the other hand, are concerned that Nigeria has not been fully utilising US EX-IM products.
In fact there is worry that US-EXIM activities in the country have progressively decreased in recent times, according to Adefuye.
Consequently, the Nigerian private and public sectors, especially the small and medium enterprises, are said to be losing out on the opportunity to access cheap and long term funds through Ex-IM guaranties, credits, insurance and direct finance.
Adefuye said some of the reasons attributed to this, “include issues related to the banking crises that had bedevilled the country, seeming uncooperative attitude of the Nigerian banks, stringent EX-IM bank application and qualification requirements among others.
The visit is seen as a way to correct the situation and as part of Ambassador Adefuye’s goal of attracting American investments in the Nigerian economy “through robust engagements with the American private sector as well as encouraging the full participation of the Nigerian private sector in partnership with their American counterparts,” the envoy said.
The US EX-IM bank’s chairman visit was brokered by the Nigerian Embassy, after series of negotiations with the Bank including a meeting in March this year between a Nigerian delegation led by the then Senior Presidential Advisor on Power and now Minister of Power, Professor Bart Nnaji and Hochberg, EX-IM chairman and president.
Adefuye explained that “that meeting mutually decided that, in view of Nigeria’s position as one of nine global priority markets for the Bank, the chairman EX-IM should visit Nigeria; to re-engage with the Nigerian market, explore possibilities for expanding Ex-IM portfolio in Nigeria and build American investors’ confidence in the Nigerian economy.”
http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/news/29908--us-ex-im-bank-in-nigeria-offers-1b-in-credit-facility
Landslide hits Enugu
By Tony Edike
ENUGU— OVER 20 communities in Awgu and Oji-River Local Government Areas of Enugu State have been thrown into serious difficulties, following a major landslide which cut off a portion of the Awgu-Achi-Oji River federal road.
The landslide on the road now under rehabilitation, reportedly occurred at Egu-Agbo Ifitte Mmaku end last Friday after a heavy rainfall.
The rehabilitation project was awarded by the Federal Government last year as a constituency project of the Deputy Senate President, Chief Ike Ekweremadu, and work had progressed steadily before the unfortunate disaster which has rendered the road impassable.
A farmer at Mmaku, Mrs. Nwamaka Ekwe, told reporters who visited the area yesterday that the incident was like an earthquake, lamenting that economic activities in the area had been paralyzed by the disaster.
She said: “We have not experienced this type of disaster in this area before. The thing is just like an earthquake and it is very risky for anyone to attempt passing there. We have not been going to market because the road has been cut into two.”
The middle-aged woman urged government to urgently intervene by repairing the damaged portion of the road, expressing fears that the situation could worsen with more rainfall.
Also reacting, Mr. Sunday Chukwuobasi, a commercial motorcycle rider from Mmaku, said: “We are not happy about what happened to our road. For long, the people in government have been promising to construct a new road for us but nothing has happened all
these years until the recent intervention by the deputy senate president.
“The government should urgently come to our aid and alleviate our suffering. Since the day this thing happened nobody could pass through here.
Movement has been hampered and the rural women are suffering because they cannot go to the market. Last Oye market, which was a day after this happened, so many people cried at the market because there was no way to transport their goods to the market.”
Mr. Ferdinand Ebo, a driver from Achi, Oji-River Local Government Area said: “This road is not good and the contractors working on it started from the Oji-River end and have not done much especially in this area.
“With what has happened we have no alternative route now going to Achi from Awgu. What happens is that when we get here I drop my passengers and they look for a way to cross because this is now the end of the road.”
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/10/landslide-hits-enugu/
ENUGU— OVER 20 communities in Awgu and Oji-River Local Government Areas of Enugu State have been thrown into serious difficulties, following a major landslide which cut off a portion of the Awgu-Achi-Oji River federal road.
The landslide on the road now under rehabilitation, reportedly occurred at Egu-Agbo Ifitte Mmaku end last Friday after a heavy rainfall.
The rehabilitation project was awarded by the Federal Government last year as a constituency project of the Deputy Senate President, Chief Ike Ekweremadu, and work had progressed steadily before the unfortunate disaster which has rendered the road impassable.
She said: “We have not experienced this type of disaster in this area before. The thing is just like an earthquake and it is very risky for anyone to attempt passing there. We have not been going to market because the road has been cut into two.”
The middle-aged woman urged government to urgently intervene by repairing the damaged portion of the road, expressing fears that the situation could worsen with more rainfall.
Also reacting, Mr. Sunday Chukwuobasi, a commercial motorcycle rider from Mmaku, said: “We are not happy about what happened to our road. For long, the people in government have been promising to construct a new road for us but nothing has happened all
these years until the recent intervention by the deputy senate president.
“The government should urgently come to our aid and alleviate our suffering. Since the day this thing happened nobody could pass through here.
Movement has been hampered and the rural women are suffering because they cannot go to the market. Last Oye market, which was a day after this happened, so many people cried at the market because there was no way to transport their goods to the market.”
Mr. Ferdinand Ebo, a driver from Achi, Oji-River Local Government Area said: “This road is not good and the contractors working on it started from the Oji-River end and have not done much especially in this area.
“With what has happened we have no alternative route now going to Achi from Awgu. What happens is that when we get here I drop my passengers and they look for a way to cross because this is now the end of the road.”
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/10/landslide-hits-enugu/
We won’t release Baba Suwe until…, says NDLEA
By Albert Akpor
LAGOS— FOR the sixth day, detained ace comedian Babatunde Omidina alias Baba Suwe, was still under observation by officials of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA.
Sources said the popular actor has not defecated since Sunday. Spokesman of the anti-drug agency, Mr. Mitchell Ofoyeju allayed fears, yesterday, that the drugs allegedly in Baba Suwe’s system could burst open, saying that could only happen if there was leakage in the wrappings.
The NDLEA image-maker said the actor was in good health, adding that it was normal for wraps of drugs to remain in one’s bowels for as long as possible until they are finally excreted.
He said: “Perhaps Baba Suwe is employing some drama into the whole exercise. There is no way we can release him except he excretes the drugs and relevant section of the law is applied. People have been calling to ask if it was not dangerous for his health going by the number of days he has spent with us without excreting the contents of his bowel. I told them that it is normal.
“There is no specific time limit within which to excrete the drugs. It can only become dangerous if there is leakage in the wrap system. So he is still under observation by a team of experts and he is in a stable condition too.
“It is just that for two days now, he has not defecated. We are still watching.”
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/10/we-wont-release-baba-suwe-until-says-ndlea/
LAGOS— FOR the sixth day, detained ace comedian Babatunde Omidina alias Baba Suwe, was still under observation by officials of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA.
Sources said the popular actor has not defecated since Sunday. Spokesman of the anti-drug agency, Mr. Mitchell Ofoyeju allayed fears, yesterday, that the drugs allegedly in Baba Suwe’s system could burst open, saying that could only happen if there was leakage in the wrappings.
 |
Alhaji King Babatunde Ayinla Nurudeen Olasunkanmi Omidina, a.k.a. Baba Suwe |
He said: “Perhaps Baba Suwe is employing some drama into the whole exercise. There is no way we can release him except he excretes the drugs and relevant section of the law is applied. People have been calling to ask if it was not dangerous for his health going by the number of days he has spent with us without excreting the contents of his bowel. I told them that it is normal.
“There is no specific time limit within which to excrete the drugs. It can only become dangerous if there is leakage in the wrap system. So he is still under observation by a team of experts and he is in a stable condition too.
“It is just that for two days now, he has not defecated. We are still watching.”
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/10/we-wont-release-baba-suwe-until-says-ndlea/
AU chair laments Africa’s inability to conduct reliable elections
Addis Ababa - The Chairperson of the AU Commission, Dr Jean Ping, on Wednesday said Africa’s inability to conduct reliable elections was one of the challenges to sustainable democracy on the continent.
Ping said this in Addis Ababa at the Second AU/Organisation of American States (OAS) forum on Democracy and Human Rights in Africa and the Americas.
He also listed lack of resources to strengthen electoral institutions, foreign influence and the inability of Africans to accept election results in good faith as other challenges faced by democracy on the continent.
Ping said democracy and human rights were not imported into Africa because Africans were known with their freedoms of association and speech for a very long time before the arrival of colonial masters.
He said Africans had in the early 90s took to the streets and demanded for political change and their rights to be respected.
“Africa has now witnessed the second wind of change in the Tunisia, Egypt and Libya among other Arab nations. The AU has played a key role in protecting democratic values on the continent throughout the struggles through its charter on human rights and shared values.’’
Ping said despite the efforts and successes recorded, there was a need for Africans to be steadfast in strengthening democracy especially by ensuring that there would be no more military coups on the continent.
He said there was also the need to strengthen legitimate administrations by political parties in Africa as most of them do not meet the aspirations of their citizens.
Also speaking, Mr Jose Insulza, Secretary General of the OAS said there was a need for countries on the two continents to continue to learn from each other inorder to strengthen democracy and human rights.
“We can advance in our goals for a closer and more productive relationship in the areas of democracy, human rights, electoral observation, conflict resolution, gender equality, social justice and more equally in income distribution.
“By joining our forces we can be even more effective in achieving our objectives and in ensuring that regional integration and inter-regional cooperation will translate into greater benefits of our people’’, Insulza said.
In his speech, Amb. Ruben Mangue, the Chairman of the AU Permanent Representative Committee (PRC) said the committee would provide all the necessary support to strengthen the existing relations with all AU partners and sister organisations like the OAS.
Mangue said providing such support would maximise the potentials and opportunities that exist within the two regions for the promotion, strengthening and defence of democracy, human rights and good governance.
The forum held its first meeting in New York in 2007 and the two sides signed an MoU on cooperation and modalities of operation in 2009. (NAN)
Ping said this in Addis Ababa at the Second AU/Organisation of American States (OAS) forum on Democracy and Human Rights in Africa and the Americas.
He also listed lack of resources to strengthen electoral institutions, foreign influence and the inability of Africans to accept election results in good faith as other challenges faced by democracy on the continent.
Ping said democracy and human rights were not imported into Africa because Africans were known with their freedoms of association and speech for a very long time before the arrival of colonial masters.
He said Africans had in the early 90s took to the streets and demanded for political change and their rights to be respected.
“Africa has now witnessed the second wind of change in the Tunisia, Egypt and Libya among other Arab nations. The AU has played a key role in protecting democratic values on the continent throughout the struggles through its charter on human rights and shared values.’’
Ping said despite the efforts and successes recorded, there was a need for Africans to be steadfast in strengthening democracy especially by ensuring that there would be no more military coups on the continent.
He said there was also the need to strengthen legitimate administrations by political parties in Africa as most of them do not meet the aspirations of their citizens.
Also speaking, Mr Jose Insulza, Secretary General of the OAS said there was a need for countries on the two continents to continue to learn from each other inorder to strengthen democracy and human rights.
“We can advance in our goals for a closer and more productive relationship in the areas of democracy, human rights, electoral observation, conflict resolution, gender equality, social justice and more equally in income distribution.
“By joining our forces we can be even more effective in achieving our objectives and in ensuring that regional integration and inter-regional cooperation will translate into greater benefits of our people’’, Insulza said.
In his speech, Amb. Ruben Mangue, the Chairman of the AU Permanent Representative Committee (PRC) said the committee would provide all the necessary support to strengthen the existing relations with all AU partners and sister organisations like the OAS.
Mangue said providing such support would maximise the potentials and opportunities that exist within the two regions for the promotion, strengthening and defence of democracy, human rights and good governance.
The forum held its first meeting in New York in 2007 and the two sides signed an MoU on cooperation and modalities of operation in 2009. (NAN)
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/10/au-chair-laments-africa%e2%80%99s-inability-to-conduct-reliable-elections/
FG plans 50,000 jobs
BY MICHAEL EBOH
ABUJA—The Federal Government, Monday, said it is targeting the creation of about 50,000 new jobs and 6,000 young entrepreneurs within the next three years with the launch of the Youth Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria, YOU WIN, project.
The YOU WIN project, a youth empowerment and entrepreneurship programme conceived by the Federal Ministry of Finance in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Communication and Technology, Federal Ministry of Youth Development, the private sector and the World Bank, will be launched by President Goodluck Jonathan at an event with over 2,000 youths in Abuja.
According to Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Minister for Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, the project, which will be launched simultaneously in the six zones in Nigeria to enable youths in all states participate, is in line with the president’s vision of economic development.
She added that the main objective of the project is to generate jobs by encouraging and supporting aspiring entrepreneurial youth in Nigeria to develop and execute business ideas that will lead to job creation.
She said, “The programme will provide aspiring youth with a platform to showcase their business acumen, skills and aspirations to business leaders, investors and mentors in Nigeria.”
Okonjo-Iweala explained that the You WIN project will be an annual Business Plan Competition, BPC, for aspiring young entrepreneurs, in line with the Federal Government’s drive to create more jobs for Nigerians.
She noted that the programme is targeted at Nigerian youth with well-developed and new business concept, or innovation/expansion plan for an existing enterprise.
She said the government has selected the Lagos Business School to conduct the first round of screenings for the business plan submissions as well as coordinate trainings and mentorships.
She added that a six-member panel of judges, comprising reputable business leaders and experts drawn from the private sector, has been appointed in each geographical zone to validate and audit the screening process by the business school at each stage of the competition.
In the competition which will be held annually over the next three years, Okonjo-Iweala said that the winning entries will be a mix of start-ups and existing enterprises that are looking to expand, while the final awards will be a gradation of from N1million to N10 million, with the awards categories being Best innovator / New Idea, Best product, Best Business Plan, Best Corporate Social Responsibility and Best Overall Entrant.
“At the end of the three-year period, the federal government said the target is to have 3,600 entrepreneurs supported to start or expand their business concepts over three years; an additional 1,800 – 2,000 business started or expanded by youth trained by the programme; 40,000 to 50,000 sustainable new jobs for currently unemployed Nigerian youth over three years; at least 6,000 aspiring youth entrepreneurs trained in business planning and management and at least 3,600 entrepreneurs linked with mentors in the business community,” she explained.
Also speaking, Bolaji Abdullahi, the Minister of Youth Development said, “Those figures, as encouraging as they are, are in fact just a start. For us, as a facilitating ministry for the youth population, the question of providing an atmosphere and the right environment for youth entrepreneurship to flourish is of utmost importance.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/10/fg-plans-50000-jobs/
ABUJA—The Federal Government, Monday, said it is targeting the creation of about 50,000 new jobs and 6,000 young entrepreneurs within the next three years with the launch of the Youth Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria, YOU WIN, project.
The YOU WIN project, a youth empowerment and entrepreneurship programme conceived by the Federal Ministry of Finance in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Communication and Technology, Federal Ministry of Youth Development, the private sector and the World Bank, will be launched by President Goodluck Jonathan at an event with over 2,000 youths in Abuja.
According to Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Minister for Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, the project, which will be launched simultaneously in the six zones in Nigeria to enable youths in all states participate, is in line with the president’s vision of economic development.
She added that the main objective of the project is to generate jobs by encouraging and supporting aspiring entrepreneurial youth in Nigeria to develop and execute business ideas that will lead to job creation.
She said, “The programme will provide aspiring youth with a platform to showcase their business acumen, skills and aspirations to business leaders, investors and mentors in Nigeria.”
Okonjo-Iweala explained that the You WIN project will be an annual Business Plan Competition, BPC, for aspiring young entrepreneurs, in line with the Federal Government’s drive to create more jobs for Nigerians.
She noted that the programme is targeted at Nigerian youth with well-developed and new business concept, or innovation/expansion plan for an existing enterprise.
She said the government has selected the Lagos Business School to conduct the first round of screenings for the business plan submissions as well as coordinate trainings and mentorships.
She added that a six-member panel of judges, comprising reputable business leaders and experts drawn from the private sector, has been appointed in each geographical zone to validate and audit the screening process by the business school at each stage of the competition.
In the competition which will be held annually over the next three years, Okonjo-Iweala said that the winning entries will be a mix of start-ups and existing enterprises that are looking to expand, while the final awards will be a gradation of from N1million to N10 million, with the awards categories being Best innovator / New Idea, Best product, Best Business Plan, Best Corporate Social Responsibility and Best Overall Entrant.
“At the end of the three-year period, the federal government said the target is to have 3,600 entrepreneurs supported to start or expand their business concepts over three years; an additional 1,800 – 2,000 business started or expanded by youth trained by the programme; 40,000 to 50,000 sustainable new jobs for currently unemployed Nigerian youth over three years; at least 6,000 aspiring youth entrepreneurs trained in business planning and management and at least 3,600 entrepreneurs linked with mentors in the business community,” she explained.
Also speaking, Bolaji Abdullahi, the Minister of Youth Development said, “Those figures, as encouraging as they are, are in fact just a start. For us, as a facilitating ministry for the youth population, the question of providing an atmosphere and the right environment for youth entrepreneurship to flourish is of utmost importance.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/10/fg-plans-50000-jobs/
Touched by the loss of Jobs
By Pini Jason
To know that you are going to die is the best way to avoid falling into the trap of thinking that you have something to lose.
Steve Jobs, at Stanford University, 2005
THE world was thrown into mourning last week Wednesday October 5, 2011 by the death of Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Inc at the youthful age of 56. Even at that youthful age, it seemed as if Jobs had always been with us since the beginning of time. His contributions at that age gave him the timelessness that wealth or political power does not confer on ordinary mortals.
With Apple Jobs gave us seductively tempting products that put us one touch away from our neighbours, changed our world and created millions of jobs in the process! No wonder then that from Hong Kong to China to United Kingdom to Japan, people made shrines of flowers in memory of one man who revolutionised how we lived.
Presidents, Prime Ministers, kings and renowned entrepreneurs all over the world mourned one man who gave so much to the world, in spite of his own personal challenges and took away very little. According to President Barack Obama, “Steve was among the greatest American innovators-brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it”.
Sub-optimal achievers
If you have an iPod, iPhone, iPad or ever had an iMac computer, you must have been touched by Steve Jobs bravery, boldness and talent.
The story of Jobs is one that not only enchants but also challenges all of us who make excuses why we are sub-optimal achievers. Steve puts to shame all those who think that taking, indeed stealing, from society is an achievement and all those who flaunt their loot with impunity.
Steve knew all along that he was going to die any time, but he did not whine or slow down, instead he raced against time to give the world the best of his ingenuity. Steve Jobs shows us that there is never a convenient time to give than when the need arises.
Steve Jobs was born out of wedlock on February 24, 1955 to Abdulfattah John Jandali, a Syrian Muslim immigrant to the United States who later became a professor of Political Science, and an American graduate student, Joanne Schieble, who went on to become a speech language pathologist.
His mother gave him away for adoption, to an American family of Paul and Clara Jobs. Steve started training in a computer school and later went to college but dropped out. In Nigeria he would have been nothing if he cannot produce paper qualification.
He would have been frustrated in the process of satisfying the Nigerian obsession with university degree. Today we are foolishly converting every polytechnic to university so that everybody can carry university certificate! Yet we have no jobs for everybody!
In 1970 Steve and his friend, Steve Wozniak, an electronic hacker, founded Apple Computers in Jobs’ garage with just US$700 in their pocket. In ten years Apple Computers became a multi-billion dollar company. As usual, power struggle ensued and Jobs was forced to resign in 1985. Never to be daunted, he went on to found Next Computers, a computer platform development company. In 1996 Apple bought over Next and Jobs returned to Apple. At Apple Steve Jobs reputedly earned one United States dollar a year! But he owned shares in Apple and Disney that put his net worth in 2010 as US$8.3 billion and the 42nd wealthiest American, according to Forbes. That is a man born out of wedlock and who battled with pancreatic cancer for years and had liver transplant in April 2009.
For sure, Steve Jobs did not invent computer technology. He invented methods, business models and new ways to do things using the technology. That is the kind of innovation that Obama talked about in his state of the nation address last year that makes America competitive. Today, Nigeria needs not invent the wheel in any way. What we need is one man who can think out new ways we can meet our various challenges utilizing available technology. That is what should be expected of an economy that wants to be among the 20 biggest in the year 2020.
Jobs and Barack Obama, sons of immigrants, are the true story of America dream. From being born an orphan, a college dropout and ravaged by cancer but with an indefatigable can do spirit, Steve Jobs became an America icon ranked among John D Rockefella (Standard Oil), Henry Ford (Model T car) and Sam Walton (Wal-Mart). Although some disagree with ranking Jobs among these greats, we cannot dispute Jobs place as an innovator, entrepreneur and marketer. Jobs certainly earned his place as an icon. Nigerian “icons” are people who neither earned nor deserve their places in public reckoning. Our “business tycoons” are no more than rent racketeers who cornered our commonweal by knowing people in government or who are fronts for our treasury looters and who have the rankling audacity to flaunt their ill-gotten wealth.
Contributions to education
What the world remembers Jobs for is not his wealth; he was legitimately wealthy. He is not remembered by the number of houses he owned in different parts of the world; he probably did not own more than one. He is not remembered for the model, size or number of his cars; he probably owned no more than one. But the world remembers him for his innovations and contributions to education and health.
In a commencement speech at Stanford University in 2005, Jobs spoke about living and dying. That is a subject we hardly want to discuss in our lives. We think it is morbid to discuss death instead of the billions in the bank! We live in denial, as if we will live forever, or that death will come with advance notice. Our behaviour is conditioned by this seeming arrogance that we will die when we want. I believe that if we woke up everyday knowing that it could be the last we would act differently; we would have no inclination to postpone what today could achieve; we would be less arrogant; we would be less preoccupied with mundane living; we would place premium on being compassionate to fellow beings. When we die everything comes to nothing except the legacy we leave behind. And Jobs put it poignantly: “To know that you are going to die is the best way to avoid falling into the trap of thinking that you have something to lose”.
Jobs will be buried with nothing, not even an iPhone! He will take nothing with him. But his name will live forever because of the innovations he left behind. A Job well done, Steve!
Chief Enechukwu and the creation of Anambra State
EVER so often, Nigerians make claims about an issue forgetting that there are many others who know probably more about that issue. I read the story: “How We Fought Nwobodo and Got Anambra State” credited to Chief Ifeanyichukwu Enechukwu, one time Speaker of old Anambra State House of Assembly in Daily Sun of October 6, 2011 with astonishment at the inaccuracy of his recollection of the history of creation of additional states in Igbo land.
In the body of the story, there was not an iota of evidence that the struggle Chief Enechukwu talked about, albeit against Chief Jim Nwobodo, Governor of old Anambra State, is what gave rise to splitting the state into present Anambra and Enugu states by President Ibrahim Babangida.
It is true that today every Igbo is talking, meeting and “struggling” for the creation of an equalization state for the South East. But that cannot give rise to anybody claiming that his group or meeting gave rise to the creation of the state, especially if such meetings did not take any concrete step to actualize the desire for the additional state!
I do not wish to say more for now because those who signed the only memorandum to President Babangida articulating the reasons that compelled him to create additional states for Ndigbo, those who toiled day and night within the system in Nigeria and outside the country and those Igbo groups who worked in different ways to support the project foreswore grandstanding for strategic reasons.
But the true account will one day be told. So let those who think that there is a historical vacuum to fill stop making embarrassing claims. There are yet many more battles to be fought for the Igbo nation. Flippancy and irreverent outbursts as some Igbo politicians are prone to may not help such causes!
To know that you are going to die is the best way to avoid falling into the trap of thinking that you have something to lose.
Steve Jobs, at Stanford University, 2005
THE world was thrown into mourning last week Wednesday October 5, 2011 by the death of Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Inc at the youthful age of 56. Even at that youthful age, it seemed as if Jobs had always been with us since the beginning of time. His contributions at that age gave him the timelessness that wealth or political power does not confer on ordinary mortals.
With Apple Jobs gave us seductively tempting products that put us one touch away from our neighbours, changed our world and created millions of jobs in the process! No wonder then that from Hong Kong to China to United Kingdom to Japan, people made shrines of flowers in memory of one man who revolutionised how we lived.
Presidents, Prime Ministers, kings and renowned entrepreneurs all over the world mourned one man who gave so much to the world, in spite of his own personal challenges and took away very little. According to President Barack Obama, “Steve was among the greatest American innovators-brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it”.
Sub-optimal achievers
If you have an iPod, iPhone, iPad or ever had an iMac computer, you must have been touched by Steve Jobs bravery, boldness and talent.
The story of Jobs is one that not only enchants but also challenges all of us who make excuses why we are sub-optimal achievers. Steve puts to shame all those who think that taking, indeed stealing, from society is an achievement and all those who flaunt their loot with impunity.
Steve knew all along that he was going to die any time, but he did not whine or slow down, instead he raced against time to give the world the best of his ingenuity. Steve Jobs shows us that there is never a convenient time to give than when the need arises.
Steve Jobs was born out of wedlock on February 24, 1955 to Abdulfattah John Jandali, a Syrian Muslim immigrant to the United States who later became a professor of Political Science, and an American graduate student, Joanne Schieble, who went on to become a speech language pathologist.
His mother gave him away for adoption, to an American family of Paul and Clara Jobs. Steve started training in a computer school and later went to college but dropped out. In Nigeria he would have been nothing if he cannot produce paper qualification.
He would have been frustrated in the process of satisfying the Nigerian obsession with university degree. Today we are foolishly converting every polytechnic to university so that everybody can carry university certificate! Yet we have no jobs for everybody!
In 1970 Steve and his friend, Steve Wozniak, an electronic hacker, founded Apple Computers in Jobs’ garage with just US$700 in their pocket. In ten years Apple Computers became a multi-billion dollar company. As usual, power struggle ensued and Jobs was forced to resign in 1985. Never to be daunted, he went on to found Next Computers, a computer platform development company. In 1996 Apple bought over Next and Jobs returned to Apple. At Apple Steve Jobs reputedly earned one United States dollar a year! But he owned shares in Apple and Disney that put his net worth in 2010 as US$8.3 billion and the 42nd wealthiest American, according to Forbes. That is a man born out of wedlock and who battled with pancreatic cancer for years and had liver transplant in April 2009.
For sure, Steve Jobs did not invent computer technology. He invented methods, business models and new ways to do things using the technology. That is the kind of innovation that Obama talked about in his state of the nation address last year that makes America competitive. Today, Nigeria needs not invent the wheel in any way. What we need is one man who can think out new ways we can meet our various challenges utilizing available technology. That is what should be expected of an economy that wants to be among the 20 biggest in the year 2020.
Jobs and Barack Obama, sons of immigrants, are the true story of America dream. From being born an orphan, a college dropout and ravaged by cancer but with an indefatigable can do spirit, Steve Jobs became an America icon ranked among John D Rockefella (Standard Oil), Henry Ford (Model T car) and Sam Walton (Wal-Mart). Although some disagree with ranking Jobs among these greats, we cannot dispute Jobs place as an innovator, entrepreneur and marketer. Jobs certainly earned his place as an icon. Nigerian “icons” are people who neither earned nor deserve their places in public reckoning. Our “business tycoons” are no more than rent racketeers who cornered our commonweal by knowing people in government or who are fronts for our treasury looters and who have the rankling audacity to flaunt their ill-gotten wealth.
Contributions to education
What the world remembers Jobs for is not his wealth; he was legitimately wealthy. He is not remembered by the number of houses he owned in different parts of the world; he probably did not own more than one. He is not remembered for the model, size or number of his cars; he probably owned no more than one. But the world remembers him for his innovations and contributions to education and health.
In a commencement speech at Stanford University in 2005, Jobs spoke about living and dying. That is a subject we hardly want to discuss in our lives. We think it is morbid to discuss death instead of the billions in the bank! We live in denial, as if we will live forever, or that death will come with advance notice. Our behaviour is conditioned by this seeming arrogance that we will die when we want. I believe that if we woke up everyday knowing that it could be the last we would act differently; we would have no inclination to postpone what today could achieve; we would be less arrogant; we would be less preoccupied with mundane living; we would place premium on being compassionate to fellow beings. When we die everything comes to nothing except the legacy we leave behind. And Jobs put it poignantly: “To know that you are going to die is the best way to avoid falling into the trap of thinking that you have something to lose”.
Jobs will be buried with nothing, not even an iPhone! He will take nothing with him. But his name will live forever because of the innovations he left behind. A Job well done, Steve!
Chief Enechukwu and the creation of Anambra State
EVER so often, Nigerians make claims about an issue forgetting that there are many others who know probably more about that issue. I read the story: “How We Fought Nwobodo and Got Anambra State” credited to Chief Ifeanyichukwu Enechukwu, one time Speaker of old Anambra State House of Assembly in Daily Sun of October 6, 2011 with astonishment at the inaccuracy of his recollection of the history of creation of additional states in Igbo land.
In the body of the story, there was not an iota of evidence that the struggle Chief Enechukwu talked about, albeit against Chief Jim Nwobodo, Governor of old Anambra State, is what gave rise to splitting the state into present Anambra and Enugu states by President Ibrahim Babangida.
It is true that today every Igbo is talking, meeting and “struggling” for the creation of an equalization state for the South East. But that cannot give rise to anybody claiming that his group or meeting gave rise to the creation of the state, especially if such meetings did not take any concrete step to actualize the desire for the additional state!
I do not wish to say more for now because those who signed the only memorandum to President Babangida articulating the reasons that compelled him to create additional states for Ndigbo, those who toiled day and night within the system in Nigeria and outside the country and those Igbo groups who worked in different ways to support the project foreswore grandstanding for strategic reasons.
But the true account will one day be told. So let those who think that there is a historical vacuum to fill stop making embarrassing claims. There are yet many more battles to be fought for the Igbo nation. Flippancy and irreverent outbursts as some Igbo politicians are prone to may not help such causes!
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