Nigeria Content Online

“Can
you imagine how much it will cost to feed that dog, when some people
have nothing to eat?” “This man had better not take that dog near Akwa
Ibom, or it will end up in the soup pot!” I have endured such daily
comments while walking my Labrador bitch. Other Nigerians, especially
children are surprisingly kinder, inquiring politely how the animal
came to look so healthy, and if they could get one to own. All fine,
provided they are prepared to invest time, love and patience taking
care of a dog.

There is a hard
edge to these jokes and spiteful remarks over the impressive anatomical
traits of my canine friend. Defensive answers that the dog is fed on a
diet of eba, okro soup and stockfish, and therefore low budget, have
not satisfied the hecklers. Of course I scavenge weekly at the butchers
for tripe and scrap-meat.

In any case the beast is not maintained on government funds. Its welfare is nobody’s business. End of discussion?

Nevertheless, some
issues could be thrown up for a sensible debate. Must animals be kept
only for economic reasons, as security guards or for meat in livestock
agriculture?

Is a healthy pet
some form of visible provocation for the masses? Resource ecologists
posit that poverty constrains humans to compete directly with animals
for scarce, renewable natural resources on which both groups subsist.

The result is then a state of mutual disrespect and enmity, the perfect postulate for hunter-gatherer societies.

But I sometimes
marvel at how the same Nigerians moaning over a dog’s excellent
condition easily glorify compatriots who possess sprawling mansions in
Abuja and Dubai, beachside condominiums in Florida, jet aircrafts or
gas-guzzling jeeps. It does not bother us even when these objects of
adulation are serving police or customs officers, or pastors.

I have had the
displeasure of visiting most zoological gardens in Nigeria, and
honestly, a BBC documentary on their status is long overdue! The
cruelty in these establishments makes one wonder if the universe was
created for man alone! Nigerian zoos are incapable of keeping insects,
and should be prevented from incarcerating lions, leopards and primates
under abhorrent and criminal conditions.

At the zoo in
Maiduguri, one chimpanzee suffering from hernia had to lift its own
bloated scrotum with both hands whenever it walked. The intelligent
primate’s misery was compounded by children hurling rocks and sand at
it in amusement, while a warden looked on without concern. He too
appeared unwell! The enclosures for the lion and a leopard were empty.
I was told they had died of hunger. No money had been approved for
their meals, even though the zoo charged gate fees.

Lion reduced to bones

A once popular lion
at the Nekede zoo, near Owerri was all bones! In view of the putrescent
conditions the big cat was covered with flies, but still breathing.

Here was the “Lion
king” suffering such an indignity! Another chimpanzee at the University
of Ilorin spent its life in a small metal cage the size of a suitcase!
A bateleur eagle that naturally soars at great heights hadn’t a better
accommodation at the same zoo.

The way out for Nigeria is to raise funds from the private sector for the upkeep of zoos.

Concurrently and ultimately, natural and biodiversity-rich habitats
must be preserved and given heritage status. Why copy the rich world in
creating expensive zoological gardens anyway?

I
heard many years ago about the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment,
where normal university students were selected randomly for an
experiment, where they took on the roles of either prison guards or
prisoners, grew to be so brutal that the trial had to be prematurely
ended.

Discussing the
results amongst friends, we marvelled at how circumstance could bring
out qualities in ourselves that we were unaware of.

Philip Zimbardo,
the Stanford professor who carried out the experiment in 1971, names
this ‘transformation of human character’ the ‘Lucifer Effect’, named
after God’s favourite angel, Lucifer,.

Many of us would be
un-surprised to learn that ‘The Lucifer Effect’ is strikingly similar
to ‘The Nigerian Factor’. You know what I mean? It is a phrase that
surfaces when planning for a project or an enterprise in Nigeria is
being discussed in a mixed group that includes expatriates, repatriates
(Nigerians returning home from residency abroad), or ‘virgins’ – those
people we call JJCs (Johnny Just Comes), new entrants to politics,
business, industry, education, or to any sector that you can name.

At some point
towards the end of the planning process, the phrase ‘the Nigerian
Factor’ is introduced and the debate commences. Then comes the
challenge: “Are you saying that something tried and tested in the
world, in both developed and developing countries alike, cannot work
here?!”

Firstly, there is no real consensus about the influences that make up the Nigerian Factor.

I think what we can
agree on is that, while Nigeria is a country that shares elements of
its climate and topography with other countries in the world, and that
while Nigerians share the humanity and beliefs of other citizens of the
world, the combination of geographical environments, peoples and
cultures, have created something both familiar and unique that needs to
be ‘factored’ into our interactions with each other and with outsiders.

We have what
linguists call ‘false friends’. These are words that have the same
spelling in different languages but have dissimilar meanings. For
example, both English and French have the word ‘sensible,’ but while it
means reasonable in English, in French it denotes that you are
sensitive.

Trap of false friends

Visitors to
Nigeria, and Nigerians visiting another region of the country, often
fall foul of ‘false friends’. Because we speak a variation of English;
because Western clothes and mannerisms are common here, because we
share the major religious beliefs, many visitors believe that they can
interact with us as they would another Westerner. Big mistake.

Because we are very
hospitable; others believe that Nigerians accept strangers easily.
Wrong conclusion. Just ask couples who wish to marry someone from a
different religion or another ethnic group, not to mention a foreigner.

Most importantly,
the belief that because, traditionally, we are used to deferred
gratification – to investing money and time in livestock, seeds, and
goods, and seeking the best markets in which to sell them in order to
make a good return – that Nigerians are prepared to wait for the
business deal or the contract to be completed before getting their
return in terms of profit or national gain…THAT is the heart of the
matter.

Perhaps it was true
once upon a time that we were prepared to wait now for future gain.
Now, gratification must be today, NOT later.

The system that we
live and work within that has been evolving for the past 40 years,
almost guarantees that no matter how good or well-meaning you are, the
longer you stay in the public and political system, the more brutish
and greedy you will become. If you don’t ‘play ball,’ your life and
your family are threatened, your business is blacklisted or, if they
like you, you would be powerfully encouraged to leave.

To have any hope of
escaping ‘The Lucifer Effect,’ we have to ditch a system that turns
good people bad, and establish a system that will keep even bad people
relatively honest. Lobby whomever you know for electoral reform.
Support banking reform. Scrutinise and protect your rights as our
constitution goes through review and change. And write to your
legislators regularly and repeatedly. Make the Nigerian Factor work for
you rather than against you.

A South African
newspaper has revealed that overworked doctors in the country are prone
to botched surgical operations and in some instances have left gloves
and scissors in patients’ bodies after operations.

The Sunday
Independent’s investigations showed such acts of negligence have cost
the state over 1 billion rand in law suits in the last two years,
prompting Minister of Health Aaron Motsoaledi to seek investigations
into what lay behind them.

The paper said a
critical shortage of doctors in South Africa, has resulted in a doctor
patient ratio of 1-4,000, forcing doctors to work long hours.

South Africa
Medical Association chairman Norman Mabasa told the paper that even if
all doctors in the private sector were placed in public health
institutions, South Africa would still fall short of World Health
Organisation (WHO) guidelines.

“As a result doctors are overworked. Any exhausted doctor will make
mistakes. It is human nature to make mistakes when you have not had a
break,” Mabasa said.

Protesters
clamoured for a boost to Egypt’s minimum wage on yesterday, the latest
in a series of demonstrations demanding help for millions of poor
Egyptians and greater political freedom in a tightly controlled nation.

At least 500
protesters from labour unions, state workers and opposition groups
gathered at Egypt’s cabinet building a day after world Workers’ Day,
demanding a rise in the minimum wage which has been set at 35 Egyptian
pounds a month since 1984.

Analysts have been
watching to see if a spate of recent protests, still small by world
standards, can gain the momentum and broader support to challenge a
political landscape dominated for almost three decades by President
Hosni Mubarak.

The United States
views a car bomb that failed to go off in New York’s Times Square as a
potential terrorist attack, Homeland Security Secretary Janet
Napolitano said on Sunday.

“We’re taking this
very seriously,” Mrs Napolitano told CNN’s “State of the Union”
programme. “We’re treating it as if it could be a potential terrorist
attack.” Authorities said the failed bomb — made of propane, gasoline
and fireworks — could have killed many people.

New York has been
on high alert for an attack since the September 11 attacks in 2001 in
which hijacked airliners toppled the World Trade Centre’s twin towers,
killing thousands of people.

New York’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg told an early morning news conference:

“We have no idea
who did this or why.” Mr Bloomberg said a T-shirt vendor noticed “an
unoccupied suspicious vehicle” and alerted a police officer on
horseback, who saw the dark-green Nissan Pathfinder had smoke coming
from vents near the back seat and smelled of gun powder.

The vehicle was
put on the back of a flat-bed truck, covered with a tarpaulin and
removed from Times Square by authorities at about 6 a.m. (1000 GMT).

The bomb was
discovered around 6:30 p.m. (2230 GMT) in the vehicle parked on 45th
Street and Broadway in a shopping and entertainment area of Midtown
Manhattan when it was packed with tourists and theatre-goers on a warm
Saturday evening.

The utility
vehicle had Connecticut licence plates that did not match and its
engine was running and hazard lights flashing when it was discovered.

The bomb squad
removed and dismantled three propane tanks, consumer grade fireworks,
two filled five-gallon (19-litre) gasoline containers, two clocks,
batteries in each of the clocks, electrical wire and other components.

A locked metal box resembling a gun locker was also removed and taken to a safe location to be detonated.

For 38-year-old
Blessing Aseroma, being married to an abusive husband has being a
nightmare best imagined. In her over 12 year’s relationship with
Frederick Aseroma, 40, a popular Nigerian actor, the psychological,
physical, emotional, and financial scars she bears are a clear reminder
of the prevalent violence committed against women.

Despite unpaid
school fees, accommodation difficulties and an ongoing divorce process,
the mother of three still manages to smile as she chats with NEXT.

With support from
friends and Project Alert, a women’s rights non-governmental
organisation, she has moved into a two-bedroom apartment, and reopened
the child care centre which her husband allegedly despised.

The 1998 University
of Lagos graduate said her husband refused her to work, instead
insisting she ‘takes care of the home front’. She had become dependent
on him for her, and her children’s, every need.

“If I mention
there’s a job somewhere, he would say no, that the job is too demeaning
for a man of his personality. He did not allow me to do anything other
than raising babies. The only time I worked was for six months in 2004,
when he moved out with another woman,” said the Faculty of Education
graduate.

Mrs. Aseroma was
then nursing her last child. She relocated from Surulere to Ojodu, both
places in Lagos State, and got a job as a research editor in a
marketing company. Her husband later returned, seemingly apologetic,
and prevailed on her to quit the job.

“When he came back,
my son had gastro arthritis. He said because of stress I should stop
work until when the baby is one year old. That is how I stayed doing
nothing for five years till he went abroad,” Mrs. Aseroma said.

Strapped for cash
and unable to pay her children’s school fees, Mrs. Aseroma said she had
to concede to her husband’s demand for her to sign the divorce papers
because he was “under the threat of deportation” and the “only option
available for him to remain in the United Kingdom is get married to a
resident.”

Her turning point
came in January 2009 when a friend who owned a crèche needed a manager
to run the place. She took up the offer to the displeasure of her
husband. By March when the owner was relocating to Lekki and wanted to
close the crèche, the children’s parents pleaded with her to open her
own crèche.

“I wanted to use my
house but my husband refused. But by April, he called that he won’t be
having upkeep money to send to me, so I can start the crèche to cater
for myself and the children. That’s how I started Bloom Babies Crèche
on June 1, 2009,” Mrs. Aseroma said.

But by March 26,
2010, when Mr. Aseroma was arrested and detained at the Ojodu-Abiodun
Police Division, Ogun State Command, over allegations of wife battery,
she took a decision to break the abuse cycle.

“After Fred and his
younger brother beat me and I reported to Project Alert and the Police,
I had to abandon everything. I left my house that I part paid the rent,
took my children, and ran for my life. I only just reopened this
crèche, playgroup and after school with the help from the NGO and the
parents of the kids, who rallied round, and helped pay some of the
rent,” Mrs. Aseroma said.

Project Alert’s
executive director, Josephine Effah-Chukwuma, said under the
organisation’s support services Programme, legal aid, Police
involvement and financial assistance was given to Mrs. Aseroma to
enable her regain some control of her life after years of physical and
psychological abuse.

The NGO gave her
N100,000 towards getting a new accommodation to reopen the crèche, has
taken up the divorce case at the Lagos High Court in Ikeja, and has
involved the police to ensure Mrs. Aseroma is protected from further
violence from her husband.

“She is a graduate
but he didn’t allow her to work. Even the little crèche she tried to
run to raise some income for herself, he tried to deny her that.
Presently, he has changed the keys to their home and denied her access
to items that would ensure her economic independence,” Mrs.
Effah-Chukwuma said.

Thankful to Project
Alert, whom she described as “the family I don’t have”, Mrs. Aseroma,
an orphan and only child to parents who died while she was in secondary
school, however worries over how she’ll pay a house rent balance of
N300,000 and an outstanding school fees debt of about N150,000 for her
three children, aged six, eight and ten years.

“My landlady heard my plight and allowed me to pay half of the two
years rent. I am meant to balance her by April ending. My children’s
school have been supportive because they know my situation. But for how
long? My passion for children is in this crèche. If I lose this
accommodation, I lose the crèche, my children will stop going to
school. Where do I then go ?” Mrs. Aseroma asked with tears in her eyes.

The Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) is making real its threat to arrest Nasir El-Rufai,
the former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory.

The anti-graft agency has written Mr. El-Rufai asking him to appear before its investigators for questioning on Tuesday. Spokesperson of the anti-graft agency, Femi Babafemi, confirmed the invitation yesterday.

“The commission would not delay to
invite him to answer questions on allegations of misappropriation of
over N32 billion while he was minister of the FCT”.

The EFCC had, over the weekend,
expressed displeasure over Mr. El-Rufai’s easy entrance into the
country despite its world alert on him in 2008. The commission has been
on Mr. El-Rufai’s trail since 2008 over allegations of misappropriation
of public funds to the tune of N32 billion.

Speaking on Saturday, Mr. El-Rufai expressed his readiness to visit the offices of the EFCC in Abuja on Tuesday.

He said he will not be going to the
anti-graft agency to turn himself in but to find out if the agency is
still interested in arresting him.

Barely two hours after his arrival in
Nigeria following a two year exile, Mr. El-Rufai, in his home in Jabi,
Abuja, declared that he had returned home at this time for three
purposes. First, because of his family and friends. Second, to clear
himself of the eight-count charge, including the misuse of office,
levelled against him by the EFCC. Third for the purposes of the
upcoming 2011 elections.

The former minister said that he is fully prepared for whatever challenges his homecoming may present.

“Before I came, I said, okay, what is
the worse thing that can happen to me. I had accepted that and I
planned to live with it,” he said.

El-Rufai’s homecoming

As of Friday night,
it was not yet clear what events would follow his arrival. Speculations
were rife that the former minister would be arrested at the airport by
the EFCC. In fact, the EFCC had on Friday, declared their eagerness to
prosecute Mr. El-Rufai as soon as he returned to the country.

But in the wee
hours of Saturday when Mr. El-Rufai arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe
International Airport, Abuja, aboard a British Airways flight, the
former minister faced neither resistance nor harassment but was quickly
cleared by airport officials within 18 minutes.

On hand to receive him were about 100 family members and friends. Some had kept vigil at the airport to receive him.

“I got to the
airport last night at about 11pm. There were many of us, about 50 of us
here,” Darlington Kenubia, who described himself as Mr. El-Rufai’s fan,
said to NEXT. Mr. Kenubia said that he missed his night’s sleep because
of his admiration for the former minister.

A family friend,
Saidu Hassan Yakubu, said he left his home at 4.30 am to head for the
airport to welcome the former FCT minister. Mr. Yakubu, too late to
meet the welcome party at the airport, headed for Mr. El-Rufai’s home
in Jabi, Abuja.

“I went because I
wanted to be sure that he was coming. We were also curious about what
would happen to him on his arrival,” Mr. Yakubu said.

Back in Mr.
El-Rufai’s home, the mood was joyous. On arrival, however, the former
minister retreated to a prayer arena to say his prayers.

Home for good

At about 6.30am,
Mr. El-Rufai, who is widely praised and criticised for his actions
during his tenure as the FCT’s minister, relaxed in his living room
swamped by journalists and visitors to speak about his return to
Nigeria.

“I believe in
Nigeria. I believe in Nigeria’s future and potentials. I believe that
our young people that account for nearly 80 percent of the population
deserve a better future,” he declared.

While conceding
that he has deep interests in the upcoming 2011 elections, Mr. El-Rufai
declined to state whether or not he will be running for a public office.

“Absolutely, I have
absolute, total interests and commitment to ensuring that the 2011
elections produce better governance than what we’ve had and I’m working
with a group of many like minded people for this. The country really
needs better leadership and I’m looking forward to being part of a
movement to produce that leadership but not necessarily running for
office myself. Of course, I’m not ruling anything out,” he said.

Mr. El-Rufai said
he missed the love and affection, as well as the zest for life of the
Nigerian people adding that he has returned home to stay. First on his
itinerary is to clear his name at the EFCC.

“I will go to the EFCC office and ask them whether they are still looking for me.

“Tuesday, 10 O’clock, I’ll be there,” he said.

According to him, he has recruited for himself “a very strong legal team” within and outside the country.

The
National Independent Power Project (NIPP) has begun the evacuation of
the multi-million naira turbines and other electrical equipment from
Calabar Port to the project site at Odukpani, in Cross River State.

The evacuation
began four years after the delivery of the equipment at the port,
reports the News Agency of Nigeria. The project, expected to deliver
561 megawatts of electricity to the nation, is to be completed in the
second quarter of 2011, according to Paul Akinola, the Site Manager.

He said the
evacuation of 16 heavy equipment, which includes five turbines, five
generators, five transformers and accessories, began on Tuesday, and
would be concluded next week. The equipment, imported under the NIPP
programme, had been lying at the port due to the weak bridge serving as
a link, at Akpe Ekpong community, near the project site.

The bridge is
situated on the Calabar-Itu highway, less than 50 km to the port. Mr.
Igwe Onuoa, Vice Chairman of NIPP Technical Committee, had told members
of the NIPP Steering Committee on an inspection in April 2009, that the
bridge was “very weak”, and needed reinforcement.

However, instead of
the reinforcement, a by-pass has been constructed, which Mr. Akinola
said was considered more convenient and faster in the circumstance. He
said that construction of the by-pass, which was approved by the
Federal Ministry of Transport and executed by the NIPP, began in March
and ended mid-April.

He disclosed that
10 of the equipment were delivered at the project site as at Friday,
adding that the remaining six would be evacuated next week. Mr. Akinola
explained that although the project is 45 per cent completed,
assembling all the equipment at the site would speed up work on the
project. Marubeni Corporation of Japan is the contractor handling the
project.

Outspoken lawmaker and member representing
Bagwai/Shanono federal constituency in the House of Representative,
Farouk Lawan, inaugurated his gubernatorial campaign team over the
weekend in Kano with a pledge that if elected the governor of Kano
State in 2011, he will give the state a purposeful leadership.

Mr. Lawan, who addressed a crowd of supporters, said
Kano State has been misgoverned over the last seven years despite the
huge amount of money the state has collected from the federal
government coffers.

“You will agree with me that Kano is lagging behind
in terms of infrastructural development and in so many spheres of human
life. Just go to Gombe State, for instance, to see what the governor
has done or go to Lagos which is an opposition state. In just three
years, look at what the governor has done,” he said.

“There are several states like that, but for us in
Kano we are not lucky and that is why I have offered myself to give the
state a purposeful leadership. Virtually all the important areas needs
attention at the moment, the decay in education, health and many are
too much for one to just ignore.”

Qualified to lead

Mr. Lawan warned his supporters not to take the
contest as a do-or-die affair, stressing that power comes from God and
they should always look up to God in everything they do. He added that
he is qualified to take the state to the promised land, having garnered
enough experience as a federal lawmaker.

“I think I have enough experience to lead the state,
this is my eleventh year in the House and that has given me a lot of
experience that is enough to govern Kano,” he said.

The state coordinator of the Farouk Lawan gubernatorial campaign
team, Jibrin el Doguwa, called on the leaders and members of the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to give Mr Lawan the chance to lead the
party in the elections. He said that the lawmaker has all the qualities
to win the gubernatorial race for the party.

The Boko Haram crisis that led to the
death of hundreds of people in Borno and Bauchi States, nine months
ago, was a tragedy that could have been avoided if the system was more
proactive, an independent investigation by a group seeking reform in
the Nigeria Police has revealed.

The investigation, which was carried
out by the Network on Police Reform in Nigeria (NOPRIN), revealed that
long before the anarchy occurred, both the police and the state
governor had adequate information to avert the mayhem.

The report blamed the hypocrisy of
police officers and recklessness of the Borno State government for the
lapses that allowed the Boko Haram tragedy to happen.

During the crisis, which occurred
bweteen July 26 – 29, 2009 and threatened to spread across several
states in the north, security agencies killed hundreds of persons
believed to be members of the Boko Haram. The sect is a fringe muslim
group in Northern Nigeria that strongly rejects Western or non-Islamic
education.

Failure of intelligence

NOPRIN’ national project coordinator,
Okechukwu Nwanguma, said the group’s investigation shows that long
before the crisis started, different religious groups and even
individuals warned both the government and the police about the
increasing lawlessness of the Boko Haram sect.

“Leaders of other Islamic sects had at
different times expressed concern over the unbecoming and lawless
activities of the Boko Haram sect and on several occasions reported the
sect’s activities to the police,” the report said.

“But rather than act on the
information, the police were alleged to have betrayed those who made
the reports by releasing the information to the Boko Haram leader,
Ustaz Mohammed Yusuf, thereby exposing them to danger.

“NOPRIN found that, from all
indications, it was the failure by the government and law enforcement
authorities in the state to respond promptly and efficiently to early
warnings about the activities of members of Boko Haram, and the gamut
of security information about the imminence of the sect’s onslaught,
that was primarily responsible for the outbreak of violence.”

Victim’s story

The group’s investigation detailed the
story of Babakura Alhaji Fugu, a Quranic teacher and first son of Baba
Fugu, father-in-law of Mohammed Yusuf, the leader of the Boko Haram
sect. Baba Fugu was killed days after the crises ended.

Mr. Fugu (jnr) told NOPRIN, that: “I
had to write to the governor (of Borno State), Ali Modu Sheriff,
through the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) in a letter dated
15/06/09’ alerting him of the activities of Mohamed Yusuf.” But the
governor neither gave any reply nor acted swiftly to checkmate the
group.

The report quoted Mr. Fugu as saying,
“I did not write to the police because they would leak the petition to
Mohammed and his members, and this will expose me to risk.”

“He said the police would not respect
confidentiality. He cited the example of the Imam of Izala, another
Islamic sect, who previously wrote to the police about a problem his
sect members had with members of Boko Haram, and the police, rather
than investigate and take action, leaked the report to Mohammed Yusuf,”
Mr. Nwanguma said.

Furthermore, the leadership of
Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Bornu State also told NOPRIN
that they raised an alarm but “government did nothing.”

“NOPRIN found that without any doubt,
Boko Haram was an avoidable tragedy; a consequence of the
irresponsiveness and irresponsibility of both the Borno State
government and security authorities in the state. Boko Haram exposed
the patent failure of governance and intelligence in Borno State, as in
most of Nigeria,” the report indicted.