Thursday, September 27, 2007

Yar'Adua Names Cabinet

Nigeria's president names cabinet
Umaru Yar'Adua (File photo)
Umaru Yar'Adua's election was widely condemned
Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua has announced his cabinet, almost three months after he was elected.

Four members from his predecessor's administration have been given key positions, suggesting Olusegun Obasanjo will still be influential.

In the new line-up, the president will double as energy minister just like Mr Obasanjo did before him.

This will make Mr Yar'Adua responsible for Nigeria's petroleum industry and its troubled power sector.

Some leaders of the governing People's Democratic Party (PDP) have also been rewarded with key ministerial jobs, ostensibly, for their roles in the party's landslide win in April's polls.

HAVE YOUR SAY
Naming a new cabinet of the same old regulars will not help Nigeria achieve anything

The 32 men and seven women have been sworn in a ceremony in the capital, Abuja.

The delay in the announcement has impacted badly on government activities.

Political analyst Malam Mahmud Jega told the BBC the main tasks for the new ministers will be fighting corruption, improving security and efficiency.

Mr Jega, Nigeria's Daily Trust newspaper editor, said that "reforming the electoral system of the country so that we are guaranteed better elections next time" was also another challenge.

The Nigerian constitution requires that at least one minister is appointed from each of the country's 36 states to ensure fair representation.

Unity call

According to Abuja University political analyst Kabiru Mathu, the delay in announcing the cabinet was not surprising.

President Obasanjo
Mr Obasanjo remains in control of the ruling party

"He [Mr Yar'Adua] is not a man to be rushed into taking sensitive decisions," he told the BBC's Network Africa programme.

The list of ministers also includes some opposition figures, apparently backing up Mr Yar'Adua's promise to form a unity government.

A key challenge for Mr Yar'Adua's government is fixing Nigeria's power sector to ensure constant supplies of electricity across the country. Often businesses rely on generators.

Nigeria currently generates about 2,500 megawatts of electricity compared to the 20,000 megawatts experts say is needed for the country to enjoy stable power supply.

Already, the new president has been saying the right things about sorting it out.

But critics point out that his predecessor started out in a similar fashion in 1999 - but failed to deliver during his eight years in power.

Mr Yar'Adua's governing PDP won a landslide victory in April's elections, according to official results.

KEY APPOINTMENTS
Defence Minister Yayale Ahmed
Finance Minister Shamsuddeen Usman
Foreign Affairs Minister Ojo Maduekwe
Energy Minister President Yar'Adua
Junior Minister for Petroleum Odein Ajumogobia
Junior Minister for Power Fatimah Ibrahim
Junior Minister for Gas Odusina Emmanuel
Information Minister John Odey

Local and foreign observers said the elections were heavily flawed.

Although the opposition parties initially rejected the election results and filed cases in court to challenge the outcome, some backed down when Mr Yar'Adua promised them positions in a government of national unity.

Two leading opposition presidential candidates in the polls, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and former military leader Muhammadu Buhari, are pushing ahead with their court cases against Mr Yar'Adua's election.

However, many of their followers have left them to take up jobs in the new PDP government.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6914380.stm

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Half of a Yellow Sun

Winner 2007

Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

book synopsis

Half of a Yellow Sun is set in Nigeria during the 1960s, at a time of the vicious Nigeria- Biafra war in which more than a million people died and thousands were massacred in cold blood.

Three characters are swept up in the rapidly unfolding political events. Ugwu, a boy from a poor village, is employed as a houseboy for a university lecturer.

Olanna, a young, middle-class woman, has come to live with the professor, abandoning her privileged life in Lagos for a dusty university town and the charismatic idealism of her new lover.

Richard is a tall, shy Englishman, in thrall to Olanna's twin sister Kainene, who refuses to belong to anyone.

They are propelled into events that will pull them apart and bring them together in the most unexpected ways. As Nigerian troops advance and they run for their lives, their ideals – and their loyalties to each other – are severely tested.

This novel is about Africa, about moral responsibility, the end of colonialism, ethnic allegiances, class and race, and about how love can complicate all these things.

read a review of this book by Moby >>

author biography

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was born in Nigeria in 1977. She is from Abba in Anambra State, but grew up in the university town of Nsukka.

Her first novel Purple Hibiscus was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction and the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and won the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for debut fiction. She lives in Nigeria.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Fake pastors...

Fake pastor dupes foreigner, arrested
Monday, September 17, 2007 - By Andrew Utulu, Reporter, Lagos

A suspected fake pastor, Smith Isong, has been arrested and detained at the Zone 2 Police headquarters, Onikan, Lagos for allegedly duping a foreigner of N3.5 million, using the name of Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG).

The suspect, who operated as Pastor Patrick Mark, was arrested on Thursday at the Ojodu area of Lagos, following a report by authorities of the RCCG’s His Master’s Place Parish in Gbagada that some persons were using the parish’s name to dupe a foreigner.

The suspect was arrested with three other members of his gang.

Investigation revealed that the suspects allegedly duped a white man based in Dubai who operates a charity organisation.

It was gathered that the syndicate stumbled on the man’s address through the internet and requested for his financial assistance, claiming to be representing RCCG, to enable them carry out some charity work in Nigeria.

It was further gathered that payment of over N2 million was made to the syndicate in 2006 and another N3.5 million this year.

The suspects operate two bank accounts, one with a community bank in Akute-Ajuwon and the other in the Magodo area of Isheri, Lagos. It was learnt that the banks became suspicious when Mark started withdrawing money from the accounts, leaving only a balance of N700,000 in the Akute-Ajuwon branch, which had a deposit of over N2 million. The same scenario was also observed at the Magodo bank.

It was at this point the attention of the church was drawn by the two banks to the financial dealings of the suspects.

It was also gathered that based on this, the attention of the Zone 2 police was drawn through a petition from RCCG Headquarters.

The zonal headquarters was said to have detailed undercover policemen to trail the suspected con men who were eventually arrested. They have confessed to being a 419 syndicate.

OBJ’s car runs into gully

OBJ's car runs into gully
Monday, September 17, 2007 - By Debo Abdulai

Former president Olusegun Obasanjo suffered the harrowing experiences many Nigerians go through on a daily basis when the rear tyre of a Mercedes Benz SUV (Jeep) he was traveling in burst at Boluwaji area of Ibadan on the Lagos/Ibadan expressway.

The Mercedes jeep which was part of a four-car convoy was on its way outside Ibadan when the ugly incident happened on Saturday, around 11 am.

The black Mercedes Benz jeep with registration number ABUJA BU 538 RBC, according to eye witness account, suddenly ran into a gully on the very bad express road which did not get the attention of the former president during his tenure.

Obasanjo was said to have scurried out of the car when the incident occurred directly opposite Igovil petrol station. He was sitting at the right side at the back where the tyre burst.

Immediately the incident occurred, many of those who sighted him, according to an eye-witness account, poured venom on him for neglecting the road during his tenure.

But characteristic of Obasanjo however he sat glued, looking unconcerned while security details protected the convoy from a possible attack from the angry crowd.

As at the time Sunday Tribune got to the scene however, Obasanjo had been driven away but the vehicle was still being attended to by the driver, an SSS detail and two armed men.

More embarrassment was to come for the Obasanjo team however as the spare tyre which was fixed by the driver also went flat before a young vulcanizer nearby inflated it and he was paid by the SSS detail.

The Lagos/Ibadan express road has suffered a total collapse which on a daily basis witness serious accidents often leading to loss of lives.
This article was taken from BBC News online and was originally posted on the 9th of July, 2007.



Nigeria kidnappers free UK girl
Margaret Hill after her release
Kidnappers kept Margaret in a hut for four days
A three-year-old British girl abducted in southern Nigeria four days ago has been reunited with her family after being freed by her kidnappers.

Margaret Hill's parents, Mike and Oluchi Hill, said she was in good health but "covered in mosquito bites".

The kidnappers had threatened to kill the girl unless a ransom was paid or Mr Hill, a British oil worker, took her place. The family deny paying a ransom.

UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband said he was "delighted" at the release.

"I am grateful to the Nigerian authorities for all their help and I hope the perpetrators will be swiftly brought to justice," Mr Miliband said.

'Worrying times'

The toddler was taken to hospital for an examination before being reunited with her parents on Sunday night local time.

Margaret had been on her way to school in Port Harcourt on Thursday when gunmen smashed a window of the car she was being driven in and snatched her.

Mike and Oluchi Hill
Mr and Mrs Hill have no plans to leave Nigeria

The car's driver was stabbed as he tried to protect the girl.

Mr Hill told the BBC that, despite having been held in a hut and bitten by mosquitoes, his daughter was "very active, not much worse for wear".

He said he would continue to live in Nigeria for the time being -but that he and his family would probably take a holiday.

"I live here and I work here and I've been in Africa since 1973," he said.

"Just because people get mad, they kidnap the children. It's very worrying but things have got to get better - they can't get worse.

"If it frightens everybody away, the whole country will be empty."

Immense pressure

Mrs Hill, who is Nigerian, said the abductors had contacted her and demanded an unspecified ransom for Margaret's release.

map

The kidnappers had vowed to kill the girl unless her father, a British expatriate oil worker originally from Murton in County Durham, took her place.

The President of Nigeria, Umaru Yar'Adua, had called for the girl's release, and the region's main militant group - the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) - had offered to help find her.

More than 200 hostages have been taken by armed groups in the last 18 months in Nigeria but none has ever been killed.

Margaret was the third child to be kidnapped in the last six weeks.

The daughter of a Nigerian businessman and a local state legislator's daughter were both eventually released unharmed after ransom payments.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6282846.stm

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Trouble in the ranks...

Solid general strike against fuel and tax hikes and for decent wages

New regime faces mass working class opposition

Democratic Socialist Movement (CWI Nigeria) leaflet text

Fuel Price, VAT:
Workers and Poor Masses Must Resist the Increase and Fight for 15% Pay Rise!

Arise, workers and poor masses of Nigeria and join the nationwide strike and protest called by Labour and Civil Society Coalition (LASCO). We have nothing to lose but shackles of anti-poor, neo-liberal attacks, inflicted on us by Obasanjo/Yar’Adua government. LASCO has called on us to protest the recent fuel price increase from N65 to N75 per litre and the hike in Value Added Tax (VAT) from 5% to 10% (100% increment). We are also urged to fight for 15% pay rise for workers and against the sale of Kaduna and Port Harcourt refineries.

It would be recalled that two days to the expiration of its tenure, the immediate past Obasanjo government, as parting neo-liberal attacks on poor working masses, increased the pump price of fuel and the VAT. This latest increase was the eleventh time the anti-poor, Obasanjo government had increased the fuel price before leaving the office. It met the price of petrol, for instance, at N20 in 1999 and increased it to N75 in 2007 - 275% price increase - which has made life miserable for the vast majority of the poor working people.

More than two weeks into its administration, Yar’Adua government has turned a deaf ear to all the hue and cry of workers and poor masses against the latest imposed anti-poor policy of its forebear. It has thus pretended as if nothing had happened until a few hours to the expiration of a 2-week ultimatum given to it by Labour to reverse the hike. Yar’Adua government, the so-called "victor" of a stolen election, has only proved that it is an ‘old wine in a new bottle’.

This latest reprehensible and inhuman action has led to the increase in the price of articles and transportation fares. For workers and poor masses, the cost of living has become much more unbearable.

Moreover, the Yar’Adua government, just like its predecessor, has refused to implement a 15% pay rise for workers, despite the increased fortune of the country, excruciating inflation rate and government policies that have rendered worthless the current income of workers. But applying ‘different strokes for different folks’, the political office holders at all levels (from President to Councilor) have been awarded bumper pay rises, back-dated to last February, citing as reasons, "Changes in the basic fundamentals of the Nigerian economy", "external reserves", "GDP growth rate" "rate of inflation" "getting the best out of the political class", and "the need for living wages".

Though no official reason has been given for the latest increase, it is not unconnected to the resolve of the government to satisfy profit interest of the new buyers of the nation’s refineries, sold few days before May 29, to former president Obasanjo’s Transcorp business and the likes. It is commendable that the LASCO has also included the reversal of the sales of Port Harcourt and Kaduna refineries as part of its demands.

Oil rich Nigeria but masses get poorer

At the same time as Obasanjo inflicted excruciating suffering on the poor masses, the income of the country rose, as a result of the high price of crude oil in the world market. With only the possible exception of the oil boom-era of the mid 1970s, no Nigerian government amassed such huge wealth from the sales of crude oil as Obasanjo’s. Nigeria realizes $200 million per day from the sales of crude oil, alone. Yet, there is nothing to show for this fabulous wealth. Selling crude oil at much higher price than the budget benchmark of $40 per barrel has meant a huge excess revenue and phenomenal foreign reserve at disposal of the government.

But these huge resources of the country are not committed to meet the basic needs of the poor working masses. Obasanjo left the state of the electricity supplies in a worse situation than he when he came to power in 1999. People rely on generators run on expensive fuel to generate power for business and to live. As a result, the cost of doing business is so high that many shops have closed. For artisans, with a feeble financial base, but who need electricity for their livelihoods, life is now hell.

We of the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) demand the Yar’Adua government should immediately reverse the increase in fuel price and VAT and also implement 15% pay rise for all workers in both public and private sectors, with regular increases to match the rate of inflation, without any form of retrenchment. The huge wealth generated from the sales of crude oil, and other means, should be used to guarantee provisions of basic needs, like quality education, health care, good roads, electricity, housing, etc., for workers and the poor masses.

Total transformation of society needed

However this can only be achieved if labour fights for total transformation of the prevailing and unjust capitalist system, where the masses wallow in irredeemable misery in the midst of super abundance. In this respect, labour should fight for a socialist society, where the commanding heights of the economy, including finance, will be commonly owned and democratically managed and controlled by the working masses. This will ensure that the fabulous wealth being presently looted and wasted by an elite few will be used to provide permanent decent living standards for all.

Working class, community, youth and student activists should immediately begin to build action committees or coordinating centres at local, state and national levels, as a basis of mobilising mass support for the national strike and protests. Such committees should form the democratic basis for a movement uniting Nigeria’s working masses, youth and poor. Where and when possible, there should be rallies, meetings and demonstrations during the strike.

We must not have a repeat of what happened during previous strikes against fuel price rises, when a few labour leaders suddenly called off strikes and protests, without any gains being made. The largest possible numbers of people must be involved in organizing the strike and discussing tactics. Even if the government offers concessions, labour has to realise the ruling elite will later try to take back what little they have given. This is why the struggle against fuel price hikes should be linked with a struggle against the overall anti-poor, neo-liberal economic reforms of the PDP/Yar’Adua government.

It is clear to everyone, even the official "observers" from the imperialist countries, that this year’s elections were massively rigged and the results stolen. Unfortunately, all the main parties were really rival gangs or looters or would-be looters, and the working masses were not represented in the elections. This is why it is imperative that the labour and pro-masses organizations should build a mass working class political alternative that is opposed to anti-poor, neo-liberal policies and which will challenge for power, creating a workers’ and poor peoples’ government that will protect and improve the economic, social, democratic and political interests of the workers and poor masses.

Friday, September 14, 2007

BBC Sport: Football

Nigeria reach U-17 semi-finals

Macauley Chrisantus celebrates after scoring Nigeria's second goal
Nigeria defeated Argentina 2-0 on Sunday to reach the semi-finals of the under-17 World Cup in South Korea.
The Golden Eaglets will face Germany in Thursday's semi-finals after the Europeans thrashed their rivals England 4-1 in the other quarter-final match on Sunday.
Nigeria were on the back-foot from the first minute and goalkeeper Oladele Ajiboye had to make two saves prevent the South Americans.
But the tables were turned in the 33rd minutes when Lukman Haruna was brought down in the penalty area by Fernando Meza.
The Nigerian captain picked himself up and dispatched the resultant penalty with aplomb to hand the West Africans the lead.
The Golden Eaglets continued to dominate and they doubled their lead just before the break when Macauley Chrisantus scored from the edge of the box.
Argentina had a couple of chances to narrow the deficit, but Nigeria hung on to reach the semi-finals for the fifth time at an under-17 World Cup.
The Golden Eagles will be trying to keep up the nation's record of winning all its previous four semi-finals.
"Argentina were a lot tougher to beat than the result suggests," Nigeria coach Yemi Tella said.
"They were at their most dangerous from set pieces, but we were very well prepared for that."
Argentina coach Miguel Angel Tojo predicted Nigeria will meet west African rival Ghana in the final.
"We gave it all we had, but it just wasn't enough," Tojo said.
"We've played teams from every continent at this World Cup, which has been a tremendous experience for my players."
The other semi-final will pit Ghana against Spain on Wednesday, with both teams winning their quarter-final ties on Saturday.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/africa/6975014.stm