Saturday, August 15, 2009
Paintings
I have a friend who is a painter and asked her to make 3 paintings for me. The first is a mosaic of Kano, Nigeria from a picture I took in February of this year. The second is of Kasane, Botswana from a picture I took there in December 2008. The third is OBAMA!!! Remember you can click on the pictures to make them bigger...
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Governance has failed in Nigeria, says Clinton
Here is an article from Nigerian newspaper, The Nation, on Hillary Clinton's visit...
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United States (US) Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke last night on Nigeria’s crisis of growth, saying corruption has caused a failure of governance.
She said at a town of hall meeting in Abuja:
"The most immediate source of the disconnect between Nigeria’s wealth and its poverty is a failure of governance at the federal, state and local levels."
Mrs Clinton added: "Lack of transparency and accountability has eroded the legitimacy of the government and contributed to the rise of groups that embrace violence and reject the authority of the state".
She said contrary to the belief in some quarters, the US had been providing information on the Halliburton bribery scandal.
Mrs Clinton, the most senior official of the Obama administration to visit Nigeria, said her country also shared with Nigeria other information needed to address corruption.
She lamented that despite Nigeria’s potentials and resources, it had nothing to show for the welfare of its citizens, adding that it is up to Nigerians to fix their country for the betterment of the majority.
Mrs Clinton said: "We want to see the reinstatement of a vigorous corruption commission. The EFCC, which was doing well, has kind of fallen off in the last one year. We will like to see it come back to business to be able to partner with us."
She said the fight against corruption was necessary for the creation of the kind of business environment needed for the growth and development of Nigeria, adding, "We think it is good business to eliminate corrupt practices. It is better for competition, it is better for trade and investment environment, it is better for Nigeria’s reputation as a place to do business without heavy transaction cost".
To underscore the importance attached to fighting corruption by the Obama presidency, Mrs Clinton said the US was willing to assist Nigeria with information in its anti-graft campaign.
Her country, she added, is also willing to help in zeroing in on specific individuals responsible for corruption rather than a sweeping action against Nigerians in the US.
The lack of accountability and transparency, according to her, has eroded the gains Nigeria ought to have from its enormous resources.
"We are sharing information with the Nigerian legal system, as we want to cooperate closely. So we will do all we can to prosecute whoever crosses the line who has an American connection. American companies were made to sign up to an anti-corruption standard and we would punish any company found to have violated the standards," she said.
This is the second time in less than one week that Mrs Clinton has spoken harshly about Nigeria. "Nigeria is the fifth oil producer in the world and it still imports oil. This is an example of bad governance," she said on CNN last weekend.
On how to sustain democracy and ensure good governance, Mrs Clinton said proactive steps must be taken that include the establishment of a credible system of registration "that keeps track of those eligible to vote; it is essential and must start soon if a fair and credible election is expected in 2011".
She added: "There must be a truly independent electoral system run by independent group of people. There must be political parties that are rooted at the grassroots for party internal democracy to be enshrined"
She said the use of technology to organise people must also be put in place and that the people along with the Civil Society Organisation (CSO) and others must be able to convince the parliament to pass strong Electoral Reforms Bill.
"There is a need to strengthen Nigeria’s democratic institutions for credible elections," Mrs Clinton.
Mrs Clinton said the condition is meant to protect developed countries’ investments abroad.
The scrapping of subsidies she said, would keep their industries afloat as well as be able to invest more and export to other countries.
She said it had become imperative for the global financial institutions to reflect the realities of the 21st century.
Nigeria, she said, ought to be part of the G20 but that corruption has robbed it of its potentials.
Mrs Clinton promised that as Nigeria moves towards the realisation of its potentials, the US would give maximum support.
The World Bank, Mrs Clinton said, recently concluded that Nigeria had lost well over $300billion during the last three decades of corruption and mismanagement".
On the Boko Haram sectarian crisis, Mrs Clinton warned that Nigeria could be a target for al-Qaeda.
"Al Qaeda has a presence in Northern Africa. There is no doubt in our minds that al Qaeda and like organisations that are part of the syndicate of terror would seek a foothold anywhere they could find one, and whether that is the case here or whether this is a homegrown example of fundamentalist extremism - that is for the Nigerians to determine," she said.
The meeting was attended by various groups including Transparency International, Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Campaign for Democracy (CD), West African Bar Association (WABA), and Media Rights Agenda (MPA) among others.
Among those who asked Mrs Clinton questions were Dr Joe Okei-Odumakin of CD, Mr Femi Falana, WABA’s president, and Dr Jibrin Ibrahim of CDD.
_thumb.jpg)
United States (US) Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke last night on Nigeria’s crisis of growth, saying corruption has caused a failure of governance.
She said at a town of hall meeting in Abuja:
"The most immediate source of the disconnect between Nigeria’s wealth and its poverty is a failure of governance at the federal, state and local levels."
Mrs Clinton added: "Lack of transparency and accountability has eroded the legitimacy of the government and contributed to the rise of groups that embrace violence and reject the authority of the state".
She said contrary to the belief in some quarters, the US had been providing information on the Halliburton bribery scandal.
Mrs Clinton, the most senior official of the Obama administration to visit Nigeria, said her country also shared with Nigeria other information needed to address corruption.
She lamented that despite Nigeria’s potentials and resources, it had nothing to show for the welfare of its citizens, adding that it is up to Nigerians to fix their country for the betterment of the majority.
Mrs Clinton said: "We want to see the reinstatement of a vigorous corruption commission. The EFCC, which was doing well, has kind of fallen off in the last one year. We will like to see it come back to business to be able to partner with us."
She said the fight against corruption was necessary for the creation of the kind of business environment needed for the growth and development of Nigeria, adding, "We think it is good business to eliminate corrupt practices. It is better for competition, it is better for trade and investment environment, it is better for Nigeria’s reputation as a place to do business without heavy transaction cost".
To underscore the importance attached to fighting corruption by the Obama presidency, Mrs Clinton said the US was willing to assist Nigeria with information in its anti-graft campaign.
Her country, she added, is also willing to help in zeroing in on specific individuals responsible for corruption rather than a sweeping action against Nigerians in the US.
The lack of accountability and transparency, according to her, has eroded the gains Nigeria ought to have from its enormous resources.
"We are sharing information with the Nigerian legal system, as we want to cooperate closely. So we will do all we can to prosecute whoever crosses the line who has an American connection. American companies were made to sign up to an anti-corruption standard and we would punish any company found to have violated the standards," she said.
This is the second time in less than one week that Mrs Clinton has spoken harshly about Nigeria. "Nigeria is the fifth oil producer in the world and it still imports oil. This is an example of bad governance," she said on CNN last weekend.
On how to sustain democracy and ensure good governance, Mrs Clinton said proactive steps must be taken that include the establishment of a credible system of registration "that keeps track of those eligible to vote; it is essential and must start soon if a fair and credible election is expected in 2011".
She added: "There must be a truly independent electoral system run by independent group of people. There must be political parties that are rooted at the grassroots for party internal democracy to be enshrined"
She said the use of technology to organise people must also be put in place and that the people along with the Civil Society Organisation (CSO) and others must be able to convince the parliament to pass strong Electoral Reforms Bill.
"There is a need to strengthen Nigeria’s democratic institutions for credible elections," Mrs Clinton.
Mrs Clinton said the condition is meant to protect developed countries’ investments abroad.
The scrapping of subsidies she said, would keep their industries afloat as well as be able to invest more and export to other countries.
She said it had become imperative for the global financial institutions to reflect the realities of the 21st century.
Nigeria, she said, ought to be part of the G20 but that corruption has robbed it of its potentials.
Mrs Clinton promised that as Nigeria moves towards the realisation of its potentials, the US would give maximum support.
The World Bank, Mrs Clinton said, recently concluded that Nigeria had lost well over $300billion during the last three decades of corruption and mismanagement".
On the Boko Haram sectarian crisis, Mrs Clinton warned that Nigeria could be a target for al-Qaeda.
"Al Qaeda has a presence in Northern Africa. There is no doubt in our minds that al Qaeda and like organisations that are part of the syndicate of terror would seek a foothold anywhere they could find one, and whether that is the case here or whether this is a homegrown example of fundamentalist extremism - that is for the Nigerians to determine," she said.
The meeting was attended by various groups including Transparency International, Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Campaign for Democracy (CD), West African Bar Association (WABA), and Media Rights Agenda (MPA) among others.
Among those who asked Mrs Clinton questions were Dr Joe Okei-Odumakin of CD, Mr Femi Falana, WABA’s president, and Dr Jibrin Ibrahim of CDD.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Nigerian militant amnesty starts
The Nigerian government's offer of an amnesty for militants in the oil-rich Niger Delta region has begun.
During the next two months officials hope about 10,000 armed men will surrender their weapons in return for a pardon and retraining.
It is not yet clear how many of the region's numerous armed groups will take part in the amnesty.
They attack oil refineries and smash pipelines in what they say is a fight for a fair share of the delta's wealth.
In recent months the violent struggle in the delta has worsened, but the amnesty offer is being hailed by analysts as one of the most significant efforts so far to end the unrest.
Timiebi Koripamo-Agary, spokeswoman for the amnesty programme, said the militants had made their point.
"They have raised the issues of the Niger Delta sufficiently to national and international consciousness," she said.
"This amnesty, I believe, offers the militants the opportunity to engage in finding lasting solutions to the problems of the Niger Delta."
She said hundreds of militants had expressed interest in taking the clemency, including one commander who said he and 800 fighters were ready to accept the offer.
'Oil war'
Officials said gunmen who accept amnesty would be given 65,000 naira ($433; £255) a month for food and living expenses during the rehabilitation programme, which runs from 6 August to 4 October.
But the main rebel group in the region, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend), has not yet said it will take part in the amnesty.
"When we choose to disarm, it will be done freely, knowing that the reason for our uprising which is the emancipation of the Niger Delta from neglect and injustice has been achieved," the group said in statement e-mailed to the AFP news agency.
The group, which called a temporary ceasefire last month after one of its leaders was freed from jail, is in talks with senior officials about the terms of any possible amnesty.
Oil revenue is the major source of income for the entire country but the so-called oil war has cut Nigeria's oil output by about a quarter in recent years.
The militants tap into pipelines, siphon off oil and sell it on a huge scale. Some analysts estimate the illicit industry generates more than $50m a day.
The BBC's Caroline Duffield, in Nigeria, says some of the most powerful people in Nigeria directly profit from the militants' activities.
With that kind of money involved, our correspondent says, it is hard to see why the militant gangs or their powerful patrons would want peace at all.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Nigeria Violence Sparks New Concerns
By WILL CONNORS
LAGOS, Nigeria -- A week of brutal violence in northern Nigeria has spurred questions over whether an obscure homegrown religious fundamentalist group represents a broader threat to national security in Africa's most populous nation.
More than 800 people were killed last week during fighting between an Islamic fundamentalist group calling itself Boko Haram, and Nigerian security forces. The clashes spread across several northern states.
A Red Cross worker in the northern city of Maiduguri, where most of the fighting occurred, said that 780 bodies had been collected in the past few days, and that at least 3,600 Maiduguri residents had been displaced. Officials in Bauchi, where the violence began, had earlier confirmed more than 50 deaths.
Rights groups say many civilians were among those killed, though exact figures remain unknown. Police say most of the dead were militants.
More than 10,000 people have been killed in sectarian violence in Nigeria since 1999, often in the so-called Middle Belt, where the predominantly Muslim north meets the Christian south.
But Boko Haram's targeting of its own government, attacking police stations and other official buildings, surprised many observers. Some northern Nigerians, who were aware of previous incidents involving the group, say the government should have seen this coming.
"The group's teachings are not new," said Hassan Karofi, operations manager of the Daily Trust newspaper for the northern region of Nigeria.
President Umaru Yar'Adua also has been criticized for leaving the country as the crisis escalated. The president returned from a trip to Brazil on Saturday, after the fighting had subsided.
Boko Haram, which means "education is prohibited" in the Hausa language spoken in northern Nigeria, has been advocating a withdrawal from Western education and ideals, and for a stricter adoption of Shariah law, already practiced in 12 northern states. The group has convinced followers to drop out of school, quit their jobs and become more focused on living according to its strict guidelines. The exact number of followers of the group isn't known.
Some analysts believe the group gained traction because of growing poverty in northern Nigeria over the years. The emergence of the oil industry in the southern delta region took the government's focus away from agriculture. Growing cities such as Lagos, the economic hub of West Africa, lured the north's residents.
While they were once the agricultural center of a country that was a net exporter of foodstuffs, most of the northern farms now lay fallow. Hundreds of once-humming textile mills are silent. Only five working mills remain.
Security forces have been criticized in the days following the violence for ignoring signs that the group was planning attacks. Police spokesmen in Bauchi, where an attack on a police station last week ignited the recent violence, and in Abuja, the capital, confirmed that the group had been under surveillance for months for "preaching fundamentalism."
Residents of major northern towns and Muslim leaders knew of the group and the radical
teachings of its leader, Mohammed Yusuf, for years.
The local Guardian newspaper cited senior security officials Sunday as saying that nearly a dozen confidential reports detailing the "imminent threat" of Boko Haram had been presented to the Inspector General of Police over the last year, but nothing was done.
Federal Police spokesman Emmanuel Ojukwu confirmed the police had received several security reports concerning the group, and though they had arrested Mr. Yusuf twice, didn't have enough evidence to keep him in jail. "This is a democracy, you can't arrest somebody [again] without evidence," Mr. Ojukwu said by phone from Abuja. "We'd been keeping tabs on them."
Mr. Yusuf had been arrested twice for "inciting public disturbances and subversive activities," according to police, most recently in January, when he was released on bail.
In June, police stopped Boko Haram followers for traffic violations during a funeral procession for two members of the group. Members of the fundamentalist group reacted violently, according to the police, and eight of the Boko Haram followers were killed in the confrontation. Afterward, Boko Haram members publicly threatened to attack police and said they would have their revenge, according to press reports at the time.
Three weeks ago a member of Boko Haram was killed in an explosion in his home. Police said he had been trying to build a bomb.
Adding to the turmoil surrounding the incidents are questions surrounding the death of Mr. Yusuf on Thursday.
A photo obtained by the BBC shows the Mr. Yusuf, with a wound on his arm, being escorted to jail by army officials. Hours later, police officials invited journalists to photograph his bullet-riddled body.
Police say he died while trying to escape custody. Some rights groups have urged an investigation, suggesting Mr. Yusuf was executed while in police custody.
"We're investigating the circumstances that led to his death and the death of other Nigerians," Mr. Ojukwu said.
Many in Nigeria say that the leader's death means critical information about his group is lost.
"Some things might have come out if he had gone to trial," said Zacarys Anger Gundu, a professor at Ahmadu Bello University in the northern city of Zaria, who has been following the incidents. "There are a lot of things we don't know about the group, and killing the leader removes the issue from public scrutiny."
Residents in Maiduguri told reporters many Boko Haram members have shaved their beards and slipped back into daily life, according to reports. "We know it is not finished yet," said Mr. Karofi of the Daily Trust newspaper.
Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A14
LAGOS, Nigeria -- A week of brutal violence in northern Nigeria has spurred questions over whether an obscure homegrown religious fundamentalist group represents a broader threat to national security in Africa's most populous nation.
More than 800 people were killed last week during fighting between an Islamic fundamentalist group calling itself Boko Haram, and Nigerian security forces. The clashes spread across several northern states.
A Red Cross worker in the northern city of Maiduguri, where most of the fighting occurred, said that 780 bodies had been collected in the past few days, and that at least 3,600 Maiduguri residents had been displaced. Officials in Bauchi, where the violence began, had earlier confirmed more than 50 deaths.
Rights groups say many civilians were among those killed, though exact figures remain unknown. Police say most of the dead were militants.
More than 10,000 people have been killed in sectarian violence in Nigeria since 1999, often in the so-called Middle Belt, where the predominantly Muslim north meets the Christian south.
But Boko Haram's targeting of its own government, attacking police stations and other official buildings, surprised many observers. Some northern Nigerians, who were aware of previous incidents involving the group, say the government should have seen this coming.
"The group's teachings are not new," said Hassan Karofi, operations manager of the Daily Trust newspaper for the northern region of Nigeria.
President Umaru Yar'Adua also has been criticized for leaving the country as the crisis escalated. The president returned from a trip to Brazil on Saturday, after the fighting had subsided.
Boko Haram, which means "education is prohibited" in the Hausa language spoken in northern Nigeria, has been advocating a withdrawal from Western education and ideals, and for a stricter adoption of Shariah law, already practiced in 12 northern states. The group has convinced followers to drop out of school, quit their jobs and become more focused on living according to its strict guidelines. The exact number of followers of the group isn't known.
Some analysts believe the group gained traction because of growing poverty in northern Nigeria over the years. The emergence of the oil industry in the southern delta region took the government's focus away from agriculture. Growing cities such as Lagos, the economic hub of West Africa, lured the north's residents.
While they were once the agricultural center of a country that was a net exporter of foodstuffs, most of the northern farms now lay fallow. Hundreds of once-humming textile mills are silent. Only five working mills remain.
Security forces have been criticized in the days following the violence for ignoring signs that the group was planning attacks. Police spokesmen in Bauchi, where an attack on a police station last week ignited the recent violence, and in Abuja, the capital, confirmed that the group had been under surveillance for months for "preaching fundamentalism."
Residents of major northern towns and Muslim leaders knew of the group and the radical
teachings of its leader, Mohammed Yusuf, for years.
The local Guardian newspaper cited senior security officials Sunday as saying that nearly a dozen confidential reports detailing the "imminent threat" of Boko Haram had been presented to the Inspector General of Police over the last year, but nothing was done.
Federal Police spokesman Emmanuel Ojukwu confirmed the police had received several security reports concerning the group, and though they had arrested Mr. Yusuf twice, didn't have enough evidence to keep him in jail. "This is a democracy, you can't arrest somebody [again] without evidence," Mr. Ojukwu said by phone from Abuja. "We'd been keeping tabs on them."
Mr. Yusuf had been arrested twice for "inciting public disturbances and subversive activities," according to police, most recently in January, when he was released on bail.
In June, police stopped Boko Haram followers for traffic violations during a funeral procession for two members of the group. Members of the fundamentalist group reacted violently, according to the police, and eight of the Boko Haram followers were killed in the confrontation. Afterward, Boko Haram members publicly threatened to attack police and said they would have their revenge, according to press reports at the time.
Three weeks ago a member of Boko Haram was killed in an explosion in his home. Police said he had been trying to build a bomb.
Adding to the turmoil surrounding the incidents are questions surrounding the death of Mr. Yusuf on Thursday.
A photo obtained by the BBC shows the Mr. Yusuf, with a wound on his arm, being escorted to jail by army officials. Hours later, police officials invited journalists to photograph his bullet-riddled body.
Police say he died while trying to escape custody. Some rights groups have urged an investigation, suggesting Mr. Yusuf was executed while in police custody.
"We're investigating the circumstances that led to his death and the death of other Nigerians," Mr. Ojukwu said.
Many in Nigeria say that the leader's death means critical information about his group is lost.
"Some things might have come out if he had gone to trial," said Zacarys Anger Gundu, a professor at Ahmadu Bello University in the northern city of Zaria, who has been following the incidents. "There are a lot of things we don't know about the group, and killing the leader removes the issue from public scrutiny."
Residents in Maiduguri told reporters many Boko Haram members have shaved their beards and slipped back into daily life, according to reports. "We know it is not finished yet," said Mr. Karofi of the Daily Trust newspaper.
Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A14
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