[size=18pt]12 September, 2000 BBC News
Obasanjo lands in London on 3-day state visit to UK[/size]

The President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, arrives in London on Wednesday on his first official visit as a guest of the UK Government since he took office last year.

During his three-day visit, President Obasanjo is due to meet the prime minister, the chancellor of the exchequer and other cabinet members.

Nigeria's membership of Opec and its prominent role in the UN peacekeeping force in Sierra Leone give the visit added importance.

The UK Government sees the restoration of civilian rule in Nigeria as one of the most encouraging political developments in Africa in recent years.

Vital visit
Nigeria's huge population of about 120 million people, its economic potential and its historical ties with Britain all make this an important visit.

But President Obasanjo's arrival in the midst of the fuel crisis and at a time of acute uncertainty in Sierra Leone give it added relevance.

Nigeria produces about two million barrels of oil each day, and although it has benefited from high prices, it is also sympathetic to the concerns of Western governments that there should be stability on world markets.

Meanwhile British plans to withdraw eventually from Sierra Leone will depend to some extent on the ability of the United Nations force there to keep the peace.

Nigerians are the largest single contingent in the force but are extremely unhappy with its current command structure.
President Obasanjo will be eager to raise the question of debt relief.

The Nigerians owe the British several billion pounds and are hoping that payments can be rescheduled or even partially cancelled

News story inserted 21st March 1998

[size=18pt]13 September, 2000 - BBC News
Nigeria ranked most corrupt country in the world under Obasanjo, Nigeria was 27th before Obasanjo took office[/size]
An annual survey carried out by the Berlin-based Transparency International (TI) also grouped Angola, Cameroon, Kenya and Mozambique among the top 10 most corrupt.

The damning report was released as the Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo made an official visit to Britain pressing for reduction of the country's huge debts.

The world's Cleanest
Finland
Denmark
New Zealand
Sweden
Canada
Other countries in the most corrupt list were Yugoslavia, Ukraine, Indonesia, Russia and Azerbaijan.

Corruption cases
Last year Nigeria was rated as the 27th most corrupt country in the world.
But an investigation report released in July this year revealed massive misappropriation of of public money by members of the national assembly.

News story inserted 12th September 1963

[size=18pt]23 October, 2000 -  BBC News
Oputa Panel Human Rights Commission opens in Abuja, the criteria for selecting the cases to be probed, shrouded in secrecy.[/size]

Commission to investigate human rights abuses in Nigeria over the past thirty-five years has opened in the capital, Abuja.

The head of the panel a retired judge, Justice Chukwudifu Oputa said it had received ten-thousand petitions alleging abuses from members of the public.

However, he said, the commission would concentrate on only the two-hundred cases which appeared to involve gross abuses of human rights.

He said a list would be made available tomorrow at the start of the public hearings. People will be invited to answer charges against them, and witnesses will be called.

The inquiry -- which is modelled on South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission -- has no power to sentence, but can determine responsibility.

News story inserted 24th February 1992

[size=18pt]16 January, 2001  - BBC News
Obasanjo orders suspension of Abuja airport staff, after they failed to switch over to backup generators in time for his plane's landing[/size]

The authorities in Nigeria have suspended staff who were on duty at Abuja airport last week when the lights went out just as President Obasanjo's plane was coming in to land.

A statement from the federal aviation authority said staff had been instructed to switch from unreliable mains supply to a back-up generator in preparation for the president's arrival.

However they were unaware that the landing was imminent, and the switch-over cast the airfield into darkness as the plane approached.

The incident fuelled speculation that there had been an attempt to kill the president as he returned from a visit to Iran.

Faulty timing
The headline in This Day newspaper read, ''Obasanjo escapes death'', and The Guardian asked, ''Who wants our president dead?''

The aviation authority blamed the timing of the switch-over on a misinformed presidential protocol officer.

The aviation minister, Kema Chikwe, said none of those suspended - who include the airport manager as well as security and control tower staff - would be allowed to resume work until an investigation is completed.

The aviation authority said in the future at least one hour's notice would be given before the arrival of important visitors in order to allow the back-up generators to be turned on

News story inserted 12th January 1981

[size=18pt]19 January, 2001 - BBC News
Nigeria awards telecoms licences[/size]

The Nigerian Communications Commission has finally awarded the country's mobile phone licences, raising more than $800m for the government in the process.
Each of the three successful bidders is now required to provide 100,000 lines within a year from this May.

The launch of the auction had come after several false starts and months of administrative turmoil.

And the problems that led to the sacking last year of the entire telecoms authority board amid allegations of corruption have been stopped, officials say.

The global standard for mobiles (GSM) licences were sold at $285m each to local group Communication Investments, South African-backed Econet Wireless Nigeria and a group headed by South Africa's Mobile Telecommunications Network.

And these groups have far outstripped the minimum level acceptable to the government of just $100m for each licence.

Nigeria is Africa's most populous country with about 120 million inhabitants but has extremely limited wireless capacity in place.

Egypt's Orascom Telecom, one of the unsuccesful bidders, estimated the market for mobile phone users to be 30 million initially and said it would grow rapidly thereafter.

Five international groups put in bids for three GSM licences.

A fourth licence is being reserved for sale at auction price to Celcom - the recently renamed state-run operator.

The process of awarding licences, though, has been dogged by problems, leaving Nigeria's telecoms network several years behind those of nearby countries such as Ghana and the Ivory Coast.

Fixed telephone lines number fewer than four per thousand people while mobile phone penetration does not even register statistically.

One company, Motophone, was awarded a GSM licence by General Sani Abacha's government but the service was never launched.

The next regime sold 27 licences - far more than was ever technically or commercially feasible - but most of these were later cancelled.

More recently, an auction scheduled for last year was scrapped at the last minute and the entire board of the Nigerian Communications Commission - the body supervising the sale - was sacked amid allegations of financial irregularities.

Encouraging competition
In mid-2000, NCC chief executive Ernest Ndukwe hired the UK-government backed consultants Radio Spectrum International to devise and run a new auction.

Since then, several more senior NCC officials have been dismissed, the latest as recently as this month.

"There have been some changes [in the board's membership]," RSI's Peter Top told BBC News Online.

"[But] we have not encountered any problems [in setting up the auction]."

"[The NCC] is committed to achieving a licensing regime that will spur the rapid roll-out of digital networks and encourage competition," Mr Ndukwe is quoted on the NCC's website as saying.

The five bidders were:
Communication Investments, a group whose backers are reported to include Deutsche Telekom, Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank
South African-backed Econet Wireless Nigeria
MSI-Celtel Nigeria, a group reported to be backed by two former heads of state and also including US-based Monarch Communications and several private equity firms
South African-backed MTN Nigeria Communications
and United Networks Mobile, comprising Orascom and United Bank for Nigeria.
The licences will be valid for 15 years.

News story inserted 24th August 1994

[size=18pt]23 February 2001 - BBC News
5000 peaceful Protestors from Niger Delta march to the National Assembly demanding greater resource control[/size]

Police clashed with southern Nigerian protesters in the capital Abuja.

Trouble started when youths from the Niger Delta region marched into the premises of the national assembly.

As they approached the second gate leading to the main lobby the police threw teargas at the 5,000 peaceful protesters.

They were jogging, singing and chanting - "All we are saying is give us our rights".
Some of the placards said: "We want resource control".

The protesters, as well as some members of the national assembly, some members of the public and civil servants ran helter-skelter as teargas stung their eyes.

Some protesters physically struggled with the police.

On seeing three lorry loads of anti-riot policemen everybody started running for safety.

Official demands

Southern governors have been calling on the federal government to introduce what they describe as "true federalism".

At two recent meetings, they called on the federal government to hand over control of all mineral resources to the states, which they say are the rightful owners.

People from the southern states feel that they create a lot of the country's wealth, but they do not see much in return as the money ends up in the hands of the federal government.

The northern governors, at a recent meeting in Kaduna, protested against this call for resource control.

The northern governors say that it was the resources of the north that were used for oil exploration in the Niger Delta in the 1950s and 1960s.

Arguing that since federal money was used for oil exploration in the past it is unacceptable for any state to call for a transfer of resource control.

News story inserted 17th July 1966

[size=18pt]27 February, 2001   - BBC News
Obasanjo determined to end fuel subsidies; says that fuel is too cheap and that most Nigerians do not need fuel subsidies[/size]

The Nigerian Government is determined to remove subsidies on petroleum products as part of reforms of the energy sector, President Olusegun Obasanjo has said.
In a live televised discussion programme, he said that the present subsidy "does not make sense" as it failed to benefit the majority of Nigerians.

He said the government would instead subsidise education, health and water services.
Labour organisations have threatened to strike if the government goes ahead with the deregulation plans it announced last week, which would see oil refineries in Nigeria pay international market prices for crude oil.

Nigeria suffers persistent fuel shortages despite being the world's fourth largest oil producer.

"In this country, the price of coca cola is higher than the price of petrol. The subsidy, if removed, will be available to do other things," he said.

He also condemned the widespread smuggling of petroleum products to neighbouring countries, where they are sold at prices up to three times higher.

News story inserted 10th January 1984

[size=18pt]28 February, 2001 - BBC News
Bauchi State adopts Sharia Islamic Law[/size]
Another state in northern Nigeria, Bauchi, has adopted Sharia, or Islamic, law.

The governor, Adamu Muazu, signed the Sharia bill into law on Tuesday.

Bauchi is the tenth northern Nigerian state either to adopt Sharia law, or announce its intention to do so, despite opposition from Christians and human rights groups.

Several of the states maintain that the law will not be applied to Christians.

Last year, hundreds of people were killed in Kaduna, when rioting broke out after Christians opposed the introduction of Islamic law there.

News story inserted 21st December 1998

[size=18pt]March 21, 2001 - CNN
Fuel Price protests continue[/size]

LAGOS, Nigeria -- Heavily armed police in pick-up trucks have surrounded the site of a planned protest over rising fuel prices in Lagos.

Thousands of noisy Lagos residents defied a police warning that the rally was illegal and began arriving at the site in the industrial district of Ikeja.

"Police in 30 trucks have surrounded the place, but are not disturbing anybody," said one witness.

Authorities warned leaders of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) not to go ahead with the rally in Lagos, where such protests have degenerated into violence in the past.

The NLC called on workers in Nigeria's 36 states to mount a week long campaign of rallies and marches to protest against government plans to cut subsidies on petroleum products.

The government says deregulation of fuel marketing and an end to costly subsidies are crucial to ending long-running shortages, blamed largely on inefficient domestic refineries.

The NLC argues that deregulation would drive up prices of fuel, transport and food. It has vowed to make Nigeria ungovernable if President Olusegun Obasanjo ignores its warnings.

Eight states kicked off the rallies on Tuesday amid a massive police presence, most notably in Kano, a city in northern Nigeria.

News story inserted 8th September 1976

I am prescribing to this page

[size=18pt]26 March, 2001 - BBC News
US court backs anti-Shell lawsuit[/size]

The US Supreme Court has ruled that families of two environmental activists executed in Nigeria can sue the oil company Shell in New York.
The Court rejected an appeal from the company which sought to have the proceedings ended.

The case has been brought by the families of two activists who protested against oil exploration by Shell in the Ogoni region of Nigeria.
The suit alleges that Shell took land without paying proper compensation, polluted the atmosphere and paid for local police to suppress opposition.

The execution of one of the activists, Ken Saro-Wiwa, on murder charges led to Nigeria's suspension in the Commonwealth.

Shell argument rejected

The Supreme Court rejected Shell's argument that US federal courts lack jurisdiction over alleged violations of international law that occur abroad.

The court did not give a reason for the decision, but does not have to.
Under US law, claims can be made against companies on human rights grounds.

Shell is the largest oil operator in Nigeria, with the oil coming from the Niger Delta providing most of Nigeria's export earnings and government income.

However, local Ogoni tribespeople feel they are getting nothing back and the imbalance is a major source of tension in the region.

Nigerian anger

Local anger was most famously mobilised by the late Mr Saro-Wiwa, but in all parts of the Delta protesters have blocked access roads, occupied production platforms and, on occasion, sabotaged pipelines.

Mr Saro-Wiwa and fellow activist John Kpuinen were repeatedly tortured and eventually hanged in 1995.
The suit alleges that Royal Dutch Petroleum Co and sister company Shell Transport and Trading Co fabricated evidence to support murder charges against the two men.

The latest Supreme Court decision confirms an earlier federal appeals court ruling.

The ruling said that a lower court judge had been wrong to accept Shell's assertion that the case belonged properly not in the United States but in Britain, where Shell is based.

News story inserted 7th September 1994

[size=18pt]15 April, 2001 - BBC News
Public to debate constitutional changes proposed by Obasanjo, public not consulted on which amendments they want to make to entire constitution [/size]

The Nigerian government has announced dates for a national public debate on proposed amendments to the constitution.

An official statement said the debate would start at the end of April, and would last for nearly a month in six different cities.

Members of the public were urged to study and discuss the proposed changes.

A presidential panel had proposed more than ninety amendments to Nigeria's constitution, which was drawn up toward the end of the era of the last military regime in 1999.

The official announcement said copies of the reports were being made available to the public at designated centres across the country.

News story inserted 30th May 1975

[size=18pt]24 April, 2001 - ITN News
Obasanjo shakes up military; there speculation he is trying to rid military of people loyal to Abacha[/size]

The heads of Nigeria's army, navy and air force have all retired in what is being seen as a major shake-up of the country's armed forces.
The announcement of the retirement of army chief General Victor Malu, navy chief Vice Admiral Victor Ombu and air force chief Vice Marshal Ibrahim Alfa came as a surprise to most Nigerians.

Political analysts in Nigeria are saying that the fact that the three men have stepped down at the same time is no coincidence and they may have been forced out.

There is speculation that President Olusegun Obasanjo is trying to rid the armed forces of people who may be loyal to the previous military regime.

No emotion

There was no hint of this in the presidential statement accepting the retirements.

That simply commended the three men for loyal services, professionalism and contributions to the on-going transition to democracy.

President Obasanjo also wished them success in their future endeavours.
The heads of the air force and navy have not been involved in any public controversy. But this is not the case for General Malu.

Outspoken

The army chief first sparked off public debate about his political loyalties when he appeared before the human rights investigation panel late last year.

He publicly boasted of his unqualified loyalty to the late General Sani Abacha , regarded by many Nigerians as the most brutal dictator ever to rule the country.

General Malu was criticised in the Nigerian newspapers for his public statement criticising the bilateral military agreement with the United States.

He did not like the fact that American military officers were invited to assist in retraining Nigerian soldiers in peacekeeping operations.

It was generally agreed that Mr Malu should have raised whatever objections he had through the official channels, rather than through the media.

The three men will be replaced by Major-General Ogomudia, who will head the army, Rear Admiral Afolayan, will head the navy and Air Vice-Marshal Wuyep will head the air force.

News story inserted 20th December 1991

[size=18pt]7 June, 2001 - BBC News
Obasanjo's shame: 13 States including entire Eastern Nigeria in darkness as power cut is expected to last two weeks[/size]

The Nigerian Electricity Power Authority (Nepa) says 13 states, including the entire eastern part of the country, may be without electricity for two weeks after what it calls an attack by vandals on a vital transmission line.

Tens of millions of people in eastern Nigeria have been without electricity since Monday night.

Nigeria's Government has struggled to improve the country's notoriously inefficient electricity network since coming to power two years ago.

Nigerians are well accustomed to power cuts but rarely on such a devastating scale.

The huge area affected by this latest blackout includes some of Nigeria's largest and economically most important cities.

Struggling industries and public services, as well as private households, are already experiencing enormous inconvenience and discomfort.

Sabotage

A Nepa official told the BBC that a tower on a vital power line serving the east had been attacked by vandals and that it may take two weeks to repair.


Power lines in Nigeria are often sabotaged by gangs working for scrap metal traders, although in this instance one Nepa official is quoted as saying that no pieces had been removed from the damaged tower.
Last year an angry President Olusegun Obasanjo took direct charge of Nepa, accusing it of notorious and endemic corruption.

President Obasanjo has pledged to to increase output to a constant 4,000 megawatts by the end of this year.

But even if Nigeria attains this target, it will be producing one-tenth as much electricity as South Africa, with about three times the population.

News story inserted 1st January 1965

[size=18pt]20 July, 2001 - BBC News
Obasanjo refuses to investigate Babangida's corrupt government[/size]

Government officials in Nigeria say no investigation into the affairs of former military ruler Ibrahim Babangida is possible because there is no evidence against him.

A statement issued by the office of President Olusegun Obasanjo says the government cannot launch a blind probe.

The multi-millionaire General Babangida - who ruled Nigeria from 1985 to 1993 - has been accused of crimes ranging from stealing state assets to widespread human rights abuses, including involvement in murder.

The presidential statement was prompted by comments by a former Nigerian bishop, Bolanle Gbonigithe, that no prosecution of General Babangida would be forthcoming because he was President Obasanjo's business partner.

General Babangida has twice failed to appear before the government's Human Rights Investigation Commission to answer charges against him.

Comeback?

General Babangida's eight year rule ended in controversy in 1993 when he ignored the results of a democratic election that businessman Moshood Abiola is believed to have won.

He was ousted in the popular outcry that followed. Taking advantage of the confusion another military man, Sani Abacha, seized power.

In April, colleagues began laying the ground for his political comeback with the formation of a new party.

At the launch of the National Solidarity Association in the capital Abuja, former ministers, generals, and other officials defended General Babangida's right to contest the presidency in 2003.

General Babangida has not joined the new party and he has not made his intentions public.

When democracy returned to Nigeria in 1999, General Babangida and other former military officers supported the candidacy of current President Olusegun Obasanjo.

News story inserted 8th October 1980

[size=18pt]24 August, 2001 -  BBC News
Obasanjo  gets support from World Bank, to continue to sell off Nigeria's National Assets[/size]

The World Bank has agreed credit worth $300m to help Nigeria speed up its privatisation programme and efforts to fight HIV and Aids.

The agreement was signed in the capital Abuja by the visiting vice-president of the International Finance Corporation, Peter Woicke and the Nigerian finance minister, Adamu Ciroma.

Correspondents say the decision by the World Bank signals belief in Nigeria's argument that it needs more money to fund the programmes.

Nigeria's telecommunications and electricity sectors are the flagship institutions earmarked for privatisation, but the reforms have been delayed due to lack of adequate preparations.

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