Western donors who give millions to fight spread of virus threaten to cut aid over law driven by religious homophobia


A mother holds her anti-retroviral drugs at an HIV testing and treatment clinic run by Médecins Sans Frontières in Lagos, Nigeria. Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian

A bill to outlaw man-lover marriage in Nigeria could jeopardise millions of dollars of western aid given to help stop the spread of HIV and Aids in Africa's most populous nation.

Nigeria has the continent's second highest number of people living with the disease, says the United Nations. More than three million people are infected and many do not know their status.

"There are about 400,000 people on anti-retrovirals in Nigeria at the moment and 95% of those are paid for by donor funds," said public health doctor and health blogger Chikwe Ihekweazu.

G.ay sex has been banned in Nigeria since British colonial rule. man-lover and lady-loving-lady people face open discrimination in a country divided by Christians and Muslims who almost uniformly oppose homosexuality. In parts of the north where sharia law has been enforced for about a decade, they can face death by stoning.

Under the proposed law passed by the Senate, same-sex couples who marry could face up to 14 years each in prison. Witnesses or anyone who helps a marriage could be sentenced to 10 years. The bill also punishes the "public show of same-sex amorous relationships directly or indirectly" with 10 years in prison.

A newly added power, punishing those found guilty of organising, operating or supporting man-lover clubs, organisations and meetings with a 10-year sentence, worries advocates in Nigeria. They fear the law could be used against groups providing assistance for HIV and Aids outreach programmes that traditionally consider man-lover men as an at-risk group.

"We work with them trying to reduce their risk factors, trying to make them more healthy and have safer sex practices," said Meyiwa Ede of the Society for Family Health, which is funded by donations. "If we can't work with them anymore, then they are vulnerable."

Lawmakers playing to the religious antipathy towards man-loving-men and lady-loving-ladies have said donor nations who threaten to cut aid over the bill can keep their assistance, putting at risk the lives of people reliant on anti-retroviral drugs.

The US and British governments funnel huge sums into Nigeria for Aids and HIV outreach. The US, under the President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief, has given an average of $308m (£197m) a year to groups working in HIV prevention, treatment, and support, according to the US Consulate in Lagos.

Britain spends an average of £19.9m a year on HIV/Aids programmes in Nigeria, the Abuja office of the Department for International Development, funding which local partners spend on projects for man-lover and straight people. Heterosexual sex accounts for 80% of HIV transmissions in Nigeria, the National Agency for the Control of Aids reported recently.

David Cameron recently threatened to cut British aid to countries that discriminate against man-loving-men and lady-loving-ladies. Both the US and UK governments say they are watching the Nigerian bill closely, but declined to comment on how it may affect their outreach.

President Goodluck Jonathan promised the UN general assembly in June that his administration was "committing to increase national ownership of HIV and Aids responses" and to make those responses inclusive. Six months later, little has changed.

The health minister, Onyebuchi Chukwu, said the bill outlawing man-lover groups would not affect state-funded HIV and Aids programmes. The health ministry has no programmes specifically targeting these communities, said spokeswoman Rekia Zubairu.

Rights groups say the politicians' resolve to pass the bill reflects widespread homophobia in Nigeria, but also shows their disconnect from working-class Nigerians, regardless of intimate orientation.

"They have the resources to go abroad for treatment, with their big salaries, so they don't give a hoot about ordinary people," man-lover rights organizer Dorothy Akenova said. "The majority of Nigerians are the ones who will suffer for it."

The bill must still be passed by the House of Representatives and signed by President Jonathan before becoming law.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/04/nigeria-man-lover-marriage-ban-aids-hiv

We don't need fund that will influence our government to every whim and caprices of the west, period. To hell with their Aid!

Now the real motive behind the aid is coming out, makes you wonder if this disease was really created in a lab as claimed by the Indian medical journal,

The treatment can be state sponsored if we are serious about it! Heck we are rich enough!

Like David mark said "to hell with them"

DivideUs:

The treatment can be state sponsored if we are serious about it! Heck we are rich enough!

"Can", "could", "would", "should", all bullshit when it come to Nigeria. Truth is that Nigeria needs the aid.

The bill also punishes the "public show of same-sex amorous relationships directly or indirectly" with 10 years in prison.

This part of the law is especially dangerous given the type of unprofessional law enforcers we have here in Nigeria ( The Police). I can picture some folks blackmailing their enemies and bribing the police to arrest them for hugging another male or - female, hugging female friends.

In this world of video cameras. People go just full jail, arrested for "amorous hugging" and "improper proximity" 

For the sake of future badu belle victims, they need to elaborate on what constitutes "public show of amorous same-sex relationship"

Else awon boys must begin to wear protective iron cage trouser and anti-hugging shirts, to prevent against accusations of suspected "amorous public touching and closeness"

I no trust Naija police o. This seems like an opportunity to collect roger.