₦airaland Forum

Politics of the North’s educational backwardness (1)
Written by Rotimi Fasan
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
THE Northern arm of the Nigerian ruling elite in the last months of last year held a summit that generated attention largely for reason no more than the belated realisation by the Northern oligarchy that something urgent has to be done about the North’s educational backwardness.

Virtually all states north of the Niger River fall into the category of what is politically defined as educationally disadvantaged.

This is a serious matter in a country with a low national literacy level- just about 25 per cent. Indeed the North, being a huge part of Nigeria with huge population figures, must account mainly for the country’s low literacy.

The strange thing is that in the nearly half a century of Nigeria’s independence the educational gap between the North and the South has shown little inclination to being closed.

And with statistics suggesting that more, not less, Nigerian children of school-going age from the North stay out of school, it is clear that the country is not about resolving a major issue of discord between the north and the south.

The fact being that the educational imbalance between the north and the south has a political manifestation in the country’s “federal character” or “quota” system. These are policies of affirmative action designed to ensure equality/equity in ideally competitive situations such as appointments or admission into federal agencies.

The application of such policies has often been marked with acrimony even in the most organised societies as between Whites and African-Americans or Hispanics in the United States.

Some Whites have even argued that the phenomenal rise of Barack Obama was both aided by and a subtle manifestation of an affirmative action policy.

In Nigeria many Southerners believe those federal character and quota system policies have not only played havoc on merit but have been applied to the clear disadvantage of Nigerians of Southern origin.

There is no doubt that there will always be the need for one policy or another of affirmative action in a multi-ethnic set-up with a twisted federal constitution like ours.

Such affirmative steps sometimes assume a gender dimension as we have in Nigeria, as elsewhere, where a certain percentage of positions in public offices or educational institutions are reserved for women. Affirmative action as a political strategy is largely corrective.

That is, it is meant to correct observed shortcomings which if left unattended would be detrimental to good relations.

If eligibility into certain positions is solely based on the attainment of a certain level of educational qualification, for example, it is apparent that certain regions of the country would always lose out. Federal character and quota system become handy policies in such situations.

But as corrective tools they do not necessarily have to be without time limit or they would outlive their usefulness and become harmful even to those they were meant to help.


Which is one reason they have proven detrimental to good relations in Nigeria where their application has been basically political and then in circumstances seen as unduly favourable to the North.

What is worse, the application of the policy does not seem to be working within a time frame nor is it being monitored to see to what extent it has corrected the anomaly it was designed for, namely, closing the wide educational gap between the North and the South.

There will never be a time limit to the application of Nigeria’s affirmative action policies for so long as nothing or little is being done to address the slow pace of education in the North.

And to the extent that the widening educational gap between the North and the South remains to that extent would Nigeria’s development be held back and her attainment of nationhood remain a mirage.

This is another way of saying that the problem of the backward educational development of the North is a problem for all Nigerians (Hausa, Igbo, Ijaw, Yoruba etc), inviting a solution that cannot be left alone to the North.


But as in every other human problem those directly concerned must recognise there is a problem and take the first steps in finding a solution for it. Which is the very area the Northern ruling elite has been remiss in the many decades it has been in the leadership saddle.

Thus, the realisation by the current class of the ruling elite that something urgent needs to be done is a welcome development, however late it has taken in coming.

What we now have to examine is the strategy it wants to adopt in addressing the matter. But before that a word or two on previous attempts to address the lingering problem of educational backwardness in the North.

It is one of the cruel ironies of Nigeria’s political history that the North whose leaders have ruled Nigeria for the best part of the country’s independence should bear the unenviable distinction of being the poorest region in the country. That point was again affirmed by Chukwuma Soludo the Central Bank Governor only recently.

Nigerians from other regions particularly the Niger-Delta may find such a claim difficult to accept and for very good reasons too.

Governance in Nigeria is more or less a family, group or ethnic business. Nigerian leaders govern first in their own interest, then in the interest of their families and their ethnic groups.


http://nigeriaworld.com/cgi-bin/axs/ax.pl?http://odili.net/news/source/2009/feb/17/312.html

an igbo man and a calabar lady.

Lagos Speaker Faults Discrimination against Disabled

ABUJA - The Speaker Lagos State House of Assembly Rt Hon. Adeyemi Ikuforiji, has appealed to people living in Lagos to stop any act of discrimination against the disabled persons.


He made the submission during a public hearing on a bill for a law to eliminate all forms of discrimination against persons with disabilities, equalize their opportunities and establishment of the office for disabilities affairs.


He said disability must not make a citizen less privileged than others. Hon. Ikuforiji assured stakeholders that their contributions would form bedrock of the bill. He lamented that the society does not cater for the disabled people.


Also speaking, the Chairman House Committee On Youths, Sports and Social Development - Hon Lawrence Ayeni, emphasised the Assembly’s determination to eliminate discrimination against the disabled persons.


Hon. Ayeni said the bill when signed into law would give backing to the Lagos State’s stride to achieve a magacity status, saying that the bill would eliminate all barriers against social development and justice to the citizens without bias.


He said the bill is timely as it guarantees the rights and privilege of physically challenged in Lagos State.


Presenting the bill, the Deputy Majority Leader Hon. Dr. Ajibayo Adeyeye, said any person in contravention of the provision is liable to a minimum of N50, 000 damages to the affected person with disability or six months imprisonment or both.


If it is a corporate body, a fine of N250, 000 payable to the affected disabled person. Dr. Adeyeye added that part 11of the bill stated; “A person with disability shall have the right and necessary facilities to enter the physical environment and building of a public place on an equal basis with others”. The bill also stated that a private house owner shall allow a person with disability lawful occupation as a tenant. On right to drive, a person with disability shall have right to drive any vehicle provided his ability is not proved to reasonably impede his ability to drive.

http://nigerianobservernews.com/17022009/news/national/news7.html

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Reuniting “Child Witches” With Their Parents
By Buki Ponle (NAN)



UTIT-Ofon aged seven years, and her 10-month-old sister, Utibe, were pronounced to be “witches’’ by a local church in February 2008.


That was at Uquo, a village in the Esit Eket Local Government Area in Akwa Ibom, described by the natives as a notorious haven for child witches who “fly even in the daytime’’.


Rattled by the pronouncement of the church, the mother, Mayen Sunday-John, decided to end it all with her two daughters.


Mayen’s decision is based on the fact that once a child is “confirmed’’ to be a witch or wizard, he or she is stigmatised and until a church conducts a purification exercise, the child stands condemned in the family, as well as in the community.


Mayen, in her 30s, had just lost her husband, and to heighten her sorrow, her husband’s building was razed by a mysterious fire thereafter. Her mini-mart also went down in calamity.


The string of disasters must certainly be the evil machinations of her own daughters, the church declared.


These signs portrayed her children as witches because when a calamity befalls a family, especially in this way and in this part of the country, then there must be witches among the children.


All Mayen wanted was a confirmation of her mindset, and in no other place than the church whose pastors claimed to have “cleansed’’ child “witches’’ and “wizards’’ of their evil powers for pecuniary reward.


But she could not afford the N15,000 charged by the church to set her children “free’’ and, out of anger and frustration, she sent the daughters to a centre established by an NGO, the Child Rights And Rehabilitation Network (CRARN).


Mayen swore “never to see the children again’’.


However, two weeks after, the mother in her yielded, at least momentarily. So she went for the younger daughter and turned her back on Utit-Ofon, the older girl.


It was not until August 2008 that the centre, situated at Ikot Afaha in Eket, and rumoured among the locals to possess “healing powers’’, reconciled Utit-Ofon with her mother.


“We don’t have spiritual power to exorcise these children who are not witches in the first place. What we do is counselling and taking good care of the children who become unaffected after a while,’’ remarks the President of the network, Sam Ikpe-Itauma.


Yet in a run-down fishing settlement at Ibaka, near Oron, in the same state, lives Julie Isaac Usung-Urua, who abandoned her eight-year-old daughter, Comfort Edet Okon, at the centre for six years because the girl was declared a witch and a social pollutant.


As in other tales of child witchcraft, Julie, 48, lived a life of comfort with her Nigerian husband in Cameroon before separation. She had six children, but only three survived, including Comfort, the last child.


She relocated with her children to Nigeria in 2003 and remarried, but lived with her relations, who later started to accuse her of bringing misfortune to the family members.


“As fishermen, my relations started complaining of shrinking catches the day Comfort was brought home,’’ recounts Julie.


So, the “root cause’’ of the misfortune, of course, was Comfort, who was later beaten to a pulp and made to “confess’’ after a church had declared her a witch.


Comfort became the first child to be rescued and admitted to the rehabilitation centre in 2003, but was reconciled with her mother on Jan. 28, 2009.


Observers wonder why any sane mother, after carrying two pregnancies successfully in a country where maternal and child mortality is one of the highest in the world, tag her children witches and throw them away?


What would make a mother reject her child after she had lost three already?


“I was misled by a church and the community, and I fell into it because I was down and out, and there was nowhere to turn to. I regret my action and I hope my children have forgiven me,’’ says Mayen “ I went back to take the younger one because I started having sleepless nights, and because of the church’s hold on me with its pronouncements on my children I became hardened against my first child.


“The other reason for the abandonment is the community which stigmatised my children, but God could not have been happy with me if I had allowed them to die,’’ recalls the mother amid sobs.
As she lays on her back in the thatched apartment, cuddling her children at Uquo village, Mayen recounts with nostalgia the good old days when her husband was alive.


Now she is a squatter in this building, the dwelling place of her aunt and her husband.


“I need a home and money to start a small business so I can send the children to school. You only think of witches and wizards when you lack money, and that is why the church has capitalised on people’s misfortune,’’ she speaks though an interpreter.


Mayen says since the return of her children, no catastrophe has befallen the family, attesting to the fact that all is well with them spiritually, physically and mentally.


“I now look at some of these churches as a place of deceit, though I still go to the church, not that particular church’’, she says, pointing in its direction. “So government should investigate their activities,’’ she adds.


Her daughter, Utit-Ofon, looking healthy and oblivious of her past, expresses joy at being reconciled with her mother.


“I am longing to go back to school because I was in primary II at the centre,’’ she says.
If Utit-Ofon is happy, perhaps Comfort could be described an embodiment of ecstasy. After being denied parental care for six years out of her 14 years of living, she was back home at last on Jan. 28, 2009 from the centre.


Popularly referred to as the “Mother of the Camp’’, being the first girl to be rescued and brought to the centre, Comfort says:


“Although I miss my colleagues, there is nothing as sweet as home.’’


She was already in Primary 5 in the school run by the centre, and to ensure continuity in her education, the centre has awarded her a scholarship up to the university level.


“I am not a witch, and no matter what has happened to me, I will ensure that I use my past to straighten my future and be an ambassador for child survival and protection,’’ Comfort says. Her mother is equally happy over the reunion, saying that “her (Comfort’s) absence haunted me.


“At a stage, I became convinced that she was not a witch, so I started visiting her at the centre up to 2006, and when I felt she was comfortable enough, I stopped not because I did not want her, but because I had no means to support her if I had removed her from the centre,’’ she says through an interpreter.


Now a grandmother, Julie is appealing to other parents to have a change of heart and reunite with their children still living in the centre in a process that requires government intervention.


The centre has reunited at least 100 of such children with their parents, according to Ikpe-Itauma, the CRARN President.


“It is sad that some churches, instead of being intermediaries, have compounded the child-witch phenomenon by diagnosing without curing.


“Government and Christian associations should step into this,’’ Mayen counsels.


Just as Mayen demands, Julie also wants government to empower indigent parents to check the rampant abandonment of children.


“It is only among poor people that cases of child witch and wizard exist,’’ she says.


Observers note that at last, the state government has waded into the issue, with the arrest and the prosecution of some pastors, the construction of rehabilitation centres and the strengthening of the law to protect children from all forms of abuse and neglect.


A child rights advocate, Mr. Adewole Adeoye, wants the government to identify the children at the rehabilitation centre and return them to their parents as well as fund their education without further delay.


Their parents should be offered jobs and loans to start their lives afresh, while the government should step up its enlightenment campaign against the child witch trend, he suggests. (NAN Features) ** If used, please credit the writer and the Agency.

Meltdown forces Nigerians to leave US 17/2/2009


Some Nigerians in the United States are coming back home following the impact the global financial crisis is having on the American economy.

A Nigerian living in New York, Paul Onuka, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in New York that his family of four was relocating from U.S. to Nigeria.

He said they were doing so after he and his wife lost their jobs.

"Initially, we have no desire to go home, as we are enjoying our jobs here, but now we are going back to Nigeria because of the present situation," Onuka said.

Another Nigerian immigrant, who simply identified himself as Kanu, said: "The feeling in the city is that if foreigners have lost their jobs, then they should leave the U.S. to save themselves from unnecessary hardship.’’

He also said the economic situation in New York was "very serious and affecting those of us not working."

He said many Nigerians and other Africans had recently lost their jobs and were finding it difficult to make ends meet.

"Here, it is bills upon bills which you have to pay or the services and utilities will be switched off,’’ Kanu, who formerly worked at Circuit City, a household retail store in New York, added.

The company had recently closed down its stores, attributing it to the current economic crisis.

Some Nigerians, who lost their jobs or businesses have resorted to either driving taxis or engaging in other menial work to cope with the situation.

Similarly, some Nigerians in the Diaspora were recently sighted at the Nigerian Consulate in New York processing their old or expired passports for the new e-passport to enable them to travel to Nigeria.

An official of the Nigerian Consulate in New York, who preferred anonymity, told NAN that the consular section has recently witnessed an upsurge in the number of Nigerians in the U.S. processing travel documents to return home.

First Lady, Akunyili reject UNICEF’s report on Nigeria 17/2/2009


From Kamarudeen Ogundele, Abuja

First Lady Hajia Turai Yar’Adua and the Minister of Information and Communications, Prof. Dora Akunyili, yesterday rejected the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) State of the World’s Children Report on Nigeria.


This year’s report ranks Nigeria second behind Democratic Republic of Congo as the countries with the highest number of maternal deaths.

The duo said at the launch of the report in Abuja that its findings were unacceptable because over the years, the Federal Government had improved funding of the health sector, showing more commitment to the people’s welfare.

They urged UNICEF to come up with acceptable findings that will portray the commitment of the government and the impact it has made on the health indices.

The report estimates that the national Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) in Nigeria is 800 per 100,000 live births resulting in 47,000 maternal deaths.

It also indicated that of 5.9 million babies born yearly in Nigeria, over one million die before the age of five, adding that 284,000 newborns die yearly.

Hajia Yar’Adua said that it was in recognition of the high maternal and newborn deaths that the government adopted the integrated maternal, newborn and child health strategy to reduce morbidity and maternal mortality.

"Our government has also shown greater commitment to meeting MDG targets through implementation of interventions such as exclusive breastfeeding, adequate complementary feeding and oral dehydration among other efforts," she said.

Mrs. Akunyili said the report portrayed Nigeria as having gone to sleep in the last 16 years.

"I won’t accept the result. I know Nigeria worked hard over the years to reduce high maternal mortality rate and other related deaths in the past. UNICEF should go for more research findings," Mrs Akunyili said.

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AFTER a short stay in the United States, a Nigerian youth has emerged as one of the country's most wanted men, sharing the same poster with America's enemy number one, Osama bin Laden, on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's website.

President George W. Bush, who is battling with his country's economic crisis that has sent shock waves around the world, has ordered security agents to track down the 29-year old Nigerian, Tobechi Enyinna Onwuhara “at all cost”.

Bush gave the order following a discovery that Onwuhara, within three years, had stolen over $44 million, (about N5.28billion), from American citizens and financial institutions, including a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeal, who was recently appointed by the president.

The judge was once a Chief of Staff to the late American Senator, Strom Thurmond, who defected from the Democratic party to the Republican and made history then as the longest-serving and oldest senator in US history. By the time he was 100 years, he had served 48 years as a lawmaker.
To underscore the importance of the fugitive and the threat he is posing to the American economy, the FBI placed his picture under that of bin Laden, on the agency's identification orders posted on the internet.

According to the FBI, Onwuhara and some of his Nigerian partners have used online internet databases to steal victims' identities to the tune of $44 million.

FBI sources said that Onwuhara soiled into his victims' personal information through a database, in a bid to access their Home Equity Line of Credit accounts. Once inside, he would wire the money to accounts mainly located overseas, but some inside the US.

The suspect has been accused of causing tens of millions of dollars in losses to banks and home-owners.

Onwuhara was described by the agents as ‘a very smart and crafty fraudster’, who had painstakingly perfected the scam, after lots of research, followed by several tests.

Also described as 'The Consummate Con-man' with a seemingly-bottomless bag of tricks, Onwuhara was found to have been spending his money on wine, women and songs.

Among his traits and habits noted by the FBI are: gambling at the casino, flashing money, driving luxury cars and hanging out at strip clubs.
Investigators believe that Onwuhara first entered the US in 1999 or 2000 on a student visa.

A statement signed by FBI Director, Robert S. Mueller, reads in part: “Tobechi Enyinna Onwuhara, a convicted felon is wanted for his alleged involvement in an elaborate scheme that defrauded the financial industry out of tens of millions of dollars.

“Onwuhara is a key member of a group of Nigerians, which allegedly has been conducting fraudulent banking activities from Florida and Texas, since 2005. It is alleged that the group has been using on-line Internet databases to steal victims' identities. Once acquired, they allegedly use the victims' information to gain access to the victims' Home Equity Line of Credit accounts and wire transfer the money to accounts mainly located overseas, some in the United States.
“Some of Onwuhara's alleged coconspirators have been arrested, inside and outside of the UnitedStates. However, Onwuhara remains at large. Onwuhara was charged federally with conspiracyto commit bank fraud, and a federal warrant was issued for his arrest by the United States District Court, Eastern District of Virginia, on August 1, 2008.”The statement carries a caution, boldly printed in red ink: 'Should be considered an escape risk.'

The FBI pleaded that those who have information concerning the case should contact the local FBI office or the nearest American Embassy or Consulate.

Investigators said Onwuhara had once moved from Seattle in Washington, where he lived for a short time, then Houston in Texas. Later, he was found to have set up homes in Miami and Dallas.
The Miami home costs $600,000, and the Dallas base was described as a playground, where he lived the life of a multi-millionaire playboy and businessman, renting a condo for $4,000 a month.

Although agents describe Onwuhara as a quiet guy, they say he craved the spotlight and let his money do his talking for him.

Dennis Michael Wagner, who works with the ‘American Most Wanted’, reveals that Onwuhara loves "making it rain". He usually throws fistfuls of cash up in the air, at one of his favourite spots, a local strip club. They say he could easily drop $50,000.

According to Wagner, Onwuhara's desires didn't stop with cash and women. Investigators say he loves luxury cars. He has a Maserati, a Bentley, a Rolls-Royce Phantom and he had been working as a car salesman to indulge his passion.

Once in his possession, agents say Onwuhara would ship the cars to Nigeria to be sold.

According to them, he was so confident in his skills and scams that he never believed they could be traced directly back to him.

The only paper trail Onwuhara left behind led directly back to close associates. Discreet investigations later unravelled his alleged scams in precise detail.
With the money he generated from his illegal activities, they say Onwuhara started his own hip-hop label, called S.W.A.T. Up Entertainment. He even signed two artists to the label.

It was gathered that Onwuhara owned a recording studio at one point.

Investigators have now spread their dragnet across Dallas, Miami, Atlanta, New Jersey and Canada, looking for the suspect with the security label: W054871136. They gave his height as 5' 10”; his weight is put at 185 pounds and he uses aliases including “T”, “Tobe”, “Xavier” and “Enyinna”.

Onwuhara's poster says he has access to fake driver's licences and passports and millions of dollars in overseas accounts.

Onwuhara's kinsmen in Nigeria spell the name as Onwughara, meaning “Death left this”; and the other name Tobechi means “Keep praising God,” while Enyinna means “Darling of the Father.”

http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/fugitives/cyber/onwuhara_te.htm

South East in the grip of kidnappers
Written by Uduma Kalu
Saturday, 14 February 2009

When the federal government, in its wisdom, thought that the best solution to the Niger Delta militancy was to meet force with force, little did it know the distance and mutations the violence could take.
And that is the problem now.


kidnappers or militantsIt seems the seeds of the Niger Delta militancy have grown far beyond the creeks as one of its fallouts, kidnapping for ransom, has been exported to neighbouring states of the South East. It is not just that ordinary people now live in fear in that region, investors are not comfortable doing business in an area infested with kidnapping as well.

Though kidnapping in the South East is alien, the trade as some are wont to call it, is bourgeoning there like bees on their hive. But the root of all this is oil, confirming, in a way, what the Nobel Laureate, Nadine Gordimer, wrote in The New York Time of May 25, 1997 that “In Nigeria, the price of oil is blood”.

When Gordimer made that remark in a conference in the USA against the dictatorial regime of the late Gen. Sani Abacha, kidnapping for ransom had not spread to the South East. Ken Saro-Wiwa and Wole Soyinka were the issues then.

One of the reasons for the spread of the monster, Saturday Vanguard can reveal is poverty, joblessness, campus cultism, and political thuggery.

There are also government policies which have cut the ordinary people off from their means of livelihood so much that the only way to respond to the state is to seek revenge on the affluent, be they government officials, politicians and business persons.

Some of the people complained that the state governments, in their way to clean up the areas have rendered them penniless. Yet, they are those who use the trade as a form of settling family disputes or just to settle political scores.

But the trade is not being usually done by just anybody. Most times, it seems to be executed by university graduates who could not get employment. But then, they are also usually moulded by different cults they belong in the institutions. Some of them are even in the evil trade as undergraduates.

They are mainly youths in their twenties. They may not be happy with what they are doing, as confessions from some of them show, but they seem rather frustrated by society.

The result is that fear pervades the land. Neigbours are suspicious of each other. Citizens are being seized and ransoms demanded before they are releases. The effect of the long neglect of the Niger Delta and the use of force as well as the frustration of the youth is behind the high incident of crime and its new entrant, kidnapping in the South.

The First Kidnap in the Niger Delta

Kidnapping as “weapon of the weak pretending to be strong,” was first heard on Saturday, February 18, 2006. This was when Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) claimed responsibility for the abduction of nine foreign workers during its attack on an oil facility. Along with three Americans and a Briton, the group said it kidnapped two Thais, two Egyptians and a Filipino. In an e_mail.

Kidnapping as Business in Igboland

But kidnapping also became a big business idea. And so, it did not take long for those impoverished, the poor and jobless graduates to enter into the trade. More so, their ilk in the neighbouring states followed suit. And like cancer, kidnapping as big business and alternative employment spread to the neighboring states of Imo, Anambra, Abia, Ebonyi and Enugu, all in the South East.

In Enugu, a monarch, Igwe Uche Nwachime, in Nkanu West Local Government, was abducted and killed. The proprietor of Grand Riveri Hotel, Enugu, was kidnapped but was released after the ransom N5m was said to have been paid. The younger brother of the former NAFDAC DG, Prof. Dora Akunyili, was captured. His captors reportedly asked for N30m.

In Abia, as the snatching of the Enyimba Club chairman, Anyasi Agwu; heralded the uncomfortable phenomena and erstwhile ASUBEB chairman, Comrade Iruke, a lawyer, Ngozi Ukweni, Justice Awa U. Kalu who was shot in a failed kidnapping bid, a magistrate, a an electrical dealer, and a host of Abia State top functionaries also became victims.

In Anambra, a couple were kidnapped immediately after their wedding.they were later released after three days in captivity Last December 17, a bank manager in Oba was kidnapped. A month earlier, an assembly man representing Anaocha I Constituency, Chief Joseph Dimobi, was kidnapped.

Dimobi was picked in his country home in Aguluzigbo about 10.30 p.m. by kidnappers who demanded a N30 million ransom.Dimobi was concluding arrangements to perform the funeral rites of his late father when he was kidnapped.

Other lawmakers in the state ran away, switching off their phones because “one never can tell who would be the next target,” the speaker said.

Before then, the state Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) was kidnapped. He was later released after allegedly paying a ransom of N3 million.

The spate of kidnapping has forced state governments in the region into thinking of making kidnapping a capital offence. Governor Sullivan Chime’s government has declared that it would make kidnapping a capital punishment in Enugu State, the same thing Imo and Anamabra states one thinking along that line too. Abia has already signed that into law.

The Abia State government, through its commissioner for Information, Chief Ralph Egbu, told Saturday Vanguard that it has been fighting the scourge.

The deputy governor, Comrade Chris Akomas said the government constituted a Joint Task Force made of the military and Police, with appropriate logistical back up of 47 brand new vehicles. It beefed up security around the notorious Enugu_Port Harcourt expressway with crack anti_insurgent troops as well as providing dedicated hotlines, all the time for the people to call.

The government said it provides confidentiality to informants and to date Governor Theodore Orji is said to continue to pay a reward of N1m whose information has resulted in successfully dislodging and arresting the criminals.

Kidnapping, as a capital punishment in the state, comes with it a forfeiture of the accused’s property to the state upon conviction. The state said it increased a number of Mobile Police Anti_crime formations to three in the state, provided 65 Operational vehicles and logistics to its security agencies, drafted in detachments of Army and Navy.

It has also created a bye-law for effective Vigilance Groups to collaborate with the Security Agencies. It combs villages, houses and plantations in the state, threatening also to depose any traditional ruler, in whose domain kidnapping and armed robbery occur.

Kidnapping in the East: Our findings

Indeed, when kidnapping began in the East, especially, Abia in 2007, it was touted that the opposition could be behind the menace. But Saturday Vanguard investigations showed that this may not really be so in all cases.

Perhaps, the first inroad into the burgeoning trade in Igbo heartland was made by Saturday Vanguard last weekend when it did not only meet with those who could be kidnappers or have knowledge of those in the trade, it also met with victims of kidnap in the region.

In its survey of the nascent kidnapping and its effect in the region, it visited Imo, Abia and Anambra and these are some of its findings.

Imo State: The Youth are angry

The first port of call on the survey of kidnapping in the South East was Imo state. By June last year, kidnappers in Imo had abducted 10 persons.

The targets were the wealthy and they included Mrs. Ngozi Nneji, wife of the proprietor of ABC Transport Plc; 85-year-old Pa Christopher Chukwu, the father of a prominent politician and oil magnate, Chief


Gov. Ikedi Ohakim of Abia State.Tony Chukwu; the father of the proprietor of Disney Hotel on Onitsha Road, the son of a member of the Imo State House of Assembly, Chief Simeon Iwunji; a member of the Imo State House of Assembly, Mr. Celestine Ngaobiwu; two sons of the Speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly, Chief Goodluck Opiah (who were abducted in Aba, Abia State). There were also pupils of a private school at Works Layout, Owerri.

But the case of Chief Sylvanus Udenkwo, father of an Owerri based millionaires , Joel, is an eye opener on the mode of kidnapping in that part of the country. Udenkwo, the only victim in the state bold enough to narrate his experience in the hands of a five_man gang who held him for 12 days. He was freed by the state police on June 13 without any ransom paid.

Udenkwo was kidnapped as he tried to help some young men who visited him at Isiala Umudi, seeking land to buy for an MTN mast.

The man did not have such land but decided to take them to his relation who might have. He drove the two to the land for the construction of the purported mast.

They tricked his kinsman away and made away with the old man. He was gagged, blindfolded and taken to a bungalow, where he spent 12 days. His abductors extracted the mobile telephone number of his rich son from him for negotiation. But it gave the police the opportunity to organise his release.

His captors, Udenkwo said, could pass for his grand children. The men had told him kidnapping had now become their business.

The kidnappers were not rude to him, he said. Neither did they humiliate him, though they threatened him with their guns to scare him.

His son, Joel, said the kidnappers had earlier asked for N70m ransom for his father. He had contacted the Imo State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Innocent Ilozuoke, who monitored the discussions as the sum moved down to N40m, N20m, N10m, and N5m until the police moved to quash the crime. It cost him only N6,000 MTN cards in N1,500 denomination to free his father from his abductors.

“I told them I don’t have money. If I have N70m at hand, I’ll use it to build another industrial concern and employ people,” he said. “I also let them know that most of the businesses I do is with bank money and I also trade with foreigners, who give me credit. At the end of the day, I fought them with the help of the police commissioner.

“In fact, the commissioner worked like a wounded lion; he didn’t sleep from 7.30pm when the operation started that day till 4am.

The commissioner, the assistant commissioner of police in charge of operations, Mr. Goddy Okereke, and all the men were in the bush.
“In fact, two of them (the kidnappers) were shot and they escaped, leaving behind their motorcycle, which the police took away.

The next day, they now noticed that the business happened not to be as usual and noticed that the aim of the kidnapping was over.

They called me and started pleading that they were sorry.

The 'witch-children' Of Akwa Ibom
Written by Reuben Abati
Friday, 28 November 2008
The 'Witch-Children' of Akwa Ibom

By Reuben Abati

NOT enough outrage has greeted the broadcast of the documentary, "Saving Africa's Witch Children" by the UK Channel 4 on November 12, the material is available on the internet, the horror and the scandal contained therein are being circulated world-wide. Weeks later, there has been no report of any meaningful response to the horrific details of that documentary by the Akwa Ibom State Government, the Federal Government and the security agencies, other than that the Child Rights Bill has now been passed into law in Akwa Ibom State.

Very few electronic materials in the last decade, have done as much damage to Nigeria's image as this documentary. It is a factual portrayal of the failure of the Nigerian state, the entrapment of the people in a shell of superstition and hysteria, the absolutely low value of human life in Nigeria, the abuse of Nigeria's children and the opportunism of religious charlatans who lie, kill and cheat in God's name. Covering the plight of children who are dubbed "witches" in Akwa Ibom, the documentary tells a familiar Nigerian story.

It begins on an appropriately instructive note: "Say Amen, Amen, Say Amen, Amen." A Christian worship is in session. The substance of the documentary is how so-called religious leaders - Pastors, priests and self-styled Bishops engage in exorcism as they spread a scary gospel about the existence of evil and witchcraft in the Akwa Ibom community. This has led to mass delusion and hysteria in parts of the state with children, mostly being accused of witchcraft.

The children are exposed to all forms of dehumanization. One had a nail driven into her skull. Another was given poison to drink. Many were set on fire. Innocent-looking young children including babies under the age of seven are stigmatized and driven away by their parents and relations. Other parents take their children to churches where a Pastor declares the child a witch or wizard, who is in need of deliverance.

But it is soon clear enough that the Pastors are lying and cheating. They summon Jesus Christ, they shout God's name but their claims are not proven. One Bishop Sunday Ulup-Aya says "we have 2.3 million witches and wizards in Akwa Ibom." The population of Akwa Ibom, according to the 2006 national population census is 3.9 million. How did Ulup-Aaya arrive at his figure of 2.3 million witches? Does he run a population bureau? Another Pastor says "witchcraft is all over". To cast out the evil spell of witchcraft Bishop Ulup-Aya charges N40, 000 per client and if a parent is unable to pay, he holds the child captive until the bill is settled. The children are not allowed to defend themselves; they are tortured and forced to admit guilt. This is what you get when a country is failing.

This documentary exposes a disturbing social reality in Nigeria: the reign of ignorance and obsession with superstition. Poverty has done terrible damage to our society and the souls of men. Surrounded by so much uncertainty and unable to fulfil basic ambitions, Nigerians are increasingly seeking solace in the new churches which promise "miracles and wonders." In these churches, extremism is the norm; any form of disappointment or career setback is identified as the handiwork of witches and wizards. And the priest, claiming to have supernatural powers, immediately points to a child, a relation or a colleague at work as the Devil. So many relationships have been destroyed as a result.

The churches organise what they call special Deliverance sessions, sometimes overnight, or early in the morning and every activity is targeted at "that witch in your life that is blocking your progress". Go to any of those churches and witness how feet-stumping, hysterical men and women scream: "Holy Ghost Fire, Burn Them"; "Father Kill My Enemy" "My enemy die, die. I say die, die, die, die by fire now" Thus, many churches have been taken over by closet assassins and murderers looking for witches, wizards and enemies to kill. Too many atrocities have been committed in Nigeria in God's name.

Africans generally are superstitious. Witches and wizards are part of the African world-view and the fear of Satan is such a living companion of the Christian doctrine, But this should not provide an excuse for criminality. The dehumanisation of the children in the Channel 4 UK documentary should have prompted government and its agencies into action. It is noteworthy that although "there are 2.3 million witches in Akwa Ibom", it is only children that are being targeted by the self-appointed exterminators of witches. It is further instructive that the children who are being stigmatised, are children from poor homes. Poor children are the greatest victims of the failure of the Nigerian state. Many underprivileged parents would throw away their children for any reason whatsoever.

The documentary confirms the extent of the anomie in the land. What kind of brainless parent will accept that his child is a witch just because a Pastor has said so? Why are the witch-hunters targeting children who are defenceless and vulnerable? Are there no adults among Bishop Sunday's 2.3 million witches? In other parts of Nigeria, children are abused in other ways. They are kidnapped and used for money-making rituals. Girls are raped. Both boys and girls are taken out of school and sent onto the streets as hawkers.

The weakest link in dealing with this, is government's non-challant attitude. Between 1999-2007, civil society groups campaigned vigorously for the passing of the Child Rights Act across the states and at the National level. The Act was opposed in many of the State Houses of Assembly on the grounds that it contains provisions that are insensitive to the people's culture. And what culture was being referred to? - The freedom to sustain such practices as child--marriage, female circumcision and child labour. It is sad that at a time when other nations of the world are sending their children to schools, offering them welfare support and equipping them for the future, Nigeria is labelling its own children witches and wizards, and dehumanising them.

In 1692 there was a witchcraft inquisition in the United States, in Salem, Massachussetts. In Nigeria, in the middle part of the 19th Century twins were being branded evil in Calabar, until Mary Slessor, a Christian missionary, helped to put a stop to their killing. During the Middle Ages in Europe, millions of women were labelled witches and executed. Today, the United States is no longer stoning witches. In Salem, there is a Witchcraft Heights Elementary School and the Salem High School Football team is called The Witches. Nigeria is still in the Middle Ages. The growing number of Nigerian children in difficult circumstances says a lot about the country's future. How will Nigeria compete in the future with so many ignorant and poor parents, 10 million kids out of school, and about the worst infant mortality and maternal morbidity rates in the world?

The documentary reports the humanitarian efforts of two Non-Governmental Organisations - Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network (CRARN) led by Sam Ikpe-Itauma and his wife and Stepping Stones, Nigeria represented by Gary Foxcroft - a 29-year old British charity worker. Since 2003, both NGOs have been providing accommodation and support for abandoned "witch" children. Itauma and Foxcroft run a home and a school where witch-children are given an opportunity to be human. "Once a child has been stigmatised as a witch, it is very difficult for someone to accept that child back. If they go out from this community, there is a lot of attacks, assault and abuses on the children", says Itauma.

The Akwa Ibom State Government should have intervened to stop the madness. The children should be interviewed and offered support. Their parents and the Pastors who demonised them should be tracked down and made to face the wrath of the law. Their impunity should not be allowed to go unpunished. Many of the children were assaulted and disfigured. There are grounds for charging their tormentors with attempted manslaughter, assault, abduction and other offences. The implementation of the Akwa Ibom Child Rights Edict should begin.

Even if those three-year old babies in the documentary are witches, no one has the right to inflict punishment on them. Nigerian law criminalises witchcraft and sorcery, but only a court of law is empowered to determine this, not a Bishop Sunday administering what he calls "poisonous destroyer". On camera, this same Sunday reports that he has killed up to 110 witches. What are the police still waiting for? Who gave him the authority to declare a man a witch and then kill him? He also says he collects N40,000 to free a child from the hold of witchcraft. He is obviously a businessman. Helen Ukpabio, Prophetess and Founder of the Liberty Foundation and Gospel Ministries has spoken in defence of the anti-witchcraft campaign by Pentecostal pastors. Does she know something that she should also be telling the police?

The witches of Akwa Ibom are not those innocent children, but those who have mismanaged Nigeria's resources, and made it difficult for parents and their children to have a good life. The long-term solution is in the province of purposeful leadership and developing Nigeria and its people. The Akwa Ibom State Government must resist the temptation to dismiss the Channel 4 UK Documentary as Western propaganda or a spoiler's effort, organized by NGOs seeking foreign funding. For their passion and courage, Sam Ituama and Gary Foxcroft's names should be on this year's National Honours list.

By protecting over 150 rejected "witch-children", they took a risk. And if those children were witches anyway, the two Good Samaritans and their team could have been "eaten". After all, Bishop Sunday Ulup-Aya says "winches eat human beings." Winches? He also quotes Jesus Christ. But the Lord Jesus Christ says in Matthew 19: 14: "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them, for of such is the Kingdom of heaven".

WWe‘ve no gay nor lesbian group in Nigeria, says Cheif Ojo Madueke
Written by Chioma Gabriel
Saturday, February 14, 2009
NIGERIA appeared at the United Nations in Geneva before the UN Human Rights Council to defend its human rights record.during the week.










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Under its Universal periodic review mechanism proceedure in a session lasting three hours Cheif Ojo Madueke presented an overview of Nigeriaa human rights situation adressing issues raised by members of the Council on the Rights of Women, Death penalty and Nigerias Criminal Justice system, The Niger Delta, extra judicial killing and the state of prisons in Nigeria.

His presentation caused a stir when he informed members of the council that the government of Nigeria had been unable to locate persons of gay and sexual orientation,despite concerted efforts by his ministry to include this category of persons in the consultations on the human rights situation in Nigeria.

He further informed the audience that his ministry located only one woman of lesbian orientation and when invited to participate in a discussion on the rights of gay

and lesbian persons, the lady informed his Ministry that she was pregnant.

Also speaking at the review process Cheif Micheal Aondoaka, Attorney -general of the Federation and Minister of Justice informed the audience that The government of |Nigeria does not condone torture as an official policy. He said the acrtivities of the government of Nigeria is based in the rule of law and President Umaru Yar Adua was committed to the observance of the rule of law in all it activities.

Senator Eme Ekaete, Chairperson senate commitee on women in her contribution said that the government of Nigeria had made tremendous progress with respect to the rights of women and the ability of women to participate in public life. She cited the improvement in the number of women in the national assembly as well as in the executive.

Speaking on the Niger Delta she told members of the council to distinguish between criminality and the genuine aspirations of the people of the Niger Delta for better living. In his contribution Senator Umaru Dahiru, Chairman Senate Commitee on Human Rights, assured members of the council that the National Assembly was commited to ensuring the independence of the National Human Rights Council.

He said that the enabling law of the Council is before the senate and will be passed into law as soon as possible.

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a new and unique mechanism of the United Nations which consists of the review of the human rights practices all States in the world, once every four years.The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations System.

Olawale Fapohunda leader of the Human Rights NGO delegation to the Council stated that the UPR process is a positive development for the promotion and protection of the rights of Nigerians. He said this is an additional protective mechanism to guarantee the rights of Nigerians.

A report on the state of human rights in Nigeria is expected to the adopted by the Human Rights council on Wednesday.

The UNHRC is the successor to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (CHR), and is a subsidiary body of the United Nations General Assembly. Based in Geneva, the UNHRC’s main purpose is to make recommendations to the General Assembly about situations in which human rights are violated.[1] The UNHRC has no authority except to make recommendations to the General Assembly.

The General Assembly has no authority except to advise the Security Council.

e‘ve no gay nor lesbian group in Nigeria, says Cheif Ojo Madueke
Written by Chioma Gabriel
Saturday, February 14, 2009
NIGERIA appeared at the United Nations in Geneva before the UN Human Rights Council to defend its human rights record.during the week.


Under its Universal periodic review mechanism proceedure in a session lasting three hours Cheif Ojo Madueke presented an overview of Nigeriaa human rights situation adressing issues raised by members of the Council on the Rights of Women, Death penalty and Nigerias Criminal Justice system, The Niger Delta, extra judicial killing and the state of prisons in Nigeria.

His presentation caused a stir when he informed members of the council that the government of Nigeria had been unable to locate persons of gay and sexual orientation,despite concerted efforts by his ministry to include this category of persons in the consultations on the human rights situation in Nigeria.

He further informed the audience that his ministry located only one woman of lesbian orientation and when invited to participate in a discussion on the rights of gay

and lesbian persons, the lady informed his Ministry that she was pregnant.

Also speaking at the review process Cheif Micheal Aondoaka, Attorney -general of the Federation and Minister of Justice informed the audience that The government of |Nigeria does not condone torture as an official policy. He said the acrtivities of the government of Nigeria is based in the rule of law and President Umaru Yar Adua was committed to the observance of the rule of law in all it activities.

Senator Eme Ekaete, Chairperson senate commitee on women in her contribution said that the government of Nigeria had made tremendous progress with respect to the rights of women and the ability of women to participate in public life. She cited the improvement in the number of women in the national assembly as well as in the executive.

Speaking on the Niger Delta she told members of the council to distinguish between criminality and the genuine aspirations of the people of the Niger Delta for better living. In his contribution Senator Umaru Dahiru, Chairman Senate Commitee on Human Rights, assured members of the council that the National Assembly was commited to ensuring the independence of the National Human Rights Council.

He said that the enabling law of the Council is before the senate and will be passed into law as soon as possible.

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a new and unique mechanism of the United Nations which consists of the review of the human rights practices all States in the world, once every four years.The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations System.

Olawale Fapohunda leader of the Human Rights NGO delegation to the Council stated that the UPR process is a positive development for the promotion and protection of the rights of Nigerians. He said this is an additional protective mechanism to guarantee the rights of Nigerians.

A report on the state of human rights in Nigeria is expected to the adopted by the Human Rights council on Wednesday.

The UNHRC is the successor to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (CHR), and is a subsidiary body of the United Nations General Assembly. Based in Geneva, the UNHRC’s main purpose is to make recommendations to the General Assembly about situations in which human rights are violated.[1] The UNHRC has no authority except to make recommendations to the General Assembly.

The General Assembly has no authority except to advise the Security Council.