NIGERIA 1/8/2010
DELTA DEL NIGER, MAREE NERE E UN PO’ DI SPERANZA
NIGERIA 13/8/2010
GOODLUCK VERSO CANDIDATURA PRESIDENZIALI, VIA LIBERA DAL SUO PARTITO
NIGERIA 25/8/2010
TENSIONE NEL DELTA
NIGERIA 27/8/2010
“NUOVA MANIOCA”, UNA SPERANZA CONTRO LE CRISI ALIMENTARI
Nigeria sacks director-general of stock exchange
BBC, 5/8/2010
Confusion over Lagerback's future
BBC SPORT, 6/8/2010
Spendthrift nation
BBC, 10/8/2010
Nigerian former bank chief faces court
BBC, 13/8/2010
Nigeria President Goodluck Jonathan gets poll boost
BBC, 13/8/2010
Niger Delta oil pipeline sabotage 'increasing'
BBC, 15/8/2010
Nigeria's police told to share bribes with superiors
BBC, 17/8/2010
Nigeria warns of nation-wide cholera threat
BBC, 26/8/2010
Nigeria to privatise power firm PHCN
BBC, 27/8/2010
'Dozens of children die' in Nigerian lead poisoning
BBC, 27/8/2010
Nigeria mystery over 'Balewa impersonator'
BBC, 30/8/2010
NIGERIA 1/8/2010
DELTA DEL NIGER, MAREE NERE E UN PO’ DI SPERANZA
Sono stati almeno 3000 in poco più di quattro anni gli incidenti che hanno provocato fuoriuscite di greggio in Nigeria: lo ha detto il ministro dell’Ambiente John Odey, durante una riunione nella quale ha chiesto ai dirigenti delle società del settore di “rivedere” le modalità di estrazione e trasporto del petrolio. Le ultime stime sono peggiori rispetto a quelle circolate appena il mese scorso, secondo le quali nello stesso arco di tempo gli incidenti causati dalle attività di società straniere spesso in consorzio con il monopolista locale “National Nigerian Petroleum Corporation” (Nnpc) erano stati "solo" 2045. Durante l’incontro con i manager del settore, Odey ha fatto riferimento al disastro ambientale causato in Aprile dall’esplosione di una piattaforma della società inglese “British Petroleum” nel Golfo del Messico. Il ministro ha in particolare ipotizzato la creazione di “un fondo di compensazione” per le vittime dell’inquinamento da greggio, in Nigeria milioni di persone, concentrate soprattutto nella regione meridionale del Delta del Niger. Secondo alcune fonti della MISNA, le cause a catena e le richieste miliardarie avanzate dal governo e dalle associazioni statunitensi nei confronti della “British Petroleum” stanno alimentando un po’ di speranza. “Agli inglesi un fondo di 20 miliardi di dollari rischia di non bastare – dice padre Gabriel Gowok dalla città di Jos, nello stato centrale di Plateau – e ora, forse, qualcosa può cominciare a cambiare anche in Nigeria”. (MISNA)
NIGERIA 13/8/2010
GOODLUCK VERSO CANDIDATURA PRESIDENZIALI, VIA LIBERA DAL SUO PARTITO
Il Comitato esecutivo nazionale (Nec) del Partito popolare democratico (Pdp) ha dato il via libera alla candidatura dell’attuale capo di stato Goodluck Jonathan per le elezioni presidenziali in programma nel Gennaio del 2011. E’ questo il risultato del 52° vertice del Comitato tenutosi ieri ad Abuja che non ha comunque escluso la possibilità di tenere delle primarie nel caso in cui altri esponenti del partito avranno l’intenzione di candidarsi. La decisione del Nec consente di superare la principale questione politica che avrebbe potuto ostacolare la candidatura di Jonathan, nato nella regione meridionale del paese. Solitamente, alla presidenza del paese si alternano esponenti dell’ovest, del nord e del sud, per garantire una rappresentanza delle principali componenti etniche e religiose del ricco mosaico nigeriano. Jonathan, già vice-presidente, è salito alla presidenza a Maggio, alla morte del suo predecessore, Amaru Yar’Adua, che era originario del nord. (MISNA)
NIGERIA 25/8/2010
TENSIONE NEL DELTA
Polizia in stato di allerta a Port Harcourt all’indomani dell’uccisione di Soboma George, ex-capo ribelle che aveva beneficiato del programma di amnistia avviato dal governo nella regione meridionale del Delta del Niger. George sarebbe stato colpito a morte durante una sparatoria tra gruppi rivali. (MISNA)
NIGERIA 27/8/2010
“NUOVA MANIOCA”, UNA SPERANZA CONTRO LE CRISI ALIMENTARI
Un centinaio di agricoltori, provenienti da diverse zone del paese, si sono riuniti per due giorni a Ifon, nello stato meridionale di Osun, in occasione della presentazione della “nuova manioca”, una varietà migliorata del tubero e più resistente alle malattie. A tenere la conferenza è il professor Okechukwu Richardson, docente di agronomia dell’Istituto Internazionale di Agricoltura Tropicale (Iita) di Ibadan (Nigeria sud-ovest) venuto per raccontare le virtù della nuova manioca, migliorata grazie ad innesti ma non geneticamente modificata, che presenta una resa del 30% in più rispetto a quella tradizionale e più resistente agli attacchi di cocciniglia e acari. “Grazie alle sue proprietà – spiega - la nuova manioca può aiutare a contrastare crisi alimentari come quella attualmente in corso in Niger e altri paesi della fascia del Sahel”. Alimento di base per centinaia di milioni di africani, la manioca viene utilizzata per preparare piatti tradizionali come il “fufu” o il “gari”, ma serve anche per nutrire il bestiame. L’arbusto, inoltre, sta diventando sempre più richiesto anche al di là del continente africano per la produzione di etanolo, glucosio, amido o farine. In seguito all’impennata dei prezzi dei beni di prima necessità cominciata nel 2008, e degenerata in numerosi paesi africani nelle “rivolte del pane” l’Iita ha inaugurato lo scorso anno progetti di ricerca volti a sviluppare varietà migliorate di sementi. Oltre alla Nigeria, partecipano al programma coltivatori di Ghana, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambico e Repubblica Democratica del Congo. (MISNA)
Nigeria sacks director-general of stock exchange
Nigeria's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has fired the director-general of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Ndi Okereke-Onyuike, and suspended its chairman.
The move is being seen as an effort to restore investor confidence following growing fears over governance issues.
The action was taken by SEC head Arunma Oteh who took office at the beginning of 2010 promising tougher regulation.
The SEC has named ex-Deloitte executive Emmanuel Ikazoboh as its new chief.
The former chief executive of Deloitte in West and Central Africa will now be responsible for managing sub-Saharan Africa's second-biggest stock exchange for a caretaker period.
'Strong move'
The SEC sacked Ms Okereke-Onyuike and suspended the stock exchange's president, Nigerian businessman Aliko Dangote.
Brokers arriving for work on Thursday were met by armed police who were there to ensure there was no challenge to the SEC directive.
"This strong move by the SEC to get a grip of the situation and try to resolve the leadership crisis can only improve investor confidence, especially if the proposed interim administrator organises elections in a timely manner," said Kayode Akindele, a director at financial advisory firm Greengate Strategic Partners.
Last month financial regulator Arunma Oteh said she would bring 260 organisations and individuals to a special tribunal over alleged abuses in the country's stock markets.
Nigeria's banking crisis last year exposed widespread abuses in the capital markets.
As Nigeria's banks came close to collapse, it became clear that lax regulation and inadequate surveillance of stockbrokers was a major problem.
BBC, 5/8/2010
Confusion over Lagerback's future
A top Nigeria Football Federation official says Lars Lagerback, who led the country to the 2010 World Cup, will not continue as Super Eagles coach.
Dominic Iorfa, who heads the technical department which is in charge of hiring coaches, was speaking on a local radio station in Lagos.
Last week another official told the BBC that reports Swede Lagerback would not return, were 'baseless'.
But Iorfa told Brila FM, there was no indication Lagerback is coming back.
"The coach said he is not coming back, so it is very likely that Siasia will take over the job," Iorfa said on Thursday, referring to ex-Nigerian international Samson Siasia who is now favourite to get the job.
Lagerback's reign has been blighted by criticism in the local media over his salary, team selection, and tactics.
Nigeria failed to go past the group stage at the World Cup finals in South Africa prompting calls for a change in the playing and coaching staff by angry fans.
Siasia, who is in charge of local side Heartland FC, is highly favoured to land the job of turning round the fortunes of the faltering Eagles.
"The best of Nigerian football is what we aim to achieve as demanded by the fans, media and major stakeholders," Iorfa added.
"There is just too little time left between now and the start of the 2012 African Cup of Nations qualifiers.
"We'll soon start discussion with Siasia."
Meanwhile, Emeka Enechi, who is Lagerback's Nigerian agent says the coach is not keen on a return to the job.
Enechi said he had spoken to Lagerback, who explained that it will be extremely difficult for him to work in the present environment at the NFF.
BBC SPORT, 6/8/2010
Spendthrift nation
In our series of viewpoints from African journalists, Sola Odunfa considers money matters.
It appears Nigeria is entering would could be called a period of insolvencies.
That may surprise you, coming so soon after all the talk of multi-billion dollar budgets and junkets "to cheer up the boys" for the now-ended football World Cup in South Africa.
Many Nigerians cannot understand this new vocabulary of insolvency because they still swear by the gospel, preached in the 1970s by the then military head of state General Yakubu Gowon, that Nigeria's problem was not money but how to spend it.
The first government entity to be hit by this financial crisis was the national petroleum corporation, which manages the country's 2m barrels a day crude oil production.
Even at a depressed $50 a barrel in very bad times, the corporation would net a handsome $50m (about £31.7m) every day of the year.
You may then understand the shock when a junior minister said last month that the corporation was flat broke.
My friend, it was no joking matter.
Within hours of his comments, Nigerians were asking, where has all the money gone?
Blue or red ink?
The nation may be ranked among the most corrupt by its detractors - and they are many - but siphoning all that money would be beyond even Satan.
You may need to think twice before condemning impoverished illiterate voters who demand money for their ballot when electioneering campaigns begin later this year”
The Federal Executive Council wasted no time giving the answer everybody wanted to hear: The petroleum corporation was far from being broke - its accounts were entered in indigo blue!
Then, billionaire industrialist Aliko Dangote petitioned the government over alleged mismanagement at the Nigerian Stock Exchange, suggesting that it was heavily in the red and investors' funds were being meddled with.
The exchange promptly issued a statement giving a picture of robust health
But Mr Dangote was not just another member of the exchange - he was president of its council and his word therefore could not be dismissed lightly.
The Securities and Exchange Commission responded by launching an investigation into the affairs of the stock exchange but it also sacked Mr Dangote, his council, and the chief executive of the exchange last week.
Yet the biggest worry is that the government itself could become broke because of the uncontrollable greed of the legislature.
This concern has been raised by none other than former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Mr Obasanjo says the legislators have become a financial burden on the nation's lean purse.
He is worried about something many of us have been bothered about for many years, that is, how much it costs to maintain each member of Nigeria's Senate and House of Representative.
Like most Nigerians, the ex-president can only guess.
He says he believes it is about $1.7m a year per senator. A representative takes slightly less.
There are 109 senators and 360 representatives in the National Assembly.
The bulk of the money they take is described as "constituency allowance", a payment received by each legislator to maintain a constituency office and to launch an economic or infrastructure development programme.
The outrage is that this and other allowances are determined by the legislators themselves and paid in bulk by the government into the coffers of the legislature for disbursement to individuals.
'Vampires'
Law professor Itse Sagay says Nigerian politicians are among the highest-paid in the world.
A columnist in the Lagos newspaper The Punch calculates that, "more than 70% of national income now goes into paying salaries and allowances of political office holders".
The legislators, irrespective of parties, seem to have become vampires on the nation's democracy, and there is little or nothing Nigerians can do about it.
The constitution allows legislators to do what they are doing and only they can amend the document, unless, of course, as the frustrated lawyer, Ben Nwabueze, pointed out last month, some revolutionaries emerge to clean up the system forcefully.
Now, you may need to think twice before condemning impoverished illiterate voters who demand money for their ballot when electioneering campaigns begin later this year.
Their votes may be irrelevant to the results.
BBC, 10/8/2010
Nigerian former bank chief faces court
The former head of Nigeria's Intercontinental Bank has been formally charged with financial crimes relating to the near collapse of the lender.
Erastus Akingbola appeared in court in Lagos to face a 22-count charge, defence lawyer Felix Fagbohungbe told the BBC.
The former banker pleaded not guilty to all counts.
Mr Akingbola was sacked by Nigeria's central bank last year, before a government bail-out of the banks.
A total of $4bn was injected into nine Nigerian banks amid concerns that they posed a systemic risk to the economy, with several top bank chiefs removed from their posts.
It is the first time Mr Akingbola has appeared in court, having returned to Nigeria from the UK earlier this month.
Mr Fagbohungbe said the charges did not allege that Mr Akingbola profited personally from his actions.
The charges alleged that he manipulated Intercontinental Bank's share price and made loans without the approval of board members.
An application for bail has been made, but the case has now been adjourned until 23 August.
BBC, 13/8/2010
Nigeria President Goodluck Jonathan gets poll boost
Nigeria's governing party has agreed that President Goodluck Jonathan has the right to contest next year's elections.
The People's Democratic Party has an unwritten practice of alternating power between north and south of the country.
Mr Jonathan, a southerner, became president after his predecessor died less than half-way through the north's "turn" of two presidential terms.
The PDP has ruled Nigeria since its return to democracy in 1999.
Nigeria, Africa's leading oil producer and most populous nation, has a history of coups, ethnic and religious unrest.
Mr Jonathan was sworn in as president when Umaru Yar'Adua died after a long period of illness in May 2010.
"We did not envisage that our dear president [Yar'Adua] would die in office," Reuters news agency quotes PDP chairman Okwesilieze Nwodo as saying.
"The party believes that Dr Goodluck Jonathan as part and parcel of the joint ticket has the right to contest the presidential primaries for the 2010 elections," he said.
But he added that this would not stop anyone else in the PDP contesting.
Hundred days
Mr Jonathan has yet to say whether he will run for office.
Correspondents say his rise from a relatively unknown deputy governor, without a political base, to president has been swift.
After months of political stagnation because of Mr Yar'Adua's illness, many were happy to see Mr Jonathan take the helm.
However, the BBC's Ahmed Idris in the capital, Abuja, says after 100 days in office his initial popularity is wearing thin.
He says people feel the debate on whether he is able to stand in the 2011 elections, due in January, has taken the urgency out of dealing with issues such as tackling corruption, the electricity crisis and electoral reform.
BBC, 13/8/2010
Niger Delta oil pipeline sabotage 'increasing'
Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has said acts of sabotage are increasing in southern Nigeria.
The Anglo-Dutch company said it had suffered at least three separate incidents of sabotage on its pipelines in the Niger Delta this month.
In a statement, Shell said it had put containment booms into surrounding waterways to stop the flow of oil.
Thieves known as bunkerers often try to pierce the pipes to siphon off oil and sell it on.
Shell official Babs Omotowa said thieves had drilled holes or used hacksaws to pierce pipelines in the Cawthorne Channel leading to the terminal at Bonny in Rivers State.
"The environmental and social cost of widespread sabotage is simply unacceptable," he said.
The Niger Delta is a vast network of mangrove creeks that make up one of the world's largest wetlands.
Shell said it had set up containment booms to stop crude oil flowing further into the mangrove swamps.
Poor communities in the Delta have suffered decades of environmental pollution from oil spills.
Militants have also carried out repeated attacks against oil installations and pipelines.
Shell says it paid $4m (£2.6m) in compensation last year related to oil spills in Nigeria.
BBC, 15/8/2010
Nigeria's police told to share bribes with superiors
Corruption in Nigeria's police has become institutionalised and junior officers are expected to share bribes, US-based Human Rights Watch says.
Their report describes a system of "paying returns" when officers are expected to pay up the chain of command a share of extortion money.
It says officers have to pay bribes within the force to get posts and are expected to meet monetary targets.
A police spokesman said the study had "largely embellished innuendoes".
"The Nigeria Police Force has come a long way from its colonial era of oppression and has survived many years of neglect and under-funding," Emmanuel Ojukwu said in a statement.
The BBC's Caroline Duffield in Lagos says extortion of civilians and bribery of police is a fact of life in Nigeria - often taking place in public and in broad daylight.
Motorists at checkpoints, traders, businessmen, sex workers and those under arrest are extremely likely to encounter threats and demands for money.
There are also numerous cases of shootings and deaths at checkpoints when civilians refuse to pay, she says.
The Human Rights Watch report - running to 102 pages - says often victims of crime unable to pay will not get justice.
Meanwhile, wealthy criminals are able to bribe officers to drop a case or influence an investigation.
Police interviewed by Human Rights Watch, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they were given no budget to carry out their duties.
"You go on patrol and meet your superior, and ask him for fuel. He will say, 'Where will I get it from?' So it is up to you to find a way to get fuel," one police sergeant in Lagos told the group's researchers.
The report accuses senior police officers and government ministers of failing to tackle deep and entrenched police abuses.
Our correspondent says successive governments have in the past admitted the scale of police corruption - but few recommendations by official investigations and reform groups have been heeded.
BBC, 17/8/2010
Nigeria warns of nation-wide cholera threat
Health authorities in Nigeria are warning that the entire country is threatened by a cholera outbreak.
At least 352 people have been killed by the infection in the space of three months, and more than 6,400 cases have been reported, mostly in the north.
Doctors are now monitoring outbreaks in 12 of Nigeria's 36 states.
The health ministry blames the spread of the disease on heavy seasonal rains and the scarcity of clean water and proper sanitation.
In a statement, it said "epidemiological evidence indicates that the entire country is at risk".
The outbreak has also killed more than 200 people in neighbouring Cameroon.
Cholera, a water-borne disease, causes diarrhoea and severe dehydration and can lead to death if not detected and properly treated.
The infection is highly contagious yet easily preventable with clean water and sanitation.
The BBC's Caroline Duffield in Lagos says medical care in Nigeria is generally poor.
In many places access to toilets is rare and open-air sewers can easily flood, she says.
BBC, 26/8/2010
Nigeria to privatise power firm PHCN
Nigeria is to sell off the state power monopoly, PHCN, President Goodluck Jonathan has announced.
"We need a revolution in the power sector," he said, in what was touted as a major policy speech.
Nigeria is one of the world's largest oil exporters but lacks many basic services, such as a regular electricity supply.
Black-outs are common and those who can afford to, use generators.
Many business leaders say the lack of electricity is one of the biggest obstacles they face.
Meanwhile, many Nigerians joke that PHCN (Power Holding Company of Nigeria) really stands for Please Hold Candle Now.
Two years ago, a report said Nigeria would need $85bn (£42.7bn) of investment in its power infrastructure in order to produce electricity 24 hours a day for all of the country's 140 million people.
Mr Jonathan said Nigeria would rely on private companies to build new power plants fuelled by the country's vast gas reserves, the AP news agency reports.
Correspondents say the announcement sounded like an election campaign pledge.
Several previous leaders of Africa's most populous nation have failed to keep promises to improve Nigeria's electricity supply.
In his first speech after becoming president in 2007, Mr Jonathan's predecessor Umaru Yar'adua threatened to declare a state of emergency in the power sector if PHCN managers did not improve the electricity supply.
Polls are due early in 2011 but Mr Jonathan has not said whether he intends to contest them.
BBC, 27/8/2010
'Dozens of children die' in Nigerian lead poisoning
As many as 30 children have died of lead poisoning in northern Nigeria over the past week, authorities believe.
Scores of people - mostly children - have already died this year in Zamfara state, poisoned by lead-contaminated waste from illegal gold mining.
The latest deaths occurred in a remote village near the town of Anka.
But officials have not been able to confirm the reports because rainy-season downpours have prevented them from getting to the area.
Lead poisoning has killed at least 160 since June, when visiting doctors realised children in the region were dying in unusually large numbers.
Investigating scientists traced the source of the poisoning to soil contaminated with lead which had been dumped in water sources by miners.
Slow death
For weeks in June teams worked to try to decontaminate a number of villages, by scraping away topsoil.
LEAD POISONING
* Children suffer more because their size makes them more vulnerable to the effects
* Symptoms include lethargy, abdominal pain, vomiting, constipation and headaches
* Children in particular may develop encephalopathy - seizures, delirium and coma
* For mild poisoning it may be sufficient to remove the patient from the source
* More severe poisoning will need medical treatment, but may prove fatal
But experts at the time said that many more children would be affected by the slow-acting poison.
There are fears that the rains may have washed the poison back into wells and other water sources.
In their attempts to extract gold, deadly amounts of lead were released - it is thought that soil containing lead deposits was dumped in water sources and in places where children played.
The deaths were discovered during the country's annual immunisation programme, when officials realised that in several villages there were virtually no children.
Villagers said the children had died of malaria and it was only when a team from international aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres took blood tests from local people that the high concentrations of lead were discovered.
Zamfara State had recently employed a Chinese company to mine gold in the area, adds our correspondent.
But villagers had also attempted to capitalise by digging for the precious metal themselves - an illegal activity in Nigeria.
BBC, 27/8/2010
Nigeria mystery over 'Balewa impersonator'
There is controversy in Nigeria about the identity of a man linked to the president who was kidnapped and freed in a dramatic rescue over the weekend.
Jhalil Tafawa Balewa, a key political ally of President Goodluck Jonathan, was abducted from his home on Friday.
It provoked widespread shock because he was believed to be the son of Nigeria's first Prime Minister, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, who was assassinated.
But after his rescue, the Balewa family told BBC he was not related to them.
The man was trying to campaign for Mr Jonathan ahead of elections due early in 2011, even though the president has not said whether he intends to stand.
Police left nothing to chance to free a man widely believed to be the son of the country's first prime minister.
The gunpoint abduction of President Jonathan's political ally sparked a police operation ending in gunfire, deep in forests outside the capital.
"We staked out the forest undercover," says police spokesman Moshood Jimoh, describing the dramatic kidnap and twilight rescue.
"There was an arrangement to pay the ransom. Secretly, we were there."
Emotive issue
The victim was high-profile. Not only was he the leader of a sensitive campaign to drum up support for Mr Jonathan to stand for president next year, he also bore a revered name.
For those old enough to remember "The Golden Voice of Africa", Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa's name and his 1966 assassination evokes emotion.
So no resource was spared to ensure his safety.
But the sting operation, a shoot-out and the captive's rescue were just the beginning of a strange series of questions.
"He is not one of us," Saddik Abubakar Tafawa Balewa told the BBC, after the operation.
"He is neither the nephew, neither the son, neither the grandson of my father," the fourth son of late Sir Abubakar said.
"I am sorry to hear of anyone being kidnapped, but the time has come to be clear."
He said he spoke on behalf of the family: "He is not a member of our family, either by blood or by marriage."
He described how the Balewas had met the man several times, trying to establish his identity.
"We first heard of a person from America, going around the corridors of power, claiming to be a grandson. After that, he said he was a son," he remembers.
The family say they repeatedly asked for evidence, including DNA evidence, but none has been forthcoming.
Saddik Tafawa Balewa declined to speculate further, saying only: "We, as a family, feel exploited."
In 2008, the extended Balewa clan took out newspaper advertisements distancing themselves from Jhalil Tafawa Balewa.
'Goodluck For All?'
Political insiders are now scrabbling for information about the mystery kidnap victim of whom so little is known, and questioning how he secured such a sensitive role.
"You can't make mistakes like this," one long-time observer said, in disbelief.
No political adviser to the president has been available for comment about Jhalil Tafawa Balewa's identity.
He leads "Goodluck na Kowa", meaning Goodluck For All in Hausa, the language of the country's north.
The group is trying to grow support for the president, precisely where he faces his fiercest resistance.
With elections barely five months away, there is no word on whether the president will run, and he is severely hampered by his southern roots.
Nigeria's current political climate makes it almost impossible for any northern figure to support the president, and politically, the lure of the Balewa name may have seemed a gilt-edged opportunity.
For some, the explosion of unexpected questions over the man claiming the Balewa name are as revealing as they are fascinating.
"It all shows lack of experience, a sense of desperation," one analyst told the BBC.
"You need to know when you're being taken advantage of. How many more people are doing this to Jonathan?"
In the meantime, the main question echoing around Abuja is: "Who exactly is Jhalil Tafawa Balewa?"
BBC, 30/8/2010
