Sunday, August 31, 2014

RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - STAR RESOLUTION: Not Without Our Daughters, by Oby Ezekwesili

The pain and shame of the abduction, so succinctly and incisively recorded by Oby Ezekwezili, hang heavily on our individual consciences.

 

The faces of these Chibok Girls haunt each and every Nigerian forever, until they are rescued.

 

You don't have to be a mother, father, brother, sister, uncle, cleric, president etc to feel the unending pain.

 

Only inhuman persons can move on daily without the ChibokGirls.

 

That is it!

 

Isaac

 

From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Mobolaji Aluko
Sent: 31 August, 2014 21:07
To: USAAfrica Dialogue; NaijaPolitics e-Group; naijaintellects; nigerianid@yahoogroups.com; Yan Arewa; Ra'ayi; OmoOdua; ekiti ekitigroups; NiDAN
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - STAR RESOLUTION: Not Without Our Daughters, by Oby Ezekwesili

 

 

My People:

 

I fully identify with Oby Ezekwesili's sentiments below.  Three of the ChibokGirls are proxies for my three beloved daughters......just don't know what else to do though than pray for them - and NOT move on without our daughters.

 

And there you have it.  This is NOT politics, but humanitics...

 

 

 

Bolaji Aluko

 

_______________________________________________________________

 

 

Not Without Our Daughters, by Oby Ezekwesili

Posted by: Editor in ColumnsOpinion Aug 28, 2014 

Obiageli Ezekwesili

Today marks 136 days since April 14, when 219 daughters of Nigeria were taken captive from our midst at close to midnight while we all slept. The Presidential Facts Finding Committee on Chibok Abduction which was set up evidently to validate to those who doubted the tragedy, helped confirm that our daughters that went to acquire knowledge were forcibly taken by terrorists. In all, the report stated that 276 school girls were abducted from Government Secondary School on that fateful night and that fortunately, 57 of them courageously took the risk of self-rescue and are since reunited with their families.

After many weeks of tentativeness arising from indifference, doubt, visible irritation and buck passing a rescue effort was finally launched by the Federal Government, supported by countries that include the United States, Britain, France, China, Canada, Israel and Australia. However, after four months and with no news of their rescue nor any slimmer of evidence of actions being taken to bring them back, the desperate reaction of all who empathise with the girls and their families has become "where is the result from the rescue effort?"
 
For some others, despondent and yet willing to hold on to the tiniest ray of Hope, the demand is that the Federal Government offers Nigeria the whole truth on the matter of their rescue effort. Why so? There have been too many discordant and contradictory information on the status of the rescue of the girls by our government. Those who ask for the truth, therefore do  so mindful of the need to not compromise intricacies of operational strategy while yet insisting that our government can act and convey with sincerity a series of confidence inspiring measures it is taking to resolve this massive scale of human tragedy. Like we say in life, parents and other citizens would rather be slapped with the truth than be kissed with lies.

There are after all three well known options that are possible in the rescue of abduction victims- first, military action, second, negotiation/dialogue which may be direct or indirect and third, a mix of both military action and negotiation. Anyone who has mapped and analysed all the statements ever made by our Government since we were informed by the Chief of Defence Staff on May 24 that they had located our girls; cannot but wonder what to believe. In the quest for truth it does not help that when the dots are connected drawing from diverse statements made by our government at various times dismissing each of the options for one reason or the other, nothing tangible remains. Could it be that the evident complexity of their rescue has led to inertia or paralysis that surely portends grave danger to our #ChibokGirls …our daughters? Could this be the reason many more people now think we should be silent, move on and allow "whatever" is being done about their rescue to "quietly" continue?  If it is then there is no better response to give than than "Not without our daughters".
 
For, indeed, the 219 girls of Chibok are our daughters. Anyone who is a true parent and real human being would admit that it is almost impossible not to think of the fate of these girls in personal terms. It is impossible not to think how deep their agony would be should children sired in their loins or carried in their wombs be experience what these innocent young women are suffering. Most of the empathetic gestures given to their cause have been framed especially the women advocates who are mothers, as being simple acts of humanity because they do see the faces of their own daughters whenever they look at the picture faces of the abducted girls. They knew they had to lend a voice to their cause once they started seeing and connecting to them not just as pieces of news from some remote region of the country or the world, but as flesh and blood that could have been their own daughters. These are the women and men who today out of deep empathy continue to stand and to speak for our girls even after the rest of the world moved on to other issues buffeting our troubled world.
 
The second resonant point of convergence for those who advocate for the cause of the girls is the sadness that all things considered, these girls are merely victims of a society that failed them. Our Chibok girls are victims in every sense of the word; suffering serious injury for no fault of their own. The sad but true reason our ChibokGirls continue to languish in the den of our common enemies more than four months after their abduction is that many among us see their vicissitude as one of those tragedies similar to what others have suffered in our country.   
 
The known fact is that in the fifty four years of our independence, too many of our citizens have been victims of our nation suffering all kinds of tragedies and situations alone. Victims abounded in events leading up to, during and after the Nigerian civil war. Did we care? No, we simply moved on. We created another set of victims during the decades of military rule. Did we care? No, we again moved on. In the last fifteen years of our nascent democracy 1999 transition, we have kept on creating victims. Have we cared? Not really, we have to move on. 

Within the last four years that bloody insurgents have launched a most vicious  attack against our citizens, abducting, maiming and killing in thousands, have we really cared? Not really. Those it does not affect may not even give a passing thought to the victims just like it was in the past. So, are we just going to keep moving on for as long as each tragedy does not affect us, ignoring the new sets of victims of our nation to "take care of their own pain?" I have seen, heard and known how our society victimizes the victim. Can a people survive and sustain this manner of distribution of suffering in which the strong at any given point disregards the pain of the victim? No. A society where everyone carries the wound of having once been a victim that was abandoned to suffer alone can neither last nor achieve greatness.
 
How then can we not see that there is something about the present travail of our Chibok Girls that presents us the best opportunity opportunity to awaken our deadened souls that have since our coming together missed out on the wholesome value of empathy? How can we not see that the only and true victims in this abduction saga are our 219 daughters of Nigeria? How can we possibly move on without daughters? We must not move. We must give everything possible to save them. They can become the symbol of our catharsis – our purging – our cleaning from the accumulated toxin of bitterness and wound spread across our country from all manner of tragedies and injustice of the past.

By all agreeing not to move on without our daughters, we make a statement that as a people, we are determined to confront our common enemy together. By refusing to sacrifice our daughters that we can save, we send the strongest signal to our common enemies that our society will fight to defend our humane values and the right to life of our children, our women, our men, our young and our old regardless of their religion, politics, language and culture. By staying determined to stand with our endangered ChibokGirls, we as Nigerians would measure up to the standard of Ghandi's words that "The True Measure of Any Society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members"
 
If we all did everything possible to bring back our daughters from the clutches and den of evil erected by our common enemies within our own territory; our ChibokGirls will become a historical break from our shameful past as an uncaring society if people. It will be a statement of a united people of the kind we see every day we gather for their cause at the Unity Fountain and loudly declare that  "we are from Chibok"- regardless of our ethnic, political, religious, ideological persuasion.

When we do so, it is not because we are unaware of past and other present victims. It is that our daughters are in a special category of being alive and can be saved. It is a protest against the idea that the suffering of other people does not matter and can therefore be denied, ignored and even mocked. It is a kick against the lack of empathy that reflects in the poor choices over several decades that have stagnated and kept us as a tottering country that never evolved into a nation. History teaches and research validates that when a country of diverse people evolve into a nation, the probability of achieving development that benefits the largest number is significantly higher.
 
The combination of these two factors- daughters and victims should imprint on the mind of everyone that we could all be the biological parents of children who due to no fault of their own became victims of deadly danger. As one very involved with the formation and leadership of the #BringBackOurGirls advocacy that is championing the citizens advocacy for the rescue of our Daughters, the two factors steadfastly give me perspective regardless of what other people may think or say.

Personally, I have advocated for our ChibokGirls since the 15th April when news of their abduction broke. On the 23rd April a demand one made to have everyone at the UNESCO event inaugurating Port Harcourt as the 2014 World Book Capital stand in solidarity and demand their rescue resulted in our social media hashtag #BringBackOurGirls. The march for them on the 30th April inspired by Hadiza Bala Usman and the daily "sit-out" in Abuja by incredibly sacrificial Nigerians who are there even today for the 120 such gathering is a testament to the irony of the divine quality of our suffering Chibok Daughter.
 
These days, when members of our movement are taunted with questions like "when will you realise the futility of your advocacy and stop?" Like typical Nigerian, we have learnt to answer questions of this sort with some simple questions. Interestingly, one question to which not even the irredeemably heartless have ever been able to answer without shame is "Did 219 girls also willingly offer themselves to be denied their freedom and their lives?" If they did not, why then should we make victims out of children who already are victims? "Would you say want us to stop if any of them were your daughter?" 
 
We cannot afford to move on without our daughters. Everyone who can raise a voice to compel action for them should really do so without feeling embarrassed. Everyone who has the power to act decisively and quickly to rescue must not consider them a secondary priority. The three possible options of rescue are narrowed and clear to all. Until our Federal Government demonstrates that our ChibokGirls are not being abandoned by showing that it is taking any of the three and that we shall no longer move on and forsake victims of our society as we during the fifty four years of history-there will always be voices; if even just one demanding that our daughters must be rescued from our enemies. So, when next time you hear that chant or read that chant #BringBackOurGirls and ever go on to ask "when will you stop.?" there are two answers you can be sure of "#UntilOurGirlsAreBackAndAlive and better of the two, #NotWithoutOurDaughters!

 

____________________________________________________________

 

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USA Africa Dialogue Series - Call-For-Papers: Africa Conference

Tennessee State University, Nashville, TN

The Annual Africa Conference 

April 10, 2015 

CALL FOR CONFERENCE PAPERS  

The Department of History, Political Science, Geography, & Africana Studies at Tennessee State University, Nashville, Tennessee, invites academics, independent scholars, policymakers, and graduate students to present papers at its third annual conference on the theme: 

The Struggle for Human and Civil Rights in Africa and

the African Diaspora in Historical Perspective  

A little over two decades ago (1993), a newly enacted constitution in South Africa guaranteed universal adult suffrage and, ipso facto, allowed the hitherto disfranchised black South Africans to vote in the country's first nonracial election the following year. Earlier, fifty years ago in the United States, the passing of the landmark legislation, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, also enfranchised American Blacks who had been historically denied free vote. While colonial racist laws and practices oppressed Africans on the continent, Jim Crow regulations denied African Americans, particularly in the South, their civil rights. The struggle for human and civil rights, indeed, constitutes a defining theme in the historical experiences of African people and their descendants in the Diaspora. But far from being anachronistic, this narrative has, at least in subtle ways, continued to define the historical panorama of contemporary Black/African world. The fiftieth anniversary in 2015, of the Voting Rights Act, a milestone in Black struggles to attain denied rights, provides an opportunity to explore the important subject of civil and human rights in historical perspective. Thus this year's Africa Conference will offer a unique platform for scholars from various disciplines and other participants to dialogue on issues pertinent to human and civil rights in Africa and the African Diaspora. The struggle for civil and human rights certainly has a multi-dimensional framework; hence, the conference invites papers of historical and contemporary relevance to the broad theme. Potential topics for presentation may include but are not limited to the following: 

Enslavement, segregation, and racial discrimination
Racism and European colonial repression
Anti-colonial movements and national liberation wars
State repression in the modern state and resistance by civil society
The debate over rights in the LGBT Community
Genocide, wars, and crimes against humanity
Modern slavery forms and human trafficking
Children and women's rights
Police brutality and racial profiling
Poverty and economic inequality
Access to healthcare
Minority rights: ethnic, creed, and gender
Freedom of expression, rule of law, and democratization
Conflicts and conflict resolution
The justice system and rights
Leadership in civil and human rights struggles
The West and the advocacy of human rights
Freedom of expression and social justice
Contemporary disfranchisement and electoral malpractices 

Keynote Speaker
Dr. Bessie House-Soremekun, Professor and Director, the Africana Studies Program, and Founding Executive Director, Center for Global Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Development, School of Liberal Arts, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN. 

Guest Speaker
Mrs. Elizabeth McClain, Civil rights activist and retired Professor, Tennessee State University. 

Date of Conference
Friday, April 10, 2015 

Venue
Tennessee State University
3500 John A. Merritt Blvd.
Nashville, Tennessee 37209-1561

Conveners
Dr. Adebayo Oyebade
Professor of History
Tennessee State University
Nashville, TN 37209
aoyebade@tnstate.edu

Dr. Gashawbeza Bekele
Assistant Professor of Geography
Tennessee State University
Nashville, TN 37209
gbekele@tnstate.edu

Abstracts/Panel proposals
Each prospective presenter should submit electronically an abstract of 500 words or less to either of the conveners by Friday, Nov. 28, 2014. Abstract prepared as Microsoft Word document should include the presenter's name, title of paper, institutional affiliation, and contact information (mailing address, phone number, and email address). Please, note that submission of abstract automatically grants conference organizers the right to publish it in the conference program and website.

Conference Registration Fees
Mandatory non-refundable registration fees for the conference are:
Regular: $50 by Dec. 31; & $60 by Feb. 27 (banquet included).
Graduate Students: $25 by Dec. 31; & $30 by Feb. 27 (banquet included).
Banquet only: $25 by Feb. 13.
Please, make your check payable to Tennessee State University.

Publication of Selected Papers
Selected conference papers will be published as a book.

RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - SCANDALOUS: Outrage in Nigeria as government brands National ID Card with MasterCard's logo

When you are positioned between the deep blue sea and the proverbial devil
you have to keep quiet, pause and
summon all your energies before you speak or act.
That is why silence is a better option.

First there is the deep blue sea.
There is no doubt that giving every Nigerian citizen a credit card is a recipe for
wanton spending and eventual indebtedness of most of the citizens of the country. The credit card companies
are master engineers of debt slavery. Now that they have indebted most of
the US and Western European citizenry, including young college students, they are looking for greener pastures.

They actually want to place the whole of Africa in their clutches and they believe that Nigeria is
a good start. Their interest rate will start off at 8 or 9 % and before you can say ' Boko Haram' it would
climb to 35%. and more. Once they move into the region, they can then lobby the -next US
presidential candidate to serve their interests. He or she would be given generous doses of
campaign funds to sweeten the deal. Any Nigerian president that tries to
nullify the program of massive indebtedness will be threatened, intimidated and even ousted.

Every Nigerian will be in their database and they can share information to the highest bidders.
Sovereignty is undermined.

Then there is ebola, the devil - maybe the rebel serpent that the ancient Egyptians called Sata. Or
maybe a creature that came to life in someone's laboratory during experimentation
with polio vaccines. Or maybe an entity created for purposes of biowarfare. Or
maybe just the product of an ambitious scientist like Gallo initially seeking publication and funding rights.
Maybe Mr. Ebola simply wants to upset the Afro- Chinese applecart. Or,
maybe he is just a naughty, vindictive bacterium that grew to hate monkeys and later bats
in the post-colonial era. Or maybe this is just one of those tricks that nature randomly plays.

Whatever the case the ebola devil is here and you really have to
deal with him with a very long spoon indeed. Apparently you cannot touch his sweat, spit, tears,dribble
sneeze, and a lot of other things - or you are a dead dog.

Now where does that leave the naira?





Professor Gloria Emeagwali
africahistory.net
vimeo.com/user5946750/videos
Documentaries on Africa and the African Diaspora
________________________________________
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Segun Ogungbemi [seguno2013@gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, August 31, 2014 10:45 AM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Cc: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - SCANDALOUS: Outrage in Nigeria as government brands National ID Card with MasterCard's logo

My sister Gloria,
Please don't keek your mouth shut.

Segun Ogungbemi Ph.D
Professor of Philosophy
Adekunle Ajasin University
Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State
Nigeria
Cellphone: 08033041371
08024670952

> On Aug 31, 2014, at 2:33 PM, "Emeagwali, Gloria (History)" <emeagwali@mail.ccsu.edu> wrote:
>
> I have mixed feelings about the cards because of the ebola pandemic.
>
> It is better for me to keep my mouth shut on this one.
>
>
> Professor Gloria Emeagwali
> africahistory.net
> vimeo.com/user5946750/videos
> Documentaries on Africa and the African Diaspora
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Segun Ogungbemi [seguno2013@gmail.com]
> Sent: Saturday, August 30, 2014 5:13 AM
> To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
> Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - SCANDALOUS: Outrage in Nigeria as government brands National ID Card with MasterCard's logo
>
> Gloria,
> I understand your sentiments and those of your like mind.
> May I ask you: is there any security secret which Nigeria has that Britain and American governments do not know?
> The world is a global village and being so means that what we considered a security secret and pride of a 'nation' is known by most countries of the world.
> With the advancement of ICT, there seems to no secrecy as it used to be.
> A national ID card is a pride of anyone carrying it as an identification that she/he comes from a particular nation.
> Many of us have MasterCards or Visa-cards. Some fellow Nigerians have abused the use of these cards just as, perhaps, a handful of others from other countries.
> The companies that own these cards have databases just as the country from where they operate. Nigeria does not have any reliable database. The reason is not too far fetched- corruption.
> Do you know how many times our governments have tried to have the national cards for all Nigerians and it failed? Do you know how much it costs the nation?
> You will all say it is bad leadership, corruption and the weakness of the people in power to arrest and punish the offenders. It is easier said than done.
> Is there any arrest of people in high places made and it did not boil down to ethnicity or religious acrimony? At the end of the day no nobody is brought to justice. And if there is any, the raw arm of justice in the end will be arm twisted and the culprit is set free.
> My submission in all this is: why did Jonathan administration choose to use the new device? Let us get the facts before we condemn it.
> We should be more careful of insulting our President. He did not put himself there.
> We, the majority of Nigerians elected him and we must respect our choice and the office.
>
> Segun Ogungbemi Ph.D
> Professor of Philosophy
> Adekunle Ajasin University
> Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State
> Nigeria
> Cellphone: 08033041371
> 08024670952
>
> On Aug 30, 2014, at 3:56 AM, Tunde <tundeojo@hotmail.com<mailto:tundeojo@hotmail.com>> wrote:
>
> Simply put, President Badluck is sick in the head. If this maddness stands, Nigeria will be the laughing stock of the world over.
> A man with a PHD???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
>
>> From: emeagwali@mail.ccsu.edu<mailto:emeagwali@mail.ccsu.edu>
>> To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com<mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
>> CC: nigerianID@yahoogroups.com<mailto:nigerianID@yahoogroups.com>; NaijaObserver@yahoogroups.com<mailto:NaijaObserver@yahoogroups.com>; naijaintellects@googlegroups.com<mailto:naijaintellects@googlegroups.com>; talknaija@yahoogroups.com<mailto:talknaija@yahoogroups.com>; naijanet@googlegroups.com<mailto:naijanet@googlegroups.com>
>> Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 17:50:43 -0400
>> Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - SCANDALOUS: Outrage in Nigeria as government brands National ID Card with MasterCard's logo
>>
>> 'Do you expect them to miraculously mutate into a success story?' IBK
>>
>> Sometimes you can make lemonade with a lemon.
>>
>>
>> Professor Gloria Emeagwali
>> CT 06050
>> africahistory.net<http://africahistory.net>
>> vimeo.com/user5946750/videos<http://vimeo.com/user5946750/videos>
>> Documentaries on Africa and the African Diaspora
>>
>>
>> ________________________________
>> From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com<mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> [usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com<mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>] On Behalf Of Ibukunolu A Babajide [ibk2005@gmail.com<mailto:ibk2005@gmail.com>]
>> Sent: Friday, August 29, 2014 5:05 PM
>> To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com<mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
>> Cc: nigerianID@yahoogroups.com<mailto:nigerianID@yahoogroups.com>; NaijaObserver@yahoogroups.com<mailto:NaijaObserver@yahoogroups.com>; naijaintellects@googlegroups.com<mailto:naijaintellects@googlegroups.com>; talknaija@yahoogroups.com<mailto:talknaija@yahoogroups.com>; naijanet@googlegroups.com<mailto:naijanet@googlegroups.com>
>> Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - SCANDALOUS: Outrage in Nigeria as government brands National ID Card with MasterCard's logo
>>
>>
>> Prof. Gloria Emegwali,
>>
>> Too little too late! Can Nigerians do this on their own? This shell of a country is just an extension of the Royal Niger Company.
>>
>> Concentrate on viable patriotic pursuits not this one where the alternative is perfect chaos. Have you not been reading Rotimi Ogunsuyi telling us all how useless GEJ &co. are? Do you expect them to miraculously mutate into a success story?
>>
>> No ma'am, it does not work like that.
>>
>> Cheers.
>>
>> IBK
>>
>> On 29 Aug 2014 23:36, "Emeagwali, Gloria (History)" <emeagwali@mail.ccsu.edu<mailto:emeagwali@mail.ccsu.edu><mailto:emeagwali@mail.ccsu.edu>> wrote:
>> Corruption. Someone is getting 10% .
>> It is really scandalous and I am happy that people are reacting against it.
>>
>> It could also be linked to mass surveillance.
>>
>> It has the potential to
>> create mass indebtedness too.
>>
>>
>> Professor Gloria Emeagwali
>> africahistory.net<http://africahistory.net><http://africahistory.net>
>> vimeo.com/user5946750/videos<http://vimeo.com/user5946750/videos><http://vimeo.com/user5946750/videos>
>> Documentaries on Africa and the African Diaspora
>> ________________________________________
>> From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com<mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com><mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> [usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com<mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com><mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>] On Behalf Of Anunoby, Ogugua [AnunobyO@lincolnu.edu<mailto:AnunobyO@lincolnu.edu><mailto:AnunobyO@lincolnu.edu>]
>> Sent: Friday, August 29, 2014 2:25 PM
>> To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com<mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com><mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>; NaijaObserver@yahoogroups.com<mailto:NaijaObserver@yahoogroups.com><mailto:NaijaObserver@yahoogroups.com>; naijaintellects@googlegroups.com<mailto:naijaintellects@googlegroups.com><mailto:naijaintellects@googlegroups.com>; naijanet@googlegroups.com<mailto:naijanet@googlegroups.com><mailto:naijanet@googlegroups.com>; nigerianID@yahoogroups.com<mailto:nigerianID@yahoogroups.com><mailto:nigerianID@yahoogroups.com>; talknaija@yahoogroups.com<mailto:talknaija@yahoogroups.com><mailto:talknaija@yahoogroups.com>
>> Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - SCANDALOUS: Outrage in Nigeria as government brands National ID Card with MasterCard's logo
>>
>> What is going on I wonder.
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com<mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com><mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> [mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com<mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>] On Behalf Of Kola Fabiyi
>> Sent: Friday, August 29, 2014 6:28 AM
>> To: NaijaObserver@yahoogroups.com<mailto:NaijaObserver@yahoogroups.com><mailto:NaijaObserver@yahoogroups.com>; naijaintellects@googlegroups.com<mailto:naijaintellects@googlegroups.com><mailto:naijaintellects@googlegroups.com>; naijanet@googlegroups.com<mailto:naijanet@googlegroups.com><mailto:naijanet@googlegroups.com>; nigerianID@yahoogroups.com<mailto:nigerianID@yahoogroups.com><mailto:nigerianID@yahoogroups.com>; usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com<mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com><mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>; talknaija@yahoogroups.com<mailto:talknaija@yahoogroups.com><mailto:talknaija@yahoogroups.com>
>> Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - SCANDALOUS: Outrage in Nigeria as government brands National ID Card with MasterCard's logo
>>
>> SCANDALOUS: Outrage in Nigeria as government brands National ID Card with MasterCard's logo
>>
>> Ini Ekott - Premium Times
>>
>>
>> The new Nigerian National Identity Cards launched Thursday by President Goodluck Jonathan, with branded logo of the American firm, MasterCard, have sparked outrage across the country amid fears of serious security and economic breach, with many Nigerians calling for an immediate stoppage of the deal.
>>
>> Nigerians expressed shock and fury Thursday at how the Nigerian Government, through the National Identity Management Commission, NIMC, would surrender a symbol of national sovereignty and pride to a foreign commercial organisation by not only sharing the biometrics of 170 million Nigerian to the firm but by also allowing the firm to boldly engrave its insignia on the IDs.
>>
>> Many Nigerians raised the alarm over the implications of the agreement in an age that has seen intense data surveillance by the National Security Agency of the United States of America, Mastercard's home country.
>> One commentator said allowing MasterCard's emblem on the Nigerian National ID Card could only compare to the trans-Atlantic slave trade abolished in the nineteenth century.
>>
>> "The new ID card with a MasterCard logo does not represent an identity of a Nigerian. It simply represents a stamped ownership of a Nigerian by an American company," said Shehu Sani of the Civil Rights Congress. "It is reminiscent of the logo pasted on the bodies of African salves transported across the Atlantic."
>>
>> At the launching Thursday, the Nigerian Identity Management Commission said the cards, designed to also allow handlers effect payments and other financial transactions, will be issued to 13 million Nigerians.
>>
>> At the completion of the pilot phase of the program, 100 million cards would have been issued, the commission said, describing the move as the "broadest financial inclusion program in Africa".
>>
>> The cards will be issued to Nigerians, 16 years and older, and are expected to serve as voting cards in the 2019 elections.
>>
>> President Jonathan, who flagged off the rollout, praised the outcome of a partnership between NIMC, MasterCard and Access Bank.
>> "The card is not only a means of certifying your identity, but also a personal database repository and payment card, all in your pocket," Mr. Jonathan said.
>>
>> Under the partnership, the NIMC is the project leader, MasterCard provides payments technology, while Unified Payment Services Limited is payments processor. Cryptovision is the Public Key Infrastructure and Trust Services Provider, and the pilot issuing bank is Access Bank Plc.
>>
>> The Identity Management Commission said it was working with other government agencies to harmonize all identity databases including the Driver's License, Voter Registration, Health Insurance, Tax, SIM and the National Pension Commission into a single, shared services platform.
>>
>> For a National ID card project jinxed for decades due to corruption and mismanagement, Nigerians welcomed what seemed like a breakthrough this time, several years after the first attempt at a national Identity Card project ended in fiasco.
>> But the optimism waned after it became clear Thursday the new ID cards, a key instrument recognised by the federal constitution, will not only bear the Coat of Arms and the Nigerian colours of green white green, but also the logo of MasterCard, a profit-driven private entity.
>>
>> "Nigeria's colours and coast of arms is what should be there. It is not an opportunity for advert for promoting companies," said Eze Onyekpere, Lead Director Centre for Social Justice. "As far as we are concerned it cannot stand. It is not worth it if that's what they have done."
>>
>> Beyond national pride, many Nigerians spoke of the dire economic and security implications for Nigeria.
>> "Clearly, there are National Security implication," said Nasir El-Rufai, a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory. "All these data go to the American payment platform."
>> Mr. El-Rufai recalled that Malaysia was the first country to implement a general multipurpose ID card and that the country did so with its own resources and technology to protect its citizens.
>>
>> Economically, analysts say, the deal also hands over all adult Nigerians as direct and compulsory customers of MasterCard.
>>
>> The US-based firm appeared so elated at the outcome of the contract that by Thursday, it hired a media consultant, African Media Agency, to publicise the landmark deal all over the world.
>>
>> MasterCard could not be reached immediately for comments.
>> Details of the partnership between the NIMC and MasterCard were unclear as of Friday.
>>
>> A former senior government official, well briefed about the process, said the Nigerian government may have adopted the Public Private Partnership model for the project, with MasterCard underwriting part of the cost of the deal.
>>
>> Still, the former official, who asked not to be named, said it was unbelievable that Nigeria could not insist on fully funding such a project at any cost, considering its strategic importance to its sovereignty.
>>
>> "It's so scandalous that there are countries you present this to and they will be confused," the official said. "I have never seen this done anywhere in the world."
>>
>> The Nigerian Identity Management Commission, NIMC, refused to comment on the concerns.
>> When contacted by PREMIUM TIMES late Thursday, a spokesperson dismissed the concern raised by our reporter.
>>
>> "What is wrong with that (displaying MasterCard's logo on the IDs)?" asked Ben Alofoje, the Assistant Director/Head Research and Strategy, who is the designated media person for the project.
>>
>> A PREMIUM TIMES reader,Ola Onanugaola, said of the project, "Good idea but bad implementation. Why do we have to brand the e-ID card? Are these people aware of the huge economic and security implications of the branding.
>>
>> "Any country population database/information is too vital to attached to any non-governmental organisation."
>>
>> --
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Fw: USA Africa Dialogue Series - EXCLUSIVE: Boko Haram 'funded through CBN'

God bless Professor Toyin Falola for this wonderful forum.

Reading this piece makes me happier being here.

This is an interview that should be investigated further;developed ;broadened and more evidently documented and be made a permanent text in every school in Nigeria.

But who will do that in a country where money is almost a god and truth is hiding with fears and favours?

This interview questions more pointedly and provocatively the wisdom or folly to have fought for a federated country called Nigeria killing millions of lives.

This is not to say that only Nigeria has insurgents.After all countries like Mali,Afghanistan,Pakistan all has.But there was always an Afghan-Nigeria and the Nigerian Nigeria.

If you say that a state where people buy bombs to kill their fellow citizens instead of using the same money to create jobs for them is not an evil state then you may help me with a better definition of an evil state.

"Evil have no vision because it is founded on the ambition to destroy" (L.O.Ugwuanyi,2011).

I hope that the killers are not aiming at 2 million lives as was the case between 1967-1970 afterall they have almost recorded more than 2 million sorrows!

L.O.Ugwuanyi,Ph.D












--
> EXCLUSIVE: Boko Haram 'funded through CBN'
>
> A large chunk of the finances of Boko Haram may be passing
> through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), an Australian
> with close links to the militant group has told TheCable.
>
> http://www.thecable.ng/exclusive-boko-haram-funded-through-cbn
> August 30, 2014
>
>
> Dr Stephen Davis, who was in Nigeria for four months trying
> to negotiate with Boko Haram to release the kidnapped Chibok
> schoolgirls, said Boko Haram commanders told him a senior
> CBN official, who cannot be named by TheCable for legal
> reasons, was fully involved in the funding of the
> insurgency.
>
> Davis, who spoke with TheCable on phone from Australia in
> his first interview with a Nigerian journalist, said Western
> countries could not trace the majority of the source of
> funding to Boko Haram because "it is done through a legal
> channel, through the gatekeeper, the CBN, and that makes it
> very easy to cover up".
>
> He said Boko Haram commanders told him a senior CBN
> official, who currently works in the bank's currency
> operations division, was the one handling the transactions.
> "One of the biggest of suppliers of arms and military
> uniforms to the JAS (Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati
> wal-Jihad, better known as Boko Haram) currently lives in
> Cairo, Egypt. He is the recipient of money sent by political
> sponsors from Nigeria. The funds go through the CBN's
> financial system and appear to be a legal transaction.
>
> "Meanwhile, the CBN official who handles the funding is an
> uncle to three of those arrested in connection with the
> Nyanya bombings. The three boys lived with him. They were
> arrested by the SSS (Department of State Security) after the
> bombings but they do not seem to have been interrogated
> about their uncle in CBN. Or if they have given up
> information about their uncle then the SSS has not moved
> against him."
>
> "Also, a senior official of CBN, who recently left the
> bank, was very close to Sodiq Aminu Ogwuche, the mastermind
> of the Nyanya bombings who also schooled in Sudan. Boko
> haram commanders said Ogwuche's wife used to visit this
> top official in his office at the headquarters of the bank
> in Abuja before the Nyanya bombings. They were very
> close," Davis said.
>
> The former Canon Emeritus at Coventry Cathedral, UK, said he
> decided to come out to speak now because the Nigerian
> authorities were not acting fast and he was heart-broken by
> the evils being done to the kidnapped Chibok girls and the
> many other girls and boys being kidnapped.
>
> "I have three daughters. I just cannot stand the thought
> of what those girls are passing through. I have spoken to an
> escapee who described how she was being raped for 40 days by
> militants. I can't stand it. It is heart-breaking.
> Nigerian authorities must act decisively now," he said,
> revealing that he spent "days and weeks" with commanders
> of Boko Haram in the north-east during his time in Nigeria.
> Davis, 63, holds a PhD in political geography from the
> University of Melbourne, Australia. Below are excerpts from
> the exclusive interview with TheCable.
>
>
> TheCable: Can you share with us your experience with Boko
> Haram leaders?
>
> Davis: Let me take you back a bit. I specialise in
> negotiation. It may interest you to know that I have been
> involved in peace negotiations in Nigeria since 2004 when
> President Olusegun Obasanjo invited me to intervene in the
> Niger Delta crisis. With a local Nigerian colleague, I spoke
> with Asari Dokubo and took him to Obasanjo at the
> Presidential Villa in Abuja. Because Asari is a Muslim, the
> Muslim boys in the north heard about me and warmed up to me.
> I did a report in 2005 on the threat of extremism among
> young northern Muslims. Obasanjo's security chiefs
> dismissed the report with a wave of the hand. They said no
> such thing existed.
>
> In 2007, President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, who desired to end
> the militancy in the Niger Delta, invited me and made me
> presidential envoy. I toured all the northern states. I went
> to the country's borders. I came back with a report that
> there were some budding sects in the north. The national
> security adviser (NSA) at the time, Gen. Sarki Mukhtar,
> dismissed the report. He said they didn't exist. A
> succession of NSAs dismissed all these reports and allowed
> the groups to flourish. By the time President Goodluck
> Jonathan came to power in 2011, these groups had spread all
> over the north. They had cells and commanders in 16 out of
> the 19 northern states. President Jonathan called me and
> sought my opinion on the best way to tackle the militancy
> and bring it to an end. I knew many of the leaders. I spoke
> with them. They trusted me. They initially wanted to kill
> me. They thought I was an American but I told them I was
> not. They also thought I was British but I said I was not. I
> told them I was an Australian. They relaxed. I don't know
> why but they became more accommodating. They became friendly
> and, gradually, we built the trust. They started feeling
> free with me. I don't call them Boko Haram. I call them
> JAS. People call them Boko Haram. They don't call
> themselves Boko Haram.
>
> TheCable: What deal were you seeking under Jonathan's
> mandate?
>
> Davis: The president wanted peace. He asked me to discuss
> with them so that we could arrive at the terms of peace.
> They came up with some terms that were acceptable and others
> that were not acceptable.
>
> TheCable: What were those terms?
>
> Davis: They wanted training for the widows of their deceased
> fighters. They asked the government to give these women
> cottage training. They, ironically, wanted education for the
> children of their deceased members. That is why I don't
> call them Boko Haram ("Western education is a taboo").
> They asked that the children be sent to school. They also
> wanted the government to rebuild villages that were
> destroyed by the security agencies. They asked for amnesty
> as well.
>
> TheCable: What terms were unacceptable?
>
> Davis: The president said he would not grant amnesty in the
> sense that they meant it. He said those who surrendered
> their arms would not be prosecuted, but those who continued
> to commit more crimes would face the law and would be
> charged with treason. They also wanted women and children
> who were being held in custody to be released. Their leaders
> that I spoke with were ready to accept the conditions. But
> the NSA then, Gen. Owoye Azazi, went vehemently against it.
> He said there should be no negotiation with terrorists. He
> completely turned the military against the peace deal I was
> working on, even though we were very close to bringing an
> end to the insurgency the same way we did it in the Niger
> Delta. The military then refused to back the deal. They
> succeeded in convincing the president not to accept it. I
> could understand where they were coming from: the security
> budget was like $6 billion and any peace deal would
> seriously reduce their budget.
>
> TheCable: How did you become involved in the negotiation for
> the release of the Chibok schoolgirls?
>
> Davis: Because I had built trust among the militants, I made
> calls to them when I heard about the abductions. They
> confirmed to me that the girls were with them. I came to
> Nigeria in late April (the girls were abducted on April 14).
> I told the president I would try to intervene and help get
> the girls out. He said he would give me the needed support
> if I wanted. However, what I discovered was that thrice we
> tried to get the girls released, and thrice my efforts were
> sabotaged. That was when I now realised that some
> politicians were also involved in the insurgency. There were
> the remnants of those involved in the former peace deal as
> well as a political arm and what I call the ritual arm which
> specialises in butchering human beings.
>
> While I was making efforts to get the girls released, the
> political backers of the group threatened that if I got 30
> or 40 girls out, the militants would kidnap another 60 to
> replace them. I became very frustrated. They threatened that
> any commander of the group who agreed to participate in any
> dialogue would be slaughtered by other commanders. The
> political sponsors are very powerful because they supply the
> finances and the arms. Until they are cut off from the
> group, those girls will not be released. We are talking
> about 200 Chibok schoolgirls, but there are over 300 other
> girls that have been kidnapped. There are many young men
> that they also kidnapped and turned them against their
> families. They asked them to go and slaughter their family
> members and they are doing it. Nobody is talking about those
> ones. They are the new child soldiers.
>
> TheCable: How can we get these girls released?
>
> Davis: The first thing is to stop the bagman who supplies
> weapons and military uniforms. We know his name, location
> and associates. If the man is stopped, the slaughterers, the
> ritual arm of the group, would be demobilised. The girls can
> be released afterwards. This man controls these ritualists.
>
>
> TheCable: Was there really any deal to release the girls?
>
> Davis: Yes, there was. Some commanders of the group told me
> that they would first release 100 of the girls and that
> would be the first step towards dialogue. They needed a
> guarantee from President Jonathan that they would not be
> arrested or prosecuted if they showed up for dialogue. They
> agreed with me that if they did that and no one was
> arrested, then they would return to the camps to release the
> rest of the girls.
>
> TheCable: In all your discussions, did they name their
> sponsors?
>
> Davis: They named the man who lives in Cairo. He is of the
> Kanuri tribe. He passes arms, ammunition and uniforms to
> them. The CBN official who handles the funding (name
> withheld by TheCable for legal reasons) is an uncle to three
> of those arrested in connection with the Nyanya bombings.
> The three boys lived with him. They were arrested by the SSS
> (Department of State Security) after the bombings but they
> are yet to be interrogated about their uncle. The official
> still works with the CBN. He is still there. He works in
> currency operations. He knows how to handle the transaction
> in a way that it can never be traced. Western countries are
> frustrated that they cannot trace the funding. How can they
> when it is passed on legally, through the gatekeeper,
> through the CBN?
>
> Also, a senior official of CBN, who recently left the bank,
> was very close to Sodiq Aminu Ogwuche, the mastermind of the
> Nyanya bombings who also schooled in Sudan. Ogwuche's wife
> used to visit this official in his office at the
> headquarters in Abuja before the bombings. They were very
> close. Don't forget that the CBN official who handles the
> transactions also used to report to his superior, the
> official who recently left the bank. Also, there is a
> politician who was supplying operational vehicles for the
> suicide bombers. He gave them Hilux vans. He is a prominent
> politician. If the president goes after these guys, they
> will say it is political. That is part of the problem.
> Everybody will say the president is going after his
> political opponents, especially as there is a general
> election next year.
>
> The militants also named the former governor of Borno State,
> Ali Modu Sheriff. In 2003 and 2007, Sheriff was very close
> to them. He used them for his elections. They worked for
> him. However, in 2007, the leader of the group, Muhammed
> Yusuf, collected money from Sheriff in return for support.
> Yusuf's mentor, Ja'afar Mahmud Adam, exposed and
> criticised him for collecting money from Sheriff, and Yusuf
> ordered his killing in April 2007. But eventually, Yusuf and
> Sheriff fell out. However, it is acknowledged that Sheriff
> was and is a major financier of the group. He pays for young
> men to go for lesser hajj. From there they are recruited
> into the group. They interact freely with the Al-Shabbab
> militants from Somalia. They are trained by Al-Shabbab. Some
> of them go to Mali for training. These guys are in touch
> with the ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant,
> which now simply calls itself Islamic State and controls
> parts of Iraq). They are deadly. They share the same
> philosophy.
>
> The militant commanders I spoke with also named a former
> army chief as one of their sponsors. You have senior
> military officers who are benefiting from the insurgency
> because of the security budget. It pays them to keep the
> insurgency going so that they can continue to make money. I
> asked them several times who the army chief was and they
> told me it is… (name withheld by TheCable for legal
> reasons). Editor's Note: In the second part of this
> interview, Dr. Stephen Davis opens up on why the Nigerian
> military is unlikely to win the war against Boko Haram and
> why it is particularly difficult to tackle the militants in
> the deserts of north-eastern Nigeria.
>
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USA Africa Dialogue Series - Ebola: 39 foreigners held in Lagos

Ebola: 39 foreigners held in Lagos

on August 31, 2014   /   Vangurd

By Evelyn Usman & Onozure Dania


The move by the authorities to contain Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) continued, at the weekend, following the arrest of 39 foreigners, mostly from the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Lagos.

Police and Immigration officials  raided two hotels in the former federal capital where the suspects were apprehended.

35 of the foreigners are said to be from Congo which produced the first ever Ebola victim in 1976.

Although the latest round of infections started from Guinea in West  Africa, two Ebola victims have been recorded in Congo.

The four other suspects arrested in Lagos, according to police sources, hail  from Sierra Leone, also battling Ebola cases.

The foreigners’ arrest came just as former President Olusegun Obasanjo criticised Liberian officials for allegedly conniving with the Liberian-American, Patrick Sawyer, who brought Ebola to Nigeria.

Also, yesterday, there was panic in Aba, Abia State commercial nerve centre, after a  radio station aired a report that a relation of the Port-Harcourt victim of Ebola, Dr Iyke Enemuo, had sneaked into the town.

Lagos State government, in the meantime, warned  residents against  indulging in acts that could escalate Ebola in the state.

Hotel raid
The Lagos arrest of the 39 foreigners, launched by police and immigration officials, was apparently carried out in a hotel and a guest house situated at  Atere Street on Victoria Island.

Sunday Vanguard  sources said the raid followed a tip-off by some residents to the Area  A Police Command, Lion Building, Lagos.

Consequently, the Area Commander, Imohimi Edgal, an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), collaborated with immigration and health officials to storm the hotel where the foreigners were apprehended.

A police source said immigration officials will determine if the suspects were legally residing in the country while health officials will determine their health status to know if any of them had Ebola  or not.

Following the arrest  of the foreigners, hotels in the area, it was learnt, were placed under  surveillance while residents were told to report any suspicious persons or activities to the police.

A resident of the area, Femi Ajasa, told Sunday Vanguard that they became suspicious and alerted the police following the mass movements of the foreigners into the hotels in the aftermath of the outbreak of the Ebola virus.

While commending the  police for their swift response which led to the arrest of the suspects, he said  residents suspected that some persons were receiving treatment in the hotels rooms, hence the need to alert the authorities.

” We were particularly concerned about our safety following the revelation that it was a foreigner, Patrick Sawyerr, who imported Ebola to Nigeria. A vigilant resident alerted the community on Friday that he suspected some new faces entering the two hotels mostly patronised by foreigners, hence we alerted  relevant authorities”, he said.

Obasanjo: My problem with Liberia
Obasanjo, yesterday, took a swipe at Liberian officials who, according to him, connived with Sawyer, who brought Ebola Virus to Nigeria.
*Olusegun Obasanjo

*Olusegun Obasanjo

The former president spoke while answering questions from guests at an event organised by the publisher of Inside Watch Africa magazine, Oluwaseyi Adegoke-Adeyemo, tagged, ‘An afternoon with Obasanjo’, held at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta.

According to him, this singular misadventure has started to take its toll on the manpower and the economy of not only Nigeria but the West Africa sub-region.

Obasanjo, however, disclosed that he had a meeting with the Ghanaian President, John Mahama, who’s also the Chairman of the Economic Community of West African Countries, some weeks ago, and discussed  how to contain the spread of the deadly virus within the sub-region.

He further said that, during the meeting, Mahama wanted a meeting of ministers of health, but he suggested that there was a limit the ministers could go and that a summit of the presidents in the sub-region would be better.

He said, “It is devilish enough Patrick Sawyer had to spread this, and indeed spread it to Nigeria in connivance with some authorities from his country, because they knew he had it before he came to Nigeria.

“The EVD has started to take its toll on the country and the West African sub region. The toll is not only on the number of those who are ill or dead but on the economy of communities, countries, region and sub-region”.

The former president, while noting that EVD was not only a regional or sub-regional threat but a global one, called for a summit where a national policy on the disease would be formulated.

Obasanjo said, “Pharmaceutical companies in the country should be encouraged to carry out research on  EVD and come up with vaccine to treat the deadly disease.

“Also, we have to be aggressive in taking precautionary measures. When you see your neighbour or someone who has unique symptoms not just of ordinary cold or fever, take him to the doctor, whether it is symptomatic of Ebola or ordinary malaria.

“We should not wait till someone has got incubated in it, just like Patrick Sawyer, who knew he had it and he deliberately spread it.”

Pandemonium

Timely intervention of Abia State government, yesterday, averted pandemonium in Aba, the commercial nerve of the state, following a report carried by a radio station that a relation of the Port Harcourt Ebola victim, Dr. Iyke Enemuo, had sneaked into the commercial city.

The news immediately triggered panic and residents retiring home abruptly.

But government quickly reacted to deny the report, saying  no case of Ebola  had been recorded in Abia  and that nobody in contact with the Port Harcourt Ebola victim had entered the state.

According to the state Commissioner for Information, Mr. Eze Chikamnayo, no such person had come into Abia just as he restated the commitment of  government to work in concert with the Federal Government to ensure that  Ebola virus did not come to the state.

He said that  Government investigated the report by the radio station and found out that the late Enemuo had no relation residing in Aba.

Riot act in Lagos
Lagos State government, yesterday, warned residents against indulging in unhealthy acts that could escalate Ebola in the state.

The state Commissioner for Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello, gave the warning during the August sanitation monitoring exercise in Isolo Local Council Development Area, LCDA, with the council Chairman, Mr. Shamsideen Olaleye.

According to Bello, residents indulge in habits like open defecation and urination, which aid the spread of EVD, even as he said the acts, if continued, the state government “will have no option than to invoke public health law to prosecute offenders.”

On why this month’s sanitation was exclusively dedicated to advocacy campaign on preventive measures to curb the spread of EVD, the commissioner said that with the case in Port Harcourt,  proactive measures must be taken to save the country from its spread.

He stated that the development necessitated the move to embark on aggressive campaign across Lagos  to enlighten residents on how any unhealthy habits like open defecation could spread the virus.

- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/08/ebola-39-foreigners-held-lagos/#sthash.WJC4jPA7.dpuf
 
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