The energy sector (Sweden produces cheapest electricity) the paper industry, trainee administrators.... the list is long
16.1.2015 re – Sweden – Nigeria relations
Will Self: The Charlie Hebdo Attack and the Awkward Truths About Our Fetish for 'Free Speech'
Nigeria – Africa's most populous democracy wracked by terrorism
Here it is only the terrorism that I'm taking up. At the outset let me say this : all the old fault lines are vibrating and on the brink of collapse – it could be a major earthquake and I believe that if my man Muhammadu Buhari does not win the presidential elections as a result of the incumbent's rigging, then peacefully or not peacefully, Nigeria is going to disintegrate. We won't have long to wait to see whether this will happen or not. It will not be mere civil disobedience if there is massive election fraud – already we read that some 35 million voters are at risk of being disenfranchised. Another problem is, how can elections be held in the areas where Boko Haram is on the rampage and people are being daily uprooted and put to flight?
Volumes can be written/said about Nigeria, all the wonderful people. I worked there in what was then Rivers State, 1981-1984. In 1981 when the oil boom was at its peak, the Nigerian Naira was worth Ten Swedish Kronor or £ 1 sterling whereas with the dramatic drop in oil prices and the devaluation of the naira over the years , today the Naira is worth 0.044 Swedish Krona/ 0.0035 British Pound Sterling
There's even a problem with electricity production in Nigeria.
A rapid & comprehensive introduction to the oil problem is provided by
Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi on BBC Hardtalk
I'm writing this two days after reading the statements herein attributed to Biafra's one time leader Emeka Ojukwu and a few days after we have been informed that the Swedish government is mulling over the idea of sending troops to help our beleaguered Kurdish brothers fight ISIL
I'm propelled into this blog update more in a spirit of Brothers keepers after reading this line from Adewale Maja-Pearce:
"There is much talk here in Nigeria of the world's muted response to the latest outrage by the Boko Haram Islamic insurgents who sacked the entire town of Baga in the beleaguered north-east while any number of heads of state gathered in Paris to mourn the deaths of 17 French citizens. Double standards?" ( LRB blog
In all fairness, to what extent can these most notorious Boko Haram terrorists be said to be representing al-Islam?
They have been on the rampage, spreading death and destruction for close to a decade and are now world famous (infamy), to the extent that our Prime Minister Stefan Löfven fresh from the anti-terror march in Paris, was mentioning them in the first few seconds of the first post-election debate in the Swedish parliament, just two days ago.(At precisely 14.21 minutes into this video of the debate which is dubbed in English)
According to a reliable Hausa linguistics authority, Boko Haram means "fake knowledge" – it does not mean "Western Knowledge is forbidden" although that is the popular rendition of the term according to the Nigerian media
– just as "Muslim" does not mean someone whose main aim in life is the kidnapping of schoolgirls and marrying them off to their terrorist jihad warriors, burning down churches and sacking innocent communities like the Baga community – for no apparent reason whatsoever, unless their aim is to completely depopulate Nigeria through genocide and to build an Islamic Caliphate over the dead carcasses of unburied men, women and children.
Apart from the ritual fraud and the traditional rigging that has characterized previous Nigerian elections what we are now witnessing is the daily escalation of the terrorist threat from Boko Haram in the run up to the mother of all Nigerian presidential elections which is scheduled to take place on 14th of February this year. So far, Goodluck Jonathan the incumbent President, an Ijaw man from the Delta river area in the South East (the former Rivers State) has been like a toothless crocodile on the Banks of the River Nile or his favourite river in Israel – on the banks of the River Jordan where he has often been on pilgrimage to pray for salvation, while others (those who call him "Badluck Jonathan") are saying that although he has passed over dozens of more senior officers and appointed one of his loyal Ijaw tribesmen as head of the Nigerian military, he has mostly been like a toothless chimpanzee when it comes to combating Boko Haram and even more toothless, when it comes to combating corruption.
A word that needs to be repeated : Corruption
How can he seem otherwise when the Nigerian military has been repeatedly committing terrible atrocities on civilians, many of his Nigerian soldiers are demoralised, haven't been paid for some months now, are not cowards but are under-equipped, are deserting in droves and are being charged with "treason" and sentenced to death – unwilling and unable to fight because they are being outgunned by the Boko Haram terrorists who are well fed and are merciless, probably getting their ammunition and weapon supplies such as rocket launchers from Libya through Chad …
Whilst we may be discussing democracy, freedom of speech, censorship ("moderation") in this and that occult club or tribal forum, the situation calls for outside help, since more than ever before Boko Haram is on the rampage, indiscriminately killing people and for everybody this question still looms large :
Exactly what does Boko Haram want?
Among other things they have been saying for a long time now, that they want their men who are in Nigerian prisons (probably being tortured/ killed) freed – ostensibly as part of a peace deal, but who is listening?
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