USA Africa Dialogue Series - Is Nigeria Finally Defeating Boko Haram?

A FRAMEWORK FOR COLLABORATIVE GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF AFRICAN AND AFRICAN DIASPORA SOCIETIES

Topic: Is Nigeria Finally Defeating Boko Haram? Join the conversation  on AV Tele­fo­rum via phone, Skype and Online Fri­day, March 6th, 2015 from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM (EST) Call: 1-760-283-0850 Skype: African­views Host: World Ebony Network, Dr. Ezi Mecha, Founder & CEO (www.worldebonynetwork.org)   How to participate: call in by phone during call time or visit this link for background and detail information Event page: http://africanviews.org/component/content/article/1017-av-radio/integral-peace-25205/49715-is-nigeria-finally-defeating-boko-haram.html On March 6th, 2014, Part III will examine the current situation and question if the actions of Boko Haram are getting better or worse and if Nigerian has been successfully dealing with Boko Haram. The panel will examine the failures on success following Dr. Katch's recount of Boko Haram's history and the current situation on ground. Some of the failures include: Training of young child soldiers and Suicide bombing while some of the successes include the recapturing of Baga where Boko Haram destroyed and killed so many people, coordination of activities between Chad, Cameroon, and Niger with American support, and confidence and morale-boosting visit of the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant-General Kenneth Minimah. Part 1 of this Peace Talks on Boko Haram radio show, held in Dec 2014, provided an opportunity to learn about the history of Boko Haram where Dr. Ononuju, president and visiting scholar of Heritage Center, a think tank foundation located in Abuja, unveiled an impressive account of the Boko Haram history and the social neglect that might have cultivated this Salafist group.       Guest Speaker  Dr. Katch Ononuju is an economist, Public Affairs analyst, and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Just back from the United States of America (USA), on what he termed an international media tour, Ononuju says he made judicious use of his time in the US, where he featured in about six U.S based television stations which includes Sky Television, Time Warner Cable, Verizon TV, Arise TV, CNBC as well as Fox television in a bid to promote the image of his country at large. Ononuju reveals that he is a Nigerian. According to him, "injustice to any part of Nigeria is a threat to justice all over Nigeria. If you do not allow the Hausa child access to education, the Hausa child becomes a dangerous tool for the destabilization of corporate Nigeria, and being a Nigerian that disturb me that there is a weapon somewhere that there is a threat to the existence and stability of my country. Now, we are beginning to see crisis that is why we have gone down to research. The Boko Haram problem is not new, it is just a new name given to an old problem, neither have I searched and found that this problem has been there for a long time, it is our own responsibility to speak up where this evil exist. Internationally, the West believes that it is the present government that has some way somehow short-changed the North, no! It is because they have children that do not have access to education that is why he does not have the logistics to compete and win and succeed in a market driven-system. http://www.mynewswatchtimesng.com/sins-nyako-unpardonable-says-ononuju/   Panelists:  Columba Nnorom, a Professor Political Science and American Government at University of Virginia Union, Richmond VA is President at Bishop Joseph Shanahan Foundation Richmond Virginia. According to him, "I am an eternal student. I strive to read and write daily. I believe that knowledge is power. And my primary objective is to make students appreciate the importance of knowledge and to teach them how to get it-using an interdisciplinary approach. I teach my students to work as a team. I am a great fan of the audio-visual approach to learning. I would also like to share my experience with the students. I came to the U.S. with nothing and "worked" nights in order to go to school. I want to raise their spirits, to remind them that America is still the "land of opportunity," where you go from "zero" to Professor and even to President. My intellectual range is wide. I would like them to know why an Obama could happen only in America and not in Europe, a continent where Black people have been living for several centuries. I want my students to love American & to be patriotic citizens. I am presently writing two books. One of them-"Random But Close Encounters with General Ojukwu, the Biafra Head of State"- is almost finished. I am just waiting for a video copy of the interview he did with French State T.V. in 2001 & to add parts of it to the book. (General Ojukwu was the Biafra Head of State (1966-1970) of the oil-rich Eastern Nigeria. After several pogroms against the Christian Biafra-Igbo by militant northern Muslims, he tried to defend his people, but lost the war. About 3 million people perished in Africa's first & forgotten holocaust-including my elder brother & three cousins. Oxford University-educated General Ojukwu, whose father was Africa's first millionaire, was a close friend. He was on the cover of Time Magazine in 1968 & died in 2012. Boko Haram, which has been killing thousands of Christians and moderate Muslims since 2010, is the latest deadly manifestation of what he fought against. The other book, William Gaston, Defender of Religious Freedom," is a biography of one of America's best legal minds & orators. But most Americans do not know him".    Earl Gast is a senior international advisor for Africa.  Mr. Gast, a non-lawyer, was the Assistant Administrator for Africa at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) prior to joining the firm.  In this role, he oversaw a large and varied portfolio that provided $7 billion in assistance to 49 African countries.  Prior to this appointment, Mr. Gast served as the USAID's Mission Director in Afghanistan, overseeing the Agency's largest overseas program, which was providing $4 billion in assistance to increase stability through agriculture, economic development, education and governance.  Mr. Gast was Acting Mission Director for Colombia and from 2008 to 2010 he was USAID's Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator for Africa.  From 2005 to 2008, he was the Regional Mission Director for Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova. He served as the USAID representative to the U.N. agencies in Rome in 2004.  As the Mission's Deputy Director from April 2003 to March 2004, Mr. Gast was one of the first USAID employees stationed in Iraq.  Here he helped launch operations and manage a $2.2 billion reconstruction program in the conflict-riddled country.  Mr. Gast played an equally important role in developing the post-crisis strategy for Kosovo, where he served from June 2002 to April 2003 as Deputy Director overseeing all mission operations.  From 2000 to 2002, Mr. Gast was the Supervisory Program Officer for USAID's Caucasus regional mission, following his work assuming supervisory program officer responsibilities for USAID's Ukraine regional mission in 1996.  In 1995, Mr. Gast was an Advisor to the U.S. Embassy in Russia in a special office created by the U.S. Ambassador. HONORS AND RANKINGS Presidential Rank Award (2013); Distinguished Service Award (2011); USAID, Agency's Award for Heroism (2004); Distinguished Unit Award for his work in Iraq (2003); and the C. Herbert Rees Award (1999) Read More: http://www.cov.com/egast/       Mr. John Iheoma, a  Ph.D Candicate at North Central University, concentration in Homeland Security. Insurance agent/Producer at Aflac corporation/Private Investigator-Evergreen Protective Services. He is has 26 years of law enforcement experience. He has been a Vice President for Evergreen Protective Services since 2010 after 20 years of law enforcement with the State of Maryland as a detective sergeant. His Bachelors degree is in Accounting from Temple University. He has 2 Masters Degree in Management and Law Enforcement Executive leadership. He has a certificate in Counter Terrorism from George Town University.       Currently  Visiting  Professor  of  Political  Science  and  International  Affairs  at  The Lincoln University,  Prof.  Kenoye K.  Eke, Sr. has more than twenty nine years of experience as a faculty and senior administrator in American higher education. He has served as Provost/Chief Academic Officer at three universities including, The Lincoln University, Cheyney University of  Pennsylvania,  and  Kentucky  State University. He is the author of Nigerian Foreign Policy Under Two Military Governments – 1966-1979; and co-editor (with Prof. A.  Odasuo Alali)  of  Media Coverage of  Terrorism: Methods of Diffusion. An activist scholar, Prof. Eke is the founding Chairman of the Coalition of Concerned Nigerian  Educators  (CCNE),  USA,  an  organization  established  to  deepen  the engagement  of  Nigerian-born educators  in  the  U.S.  with the educational  reform efforts  in  Nigeria.  He  is  also  the  immediate  Past  President  of  the  Rivers  State Foundation, Inc., the organization of Rivers State indigenes domicile in the U.S., and immediate  Past  President  of  Abua-Odual,  USA,  Inc.,  an  organization  of  natives of Abua-Odual  Local Government Area of Rivers State.