Nigeria lagging behind in achieving MDGs

UNICEF says Nigeria lagging behind in achieving MDGs



LAGOS (Xinhua)-- The UN Children's Fund UNICEF has rated Nigeria low in its effort in attaining its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), according to a report by the UNICEF office in Nigeria received here on Wednesday.


The report said Nigeria had not made sufficient progress in the attainment of most of the targets of the MDGs set by the UN to eradicate poverty, reduce child and maternal mortality, fight disease and achieve environmental sustainability by 2015.

The UNICEF report indicated that Nigeria had a 29 percent prevalence of underweight children in 2006 and an annual reduction rate of only 2.2 percent.

UNICEF said though Nigeria recorded 68 percent net school enrolment, there was still no progress towards the MDG target, on the achievement of the Universal Basic Education.

It said Nigeria had a 0.89 percent gender parity index, with 72 percent male net enrolment to 64 percent in female, on the elimination of gender disparity in primary education, according to Unicef.

GOWAN & BAKASSI

Published 8/14/2008 3:26:00 AM

Nigerians should not cry over transfer – Gowon....
Jude Owuamanam, Jos

As Nigeria gets set to hand over the Bakassi peninsula to Cameroun on Thursday (today), a former Head of State, Gen Yakubu Gowon, has said that the ceded territory never belonged to Nigeria. He also denied accusations that he handed Bakassi over to Cameroun because of its support for Nigeria during the Biafran war.Gowon, who spoke in a telephone interview with our correspondent on Wednesday, said that the International Court of Justice at The Hague, which gave the ruling ceding the peninsula to Cameroun, was right. He added that Nigerians living in that part had the choice of living there under Camerounian laws or agreeing to be resettled in Nigeria.He said the misconception about the ownership of the peninsula arose when Nigeria was administering the western part of Cameroun as part of the United Nations mandate. Gowon explained that when a plebiscite was undertaken, the people of Western Cameroun decided to go to Cameroun whereas the northern part decided to be in Nigeria.He recalled that it took the ingenuity of the then Premier of Northern Nigeria, Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, to convince the northern part of Cameroun to be in Nigeria while the Nnamdi Azikiwe-led National Council of Nigeria and the Camerouns (as it then was) did little to convince the western part of Cameroun to to remain part of Nigeria.The former head of state said that the ICJ in its ruling, took into cognisance, the Anglo/German Treaties of 1885 and 1914, adding that at the dawn of independence, all African countries agreed to abide by the international boundaries agreed by the occupying powers.Meanwhile, a professor of History of International Relations, University of Lagos, Yomi Akinyeye, said, "The handover is in order. The place called Bakassi never belonged to Nigeria in the first place. The issues and the ownership are so clear."We were only misled by so-called experts who were misguided and who deceived us into going to the International Court of Justice. We never stood a chance."The documents with which the ICJ reached the inevitable decision are in the public archives, we in Nigeria have them, others have them in their own archives."They are based mainly on Anglo-German Treaty of 1913 and at Independence in 1960. It was obvious that other agreements would have to be made but based on the original legal documents signed between the two colonial powers of Germany and Britain."

Sydney 4x400 relay gold gives Nigeria a little lift

Sydney 4x400 relay gold gives Nigeria a little lift

Written by Patrick Omorodion

Saturday, 16 August 2008

Eight years after the US 4x400 relay team inspired by  banned drugs to 'steal' the event's gold medal from the Nigerian quartet of Sunday Bada, Enefiok Udo-Obong, Jude Monye and Clement Chukwu, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) finally awarded the medal to the country during the week.  sunday bada. The retrieval of the medal from the mouthy Americans, who kind of have always been favoured by doping regulations where only non-Americans are usually always caught in the dope web like Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson suffered in 1988 in Seoul, was slow in coming especially after the regulatory body of world's athletics, IAAF had recommended so long time ago. It is however better late than never and it is hoped the winners of that medal would be accorded the right reception accorded others before them, that is the 1996 football Olympic gold medallists and Chioma Ajunwa, Nigeria's first and only individual gold medallists also from the Atlanta Games. While Nigeria and Nigerians still celebrate that gold medal, it is pertinent to mention that its inclusion in the country's total medal haul amounts to little or nothing as it only takes the country seven steps on the overall world ranking from 67th to 60th position. Without the on-going Beijing Olympic Games taken into consideration, Nigeria has against her name 2 gold, 8 silver and 9 bronze medals, bringing her total haul to 19, but with the Sydney relay gold, her gold haul now stands at three with the total going to 20. Compared to the tiny Carribean country of Bahamas, it is a paltry dip in the ocean for a country of about 140 million citizens. Bahamas, before Nigeria got the IOC reprieve, were on the 65th position, two steps better than Nigeria, a country whose population is not near that of Ibadan or even Surulere in Lagos State. Bahamas, who are a very strong force in athletics, especially the relays is made up of about 330,000 people, have garnered 3 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze medals, totaling 8. Before now, Nigeria led in the countries with two gold medals. Ironically, with her new status of three gold, she still leads the countries with three gold medals courtesy of her superior eight silver medals compared to the six, four, four, three, three, two and one respectively garnered by Portugal, Croatia, Australasia, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Bahamas and Azerbaijan. The Sydney gold medal however failed to make any impact on Nigeria's overall medals standing among African countries in the Olympic family. Before and after the medal was added, Nigeria occupied the seventh position, behind South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia, Egypt, Morocco and Algeria in that order. With 36th position in the world, South Africa is the continent's most successful in the history of the Olympics with 20 gold, 23 silver and 26 bronze medals, bringing her total haul to 69. Kenya, known for her prowess in the long distance races comes second in Africa with a total haul of 61 medals, 17 gold, 24 silver and 20 bronze to place 38 in the world. Ethiopia is 41 in the world and third in Africa with 14 gold, 5 silver and 12 bronze medals to aggregate at 31, Egypt follows with 7 gold, 7 silver and 9 bronze, totaling 23 to place 52 in the world. Morocco is fifth in Africa and 54th in the world with 6 gold, 4 silver and 9 bronze with a total haul of 19 medals while Algeria immediately before Nigeria is sixth after garnering 4 gold, 1 silver and 7 bronze medals to place 59th with a total haul of 12. Expectedly, the United States leads the world with 895 gold, 692 silver, 602 bronze with a total haul of 2189. The dismembered Soviet Union is second with 395 gold, 319 silver and 296 bronze, totaling 1010, Great Britain is next with 188 gold, 242 silver and 238 bronze, total 668, France is fourth with 184 gold, 196 silver and 216 bronze with a total of 596 while Italy places fifth with 182 gold, 148 silver and 164 bronze to earn a total of 494 medals. http://www.vanguardngr.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14460&Itemid=0 http://www.corrieredellosport.it/Notizie/Olimpiadi/38405/La+4x400+Usa+restituir%C3%A0+l%27oro+di+Sydney

Nigeria Cedes Bakassi To Cameroun 2008/08/14 By Emma Una/ Calabar & Eromosele Ebhomele The controversial Bakassi Peninsula has been formally handed over to the Republic of Cameroun. The ceremony took place today, in Calabar, the Cross River State capital. Top government officials from Nigeria, Cameroun, representatives of the United Nations, the diplomatic community, etc. witnessed the ceremony. The Nigerian delegation was led by the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Michael Aondoakaa. In his speech at the historic occasion, Aondoakaa said the handing over was a painful exercise. "We are saddled with the painful task of completing the implementation of the ICJ judgement," he said. According to him, there are arrangements for the resettlement of those who have chosen to leave the peninsula, promising the Nigerian indigenes who would remain in the area that their fundamental human rights would be maintained. While the Acting-Governor of Cross River State, R. Hon. Francis Adah, tasked the international community to assist in resettling the displaced Nigerians, who, he said, were already traumatised, the Camerounian minister of State for Justice, Professor Maurice Kamto, confirmed that his country would honour the Green Tree Agreement between the two countries. The United Nations Secretary General, who was represented, promised that the world body will support the displaced people and the governments of the two countries. The hand over process started two years ago, at exactly noon on Monday, 14 August, 2006, when the Nigerian flag and that of the Nigerian Army were lowered at one of the islands, Archibong Town in Bakassi. They were handed over to the then Attorney-General of the Federation, Chief Bayo Ojo, and the former Chief of Defence Staff, General Martin Luther Agwai, while the Camerounian flag was hoisted. It was then the Bakassi people were first hit by the realisation of a possible hand over of their land to Caremoun. They had thought a miracle would happen to change the International Court of Justice's ruling in favour of Cameroun. This ceremony became the first phase of the final hand over of the Peninsula extension of the territory of Calabar into the Atlantic Ocean with a population of between 250,000 to 300,000 people. The Republic of Cameroun had continually emphasised that the land belongs to it, capitalising on two agreements reached between it and the Nigerian government in the 1970s. The Yaounde II Declaration of 4 April, 1971, and the Maroua Declaration of 1 June, 1975, were devised to outline maritime boundaries between the two countries following their independence. The line was reportedly drawn through the Cross River estuary to the West of the Peninsula, thereby implying Camerounian ownership over Bakassi which covers an area of 665sq kilometers. Nigeria never ratified the agreement and Cameroun regarded it as being in force and this prompted the ICJ ruling in the Hague on 10 October, 2002. Despite the Green Tree Agreement between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the Camerounian President, Mr. Paul Biya and the subsequent handing over process, a Federal High court sitting in Abuja put a hold to today's ceremony. However, for the first time, citizens of the country think that President Musa Yar'Adua has gone against the rule of law. Even members of the House of Representatives think so. The Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Information, Eziuche Ubani, said the National Assembly should have held on to the alibi of the Federal High Court, Abuja and remind the President of his beleif in the rule of laws. "We didn't do our job at the National Assembly. There were things we could have done to stop the President from handing over our territory, at least for now," he said. For the Senator representing Bakassi, Senator Bassey Ewah Henshaw, crying would not be enough to show the grief of the people. "Government has scathered my people all over the place. My people are all refugees everywhere with nowhere to call home," he said. Noting that nothing has come out of the resettlement effort of the Federal government, the Senator said, "the people are very bitter against those people that have done them in. In time, the people will be able to identify the real people who have put them in this terrible condition." According to him, the National Assembly was yet to ratify the ICJ judgement and the various agreements by the two countries. Meanwhile, Dr. Ambrose Akpnika, a one time Commissioner for Health in Cross River State and the Mkpisong Ukara of Calabar, has described the proposed relocation of the Bakassi people to Ikang in Akpabuyo Local Government of Cross River State as a farce which is bound to fail. Dr. Akpanika, who is a prominent indigene of Bakassi, said the people of Bakassi have lived in their present place of abode for over 200 years and have taken the Bakassi Island as their ancestral home, so it would be difficult to go where they don't know. Akpanika, who is one of the Kingmakers in Efik Kingdom, said that for a people who have never known any other place as their home, they will resist any attempt made to move them in the name of relocation. Speaking to P. M. NEWS in Calabar, Dr. Akpaniko said: "my stand on the issue is that there are Bakassi natives and there are also Bakassi people. People from all parts of Nigeria and from other countries who have lived in Bakassi for over 200 years, are called Bakassi people, they have no other home. Now you cannot ask these people to re-locate. But you cannot relocate Bakassi natives who are like the Aborigines Christopher Columbus saw when he went to America . "But I think there is a contraption trying to remove the Bakassi people from Bakassi. Cameroon was given sovereignty over the land of the people of Bakassi. "The question of moving them does not arise and the United Nations Charter did not stipulate that," he declared. He said the people of Bakassi had made presentation to the Senate Committee earlier in the year asking for a stay in the handover but this has been overruled "and I think that they must have made up their minds already about the people of Bakassi and had given one thing that had never been mentioned by anybody." Dr. Akpanika said the plan of those who are bent on relocating the people want to exploit the resources of the area. "That Bakassi is full of manganese not just oil that they are fighting for. Those people might be looking at the Manganese and Manganese is a special metal some of which is used in making planes and space ships. "So Manganese is more expensive than oil, so the people who are now trying to move the natives of Bakassi from their ancestral home to somewhere else are suspect. "So what we say is that we trace the history of the people to know those who have linkage with Bakassi for some 200 years, those who have gone to Bakassi to do business and those who don't have homes. "Above all, please, Bakassi natives cannot be relocated from their home land. We have islands that could be filled up for these people who have always done business in the river to resettle." He asserted that the Calabar channel should therefore not be handed over just like that. "The Agreement that divides the channel into two for Nigeria to occupy one corner while Cameroon occupies the other corner and after five years Cameroon will take over completely, is wrong," he said. http://thepmnews. com/2008/ 08/14/nigeria- cedes-bakassi- to-cameroun

NIGERIAN MEN WIFE-KILLERS IN AMERICA !

Have you ever seen the face of a wife killer? Have you ever met anyone who took the life of the mother of his children? Have you ever seen or met such a person who is a Nigerian? How spooky it is indeed that such a person has the blood of another human being and a Nigerian for that matter, drooling over his hands! Such a hallowing experience becomes much creepier, when that monster who took the life of a Nigerian is also a fellow Nigerian whom you may have interacted with somehow. somewhat! Now buckle up your belt as Icheoku takes you on a harried excursion through the faces, names and somewhat biographies of some of these denigrate of society! They are painting the average Joe-Nigerian man in American as a domestic violent person; a potential wife killer! A bad name indeed, really? They are the worst of the Nigerian male society in America : the dregs of the society! They are the fabled black-sheep who have defiled and violated the sanctity of the Nigerian family cohesiveness. These men killed their WIVES! They made their children motherless! It is abominable! Brace yourself! Now, meet denigrate person wife-killer number one, Mr. Kelechi Charles Emeruwa:- A Nigerian Mr. Kelechi Charles Emeruwa, (pictured here right) 41 of Old Umuahia, Abia State was charged and convicted with first degree murder of his estranged wife, 36 year old Registered Nurse, Chidiebere Omenihu Ochulo. Kelechi finally lost it and stabbed his wife, with her own kitchen knife, several times that the fountain left on Julius Ceaser fades in comparison, until she gave up the ghost. "According to the account, Chidiebere had just returned from Nigeria where she bolted away for three weeks to give her late father a lavish burial despite protestations of Mr. Kelechi of the bills that are accruing and payable here in America . She wouldn't hear any of it, after-all she makes the money; only to return to an angry frustrated maniacal husband who took her kitchen knife and carved her up. It was on New Year's Day, in her townhouse in the 4200 block of Dunwood Terrace, in the Washington DC suburb of Burtonsville in Montgomery County , Maryland . For a l ittle biography, Chidiebere was born on June 1, 1970 and attended schools in Umuahia and Yola before proceeding to University of Nigeria Nsukka where she bagged a degree in Microbiology. She then got married to Kelechi in 1996 and left for the US the same year, having won the American Visa lottery. In an effort to really settle down in the US and get a respectable job, she took a second degree in Nursing and began a career at Washington Hospital Centre. As a result of her hard work, she got to the peak of the administrative cadre as a Deputy Director, Clinical Services, at the Centre where she remained until her death in the cold hands of the man she once loved - the father of her three children. In Tennessee, a Nigerian man after taking it for so long, lost his cool and shot his Registered Nurse wife as well as his hitherto mother in-law to death with a shot gun. According to the account this RN wife was married from Nigeria a pauper and brought to the United States by this m an, who trained her in school as a registered nurse. Soon after her qualification, the demon in her was let loose and it became one torment after another, with one police call after another followed by sleep-over in police cells and it went on and on ad infinitum. After a protracted battle with the authorities at the wife's instigation, this man lost his almost nearly paid-off home to his wife, including the custody of his three kids by her. He sees these kids just periodically according to court's order and at the discretionary behest of the wife who sometimes comes to the appointed custody visitation ground at a time of her choosing; just to punish and suffer this man. He could not take it any longer and now the rest is history with two women shot dead and the killer in death row awaiting the electric chair. Another lunatic fringed monster, Mr. Theophilus Ojukwu has equally entered the annals of Nigerian men wife-killers in the United States of America ! This cancer of wife killing by Nigerian husbands is fast spreading that the Nigerian society is getting numb and used to it, as one of the social maladies of our times. A heinous act which hitherto would be very abominable that people are shocked to their bone marrows is today seen as a possibility. In Garland, Texas on Saturday, March 25, 2007 Mr.Theophilus Ojukwu, (pictured right in his orange prison jumpsuit) 46, of Enugwu-Agu, Ihe in Awgu LGA, Enugu State used a mattock (hammer) to bludgeon his deeply asleep RN wife, Melvina Ojukwu, 36, of Umuanebe, also of Ihe, Awgu LGA, Enugu State to a very painful agonizing death. Sources close to the family said that about two years ago, Melvina's mother and mother in-law of Theophilus, who was visiting from Nigeria tragically died in a mysterious circumstance, in a bathtub in their house at 5400 block of Barcelona Drive , Garland Texas ; this is where Melvina also met her untimely and heartbreaking death. Whether this is a chain of events is inconclusive but both situations were very tragic! Mr Theophilus Ojukwu has since been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole; that one w ould ask, is the craze to control the RN's "legendary money- faucet" enough for this tragedy and the life imprisonment consequence thereof? In another family-related violent incident involving a Nigerian, it was reported in The Atlanta Journal-Constitutio n of March 8, 2006 that a Registered Nurse Roseline Unachukwu, 34, and her six children were taken to the family violence shelter, Northwest YWCA in Marietta, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta, as a result of physical violence. According to people with knowledge of the incident, the poor lady escaped with her life from her husband's maniacal rage with very severe cuts in her arms which she received while fending off her husband's killer-rage. Her husband, Benjamin Unachukwu from Nnewi, Anambra State , was taken to jail to face two criminal charges with the kitchen-knife weapon of choice as evidence exhibit! In Los Angeles California it was reported that a Nigerian RN wife was brutally murdered by her husband. The viciousness of the attack was such that the man eventually tied the dead body of his wife to his truck and dragged her dead body through the roads and streets of Southern California until=2 0her skull gave up its cranial contents. He was eventually arrested, charged, tried and convicted for first degree murder with special circumstance which carries the death penalty! He is presently awaiting a date with the lethal injection in a cold segregated death-row prison cell! Only recently, one Nigeria RN woman living in Dallas Texas had this to write on the Internet about her fellow estranged Nigerian husband:- "I have been married to Mr. X (real name excluded by Icheoku as we do not want to be a purveyor of this domestic madness) for 20years, and had five children for him. I was married to him at the age of 18years, and joined him in Dallas from Nigeria after my high school. For those 20years of marriage which can pass for 20years of bondage and slavery, I have had to endure constant physical abuse, verbal abuse, and emotional abuse and mental torture in the hands of Mr. X. I am asking whosoever that=2 0reads my story to please send it out to as many forums as they have access to. Silence they say is golden. But if you are dealing with a mad, sad, disgruntled man like Benjamin X, silence will no longer be golden". And what could have driven a Nigerian wife to write such an unflattering "oration" about her husband, one would ask? The answer depends on who you ask. Is this couple close to the finish line? Similarly, in Grand Prairie , Dallas , Texas , Mrs. Monireti Abeni Akeredolu, (pictured below in her wedding with her killer-husband) a 46-year old Registered Nurse from Ondo State Nigeria met her untimely death in the hands of her estranged husband, Mr. Ebenezer Akeredolu, Sr., 48. According to the story, Mr. Akeredolu drove several hundred miles from Georgia (where he had moved to nurse his pains at loosing everything he had worked so hard for since coming to the United States several decades ago) to Dallas and pumped several bullet s into his ex-wife in day light, with so many people watching the macabre spectacle. Mrs. Monireti died slumped in the wheels of her SUV enroute to a birthday party in her honor – she had just turned 46 a day before on September 7, 2005. Not too long ago, also, on August 10, 2005 in Euless, a suburb of Dallas, another frustrated Nigerian husband, 45-year old Johnny Omorogieva from Edo State, Nigeria murdered his RN wife, Mrs. Isatu Omorogieva, 35, also of Edo State by savagely striking her on the head numerous times with a hammer in the full view of their 7-year old screaming daughter. In Tulsa, Oklahoma a yet to be fully authenticated report has it that another Nigerian man recently bludgeoned his RN wife to death while she was fast asleep; following a traumatic life which she has subjected him to since turning into the majority bread winner of the family following her graduating from a nursing program. Another Nigerian nut-case, Mr. John Onwuka (pictured here right in his orange prison jumpsuit) 49, from Akwete community of Ohafia Bende Local Government Area of Abia State was charged with one count each of homicide and use of a knife in the commission of a felony. He stabbed his RN wife of twenty five years, Mrs Gloria Uchechi Anya Onwuka age 42, fourteen times in her bedroom while she was getting ready to go to work. She was a nurse manager. Mr. John Onwuka committed this crime on the night of Saturday August 19, 2006 at the home of his wife in Estate Drive , Farmington , Hampton , Virginia with her children watching him act out his gory insanity. "Yes I have killed the woman that messed my life up! A woman that had destroyed me. I am at Shalom West, my name is Michael and am all yours". With those words - a 911 call placed to the authorities, another Nigeria man has joined the infamous heinous club of Nigerian Men Wife Killers. Fifty year old Mr. Michael Collins Iheme (pictured here left) of Hennepin Minnesota placed the call above few minutes after shooting his twenty eight year old wife, Mrs. Anthonia Eberechi iheme, the mother of his 4 year old boy and 3 year old girl, to death. What is wrong with this crazed out Nigeria man was that he lacked the stomach to take all the bullshit he was forced to take by a typical Nigerian "Nurse" wife. However in as much as Icheoku does not condone such misbehaviour of taking the life of another, these Nigeria men who marry "fedexed" wives should better watch it as what they bargained for might not necessarily always come to fruition. There is no need travelling to Africa to find a wife - if it is akaata, filpino. latina mamacita, oke-bekee or even chinese that loves you, please settle down with such a person. Your love for foofoo and egusi soup is not enough to trade your happiness and possibly freedom when they make you do the unthinkable like our Mr. Micahel Collins Iheme and crew. For the records, it would appear that majority of these uxoricides occurred in Dallas , Texas ! Leading to the question, whuz up Dallas ? Is there any maniacal peculiarity with Nigerian men living in Dallas ? Further, most of the victims were Registered Nurses which forces one to ask is the "war over the purse" of who controls this their "legendary treasure trove" enough reason to commit the most heinous of all crimes? Also the number of such homicides is rather astronomical judging the sanctity of life-environment from which majority of these homicidal maniacs come from back in Nigeria . Admitted, that it is dreadfully wrong and also a sacrilege for anyone to take the life of another, especially if that other was a spouse; but what could be the driving factor of this senseless exhibition of ravenous rage by some frustrated Nigerian men in the United States of America ? This question is imperative because there are other more acceptable options available for getting out of a hellish marriage including just getting up and leaving; mutual separation; taking a second wife just like the Mormons of Texas, Utah and Nevada; becoming a bachelor once again; keeping a girl friend outside your so called matrimonial home or the penultimate divorce instead of committing the mother of all crimes - taking the life of another! Nothing is worth it! Does the underlying problem defy every solution imaginable? NO!=2 0Take a deep breath and consider other options including the almighty walking-out! Nothing is worth the trouble! Not all the diamonds in South Africa and/or gold in Fort Knox ! The "mansion" which you are fighting for, you did not bring it with you to America ? The SUV or Mercedes car that is making you to loose your head, the manufacturing plant in Stuttgart Germany has not yet closed shop! In your convoluted suspicion that your wife is sleeping around because she dresses well, ask yourself, where is the foundational trust of your relationship and at worst, were you the first man in her life? Did you break her virginity and why do you think it is either you with her or nobody at all, that you will rather have her dead than loose her to someone else? Have you also tried getting professional counseling or earnestly engaging your wife in an open discussion to find out what you may be doing wrong and make amends where necessary. Have you tried temporary separation for a cool-off period? At worst get an amicable divorce so that you guys can remain friends for the benefit of the children! Before you write that check which you cannot cash, please stop and ask yourself, before you met her did you not have any life? It is not worth it! Learn to move on; as around the next corner may be lurking your real wife of "Christian marriage" who will really cherish and love you for who you are! Your wife's leaving you is not the end of the world as we know it! As the popular aphorism goes, "when one door closes another one is open down the road". Nothing is worth the taking of life and not that of a spouse who also is a Nigerian! PLEASE GET A LIFE! Ezeamii, Hyacinth