UK envoy lambasts TB Joshua over AirAsia crash prophesy

Tuesday, December 30, 2014
UK envoy lambasts TB Joshua over AirAsia crash prophesy by Temitayo Famutimi

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The founder of the Synagogue Church of all Nations, Prophet Temitope Joshua, has claimed that he saw a vision of the disappearance of a Singapore-bound AirAsia plane days before the incident. The AirAsia Flight QZ8501, which had 16 children and 146 other passengers and crew members on board, was said to have disappeared from the radar in Surabaya, Indonesia on Sunday. Following the disappearance of the passenger plane, SCOAN released a video on its YouTube page, in which TB Joshua accused Indonesia of failing to heed its earlier warning. "I have a message for the nation, Indonesia. This country, Indonesia – I don't know what is happening. They should pray for Indonesia. That is, the nation Indonesia. When it comes to this disaster issue, I don't want to mention it. It looks so nasty to me to mention – a situation where it will cost a lot of lives, suddenly. "This is a crash. Why should this continue to happen there? I think there is a nature – a geographical atmosphere. There is something there that they should look into," TB Joshua stated in the video sermon which the church claimed had been shot days before the plane's disappearance. The church added that on its YouTube page that in spite of the Indonesia's failure to look into the "geographical atmosphere," TB Joshua and his followers had begun praying "that God would strengthen the family members and friends of all those involved in this tragic incident." But the British High Commissioner to Ghana, Jon Benjamin, urged the general public to dismiss TB Joshua's claims. "But he couldn't prophecy his own church collapsing, killing over 100?" Benjamin, a British foreign service officer of 28 years, who has simultaneous diplomatic accreditationto Togo, Benin and Burkina Faso, said via his Twitter page. Apart from the UK diplomat who carpeted TB Johsua over his claims, an online outrage trailed his prophesy. A Black Briton, based in Croydon, United Kingdom, Melody Badza-Chinouriri, lambasted for claiming to have foretold the air disaster. Badza-Chinourir said, "I will never run to a man who does not even own up to the disaster he failed to avert at his backyard. He even blatantly refused to attend the coroner inquest despite repeated invitations. No accountability whatsoever. "I hope Nigeria will wake up and arrest him this time round. He is putting that country on the spot for wrong reasons. Let him prophesy all the killings happening in Nigeria. Many people have died in Nigeria than Indonesia. You have a prophet; why are you perishing then in Nigeria?" A respondent on Lawyer Omegad queried the credibility of the said video, adding that TB Joshua's controversial prophecies were useless as they had over the years failed to redeem lives. "How come we are only seeing this so-called prophesy today? It's obvious the video was posted many hours after the plane has already gone missing. I doubt this because God revels to redeem," Omegad said. Another online activist, Emeka Martins, said, "Indeed most Nigerians are gullible. Why should they believe in prophesies of end-time fake pastors. TB Joshua should explain to the court what led to the death of those people in his synagogue. Why did he not prophesy his own calamity?" While other online commentators taunted the clergyman strings of prophecies, some Nigerians challenged him to foretell the day in which the abducted Chibok girls would be freed by the fundamentalist Islamist sect, Boko Haram. "We don't want to know which disaster is next, we want a prayer that will bring the Chibok girls back home," a respondent, Samuel David, wrote on SCOAN's YouTube page. However, TB Joshua's followers rallied round him, fending off criticisms of what they described as his divine calling. A Malawian, Elsie PembeKumwenda, insisted on Facebook that the cleric is God sent, saying, "Prophet TB Joshua is doing what no one can do today. Whatever he prophesises comes to pass, yet we don't believe him. We usually regret our actions when it (tragedy) happens. May God give our prophet more of his grace


http://odili.net/news/source/2014/dec/30/821.html

Suspects abandon Italy, China to lead robbery gang in Lagos

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Suspects abandon Italy, China to lead robbery gang in Lagos

by Olaleye Aluko

The suspects and the recovered arms and ammunition  advertisement

The Lagos State Police Command on Tuesday paraded seven suspected members of an armed robbery gang, two of whom confessed to have travelled from Italy and China to lead the gang in Lagos.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the gang members were arrested on Saturday, September 20, in the Ebute Meta, Lagos while they were preparing for an operation.

Our correspondent gathered that the suspects - Joel Eghon, Jude Dike, Ifeanyi Onwegbuchi, Solomon Igwe, Emmanuel Ifeanyi, Ejike Emegwo and Leonard Afoaku - were apprehended with a Toyota Hiace which they had earlier snatched along the Ibadan-Ife Expressway.

According to the police, the bus contained Volkswagen engines, female bags, shoes and motor gear oil, which had been recovered.

Speaking with PUNCH Metro, the Italian returnee, 55-year-old Dike, said he had spent eight years in Italy trying to make ends meet, but returned to Nigeria about three years ago to join the gang.

Dike, who hails from Orlu, Imo State, said he supervised the sale of all the goods stolen by the gang.

Grey-haired Dike said, "I have my stores on Ashogbon Street, Isale Eko, Idumota in Lagos. Before coming to Lagos, I was in Italy for eight years. I was doing drugs runs for many dealers. I came back to Lagos three years ago, where I met Emegwo. We were staying together in Idumota. He was the one who introduced me to the gang.

"When they go on operations, they drop the goods they snatch in my store. I sell them for the gang and share the money out after removing my own gains. When some cosmetics were stolen, my gain was N800,000. On another occasion, my gain was N600,000."

Dike added that he had been with the gang for about three years.

"At a point, I told them I wanted to quit because I knew I was treading a wrong path, but they threatened to implicate me and I continued," he added.

For 31-year-old Emegwo, he was working as keeper of a warehouse in Beijing, China and had to leave the country due to poor payment.

He said, "I returned to Nigeria in August 2013. I was working in Beijing, China, in a warehouse. China was not easy. I was not well paid. I came back because my papers were about to expire and I did not want immigration problems.

"I followed them for this particular operation because my wife needed money. She is carrying a still born and we need to pay for an operation. Unfortunately, we had not sold the goods before we were arrested."

The police revealed that the mode of operation of the gang was to pose as security officials on the highway and flag down targeted drivers for "stop-and-search". In the process, the suspected robbers would attack their victims.

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Cornelius Aderanti, said nine rounds of 9mm ammunition, three locally-made pistols and 33 live cartridges were recovered from the gang. He added that the police would continue to fight crimes in the state.

He said, "When I got information about the activities of this gang, I instructed the Special Anti-Robbery Squad team, led by Abba Kyari, to go after the suspects. They have all confessed to several robberies in Lagos, Osun and Oyo states.

"The police in Lagos are going to continue to hunt down criminals and protect lives and property. The suspects will be made to face the full wrath of the law."

http://odili.net/news/source/2014/sep/24/848.html

Parradang and Moro...should leave office and be prosecuted

Moro, NIS boss fought over immigration recruitment – Investigation

MARCH 21, 2014 BY FIDELIS SORIWEI AND ADELANI ADEPEGBA 

Parradang and Moro

Facts have emerged that a cold war between the Minister of Interior, Mr. Abba Moro and the Comptroller General of the Nigerian  Immigration Service, Mr. David Parradang, played a major role in the  NIS  recruitment  that resulted in the death of 20 job applicants on Saturday.

It was learnt on Wednesday in Abuja that both Moro and Parradang had been on each other’s throat over who should conduct the exercise.

Investigations revealed that while the minister insisted that it was the responsibility of the Ministry of Interior to handle the recruitment as the presiding ministry, the comptroller general  was of the view that the service should be allowed to handle the recruitment.

A source, who spoke to one of our correspondents on ‘the drama’ that preceded the immigration jobs tragedy, said the Immigration boss had argued that  those to be given jobs would work with the NIS as such the service could  not be left out.

It was learnt that at the height of the disagreement between Moro and Parradang, the ministry was said to have engaged a consultant, Drexet Tech Global, to conduct the exercise.

The leadership of the NIS was said to have been excluded from the processes that led to the engagement of the consultant.

Ministry officials, who should know about the consultant,   said that not much information was released on the deal.

“Look, nobody really knew anything about this consultant. All we were told was that it was one man or one woman. It didn’t go beyond that. Honestly, I really can’t tell,” a ministry source said in response to enquiries by The PUNCH.

It was learnt that while the minister delegated the NIS boss to ensure the smooth conduct of the ill-fated recruitment, Parradang in turn was said to have delegated  a deputy  comptroller to preside over the exercise in Abuja.

It was learnt that while over one million applicants besieged the centres across the country, both the minister and the NIS boss were in Jos felicitating with the Governor of Plateau State, Jonah Jang, who celebrated his 70th birthday in Jos on Saturday.

A source told one of our correspondents that Moro was taken aback when he saw Parradang at the venue of the governor’s birthday on the date of the exercise.

It was learnt that Parradang had reasoned that he had to be physically present at the event because Jang played a major role in his emergence as the CG of the NIS.

Efforts to get the NIS Public Relations Officer, Emeka Obua, failed as our correspondents could not reach him on his mobile phone.

But a source in the NIS confirmed that Parradang had advised the minister that the exercise should be conducted in batches, but Moro refused.

However, the Special Assistant to the minister on media, Mr. George Ubong, said that it was not true that the minister hijacked the exercise from the comptroller general.

Ubong said that the CGI, the Director of the Board and other stakeholders were part of the exercise.

He said that advertorials and radio jingles were placed in media houses after meetings were held and the date for the exercise was picked.

He said, “The minister never hijacked the exercise; I can tell you that the CGI, the Director of the Board and other stakeholders were part of the exercise.

“Meetings were held and there are minutes of the meeting, and there was an agreement as to what newspapers and radio houses to place advertorials and jingles. Also don’t forget that the CGI granted an interview after leaving the National Assembly to announce when the exercise was to hold.”

Copyright PUNCH.All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.

 http://www.punchng.com/news/moro-nis-boss-fought-over-immigration-recruitment-investigation/

Lagos won’t allow other states’ number plates –Govt

October 4, 2012 by Sesan Olufowobi

Lagos State Government on Wednesday said it would no longer allow the use of vehicles with number plates from other states of the federation for commercial transportation in the state.

 

It also advised residents with private vehicles to change to the state’s number plates to reflect the fact that they are living in Lagos.

The Director, Vehicle Inspection Office, Mr, Gbolahan Toriola, said the measure was meant to achieve “sanity, standard, safety and security” as stipulated by the road traffic law.

 

Toriola spoke at the vehicle inspection safety campaign organised by the Ministry of Transportation in conjunction with the Political and Legislative Bureau for commercial drivers in Ikeja.

He said, “There is nothing wrong in bringing commercial buses from other states. But if you must use it in Lagos, you have to change the colour and re-register it with us so that we have your information in our database.

“This is a standard procedure. As a matter of fact, it you have lived in a state for about three months, you are no longer a visitor and therefore you must change your number plate to reflect the state. It is done in America and other developed nations.

 

“Of course, this provision did not affect inter-state vehicles carrying passenger from other state. But we don’t expect them to pick or drop passengers at every bus stop. There are dedicated bus stops and parks for inter-state vehicles. If they violate this and we get them, they will face our law.

“You must put waste basket in your buses; there must be first aid box; you must carry extra tyres. These are what our law stipulates.”

The VIO boss who highlighted the provisions of the traffic law, advised them to cooperate with the government to ensure security in the state.

A director in the ministry, Mr. Bola Matanmi, also advised the drivers not to turn themselves to traffic officials, but instead apply to the ministry so that they would be given a Special Marshall status.

 

He added that the union would be given the privilege to choose the colour of the uniform for drivers and conductors.

Special Adviser to the Governor on Political and Legislative Affairs, Mr. Muslim Folami, said the traffic law, which has 43 sections and four schedules was for the interest of Lagosians. He urged the drivers to submit to the law for sanity and safety.

news

 

 

 

25,000 illegal Nigerians to leave Italy

25,000 illegal Nigerians to leave Italy

19 Feb, 2009

The Nigeria and Italy governments are to ensure that some 25,000 Nigerians living illegally in Italy are returned home. This was part of the agenda of the closed door meeting between the Nigerian Foreign minister, Chief Ojo Maduekwe and his Italian counterpart, Dr. Franco Frattini, in Abuja.

[africanews.com] Briefing the media after the meeting, Chief Ojo Maduekwe said the Nigerian government will do everything necessary to have the illegal aliens return home even as he told his guest to always accord the concerned Nigerians their human rights.

"As part of the Citizen Diplomacy of this government, we still want our people to be respected wherever they may be even as we do not encourage any Nigerian to travel to any country illegally, but in the case of Italy, we are also proud to reveal that more than 40,000 Nigerians are living there legitimately", Chief Maduekwe said.

The meeting which was a follow up to an earlier one by Chief Maduekwe and a delegation from Italy in New York at the 63rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly in 2008 also looked into economic and trade relations between the two countries.

The Italian envoy said that his country is ready to maintain the trade relationship with Nigeria especially in the areas of leather and leather works, timber, rubber and cocoa.

"I'm optimistic that Nigeria will continue to patronize us in the purchase of motor vehicles, agricultural equipment, electrical parts, aircraft spare parts, telecommunication equipments as well as chemical and pharmaceutical products", Dr. Frattini said.

Nigeria is Italy's second largest trade partner in Africa, in 2003, the volume of trade between the two countries was put at about 1.115 billion Euros. In 2004, Italy exported goods worth 486.3 million Euros to Nigeria while she imported goods worth 337.8million Euros from Nigeria.

Other areas of discussion included the Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (IPPA) which is designed to encourage and attract Italian foreign investors to Nigeria; the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) and the Avoidance of Double Taxation Agreement.

Finally, the two diplomats deliberated on the 2004 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed to combat the illicit act of women trafficking and they both admitted that a major improvement has been recorded as they keep their pledged to maintain the tempo until the act was abandoned by the perpetrators.

Kinsley Kobo, AfricaNews reporter in Abidjan, Ivory Coast

http://euro-police.noblogs.org/post/2009/02/19/25-000-illegal-nigerians-to-leave-italy

FG flays killing of Nigerian in Ukraine

By Oluwole Josiah, Abuja

Published: Wednesday, 28 Jan 2009

The Federal Government has reacted to the recent killing of a Nigerian in Ukraine, saying that the country will no longer condone such attacks on its citizens abroad.

As a result, the Ukrainian Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Oleg Skoropad, was summoned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday to answer questions on the matter.

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Alhaji Jubril Maigari, who made the government's position known, expressed his sadness over the death of a Nigerian identified simply as Saludeen, killed in Ukraine, even though he had been residing in the country since 2001 and married to a Ukrainian woman.

In a statement made available to our correspondent on Tuesday, Maigari noted that in spite of the summons which was officially made since January 18, the Ukrainian authorities were yet to give satisfactory explanations for the death of the Nigerian.

The minister expressed the hope that Ukraine would put urgent measures to protect the lives and properties of Nigerians in that country.

The minister urged the Ambassador to convey his message to the home government, expecting that the culprits would be brought to book.

In his reaction, Skoropad lamented the incident and said his home government would fish out the culprits and punish them appropriately.

Skoropad suggested to the minister that both countries should have a Consular Framework, to help Nigeria and Ukraine strengthen their bilateral relations.

He reassured the minister that the unfortunate incident would not mar both countries' relations, pointing out that he was planning to send 1,000 student-visa to Nigerians this year.

SOURCE

Nigerian transnational human trafficking industry

Inside the Nigerian transnational human trafficking industry

By Musikilu Mojeed

Nwadinma, 15, a pupil of UBE Primary School, Gwarimpa, Abuja, was distraught and sullen that Friday afternoon. She had just returned from school and was deeply saddened by the strike notice that teachers in Nigeria had then just served on the government over alleged poor condition of service.

The primary six pupil is disturbed that the strike might cause a postponement of her school leaving certificate examination and keep her longer in school. "My prayer is that the government will attend to the demands of our teachers and avert the strike. I am tired of being in primary school and will not like a strike to prolong my stay there," she said fearfully.

Nwadinma's agitation was understandable. She is 15 and most children her age were through with or on the verge of completing senior secondary education. But delayed education is one of the setbacks that Nwadinma had to suffer for being a victim of human trafficking.

At age five, she was taken off her parents in Abia State, South-East Nigeria, by a man she called 'Uncle' and whisked off to Gabon where, as a domestic servant, she was abused and dehumanised until she was rescued by the Nigerian Embassy in Gabon and brought home six years ago. "The years I spent in Gabon were a total waste. I was made to hawk all manners of commodities on the streets of Libreville. I was maltreated, starved and tossed around like a football," she recalled.

On her return to Nigeria, she was handed over to Nigeria's anti-trafficking body, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and other Related Matters which in turn, passed her to the Women Trafficking and Child Labour Eradication Foundation, a non-governmental organisation established by Titi, wife of former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar, for rehabilitation.

Initially, WOTCLEF reunited Nwadinma with her parents but later took her off them for fear that they might allow her to be trafficked abroad again. The young girl is now one of the 900 victims of human trafficking that have so far been rescued from traffickers and rehabilitated by WOTCLEF at its rehab centre located in the Gwarimpa District of Abuja.

She is also one of the 19 that are currently been catered for by the humanitarian group. The others include victims that were repatriated from Gabon, Cameroun, Italy, Sudan and Saudi Arabia, where some of them worked as prostitutes and others as domestic servants. Two of the girls, according to WOTCLEF's Executive Secretary, Vero Umaru, are on the verge of completing university education while others are being trained in catering, hairdressing and tailoring.

Trafficking has defied solution in Nigeria

Nwadinma, her colleagues and others in NAPTIP's six rehabilitation centres across the country are however lucky to be back home to chart a fresh course for their lives. "Thousands of others like them, especially girls, who were smuggled across the borders never make it back to live a normal life.

Many of them are still trapped in major European, Asian and American cities, being sexually exploited," Umaru said. Between 2002 and June 2007, the Nigeria Immigration Service said it had rescued 1,366 victims and arrested 16 traffickers.

UNICEF Protection Programme chief, Robert Limlim, believes the problem of trafficking is particularly acute in Nigeria, because the country is also a strategic transit point for traffickers. "There is high demand for cheap, commercial African labour in other countries. Nigeria is the transit centre for this racket. There's a lot of money flowing through here," he said.

A 2003 FOS/ILO National Child Labour Survey estimates that there are 15million children engaged in child labour in Nigeria. These children are also vulnerable to being forced into prostitution, or, in many instances, are trafficked internationally.

To fight trafficking headlong, the Nigerian government established NAPTIP in 2003, after the National Assembly passed the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Law Enforcement and Administration Act, in line with the 2000 United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Crime.

Since its establishment, NAPTIP has, as at May 26, 2008, in 87 court cases, prosecuted 128 persons believed to be engaged in the business of human trafficking in Nigeria. 29 of the cases have been concluded with 27 of the accused persons bagging between six-month and 20-year jail terms.

Those convicted include one Sarah Okoya who was arrested in Benin Republic while trafficking six Nigerian girls to Spain for prostitution; Jean Adjayi and two others who procured some girls from Cotonou in Benin Republic and subjected them to various forms of sexual exploitation; Hussaina Ibrahim who was nabbed after trafficking a girl to Saudi Arabia for prostitution; Franca Asiboja, an ex-victim, who recruited some girls with the help of an agent in Nigeria and trafficked them to Burkina Faso for prostitution.

Maris Akhabue was prosecuted for inducing her niece to travel to Italy for prostitution on the pretext that the victim would work as a baby sitter for one Rosemary Oshodin in Italy; Samson Ovenseri and Samuel Emwirovhanhkoe bagged one and five-year jail terms respectively for trafficking girls to Spain for prostitution through Benin Republic and Libya.

Glory Kehinde and Kate Ehiokpamwan were sentenced to one year imprisonment for trafficking girls to Libya for prostitution, while Monday Arioba and Martins Nwobu were also sent to jail for organising foreign travels for girls to travel abroad for prostitution.

But the convictions appear to have failed to deter the human merchants as the trafficking trade, according to Mohammed Babandede, NAPTIP's director of investigation and monitoring, has only assumed a more sophisticated dimension.

Babandede said investigations by his agency had shown that human trafficking in Nigeria had become a multi-million naira business with transnational traffickers having developed into a sophisticated mafia group.

"It is a big business and the traffickers are very organised. The merchants have recruiters and patrons. They have collaborators among embassy, immigration, border and security officials," he explained.

Umaru expressed a similar sentiment. "The human trafficking business is a syndicate. You have those who specialise in procuring fake passports and visas while there are those whose speciality is in bribing security and immigration officials at the border posts. It is a whole complicated chain," she said.

An official of NAPTIP, who pleaded not to be named said when his agency raided a trafficker's haven in Lagos in 2005, it found to its dismay that traffickers had developed manuals which they give to their victims to study. The manuals, he said, contained step-by-step precautions that the girls that were being trafficked abroad had to take to avoid being detected or arrested in transit and in their destinations. As part of their orientation programmes, the girls are reportedly given the manuals to study. "Human trafficking has become such a hydra-headed problem in Nigeria and we badly needed a hydra-headed solution to combat it," Umaru said.

The traffickers and their tactics

A repented ex-trafficker, who pleaded not to be named for fear of being stigmatized, explained that transnational traffickers usually work on the psyche of their victims and their relatives. They tell the victims and their relatives that there are better opportunities abroad. He said recruiters who work for traffickers usually go round collecting young boys and girls, promising them good jobs abroad. The recruiter's job ends after handing over the boys and girls to other members of the syndicate who organizes the foreign trips of the victims. It is these persons who procures passports and visas and organises safe passages across the borders for the victims, bribing all relevant officials and agencies in the process. The source said at times fake passports and visas are obtained for victims from Oluwole, an area in Lagos, notorious for faking documents.

Big time traffickers, the ex-trafficker said, usually fly their victims out of Nigeria while their small time counterparts usually smuggle their wares out of the country by land and water. Apart from using fake passports and visas to pass through the nation's airports, our source said victims are sometimes made to use passports of other people who have facial similarities with them. In situations like this, the Bingo strategy is usually used. Bingo, in human trafficking parlance, means an arrangement where traffickers bribe immigration and airline officials and make their victims to show up at airports only few minutes to the commencement of their flights and rush them through immigration procedures manned by compromised officials.

To enable the victims pass through the borders unmolested, border officials are usually also massively bribed, he said. In taking their victims across the border posts manned by strict, uncompromising officials, traffickers usually make their victims to wear costumes of local communities. The traffickers blend their victims with the local communities and sneak them across the borders in a manner that immigration officials at the borders won't detect.

Traffickers who are daring have often adopted the more risky method of taking their victims to Europe through bush parts and porous desert areas. Under the escort of touts, who are mostly part of the syndicate, they cross the borders through the north of the country and head towards North Africa passing through Mali, Libya, Morocco and Algeria. A substantial part of the journey is made through the desert and some of the traffickers and their victims die on the way out of exhaustion or excruciating heat. Some others are drowned at sea while trying to cross the Canary Island into Spain from where they usually travel to other parts of Europe.

The last people in the chain are the big madams based in the destination countries. On arrival in the destination countries, they seized the passports of the victims and give the boys out as domestic servants to patrons who need their services while the girls are made to work as prostitutes. The traffickers receive payments from patrons while the girls are made to sleep with them. Our source said the girls pay between 60 and 80,000 Euros to their madam to get their freedom.

Dr. Esohe Aghatise, who has done extensive work on trafficking, said when Nigerian girls arrive in Italy, they are taken to the sex market towns of Livorno, Torinto and Genova where they are sold to bosses or madams. "They sold them for 20,000 Dollars and the traffickers make about 90,000-100,000 million Liras from each girl. Most of the girls prostitutes on the rented portions of roads and their clients often have sex with them in the bush or in their cars." The girls, Aghatise says, make daily returns to their bosses or madams who he explains usually employ the services of cult members to enforce compliance.

Also, according to Aghatise, the girls are expected to pay about 516 Euros to their madams per month to rent the roadside spot there they wait for clients in extreme weather conditions. They are also expected to contribute about 36 Euros weekly each for their feeding and buying of provocative clothing. "When we don't earn the money our madam wants, she presses a hot iron on our chests," Aghatise quoted one Stella, a former victim, who was rescued by an NGO, Associatione Papa Giovanni, as having revealed. Between 1994 and 1998, about 116 Nigerian girls are said to have died on the streets of Italy while prostituting.

The routes

Investigations revealed that Nigeria is a country of origin, transit and destination for traffickers and their victims. The country is believed to have an immensely thriving human trafficking industry with a large population of clients, recruiters and intermediaries. Records sourced from NAPTIP indicated that thousands of Nigerian girls are routinely trafficked to work the sex industry in Belgium, Italy, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Morocco, Spain, South Africa and The Netherlands.

According to the record, girls, mostly between the ages of 18 and 24 years that had been assisted to return home were, in order of prevalence, rescued from Italy, Spain, Belgium, Saudi Arabia, The Netherlands, Libya, united Kingdom, South Africa, Mali and Benin Republic.

The document also indicated that children, mostly from two oil-rich states in the South-South geo-political zones of the country are regularly trafficked to Gabon in droves for forced labour. Most of the children are made to work in plantain plantations in that country. NAPTIP also disclosed in the document that children were being trafficked to Saudi Arabia for begging, domestic servitude and sexual exploitation predominantly from states in the North of the country. The agency also found that the deaf and dumb operate a trafficking ring.

Other disclosures made by the anti-trafficking agency were that Cameroonian traffickers use Nigeria as a transit country to traffic their victims to Algeria via Niger while Togolese and Beniniose traffickers smuggle their victims to Gabon through Nigeria in collaboration with their Nigerian counterparts.

John Egwu, an Assistant Comptroller-General of Immigration and Head of the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of the Nigeria Immigration Service, however identified Italy as the major destination for the bulk of Nigerian traffickers and their victims. He quoted Iroko Onlus, an NGO based in Italy as having estimated that 80 per cent of persons trafficked to Italy were Nigerians and that 60 per cent of those trafficked Nigerians were from Edo State.

This investigation is facilitated by the Forum for African Investigative Repor

http://www.punchontheweb.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art200810152335195

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."

NIGERIA AND TI

'Yar'Adua should declare emergency on corruption, not power'

By James Azania and Mudiaga Affe

Published: Monday, 28 Jul 2008

Nigeria's image seemed to have improved with former President Olusegun Obasanjo's claim to fight corruption during his administration. Do you think with all the revelations now, the country's image outside would not have worsened?

Gen. Ishola Williams, TI boss

The corruption drive that started during the era of former President Olusegun Obasanjo gained some momentum. It showed that we were ready to expose to the world, some of our corrupt practices. We can call that washing our dirty linen in the open. But this is something that is necessary in order to be able to minimise corruption in our country. At least, that is good for our image. On the negative side, what is important is this: It is not the probe as such; but whether those who are found to have committed what I will call crime against poor Nigerians by taking out contracts, collecting money and not doing anything; that is what I call crime against poor Nigerians and therefore, they should be like crimes against humanity. Because it is a very serious problem, it is a very serious issue. If they are not punished, that is very bad. Secondly too, not only should they be punished, but they should have all their assets forfeited and I want to see a situation in which like the election tribunal, that will judge their cases within three months and there should be a situation in which once it has been proven from the probe and the National Assembly members have visited the sites (contracts) and there is nothing on those sites, then it is assumed that those people are guilty. So it is left for them now to prove to the world that they are not guilty, and if they cannot, all their assets should be seized and they should send them to jail for forty years, minimum. That is what the world is looking for now. If they can do that, I am assuring you that our image will skyrocket. We do not even need to publicise ourselves on CNN. But at the very moment, we are not the envy of any investor that comes to Nigeria. Any investor that comes to the country is investing in corruption, which is the way I can describe the present situation.

What was the involvement of TI in Obasanjo's battle against corruption?

To a certain extent, it is not the business of TI to help Nigeria to fight against corruption. There are 51 nations that are members of TI; it has no capacity to stop corruption in any of those countries. It is our own responsibility as TI in Nigeria because we understand the conditions better. The issue is that it is not only TI, it has to be the will of Nigerians to take the matter up, accountants, judges- must have the will to be able to do what they are expected to do. Just like the case of Mr. Nuhu Ribadu, the press will not allow us to rest, every single day it was Ribadu, Ribadu. How did the gentleman get N40-60m to buy house in Abuja? And the man said his father-in-law got a loan from the bank for him. So if he were caught in that kind of situation, what about his subordinates, and right now Mrs. Farida Waziri got there and she is saying, I am not going to probe him, it is all because they are policemen and women. As long as we continue to have policemen and women investigating corruption in our country, then we are wasting our time.

What is Nigeria's rating in TI at the moment?

The point is that we have just moved on to the stage. We are making effort, we are exposing all the cases of corruption and this had never happened before and if we want to move up that stage, we should be seen to be punishing all those who have been found to be wanting by the court. Secondly there are so many numbers of people who have stolen money and are sitting down in the Senate. Even from the leadership of the Senate to members of the House of Assembly who are alleged to have gone to Port Harcourt to collect N200m, the hunters are now being hunted. The issue is very straight forward, punish those who have been found wanting. All those former governors and the rest of them who are running around the place and they are giving them back their passport, and now we have a very serious situation today in the country. Most of those governors who have stolen public money are establishing newspapers, buying big shares in television houses, they want to control the media, and that is dangerous. If they do that, journalists cannot do their job because they will be looking down their back, if not they would not get paid. In any case, how many journalists get paid? So, if you look at all these things, the average policeman collects N20, and you see that the Inspector-Generals, one after the other, they are so corrupt. One of them was even buying the official quarters of his position. So, you see, it is the system that is so rotten. We are talking about '2020', how can you talk about building a skyscraper when you have not put in the foundation. It will collapse. Therefore, what the President should do is to declare a state of emergency against corruption, not on power. Electricity is not a big deal; it is just the supply of electricity. Lagos State wanted to do it, it was the Federal Government that stopped them. If not, everybody would have been having electricity in Lagos. Power is not our problem, what our problem is, is corruption. Until Yar'Adua does that, we would know that he is a very serious person. After all, who is supplying water to all the states? Are they not supplying their own water? So let electricity, just like water, be handled by individual states.

Who would you blame for some of the amazing discoveries over contracts awards in the various institutions?

The whole thing is that; let us assume that the system is so bad that even if they put you there, it is like putting honey on the tip of your tongue. Would you swallow it or spit it out? So in most cases, they will swallow the honey. When ministers, permanent secretaries get there, they meet our contract system that is bad. What we need to do is this; no ministry should be allowed to award contracts. We should have government procurement agency. During the time of the British, there used to be what they called the 'crown agent.' The tasks were given to them (crown agent) and they in turn will order what you want for you; from pencil to paper to everything that you want in your ministry. That was the only contract point of the government. That allows us now to be able to monitor that particular agency where contracts emanate. But where you have all the ministries in the world that are doing contracts, then you have a problem. That is why we have this very bad system, and of course the ministers, permanent secretaries and civil servants would like that kind of system to remain. One of the areas where we are having corruption cases in Nigeria and why it is very fundamental is that, one, the derivation system that we use in sharing money, is corrupting itself. How would the mobilisation and allocation commission that is distributing salary for everybody, when they do not mobilise any revenue. It is very bad. People should be paid according to what they can generate in their local government in their states. Not somebody sitting down in Abuja, and telling people what to be paid in remote areas of this country. We do not need all those ministries that we have at the federal level. What are the states there for? They should reduce the number of ministries (federal) to twelve, let the states do their job, as well as the local governments. That is why we have three tiers of government. In Nigeria, it is only one tier that seems to be working; the others are just spending money.

In all of this, where do you put Obasanjo?

Right from the beginning, I knew that Obasanjo was a hypocrite. I never accepted that, one, Obasanjo could fight corruption, because of his character and he has not disappointed me at all, from the investigations that are going on now. Two, it is stupid for anyone to think that politicians can fight corruption. Political system all over the world is corrupt. It is the people, and the people must work with the mass media so that there would be constant investigative journalism in the press and the judiciary. And then, we must have lawyers and accountants with conscience. Our lawyers and accountants do not have any conscience; they follow money.

Of what use would the ongoing probes be to the country?

These probes are very useful. There have been rumours and the probes are now there to confirm the rumour. Therefore what is EFCC waiting for, what is the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission waiting for? Once people have written petition to EFCC and ICPC, these probes would now make them to act because many people had written petition before about their governors, local government chairmen, contractors, ministers and so on. There are some that are still being kept under the carpet, there are rumours about the one of fertilizers in the agriculture ministry, we have not heard anything about that. The former governor of Delta State, Chief James Ibori, is running around the whole world. There are some other governors who are sitting down in the village, while others are being arrested. So this is the issue. But the media would not bring this out, because they are their friends or if a journalist goes ahead to do the story, the editor may not publish them. Look at the way journalists are doing their election, they are not different from the politicians. It is because everyone wants to be the president of the Guild of Editors.

How do you situate the National Assembly in all these cases of corruption, especially with their attitude to the Freedom of Information bill?

I know people are making a big issue about this FOI bill. There is no doubt that it is very important, but as long as you continue to push the National Assembly, they would say there is a hidden agenda, and therefore they would continue to resist it. Now, the Senate may want to prove that it supports, but they know that as long as the House of Representatives does not pass it, it would not have any value, even if the President is ready to sign it. It is like the Yoruba saying that there are many ways of killing a chicken; either by putting the knife on its neck or in other places.