THEY ALSO SAW THESE AT ABUJA

WHAT THEY SAW

An okada motorcycle taxi driver near a Shell flow

station in Port Harcourt, the capital of Nigeria's oil producing region

PORT HARCOURT GAS BURNING

Sewage merges with rainwater near a

Shell flow station in Port Harcourt, capital of Nigeria's oil....Gas is flared at a flow station owned by

Italian oil company Agip in the Niger Delta, near the...

"Cults - Nigeria"

WARNING: PICTURES MAY BE TOO "STRONG,BRUTAL & BLOODY"

THE MODERATOR (charles)

Cults - Nigeria July 2005 In Nigeria, University fraternities have taken on brutal extremes. Students are being murdered and defiled with impunity by vicious cult members. 'It was a baptism of fire' recalls vice chancellor of University Benin. 'They cut his head open and flipped it -- like a cap, so that the brain matter and everything splattered around the building'. Over 80 Nigerian students have died in gruesome attacks by cult members in the last two years. No-one has ever been convicted. Cultists are often found to be children of prominent Nigerians and are often used by the regime itself to intimidate, maim and kill opponents. Cult leader, Meyer, explains how he uses the police to exact revenge on his opponents: 'We guide the police, pick them out to get them killed'. Universities are supposed to be the future of developing nations but a vocal minority here are trying to keep Nigeria in the Dark Ages.
© 2008 YouTube, LLC

AFRICAN WOMEN & MIGRATION

Nigerian govt has a lot to thank the Irish govt - Pamela Toyin By Taiwo Akinlembola - updated: Friday 11-07-2008 Her book, 'Herstory', highlights the plight of African women who migrated to Ireland because of different bitter experiences they had in their countries. In this chat with Taiwo Akinlembola, Pamela Toyin Akinjobi, author of the book, spoke on reasons why many Africans flee their countries and her experience with African migrants, especially Nigerians in Ireland. As a journalist and a writer, Toyin Akinjobi stated that she had seen and come across a lot of immigrants in Ireland, especially Nigerians who took refuge in the country because they could no longer cope with the situation in the country. She relayed the example of a family who had to leave the country to resettle in Ireland because of the incessant armed robbery attacks on their home in Lagos. She has also come across a lot of Nigerians who come into Ireland with visiting visas and would refuse to go back home at the expiration of their visas. "Majority of them stay back with the intention of getting into the United Kingdom through the 'back-door', while some come into Ireland through the same channel. "Most Nigerian women who come into Ireland from the UK do so because of the fact that they know if you have a child in Ireland, the mother would get a residency and the child automatically becomes a citizen and he/she is entitled to every opportunity in Ireland. The circumstances which brought Nigerians to Ireland are different, but it all borders on the fact that Nigerians are not getting the expected social support from Nigeria."For instance, a lot of I.T experts are recruited from Nigeria and are employed in Ireland. I know of a guy who was made a director in a leading company immediately he got to Ireland. Think of what his expertise would have done to our fatherland, Nigeria. A lot of Nigerians graduates are hanging around the country without jobs. "Sometime ago, during one of my talk shows, an Irish woman who was very furious asked me why many Nigerians are residing in Ireland.According to her, 'there is money in Nigeria and there are available resources, why are they here? All they do is take away our own resources, milk the Irish government dry and so many things like that. At least we hear that there is a lot of money in Nigeria.' I answered her that, it is not all the time that you switch on your TV set and watch war recordings that there is war going on. Even when the situation is calm, people experience internal war, and this is wiping out generations. People die everyday from suffering. In Nigeria you have to fight for everything — transportation, water, medical treatment etc. "For example, a Nigerian from Benue State who has lived in Ireland for 33 years, has a school and a computer college there asked me to do a brochure on Benue State indigenes who live in Ireland for her. She told me that back home in her local government area, people were dying of cholera as a result of lack of potable water. She showed me some pictures, you can't believe such things still exist. She tried to help but according to her she encountered a lot of problems as the chairman was unsupportive at the initial stage. "Our leaders in Nigeria have a lot to think about and a lot of things must be changed so that people will be encouraged to come back home. Take a look at the epileptic nature of the PHCN. A lot of businessmen and women barely make profit as all that should be their profit goes into buying diesel to run generating sets. My sister is a victim, I always wonder how she makes it. The health sector is also zero. I once lost a cousin to a medical personnel's incompetence. The Nigerian government has a lot to thank the Irish government for, because of the way pregnant women are being taken care of over there in Ireland. A grandma recently came on visitation to Ireland and her daughter-in-law fell into labour. The old woman coming with the Nigerian mentality insisted on accompanying her to the hospital, in case she would need to help her if she would need some extra things. She was surprised at the way everything went and the reception she herself got at the hospital. "Here in Nigeria, another bane of the nation is maternal and infant mortality and morbidity. The medical facilities available for the care of pregnant women are zero. "Most Nigerians do not want to come back home to all these hardships after living in a different environment where everything works the way it should. Some would even tell you that they prefer to die or rot away in jail abroad instead of coming home to suffer. "I believe our government should begin to take positive steps to correct some of these inadequacies so that people can stay and stop migrating from Nigeria." In the book Herstory, Pamela Toyin Akinjobi writes stories of different women from different parts of Africa and the painful separation from their homes, families and friends despite the fact they are leaving behind some forms of trauma. Pamela Toyin is a writer, an immigrant who has lived in Ireland for many years. She started her writing career in Ireland with the Metro Eireann, Ireland's first and only multi- cultural newspaper. She was also a part of the organisers of the most Beautiful African Girl beauty pageant and she also anchors her own business and talkshow - Pamela Toyin Talk Show.

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Threats over Nigeria amputation

Saratu's family say she can no longer go to school or help them on their f A Nigerian doctor has told the BBC he is in hiding after receiving death threats for amputating a girl's arms. Dr Dandyson Allison says he saved 13-year-old Saratu Yusuf's life after she was run over by a truck in April. But he was subsequently arrested and spent a week in jail after Miss Yusuf's family accused him of removing her arms without her family's consent. Other neighbours have accused him of being a "ritualist" who needed body parts for black magic, which he denies. Miss Yusuf was riding on the back of a motorbike when she was knocked down by a truck, witnesses to the accident told the BBC. "Hippocratic oath" "I was in my clinic when I heard a loud commotion outside," Dr Allison, who runs a private clinic in Kuje, just outside the capital, Abuja, told the BBC News website. Dr Allison has not been able to open his clinic since the accident "Both limbs were completely disconnected, just held by small piece of skin. She was unconscious. She must have bled torrentially at the scene of the accident." There was no time to get her parents, he says, so he had to act immediately. "In private clinics it is standard that before you are treated you have to register, get a card, pay money. "But I took the Hippocratic oath to save life. Waiting would have meant the end of the life of that poor girl." Miss Yusuf says she was conscious until she was brought to the hospital and the bones in her arm were not broken. "They sent the boy to get my parents, but by the time they came he had already cut off my arms," she said. "I asked him why he did it and he said I would have died. The bone was not broken." But witnesses and Dr Allison said the truck had shattered the bones and already severed the arms. Threats Now Miss Yusuf's family say she cannot go back to school, and cannot work to help them on their farm. They want Dr Allison to pay them 50m naira ($424,000, £212,000) in compensation. Dr Allison said he was prepared to help them get prosthetic arms for Miss Yusuf and give them 300,000 naira ($2,500, £1,250). But they refused, and days later Dr Allison was arrested. He is now on bail pending a further court hearing. His clinic was closed down by the state authorities and all his medical instruments seized. He also received death threats and a mob threatened to burn down his clinic. He was condemned in the Nigerian press and accused of wanting to sell the arms to a "ritualist" to be used in black magic. Correspondents say such allegations in the media are common and children have in the past been killed and dismembered for their body parts. it is an allegation Dr Allison strongly denies. "There are a lot of stories about people dismembering human beings for money. It happens, but the truth is people at the site of the accident saw that the hands could not be salvaged." He gave the amputated hands to the family and they buried them near their farm.

WHAT THEY SAW & DID 1

Nasty bathroom at our hut at Yankari Game Reserve, Nigeria. Sink has seen better days and toilet cistern contains components of a flush mechanism, although none of them are connected together to make anything useful!

Me in the clear and warm waters of Wiki Spring, Yankari Game Reserve, Nigeria.

Part of the modern Central Business District in Abuja, Nigeria.

Are Nigerians Worth Dying For?

Oct 7, 2003
When in the 18th century the likes of Jean Jack Rousseau, Voltaire and Montesquieu rose up against the aristocratic and dictatorship government of King Leo XVI, the French people rose up with them. Men, women and children gave their support to these noble men who had written and stamped their names in the sands of time. Together they rubbished the authoritative system of the government, which gave little or no hope to the ordinary French man.

Similarly, when in the 16th century Tetzel commercialized the Catholic Church, he met with the stiff and stringent opposition of Martin Luther who brought the reformation to the open. Luther did not need to seek the support of a large number of people who were tired of Tetzel’s style of administering the church before he got it. In actual fact the support he got from the people, propelled and spurred him up to see the battle for liberation to the end.

Nigeria like France (at the time) has been very unlucky with its leaders since independence. And like France too Nigeria has over time produced it’s versions of Rousseau and the rest. But unlike the French that supported the ending of aristocracy, Nigerians instead of supporting any move aimed at putting an end to any form of absolute or despotic government, give their full backing to such systems. And this kind of moves gives the leaders the impetus to carry on perpetuating all sorts of cynical governance.

A clear example of this arose when Festus Keyamo, a young and promising lawyer decided to take up the case of chief Bola Ige, the former Attorney General of the federation, who was murdered in cold blood because the Obasanjo government did not see any reason to investigate it. The Nigerian Police Force became furious and took him (Keyamo) up on the case.

Nigerians in their own questionable wisdom folded their arms and watched as the young lawyer was put behind bars. But for the timely intervention of Chief Gani Fawemi (in my own opinion, the best attorney that has ever existed in the history of this country), only the heavens knows what would have become of the young man.

Unbelievably a professor and former noble laureate award winner was quick to show his utter dismay in Keyamo. Parleying so much with the Lagos State government at the time, he described Mr. Keyamo as a ‘small fry’ that should not be allowed to handle the case. Perhaps what our Professor fails to realize is that heaven forbids, it could be his turn. Ironically, the same Professor was at the forefront of the late M.K O Abiola struggle for Nigeria’s liberation from military dictatorship.

In the last election of May 2003, another reputable legal practitioner Mr. Mike Ozekume, who also doubles as human rights activists decided to contest the Edo State gubernatorial elections in a bid to putting an end to the aristocratic government of the incumbent governor Chief Lucky Igbinedion, Mr. Mike got, was the shocker of his life. Rather than the people voting Mr. Mike who has co-championed the cause of Nigeria’s return to democracy with others of his kind, they opted to vote massively for the incumbent governor.

Similarly, when Mr. Gani Fawehinmi who in my own opinion gave Nigeria this so called democracy, decided that it was time for him to go into action by contesting for the presidential sit of the country, he like Mr. Ozekuma did not only get the shocker of his life, but was perplexed by it. After the election, pitying Nigeria and Nigerians he remarked that “Nigerians have opted for another four years of hardship”.

As an agent of the National Conscience Party (NCP) in Lagos whose umbrella Gani contested the election, I can state authoritatively that Nigerians voted massively for the incumbent President Obasanjo. Although there were so many irregularities, Obasanjo no doubt got the support of a large number of Nigerians. If the French people, the Germans and even the Americans have not stood up to fight in order to liberate themselves from the various bondage they were in, Nigerians will not be queuing up from dusk to dawn in their missions to obtain their visas today.

Listening to and watching Nigerians, one would wonder if these people are ready to get to the promised. Nigerians prefer to languish in abject poverty, believing that it will one day be their turn to inflict such psychological trauma on their neighbors. They display all sorts of inhuman characteristics on one another. And when spoken to on the issue, rather than accept this as a problem, the one who voices out is grossly hated.

A clear cut instance of this; is the recent call on the people to protest against the activities of Global Systems Mobile {GSM} operators. A lot more Nigerians ignored this call and rather than turning off their phones, they decided to turn on their handsets. And when some were asked why they disobeyed the call, they put up flimsy and unfounded excuses. Others felt that the one who championed this cause was seeking for cheap means becoming popular.

Similar calls have been made by the Nigerian Labour Congress to protest the Government’s irresponsible increase of the prices of petroleum products, but in their usual habit, Nigerians are very quick to complain after a few days of protest actions thereby rendering such protests irrelevant. With all these and even a lot more, can Nigerians be said to be worth dying for, when even in death such a person is blamed for his actions? Your answer is as good as mine.

by ejiro donald,

THE NIGERIAN PARADOXES

by Marina Forti
http://www.ilmanifesto.it/ricerca/ric_view.php3?page=/Quotidiano-archivio/01-Luglio-2008/art13.html&word=nigeria
English translation by: Chukwubike Okey Charles

The Nigerian president, Umar, YarAdua, a couple of weeks ago declared that the energy infrastructure of his country is so dilapidated and fragile to the extent that soon he would declare “a state of emergency”. This seems a paradox, for the 8th world largest producer of petroleum. Nigeria produces 1.8million barrels of crude oil daily, and exports most of it. It is also true that the potential production level should be 2.8million barrels daily. The “missing” one million barrels remain under the soil because of social and political conflicts at the Niger delta area where the petroleum products enriches mainly the petroleum companies and the little that gets to the government in form of royalties are redistributed. The most bitter paradox is that the refined products are too expensive for the great majority of the population to buy.

Surprising is the statement for a group on Nigerian environmental experts ; who opined that to satisfy the local energy demand in Nigeria and salvage what is remaining of the country’s forests ; Nigeria should return to mining coal. Why should the coal mines save the forest? Simple; because today the great majority of the 140 million Nigerians cook and illuminate their homes with fire wood and charcoal locally produced from wood, thereby burning 40million tonnes of wood and vegetal coal (CHARCOAL) yearly, (according to the estimate made by an NGO of environmental experts-Green Shield of Nations)

Some years ago the FAO warned that from the rate of deforestation by the year 2020 there will not be a single (bush) forest in Nigeria………….
Nigeria has one of the greatest coal reserves in the world ; about 2 billion tonnes . A low sulphur quality coal that are light and dirty less…..

Coal mining for the energy in the country will be less harmful to the country according to the environmental experts. That could be, but the coal industry is not a light or easy one neither on the person (mining is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world) nor as it regards pollution, and it requires high investments also………

Paradox for a great producer of energy that is not capable of supplying energy to her citizens.

http://www.ilmanifesto.it/ricerca/ric_view.php3?page=/Quotidiano-archivio/01-Luglio-2008/art13.html&word=nigeria
(link to original article)