DOES MR. LABARAN WANT FRCN DEAD? By Emmanuel Onwubiko

Does Nigeria still harbor some vestiges and residue of those draconian dictatorial tendencies for which the then military dictators that held Nigeria hostage for decades were condemned by all and Sundry?

Put differently, are the current crop of political office holders inflicted by/with the virus of military tyranny and dictatorship which is characterized by total lack of tolerance for dissenting voices?

The above questions were inspired by the experiences of the Osun state governor Mr. Rauf Aregbesola in the hands of the Minister of the Federal ministry of information Mr. Labaran Maku who unilaterally cancelled a live radio program that was to have been aired last weekend on the air waves of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria.

On November 27th 2011, the Nation Newspaper ran a story that the federal Minister of Information Mr. Labaran Maku unilaterally cancelled the Radio link live program of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria at the eleventh hour even after the technical crew of the Radio Nigeria network studio were already in Osun state and had put all machinery in motion for the take off of the program which was arranged as part of the elaborate events to mark the one year in office of the civilian administration of Rauf Aregbesola of the leading national opposition political party - Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

The spokesperson of Osun state governor Mr. Semiu Okanlawon was reported to have confirmed the development but stated that the Federal Minister of Information did not offer any cogent and verifiable reasons for the action to put off a scheduled program with his boss.

Shocked by this ugly and undemocratic tendency exhibited by the current Federal Minister of Information who used to be a professional media worker prior to his foray into partisan politics, I decided to put several calls to his line but he never picked the calls. Mr. Isa Dan Buram, one of his known aides who spoke with me declined comment when asked to confirm if the information minister did actually ordered the cancellation of the program.

This is not the first time that politicians in the office of the Ministry of Information will interfere in the affairs of publicly funded broadcasting stations and especially the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria. Successive military and civilian administrations have Controlled Radio Nigeria as if it is their asset whereby they can put into selfish use and stop opponents or perceived political rivals from gaining access to the air waves of these publicly funded broadcasting stations.

The consequences are that these broadcasting stations have progressively lost respect in the minds of the general public and the level of listenership or viewership has radically declined and professionally if people do not listen or watch your broadcasting activities then the essential aim of communication is defeated because communication is necessarily two way traffic and the audience is king.

But why does Mr. Labaran Maku who used to be a professional media worker be the one that will perpetuate the draconian, unprofessional and illegal style of running down the publicly sponsored broadcasting stations especially now that the same Federal Government is struggling to convince the critical segments of the society that it is open, transparent and democratically accountable using the signing of the freedom of information law as an example?

The British government will risk impeachment if any of their officials interferes with the running of the publicly funded British Broadcasting Corporation.

Is the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria loyal to the Nigerian people or to the political party in power? Is Radio Nigeria a political asset of the Peoples Democratic party-led Federal administration or to the People of Nigeria who are the constitutional owners of the Nigerian sovereignty?

Ironically, the official website of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria is sugar -coated with false information which fraudulently claims that Radio Nigeria is out to serve the public interest.

For instance, the website stated thus: “The present Management of the FRCN has transformed the Corporation to truly “Uplift the People and Unite the Nation”, a responsive radio catering for the diverse needs of Nigerians”.

It further lied thus; “Today the FRCN, as a public service broadcaster reaches more than 100 million listeners, broadcasting in 15 languages, catering to the diverse broadcasting needs of a multi-ethnic Nigeria, uplifting the people and uniting the nation”.

The truth is that not more than one million people made up largely of illiterate Fulani herdsmen, rural farmers still have the decorum to listen to the heavily teleguided and slanted broadcasting activities of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria no thanks to the interferences of political office holders who over the years have manned the federal ministry of information. I can bet that even Mr. Labaran Maku does not listen to FRCN [I stand to be corrected].

* Emmanuel Onwubiko heads Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria. www.huriwa.blogspot.com

28/11/2011

HURIWA CONDEMNS FG OVER CLOSURE OF SCHOOLS FOR FESTIVAL

The ongoing closure for ten days of all public schools within the Abuja municipal area by the Federal Capital Territory Administration for the use of the participants at the ongoing Abuja carnival has been condemned as ‘retrogressive’, ‘unproductive’ and ‘backward’.

A call has therefore been made to the minister of Federal Capital Territory Mr.Bala Mohammed and Minister of Education Professor Ruqayyatu Rufai to put in place legal framework that would make it impossible for the educational rights of Abuja residents to be abridged whenever the annual Abuja cultural festival is to take place. The Ministry of the Federal Capital Territory Administration has also been asked to pay heavy financial compensation to the students of the affected schools for the loss of valuable learning periods and the extracurricular opportunities that are their inalienable rights as bonafide students. 

HUMAN Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria, (HURIWA), a democracy inclined and development focused non-governmental organization which made the call in a media statement jointly authorized by its National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs officer Miss Zainab Yusuf said the closure for ten days of those public schools in the nation’s capital to allow for Abuja carnival to take place has conveyed the wrong impression that Nigeria places more premium on cultural dances and other mundane celebrations rather than on the core value of human capacity development, skill acquisition and educational empowerment of the youths.

It said; “We are shocked beyond comprehension that at a time that clarion calls are being made to the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in the educational sector in order to arrest the sharp decline in standards and other man-made institutional imperfections, the Abuja Federal Capital authority has decided to close down schools for ten days so that the members of the political class could assemble to watch as female teenagers dance naked in the streets of the nation’s capital. This is shameful, reprehensible and deplorable and must not be repeated”.

The Rights group questioned why the secretariat in charge of the Abuja carnival has not deemed it appropriate to establish play grounds where such events could take place every year rather than embark on the annual retrogressive rituals of forcing the school children in the Abuja metropolis to vacate the premises of their schools to allow participants in the Abuja carnival to use them as residential quarters through out the duration of the cultural festival.

HURIWA said it will approach President Goodluck Jonathan, the National Assembly and the Federal ministry of Education to protest against the arbitrary and force closure of public schools in Abuja for Abuja carnival even when it is clear that students ought to be writing their end of year examinations at this period.

HURIWA said thus; “We seriously condemn this primitive and anti-education decision by the federal capital Territory Administration to close down public schools, for ten days to allow participants at the poorly attended annual Abuja carnival to use the schools as residential quarters. This barbaric and unproductive practice amounts to a violation of section 18 of the constitution of Nigeria and stated that the practice is a clear case of robbing Peter to pay Paul in the most brazen dimension.”

Specifically, section 18(1) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended provides that “Government shall direct its policy towards ensuring that there are equal and adequate education opportunities at all levels”. HURIWA argues that the closure of the public schools for ten days deprive the students of equal opportunities to education and called on the federal government to put a permanent stop to this practice.

“We urge the Minister of Federal Capital Territory to desist from this primitive practice and to commence immediate measures to erect befitting permanent structures for the holding of the annual Abuja carnival so as to stop depriving hundreds of thousands of students in public primary and secondary schools from enjoying their educational rights for ten days”, HURIWA, stated.       

29/11/2011

HURIWA TO ENROLL ALEX IBRU IN HUMAN RIGHTS HALL OF FAME

HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has granted a posthumous honour of enrolment of the late publisher of The Guardian Mr. Alex Ibru into the HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA’S NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS HALL OF FAME and announced that the award event would be done on December 10^th 2011 in Abuja, the day set aside to mark the international human rights day.

Besides, the group has also called on President Good Luck Jonathan to name a significant government institution in Abuja after Mr. Alex Ibru as a way of immortalizing him for his selfless service to Nigeria when he held public office briefly but meaningfully. HURIWA asked President Jonathan to name the imposing edifice housing the National Human Rights Commission of Nigeria in Abuja after Mr. Alex Ibru because of his excellent and distinguished services to the advancement and promotion of the human rights of all Nigerians.

“Alex Ibru saw his appointment as internal Affairs minister at that difficult period of Nigeria’s history as a vocation and a call to deliver selfless and charitable services to humanity and for the goodness and unity of Nigeria and almost paid a supreme prize when he quit the then dreaded General Sani Abacha military junta when it failed to honour its pledge to transmit power to the rightful winner of the June 12^th 1993 Presidential election in the person of Chief Moshood Abiola”, HURIWA affirmed.

In a statement issued to commensurate with the nation’s media community on the recent demise of Mr. Alex Ibru, the Rights group through the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National media Affairs officer Miss. Zainab Yusuf, said the association will permanently host the photograph of the late Mr. Alex Ibru on its official website www.huriwa.com and will recognize him as one of the greatest Nigerians that promoted and advanced the cause of human rights of the ordinary citizens.

HURIWA said thus; “The entire Nigerian human rights community is in shock over the sudden demise of Mr. Alex Ibru, one of the greatest givers to the society who specifically utilized his God endowed material and financial wealth to serve Nigerians selflessly and to give succor to the needy. Alex Ibru wrote his good name in the evergreen history of Nigeria as one of the greatest charity workers who gave to the poor when it mattered most and he remained at the background refusing to use his ownership of respected platform in the media to market his philanthropic activities as most persons would have done”.

On the resolve of HURIWA to award the honour and permanent recognition to Mr. Alex Ibru, the group stated thus; “The late Mr. Alex Ibru set up The Guardian newspaper as a veritable and credible media platform for the propagation of respect for the human rights of all Nigerians and gave a voice to the voiceless. He was indeed the hero of human rights of all times”.   

23/11/2011.

SO JONATHAN IS HUMANE? By Emmanuel Onwubiko

The media promoters of President Goodluck Jonathan seem to have responded quickly to a rash of criticism regarding their professional competence or otherwise which has resulted in the widely held perception, rightly or wrongly, that President Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan is inhumane, anti-poor and anti-people.

There are a number of reasons why most people all across the country harbor the perception that the current administration has portrayed itself as a friend of the rich and public enemy of the poor who are in the greater majority of the now 160 million or so Nigerians.

The most notoriously known reason for ascribing these negative attributes to the administration of the current President is the current vigorous and well funded campaign for the abolition of subsidy paid for petroleum products from next year which is usually interpreted by independent fuel marketers as presidential green light to hike the pump price of petroleum products.

Irrespective of what some hired economic analysts/consultants have said/written supporting the move, removal of fuel subsidy will also automatically result in the upward review of the cost of basic services like transportation and food stuffs in all parts of Nigeria and in Nigeria experience has shown that whatever goes up in the market does not come down.

But the media experts hired at public expense have cleverly devised new photogenic strategies of projecting the positive public image of President Jonathan as humane and a loving family man.

On Sunday November 20th 2011 which is a very special day if written in numerical figures (2011 2011), the first family in Nigeria worshipped at the presidential chapel whereby the essence was to thank God for the 54th birth day anniversary of the Nigerian President. The press photograph published the next day in the cover page of one of the nation’s leading dailies [PUNCH] was a delight to watch because President Jonathan was depicted as a jolly good fellow, a good family man, loving husband of his beautiful and activist wife (Mrs. Patience) and a good father of his carbon- copied children [with striking resemblance to Jonathan] who showed profound happiness at the celebration of their father’s birth day.

As a far distant observer, I took time to admire the photograph of the first family as they were cutting the beautifully decorated birthday cake in honor of the 54th birth day celebration of our President.

A thought that flashed intermittently through my sub-conscious while watching the photograph was that since President Jonathan is such a good humane family man, why is his administration bent on making life harsher and tougher for a majority of the citizenry who will inevitably be at the receiving end of any hike in the pump price of petroleum products that may result from the proposed withdrawal of fuel subsidy?

Before returning to examine the qualitative attributes of a good family man so as to persuade President Jonathan to take a second look at his administration’s decision to withdraw fuel subsidy, let me first of all say that one other photo evidence of the humaneness or otherwise of our President was when he granted audience to the England based football prodigy Mr. Mikel Obi who recently visited him to commend him for the bold effort the law enforcement agents made which resulted in the release of his father who was kidnapped by some armed hoodlums including a serving military operative.

President Jonathan told Mikel Obi how painful it was for him as President of Nigeria to hear that such an elderly accomplished father or any body for that matter is kidnapped on gun point for ransom.

On the network of the publicly funded Nigerian Television Authority, I watched the encounter between the accomplished footballer Mr. Mikel Obi who visited to commend President Jonathan for accomplishing his pledge to ensure that the security operatives rescue his kidnapped father.

The impression conveyed by that encounter to me was that of a compassionate father who did everything within his constitutional power to save the life of another law abiding Nigerian father-the senior Mr. Obi from the hands of the dare-devil armed hoodlums.

Recalling vividly that President Jonathan came under huge media attack in the heat of the electioneering campaign for choosing to attend a campaign rally rather than pay sympathy visits to some rural people in parts of the country afflicted then by the commonly treatable but intractable water borne disease of Cholera. But when President Jonathan decided in his wisdom to embark on whistle stop visits to Sokoto, Lagos and Ibadan to commensurate with members of the families of the victims of the dreaded floods that ravaged those communities, he (Jonathan) seemed to have offered good reply to his earlier critics implying that he is a humane and compassionate family man.

 I have read a couple of literatures on what qualities constitute a good husband and I am tempted to share a particular view exposed by Edward Welch in which he gave seven qualitative attributes of a good husband.

Welch stated that a good husband must be handy meaning that as a husband you need to take action to solve a problem. Other attributes of a good husband in the words of this great writer is that he must be provision-oriented, humble, adaptable, sensitive, faithful, and finally must be a good listener.

Edward Welch offered highly philosophical explanation for listing these seven qualities and you must be thrilled by the clarity of his reasoning on why a good husband must be sensitive.

According to him; “…a sensitive husband perceives the needs of his wife and looks to meet them. Sensitivity toward your wife will open doors of communication and intimacy you never thought possible”.

Edward Welch offered the following words of wisdom when he attempted an explanation of what he meant by a good husband must be a good listener.

His words: “This might be the biggest challenge for husband. You see, by nature, men are usually productive oriented and women are usually more relational. Men often make the mistake of trying to solve their wife’s ‘problems’. She doesn’t want you to solve anything – she wants you to listen (really listen) and show her that you truly are interested in what she says. She wants you to feel what she feels and live what she lives…”

To put the above succinct explanation in the larger context of Nigeria, one is tempted to ask that since President Jonathan has demonstrated through photographs that he is a good husband, can he be magnanimous enough to listen to the overwhelming cry of the oppressed women, children and youth of Nigeria who collectively oppose any policy somersault that may result in more economic hardship, poverty and unemployment?

Some credible  authors on the theme of leadership have also informed us that one of the major attributes of great leaders is that an individual good leader is able to be empathetic and sensitive and also believes there are no hopeless situations which should naturally inspire success in one way or the other.

The media experts who manage President Jonathan have worked so hard to convince us to believe that President Jonathan possesses these distinguished leadership traits.

While I have no reason to doubt their assertion, I am only concerned that on one or two occasions, President Jonathan has been quoted in the media to have insisted that fuel subsidy must go and that if the petroleum products are subsidized continuously then Nigeria will collapse, economically speaking.

I ask, how can Nigeria’s economy collapse if government effectively and efficiently provide subsidy for petroleum products sold in Nigeria which ought to benefit the poor largely? I also want to know if the Nigerian government wants to abandon a critical aspect of its constitutional duty which is the provision of social welfare/protection to the greatest number of the Nigerian people who are really poor.

*   Emmanuel Onwubiko heads Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria and can be reached on doziebiko@yahoo.com; www.huriwa.blogspot.com; www.huriwa.com.                    

22/11/2011.

ADOKE, LAW COMMISSION AND WOMEN By Emmanuel Onwubiko

The Deputy Senate President of Nigeria Senator Ike Ekweremadu was recently elected the speaker of the Economic Community of West African States’ parliament. This landmark achievement of the nation’s Deputy Senate President elicited a powerful letter to him from the Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria in which the group in the letter endorsed by yours faithfully urged him to use his position to promulgate sub-regional legislations on the fight against trans-national crimes of terrorism, drug and human trafficking which have constituted some of the greatest obstacles to the advancement of the promotion of human rights and regional peace on the West African Sub-continent.

In a reply dated October 24th 2011, endorsed by the speaker of the Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States Senator Ike Ekweremadu, he commended the rights group and promised to use the template presented to him by the organization as the road map for the Third legislature of the ECOWAS Parliament.

His words; “…I consider my election as a clarion call to service and a challenge to further contribute to deepening the roots of democracy, fostering good governance, regional integration, peace, stability, and development in the sub-region”.

Senator Ekweremadu further told HURIWA thus; “…I have diligently noted the various issues raised in your letter for which I am grateful. I can also assure you that they will serve as a roadmap both for me and the Third Legislature of the ECOWAS Parliament even as your views on this and other matters are always welcome”.   

Again, on November 17th 2011, the Nigerian minister of Justice and Federal Attorney General Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN) won election to represent Africa in the International Law Commission (ILC) for a five year term.

Adoke was re-elected into the 34-member commission at the plenary meeting of the UN General Assembly in New York. The new tenure, which begins in January 2012, will end at the end of 2016.

Media report stated that members of the ILC are nominated by member states and elected through the General Assembly, and they must be persons who possess recognized competence and qualifications in both doctrinal and practical aspects of international law.

They are drawn from the various segments of the international legal community, such as academia, the diplomatic corps, government ministries and international organizations.
Adoke, 48, is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), and was first elected into the commission in 2011 to fill the casual vacancy arising from the resignation of Mr. Bayo Ojo, who was elected in 2006.

ILC, which holds its yearly session in Geneva, Switzerland, is responsible for the preparation of draft conventions on subjects which have not yet been regulated by international law or in regard to which the law has not yet been sufficiently developed in the practice of states.

The commission is also responsible for the precise formulation and systematization of rules of international law in fields where there already has been extensive state practice, precedent and doctrine.

The 34-member commission is by statute made up of eight nationals from African states, seven nationals from Asian states, three nationals from Eastern European states, six nationals from Latin American and Caribbean states, and eight nationals from Western European and other states.

The commission held its first elections on November 3, 1948, and opened the first of its annual sessions on April 12, 1949.

The election of these Nigerians into important international and regional positions especially that of the Federal Attorney General is an opportunity to remind the Federal government of Nigeria that as a member of the global community, all good international laws that are yet to be localized and domesticated by the National Assembly are immediately domesticated.

One good piece of international legislation that is yet to be clearly domesticated and localized in Nigeria is the convention on the elimination of all forms of Discrimination against women.

Nigerian women have suffered series of discriminatory practices and spousal abuses and the law enforcement mechanism is either so weak or heavily compromised that the abusers/offenders are not punished.

Adoke should use his presence in the International Law Commission to campaign vigorously for the international law against terrorism to be clearly established to check the rise in terror-related attacks in Nigeria because for anti-terrorism campaign to be effective, terrorism ought to be fought as a grave transnational crime.

But, Mr.Adoke should know that ‘charity begins at home’ and must lobby the Nigerian national legislature to domesticate the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women. Women rights are integral aspects of human rights.

*   Emmanuel Onwubiko heads HUMAN Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria and can be reached on doziebiko@yahoo.com; www.huriwa.blogspot.com.

 

18/11/2011.

DON’T MAKE NIGERIA A POLICE STATE – HURIWA TELLS F.G.

The recent occupation of offices of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) across the country by armed military operatives and the activities of armed security operatives that cordoned off state offices of the Peoples Democratic Party in Bayelsa state has been condemned. The military action has been described as unconstitutional and illegal.

HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA; (HURIWA) has therefore advised the federal government to desist from implementing near-draconian military measures in any part of the country that would portray the nation as a police state in the eyes of members of the international community. The group warned that the military and police actions which stifle political freedoms, freedom of movement and association will whittle down the advancement of democracy and respect for human rights of the citizenry.

In a media release jointly authorized by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and National media officer Miss. Zainab Yusuf, HURIWA, a pro-democracy group, asked President Jonathan not to use his overwhelming constitutional powers as commander-in-Chief of the nation’s Armed Forces to seek to curtail the freedom of workers and labour union activists in the troubled electricity sector but to allow the legally guaranteed principle of collective bargaining to be employed by the employers and employees in the electricity power sector to resolve longstanding labour related disputes.

The Rights group also condemned the partisan and unprofessional use of armed operatives of the Nigeria Police Force in seeking to influence the outcome of the hotly contested governorship primary election of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party in Bayelsa state.

HURIWA said it was illegal and undemocratic to deploy armed security operatives mainly mobile anti-riot policemen in the secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party on the purported directive of the national hierarchy of the party to prevent validly elected state leadership of the party from carrying out their constitutional functions.

The Rights group also criticized the armed police operatives for allegedly harassing, psychologically and physically subjecting innocent unarmed and law abiding members of the civilian populace in Bayelsa state to unspecified security checks even while they go about their civic duties.

The group said: “The ongoing occupation by armed military operatives of offices of the public electricity company in Nigeria (PHCN) is unnecessary and may constitute gross breach of the constitutionally protected fundamental rights of freedom of movement and association of workers and union leaders particularly at these moments that negotiations concerning the workers’ welfare are yet to be finalized”.

On the role of the armed police in Bayelsa state politics, the Rights group said the nation’s police have become notorious violators of the human rights of political activists perceived as opposed to the ambitions of some powerful persons in the corridors of power in Abuja.  

“It is a big shame that the Nigeria police and especially under the leadership of the current inspector general who has failed to combat the activities of diverse armed splinter groups, is notorious for executing sinister operations against persons perceived as political rivals of holders of high offices in Abuja”.

16/11/2011

YES TO SAME SEX PROHIBITION BILL By Emmanuel Onwubiko

On Wednesday January 18, 2006, the Federal Executive Council (FEC), the highest decision making body of the then civilian administration headed by President Olusegun Obasanjo met and gave approval to a Bill for an Act of the National Assembly that outlaws gay, lesbian relationships same sex marriage in Nigeria.

The Bill, which was forwarded to the then National Assembly for enactment and subsequent return to the then President Obasanjo to be signed into law, provides for a term of five years with no option of fine for anyone involved in same sex marriage. In the current dispensation under President Goodluck Jonathan, the anti-same sex marriage bill originated from Senator Domingo Obende.

A copy of the draft bill obtained then from the Federal Ministry of Justice clearly shows that the provisions in the Bill when passed into law will prohibit sexual relationship between persons of the same sex, celebration of marriage by them and for other matters connected therewith, even as the bill defines marriage as a “legally binding union between a man and a woman, be it performed under the authority of the state, Islamic law or customary law.” The new bill is not fundamentally different from the original version initially prepared by the then President Obasanjo-led executive council of the federation.  

In the new seventh session of the National Assembly the anti-same sex marriage prohibition bill has scaled through all the legislative hurdles and is on the verge of final passage into law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The Senator David Mark-led Senate has shown remarkable character and determination to protect our long cherished African traditional norms, culture and world view in treating the anti-same sex marriage bill.

On Validity and Recognition of marriage, the draft bill affirmed thus: “For the avoidance of doubt only marriage entered into between a man and a woman under the Marriage Act or under the Islamic and customary laws are valid and recognized in Nigeria.”

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The prohibition of same sex marriage bill covers among others:

Marriage between persons of the same sex and adoption of children by them in or out of a same sex marriage or relationship is prohibited in the Federal Republic of Nigeria; and a license issued by another state, country, foreign jurisdiction or otherwise shall be void in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The bill states that jurisdiction for the trial of alleged offenders of the law banning same sex marriage lies with the High Courts in the states and the Federal Capital Territory. Since that bill that bans same sex marriage came to the public domain, controversy has trailed it, with some people condemning the action of the Federal Government and defending the “right” of gays and lesbians to marry in Nigeria.

Interestingly, majority of commentators have applauded the action of government to introduce this law which will check the growing trends of gay and lesbian practices.

Government noted that the reason for the introduction of the law is to preserve, protect and promote the revered Nigerian cum African tradition, which recognizes marriage between man and woman as sacred and sacrosanct.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Article 16 provides logical background for this iconic view of marriage when it defined marriage rightly as; “men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family....” Even the law of nature abhors sexual liaison between same sex which is the reason why men and women or male and female have from time immemorial experienced productive sexual union with one of the basic aim of procreation.  

Besides, Doctor Leonard Jeffries in his articles published on the website of www.africawithin.com dated January 1^st 2000, made it abundantly clear that Africans are closely related in their culture and traditional practices which includes marriage. According to the scholar:       

“The predominant values of these various African ethnic groups can be classified as centering around three primary characteristics. They are communal, cooperative and collective. They become clearer when applied to vital aspects of a society, such as how the group views the individual, the family and the land. This communal, cooperative and collective value system has an essential spiritual aspect. The individual is not just viewed from his personal perspective; he or she is seen as a spiritual extension of ancestors who died years ago. The Africans generally focus on the communal ‘we’ and not the individualistic ‘I’…” According to Jeffries:

In Kenya as in most other African societies, marriage is all about procreation and marriage is a union between a man and a woman. The time-tested, time-honored and the sacred African tradition do not recognize anything like same sex marriage. In his African Religions and philosophy, a world acclaimed writer, John S. Mbiti also made it clear that marriage is a sacred union between man and woman and also that procreation is at the core of this traditional practice, when he stated that:

As an African who is thoroughly grounded in the philosophy and metaphysics of African tradition, I support the Federal Government’s effort in introducing the anti-same sex marriage legislation and I am convinced that the bill is not in breach of any statutory provisions that promotes the human rights of Nigerians or foreigners resident in the geo-political entity called Nigeria.

The bill banning gay marriage is a fulfillment of the provision in section 21(a) of the 1999 Constitution as amended, which states that “the state shall protect, preserve and promote the Nigerian cultures which enhance human dignity and are consistent with the fundamental objectives of Nigeria.”             

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The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) manifesto on page 44 provides that the ruling party is obliged to protect the Nigerian culture and tradition. The manifesto states that “Our party recognizes the Nigerian culture as the totality of complex of attainments, beliefs, customs and traditions which form the country’s collective identity. It is the culture of Nigeria that distinguishes her from all other peoples and gives her peculiar qualities and character. Culture is thereof an instrument of national identity. As such, any country that loses her culture also loses her identity”.

Those who protest against the anti same sex marriage legislation have stated that it violates the human rights and have pointed to the recognition of gay marriage in other climes in Europe and parts of America as the reasons why Nigeria should allow it. This is illogical and unacceptable and I do not agree that the bill violates their human rights.

     

Ayo Atsenuwa, a law teacher at the Faculty of Law, University of Lagos wrote that “human rights are the non-negotiable elements which are necessary in order that life may be life. Therefore, human rights embody not just the traditional, civil and political liberties but also the economic, social and cultural rights”.

As Nigerians await the speedy passage of the anti-gay marriage bill into law by the National Assembly, it will be wise to also involve psychologists in the custodial care and treatment of convicted offenders, in order to reform them to once more embrace the sacred African traditional practice, which recognizes marriage as a sacred union between man and woman.

The aspect of the bill that criminalizes the media reporting of gay relationships should be deleted so as not to hamper the god work of journalists to expose the offenders to the reading public and by extension the law enforcement agents.   

*        Emmanuel Onwubiko heads Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria and can be reached on doziebiko@yahoo.com; www.huriwa.blogspot.com

17/10/2011

EMPLOYMENT: AS TALK DROWNS ACTION By Emmanuel Onwubiko

A remarkable gift that democracy has bestowed on Nigerians in the last ten years is the ease with which every one both in and out of government is talking. Talking has become one big industry so much so that the productive sector or the real economy of Nigeria has virtually collapsed under the heavy weight of too much talk and less action.

In the government circle, public funds running to several billions of Naira are spent annually in organizing talk shops where cheap talks become the order of the day.

In the Nigerian budget calendar, the third quarter has become notorious as a period when ministries and departments of both the Federal and state governments witness unusual harvest or bazaar of talk shops which are avenues for top government officials to engage in siphoning of huge unspent funds that ought to have been used to provide useful services to the public in the critical sectors of health, education and road infrastructure which have all but collapsed under the tremendous weight of corruption, lack of maintenance culture and poor supervision.

A sickening aspect of all these is that even the critical sector of education which should depend more on practical enlightenment and empowerment of the millions of disadvantaged Nigerian youths in useful skills and relevant vocations has been converted into one huge talk industry so much so that the two cabinet ministers who ought to enforce educational policies and programs to stimulate useful learning by our youths have all but become experts in empty rhetoric and guest lecturers at different talk shops staged by agencies under the sick ministry of education of Nigeria.

Talk is so very cheap in Nigeria that while President Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan, the nation’s Army and police Chiefs are busy issuing empty verbal threats to members of the dreaded armed and very effective religious extremist groups in the North East of Nigeria, the members of these armed insurgency groups are busy detonating bombs and carrying out successful targeted assassinations of certain persons they consider as their enemies.

To compound our bewilderment, even industrialists and owners of the very few functional manufacturing firms in Nigeria have joined the big party of talkative people and are inundating Nigerians with different cheap talks on how they intend to create employment for the millions of unemployed Nigerian youths who have graduated from different tertiary educational institutions and are wandering in the streets of major cities of the country searching for the elusive white collar jobs.        

The cheap talk about creating employment opportunities for Nigerians was taken to a new height when the combined forces of ministries of Finance, Youth and the central Bank of Nigeria came together yet in another good-for-nothing talk shop in Abuja to inaugurate what they called Youth’s job creation scheme otherwise known as ‘You Win’.

Nigerian government officials do the talking about employment opportunities and how to create them for the youths while serious countries like Germany and the United Kingdom are busy designing and pragmatically implementing wholistic remedial measures to give employment opportunities and deliver life long skills to the youths of those civilized countries.

We will return to the above measures by Germany and the United Kingdom on how they are tackling unemployment but first let’s see how the talk industry in Nigeria is booming.

I undertook two weeks of Contents’ analysis of four newspapers in Nigeria on the specific theme of employment and what I discovered is that the empty talks by government and key players in the private sector concerning this very important theme has assumed larger-than-life dimension and has become frenetic.

For instance, The Guardian edition of November 15th 2011 has close to one dozen stories regarding empty talks about employment creation in Nigeria as told by government officials and their affiliates in the private sector including the near moribund manufacturers Association of Nigeria.

Then on November 16th 2011, the grandfather of all empty talks on employment creation in Nigeria emanated from the Government funded National Bureau of statistics which told Nigerians that the rate of unemployment and inflation is on the rise in the country but quickly contradicted itself when it stated dubiously that the Gross National Product (GDP) warmed upward but stated that the upward movement of the gross national product was at snail’s speed in the third quarter (Q3) of 2011.     

The Nigeria’s Bureau of statistics stated thus: “The unemployment rate…in the first half of 2011 increased to 23.9 per cent…This represents an increase of 1.8 million additional unemployed people between December 2010 and June 2011”.

The Bureau attributed the rise in the ranks of the nation’s unemployed to fresh entrants to the job market and worker layoffs across all sectors of the economy in the course of the year.

While we keep talking and spending our scarce resources in organizing talk shops on modalities for creating employment for Nigerian youths, the German and British governments have turned to apprenticeship schemes for the youth in functional firms as one viable solution to the unprecedented rate of unemployment among their younger citizens.

On November 16th 2011, sky news covered a story of how companies in Germany are implementing effective apprenticeships scheme as one way to reduce unemployment rate among young Germans.

Alistair Bunkall of Sky News television of the United Kingdom visited the stadler bike warehouse in West Berlin, Germany and learnt first hand that this company employs 24 young apprentices who combine work with study.

They spend two days a week at school and three in the workplace.

Bela Frankenburg is one of them, and he explained how it improves his long term job prospects. His words; “here (in the warehouse) we have the pro-active part, we already have the material in our hands. Then we have the theory in the school where we learn the details.”

The reason apprenticeship schemes work so well in Germany is because the companies themselves are as keen to be involved as anyone.

The United Kingdom has followed the German model and the British Premier Mr. David Cameron is expected to roll out measures to implement the apprenticeship scheme for the unemployed British youths that only toped the one million mark in November this year.

That apprenticeship schemes are working in Germany and Britain as effective employment creation strategy is a major challenge for Nigeria which is also used to the informal practice of apprenticeship schemes especially by small scale Igbo traders who for decades have trained and settled hundreds of thousands of youths who are related to them and who individually spend an average of five years before the ‘masters’ settle them with small take off funds.

The question is why the Federal ministry of Trade and investments; the Bank of Industry; the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Federal Ministry of education have not jointly worked out implementable strategy for the resuscitation of the apprenticeship schemes whereby small scale entrepreneurs and manufacturers will be awarded bail out funds to kick start viable productive activities whereby unemployed youths would be engaged as part time apprentices even as they are awarded educational scholarship so that they can both be academically and vocationally empowered?

Important industrial areas like Nnewi, Onitsha in Anambra state, Kano state and Aba in Abia state can be used as experimental grounds and the schemes should be managed by established tested and trusted statesmen and women drawn from all segments of the Nigerian society.

* Emmanuel Onwubiko heads HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA and can be reached on doziebiko@yahoo.com; www.huriwa.blogspot.com.    

16/11/2011        

SOCIAL PROTECTION AS HUMAN RIGHT By Emmanuel Onwubiko

In the last couple of weeks, Nigerians have faced a barrage of threats from government officials including President Jonathan to remove the subsidy the government pays for the petroleum products sold to Nigerians. Officials of the current federal administration have also used most public events in the last few weeks to urge Nigerians to be ready to make more sacrifices.  

The psychological and media war waged by top political office holders against the Nigerian people started some few months ago when the minister of finance Professor Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala presented to the National Assembly, the Federal government‘s medium term expenditure framework (MTEP) which disclosed that the government will from January 2012 withdraw the subsidy it pays for petroleum products sold to Nigerians.

In all of these submissions made so far by government officials, the interest of the very poor citizens did not feature just as it is now clear that the current government has created the bad impression and image as being anti-poor, anti-people and therefore does not care about providing social protection, social security and social welfare to the greatest percentage of the citizenry who are obviously poor, unemployed, homeless and bombarded by the current unprecedented state of insecurity.

Most people are worried that this administration which rode on the back of popular mandate to come to political power in April 2011 has now become a friend of the extremely rich who are not even up to one percent of the nation’s population. How come that the current government is doing everything possible to assist the rich but doing nothing to assist the poor?     

If you doubt my assertion, then read the disclosure in the Daily Sun newspaper report carried in page 11 of November 14th 2011 edition, whereby the Federal government under President Goodluck Jonathan reached an ‘unholy’ agreement with defaulting companies that cumulatively owes the federal government over N170 Billion tax.

Rather than allow the full weight of the law to be brought to these defaulting companies that have refused to pay the N170 Billion tax to the public treasury, the current administration negotiated with the defaulting companies for them to pay only N22 Billion. How come then that the federal government is providing tax subsidy to the rich company owners but is threatening fire and brimstone to remove fuel subsidy which ought to benefit the very poor Nigerians if properly enforced?

Come to think of it, the universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Nigerian Constitution regard social security as human right. But why then is the current government bent on increasing the economic burden of the very poor citizens in the guise of enforcing strict economic austerity measures? Where then is the essence of democracy if public office holders especially those in the executive arm of government keep back huge chunk of cash running to several Billions of tax payers’ money as security votes which they siphon to their private bank accounts offshore, but are determined to make the cost of living for the poor harsher and tougher?

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights stated in Article 22 that social security is a human right. Section 16[1][b] of the Nigerian constitution provides for social welfare for Nigerians.

what the removal of subsidy on petroleum products will bring about to the majority of Nigerians who are poor include among others, more poverty, high cost of transportation, unprecedented misery, frustration and may increasingly push more Nigerians into social crime, immoralities of prostitution and fraud and will inevitably lead to more suicide rate in Nigeria.

Ever imagined why Nigeria is not spending anything to cater for the poor populace even when the United States is spending huge amount to take care of the vulnerable members of their society?

The 2011 annual report by the Social Security program's Board of Trustees noted that in 2010, 54 million people were receiving Social Security benefits, while 157 million people were paying into the fund; of those receiving benefits, 44 million were receiving retirement benefits and 10 million disability benefits. In 2011, there will be 56 million beneficiaries and 158 million workers paying in. In 2010, total income was $781.1 billion and expenditures were $712.5 billion, which meant a total net increase in assets of $68.6 billion. Assets in 2010 were $2.6 trillion, an amount that is expected to be adequate to cover the next 10 years.

You may call it social security or social protection, the important thing is that the poor among us must be protected from going extinct as a result of hunger and civil conflicts instigated by poverty.

* Emmanuel Onwubiko heads HUMAN Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria.     

14/11/2011

IS CITIZEN DIPLOMACY DEAD? By Emmanuel Onwubiko

Tales of tears, terror, torments and trauma is the apt description of the experiences undergone by hundreds of stranded Nigerians who fled Libya at the heat of the anti-Gaddafi rebellion to escape targeted assassination by the rebels of the National Transitional Council of Libya.

In voices generously dripping with emotion, the Nigerian returnees who reportedly spent two months in the notorious deserts from Libya to Nigeria arrived in late October 2011 through Borno State with sad stories of the series of gang rape, armed robbery, and physical torture that majority of them suffered in the hands of the xenophobic Libyan rebels.

One of the returnees, Paddy Irete a student of Civil Engineering at the Federal Polytechnic Auchi, Edo state who reportedly abandoned his Higher National Diploma program mid-way in search of the proverbial but elusive greener pastures in Libya early last year, told the media that many Nigerians and blacks in Libya were principal targets of the rebels because they believed that the now murdered dictator Colonel Muamar Gaddafi recruited blacks to fight his compatriots who wanted his 42 year tyranny ended.

Amid these genuine complaints from stranded Nigerians and other black Africans that they are undergoing tumultuous xenophobic attacks from the rebels who have taken over political power, the Nigerian government has failed to galvanize the African union to convoke emergency session to brainstorm on measures to be adopted to ensure that the growing racism in Libya and the targeted extinction of all blacks in that country is brought to an effective end.

The Nigerian government has therefore abandoned the hundreds of thousands of stranded Nigerians in Libya to their unfortunate fate. The neglect by the Nigerian government of its constitutional obligation to protect the citizenry who are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea in Libya is a gross human rights violation committed by the state against her citizens and a breach of the citizen diplomacy doctrine.

As a member of the international community, the Nigerian government is under a legal obligation to respect, protect and fulfill human rights of the citizenry globally.

Experts have repeatedly canvassed the logical position that from a legal standpoint, human rights can be defined as the sum of individual and collective rights recognized by sovereign states and enshrined in their constitutions and in international law.

The question that begs for an immediate response is why the Nigerian government has up until this moment failed to concretely take action to protect the fundamental rights of her citizens who were unfortunately caught up in the civil conflicts in Libya and are currently subjected to horrendous regime of targeted abuses, humiliations, physical attacks and extra-legal execution in the hands of the new big boys in political power in Libya who wrongly believe that all black Africans were hired mercenaries of the now murdered dictator Colonel Muamar Gaddafi.

Nigeria ought to have initiated transparent probe of these groundswell of allegations of human rights violations in Libya through the nation’s embassy in Tripoli even as the nation ought to have current and reliable data of the Nigerians that live outside our shores and their legal status in such foreign countries.

The concept of ‘citizen diplomacy’ was couched by the Olusegun Obasanjo’s civilian administration from section 19 of the Nigerian constitution which clearly spells out Nigeria’s foreign policy objective as the promotion and protection of the national interest.

What then is more of our national interest than ensuring that Nigerians in all parts of the world are treated with dignity and offered the universal plat form for the promotion, protection and safeguarding of their fundamental human rights as human beings and members of the civilized global village?

The sad tales as told by the hundreds of Nigerian returnees from Libya show that the Federal government has clearly abnegated from her constitutional and legal obligations to protect the rights of Nigerian citizens in distress. On October 25th 2011, The Guardian Captured the story of the experiences encountered by about 250 Nigerians who spent months in the notorious deserts to return to Nigeria from the then war ravaged Libya.

Citizen diplomacy as the new approach to Nigeria’s foreign policy ought to have evolved to such a time that Nigeria will become attractive to not only Nigerians but even to foreigners who would view Nigeria as the most favoured tourism point to visit. But the reverse is still the case so much so that hundreds of thousands of Nigerian youth who ought to stay back home, develop their human capacity and skills to build Nigeria, are now jumping ships to travel to foreign territories even without valid immigration document.

Nigeria has become so unfriendly and economically inclement to her younger citizens that hundreds of thousands of young Nigerian girls are sold into modern day prostitution rings in Italy and other Western European Countries whereby they are subjected to all manner of human rights violations.

What has happened to the doctrine of citizen diplomacy introduced by the immediate past people Democratic Party’s federal administration so much so that Nigeria is still ranked as one of the worst nations to live in?

The Economist reported in February 21st 2011 that VANCOUVER remains the most livable city in the world, according to the latest annual ranking compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit. The Canadian city scored 98 out of a maximum 100, as it has done for the past two years.

The ranking scores 140 cities from 0-100 on 30 factors spread across five areas: stability, health care, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure. These numbers are then weighted and combined to produce an overall figure. The top ten cities occupy the same positions as last year, with the exception of Melbourne and Vienna, which have swapped places.

Cities that score best tend to be mid-sized cities in wealthier countries with a relatively low population density. This often fosters a broad range of recreational availability without leading to high crime levels or overburdened infrastructure. Seven of the top ten scoring cities are in Australia and Canada, where population densities of 2.88 and 3.40 people per sq km respectively compare with a global (land) average of 45.65 and a US average of 32.

At the other end of the ranking, Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, is in 140th place, thanks to particularly poor scores for its stability, health care and infrastructure.

Nigeria’s ugly position as one of the worst places to live on earth remains a far cry from the aspirations of our citizenry who had hoped that with several billions of United States dollars earned by Nigeria from crude oil export in the last couple of years would have been used to transform Nigerian cities into favourable cities for human habitation.

Alas! corruption, greed and weak legal enforcement of anti-graft legislations in Nigeria have combined to make Nigeria hostile to her citizens so much so that ‘citizen diplomacy’ has become a mere artificial cliché that is so notoriously irrelevant so long as the negative factors are not quickly reversed because citizens are forced into irregular migration to escape the overwhelming weight of poverty, unemployment, high crime wave and insecurity in our motherland.

Duncan Clarke in his widely acclaimed book “Crude Continent: the struggle for Africa’s oil prize”, stated that “As oil developed, so corruption expanded in favour of middlemen, commission agents and those close to central power, especially within the state company, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)”.

Only recently, the National Assembly discovered that several billions of tax payers fund running to over N400 Billion, grew wings and disappeared in the last one year in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation [NNPC]. With these type of monumental frauds not tackled radically, how can the doctrine of ‘citizen diplomacy’ work?

*          Emmanuel Onwubiko writes from HUMAN Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria and can be reached on doziebiko@yahoo.com; www.huriwa.blogspot.com; www.huriwa.com.     

15/11/2011.