WHY ARE NIGERIAN WOMEN SO POOR? By Emmanuel Onwubiko

Are you one of those Nigerians deceived into believing that our Nigerian women are as affluent and comfortable as their male counterparts? Are you confused to reach this hasty conclusion because of media celebration of some few influential women holding very promising and prominent prime positions in some bluechip companies in the private sector? Do you feel that Nigerian women are pretty affluent because of the prominent roles some of them play in the much celebrated movie industry known as Nollywood? Or perhaps you are carried away to believe that Nigerian women are much more politically powerful than their men counterparts because of the ubiquitous role taken upon herself by the wife of President Good Luck Jonathan who has maintained the tradition of running an elaborate office of the first lady of the federal republic of Nigeria that is not backed up by any subsisting law or statute? Is the mainstream roles that some wives of the 36 state Governors play in their respective spheres of political influences beclouding your objective sense of judgment on the current financial status of the majority of Nigerian women?

Well, if you find yourself as a professed believer in one or all of the categories of the aforementioned interrogatories, then just watch me demolish the foundation of your mistaken belief.

First, have you ever taken the pain to drive round some suburban areas in most major centers or capital cities of the 36 states of the federation and the Federal capital territory and indeed taken time to visit the various trading stalls or markets that are scattered around these not-so-well planned places? If yes, then you must have noticed that the majority of the people that engage in petty trading in some dangerous parts of these badly built markets are either women or children of school age.

Worst still, if you take a careful study of the women that engage in these petty business of selling/hawking wares such as 'pure' water, bread and other consumables/edibles, most of them are also seen backing their little babies and are seen moving around in the terribly blazing sun and are most times mercilessly beaten by the rains.

Then if you depart the urban centers and move down to the different hamlets, villages and local council areas across the length and breadth of the country the clear majority of the workforce in the farms are women and younger children even as the women constitute the majority of the persons that run the rural market stalls in their resilient effort to keep body and soul together and to keep the economy of their different family units growing. Do you also know that majority of women and younger girls engaged in the illicit and dangerous sex trade or prostitution in the different red light districts of the Nigerian capital cities and towns are forced into this disgraceful venture by poverty and other economic deprivations? Do you know that majority of the students of tertiary institutions who go into prostitution while in school do so because they have no financial support base either from their families or even religious bodies? 

Without sounding immodest or derogatory, the fact is that the color of poverty in Nigeria is found indelibly in most of our women and children and several questions have been asked why women in Nigeria just like their counterparts in sub-Saharan African nations are so poor and much poorer than their male counterparts. One off the curf or rather straight forward answer to the basic interrogation of why Nigerian women are so poor is that we live in a largely patrilineal society whereby tradition recognizes the male gender as the dominant and leading figures in all sectors of our daily life. Truth as this is, there are more to it than meets the eye.

While attending the United Nations congress on crime in Thailand in 2005 as part of the Federal Government of Nigeria's official delegation, one topic that dominated critical discussion at the different fora I participated was basically the disturbing cases of how some dangerous barons run the organizational system of the trafficking of minors and women from Nigeria to the developed European countries for sexual exploitation and prostitution. Trafficking in women from Nigeria for me is the modern day slave trade which reminds me that all those who celebrate and pop champagne thinking that the era of slave trade was gone forever are indeed making the worst mistake of their lives. 

The internationally reputable television conglomerate-Cable News Network recently aired very comprehensive and brilliant documentaries from different parts of the World including Nigeria which covered the criminal activities of the dangerous international network of traffickers in women and minors for sexual exploitations from the less developed societies to the more developed parts of the Western World including the United States of America and some European countries like Italy, Spain and The Netherlands. Interestingly, the producers of the documentaries aptly titled 'Freedom Project', do also acknowledged the universal fact that trafficking in women for sexual exploitation has indeed become the modern day slave trade.

The United Nations International Crime and Justice Research Institute was so concerned about the emerging trend of trafficking in Nigerian women and minors for sexual exploitations that in the year 2004 it commissioned a study titled 'Trafficking of Nigerian Girls to Italy' which turned out as a 591-page scholarly book that meticulously captured the different ramifications of the criminal activities of these dare devil traffickers of Nigerian minors and women for sexual exploitation otherwise known as the new slave trade. The researchers found out that poverty among the Nigerian women was the root cause of the booming dangerous crime of trafficking in women and minors for sexual exploitation in Europe. The researchers also found out that one of the most interesting aspects of the organization dedicated to the traffic of Nigerian women for sexual exploitation is its capacity to appear as 'low profile', to avoid spectacular exploits and work in silence. This apparent low profile in reality is a very compact and well structured network, in the considered findings of these international researchers from the United Nations. The researchers stumbled on the reality that; "the Nigerian criminality dedicated to the traffic of women for sexual exploitation is characterized by a network structure with ramifications not only on Italian territory and the country of origin, but also in many European and extra- European countries". Such is the notorious international dimension of the systematic exploitation of our women and minors which come about by the unprecedented poverty that afflict the greater majority of our women and girls. 

The United Nation views trafficking in Nigerian minors and women for sexual exploitation as a huge social phenomenon that is spreading across every region around the World. The United Nation also scientifically gave the historical foundation of this dangerous criminality thus; "Trafficking in Nigerian minors and women into Italy for prostitution started around the second half of the 1980s, following the economic difficulties caused by the Structural Adjustment Programme[Aghatise, 2002]. They started leaving the Country on promises of fantastic and well paying jobs in Europe, in factories, offices and farms. They arrived in Italy only to find themselves sold into SEXUAL SLAVERY. They were forced to engage in prostitution".

Ironically, the man at the center of the introduction of this anti-people policy during his rule as a military head of state- General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida[rtd] sought to win political power through the ballots in 2011 and the critical component of his developmental blueprint that he prepared for implementation if he had gone ahead to win the 2011 Presidential election would have addressed the criticism that the Structural Adjustment Programme blamed for the exodus of most of our minors and younger Nigerian women for sexual exploitation in Europe. In his blueprint adopted by his campaign office just before he was forced to withdraw from the Presidential primary race by members of his Northern regional political bloc led by Adamu Ciroma, was aptly titled 'Together we shall build a great and prosperous Nigerian nation'. General Babangida promised a pro-women policy that would have aggressively empowered the Nigerian women to regain a place of pride in the economy of the country. His words; "Nigerian women are the bulwark and mothers of society. Gender equality is therefore essential for sustainable development and societal prosperity. Gender friendly policies shall therefore occupy a central place in our developmental agenda. My administration shall be committed to creating a Nigeria that places equal value on men, women, girls and boys". Anyway, General Babangida never got the opportunity to right the wrong of his structural adjustment programme which adversely impoverished majority of Nigerian women and pushed many of them into sexual trade for survival. He [Babangida] may never get that opportunity since he has been forced by old age to quit the active political stage.

On its part, the Nigerian Government had in 2003 established the National anti-trafficking in persons Agency [NAPTIP] with the thematic mandate of battling the scourge of trafficking in Nigerian minors and younger women for sexual exploitation in Europe and other developed societies. If truth be told, this office is severely constrained by funding challenge because the Federal Government has failed to show adequate commitment to fight the menace of this modern day slave trade. There is the serious factor of political interference in the staffing and operational activities of this anti-trafficking in persons agency [NAPTIP] so much so that the Federal Government treats the office as a place whereby jobs for the boys can be created for political expediency and patronage. If Nigeria is to get it right, then the anti-trafficking in persons agency must be adequately funded and the Government of the day must respect the security of tenure of the key staff running the place so that they can bring to bear their wealth of experiences in waging successful war against trafficking in Nigerian minors and younger girls which debases our value system and impoverishes the Nigerian women.

Back to the question earlier asked on why Nigerian women are so poor, it is the belief of some researchers that women are not sufficiently represented in the formal sector employment. In a yet to be launched research work conducted by the Nigeria's office of the British Council, the researchers found out that there are three key livelihood issues faced by Nigerian women namely; challenge with access to land; restrictions in formal employment and access to finance and taxation.

It is my considered opinion that the Nigerian Government must deliberately implement measures and policies to immediately and comprehensively demolish all the institutional and traditional barriers to formal employment for Nigerian women. The Federal Government must come clean regarding the enforcement first and foremost through effective legislative domestication in all segments of the Nigerian society of the United Nations convention Against all discriminatory Practices against the Women [CEDAW] which Nigeria voluntarily signed on to since it was introduced as far back as 1979.  The Convention on the elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women [CEDAW] defines discrimination against women as "...any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a  basis of equality of men and women, of  human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field."

But I ask, why are Nigerian women discriminated against in matters of ownership of land titles and why are women facing certain insidious institutional and traditional constraints in finding certain category of jobs in the formal sector? Why does the larger society see it as a political anathema for women to rise to occupy some male dominated offices like that of state Governors and that of the Presidency of Nigeria?  Why do we still hold on to these and many other primitive anti-women practices even when chapter four of the constitution of Nigeria of 1999 as amended outlaws any form of discrimination of any citizen on the basis of gender?

In 2006, the United Nations Children Fund [UNICEF] found out that where women were excluded from family decisions, Children risked being under-nourished. The United Nations also found out that equality between men and women is essential to lowering poverty and improving health, especially of children, in developing countries. This truth as found out by United Nation is a sacred fact because the reason why there are over twenty million children of school age out of school in Nigeria is because of the systematic economic deprivation that most Nigerian women face on daily basis. This evil trend must stop and all the state houses of assembly in the 36 states of this country must pass legislation for the enforcement of child rights and should outlaw all traditional practices that deny women equality with their men counterparts especially in the area of land ownership and inheritance practices. Political leaders must embrace the new thinking that any nation that educate the women are indeed putting in place effective mechanism for the rapid educational and economic empowerment of our women and children. Our women must be liberated from the unfortunate and unwholesome medieval practices that deliberately deprive them of all the economic and educational opportunities that are available for the asking in our dear fatherland/motherland Nigeria.

+  Emmanuel Onwubiko is head, Human Rights Writers' Association of Nigeria, and writes from       www.huriwa.blogspot.com.

30/4/2012

FAMILY VALUES BUILD THE WORLD By Emmanuel Onwubiko

The local media is alive to its constitutional duty of disseminating, informing, educating and entertaining the Nigerian audience with rich body of stories on issues of the dwindling value system in contemporary Nigeria. There is hardly a day passes without some of the very vibrant national dailies running stories about examples of how some Nigerians debase and devalue our cherished moral and traditional value system like the sacred value attached by most traditions of Nigerians to life. Nigerians, traditionally attach respect to the value of hospitality and high moral rectitude. Traditional Nigerian communities also respect the value of honesty and in those days persons who ran into questionable huge sums of money and therefore live ostentatious lifestyle are ostracized but in our time, many people who amassed wealth through odious and inordinate means are accorded first class treatment in most communities and are awarded different traditional and religious titles and the populace have lost their sense of rage so much so that when high profile government officials are charged to courts for eye popping financial heist and theft of public fund running to tons of billions of Naira, the members of the general public are not known to have publicly denounced these bad immoral and criminal offences.

In the twenty first century, the devaluation of our traditional moral values reached a new high when some new generation founders of places of worship of some of the foreign organized religions have converted their positions as means to amass material wealth even when most of their followers are deprived of essential services necessary for decent lives. Some of these organized religious groups that set up higher educational institutions using donations raised from their members have made access to such institutions almost impossible for children of most of their members who are so economically deprived that they cannot afford the exorbitant tuition fees charged by some of these religious run private secular universities. It is a fact that some modern day religious leaders in Nigeria who hide under the cover of religion to raise substantial and stupendous wealth through donations from dubious sources have bought for themselves different choice jets and automobiles to a point that a famous religious leader in Nigeria has more than half a dozen choice jets that he is contemplating starting a commercial airline registered in his family name. Such is the high level of criminality and devaluation of our value system in Nigeria.

On Friday 27th April 2012, the online version of Daily Trust carried a story that an Upper Area Court in Gwagwalada, Abuja, remanded a 40 year old man Mr. Charles Ikeji in prison custody for allegedly defiling his teenage daughter and the house maid. This type of abominable sexual depravity which offends our African traditional value that completely rejects incest and rape has become common place in our contemporary time in Nigeria so much so that more than five teenage girls are raped across the country in every one hour.

Most Nigerians have also lost touch with the sacredness we traditionally attached to life so much so that people engage in inter-ethnic and inter-religious violent killings which has become a bigger challenge with the emergence of a deadly armed Islamic religious insurgents in parts of the North that is responsible for the mass killings of thousands of Nigerians through bomb explosions and targeted attacks of government institutions, places of Christian worship and other public institutions including media houses.

Worried by these crises that have enveloped the Nigerian society caused largely by the apparent collapse of family and traditional Nigerian value system, the Wife of President Good Luck Jonathan Mrs. Patience has used her privileged position to hold several enlightenment advocacy programs to educate Nigerians on value re-orientation and the need for Nigerians to avoid creating violence.

Incidentally, the problems of lost value system had occupied the intellectual attention of some egg- heads and scholarly minds who took time to extensively research and write rich educational books on the qualities of good family values. The fast eroding value system is not only a problem afflicting the Nigerian society but is also a big challenge in the developed western society that has lost touch with its proud Christian tradition and the people in the Western Countries are so individualistic now that the pursuit of material things or consumerism has replaced their ancient traditional value system. 

The writers of the widely circulated, highly scholarly and widely acclaimed Book, ‘the World Book Encyclopedia’ wrote that; ‘family’ is the oldest human institution. These authors also said that in many ways the family is the most important of all human institutions. The family according to these distinguished authors, is the most basic and strategic unit or component of the larger society.

The above factual points find support in the tripartite roles which the family plays in the civilization episodes which the human race has passed and which humanity will inevitably evolve. These three roles pointed out by these scholars are as follows: firstly, the family is the means for producing children and continuing the human race; secondly, the family provides for the protection and early training of infants who are the most helpless of all creatures and thirdly, family sets up a division of labour so that each member contributes something.

The strategic roles which the family plays in the general affairs of humanity were also expounded explicitly by most leading philosophers and the theologians.

Aristotle (384-322, B.C.) who is regarded as one of the most wisest men the World has ever seen said that; "Between man and wife friendship seems to exist by nature; for man is naturally inclined to form couples even more than to form cities, in as much as the household is earlier and more necessary than the city, and reproduction is more common to man with the animals".

Aristotle proceeded further to state other salient qualities that members of the human race enjoy far above the irrational animals. He wrote thus;  "with the other animals the union extends only to this point of reproduction, but human beings live together not only for the sake of reproduction but also for the various purposes of life; from the start, the functions are divided, and those of man and woman are different so they help each other by throwing their peculiar gifts into the common stock".

He was of the considered view that It is for these reasons that both utility and pleasure seem to be found in this kind of friendship.

But Aristotle was quick to add that this friendship may be based also on virtue, because in his profound estimation, if the parties are good; for each has its own virtue and they will delight in the fact.

He then proceeded to add that children seem to be a bond of union (which is the reason why childless people part more easily); for children are common good to both and what is common holds them together.

Thomas Aquinas (1225-74 AD) who took special interest in the scholarly works of Aristotle and who perhaps ranks as one of the greatest medieval thinkers wrote thus; “that is said to be natural to which nature inclines, although it comes to pass through the intervention of the free will; thus acts of virtue and the virtues themselves are called natural; and in this way matrimony is natural, because natural reason inclines then in two ways. First in relation to the principal end of matrimony, namely the good of the offering; for nature intends not only the begetting of offspring but also its education and development until it reaches the perfect state of man as man..."

Like other distinguished Scholars, Thomas Aquinas who built upon the intellectual foundation established by Aristotle stated that members of the human race derive three things from our parents namely existence, nourishment, and education.

Arguing further he wrote that; "Now a child cannot be brought up and instructed unless it has certain and definite parents, and this would not be the case unless there were a tie between the man and a definite woman, and it is in this way that matrimony consists".

He stated further; "Secondly, in relation to the secondary end of matrimony, which is the natural service which married persons render one another in Household matters for just as natural reasons dictates that men should live together, since one is not self-sufficient in all things concerning life, for which reason man is described as being naturally inclined to political society, so too among those works that are necessary for human life some are becoming to men, others to women....”

Milton A. Gonsalves observed that family functions traditionally as an institution to control sexual activity and relations; to provide a stable setting for the reproduction of offspring and so for the continuation of society, to nurture and integrate the children into society; to nourish and develop the adults emotionally; to furnish a setting for economic activity; and to assign social status.

Gonsalve authoritatively asserted that these noble roles are been challenged and subjected to changes as a result of the impact of society’s high mobility, questioning of sex roles, the move to cities, industrialization and technological developments that provide reliable contraceptives and promote increased longevity.

As pointed out by Milton Gonsalve, I too believe strongly that these contemporary deviations from the long established traditional roles of the family are the remote causes of the on-going socio-political upheavals everywhere in the world and in Nigeria to be most specific. The ease with which persons in top government offices amass wealth and deploy their privileged offices to subvert and undermine the rule of law so they could escape justice and go home in peace to enjoy their wealth, became more pronounced when fifty years ago, Nigeria discovered crude oil in commercial quantity and successive Federal administrations have institutionalized corruption in the extractive and crude oil industry so much so that the huge foreign revenue derived from the export of these massive crude oil resources are not properly accounted for. Corruption and lack of good governance which has afflicted Nigeria in the last five decades that crude oil was discovered in commercial quantity, further eroded the family value system that traditional Nigerians held so dear to their hearts.

In Africa for instance, the traditional background of the family encouraged all members of the respective family units to respect the basic African cultural values like respect for elders; community fellow feeling as reflected in communal land tenure and ownership; live-and-let-live philosophy; altruism (including economic and medical variants of it); and hospitality. Instead of all these noble traditional African values, most Nigerians are in the blind pursuit for inordinate wealth and the large scale regime of impunity has allowed too many crooks to get away with serious economic crimes against the Nigerian state and the Nigerian people. The judiciary harbor a lot of corrupt minded judges that collect bribes from corrupt government officials and compromise the hearing and determination of several high profile cases of financial indiscretion. 

I strongly argue that since the family builds the World, all African families and families everywhere in the World, should promote those attitudes which project the common good of humanity such attributes includes peace, unity, love social justice and truth. People who work in all the arms of government and the private sector have no choice but to rebuild our crumbling moral value system.

This is the only way to build a peaceful world and a peaceful Nigeria. The philosophy behind the introduction of the widely cherished pro-people and pro-peace advocacy campaign by the wife of the current President like the other humanitarian projects introduced by the previous wives of past Presidents are commendable and must be institutionalized so that the members of the Nigerian family units would embrace value re-orientation and experience renewal of our moral value system. I sincerely appeal to the wife Of President Jonathan to extend the existential impact of this excellent programme to all the rural and urban families in Nigeria, and especially to the unemployed family members because most times unemployment leads to restiveness among the younger members of our community in Nigeria. This is the common man’s aspiration. The justice system must be strengthened to provide for harsher punishments for abominable offences like incest and rape.

Emmanuel Onwubiko is head Human Rights Writers' Association of Nigeria and writes from www.huriwa.blogspot.com.    

30/4/2012

NIGERIAN VIOLENCE: HARD DRUG CONNECTION By Emmanuel Onwubiko

Two events that happened in two different cities in Nigeria (Kano and Abuja) perfectly captured the precarious security nightmare that millions of Nigerians face on daily basis following the unrelenting spate of bloody violence by suspected armed Islamic insurgents in the last couple of years.  One of the two shocking scenarios was captured by a foreign press- The Telegraph of the United Kingdom, while the second was captured in picture form by a local media- the Daily Trust newspaper.

In quick summary, the two violence-related incidents are linked by the fact that operatives of the Nigerian Police Force constitutionally charged with the duty of maintaining law and order were found wanting because they stayed away and allowed unarmed innocent civilians to suffer the consequences of the violent attacks by the armed insurgents.

In Kano, the United Kingdom based The Telegraph reported on January 27th 2012 that during one of the biggest violent attacks targeted at some government institutions by the armed Islamic insurgents that operatives of the police disappeared into thin air.

The Telegraph reported thus; “When a city of 9 million people comes under almost daily assault, the police would normally step up their presence. But not in Kano. In the biggest urban centre in northern Nigeria a new terrorist group has inflicted a steady drumbeat of violence since carrying out the deadliest attacks in its history”.

The foreign Journalist who reported from Kano wrote that; “The local police – despised and demoralised – virtually disappeared from the streets after suicide bombers destroyed two of their stations, a regional headquarters and the official residence of their most senior officer”.

According to The Telegraph; “The police stayed out of the way as Boko Haram, the Islamist extremists who claimed responsibility, pressed on with their offensive. On Tuesday night, another of Kano's police stations was destroyed; on Thursday morning, a bomb concealed inside a drink can exploded at a crowded bus station, wounding five people and causing thousands to flee in panic”.

In Abuja, on Thursday 26th April 2012, the Daily Trust online version carried a photograph showing looters carting away valuables including furniture from the bombed ThisDay Newspaper office in Abuja soon after suspected suicide bomber from the armed Islamic religious militants detonated several improvised explosive Devices (IED) and annoyingly, operatives of the Nigerian police Force took almost eternity before showing up at the bombed premises in Jabi Abuja.

I took time to reflect deeply on these two unfortunate incidents and one fact dawned on me that the unprecedented scale of violence unleashed in quick succession by suspected armed splinter groups with operational base in the North Eastern state of Borno state, could not have been possible without some elements of substance or drug abuses by the perpetrators who carry out these dastardly acts. Several observers including the Kaduna state Governor Mr. Patrick Yakowa and the Vice President Mr. Namadi Sambo have repeatedly denounced suicide bombing as un-African and strange. What then can make a young man to go on suicide mission if not hard drugs?

Again, I believe that majority of those youth who purportedly took part in the looting spree that immediately followed the bombing of the once beautiful edifice housing the This Day media office in Jabi-Abuja may have carried out these heinous and unconscionable crimes   under the influence of hard drugs.

The unrelenting vicious cycle of bloody violence in parts of Nigeria must necessarily have some sinister nexus and connection with hard drug abuses by the suspected criminals.

David Friedman, an Economist published an essay recently titled; “Drugs, violence and Economics,” whereby he supported my postulation that violence and hard drug abuses have some sinister connection.  

He rightly stated in that essay aforementioned that one point on which almost every one interested in drug prohibition agrees is in the existence of a connection between drugs and violent crime.

His words; “Supporters of drug prohibition typically argue that drug use leads to violent crime and should be illegal in part for that reason. Critics of the war on drugs argue that the attempt to prohibit drug use leads to violent crime and that that is one of the reasons drugs should be legal”.

In replying to the all- important interrogation of how drugs might influence crime, Friedman wrote that the link between drugs and violent crime could occur in three ways thus; “violent crime by consumers of drugs; violent crime associated with the production and distribution of drugs, or violent crime directly connected with attempt to enforce drug prohibitions.”

Wikipedia the free Encyclopedia said that substance abuse also known as drug abuse, refers to a maladaptive patterned use of a substance (drug) in which the user consumes the substance in amounts or with methods not condoned by medical professionals.

The World Health organization estimates that around 140 million people were alcohol dependent and another 400 million suffered alcohol-related problems and the UN estimates that there are more than 50 million regular users of heroin, cocaine and synthetic drugs.

Flowing from these disturbing estimates scientifically arrived at by the United Nations and the World Health Organization, it is a notorious fact that hard drug abuse rank as one of the most rapidly growing problems afflicting clearly a majority of Nigeria’s younger population.

In 2011, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) published that it seized narcotic drugs worth N31 Billion and arrested 8,639 suspected drug traffickers at different international entry points into the country.

The National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) also confirmed that in the year 2011, a total of 195,283.917 kilograms of various drugs were equally traced locally and seized from drug traffickers across Nigeria.

According to the anti-hard drug agency, cannabis Sativa otherwise known as hemp constitutes the largest seizure with 191,847.91 kilograms closely followed by psychotropic substances with a total haulage of seized drugs amounting to a whooping 2,985.45 Kilograms. Cocaine seized amounted to 410.805 kilograms while Heroin seized amounted to 39.752 kilograms.

If you think that the unrelenting circle of violence in Nigeria are not stoked by unprecedented abuses of hard drugs then take a few minutes to read the online version of a well crafted story by the Cable News Network (CNN) carried on August 1st 2009 aptly titled thus; “Drug war fought in Nigerian forests.”      

In that report, the Cable News Network narrated a story of an operation by operatives of the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency in parts of Ondo Forest where they stumbled on farms illegally growing Cannabis. The commander of the anti-drug agency in Ondo state confirmed to the United States based television (CNN) that most of the drug barons are dangerously armed with machetes and pump action shot guns.

In the same report, we were informed that the Nigerian government has consistently failed to adequately fund the operations of the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency thereby exposing the operatives to corruption and bribery which in effect makes the circulation and proliferation of abuses of substances and drugs by Nigerian youth much more disturbing.

Why for instance will government treat the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) as one of those government departments under the Justice ministry that must go cap in hand begging for paltry operational funds every year?

Does government of Nigeria not know that apart from bringing opprobrium and international shame on Nigeria whenever Nigerian drug traffickers are arrested outside our shores, the consequences of the proliferation of drug abuse among younger citizens is the unprecedented violent crime in Nigeria?    

The other day, the Chief prosecutor of the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency told a bewildered court room packed with Nigerians and foreign journalists in Lagos stste that the total operational fund released to the entire anti-drug department every quarter (three months) is just a little less than N25 million. The Lagos High Court had earlier returned a verdict that the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency pays the Lagos based comedian Mr. Baba Suwe the Judgment sum of N25 million in damages for illegally detaining him for weeks after he was allegedly arrested and paraded for alleged drug trafficking offences which turned out to be false after several instances of laboratory analyses of his faeces/excreta.

The question to be asked is how on earth does government expect the anti-drug department to effectively police the activities of hard drug traffickers and substance abusers with such scandalously poor budgetary funding in a country of 160 million people?

If the Federal government is not yet convinced that high drug intakes by the younger population in the country inevitably leads to crime, then the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency should be funded to conduct transparent scientific analysis in places such as Maiduguri, in Borno state, Kano, Kaduna, Enugu, Port Harcourt in River State, Ibadan in Oyo state and Yenogoa in Bayelsa State to find out the extent that youth abuse substances.

Nigeria should learn from the United States of America that has an excellent tradition of waging successful battle against hard drug because successive administrators of the United States are aware of the damaging consequences to the security and stability of their country if drug trafficking and substance abuses are treated with kid gloves the way we do in Nigeria.

For instance, the battle against drugs was first called the “war on drugs” in 1971 by President Richard Nixon and he also branded drug abuse “public enemy number one. From findings, the United States government accepts the fact that reducing drug trafficking in the United States is of vital importance to all United States citizens. It is also a notorious fact that the United States has consistently waged war against drug since the 1900’s.     

I sincerely believe that Nigeria needs to commit meaningful funds into waging relentless war against drug because of the sacred fact that bloody violence has brought shame to Nigeria, caused unquantifiable fatalities and has virtually destroyed the local economy of the entire Northern Nigeria.

In the United States, the government spends nothing less than $42 Billion United States dollars to enforce the anti-drug laws across the country going by 2007 estimates made by a researcher Jon Gettman.

Rob Kampia wrote thus; “why $42 billion? Because that is what our current marijuana law cost American tax payer each year, according to a new study by researcher Jon Gettman, Ph.D. $10.7 billion in direct law enforcement costs and $31.1 billion in lost tax revenues. And that maybe an underestimate, at least in the law enforcement side, since Gettman, made his calculation before the federal bureau of investigations (FBI) released its latest arrest statistics in late September (2007). The new FBI statistics show an all- time record 829,627 marijuana arrests in 2006, 43,000 more than in 2005.”       

 

*          Emmanuel Onwubiko, head, HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION OF               NIGERIA writes from www.huriwa.blogspot.com

 27/4/2012

HURIWA WANTS STATE PROTECTION FOR MEDIA HOUSES

Shocked at the extent of extensive physical damage  to the Abuja corporate office of ThisDay Newspapers and media offices in Kaduna State following coordinated bomb attacks by suspected armed Islamic fundamentalist and the unfortunate loss of innocent lives of scores of Nigerians, the HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS' ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA [HURIWA] has tasked the Federal Government to provide effective and efficient protection by armed security operatives of media houses in Nigeria because of the significant role the media plays in the sustenance of Democracy and respect for the fundamental rights of Nigerians. The group also condemned the bomb attacks on the media houses as reprehensible, wicked, atrocious and dastardly crime that should not go unpunished. The group also affirmed that perpetrators of the atrocious acts are emboldened by the total lack of commitment on the part of the Judiciary to quickly bring those arrested to swift justice even as it canvassed invitation of the United Nations to intervene. The Democracy inclined Non-Governmental Organization-HURIWA, faulted the policy of selective protection by soldiers paid with tax payers' money of only Government institutions, offices and big hotels patronized by top Government officials and consequently demanded that Government provide protection equitably to institutions of significant national value including media houses because of their vulnerability to attacks. The Group also said ordinary Nigerians in the markets and places of worship ought to be effectively protected from these violent attacks and targeted mass killings by armed insurgents. HURIWA said Government should throw the gate of military recruitment open so as to attract volunteers who should be processed to ascertain their past criminal records and be recruited, trained, adequatelly equipped with technology-driven combat weapons and deployed to help in securing the lives and property of Nigerians in all parts of the country because according to the Rights group, Nigeria is currently waging a war declared by armed religious insurgents bent on distabilizing the polity and the number of serving military operatives and combat equipment seemed lacking substantially. In a statement authorized jointly by the National Cordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Officer Miss. Zainab Yusuf, the HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS' ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA [HURIWA] in reaction to the spate of well coordinated and successful violent attacks of selected media houses in Abuja and Kaduna, the Rights group also demanded the sack of all security chiefs for the apparent intelligence failure and also the immediate sack of Information minister Labaran Maku for allegedly deceiving Nigerians to disregard the well publicized security alert issued by the United States Embassy in Nigeria which had earlier warned of impending bomb attacks in Abuja. On why the Government should consolidate security surveillance around media houses in the Country, the media focused rights group said Media practitioners play important nation- building role similar to those other category of government officials who now enjoy selective intensified security protection by armed security operatives just as HURIWA said that terrorist are aware that the fastest way to weaken a political entity is to destabilize free media practice and the exercise of freedom of expression because the media provides the only medium through which majority of the populace critique the activities of the deadly armed splinter group which consequently weakens their support base. HURIWA stated thus; "We condemn the monumental show of incompetence and total lack of effective capacity on the part of the leadership of the nation's security community to tackle these unprecedented vicious cycle of bloody attacks against innocent Nigerians. We strongly condemn the inability of President Jonathan to exercise his constitutional duties of primarily providing protection of lives and property of the citizenry. We are shocked that the minister of information misled Nigerians not to believe a professional and watertight security/terror alert published by the United States of America's Embassy in Nigeria which may have accounted for the apparent laxity on the part of Nigerians in Abuja which makes them susceptible to surprise attacks by armed religious insurgents. If Nigerians were not misled by the information minister they may have maintained heightened state of alert." "The nation’s judiciary and the heads of the justice sector in the Public service and the Nigeria Police Force have through their show of incompetence and criminal compromise, allowed for the proliferation of these bomb attacks because the armed insurgents have seen that Government and the judiciary are unwilling to bring those already arrested to justice or take effective justice to these bloody marauders who are making lives intolerably insecure all across the Country. We suggest that any suspect arrested for terrorism be taken for prosecution to the International Crimes Court in The Hague Netherlands under the supervision of the United Nations secretary General's office because Nigeria's local Court system has failed to play its constitutional role". "HURIWA is worried that so far no single high profile perpetrator of the ongoing violence has been convicted in the competent courts of law and even when the low key members of the armed insurgency arrested are taken to Court, the judiciary in Nigeria has clearly showed that it has no competence and capacity to try these mass murderers. Terrorist arrested in Nigeria should be taken to the International Crimes Court and made to face prosecution for war crimes and crimes against humanity just like the former Liberian President Charles Taylor who has been convicted."

EKWEREMADU: THE STORY OF GOLD By Emmanuel Onwubiko

Politically speaking, Nigeria is at a cross road and the choicest of the citizenry have already embarked on periods of soul searching and reflections on how best to unbundle the existential problems afflicting the country. The realization of the fact that all is not well with Nigeria and the fact that some persons both in and out of government are indeed genuinely concerned about how to proffer workable solution to the mountain of problems confronting Nigeria is indeed a story of gold that should be a source of joy around the black world.

A major crisis of underdevelopment that confronts Nigeria is the corrupt nature of the nation’s electoral system and the speed with which the compromised electoral process throws up a lot of persons into important political offices that they totally lack the competence and professional skills to implement the constitutional mandate of such important offices. But again, a discovery of the fact that there are still some persons in key political offices that are clothed with the requisite professional competency, charisma, zeal and will- power to deliver on their mandate is indeed a story of gold and an assurance that soon Nigeria will truly regain and reclaim her real position and worth in the international community.

Painfully, this beautiful story of gold in Nigeria is overshadowed by the overwhelming fact that too many persons who are today holding public offices do not merit those positions but assumed such important positions because of the dysfunctional electoral system and the presence of some corrupt- minded persons who are today Judges in the judiciary that have vowed to abuse their high offices and retain these ‘crime-infested’ set of political office holders whenever they are dragged before election petitions’ Tribunal. This is sad.

A distinguished theologian and a priest of the Catholic Church in Abuja George Ehusanmi expressed his disgust at the present corrupt electoral process when he wrote thus; “The craze for power by those who should be regarded as “honorable ‘members’ and “Excellencies” smacks of a pertinent question; what is honorable or excellent in an election rigger, rogue, duper, deceiver who stole mandate by hook and crooks? Can a corrupt person make good laws or execute the will and aspiration of the people? Answer is No. dangerous trend in power pursuit portends that the people must resist this enslavement, wicked decimation of democratic values and rights of the people with the last drop of their strength, resources, and or blood. It calls for total onslaught against the election marauders and usurpers”.  Samuel Anayochukwu Eziokwu, the author of the beautiful book entitled ‘good governance; theory and practice,’ also alluded to the fact as encapsulated in George Ehusani’s classical thought.        

But out of the mountainous crisis of legitimacy that bedevils Nigeria’s political firmament comes a story of gold by one Nigerian in the person of Senator Ike Ekweremadu, who is one of the few most versatile and experienced technocrats in government today. The story of Ekweremadu who marks his golden jubilee of his birth in May 2012 is truly a source of ongoing joy in the hearts of members of our generation and a sharp reminder that indeed all hope is not lost on Nigeria.

Ike Ekweremadu is one of the few articulate politicians in our contemporary time that understands how to define and name the issues that shape the political, economic and international growth and advancement of Nigeria.

Dan F. Hahn, the American political writer in his book; “Political Communication: Rhetoric, Government and citizens”, revealed the obvious political facts that defining and naming the issues is critical to the practical advancement of any political entity.

Hahn wrote thus: “Every decade provides its own examples of the power of defining and naming in the world of politics. In the 1950s the Central concerns of the so-called “McCarthy era” swirled around the seemingly simple questions, “what is communism?” and “who is a communist”? The trouble was that the elastic definitions of McCarthy and his supporters allowed them to call anybody who ever had a communist friend a “pinko” or a “dupe” or “communist sympathizer”, and anybody who ever attacked any belief of McCarthy and friends was thereby assumed to be in league with the communists”.

Nigeria of the 21st century is troubled with the crippling challenges of state failure; insecurity; anarchy and unprecedented crime and also the question of fiscal federalism. Unfortunately, a majority of Nigerians that hold political offices today are concerned about mundane issues of promoting their selfish religious, ethnic and tribal political interest as against the public interest. However, in the wilderness of selfish political office holders, there are some persons that are adept at naming, defining and practically demonstrating their near-infinite faith in the unity, progress and advancement of Nigeria. The story of gold in this last issue is that such committed patriots abound in all ethnic and religious groups that make up the polity.

Aminu Waziri Tambuwal who today presides over as the speaker of the Federal House of Representatives is a committed national patriot who hails from Sokoto, in Northern Nigeria but keeps a good network of friends from all parts of the political spectrum of Nigeria irrespective of ethnic, religious or political affiliations.

Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the erstwhile governor of Lagos State is also a good example of a Nigerian politician adept at naming and defining the fundamental issues that are targeted at practically transforming Nigeria. His political party the Action Congress of Nigeria that won in the South Western part of Nigeria in last year’s election has already begun moves to achieve economic integration of the South West region, an idea championed by Bola Ahmed Tinubu, regarded as the single largest donor/financier of his political party.

Ike Ekweremadu who doubles as the speaker of the West African Parliament and the Deputy Senate President of Nigeria has of late raised pertinent issues on how to consolidate fiscal federalism and on how to grow Nigeria’s economy. Although, as a civil society activist, I am unhappy with Senator Ike Ekweremadu for maintaining a dangerous distance from credible and genuine civil society and non-state actors in Nigeria, but I concede to the fact that in just fifty years of his existence, he has indeed made his mark and his consistency in pursuing those objectives that promote national unity, religious and inter-ethnic harmony and his commitment towards the empowerment of members of the underprivileged in his Enugu State home base, stand him out as a good man.

Born on May 12th 1962, Senator Ekweremadu was comprehensively educated as a lawyer from the reputable university of Nigeria, Nsukka and the Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government in the United States of America. Ekweremadu is a square peg in a square hole because apart from a successful and thriving practice as a lawyer, he also became a law teacher at the University of Nigeria, law faculty as associate lecturer from 1991 to 1997. Among the several distinguished public lectures he has delivered as Deputy Senate president is “Nigerian Federalism: A case for a Review”, which he delivered at a World Stage at the York University, in Toronto, Canada. My key interest in the story of Senator Ekweremadu is his establishment of a foundation that specifically trains indigent students from his Enugu West Senatorial Zone as well as micro-credit to farmer groups in the zone. The promotion of twin goodness of educational and economic empowerment of the poorest of the poor is the best virtue that any political office holder can have because the essence of politics is rendering selfless service to the poor.

*   Emmanuel Onwubiko, head, HUMAN Rights Writers’ ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA writes       from www.huriwa.blogspot.com.  

26/4/2012