Nigerians support anti same-sex Bill – Poll.....Pirates attack oil vessel, abduct 4 Indians, Polish crew members........... Nigeria’s out-of-school children

Nigerians support anti same-sex Bill – Poll

A new weekly poll has revealed that 92 per cent of Nigerians are in support of the proposed Anti Same–Sex Bill.  The weekly poll conducted by NOI Polls Limited from June 4 – 6 in Nigeria also revealed that the reason behind their support revolve around morality and religion.
According to results of the poll, most Nigerians are of the opinion that the proposed bill is not an infringement on the human rights of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender (LGBT) community because homosexuality is not in their culture as Nigerians. These are two of the key findings from the recent Fundamental Human Rights Poll.
The House of Representatives had on May 30th 2013, passed the Anti Same Sex Marriage Bill that makes same-sex unions in Nigeria a criminal offence punishable by a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison. The bill also criminalises public displays of affection by same-gender partners.
The bill also states that “any person who registers, operates or participates in gay clubs, societies and organisations directly or indirectly, makes a public show of a same-sex amorous relationship commits an offence and shall be liable to a term of 10 years imprisonment.”
Under the existing Nigerian Federal Law, sodomy is punishable by jail, but this bill legislates for a much broader crackdown on homosexuals and lesbians, who already live largely in an underground existence.
But according to Rashidi Williams, the Director of Nigeria’s Queer Alliance Rights Group, “The Bill takes away the fundamental rights accorded Nigerians under the constitution. This is really, not a pressing national issue.”
However, to explore the views of Nigerians regarding homosexuality and level of ratification, NOI Polls conducted its latest poll on Fundamental Human Rights with the expectation that the results from the poll will contribute to the on-going discussion, and particularly highlight the perceptions of Nigerians regarding rights of the LGBT community in Nigeria.
Respondents to the poll were asked five specific questions. First, in order to ascertain the level of awareness of the new proposed law to make same-sex marriage punishable by imprisonment, respondents were asked: “Are you aware of the recent legislative vote by the House of Representative banning same sex marriages in Nigeria? Why do you think it is an infringement/not an infringement on the human rights of LGBT community?
To what extent do you support or oppose the bill recently passed by the House of Representatives? To what extent do you support or oppose the bill recently passed by the House of Representatives?” To what extent do you agree or disagree with the claim that homosexuality is not part of the culture of Nigerians? Overall, 69 percent of the respondents were aware of the legislative vote banning same sex marriage.
The results showed that the North-central, North East and South-South have the highest level of awareness with 75 percent. Ninety- two percent (92%) of the respondents supported the Bill, 5 percent oppose the bill and 3 percent were neutral. Also, 85 percent of the respondents strongly agree that homosexuality was not part of the Nigerian culture.
On if the proposed law was an infringement on the human rights of LGBT community, majority of respondents were of the opinion that the proposed law is not an infringement on their rights.  The poll in conclusion, revealed that Nigerians generally support the proposed bill and mostly agree that homosexuality is not a part of the Nigerian culture and majority do not think that the proposed bill is an infringement on the human rights of the people in the LGBT community.

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Pirates attack oil vessel, abduct 4 Indians, Polish crew members

 LAGOS— Pirates in speedboats attacked an oil supply vessel and kidnapped four Indians and Polish crew members in the Niger Delta, last week, two security sources said, yesterday.

This was even as a French sailor was freed, Tuesday, after being captured by pirates on June 13 from an oil products tanker, Adour on June 13, about 30 nautical miles off the coast of Togo, and taken into the country, a military commander had said.
The gunmen launched their assault on the Singapore-flagged tugboat MDPL Continental One around 30 nautical miles from land on June 13, the security sources said.
The vessel was ransacked and four crew were taken hostage off the coast of the oil-producing Niger Delta, one of the sources told Reuters.
The boat’s management company, CS Offshore, told Reuters there had been an incident that day but declined to go into further details “in order not to endanger those involved.”
Pirate attacks off West Africa’s mineral-rich Gulf of Guinea have almost doubled from last year and threaten to jeopardize the shipping of commodities from the region. They have already jacked up insurance costs.
The attacks are mostly carried out by armed Nigerian gangs also blamed for kidnappings and oil theft on land.
Speaking earlier on the release of the French sailor, General Bata Dembiro, a commander in Nigeria’s oil-producing Niger Delta region, said the Nigerian navy and French marines had stormed the vessel after the hijackers seized it, but they took Benjamin Elan hostage to enable them to escape. They released the other 14 crew, he said.
“The rescued foreign ship worker was abducted in Togo aboard an oil tanker and brought to Bayelsa state (in Nigeria) by suspected kidnappers,” Dembiro told Reuters by telephone.
The pirates took the Frenchman to a small village in Bayelsa state in the delta, but youths from the local community alerted the authorities, enabling them to mount a rescue operation. The gang had fled before they arrived in the house, he said.
The shipping company in charge of the boat, ST Management SAAM, declined to comment except to confirm that there had been an “incident” with the Adour.
Pirate attacks off West Africa’s mineral-rich Gulf of Guinea have almost doubled from last year and threaten to jeopardize the shipping of commodities from the region.
The attacks are mostly carried out by armed gangs who are also responsible for kidnappings and oil theft in onshore Africa’s largest oil producer, security sources say.

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Nigeria’s out-of-school children

IN this season of high wire politicking, it probably means nothing to the Nigerian ruling elite. But the social consequences might sooner, rather than later, come to consume them.

According to statistics of UNESCO, there are about 10.5 million Nigerian children out of school. This is the largest population of such out-of-school kids anywhere on earth and in fact, Nigeria accounts for 47 percent of the world’s population of out-of-school children.
We are said to lead 12 other countries, ranging from Pakistan, through to Yemen and Niger. UNESCO’s Director-General, Irina Bokova, analyzing the survey, further revealed that 20 percent of African children have never attended primary school or left without completing primary school.
We have been inundated with different types of depressing statistics in the past on the Nigerian condition.
In recent days, even the Finance Minister,  Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, was said to have recently held up a sponge cake to illustrate the infamous GDP growth of the Nigerian economy, in order to show the fabulous growth she said the Nigerian economy has recorded.
This is against the backdrop of growing disquiet about the jobless growth and the failure of the ‘trickle down’ propensity so beloved by defenders of contemporary capitalism.
Contemporary capitalism
In a season of vicious rivalries between and within factions of the political elite; at a time when they are positioning for positions and are mercilessly cutting themselves to pieces and therefore cannot contemplate the taking of prisoners, the last issue that will make any sense to those who rule our country is the statistics about children out of school.
Wired into the DNA of the Nigerian ruling class is the inability to develop a sense of shame about the nation’s condition. But when we have to be at the top of the rung of infamy, in respect of the number of children out of school, then there is a lot that is wrong indeed.
It comes home even closer, that the majority of such children are likely to be in Northern Nigeria. There is interconnectedness in social phenomena. Today, our region of the country is virtually in socio-economic lockdown, as a result of the Boko Haram insurgency.
The foot soldiers of that insurgency are those young people who have no hope in the complexities associated with the post-modern world with its brutal insistence on education and skills.
If we think this problem is not serious enough, please give a thought to the ridiculous cut-off marks recently released by the Federal Ministry of Education, for admission of Nigerian children from the different states, into the unity schools around the country. While students from Abia, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Lagos or even the Northern states of Kwara and Benue need the following cut-off marks: Male (130) Female (130); Male (123) Female (123); Male (139) Female (139); Male (133) Female (133); Male (123) Female (123); Male (111) Female (111), respectively. For Kebbi it is 9 for male and 20 for the female; Sokoto, 9 for the Male and 13 Female; Yobe 2 marks for Male and 27 for the Female and Zamfara 4 for the Male and 2 for the Female.
These are ridiculous and can only deepen resentment and prejudice in the country; but they underline the pitiful state of education in Northern Nigeria, further exposing the general state of rot that facilitated the emergence of the Boko Haram insurgency.
In truth, there is no other way but to take our children off the streets and into schools that have adequate infrastructure and teachers that are not only well-trained but are highly motivated and have a professional attitude.
This is a very serious challenge today and it was no surprise when the media reported President Jonathan’s worry about teachers who have become traders in the school system. At the lowest, primary school level, the situation is even worse!
The teachers are often unable to even pass primary four level examinations as was discovered recently in Kaduna state and a few years back in Kwara. It is partly in response to the state of rot that we now have a surfeit of private primary schools of uneven quality all over Nigeria.
Yet, no nation can develop, that neglects the public primary school system, because it is only through the public school system that the greatest aggregate of children all over the country: from Bayelsa to the remotest parts of Borno, can be brought into a national loop of education and skills acquisition, which might give potential geniuses in these outlying and far-flung parts of our country, the possibilities to contribute to the development of our country.
Education is far too serious a tool to fight underdevelopment, that it is absolutely criminal, that we can contemplate a situation where our country will have the largest population of out-of-school children in the world. It revolts the patriotic feeling and should fill us all with indignation.
If those who rule us can lock their gaze on to the more serious issues which can assist our nation’s development process, starting with the education of our children, they might well discover that they will be able to play their politics with a greater sense of purpose. As things stand now, they are locked in political duels to the death, precisely because the issues for them are about power without responsibility to the people.
And in case they do not realize it, the Nigerian people today are overwhelmingly young; 75% percent of the population is under the age of 35, while 45% are under 15. It is from this young population that the 10million out-of-school kids have been sourced.
So when the colonial-era policeman, Tony Anenih perfects schemes to win an automatic second term ticket for President Goodluck Jonathan while Bola Tinubu waxes lyrical about social security for those over 60 years of age, they both miss the point about the priorities that meet the demographic profile of our country today.
And between Anenih and Tinubu lies the deep chasm dividing our ruling elite from the young people who make up the majority of the Nigerian people today. They scheme about power while the young people need education, skills and jobs! The gulf is very wide and really deep.
FCT’s Bala Muhammed, privileged access and consequential Abuja matters
LAST week, I spent almost five hours  in discussion with Bala Muhammed, Minister of the FCT. It was at that level of privileged access that every reporter worth his professional calling would have cherished. Let me confess that Bala Muhammed is my friend, but I have not seen him in months; a period during which a lot of accusations have accumulated against his performance as Minister of the FCT and at a point when the din of politics has risen many decibels higher than normal.
The FCT minister is a really “juicy” preferment of Nigerian political life and whoever has that privilege is the real gold fish in a bowl. But Bala Muhammed is a stubborn customer; he would rather shrug his shoulders at every accusation thrown at him, preferring to get on with the job and trusting in his own good intention.
Sit down to have a discussion with Bala Muhammed, if you get the opportunity, and you immediately feel that he genuinely has a sense of commitment to the difficult duty that he took up. But it is not altogether a wise attitude to lean only upon your own good intention, because even the road to hell, especially the hell of Nigerian political life, is paved with good intentions.
Bala Muhammed’s administration has received a lot of flak about the implementation of the new transportation policy which banned the ‘Araba’ buses from the central areas of the FCT and the inadequate number of buses to bring in people from the satellite areas. But it is also clear that while there are initial glitches, things are going to ease in the long run and movement will eventually be sanitized in Abuja.
There is no gainsaying the fact that the transport infrastructure is undergoing a massive development just as other municipal services are undergoing renewal. But I think the issue closest to his heart is the Land Swap programme which is a major paradigm shift, programmed to involve private sector operatives in a massive investment plan to open and develop new districts of the FCT.
Intentions of government
It remains largely misunderstood and at a point when Nigerians are even more cynical about government, the FCT minister is at the heart of that distrust in the intentions of government. For Bala Muhammed, the missiles come from all directions, including those aimed from his Bauchi homestead, where he is locked into the battle for positioning, as the 2015 elections rumble with raised dust, towards all of us.
When we sat down to discuss last
week, I learnt a bit more about how things work at the FCT administration. It is not altogether easy to run as complex an institution as the FCTA but a lot is being done to deliver on services to the people of the federal capital. The daytime population of the city is said to have reached over 6million and given the perceptions of availability of opportunities and the security, a lot of people relocate into the FCT everyday, further increasing the pressure on infrastructure and deepening the demand for opportunities.
Resources available to provide services are severely limited and the administration has to increasingly think out of the box, innovate and find ways to generate the resources to continue the development going on all around us.
It is the challenge of development that Bala Muhammed prefers to face and is most willing to discuss, if he can cut away from meeting with members of his staff; spending long hours consulting at the Aso Villa or balancing the needs of political denizens, businessmen of all descriptions and citizens who troop into his office that sees literally no moment of respite.
I left Bala Muhammed’s office last week wiser about the way things work in the city that has been my home since 2002, but still unable to understand how he balances the exacting demands of so many people and deal with the mountains of accusation that he navigates each passing day of his political life. Everybody has a story, but the glitters of office can often mask the personal pains people deal with in the silent moments of their lives.

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Why amnesty ends 2015 – Kuku

LAGOS — The Federal Government, said, yesterday that it will  not go back on its words to terminate the amnesty programme for Niger Delta ex-militants in 2015.
Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Chairman, Presidential Amnesty Programme, Mr Kingsley Kuku, reiterated government’s position at the 7th Business Law Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association in Lagos.
He also canvassed a reduction in the N65,000 monthly stipend paid to beneficiaries in training to the statutory N18,000 minimum wage, so that those undergoing training did not earn more than those awaiting training.
According to him, failure to draw the curtain on the programme will bring about instability in the region.
Kuku, who noted that the Amnesty Office was currently grappling with exit strategy challenges, said that the present scenario was not envisaged at the time of the Presidential Amnesty Proclamation  in 2009.
He said:  “It will be in the best interest of Nigeria for government to terminate the presidential amnesty programme by 2015. If it is not closed by 2015, it will lose its taste. This is because it will become an alternative government in the Niger Delta.
“We are currently battling exit strategy challenges. If we reduce the monthly stipend to those in training to the prescribed  minimum wage for the country, which is N18,000, it will discourage more people from taking to militancy.
“We should have stopped paying N65,000 after pulling the agitators from the creeks and fixing it at the minimum wage could have been ideal. To avoid  further crisis, the programme should end in 2015. We must be ready to exit the programme. It is for this reason that governors of the region must support alternative programmes for youth engagement.”
Kuku noted that the gains of the programme could be eroded if government failed to close the programme by 2015 because of fresh agitations for enlistment by youths of the region, who now see militancy as a way of accessing public funds.
He said that his office was at present, exploring possibilities of getting trained ex-militants engaged to prevent them from returning to agitation.

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FG bans satellite phones in restive north

MAIDUGURI  (AFP) – Nigeria’s military on Wednesday banned the use of satellite phones in much of the restive northeast after cutting mobile phone service, further isolating the area after a series of fresh attacks.
The military claimed in announcing the ban that Islamist extremist group Boko Haram had used satellite phones to plan attacks on schools.
The insurgents have attacked two schools in the northeast this week, leaving at least 16 students and two teachers dead.
“Therefore, effective from 19 June 2013, the (military) imposes a ban on the use and sale of Thuraya phones and accessories, including Thuraya recharge cards in Borno state,” said a statement from Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa.
Thuraya is a popular brand of satellite phones.
“Anyone seen with Thuraya phones, recharge cards and accessories will be arrested,” the statement said.
It was unclear whether the ban would also apply to journalists, who have used satellite phones to communicate when visiting the region, where the military launched a sweeping offensive on May 15.
The announcement applied to Borno state, the hardest hit in the region, and it was unclear if it would be extended.
The military has claimed it has pushed out the insurgents with its offensive, but a series of attacks in recent days have raised questions over whether the gains were only temporary.
On Sunday, suspected Boko Haram gunmen opened fire on a secondary school in Damaturu in Yobe state, killing seven students and two teachers.
Two of the attackers were also killed, said the army.
On Monday in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, suspected Islamists shot dead nine students as they sat an exam in a private school.
Boko Haram, whose name roughly translates as “Western education is sin,” has carried out multiple attacks on schools in northeast Nigeria.
The group has said it is fighting to create an Islamic state in the country’s mainly Muslim north.
Violence linked to the insurgency has left some 3,600 people dead since 2009, including killings by the security forces, who have been accused of major abuses.