"A mild drama occurred in Abeokuta on Sunday as former President Olusegun Obasanjo had a dose of the frustration many Nigerians face in getting registered for the April general elections.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, at the Ita-Eko voter registration centre in Abeokuta, Ogun State, on Sunday.
Photo: Olayinka Olukoya (Nigerian Tribune)
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He had arrived his Ward 11 Ita-Eko, Abeokuta at 11.53am, but ended not registering at the ward as his fingerprints were rejected several times by the Direct Data Capturing machine in use.
Before his arrival in company with his wife, Bola, people had patiently waited to be registered.
Our correspondent reported that when the DDC machine rejected Obasanjo's fingerprints, the Ogun State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mr, Martins Okunfolami, and other INEC officials present made arrangement for another machine to be used.
When the second failed, the INEC officials, out of desperation, accompanied Obasanjo to another registration point in the ward. But at the point, the DDC machine malfunctioned.
When all hopes appeared dashed, the former President got up and tried to leave, saying he would come back on his return from the overseas trip.
But apparently sensing the implication of Obasanjo's failure to register, the INEC officials made telephone calls repeatedly while pleading with the former President to give them more time for an expert to come to the registration point.
The expert eventually arrived around 12.45pm and had Obasanjo registered 20 minutes after.
Speaking after, Obasanjo, who did not show any sign of annoyance, described the incident as the "hiccup of a new process."
He, therefore, cautioned Nigerians against castigating INEC over the shaky start of the exercise, saying it was normal for people to experience difficulty in handling a new programme such as the technology- driven voter registration.
He said, "Whenever you are starting a new programme like this, it's likely to have hitches until everybody masters it. Today (Sunday) is the second day. I believe that by the middle of this week, both the people who are carrying out the registration, the technicians and INEC at the highest level will be able to make this work smoothly.
"So, I don't believe that we should now start to castigate and to condemn. If, of course, by the middle of the week it's not working as it should be, we will all see and then those who designed it would have to advise us how we go about it.
"But for now, let's regard this as the hiccup of a new process."
Reacting to journalists' question on the possibility of extending the voter registration, the former President maintained that it was too early for anybody to start thinking of such.
Obasanjo said, "No, it is too early; that's why I said by the middle of this week, whereby three or four days would have gone, then those who are there would know that anything that you do for 14 days, and four days have gone you and haven't done one-quarter, then it requires some form of rethinking.
"Let us not prejudge them, let's give them time to think and rethink if rethinking is necessary."
Obasanjo's experience, however, appears better than that of the President of the Senate, David Mark, who was not able to register after spending more than two hours at ward I Otukpo, Benue State.
Mark had gone to a registration centre in the ward at 10 am on Sunday with his wife, Helen, but was advised by INEC officials, who said they were having problems with the DDC machine attached to them, to go home and return later.
When he returned to the cente at 4pm, he made efforts to be registered but the machine still did not work.
Disappointed by the development, Mark advised INEC to put its house in order to make the voter registration a success.
He said, "I have made spirited efforts to register to no avail. I went to the registration centre about 10am. I waited for more than two hours and nobody could be registered. I returned at about 4pm yet nothing could be done.
"INEC must put its house in order, otherwise this whole exercise would be in jeopardy. We cannot afford anything that would threaten the conduct of the forthcoming elections. INEC must sit up and save us this embarrassment."
The President of the Senate added that reports reaching him indicated that the DDC machines were not functioning.
The INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in charge of Benue, Alh. Nasiru Ailara, later visited Mark in his residence to appeal to him for his understanding.
"We have identified the problem, and provided a solution with a new software that would address the problem. Please accept our apology for the inconveniences," Ailara said. "
http://odili.net/news/source/2011/jan/17/818.html
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lundi 17 janvier 2011
vendredi 14 janvier 2011
English: "Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan wins party p...
English: "Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan wins party p...: "'Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has won party primaries, making him the favourite ahead of April's elections. Mr Jonathan's main chal..."
jeudi 13 janvier 2011
"Tunisia: Further violence reported despite curfew"
"There are reports of further trouble overnight in Tunisia's capital, Tunis, despite a dusk-to-dawn curfew.
Hundreds of youths took to the streets in various districts in the north of the city, Spanish agency Efe reports.
According to Reuters news agency, witnesses say one man was shot dead in the clashes with the police.
Officials say at least 23 people have died since nationwide unrest began last month over rising food and fuel prices, high unemployment and corruption.
Human rights and trade union activists believe the number of dead to be at least 60.
Witnesses say the man was killed in the Ettadhamen suburb of the city, where another resident told AFP news agency the protest could be heard throughout the night.
Firemen were attempting to put out fires on Thursday morning following the trouble, the agency reports.
Earlier on Wednesday, President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali dismissed his interior minister in an attempt to stem the unrest.
Rafik Belhaj Kacem had been responsible for the police force, which many people say has used excessive force against protesters.
Map of Tunisia
Violence in Tunis broke out on Wednesday afternoon, as protesters threw stones and police responded with volleys of tear gas.
It was the first time in weeks of unrest that the violence had reached the capital.
The BBC's Adam Mynott says there were also protests in other towns and cities - and at least another three people were reported to have been killed on Wednesday.
In addition to sacking Mr Belhaj Kacem, the president has ordered the release of some of those already arrested at protests.
He has also created a committee to investigate corruption.
According to Arabic news television channel al-Jazeera, the president will address both chambers of parliament later on Thursday about the unrest"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12180738
Hundreds of youths took to the streets in various districts in the north of the city, Spanish agency Efe reports.
According to Reuters news agency, witnesses say one man was shot dead in the clashes with the police.
Officials say at least 23 people have died since nationwide unrest began last month over rising food and fuel prices, high unemployment and corruption.
Human rights and trade union activists believe the number of dead to be at least 60.
Witnesses say the man was killed in the Ettadhamen suburb of the city, where another resident told AFP news agency the protest could be heard throughout the night.
Firemen were attempting to put out fires on Thursday morning following the trouble, the agency reports.
Earlier on Wednesday, President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali dismissed his interior minister in an attempt to stem the unrest.
Rafik Belhaj Kacem had been responsible for the police force, which many people say has used excessive force against protesters.
Map of Tunisia
Violence in Tunis broke out on Wednesday afternoon, as protesters threw stones and police responded with volleys of tear gas.
It was the first time in weeks of unrest that the violence had reached the capital.
The BBC's Adam Mynott says there were also protests in other towns and cities - and at least another three people were reported to have been killed on Wednesday.
In addition to sacking Mr Belhaj Kacem, the president has ordered the release of some of those already arrested at protests.
He has also created a committee to investigate corruption.
According to Arabic news television channel al-Jazeera, the president will address both chambers of parliament later on Thursday about the unrest"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12180738
mardi 11 janvier 2011
"Nigerian city of Jos becomes ghost town after clashes"
"Nigeria's central city of Jos is a ghost town after weekend clashes between rival groups left at least 18 people dead.
Journalist Andrew Agbese told the BBC banks, schools and markets were closed as residents feared more violence.
More buildings were set alight in one area of the city on Monday and extra security forces have been deployed.
Jos lies in Nigeria's volatile Middle Belt - between the mainly Muslim north and largely Christian south.
It has been blighted by violence between rival ethnic groups over the past decade, with deadly riots in 2001, 2008 and last year.
Wedding bus attack
"The whole town is deserted - the usually busy terminus area, where there is high commercial activities, is at a standstill; there is nobody there and all the shops are locked," Mr Agbese, from Nigeria's Daily Trust newspaper, told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.
Continue reading the main story
Jos Violence
map
* Deadly riots in 2001, 2008 and 2010
* City divided into Christian and Muslim areas
* Hausa-speaking Muslims living in Jos for decades still classified as settlers
* Settlers find it difficult to stand for election
* Communities divided along political party lines
* Jos violence: Q&A
"The university, which is supposed to have started its academic activities today, did not open because students were afraid to go to school."
He said the violence began after news that a bus carrying Muslim wedding guests was attacked when it got lost returning to the city on Friday evening.
Muslim youths began demonstrating when they heard that seven people had died in that attack.
Police say 11 people died on Saturday in disturbances, which they also blamed on election primaries ahead of April's general elections.
Seven politicians from the Congress for Progressive Change were charged in court on Monday with incitement.
Four other people have been arrested after clashes on Sunday in the Bukuru suburb, where seven corpses were displayed outside a mosque on Monday morning, Mr Agbese said.
More unrest broke out on Monday in the Angoljos suburb - where both Christians and Muslims live - when an unidentified group was seen roaming the area causing panic.
"At 9am smoke was coming from that area, when I went there at 2.30pm things had calmed down. Tension and suspicion on both sides ignited the clash; many houses went up in flames," Mr Agbese said.
"Police and soldiers are now there, keeping guard, with their vehicles parked on major junctions."
Late last year, Nigerian faith leaders accused politicians of fuelling a recent upsurge in sectarian violence in Jos.
Some 80 people died when bombs exploded in several areas of Jos on Christmas Eve, and youths clashed two days later.
The people around Jos are divided along religious, ethnic and political lines, with Hausa- and Fulani-speaking Muslims generally supporting the opposition and ethnic Berom Christians favouring the ruling People's Democratic Party."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12154874
Journalist Andrew Agbese told the BBC banks, schools and markets were closed as residents feared more violence.
More buildings were set alight in one area of the city on Monday and extra security forces have been deployed.
Jos lies in Nigeria's volatile Middle Belt - between the mainly Muslim north and largely Christian south.
It has been blighted by violence between rival ethnic groups over the past decade, with deadly riots in 2001, 2008 and last year.
Wedding bus attack
"The whole town is deserted - the usually busy terminus area, where there is high commercial activities, is at a standstill; there is nobody there and all the shops are locked," Mr Agbese, from Nigeria's Daily Trust newspaper, told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.
Continue reading the main story
Jos Violence
map
* Deadly riots in 2001, 2008 and 2010
* City divided into Christian and Muslim areas
* Hausa-speaking Muslims living in Jos for decades still classified as settlers
* Settlers find it difficult to stand for election
* Communities divided along political party lines
* Jos violence: Q&A
"The university, which is supposed to have started its academic activities today, did not open because students were afraid to go to school."
He said the violence began after news that a bus carrying Muslim wedding guests was attacked when it got lost returning to the city on Friday evening.
Muslim youths began demonstrating when they heard that seven people had died in that attack.
Police say 11 people died on Saturday in disturbances, which they also blamed on election primaries ahead of April's general elections.
Seven politicians from the Congress for Progressive Change were charged in court on Monday with incitement.
Four other people have been arrested after clashes on Sunday in the Bukuru suburb, where seven corpses were displayed outside a mosque on Monday morning, Mr Agbese said.
More unrest broke out on Monday in the Angoljos suburb - where both Christians and Muslims live - when an unidentified group was seen roaming the area causing panic.
"At 9am smoke was coming from that area, when I went there at 2.30pm things had calmed down. Tension and suspicion on both sides ignited the clash; many houses went up in flames," Mr Agbese said.
"Police and soldiers are now there, keeping guard, with their vehicles parked on major junctions."
Late last year, Nigerian faith leaders accused politicians of fuelling a recent upsurge in sectarian violence in Jos.
Some 80 people died when bombs exploded in several areas of Jos on Christmas Eve, and youths clashed two days later.
The people around Jos are divided along religious, ethnic and political lines, with Hausa- and Fulani-speaking Muslims generally supporting the opposition and ethnic Berom Christians favouring the ruling People's Democratic Party."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12154874
"Niger delta election: Massive security in Nigeria"
"More than 20,000 Nigerian police have been deployed to the oil-rich Niger Delta, where elections for a state governor are being held.
The result of the last election, in 2007, has been annulled because of voting irregularities.
Last week, there were bomb attacks on political rallies in Delta State.
The president of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, has campaigned on behalf of Emanuel Uduaghan, who was governor until the annulment.
Correspondents say the election will test the president's support in a key state, ahead of general elections in April.
Delta state is re-running the election after an appeals court overturned Mr Uduaghan's election in November.
Police, riot police and military bomb disposal units have been deployed to ensure the security of the polls.
"It is the largest contingent ever deployed for a state election," Delta State police spokesman, Charles Muka told the AFP news agency.
President Goodluck Jonathan, who is from the Niger Delta, on Tuesday flew from Abuja to the state to support the campaign of Mr Uduaghan, who is from the ruling People's Democratic Party."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12128421
The result of the last election, in 2007, has been annulled because of voting irregularities.
Last week, there were bomb attacks on political rallies in Delta State.
The president of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, has campaigned on behalf of Emanuel Uduaghan, who was governor until the annulment.
Correspondents say the election will test the president's support in a key state, ahead of general elections in April.
Delta state is re-running the election after an appeals court overturned Mr Uduaghan's election in November.
Police, riot police and military bomb disposal units have been deployed to ensure the security of the polls.
"It is the largest contingent ever deployed for a state election," Delta State police spokesman, Charles Muka told the AFP news agency.
President Goodluck Jonathan, who is from the Niger Delta, on Tuesday flew from Abuja to the state to support the campaign of Mr Uduaghan, who is from the ruling People's Democratic Party."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12128421
"Nigeria's top banker wins international recognition"
"http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12126920Nigeria's top banker wins international recognition
By James Melik Reporter, Business Daily, BBC World Service
Lamido Sanusi, Nigeria's central banker It is generally thought that Mr Sanusi has little time for the political elite
Continue reading the main story
Related stories
* Former Nigeria bank CEO jailed
* Nigeria ex-bank chief faces court
* Nigeria sacks stock market chief
Nigeria is frequently cited as one of the most corrupt countries in the world, but its central banker has won two international banking awards.
Mallam Lamido Aminu Sanusi has been named as the Central Bank Governor of 2010 for both the African continent and the entire world, by the prestigious Banker Magazine.
The editor of the magazine, Brian Caplen, says that few candidate names generate an overall consensus on judging panels, and yet, when it came to finding the best global central bank governor of the year, Mr Sanusi was chosen unanimously.
The 49-year-old was appointed head of the Bank of Nigeria in June 2009.
He has been praised for salvaging a crumbling Nigerian financial sector, including implementing reforms that have put Africa's most promising market back on the map for global investors.
The magazine's country representative, Kunle Ogedengbe, stresses that Mr Sanusi embarked on a radical anti-corruption campaign aimed at saving 24 banks on the brink of collapse.
He also pressed for the managers involved in the most blatant cases of corruption to be charged, and, in the case of two senior bankers, convicted.
"The reforms initiated by Mr Sanusi have been necessary to sanitise the banking industry," Mr Ogedengbe says.
"Had these reforms not been initiated, Nigeria would have entered into another round of banking distress."
Extensive reforms
Despite the political challenge of facing up to powerful people who held considerable sway in the country, Mr Sanusi never swerved from his approach, and won the support of the public as they were made aware of the scale of corruption.
Mallam Lamido Aminu Sanusi Coming from the north, Mr Sanusi bucked the established trend of appointing southerners
"He has carried out the sort of reforms that most of the central bankers in the world would like to have carried out in their territories," Lagos journalist Anthony Osae-Brown told BBC World Service's World Business News.
Two months into his governorship, Mr Sanusi embarked on the bailout of Afribank, Intercontinental Bank, Union Bank, Oceanic Bank and Finbank.
He dismissed their chief executives in a move designed to show that banking is no longer business as usual, but institutions that must serve the economy as a whole.
Another key reform of the banking sector enforced by Mr Sanusi has been to limit the tenure of bank bosses to a maximum of 10 years.
The chief executives will have to leave office at the end of their term regardless of their record.
The implementation of a stricter disclosure policy by the Central Bank of Nigeria has also led to a culture of greater transparency in the sector.
Career path
Mr Sanusi began his banking career in 1985 by joining the merchant bankers Icon Limited, a subsidiary of Baring Brothers of London and Morgan Guaranty Trust Bank of New York.
After becoming the head of the central bank, some people dubbed his extensive reforms as the "Sanusi tsunami".
He defended his actions, saying there was no choice but to attack the many powerful and interrelated vested interests who were exploiting the financial system of the country.
At a February 2010 conference on banking in Nigeria, he described his blueprint for reforming the Nigerian financial system as being built around four pillars.
* enhancing the quality of the banks
* establishing financial stability in the country
* enabling a healthy financial sector evolution
* ensuring that the financial sector contributes to the real economy
Talking later that month, he said that the crash in the capital market had been due to the high level of financial illiteracy on the part of the Nigerian investors.
Parallel interests
In parallel to his banking career, Mr Sanusi has also contributed to the nationwide debate over Sharia law.
In 1997, he obtained a degree in Sharia and Islamic Studies from the African International University in Khartoum, Sudan.
In an article in September 2000, he noted the problem of reconciling "belief in the universal and eternal applicability of the Sharia with the need to meet the requirements of a particular milieu."
And at a seminar in Abuja his talk was entitled Basic Needs and Redistributive Justice in Islam - The Panacea to Poverty in Nigeria.
Election looming
Nigerian government borrowing has increased around 50% by late 2010, while its spending has been rising in the run-up to the presidential primaries in the middle of January - a contest whose outcome could shape the political and economic landscape for the next few years.
The excess crude account, into which Nigeria saves windfall oil income, has dropped to $300m (£193m) from $20bn at the start of the presidential term in 2007.
The political uncertainty also means major pieces of policy, including some multi-billion dollar investment decisions, are on hold until after the elections.
The biggest decision regards the Petroleum Industry Bill, which will re-write Nigeria's decades-old relationship with foreign oil firms.
It will redefine the fiscal and legal framework governing investment, including its key offshore fields which are expected to yield most of its future production growth.
Until that bill passes, foreign oil firms will keep multi-billion dollar investments on hold.
Potential investors in the planned privatisation of the domestic power sector, one of the cornerstones of President Jonathan's policy, are also unlikely to go beyond statements of interest until the elections are over.
But banking reforms continue apace and the five-year tenure of Mr Sanusi means even a change in president is unlikely to derail them. "
By James Melik Reporter, Business Daily, BBC World Service
Lamido Sanusi, Nigeria's central banker It is generally thought that Mr Sanusi has little time for the political elite
Continue reading the main story
Related stories
* Former Nigeria bank CEO jailed
* Nigeria ex-bank chief faces court
* Nigeria sacks stock market chief
Nigeria is frequently cited as one of the most corrupt countries in the world, but its central banker has won two international banking awards.
Mallam Lamido Aminu Sanusi has been named as the Central Bank Governor of 2010 for both the African continent and the entire world, by the prestigious Banker Magazine.
The editor of the magazine, Brian Caplen, says that few candidate names generate an overall consensus on judging panels, and yet, when it came to finding the best global central bank governor of the year, Mr Sanusi was chosen unanimously.
The 49-year-old was appointed head of the Bank of Nigeria in June 2009.
He has been praised for salvaging a crumbling Nigerian financial sector, including implementing reforms that have put Africa's most promising market back on the map for global investors.
The magazine's country representative, Kunle Ogedengbe, stresses that Mr Sanusi embarked on a radical anti-corruption campaign aimed at saving 24 banks on the brink of collapse.
He also pressed for the managers involved in the most blatant cases of corruption to be charged, and, in the case of two senior bankers, convicted.
"The reforms initiated by Mr Sanusi have been necessary to sanitise the banking industry," Mr Ogedengbe says.
"Had these reforms not been initiated, Nigeria would have entered into another round of banking distress."
Extensive reforms
Despite the political challenge of facing up to powerful people who held considerable sway in the country, Mr Sanusi never swerved from his approach, and won the support of the public as they were made aware of the scale of corruption.
Mallam Lamido Aminu Sanusi Coming from the north, Mr Sanusi bucked the established trend of appointing southerners
"He has carried out the sort of reforms that most of the central bankers in the world would like to have carried out in their territories," Lagos journalist Anthony Osae-Brown told BBC World Service's World Business News.
Two months into his governorship, Mr Sanusi embarked on the bailout of Afribank, Intercontinental Bank, Union Bank, Oceanic Bank and Finbank.
He dismissed their chief executives in a move designed to show that banking is no longer business as usual, but institutions that must serve the economy as a whole.
Another key reform of the banking sector enforced by Mr Sanusi has been to limit the tenure of bank bosses to a maximum of 10 years.
The chief executives will have to leave office at the end of their term regardless of their record.
The implementation of a stricter disclosure policy by the Central Bank of Nigeria has also led to a culture of greater transparency in the sector.
Career path
Mr Sanusi began his banking career in 1985 by joining the merchant bankers Icon Limited, a subsidiary of Baring Brothers of London and Morgan Guaranty Trust Bank of New York.
After becoming the head of the central bank, some people dubbed his extensive reforms as the "Sanusi tsunami".
He defended his actions, saying there was no choice but to attack the many powerful and interrelated vested interests who were exploiting the financial system of the country.
At a February 2010 conference on banking in Nigeria, he described his blueprint for reforming the Nigerian financial system as being built around four pillars.
* enhancing the quality of the banks
* establishing financial stability in the country
* enabling a healthy financial sector evolution
* ensuring that the financial sector contributes to the real economy
Talking later that month, he said that the crash in the capital market had been due to the high level of financial illiteracy on the part of the Nigerian investors.
Parallel interests
In parallel to his banking career, Mr Sanusi has also contributed to the nationwide debate over Sharia law.
In 1997, he obtained a degree in Sharia and Islamic Studies from the African International University in Khartoum, Sudan.
In an article in September 2000, he noted the problem of reconciling "belief in the universal and eternal applicability of the Sharia with the need to meet the requirements of a particular milieu."
And at a seminar in Abuja his talk was entitled Basic Needs and Redistributive Justice in Islam - The Panacea to Poverty in Nigeria.
Election looming
Nigerian government borrowing has increased around 50% by late 2010, while its spending has been rising in the run-up to the presidential primaries in the middle of January - a contest whose outcome could shape the political and economic landscape for the next few years.
The excess crude account, into which Nigeria saves windfall oil income, has dropped to $300m (£193m) from $20bn at the start of the presidential term in 2007.
The political uncertainty also means major pieces of policy, including some multi-billion dollar investment decisions, are on hold until after the elections.
The biggest decision regards the Petroleum Industry Bill, which will re-write Nigeria's decades-old relationship with foreign oil firms.
It will redefine the fiscal and legal framework governing investment, including its key offshore fields which are expected to yield most of its future production growth.
Until that bill passes, foreign oil firms will keep multi-billion dollar investments on hold.
Potential investors in the planned privatisation of the domestic power sector, one of the cornerstones of President Jonathan's policy, are also unlikely to go beyond statements of interest until the elections are over.
But banking reforms continue apace and the five-year tenure of Mr Sanusi means even a change in president is unlikely to derail them. "
"Frenchmen in Niger killed by kidnappers: French PM"
"Paris, Jan 10 (DPA) Two French hostages who were found dead in the Niger desert following a rescue attempt by French and Niger government forces were killed 'in cold blood' by their kidnappers, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said Monday.
The bodies of Antoine de Leocour and Vincent Delory, both 25, were discovered Saturday at the site of a shootout between the kidnappers and the security forces.
Few details have emerged about the circumstances of their death.
But Fillon told a press conference in Paris that according to 'initial elements' at his disposal 'the kidnappers, when they saw they were being pursued, eliminated the hostages in cold blood'.
French Defence Minister Alain Juppe travelled to Niger Monday to discuss the investigation in the case with local authorities and seek to reassure French expatriates of Frances commitment to their security.
The killings, which come four months after five French nationals were kidnapped from a uranium mining facility in northern Niger, have sent shockwaves throughout France.
A group calling itself Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which has carried out a spate of kidnappings of Western nationals in Niger, Mauritania and Mali since 2007, is suspected of being behind the attack.
The two victims were snatched by masked, Arab-speaking men from a restaurant in the Niger capital, Niamey and whisked off in the direction of the border with Mali, where AQIM is believed to be based.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy gave orders for French troops to intervene after the group was spotted by a French military surveillance plane in the desert.
Three Niger soldiers were killed in the operation, along with 'several' kidnappers, the French government has said.
Two French troops were also injured.
Sarkozy termed the young men's death a 'barbaric act, perpetrated by barbarians'.
If AQIM are confirmed as being behind the attack, it will be the first time they have ventured from the lawless desert zones into the Niger capital to take hostages.
AQIM had often threatened to attack French interests in the region, particularly after six of its members were killed last year in a raid on one of its bases in Mali by French and Mauritanian soldiers.
That raid was undertaken to rescue a 78-year-old French aid worker, kidnapped in April. The raid failed and the hostage was subsequently executed. "
http://www.sify.com/news/frenchmen-in-niger-killed-by-kidnappers-french-pm-news-international-lbkxOedjjhc.html
The bodies of Antoine de Leocour and Vincent Delory, both 25, were discovered Saturday at the site of a shootout between the kidnappers and the security forces.
Few details have emerged about the circumstances of their death.
But Fillon told a press conference in Paris that according to 'initial elements' at his disposal 'the kidnappers, when they saw they were being pursued, eliminated the hostages in cold blood'.
French Defence Minister Alain Juppe travelled to Niger Monday to discuss the investigation in the case with local authorities and seek to reassure French expatriates of Frances commitment to their security.
The killings, which come four months after five French nationals were kidnapped from a uranium mining facility in northern Niger, have sent shockwaves throughout France.
A group calling itself Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which has carried out a spate of kidnappings of Western nationals in Niger, Mauritania and Mali since 2007, is suspected of being behind the attack.
The two victims were snatched by masked, Arab-speaking men from a restaurant in the Niger capital, Niamey and whisked off in the direction of the border with Mali, where AQIM is believed to be based.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy gave orders for French troops to intervene after the group was spotted by a French military surveillance plane in the desert.
Three Niger soldiers were killed in the operation, along with 'several' kidnappers, the French government has said.
Two French troops were also injured.
Sarkozy termed the young men's death a 'barbaric act, perpetrated by barbarians'.
If AQIM are confirmed as being behind the attack, it will be the first time they have ventured from the lawless desert zones into the Niger capital to take hostages.
AQIM had often threatened to attack French interests in the region, particularly after six of its members were killed last year in a raid on one of its bases in Mali by French and Mauritanian soldiers.
That raid was undertaken to rescue a 78-year-old French aid worker, kidnapped in April. The raid failed and the hostage was subsequently executed. "
http://www.sify.com/news/frenchmen-in-niger-killed-by-kidnappers-french-pm-news-international-lbkxOedjjhc.html
dimanche 9 janvier 2011
"Uncertain Future: The 2011 Elections in Nigeria"
"Elections are due to take place in Nigeria in early 2011, marking a critical turning point for the country following a tumultuous few years. The 2007 elections were generally regarded as lacking credibility, and the country was plunged into near crisis in 2009 when President Umaru Yar’Adua fell ill and left the country for several months.
The vice president, Goodluck Jonathan, took over in the presidency after Yar’Adua’s death, and despite many fears, the country has not devolved into chaos during the political transition. However the country is facing many challenges leading up to next year’s elections, and for Nigeria to get back on track toward democracy and accountable governance, the elections must be free, fair, and credible.
I asked Salihu Lukman, an economist and CEO of Good Governance Group in Nigeria, about the challenges that lie ahead for Nigeria.
What is the political climate right now in Nigeria?
Election fever is gradually catching the nation. Although the Independent National Electoral Commission in Nigeria (INEC) is yet to make public confirmation that the elections will hold in January, the 2010 Electoral Act passed by the president mandates INEC to conduct the elections in January. It is expected that in the coming week, INEC will release timetable leading to the elections. Parties are all gearing up for primaries to hold between September and October. Work by INEC on the compilation of new voters register is expected to take place in October.
From all indications, the contest for the presidential election will be a three-way fight between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Goodluck Jonathan, Congress for Progress Change (CPC) candidate Muhammadu Buhari, and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) candidate Nuhu Ribadu.
What needs to happen in order for the next Nigerian elections to be free, fair, and credible?
There is the need to organize awareness campaigns with the primary objective of mobilizing Nigerians to register as voters. The second challenge is the need to have credible candidates for the 2011 elections that are distinctly different from the traditional Nigerian politicians. Thirdly, community organizations, civil society groups, trade unions, faith-based groups, et cetera should be mobilized to begin to develop mandate strategies in order to ensure that incidences of ballot box snatching and rigging are minimized.
What are the biggest challenges facing Nigeria ahead of the 2011 elections?
The biggest challenge ahead of Nigeria’s 2011 elections is completing a new voters’ register organized in October. A second challenge will be to ensure that the new INEC management carries out their much needed internal re-organisation. Also of critical importance is ensuring that officials indicted by judicial tribunals during the last elections are sanctioned and to that extent, therefore are not allowed to be part of the officials for the 2011 elections.
You’ve mentioned the need not only for electoral reform, but also political reform. Can you talk a bit about what this means?
Electoral reform is limited to ensuring that votes count and winners of the election are those that are validly and truly elected by the people. Political reform goes beyond that. It is about ensuring that those elected are responsive to the needs and yearnings of the people. This requires some institutional adjustments. For instance, a situation where legislatures manage issues around constituency structures with recklessness and often selfish dispositions should be redressed. Related to this is the issue of the quality legislative bureaucracy. There is the need for reform in this area to guarantee capacity, competence and eventually service delivery.
What can the United States government, as well as other governments and institutions, do in advance of the elections to help the Nigerian government and INEC secure a free and fair election?
The international community must actively engage with the electoral commission – INEC – as well as with civil society organizations and, of course, the Nigerian government to ensure fair elections."
http://blog.soros.org/2010/09/uncertain-future-the-2011-elections-in-nigeria/
The vice president, Goodluck Jonathan, took over in the presidency after Yar’Adua’s death, and despite many fears, the country has not devolved into chaos during the political transition. However the country is facing many challenges leading up to next year’s elections, and for Nigeria to get back on track toward democracy and accountable governance, the elections must be free, fair, and credible.
I asked Salihu Lukman, an economist and CEO of Good Governance Group in Nigeria, about the challenges that lie ahead for Nigeria.
What is the political climate right now in Nigeria?
Election fever is gradually catching the nation. Although the Independent National Electoral Commission in Nigeria (INEC) is yet to make public confirmation that the elections will hold in January, the 2010 Electoral Act passed by the president mandates INEC to conduct the elections in January. It is expected that in the coming week, INEC will release timetable leading to the elections. Parties are all gearing up for primaries to hold between September and October. Work by INEC on the compilation of new voters register is expected to take place in October.
From all indications, the contest for the presidential election will be a three-way fight between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Goodluck Jonathan, Congress for Progress Change (CPC) candidate Muhammadu Buhari, and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) candidate Nuhu Ribadu.
What needs to happen in order for the next Nigerian elections to be free, fair, and credible?
There is the need to organize awareness campaigns with the primary objective of mobilizing Nigerians to register as voters. The second challenge is the need to have credible candidates for the 2011 elections that are distinctly different from the traditional Nigerian politicians. Thirdly, community organizations, civil society groups, trade unions, faith-based groups, et cetera should be mobilized to begin to develop mandate strategies in order to ensure that incidences of ballot box snatching and rigging are minimized.
What are the biggest challenges facing Nigeria ahead of the 2011 elections?
The biggest challenge ahead of Nigeria’s 2011 elections is completing a new voters’ register organized in October. A second challenge will be to ensure that the new INEC management carries out their much needed internal re-organisation. Also of critical importance is ensuring that officials indicted by judicial tribunals during the last elections are sanctioned and to that extent, therefore are not allowed to be part of the officials for the 2011 elections.
You’ve mentioned the need not only for electoral reform, but also political reform. Can you talk a bit about what this means?
Electoral reform is limited to ensuring that votes count and winners of the election are those that are validly and truly elected by the people. Political reform goes beyond that. It is about ensuring that those elected are responsive to the needs and yearnings of the people. This requires some institutional adjustments. For instance, a situation where legislatures manage issues around constituency structures with recklessness and often selfish dispositions should be redressed. Related to this is the issue of the quality legislative bureaucracy. There is the need for reform in this area to guarantee capacity, competence and eventually service delivery.
What can the United States government, as well as other governments and institutions, do in advance of the elections to help the Nigerian government and INEC secure a free and fair election?
The international community must actively engage with the electoral commission – INEC – as well as with civil society organizations and, of course, the Nigerian government to ensure fair elections."
http://blog.soros.org/2010/09/uncertain-future-the-2011-elections-in-nigeria/
"Two French hostages kinapped in Niger were found dead after an attempted rescue operation, the French Defence Minister has confirmed."
"The men had been abducted from a bar in the capital Niamey, the BBC reports.
Alain Juppe said members of Niger's national guard pursued the kidnappers to an area close to the border with Mali, in an operation coordinated with French forces in the region.
Mr Juppe said several of the terrorists were overpowered. "After the fighting, the two hostages were found dead," he said.
A French armed forces spokesman told Reuters that France believed the hostages had been executed by their captors.
One of the kidnapped men was reportedly an aid worker due to be married to a woman from Niger, and the other man was his friend.
A government spokesman said the kidnappers spoke Arabic, French and Hawza, but that their identity could not be confirmed as they had their faces covered.
No group has said it was behind the abduction, but al-Qaeda's North African offshoot has seized Western"
http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=248024262906533357
Alain Juppe said members of Niger's national guard pursued the kidnappers to an area close to the border with Mali, in an operation coordinated with French forces in the region.
Mr Juppe said several of the terrorists were overpowered. "After the fighting, the two hostages were found dead," he said.
A French armed forces spokesman told Reuters that France believed the hostages had been executed by their captors.
One of the kidnapped men was reportedly an aid worker due to be married to a woman from Niger, and the other man was his friend.
A government spokesman said the kidnappers spoke Arabic, French and Hawza, but that their identity could not be confirmed as they had their faces covered.
No group has said it was behind the abduction, but al-Qaeda's North African offshoot has seized Western"
http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=248024262906533357
samedi 8 janvier 2011
Sahel Livre: "Deux Français enlevés au Niger : les premiers tém...
Sahel Livre: "Deux Français enlevés au Niger : les premiers tém...: "Deux Français ont été enlevés ce vendredi soir 7 janvier 2011, dans un restaurant de la capitale nigérienne, Niamey, par des inconnus armés...."
Sahel Livre: "Deux Français enlevés au Niger : les premiers tém...
Sahel Livre: "Deux Français enlevés au Niger : les premiers tém...: "Deux Français ont été enlevés ce vendredi soir 7 janvier 2011, dans un restaurant de la capitale nigérienne, Niamey, par des inconnus armés...."
"HISTORY OF NIGERIA "
"Historic regions: 5th century BC - 20th century AD
Nigeria contains more historic cultures and empires than any other other nation in Africa. They date back as far as the 5th century BC, when communities living around the southern slopes of the Jos plateau make wonderfully expressive terracotta figures - in a tradition known now as the Nok culture, from the Nigerian village where these sculptures are first unearthed. The Nok people are neolithic tribes who have recently acquired the iron technology spreading southwards through Africa.
The Jos plateau is in the centre of Nigeria, but the first extensive kingdoms of the region - more than a millennium after the Nok people - are in the north and northeast, deriving their wealth from trade north through the Sahara and east into the Sudan.
http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ad41
During the 9th century AD a trading empire grows up around Lake Chad. Its original centre is east of the lake, in the Kanem region, but it soon extends to Bornu on the western side. In the 11th century the ruler of Kanem-Bornu converts to Islam.
West of Bornu, along the northern frontier of Nigeria, is the land of the Hausa people. Well placed to control trade with the forest regions to the south, the Hausa develop a number of small but stable kingdoms, each ruled from a strong walled city. They are often threatened by larger neighbours (Mali and Gao to the west, Bornu to the east). But the Hausa traders benefit also from being on the route between these empires. By the 14th century they too are Muslim.
In the savanna grasslands and the forest regions west of the Niger, between the Hausa kingdoms and the coast, the Yoruba people are the dominant tribes. Here they establish two powerful states.
The first is Ife, on the border between forest and savanna. Famous now for its sculpture, Ife flourishes from the 11th to 15th century. In the 16th century a larger Yoruba empire develops, based slightly further from the forest at Oyo. Using the profits of trade to develop a forceful cavalry, Oyo grows in strength during the 16th century. By the end of the 18th century the rulers of Oyo are controlling a region from the Niger to the west of Dahomey.
Meanwhile, firmly within the forest, the best known of all the Nigerian kingdoms establishes itself in the 15th century (from small beginnings in the 13th). Benin becomes a name internationally known for its cast-metal sculpture, in a tradition inherited from the Ife (see Sculpture of Ife and Benin).
In terms of extent Benin is no match for Oyo, its contemporary to the north. In the 15th century the region brought under central control is a mere seventy-miles across (people and places being harder to subdue in the tropical forest than on the savanna), though a century later Benin stretches from the Niger delta in the east to Lagos in the west.
But Benin's fame is based on factors other than power. This is the coastal kingdom which the Portuguese discover when they reach the mouth of the Niger in the 1470s, bringing back to Europe the first news of superb African artefacts and of the ceremonial splendour of Benin's oba or king.
The kings of Benin are a story in themselves. In the 19th century they scandalize the west by their use of human sacrifice in court rituals. And they have stamina. At the end of the 20th century the original dynasty is still in place, though without political power. All in all, among Nigeria's many historic kingdoms, Benin has earned its widespread renown.
The Fulani and Sokoto: AD 1804-1903
Living among the Hausa in the northern regions of Nigeria are a tribe, the Fulani, whose leaders in the early 19th century become passionate advocates of strict Islam. From 1804 sheikh Usman dan Fodio and his two sons lead the Fulani in an immensely successful holy war against the lax Muslim rulers of the Hausa kingdoms.
The result is the establishment in 1809 of a Fulani capital at Sokoto, from which the centre and north of Nigeria is effectively ruled for the rest of the 19th century. But during this same period there has been steady encroachment on the region by British interests.
British explorers: AD 1806-1830
From the death of Mungo Park near Bussa in 1806 to the end of the century, there is continuing interest in Nigeria on the part of British explorers, anti-slavery activists, missionaries and traders.
In 1821 the British government sponsors an expedition south through the Sahara to reach the kingdom of Bornu. Its members become the first Europeans to reach Lake Chad, in 1823. One of the group, Hugh Clapperton, explores further west through Kano and the Hausa territory to reach Sokoto. Clapperton is only back in England for a few months, in 1825, before he sets off again for the Nigerian coast at Lagos.
On this expedition, with his servant Richard Lander, he travels on trade routes north from the coast to Kano and then west again to Sokoto. Here Clapperton dies. But Lander makes his way back to London, where he is commissioned by the government to explore the lower reaches of the Niger.
Accompanied in 1830 by his brother John, Lander makes his way north from the coast near Lagos to reach the great river at Bussa - the furthest point of Mungo Park's journey downstream. With considerable difficulty the brothers make a canoe trip downstream, among hostile Ibo tribesmen, to reach the sea at the Niger delta. This region has long been familiar to European traders, but its link to the interior is now charted. All seems set for serious trade.
SS Alburkah: AD 1832-1834
After Lander's second return to England a company is formed by a group of Liverpool merchants, including Macgregor Laird, to trade on the lower Niger. Laird is also a pioneer in the shipping industry. For the present purpose, an expedition to the Niger, he designs an iron paddle-steamer, the 55-ton Alburkah.
Laird himself leads the expedition, with Richard Lander as his expert guide.
The Alburkah steams south from Milford Haven in July 1832 with forty-eight on board. She reaches the mouth of the Niger three months later, entering history as the first ocean-going iron ship.
After making her way up one of the many streams of the Niger delta, the Alburkah progresses upstream on the main river as far as Lokoja, the junction with the Benue. The expedition demonstrates that the Niger offers a highway into the continent for ocean vessels. And the performance of the iron steamer is a triumph. But medicine is not yet as far advanced as technology. When the Alburkah returns to Liverpool, in 1834, only nine of the original crew of forty-eight are alive. They include a much weakened Macgregor Laird.
Trade and anti-slavery: AD 1841-1900
The next British expedition to the Niger is almost equally disastrous in terms of loss of life. Four ships under naval command are sent out in 1841, with instructions to steam up the Niger and make treaties with local kings to prevent the slave trade. The enterprise is abandoned when 48 of the 145 Europeans in the crews die of fever.
Malaria is the cause of the trouble, but major progress is made when a doctor, William Baikie, leads an expedition up the Niger in 1854. He administers quinine to his men and suffers no loss of life. Extracted from the bark of the cinchona tree, quinine has long been used in medicine. But its proven efficacy against malaria is a turning point in the European penetration of Africa.
The British anti-slavery policy in the region involves boosting the trade in palm oil (a valuable product which gives the name Oil Rivers to the Niger delta) to replace the dependence on income from the slave trade. It transpires later that this is somewhat counter-productive, causing the upriver chieftains to acquire more slaves to meet the increased demand for palm oil. But it is nevertheless the philanthropic principle behind much of the effort to set up trading stations.
At the same time the British navy patrols the coast to liberate captives from slave ships of other nations and to settle them at Freetown in Sierra Leone.
From 1849 the British government accepts a more direct involvement. A consul, based in Fernando Po, is appointed to take responsibility for the Bights of Biafra and Benin. He undertakes direct negotiations with the king of Lagos, the principal port from which slaves are shipped. When these break down, in 1851, Lagos is attacked and captured by a British force.
Another member of the Lagos royal family is placed on the throne, after guaranteeing to put an end to the slave trade and to human sacrifice (a feature of this region). When he and his successor fail to fulfil these terms, Lagos is annexed in 1861 as a British colony.
During the remainder of the century the consolidation of British trade and British political control goes hand in hand. In 1879 George Goldie persuades the British trading enterprises on the Niger to merge their interests in a single United African Company, later granted a charter as the Royal Niger Company.
In 1893 the delta region is organized as the Niger Coast Protectorate. In 1897 the campaign against unacceptable local practices reaches a climax in Benin - notorious by this time both for slave trading and for human sacrifice. The members of a British delegation to the oba of Benin are massacred in this year. In the reprisals Benin City is partly burnt by British troops.
The difficulty of administering the vast and complex region of Nigeria persuades the government that the upriver territories, thus far entrusted to the Royal Niger Company, also need to be brought under central control.
In 1900 the company's charter is revoked. Britain assumes direct responsibility for the region from the coast to Sokoto and Bornu in the north. Given the existing degree of British involvement, this entire area has been readily accepted at the Berlin conference in 1884 as falling to Britain in the scramble for Africa - though in the late 1890s there remains dangerous tension between Britain and France, the colonial power in neighbouring Dahomey, over drawing Nigeria's western boundary.
British colonial rule: AD 1900-1960
The sixty years of Britain's colonial rule in Nigeria are characterized by frequent reclassifying of different regions for administrative purposes. They are symptomatic of the problem of uniting the country as a single state.
In the early years the Niger Coast Protectorate is expanded to become Southern Nigeria, with its seat of government at Lagos. At this time the rulers in the north (the emir of Kano and the sultan of Sokoto) are very far from accepting British rule. To deal with the situation Frederick Lugard is appointed high commissioner and commander-in-chief of the protectorate of northern Nigeria.
Lugard has already been much involved in the colony, commanding troops from 1894 on behalf of the Royal Niger Company to oppose French claims on Borgu (a border region, divided in 1898 between Nigeria and Dahomey). Between 1903 and 1906 he subdues Kano and Sokoto and finally puts an end to their rulers' slave-raiding expeditions.
Lugard pacifies northern Nigeria by ensuring that in each territory, however small, the throne is won and retained by a chief willing to cooperate. Lugard then allows these client rulers considerable power - in the technique, soon to be known as 'indirect rule', which in Africa is particularly associated with his name (though it has been a familiar aspect of British colonial policy in India).
In 1912 Lugard is appointed governor of both northern and southern Nigeria and is given the task of merging them. He does so by 1914, when the entire region becomes the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria.
The First World War brings a combined British and French invasion of German Cameroon (a campaign not completed until early in 1916). In 1922 the League of Nations grants mandates to the two nations to administer the former German colony. The British mandate consists of two thin strips on the eastern border of Nigeria.
The rival claims of Nigeria's various regions become most evident after World War II when Britain is attempting to find a structure to meet African demands for political power. By 1951 the country has been divided into Northern, Eastern and Western regions, each with its own house of assembly. In addition there is a separate house of chiefs for the Northern province, to reflect the strong tradition there of tribal authority. And there is an overall legislative council for the whole of Nigeria.
But even this is not enough to reflect the complexity of the situation. In 1954 a new constitution (the third in eight years) establishes the Federation of Nigeria and adds the Federal Territory of Lagos.
During the later 1950s an African political structure is gradually achieved. From 1957 there is a federal prime minister. In the same year the Western and Eastern regions are granted internal self-government, to be followed by the Northern region in 1959.
Full independence follows rapidly, in October 1960. The tensions between the country's communities now become Nigeria's own concern.
Independence and secession: AD 1960-1970
Regional hostilities are a feature of independent Nigeria from the start, partly due to an imbalance of population. More than half the nation's people are in the Fulani and Hausa territories of the Northern region. Northerners therefore control not only their own regional assembly but also the federal government in Lagos.
From 1962 to 1964 there is almost continuous anti-northern unrest elsewhere in the nation, coming to a climax in a rebellion in 1966 by officers from the Eastern region, the homeland of the Ibo. They assassinate both the federal prime minister and the premiers of the Northern and Western regions.
In the ensuing chaos many Ibos living in the north are massacred. In July a northern officer, Yakubu Gowon, emerges as the country's leader. His response to Nigeria's warring tribal factions is to subdivide the four regions (the Mid-West has been added in 1963), rearranging them into twelve states.
This device further inflames Ibo hostility, for one of the new states cuts their territory off from the sea. The senior Ibo officer, Odumegwu Ojukwu, takes the drastic step in May 1967 of declaring the Eastern region an independent nation, calling it the republic of Biafra.
The result is bitter and intense civil war, with the federal army (increasing during the conflict from 10,000 to 200,000 men) meeting powerful resistance from the secessionist region. The issue splits the west, where it is the first post-independence African war to receive widespread coverage. The US and Britain supply arms to the federal government. France extends the same facilities to Biafra.
In any civil war ordinary people suffer most, and in small land-locked Biafra this is even more true than usual. By January 1970 they are starving. Biafra surrenders and ceases to exist. Ojukwu escapes across the border and is granted asylum in the Ivory Coast.
From oil wealth to disaster: AD 1970-1999
General Gowon achieves an impressive degree of reconciliation in the country after the traumas of 1967-70. Nigeria now becomes one of the wealthiest countries in Africa thanks to its large reserves of oil (petroleum now, rather than the palm oil of the previous century). In the mid-1970s the output is more than two million barrels a day, the value of which is boosted by the high prices achieved during the oil crisis of 1973-4.
But with this wealth goes corruption, which Gowon fails to control. When he is abroad, in 1975, his government is toppled in a military coup. Gowon retires to Britain.
In the second half of the 1970s oil prices plummet. Nigeria rapidly suffers economic crisis and political disorder. Within a period of five years the average income per head slumps by 75%, from over $1000 a year to a mere $250.
Neither brief cilivian governments nor frequent military intervention prove able to rescue the situation. A regular response is to subdivide regional Nigeria into ever smaller parcels. The number of states is increased to nineteen in 1979 and to twenty-nine in 1991. By the end of the century it stands at thirty-six. Meanwhile the nation's foreign debt has been increasing in parallel, to reach $36 billion by 1994.
In 1993 the military ruler (Ibrahim Babangida, in power from 1985) yields to international pressure and holds a presidential election. When it appears to have been conclusively won by Moshood Abiola, a chief of the western Yoruba tribe, Babangida cancels the election by decree.
This blatant act prompts Nigeria's first energetic movement for democracy, which comes to international attention when one of its leaders - the playwright Ken Saro-Wiwa - is among a group hanged in 1995 for the alleged murder of four rivals at a political rally in 1994. Saro-Wiwa has also been a campaigner for the rights of his Ogoni people, whose territory is ravaged - to no benefit to themselves - by the international companies extracting Nigeria's oil.
The world-wide outcry at Saro-Wiwa's death, without any pretence of a fair trial, prompts Nigeria's generals to offer new elections in 1999. The presidential election is won by Olusegun Obasanjo, by now a civilian but for three years from 1976 the military ruler of the country - and therefore widely assumed to be the army's preferred candidate. His People's Democratic Party wins a majority of seats in both the house of representatives and the senate.
Early reports suggest that under Obasanjo's government a ruthless disregard of civil liberties continues in Nigeria, with outbreaks of minority ethnic protest being brutally suppressed.
The election of Obasanjo, a Christian from the south, brings new tensions. As if in response, in November 1999, the predominantly Muslim northern state of Zamfara introduces strict Islamic law, the sharia. Other northern states discuss similar action. Local Christians take alarm. Violent street battles between the two communities are a feature of the early months of 2000.
The future of Nigeria is problematic but of considerable importance to Africa. The nation's potential remains vast. With at least 115 million people (comprising some 200 tribes) it is the continent's most populous country. And as the world's fifth largest oil producer, it has the wherewithal to be one of the richest."
Nigeria contains more historic cultures and empires than any other other nation in Africa. They date back as far as the 5th century BC, when communities living around the southern slopes of the Jos plateau make wonderfully expressive terracotta figures - in a tradition known now as the Nok culture, from the Nigerian village where these sculptures are first unearthed. The Nok people are neolithic tribes who have recently acquired the iron technology spreading southwards through Africa.
The Jos plateau is in the centre of Nigeria, but the first extensive kingdoms of the region - more than a millennium after the Nok people - are in the north and northeast, deriving their wealth from trade north through the Sahara and east into the Sudan.
http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ad41
During the 9th century AD a trading empire grows up around Lake Chad. Its original centre is east of the lake, in the Kanem region, but it soon extends to Bornu on the western side. In the 11th century the ruler of Kanem-Bornu converts to Islam.
West of Bornu, along the northern frontier of Nigeria, is the land of the Hausa people. Well placed to control trade with the forest regions to the south, the Hausa develop a number of small but stable kingdoms, each ruled from a strong walled city. They are often threatened by larger neighbours (Mali and Gao to the west, Bornu to the east). But the Hausa traders benefit also from being on the route between these empires. By the 14th century they too are Muslim.
In the savanna grasslands and the forest regions west of the Niger, between the Hausa kingdoms and the coast, the Yoruba people are the dominant tribes. Here they establish two powerful states.
The first is Ife, on the border between forest and savanna. Famous now for its sculpture, Ife flourishes from the 11th to 15th century. In the 16th century a larger Yoruba empire develops, based slightly further from the forest at Oyo. Using the profits of trade to develop a forceful cavalry, Oyo grows in strength during the 16th century. By the end of the 18th century the rulers of Oyo are controlling a region from the Niger to the west of Dahomey.
Meanwhile, firmly within the forest, the best known of all the Nigerian kingdoms establishes itself in the 15th century (from small beginnings in the 13th). Benin becomes a name internationally known for its cast-metal sculpture, in a tradition inherited from the Ife (see Sculpture of Ife and Benin).
In terms of extent Benin is no match for Oyo, its contemporary to the north. In the 15th century the region brought under central control is a mere seventy-miles across (people and places being harder to subdue in the tropical forest than on the savanna), though a century later Benin stretches from the Niger delta in the east to Lagos in the west.
But Benin's fame is based on factors other than power. This is the coastal kingdom which the Portuguese discover when they reach the mouth of the Niger in the 1470s, bringing back to Europe the first news of superb African artefacts and of the ceremonial splendour of Benin's oba or king.
The kings of Benin are a story in themselves. In the 19th century they scandalize the west by their use of human sacrifice in court rituals. And they have stamina. At the end of the 20th century the original dynasty is still in place, though without political power. All in all, among Nigeria's many historic kingdoms, Benin has earned its widespread renown.
The Fulani and Sokoto: AD 1804-1903
Living among the Hausa in the northern regions of Nigeria are a tribe, the Fulani, whose leaders in the early 19th century become passionate advocates of strict Islam. From 1804 sheikh Usman dan Fodio and his two sons lead the Fulani in an immensely successful holy war against the lax Muslim rulers of the Hausa kingdoms.
The result is the establishment in 1809 of a Fulani capital at Sokoto, from which the centre and north of Nigeria is effectively ruled for the rest of the 19th century. But during this same period there has been steady encroachment on the region by British interests.
British explorers: AD 1806-1830
From the death of Mungo Park near Bussa in 1806 to the end of the century, there is continuing interest in Nigeria on the part of British explorers, anti-slavery activists, missionaries and traders.
In 1821 the British government sponsors an expedition south through the Sahara to reach the kingdom of Bornu. Its members become the first Europeans to reach Lake Chad, in 1823. One of the group, Hugh Clapperton, explores further west through Kano and the Hausa territory to reach Sokoto. Clapperton is only back in England for a few months, in 1825, before he sets off again for the Nigerian coast at Lagos.
On this expedition, with his servant Richard Lander, he travels on trade routes north from the coast to Kano and then west again to Sokoto. Here Clapperton dies. But Lander makes his way back to London, where he is commissioned by the government to explore the lower reaches of the Niger.
Accompanied in 1830 by his brother John, Lander makes his way north from the coast near Lagos to reach the great river at Bussa - the furthest point of Mungo Park's journey downstream. With considerable difficulty the brothers make a canoe trip downstream, among hostile Ibo tribesmen, to reach the sea at the Niger delta. This region has long been familiar to European traders, but its link to the interior is now charted. All seems set for serious trade.
SS Alburkah: AD 1832-1834
After Lander's second return to England a company is formed by a group of Liverpool merchants, including Macgregor Laird, to trade on the lower Niger. Laird is also a pioneer in the shipping industry. For the present purpose, an expedition to the Niger, he designs an iron paddle-steamer, the 55-ton Alburkah.
Laird himself leads the expedition, with Richard Lander as his expert guide.
The Alburkah steams south from Milford Haven in July 1832 with forty-eight on board. She reaches the mouth of the Niger three months later, entering history as the first ocean-going iron ship.
After making her way up one of the many streams of the Niger delta, the Alburkah progresses upstream on the main river as far as Lokoja, the junction with the Benue. The expedition demonstrates that the Niger offers a highway into the continent for ocean vessels. And the performance of the iron steamer is a triumph. But medicine is not yet as far advanced as technology. When the Alburkah returns to Liverpool, in 1834, only nine of the original crew of forty-eight are alive. They include a much weakened Macgregor Laird.
Trade and anti-slavery: AD 1841-1900
The next British expedition to the Niger is almost equally disastrous in terms of loss of life. Four ships under naval command are sent out in 1841, with instructions to steam up the Niger and make treaties with local kings to prevent the slave trade. The enterprise is abandoned when 48 of the 145 Europeans in the crews die of fever.
Malaria is the cause of the trouble, but major progress is made when a doctor, William Baikie, leads an expedition up the Niger in 1854. He administers quinine to his men and suffers no loss of life. Extracted from the bark of the cinchona tree, quinine has long been used in medicine. But its proven efficacy against malaria is a turning point in the European penetration of Africa.
The British anti-slavery policy in the region involves boosting the trade in palm oil (a valuable product which gives the name Oil Rivers to the Niger delta) to replace the dependence on income from the slave trade. It transpires later that this is somewhat counter-productive, causing the upriver chieftains to acquire more slaves to meet the increased demand for palm oil. But it is nevertheless the philanthropic principle behind much of the effort to set up trading stations.
At the same time the British navy patrols the coast to liberate captives from slave ships of other nations and to settle them at Freetown in Sierra Leone.
From 1849 the British government accepts a more direct involvement. A consul, based in Fernando Po, is appointed to take responsibility for the Bights of Biafra and Benin. He undertakes direct negotiations with the king of Lagos, the principal port from which slaves are shipped. When these break down, in 1851, Lagos is attacked and captured by a British force.
Another member of the Lagos royal family is placed on the throne, after guaranteeing to put an end to the slave trade and to human sacrifice (a feature of this region). When he and his successor fail to fulfil these terms, Lagos is annexed in 1861 as a British colony.
During the remainder of the century the consolidation of British trade and British political control goes hand in hand. In 1879 George Goldie persuades the British trading enterprises on the Niger to merge their interests in a single United African Company, later granted a charter as the Royal Niger Company.
In 1893 the delta region is organized as the Niger Coast Protectorate. In 1897 the campaign against unacceptable local practices reaches a climax in Benin - notorious by this time both for slave trading and for human sacrifice. The members of a British delegation to the oba of Benin are massacred in this year. In the reprisals Benin City is partly burnt by British troops.
The difficulty of administering the vast and complex region of Nigeria persuades the government that the upriver territories, thus far entrusted to the Royal Niger Company, also need to be brought under central control.
In 1900 the company's charter is revoked. Britain assumes direct responsibility for the region from the coast to Sokoto and Bornu in the north. Given the existing degree of British involvement, this entire area has been readily accepted at the Berlin conference in 1884 as falling to Britain in the scramble for Africa - though in the late 1890s there remains dangerous tension between Britain and France, the colonial power in neighbouring Dahomey, over drawing Nigeria's western boundary.
British colonial rule: AD 1900-1960
The sixty years of Britain's colonial rule in Nigeria are characterized by frequent reclassifying of different regions for administrative purposes. They are symptomatic of the problem of uniting the country as a single state.
In the early years the Niger Coast Protectorate is expanded to become Southern Nigeria, with its seat of government at Lagos. At this time the rulers in the north (the emir of Kano and the sultan of Sokoto) are very far from accepting British rule. To deal with the situation Frederick Lugard is appointed high commissioner and commander-in-chief of the protectorate of northern Nigeria.
Lugard has already been much involved in the colony, commanding troops from 1894 on behalf of the Royal Niger Company to oppose French claims on Borgu (a border region, divided in 1898 between Nigeria and Dahomey). Between 1903 and 1906 he subdues Kano and Sokoto and finally puts an end to their rulers' slave-raiding expeditions.
Lugard pacifies northern Nigeria by ensuring that in each territory, however small, the throne is won and retained by a chief willing to cooperate. Lugard then allows these client rulers considerable power - in the technique, soon to be known as 'indirect rule', which in Africa is particularly associated with his name (though it has been a familiar aspect of British colonial policy in India).
In 1912 Lugard is appointed governor of both northern and southern Nigeria and is given the task of merging them. He does so by 1914, when the entire region becomes the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria.
The First World War brings a combined British and French invasion of German Cameroon (a campaign not completed until early in 1916). In 1922 the League of Nations grants mandates to the two nations to administer the former German colony. The British mandate consists of two thin strips on the eastern border of Nigeria.
The rival claims of Nigeria's various regions become most evident after World War II when Britain is attempting to find a structure to meet African demands for political power. By 1951 the country has been divided into Northern, Eastern and Western regions, each with its own house of assembly. In addition there is a separate house of chiefs for the Northern province, to reflect the strong tradition there of tribal authority. And there is an overall legislative council for the whole of Nigeria.
But even this is not enough to reflect the complexity of the situation. In 1954 a new constitution (the third in eight years) establishes the Federation of Nigeria and adds the Federal Territory of Lagos.
During the later 1950s an African political structure is gradually achieved. From 1957 there is a federal prime minister. In the same year the Western and Eastern regions are granted internal self-government, to be followed by the Northern region in 1959.
Full independence follows rapidly, in October 1960. The tensions between the country's communities now become Nigeria's own concern.
Independence and secession: AD 1960-1970
Regional hostilities are a feature of independent Nigeria from the start, partly due to an imbalance of population. More than half the nation's people are in the Fulani and Hausa territories of the Northern region. Northerners therefore control not only their own regional assembly but also the federal government in Lagos.
From 1962 to 1964 there is almost continuous anti-northern unrest elsewhere in the nation, coming to a climax in a rebellion in 1966 by officers from the Eastern region, the homeland of the Ibo. They assassinate both the federal prime minister and the premiers of the Northern and Western regions.
In the ensuing chaos many Ibos living in the north are massacred. In July a northern officer, Yakubu Gowon, emerges as the country's leader. His response to Nigeria's warring tribal factions is to subdivide the four regions (the Mid-West has been added in 1963), rearranging them into twelve states.
This device further inflames Ibo hostility, for one of the new states cuts their territory off from the sea. The senior Ibo officer, Odumegwu Ojukwu, takes the drastic step in May 1967 of declaring the Eastern region an independent nation, calling it the republic of Biafra.
The result is bitter and intense civil war, with the federal army (increasing during the conflict from 10,000 to 200,000 men) meeting powerful resistance from the secessionist region. The issue splits the west, where it is the first post-independence African war to receive widespread coverage. The US and Britain supply arms to the federal government. France extends the same facilities to Biafra.
In any civil war ordinary people suffer most, and in small land-locked Biafra this is even more true than usual. By January 1970 they are starving. Biafra surrenders and ceases to exist. Ojukwu escapes across the border and is granted asylum in the Ivory Coast.
From oil wealth to disaster: AD 1970-1999
General Gowon achieves an impressive degree of reconciliation in the country after the traumas of 1967-70. Nigeria now becomes one of the wealthiest countries in Africa thanks to its large reserves of oil (petroleum now, rather than the palm oil of the previous century). In the mid-1970s the output is more than two million barrels a day, the value of which is boosted by the high prices achieved during the oil crisis of 1973-4.
But with this wealth goes corruption, which Gowon fails to control. When he is abroad, in 1975, his government is toppled in a military coup. Gowon retires to Britain.
In the second half of the 1970s oil prices plummet. Nigeria rapidly suffers economic crisis and political disorder. Within a period of five years the average income per head slumps by 75%, from over $1000 a year to a mere $250.
Neither brief cilivian governments nor frequent military intervention prove able to rescue the situation. A regular response is to subdivide regional Nigeria into ever smaller parcels. The number of states is increased to nineteen in 1979 and to twenty-nine in 1991. By the end of the century it stands at thirty-six. Meanwhile the nation's foreign debt has been increasing in parallel, to reach $36 billion by 1994.
In 1993 the military ruler (Ibrahim Babangida, in power from 1985) yields to international pressure and holds a presidential election. When it appears to have been conclusively won by Moshood Abiola, a chief of the western Yoruba tribe, Babangida cancels the election by decree.
This blatant act prompts Nigeria's first energetic movement for democracy, which comes to international attention when one of its leaders - the playwright Ken Saro-Wiwa - is among a group hanged in 1995 for the alleged murder of four rivals at a political rally in 1994. Saro-Wiwa has also been a campaigner for the rights of his Ogoni people, whose territory is ravaged - to no benefit to themselves - by the international companies extracting Nigeria's oil.
The world-wide outcry at Saro-Wiwa's death, without any pretence of a fair trial, prompts Nigeria's generals to offer new elections in 1999. The presidential election is won by Olusegun Obasanjo, by now a civilian but for three years from 1976 the military ruler of the country - and therefore widely assumed to be the army's preferred candidate. His People's Democratic Party wins a majority of seats in both the house of representatives and the senate.
Early reports suggest that under Obasanjo's government a ruthless disregard of civil liberties continues in Nigeria, with outbreaks of minority ethnic protest being brutally suppressed.
The election of Obasanjo, a Christian from the south, brings new tensions. As if in response, in November 1999, the predominantly Muslim northern state of Zamfara introduces strict Islamic law, the sharia. Other northern states discuss similar action. Local Christians take alarm. Violent street battles between the two communities are a feature of the early months of 2000.
The future of Nigeria is problematic but of considerable importance to Africa. The nation's potential remains vast. With at least 115 million people (comprising some 200 tribes) it is the continent's most populous country. And as the world's fifth largest oil producer, it has the wherewithal to be one of the richest."
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