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Nigeria loses billions of naira to corruption annually –Akunyili(http://www.punchng.com)

Sun, 13 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Minister of Information, Prof. Dora Akunyili

Every year Nigeria loses billions of naira to corruption despite the ongoing fight to check the menace, Minister of Information and Communications, Prof. Dora Akunyili, has said.

Akunyili said this in a keynote address at the 24th Annual Conference and General Meeting of the Society of Nigeria Theatre Artists which began at the Nasarawa State University, Keffi, on Thursday.

According to the minister, in the global village which the world has now become, nothing defines a nation better than the nature and resilience of its economy.

At the ceremony attended by the Deputy Governor of Nasarawa State, Chief Michael Abdul, the President of SONTA, Prof. Emmanuel Dandaura, was also awarded a fellowship of the society.

Akunyili said despite being a huge market with large population as well as a nation endowed with huge natural resources, Nigeria was not getting the attention it deserved from investors and donor agencies.

The minister attributed this anomaly to poor image resulting from pervasive corruption which she said had remained the bane of the nation‘s development and self pride as a people.

She said, ”Corruption has become Nigeria‘s greatest liability. Every average Nigerian carries an unseen, yet very present burden of being perceived as corrupt. Corruption in the past four decades was allowed to permeate the Nigerian politic without let or hindrance.

”This hydra headed monster that confronts us today was fed for a long time by successive governments who paid lip service to fighting corruption leading to the failure to provide Nigerians with a decent livelihood.

”Annually, Nigeria loses billions of naira to financial crimes and other forms of corruption. Because of Nigeria‘s reputation as a corrupt nation, the Nigerian state has become a liability to itself. This is antithetical to what a true nation should be.”

She added that in the past ten years, Nigerians had deviated and refused to abide by the values held by the founders of the nation, insisting that a rebranding campaign became imperative to change the current status quo.

Akunyili said that by embarking on the rebranding campaign, Nigeria had served a notice that it was serious about correcting the negative perception of the country that currently prevailed.

Speaking at the ceremony, Vice-Chancellor of the Nasarawa State University, Prof. Shamsudeen Amali, said the cultural values projected by the people of a country were very important in defining how it was understood in the comity of nations.

Policy change

Sat, 29 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT

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STOP THE VIOLENCE IN NIGERIA!

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT

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Obama's Ghana trip underlines oil reserve!

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

ACCRA, Ghana, July 15 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama's landmark visit to the West African state of Ghana on June 10-11, his first trip as president to the continent of his ancestors, held a special resonance for Big Oil and American businessmen.

Ghana, one of the most democratic countries in a continent where despots and tyrants still proliferate, is on the cusp of oil wealth -- and the United States wants it.

It faces a major challenge from energy-hungry China, which seems to be everywhere in Africa snapping up access to minerals and raw materials for its burgeoning economy.

Obama's trip to the former British colony may have been promoted as his personal effort to lift Africa out of the Dark Ages of perpetual war, famine, poverty and corruption. But oilmen take a more cynical view.

The trip was "a subtle White House oil strategy to secure another source of energy on the continent of Africa," said Patrick Morris, CEO of Gold Star Resources Corp. (OTCPK:GXXFF) of Vancouver, which is seeking oil and gas fields in Ghana, Liberia and Ivory Coast.

Obama's visit "is a smart game plan to strengthen U.S. ties with its West African allies and create new alliances that could ultimately secure U.S. energy interests on the African continent," Morris declared.

West Africa is the new frontier for oil and gas. The Gulf of Guinea is the centerpiece, but big fields can still be found ashore. Ghana discovered oil in 2007 and is about to join the energy frenzy sweeping the region.

Offshore in the Atlantic's deep waters, Texas-based Kosmos Energy already controls the Jubilee field. That's one of the biggest oil strikes in the region in the past decade and is estimated to hold 1.2 billion barrels.

Kosmos is taking bids from the majors, Chevron Corp., ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch/Shell as well as the ever-present Chinese in the shape of the state-run China National Offshore Oil Corp. The deadline for the bids is Friday, six days after Obama's visit.

By some estimates, the United States now gets around 24 percent of its oil imports from West Africa.

That's expected to rise as more fields come on stream, loading their crude on tankers to be shipped across the Atlantic directly to the U.S. east coast without the hassle and hazard of shipping from the turbulent Middle East.

But the southern oil fields of Nigeria, one of West Africa's main producers, are increasingly gripped by violence, and there are fears that will destabilize the entire Gulf region.

To counter that threat, the Bush administration established the Africa Command, known as Africom, in 2008. Its mission was to "help Africans help themselves" with humanitarian programs for building schools, hospitals, water systems and the like.

But there are widening fears in Africa that the primary mission of the new command -- headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany, because no African government would host it -- is to secure U.S. access to the region's energy resources.

"While Obama administration officials … insist that U.S. foreign policy toward Africa isn't being militarized, the evidence seems to suggest otherwise," said Gerald LeMelle, executive director of the non-governmental organization African Action.

Africom is currently aiding the Ugandan government combat rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army led by Joseph Kony, one of the most brutal warlords in Africa whose ragtag army largely comprises abducted child soldiers.

Africom was ordered to provide logistical support, but the Ugandan forces bungled the operation and Kony killed hundreds of civilians. Africom had to take some of the heat.

A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers is now calling for the Obama administration to eliminate Kony -- a far cry from Africom's stated mission.

U.S. forces are training counterinsurgency forces in Mali, Niger, Senegal, Chad and other countries in northwestern Africa to counter al-Qaida infiltration.

At the same time, the administration is shipping ammunition -- as well as mounting airstrikes and Special Forces raids -- to help the collapsing and corrupt transitional government in strife-torn Somalia to counter Islamist rebels the Americans say are linked to al-Qaida.

Washington's allies in the transitional government in Mogadishu have promised to pass oil laws that would allow foreign oil companies -- read U.S. oil companies -- to return to Somalia. Before the country collapsed into chaos in 1991, several companies had reported possible oil reserves there.

Is it possible that Africom may find a home in Accra?

Alpha Blondy and the Solar System in Copenhagen!

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

http://www.crawfurd.dk/alphablondycopenhagen/

Dozens of Africans protest in southern China!

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Source: cnn.com

(CNN) -- More than 100 Africans protested outside a police station in southern China on Wednesday afternoon following the reported death of an African merchant during an alleged police raid, China's state-run media reported.

The incident occurred in China's Guangdong Province after police began checking the passports of Africans who were operating stalls at a shopping mall, protesters told the Xinhua news agency.

A police officer told Xinhua that no one had been killed.

A brawl ensued after at least one African merchant was killed, protesters told the news agency.

Authorities told Xinhua that they were conducting routine checks at the mall and a man was injured while running from police. Later, police found that another man had been critically injured after falling from the building.

The injured were taken to a hospital, police told Xinhua.

After the incident, a large crowd of Africans gathered at a nearby police station and protested for about five hours.

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At least one protester told Xinhua that he was Nigerian.

A leader in the Nigerian community in Guangdong told CNN that the man who fell off the building landed on his head and was undergoing surgery.

The leader said the Nigerian community would meet with Chinese authorities to discuss preventing similar incidents.

The protest comes as China has invested more and more money in African countries and more Africans have immigrated to China.

The demonstration also follows recent violent ethnic strife in China's far west. Last week, at least 184 people were killed and more than 1,600 injured in demonstrations by ethnic Uyghurs in Urumqi, Xinjiang, according to the Chinese government.

Africans in Europe!

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Comments Mail Remember Print

I have to ask the question why do African people bother living in such xenophobic and racist countries such as Switzerland, Austria, or Germany? I am well aware that other European countries have anti black prejudices and biases such as Russia.
I am focusing on the Western European countries at the moment to be the focus of this discussion. The German speaking countries are known for their history of racism and anti black prejudices. I understand that people move to Europe for educational opportunities, for a better life, or to live with families. I continue to be amazed when I hear about African people living in those German speaking countries.
It’s so frightening Germany and Austria especially the hostility and racism against black people is so shocking. Why would anybody black person want to live there?
France is a country that once claimed to be tolerant of “different” people such as Josephine Baker and Langston Hughes. Well times have changed in France the nation now has an immigration crisis.
The French have banned Muslim girls from wearing the hijab at schools. I know in France there are racists such as the current French president Nicolas Sarkozy and the right wing leader Jean Marie Le Pen, and the UK also has racial problems.
Not so long ago Sarkozy called immigrant youth “scum” even though he’s the son of Hungarian immigrants. For the white French majority although Sarkozy is of Hungarian origin he’s still white and he is still viewed as a “real” European. Immigration and racial intolerance was one of the main themes for the recent French election. In France there is a strong current of xenophobia and racism against blacks and Arabs.
I have to ask the question, why do black people even bother living in Europe? I would like to know? If you’re a black person or a person of colour why did you choose to live in Europe instead of say North America? Was it due to the pull of jobs, education, living with family? I would like to know what is so attractive, interesting, exciting about Europe?

http://orvillelloyddouglas.wordpress.com/category/racism/

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"In the bus most people would prefer to stand than sit next to an immigrant. It’s almost like they think we stink of rotten fish."

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"I am sure that if I had the proper papers the polioce had searched for the perpetrator who has thrown the stone."

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Racism in China!

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Racism in China

Does racism exist in China?

If you are reading this, you probably care about this question. This is a complicated issue, so please read carefully and leave your thoughts below or respond with your own post - but keep the language clean, otherwise your comments won’t show up.

This post is not meant to say that racism is worse in China than elsewhere - it is merely an attempt to describe the racism that does exist in China.

Racism Against Black People in China

Racism against black people may be the strongest form of racism in China.

Many families in China would be horrified if their son or daughter married a black person. Some would even disown them outright.

It can be difficult getting a job teaching English in China if you are black. This is because of the perception of many people in China that only white people are ‘true Americans’ or ‘true English’ people.

Sadly, it’s often easier to get a job teaching English in China as a white person from a country where English is not a native language than as a black person from a country where English is the only native language.

Many people in China think most black people play basketball and are violent. If you are black, many people from China will perceive you as African. If you are not, you will have to repeatedly explain that you are from another country

The most common slur against black people in Chinese seems worse than that used for white people - “black ghost” vs. “old ghost”. Many people in China also assume that if you are black, you have very little money.

Racism against blacks in China is also strongly linked to the class divisions and racism that exists within Chinese society. This is not a justification for racism against blacks in China, but for thousands of years Chinese people of lighter skin looked down upon those of darker skin, who often could not afford to be anything other than a peasant farmer.

Racism Against Other Races in China

Though racism in China is strongest against black people, there is a general relationship that determines how foreigners are seen by many people in China: The darker your skin, the more racism you will experience.

No matter where you grew up, if you are not white it will be tougher to get a job teaching English in China.

Racism against Japanese People in China

Leading up to, during, and following World War II, Japan committed many atrocious acts in China and much of the Pacific Rim (with Korea also suffering greatly). This is something that should be redressed by Japan, and not ignored.

However, two wrongs do not make a right - and racism against Japanese people in China is wrong.

Some children in China are taught hate songs against Japanese people in elementary school - and history books in China that deal with Japan focus almost exclusively on the terrible things Japan did around World War II, ignoring much of Japan’s recent history.

The fact that Japan is now a mostly pacifist country is not part of the general awareness of a person who grows up in China. Instead, the popular conception of Japan in today’s China casts Japan as a huge and dangerous threat.

There also seems to be more slurs against Japanese people than against any other group of people.

Subtle Discrimination in China - Starring, Hello, Talking, and More

Subtle discrimination in China is prevalent. Whether it be the obnoxious ‘hello!’ that gets shouted at your back, the constant staring, or the tendency for many people in China to immediately begin talking about foreigners or stories having to do with foreigners upon seeing them, subtle discrimination or at least ignorance is widespread in China.

Racism Against Minorities Within China

Racism doesn’t only extend to foreigners within China - it also extends to its own people. People from Tibet and virtually all Chinese ‘minorities’ are seen as backwards and in need of a helping hand to enter the modern world.

Those from Xinjiang province are often looked down upon as thieves - children are especially vilified, since they are all looked at as thieves. And Xinjiang people are often harrassed by the cop.

‘Classism’ Against Chinese People

You don’t have to be of a different race to be discriminated against in China. People in China often treat those they perceive as belonging to a lower class quite poorly.

Racism Doesn’t Exist in China!

If you ask a person in China whether racism exists, you may well be told that it does not exist, and that they respect people of all countries and colors. But dig a little deeper, ask questions such as ‘what do you think of black people’ or ‘what do you think of Japanese people’, and the answers that come back are often racist.

How the average Person in China Perceives Racism

Chinese people who believe there is racism in China often see it as a racism-against-blacks-only kind of phenomenon. It is clear that racism in China is strongest toward black people, however to believe that this is the only form of racism in China is almost as silly as believing that there is no racism at all.

What do you think about Racism in China?

Help out in the discussion and leave your thoughts below.

(The first 200 comments have been archived to reduce loading time / server load. So have comments 201-300.)

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Africans in Europe!

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

We are starting a serie of news informing about the life of African.s in Europe.
Source: http://www.birn.eu.com/en/93/10/3617/

Nasredin Rabi Abdu: Being Black in Bulgaria

17 07 2007 The Sudanease refugee is not afraid of skinhead attacks in Sofia; he worries more about the future of the child he is having with a Bulgarian partner.

By Ekaterina Petrova in Sofia

“Maybe I can become the first black policeman in Bulgaria,” Nasredin Rabi Abdu ponders, adding: “No, that could never happen.”

A refugee from Sudan, he has lived in Bulgaria since 2001. The first time we meet, on the eve of World Refugee Day, passersby stare as we shake hands – a black man and a white woman.

Those who usually stand out in Bulgaria’s generally homogeneous society, veiled women, Roma children, beggars in wheelchairs, attract far less attention.

We are standing in one of Sofia’s most diverse areas, where Orthodox churches, a synagogue, a Catholic church and a mosque stand within metres of one another.

But this was also the site of Nasredin Rabi Abdu’s latest encounter with Bulgarian skinheads. In May, they set on him in the street, attacking him with fists, kicks and a knife.

Passersby watched but looked the other way. Nasredin and his Sudanese friend escaped without serious injuries but the bruises remain – another sign that he is not wanted in Bulgaria. His friend left the country for Western Europe soon after.

Nasredin Rabi Abdu is one of the roughly 4,500 people with refugee and humanitarian status currently residing in Bulgaria. These uprooted people are not economic migrants and unlike them, cannot safely return home, where they face the threat of persecution, torture, or even death.

On arrival in Bulgaria, refugees initially face legal battles, logistical problems and a wretched existence. These obstacles can be overcome with time and a lot of paperwork. Some eventually receive asylum status, learn some Bulgarian and get a job.

International law defines a refugee as “any person who, owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or […] unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.”

Bulgarian law provides different kinds of status to asylum-seekers. Based on the above definition, it sometimes grants refugee status, usually for an indefinite period. More often, they offer humanitarian status.

It is given to people who have been forced to leave their country of origin as a result of threats to their life, security or freedom, because of armed conflict, or because they are in danger of torture or other forms of inhumane and degrading treatment or punishment. This status is not indefinite and can be revoked if the circumstances it was granted upon change.

Nasredin Rabi Abdu left Sudan, where he worked in the army, after taking part in a failed plot against the country’s president. Escaping by ship via the Red Sea he tried to enter Bulgaria officially from Turkey. The border policemen turned him and his wife away, he says, after sexually molesting his wife and beating him up.

The second time, the couple took no chances and crossed the border illegally on foot. They walked through the darkness all night. His wife had a miscarriage en route.

When they made it to Sofia, they were granted humanitarian status for three months. But at the end his wife left, deciding she couldn’t live in Bulgaria as a black woman. He hasn’t had contact with her since. He stayed. He has to reapply to renew his status every few years.

The Bulgarian State Agency for Refugees says a total of 15,716 people have sought asylum in the country since 1993. In 2001, the year Nasredin Rabi Abdu came, 2,428 people applied, almost half of whom received humanitarian status, while 15 per cent received refugee status.

After growing steadily through the 1990’s, the number of asylum-seekers peaked in 2002 and has since fallen. Only 1 to 3 per cent of applicants have been recognized as refugees since then, while those receiving humanitarian status made up around 20 per cent of applicants in 2002-4 and 10 per cent in 2005 and 2006.

Most of the asylum-seekers came from Afghanistan, followed by Iraq, Armenia, Serbia and Montenegro and Iran. The only African states among the top ten countries of origin are Nigeria and Algeria.

The 1990s was not the first time Bulgaria was exposed to black people. During the communist era, according to an article by Boyko Boev, a lawyer at the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, “We accepted black African students as a show of solidarity in the struggle of their nations against colonialism and world imperialism.”

But this relatively prolonged, albeit limited, exposure clearly did little to alleviate the climate of racism and xenophobia in Bulgaria.

Because of their immediately apparent difference in appearance, black refugees fare worst. For example, Afghan refugees are visually unrecognizable as non-Bulgarians and rarely meet much hostility, Bilyana Zaharieva, a researcher on the Afghan community in Bulgaria, said.

At the construction site where Nasredin Rabi Abdu works, the other workers call him “Bambucha”, after the popular slogan in a Fanta commercial, featuring a happy-go-lucky faintly dark man on a vaguely exotic island backdrop. Even this seemingly innocent likening serves as a reminder of his black skin and “otherness”.

“Even when it doesn’t get to the point of violence, a display of racism and suspicion from all sides is almost a daily occurrence,” journalist Denitsa Kamenova noted in a 2005 academic article on the African community in Bulgaria.

Kamenova noted characteristic “looks of disgust in public transportation (obviously the vicious association ‘black = unclean’), refusal of service in stores or of a ride in a taxi, and the apparently innocent, yet insulting assertion, that all ‘blacks’ look alike and cannot be told apart”.

Nasredin Rabi Abdu laughs off some of his more comic experiences, like the time he was invited to an acquaintance’s hometown to be shown off to friends. They rubbed his arm to see if the “paint” would come off.

Other incidents aren’t so comical. He has been slapped in the face and had ice thrown at him in a club for no known reason apart from his skin.

In its 2006 report on the rights of migrants in Bulgaria, the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee noted: “There is almost no black immigrant who hasn’t been a victim of physical violence or verbal harassment during his stay in Bulgaria”.

Some 75 per cent of black immigrants said they had been attacked by skinheads at least once, according to the Committee’s 2004 study, cited in the same report.

The second time I see him, at the rented apartment he shares with his girlfriend and another Sudanese refugee, Nasredin shows me the marks on his jacket sleeve from the time when a skinhead tried to stab him with a broken beer bottle.

His Bulgarian girlfriend is eight months pregnant. Since the pregnancy, people’s remarks have become more aggressive. “They ask me, ‘Why are you with this negro, this monkey - are there no Bulgarian men left?’” his partner says.

A slight fall noted in racially motivated violent crimes, noted in the Helsinki report, seems to have had little to do with a growth in tolerance or decisive counter-action on the part of the authorities.

It reflected the “cautious behavior adopted by the majority of the black immigrants, resulting from the bitter experience of previous incidents,” the report suggested. Such behaviour includes avoiding public transportation or crowded public places.

Nasredin Rabi Abdu likes going out to clubs, dividing Sofia’s nightspots into two categories – those that black people can go to without being harassed and those frequented by skinheads looking for a fight.

The Helsinki Committee report also noted that perpetrators of racist crimes are rarely brought to justice, which “creates a feeling of insecurity and a lack of trust in the will and capacity of the authorities to fight such crimes.”

“Here, there is no law,” Nasredin Rabi Abdu asserts. “There is no one to tell people this is bad, or this is good… if somebody beats up a ‘nigger’.”

The Committee’s study found that 85 per cent of black immigrants were the subject of xenophobic statements and acts committed by the police. It also identified a “disproportional” number of identity checks on black immigrants carried out by the police.

The police disagree. In a public discussion organized by the Helsinki Committee earlier this year, a representative of the Migration Directorate of the Police Service said he was unaware of any cases of human rights violations or of different attitudes to Asians and blacks on the part of the police. “We will continue not to divide people by race, religion or other characteristics,” the representative asserted.

As I leave their flat, Nasredin Rabi Abdu accompanies me to the taxi downstairs. With a bag of trash in one hand, he uses the other to check his pocket, making sure his ID card is on him.

He is not that scared of the skinheads and the police harassment but as he awaits the birth of his first child, he worries how it will be treated. “We want to give him a short name, a name that is neither Bulgarian nor Sudanese,” he says.

“We will teach him about Christianity and Islam but he can choose what he wants to be when he grows up,” he adds. “That doesn’t matter so much anyway. We only want him to be a good person.”

Ekaterina Petrova is a journalist at BIRN’s Bulgarian office. Balkan Insight is BIRN`s online publication.

This article was created with the support of the US State Department and is part of the special package “Minorities in Bulgaria.”

Ethnic Groups in Bulgaria Are More Apart Than Many Believe

Rosa, Rubie and Ruska: New Homes Don’t Bring New Lives

Assen: “There is Nothing I Am Looking Forward to”

Sevda, the First Who Took Roma’s Fight Against Racism To Court

Exilia: The Blogging Teenager Who Dispeled Myths about Bulgaria’s Turks

Suleyman, Who Used To Be Yulian, and His Grandson Michael

Comments:

Racism in Bulgaria

Posted: Tuesday August 7, 2007, teejayok@gmail.com

Dear Ekaterina Petrova,

I just stumbled on your story on Rabi Abdu, and i must say you have done a remarkable article on racism in Bulgaria. I am an African, married to a Bulgarian with two lovely children. I have been attacked by the skinheads more than 5 times in my 13 years of residing in BG. I am a journalist by profession, human rights activist and also a part-time actor. I have appeared on Bg national TV on different occassions to take part in a debate on racism in Bulgaria.

i would like to meet you face to face to talk further and comprehensively on this issue.

Regards,

Teejay

What a great piece of journalism

Posted: Tuesday August 28, 2007, Tee Jay

Ekaterina

What a fantastic article. Thank you. I stumbled up this while doing some research. It so eloquently reveals the degredation endured by Africans in Bulgaria.

Please keep shedding light on silent suffering. I hope Nasredin and the thousands of other Africans in Europe being treated like they are lesser than because their skin isn't white, find justice and peace. The world is watching.

comment

Posted: Monday August 11, 2008, tebit henry

Well I am learning more on how life is for black people in Bulgaria. Your article is a masterpiece. I really liked it. thank you so much.

black people living in bulgaria

Posted: Monday September 29, 2008, lynnecavers53@hotmail.com

we are thinking of buying a property in bulgaria to retire to.we live in england and my partner was born in jamaica,we came on holiday and liked the country side,but wondered if there was much racism in the country.i came across your site and it has really made us stop and think that maybe it is not such a good idea to retire here.my husband wanted to work the land like he did when a child in jamaica and as buldaria is quite cheap we could afford to retire early and live hear,but now i wonder although we were treated very kindly by the villaged when we were looking at property in september,i am now worried that if we lived there permanetly it would be a different matter.thank you for your article it was very helpful

bulgarian racism

Posted: Wednesday November 26, 2008, le-chat18@hotmail.com

my friends and i are planning our annual summer holidays, and this year everyone (except me) voted for bulgaria! as a black person i was concerned about how i would be treated whilst there, i have no problems with who i am or the colour of my skin but i was worried none-the-less. your article was very helpful, and well written.

Thank you