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Friday March 19, 2004

Friday 19 March 2004

Nigeria deploys warship to Equatorial Guinea
Nigeria has sent a warship to patrol off the coast of Equatorial Guinea amid allegations that foreign mercenaries are seeking to overthrow the government there, a senior government official said yesterday. "It's just to register Nigeria's place as a peacemaking country, a country that delights in peace and tranquility, not only for itself but for its neighbours," said Remi Oyo, spokeswoman for President Olusegun Obasanjo.

The ship was deployed from Calabar last weekend and is now patrolling off Bioko, Equatorial Guinea's main offshore island and the seat of its capital Malabo, according to reports in Nigeria. Last week, the government of Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema arrested 15 foreign nationals and accused them of being mercenaries and of planning to launch a coup d'etat in favour of an exiled opposition leader. At the same time, Equatorial Guinean security forces began a sweep to round up suspected illegal immigrants, expelling hundreds of west and central Africans.

More than 100 Nigerians took refuge in the nation's embassy.  But Oyo emphasised that Nigeria remains a friend to its near neighbour, which lies just 100 kilometres (62 miles) off its southern coast. Both countries have significant oil fields under the Gulf of Guinea.  "Equatorial Guinea remains a close ally of Equatorial Guinea," she said.  "If there's a threat to peace anywhere, there's a threat to peace in Nigeria, there's a threat to peace in west Africa," she added.  Asked if Obiang's government had requested the deployment, she said simply: "Our ship is there and Equatorial Guinea is not against it."  Nigeria has west Africa's most powerful military, and has been the backbone of international peacekeeping missions in Liberia and Sierra Leone, but has a limited naval strength based around four former World War II US patrol ships.

Irate Muslims burn 4 churches in Dutse
Islamic militants burnt down four churches and a hotel in the northern town of Dutse after a magistrate denied bail to a Muslim youth charged with setting another church on fire, police said yesterday. Police in the predominantly Muslim state of Jigawa said irate youths went on the rampage late yesterday in the provincial capital, southeast of Kano -- Nigeria's second largest city where hundreds have died in religious clashes in the past three years.

"The miscreants were angered by the court ruling, they went around the town and burnt down four churches and one hotel," a senior officer told reporters.The officer said the town was calm and that the police were investigating the violence, the second in the state in the last five months. He said no arrests have yet been made.More than 5,000 people have been killed in religious violence in northern Nigeria in the past four years since the introduction of strict Islamic sharia penal code in 12 states.

Kano state says polio vaccinations won't resume
A predominantly Muslim state in northern Nigeria said yesterday it would not take part in a polio immunisation campaign despite assurances from the Nigerian government that the vaccines were safe.Kano state stopped immunising children against the crippling virus six months ago after Islamic authorities voiced concerns that existing vaccines were tainted with infertility agents and could spread HIV.

A team of health officers and Muslim leaders established last month to investigate contamination submitted its final report to  President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday, saying the vaccines were safe.But the Kano state government said yesterday it would not take part in an immunisation scheduled for March 22-26 and was waiting for a delivery of fresh vaccines from Asia."Kano state government has reaffirmed its stand on the suspension of polio eradication programme," the statement said.

"Kano state government would source polio vaccines from other internationally recognised pharmaceutical companies to address the prevalence of the disease." The United Nations agency said since the suspension began in September, 400 Nigerian children had been infected with polio and the virus has since spread to eight other countries in West and Central Africa where it had previously been eradicated.

The spread of the virus has jeopardised a U.N. target of eliminating the disease globally by 2005.UNICEF and other global health bodies are sponsoring an immunisation campaign covering 63 million children in 10 West African countries which began in February.Nigeria, one of five countries where the disease is endemic, accounted for about half of all 758 polio cases worldwide last year, according to the World Health Organisation.

''Abuja has highest HIV/AIDS prevalence in Nigeria''

Abuja, has the highest incidence of cases of HIV/AIDS in the country, authorities in the city said, according to an official statement released yesterday.  "The Federal capital Territory (FCT) is presently adjudged as the most prevalent in cases of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria," the FCT said in the press statement, a copy of which was faxed to Nigeria Today Online. It is not clear why Abuja tops the nation in this area.

FCT authorities are aware of the "ravaging incidences of HIV/AIDS" in the area and have set up an action committee to fight the deadly disease, it said, but it did not provide any statistics to support the claim. The federal government said last week that it has begun local production of anti-retroviral drugs for the treatment of HIV/AIDS, a growing menace in the country. Official figures say 5.4 percent of Nigeria's massive population of some 126 million people are infected with HIV, and there are concerns that the rate is rising rapidly.

The country launched the first trial of cheap, generic AIDS drugs imported from India to fight the epidemic in December 2001. Last week Thursday it introduced locally manufactured AIDS drugs into the Nigerian market. Health Minister Eyitayo Lambo said the launch of AVOLAM (Lamivudine), Azido (Zidovudine) and NEVRAN (Nevirapine) by Ranbaxy Nigeria Limited will help prolong the lives of Nigerians afflicted with the deadly virus. He said the government will continue to provide treatment, care and support to people living with the disease, adding that it hopes to achieve more than 80 percent local production of generic drug needs within the next three years.

''Shell Withheld Reserves Data to Aid Nigeria''
Oil yields 90 percent of Nigeria's export revenue, which was estimated at $17.3 billion a year in 2002.
Oil giant Shell Group has kept secret important details of its sharp reduction in oil and gas reserves, particularly in Nigeria, for fear of damaging its business relationship with the federal government the country's desire to produce more oil, internal company documents show.

While Shell has acknowledged that the biggest adjustments in reserves include those in Nigeria, it continues to conceal the extent of its problems. But confidential documents from late last year show Shell concluded that more than 1.5 billion barrels, or 60 percent of its Nigerian reserves, did not meet accounting standards for "proven reserves." The scale of the revision is important because Nigeria is a significant source of oil for Shell and the country is seeking to increase markedly its production quota within the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. The size of proven reserves is a basic consideration when OPEC sets quotas for its members. At stake for Nigeria are billions of dollars in revenue annually.

Shell disclosed two months ago that it had overstated its oil and gas reserves by 20 percent, which is equivalent to 3.9 billion barrels of crude oil. Yesterday, it pared its reserves by the equivalent of 250 million barrels more, most of that involving a natural gas field off Norway. Shell also postponed the publication of its 2003 annual report for two months to complete a review of its oil and gas assets. The oil company's executives are acutely aware of the potentially explosive political effect of their cutting the estimates of Nigerian reserves. A report dated Dec. 8, 2003, and prepared for senior executives by Walter van de Vijver, then the top official for exploration and production, recommended that the revised Nigerian reserves remain "confidential in view of host country sensitivities."

Nigeria is the world's seventh-largest oil exporter, producing about two million barrels a day, and shipping 40 percent of that to the United States. Shell documents about Nigeria portray a sometimes fragile marriage and offer a window into the kind of relationship that is considered vital to global energy security. Most of the world's oil is in less-developed countries like Nigeria, yet much of the financial and technological resources needed to develop that oil belong to Western oil companies.

Authorities in the United States, Britain and the Netherlands have each opened investigations into Shell's actions, to see if the company violated any laws or securities regulations. By reducing its estimates of reserves, Shell has not necessarily lost any oil or gas. Instead, it reclassified some oil and gas fields as less likely to be developed soon, if at all. Timing is important to investors because it suggests how much money the company can make over certain periods and how busy it can keep its refineries.

Reserves are also important to Shell because they can influence the company's relationship with the country where the oil and gas are found. This is particularly true in Nigeria. Identifying the extent of Shell's lowered reserves in Nigeria, could affect Nigeria's "quota discussions" with OPEC, the December report warned. Nigeria has been seeking a quota increase as part of a plan to double its daily production in the next several years. Reserves are "a key input in quota discussions," the report says, and since Shell's reserves constituted about half the country's total, "an external disclosure indicating that estimates have been overstated could negatively impact the government's position."

OPEC officials visited Nigeria last month and the organisation will discuss a new formula for determining quotas later this year, an OPEC spokesman said. Proven reserves, the spokesman said, were part of the quota calculation. Oil yields 90 percent of Nigeria's export revenue, which was estimated at $17.3 billion a year in 2002. A doubling of its production, as it intends, could mean billions extra in annual income.

OPEC Will Decide On Output Cut March 31
The nation's Presidential Adviser on Petroleum and Energy Edmund Daukoru said yesterday that OPEC will decide whether to implement on its promise to cut crude output from April 1 at its March 31 policy talks. Daukoru said when the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries meets in Vienna at the end of this month, "we will decide whether to go ahead with that plan."

OPEC in February agreed to remove 1 million barrels a day from its self- imposed production target of 24.5 million b/d commencing April 1, as well as tackle some 1.5 million b/d of output pumped over the output ceiling. However, "if there's collective discipline and if it's a collective decision" to lower the ceiling, "Nigeria will not undermine OPEC. Nigeria will comply with the OPEC quota," he added. Daukoru, speaking at a press conference in Abuja, said, "When we meet, we will compare notes." His comments contrast with many OPEC ministers who have made it clear they believe the cut will be implemented.

Nigeria has in recent days reversed cuts in April crude oil loadings and will add 160,000-250,000 b/d of crude to the market, trading sources said yesterday. Around five 950,000-bbl cargoes have already been allocated to oil companies for loading at the end of the April, comprising one each of Escravos, Brass River, Amenam, Qua Iboe and Forcados. A Nigerian industry source couldn't confirm the country was reversing its decision to cut exports, but said "this isn't surprising as all the signals have been there that not all (OPEC members) are holding back."

Pressed on this in Abuja, Daukoru implied higher production in the current market was "reasonable behavior..(as OPEC) did not specify what is irresponsible behavior." Daukoru said there is a chance the government could change the terms of production sharing agreements to be offered for new offshore blocks next year. He said in the next bidding round terms would be more favorable to the government than terms offered in the bidding round of 2000, he said.

In Brief
Afenifere, the Yoruba socio-political group has chosen a stand-in new leader in place of Chief Abraham Adesanya, who is believed to be ill. The new leader Chief Reuben Fasoranti, traditionally is to be known as the leader of the Yorubas. “Today, we have agreed on an acting leader of Afenifere who will act in his (Adesanya’s) absence. He will act until papa comes back and is in a position to function as leader” the National Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, Dayo Adeyeye said yesterday. Fasoranti, hails from Akure, the Ondo State capital. He was a prominent member of both the defunct Action Group and Unity Party of Nigeria. Fasoranti also served as Commissioner for Finance during the administration of the late Chief Adekunle Ajasin from 1979 to 1983.

The nation's upper legislative chamber is to probe previous transactions of the National Council on Privatisation. One objective of the senate is to identify those who own the privatised national assets. Sources said the objective of some senators is to embarrass the Vice President Atiku Abubakar and FCT Minister, Nasir el-Rufai-Rufai, who was the former boss of the agency. El Rufai had a well publicised spat with some senators following allegations that they demanded bribe from him before endorsing his nomination as minister.

Sports
Nigeria await Caf's decision
Nigeria FA chairman Ibrahim Galadima is confident that Enyimba will not lose their African title when Caf's Inter-club committee sits next month to consider a protest from Egyptian club Ismaili. Ismaili, the losing finalist of last year's Champions League, have asked Africa's football governing body to withdraw the title from the Nigerian champions, claiming they used an ineligible player, Ahmed 'Yaro-Yaro' Garba, for the final.

The Egyptians contend that Yaro-Yaro was playing in the Nigerian domestic league for Kano Pillars at the same time he was playing for Enyimba in the Champions League. "We have written our submission and now await Caf's response," Galadima said  in an exclusive interview in Kano. "Most of the points raised by Ismaili are false. "The gentleman who wrote the letter to Ismaili [Paul Dodo] is not known to Kano Pillars football club or anyone in the Nigerian football community. "This goes to confirm that there is really no validity in the claims being made by Ismaili," Galadima said.

The NFA chairman refused to comment on the details contained in their response to Caf's request asking for clarification on the matter raised by Ismaili. "I do not think that it is appropriate for us to disclose what we have said to Caf. "They officially asked us for information and we have made an official response, so let us wait until a ruling is made on the matter." Galadima said they are prepared to make a submission on Enyimba's behalf during the Inter-club's committee's deliberations if needed. "We have not been asked to appear at the meeting but we are ready to go there if need be," the NFA chairman said.

Nigeria call up Martins
Inter Milan's teenage striker Obafemi Martins has been called up by Nigeria for next weekend's Olympic qualifying match against Tunisia. Martins, 19, has consistently turned down Nigeria's invitations for international matches. He declined to be in the Super Eagles squad that went to the Cup of Nations in Tunisia, claiming his club career was the priority. "We know the pressure Martins is facing but we hope he and others will come to help us qualify for the Olympics," said Nigeria's Olympic team coach Kadiri Ikhana.

Nigeria, with 10 points, lead the group, with Tunisia in second place with nine points and Senegal in third with eight. Egypt, the fourth team in the group, have no chance of qualifying. A draw in the 27 March game in Tunis will be enough for Nigeria, who have drafted players from the senior team into the 30-man squad, to qualify for their third successive Olympic tournament. Player invited include John Utaka, Osaze Odemwingie, Ifeanyi Udeze, Joseph Enakharire and Austin Ejide, all of whom played in the Nations Cup side that took bronze. Nigeria made history as the first African side to become Olympic champions when they defeated Argentina at the 1996 tournament in Atlanta.

Selected overseas-based players
Ifeanyi Udeze (PAOK Salonica, Greece), John Utaka (Lens, France), Aniekan Enyeama (Auxerre, France), Joseph Enakharire (Standard Liege, Belgium), Kazeem Tijani (Chicago Lightning, USA), Yakubu Adamu (Schalke 04 Amateurs, Germany), Osaze Odemwingie (La Louviere, Belgium), Rabiu Baita (Mons, Belgium), Alfred Omoefe (Grasshoppers, Switzerland), Robert Akaruye (Egypt), Segun Abiodun (Al-Wahad, UAE), Emeka Opara (Tunisia-based), Ike Kalu (Pro Patria, Italy), Ola Daniel (Italy-based), Christian Obodo (Perugia, Italy), Ogochukwu Obiakor and Austin Ejide (both Etoile du Sahel, Tunisia).

Have Your Say
Chief S.B. Awoniyi:
Allow the Nigerian People and not 'His Arewa'
Choose Between Buhari and Babangida (PART 3)
By Professor Omo Omoruyi
africandemocracy@hotmail.com

OBVIOUS DISTORTIONS IN HISTORICAL ACCOUNT

It would appear that during the 200th anniversary of the Jihad of 1804 His Royal Highness, the Emir of Kano seemed to be equating the Sokoto Caliphate created by the Fulani with the north created by Lord FD Lugard and ran by the late Sir Ahmadu Bello.   (See Daily Trust online of February 23, 2004).   This is an obvious distortion of Nigerian history.

The Sokoto Caliphate was the area affected by the Jihad of 1804.   It only covered the Muslim section and did not apply to the north created by Lord Lugard and later ran by the late Sir Ahmadu Bello.  Certainly the Caliphate did not extend to an area called the ‘pagan area’ by Lord Lugard.

The three changes that Lugard effected in the north during his three tours of duty are beyond the territory under the Sokoto Caliphate.   This was the history I was taught by the pioneer Nigerian History Professors at the University of Ibadan in the early 1960s.   I had since confirmed this independently as a mature person.  

Those who are interested in this episode should read, Margery Perham, Lugard: The Years of Authority (London, 1960).

RIFT BETWEEN BUHARI AND BABANGIDA
CONFLICT OF VISION IN ‘MILITARY IN POLITICS’ NOT PERSONAL
To return to the mission of Chief Awoniyi and the ACF leaders, the assumed quarrel between General Buhari and General Babangida arose during the military regime.   Their disagreement had to do with what should be the mission of military in politics.   There was nothing personal in this.   One thought that it should be limited and the other thought that it should be a permanent affair.   The one that thought that it should be limited had a transition program and the other had none.   The Nigerian politicians can substitute either of these two Generals for these two positions.  

If the like of Chief Awoniyi who is inventing disagreement between the two generals from the coup of 1985, both of them knew that the change of leadership in August 1985 had to do with the nature of military in politics.   Simply put, in the military in politics, ‘every officer is a potential Head of State’.   General Buhari knew fully well why he was overthrown.  Would he be able to communicate this (outside the nature of military in politics) to the leaders of ACF? 

General Buhari if he would be frank to the leaders of ACF knew that General Babangida only beat him in the game that both knew very well, coup in the military in politics.   In a military in politics, there is no other way of effecting a change of political leadership.   What happened in August 1985 was that General Babangida under the principle of ‘dog eats dog’ was able to strike first before General Buhari could.   Maybe he was waiting for the return of General Tunde Idiagbon who was then in Mecca to return to Nigeria.  

It was a common knowledge that General Buhari had made up his mind to have a show down with General Babangida and was only waiting for the safe return of his number two person from Mecca.    This is the nature of the military in politics, potentially unstable.   This is why we should allow the past to rest.  

My plea to the leaders of the ACF who are inventing quarrel, that we should let both General Buhari and General Babangida write their memoirs detailing what happened between 1983 and 1985.     

ACCOUNT OF GENERAL BUHARI IS ONE-SIDED
It is unfortunate that Nigerians have been allowing General Buhari to justify why he overthrew our respected President, Alhaji Shehu Shagari who was democratically elected by the Nigerian people.   General Buhari is allowed to justify why he dumped many members of the political class in jail for 100 years and why he attempted to crate a Nigerian from London to Lagos.  

One would expect the same Nigerians to have asked him why he failed to live with the fact that something was wrong with the system that he put in place in 1983 that led to his overthrow by another military clique.   This too is unfortunate.   Is this what the ACF leaders want to inquire into?   Since when have civilians been involved in settling intra-elite crisis within the military?  In a military regime every officer is a potential head of state under the well-understood principle of ‘dog eats dog’.    

LET NIGERIANS JUDGE BETWEEN BUHARI AND BABANGIDA
I cannot forget one memorable day I spent with President Shehu Shagari in his village at Yabo, Sokoto State after his release from Buhari Gulag.   I also had the same opportunity at Oko, in present day Anambra State with the Vice President Dr. Alex Ekwueme after his release from the Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison where Buhari dumped him.   What was the crime of these two Nigerian leaders?  

I wept within me for the country listening to President Shehu Shagari what he was made to go through in the hands of General Buhari.   I am happy I did not see too much bitterness in Alhaji Shehu Shagari’s memoir; General Buhari’s account of his ordeal in the hands of IBB is full of bitterness as if that was the first coup in Nigerian history.   

Buhari was in ‘a protective custody’ in Benin while many of his victims were kept in his Gulag.   He survived and was eventually released but his victims such as Professor AF Alli and Chief Bisi Onabanjo of blessed memory died.   I recall how many times President Shagari had to complain that he was losing his sight in the Darkroom that General Buhari kept him before he was allowed the visit of his private Physician.

But for Babangida, Chief SD Lar would have died in Kiriki Prison for the ‘sin’ he committed that was partially recounted in Alhaji Shehu Shagari’s memoir, Beckoned to Serve.  

Also for Babangida, President Shagari would have been allowed to waste away in the solitary confinement with no access to his doctors as and when he wanted and his family as a matter of right.The pictures of smiling faces of politicians who were released from Buhari’s Gulag by Babangida are still in the archive.   These are facts of Nigerian history. The AFC leaders may not know the full extent of the harm done to the Nigerian political class by General Buhari.  

It is wrong to narrow Buhari’s travail in the past to how he was overthrown in 1985 by General Babangida.  How many coups did Nigeria live through in the hands of these political generals?  Sometime Nigerians of today tend to forget the number of military interventions in Nigerian political life and the number of Nigerians who died in the process between 1966 and 1979 and between 1983 and 1999.

Are we going to devote our time going through what happened between 1966 and 1979 and between 1983 and 1999, the two long periods of ‘military misrule’ of Nigeria?   Our resolve since 1999 is NEVER AGAIN!   

NIGERIANS WANT THEM TO DEBATE
THEIR CONTRASTING VISIONS FOR NIGERIA
Nigerians have not heard the last of these two Generals.   Nigerians including me are waiting to see them function in a democratic order.   This is what the leaders of the ACF should encourage.   One hopes that the AFC leaders would join others in future to organize a debate between General Buhari and General Babangida as Presidential candidates.    One should look forward to that day.

I can assure readers that what happened to him (Buhari) in 1985 would come in then just like what happened to Shagari, Dikko and all of us politicians in 1983 during that debate.  These events are fair game.

ACF SHOULD NOT STIFLE HEALTHY DEBATE
The ACF leaders should not deny Nigerians the opportunity to learn from the mouths of these two political generals why they did what they did in the past as military political leaders.   There is no way this would not come up in a Presidential Debate if both of them were Presidential candidates.      

The ACF leaders should not trivialize the Nigerian history into making a serious conflict of vision even under the military ‘a personal issue’ between Buhari and Babangida in their lives as ‘political generals’.The ACF leaders should encourage them in a future date to go to the Nigerian people with their visions for Nigeria.   One hopes that this would be sooner than later. One hopes that Nigerians of all geographical zones, states, ethnic groups and religions in a democratic Nigeria would settle their new quarrel that would be based on their contrasting vision for Nigeria. 

The ACF should stop causing confusion.

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