The Nation Newspaper

Tag: US

  • Gowon, Soyinka and US

    The role of the United States of America (US) in the war against Boko Haram insurgency came under serious scrutiny last week. At least, two well respected Nigerians came out publicly to deprecate the attitude of that country to the raging insurgency that has left thousands killed and maimed while property of inestimable value destroyed.

    First to take on the US was Gen. Yakubu Gowon Rtd, a former head of state and one of the few of such leaders whose views are taken very seriously by many. Gowon had criticized the US for refusing to sell arms to Nigeria to fight the insurgents. For him, if the US was a truly diplomatic friend of Nigeria, it should do everything to keep its corporate existence by aiding it fight any aggression from any quarters.

    He recalled the US did the same thing during the Nigerian civil war by refusing to sell fighter jets to the country even as they were shipping fighter jets and loads of ammunition to Zaire. “What sort of friends are they”, he queried.

    Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka added weight to Gowon’s position when he called on the same government to stop giving baseless and flimsy excuses for its refusal to sell ammunition to Nigeria to prosecute the war. He asked the US to stop ridiculing and laughing at this country through its current posturing on the war against the insurgents.

    Gowon and Soyinka’s intervention has raised the stakes on the inexplicable role of the US since the war on terrorism commenced in this country. Besides, it has elevated to the vortex of public opinion the inherent contradictions in some of the reasons that have before now, been adduced to justify the vague behavior of that country to Nigeria’s current predicament.

    Hiding under the spurious allegation of human rights abuses by soldiers, the US had sought to justify its refusal and obstruction of Nigeria’s attempt to acquire Cobra helicopters and ammunition to successfully prosecute the escalating war.

    Not unexpectedly, the schism within the political class on the motive and direction of the insurgency has allowed some of these curious excuses to fester. Those who want to take advantage of the war to further their political ambition have taken turns to hype the perceived excesses of the military on human rights. Curiously, a willing US government quickly bought into that idea and had since posed an obstacle to Nigeria’s attempt to acquire weapons to tame the monster. It is good a thing respected citizens are now coming to terms with the inherent contradictions in the US reasoning. Not long ago, the US ambassador to Nigeria James Entwistle amplified his country’s position on the issue when he said they would only sell or give out arms when they are sure of the purpose for which it would be used.

    “Before we share equipment with any country, we look at a couple of things. Does it make sense in term of the country’s needs? The second thing we look at is the country’s human rights situation. As you all know, there have been instances, I’m not saying across the board of human rights abuses by the Nigerian military in the north-east” the ambassador said.

    It can be deduced from the above that US does not see any need for Nigeria to acquire these weapons despite the admission of Entwistle in the same interview that Boko Haram has gone beyond being a small insurgent group with a couple of guns to a very effective collection of conventional force. Yet, the same government is of the view that Nigeria has no need for the ammunition it seeks to buy. Nothing can be more contradictory than this.

    Soyinka captured this contradiction very succinctly when he argued that what the country asked for are little weapons to destroy the enemy; weapons for self defense since we have found ourselves in a situation of destroy the enemy or have ourselves destroyed. He could not fathom how such weapons of self defense can be denied in the face of a heartless and murderous marauding enemy.

    There is much to indicate the US is not coming clean on this issue. Neither is their argument plausible. They recognize the war has assumed a dangerous dimension in the face of the sophistication of the insurgents in weaponry resulting in heavy casualties on the part of our soldiers. They are also not unaware of the murderous escapades of the insurgents: a litany of abductions, the sacking and burning down of communities and their celebrated scant regard for the sanctity of human life. Why the US chose to look the other way in the face of these human right abuses by the insurgents has remained largely cloudy. Not long ago, the world was rattled by the abduction of over 200 school girls in Chibok in very inexplicable circumstances. Since then, we have been inundated with varying chilling accounts of the mindless abuses the girls have been subjected to in captivity by the insurgents. In the same very suspicious manner, the concerns of the international community have been more on the inability of the government to rescue the girls. Not much attention is being paid to the criminals that have been holding and abusing the poor girls. Despite the offer of assistance by the international community including the US for the quick release of the girls, nothing has so far come out of that engagement. Such has been the insincerity and deceit that had surrounded the war against the sect that one begins to wonder if some people are not set to achieve set goals through it. It did not come as a surprise when Nigeria cancelled the scheduled training of its soldiers by the US on account of that country’s refusal to share their equipment for the exercise. What these series of events in respect of the US activities in this war underscore is that Nigerians are getting more suspicious of her real intentions in this fight against the insurgents. This suspicion is further amplified by earlier predictions from the same country that Nigeria is likely to self- destruct by 2015. As that year fast approaches, no body is sure events are not being activated from so many corners to bring about the doomsday. Though issues of human rights cannot be discounted, we find US position in the instant case tenuous because the insurgents have worst records of human rights abuses.

    Even if we succeed freeing the Chibok girls without terminating the war, chances are that the insurgents will abduct more sets of girls given the very way the previous one was hyped. Events have since proved this right. So it is a huge contradiction to disallow Nigeria the acquisition of the needed armament to tame the insurgency and at the same time, expect the war will be over. It will rather escalate and degenerate. Our people stand the risk of being consumed. No leader worth his onions will stand by and watch that happen. The nation must do all within its powers to defend itself in the face of the onslaught of the Boko Haram insurgents? Why the US is applying double standards in its perception and treatment of the evils of religious extremism as propagated by the sect is best known to them?

    It is puzzling that the same US that spent years and huge resources in Afghanistan fighting the Taliban; the same US that is currently fighting unsolicited wars in Syria and Iraq against ISIS is singing a different tune in the fight against Boko Haram. This ambivalence cannot be for nothing given that Boko Haram and ISIS are two sides of the same coin.

  • US to collaborate with Nigeria on food security

    US to collaborate with Nigeria on food security

    The United States of America will collaborate with the Nigerian government

    and the private sector in the area of agriculture and agric business as part of moves to ensure global food security.

    The US Agric Attache, Mr Selfart Kurt, disclosed this yesterday during a facility visit to TUNS Farms Nigeria Limited in Osogbo, Osun State.

    Kurt told newsmen that the visit was part of strategies to collect data in Nigeria as part of United States of America’s agricultural policy aimed at ensuring food security Nigeria and other African countries.

    “You know my country and Nigeria share the same agricultural practices. Nigeria wants higher standard and we also want higher standard in agric practice. So, in order to ensure maximum food security and safety, we are here to exchange ideas with Tuns Farms,” Kurt said.

    Kurt added that the information gathered would help in drafting food security law which he said the US government and that of Nigeria will collaborate to enact. This, according to him, will bring about safety of food consumption for all and sundry.

    Earlier in his welcome address, the Managing Director of the farm, Mr Olalekan Badmus, commended the US diplomat for the visit to the company.

  • Why US won’t help fight Boko Haram

    Nigeria’s Ambassador to the United States, Prof Ade Adefuye was quoted recently to have said that the United States refused to assist Nigeria with technology to fight Boko Haram. Specifically on Monday November 10, he told members of the Council on Foreign Relations that “The Nigerian leadership… are not satisfied with the scope, nature and content of the United States’ support for us in our struggle against terrorists,”. He added further that “We find it difficult to understand how and why in spite of the US presence in Nigeria with their sophisticated military technology, Boko Haram should be expanding and becoming more deadly”.

    Since the Boko Haram insurgency started, I am personally aware, through reliable military and diplomatic sources, that the United States had always availed Nigeria of list of those they suspect to be sponsors of Boko Haram. Immediately after the United Nations House bombing in Abuja on August 26, 2011, the US, alarmed by the sheer sophistication of the operations, reportedly availed the Nigerian authorities of the list of the sponsors of Boko Haram and were advised to act fast before they disintegrate Nigeria.

    This fact formed part of my published piece in 2012 titled PDP, Boko Haram and their 2015 Succession Politics.  Rather than the seize the opportunity of the uproar and outrage against the bombings to confront those indicted, the president chose to foot drag in taking actions until the 2011 Madallah Christmas Day Bombings which took over 80 lives. A traumatized President would admit two weeks later on January 8, 2012, for the first time, that Boko Haram sponsors had infiltrated his government.

    The military authorities, then under Generals Owoye Azazi as National Security Adviser (NSA) and Azubuike Ihejirika as Army Chief including other service chiefs pushed for the arrest of the sponsors of the group. However, political expediency and 2015 elections permutations would overshadow the earlier resolve of the military authorities to stamp out the insurgents. It was a frustrated Azazi that would later alert the nation at a public forum in Asaba, Delta State that the real sponsors of Boko Haram were in the PDP. Azazi was hounded for his frank observation until President Jonathan was forced to sack him as NSA.

    All these developments were not lost on the US military and defense analysts and advisers.

    The public outcry against the abduction of some 276 girls of Christian extraction from Chibok, by the terrorists, and the fear that if the conspiracy is misunderstood by Nigerian Christians, a religious conflict might ensue, coupled with other strategic reasons made the the US to volunteer help to rescue the Chibok girls and turn the tide against the insurgents. What US military officials met physically on the ground was enough for any sane nation not to commit its troops and weapons into operations likely to be sabotaged even before take-off.

    It was the US that first alerted the world that 10 Generals of the Nigerian Army were among 15 officers being secretly investigated for passing sensitive information to Boko Haram.  It was the US that officially verified information from local observers, villagers and hunters that Boko Haram had split the Chibok girls into three, taking them to different camps. It was the US that confirmed that due to probable high level sabotage, the only way to release the Chibok girls would be through high powered negotiations since any attempt to embark on a rescue operation would likely be sabotaged, endangering the lives of both the Chibok Girls and the US troops.

    The US military officials, after interacting with the rank and file and inspecting what is on ground in Borno’s 7th Division specifically created to contain the militants, alerted their home country of a deliberate attempt to issue the combatants with inadequate ammunition, thereby making them easy target for the insurgents.

    The US military officials discovered that funds meant for the welfare of troops while in the combat zone is being scammed from the top, and they fingered top political actors and their military collaborators.

    The US military officials discovered that in some cases where enough ammunition were issued, as in the case of Mohammed Kur Barracks, Bama, that some officers deliberately misled their troops to abandon their positions including caches of weapons only to be used by the insurgents.

    The fall of Bama, despite the heavy assemblage of arms, ammunition and the recently improved welfare of soldiers, have been a source of discussion within informed US military circles till date. The US authorities believe that with secured supply lines between Bama and the Divisional Headquarters in Maiduguri, a three hour journey through bad roads, and another support military base in Konduga, Nigerian soldiers have no business fleeing Bama.

    The US believes that the moment Boko Haram overran the prestigious Police Mobile Training facility in Gwoza, the Nigerian Police Force lost its pride to the insurgents, and gave them the boost to plot the fall of Bama and the ill-fated march to Maiduguri though Konduga, which was halted by soldiers and civilian JTF by the mercy of God.

    The US is still wondering at how weapons which belong to the Nigerian Army easily get into the hands of the insurgents and they are still investigating all the routes through which the Nigerian Army supposedly donated or sold the weapons to them.

    The heroic welcome the ruling PDP gave former Governor of Borno State, Ali Modu Sheriff, and how an airport closed for months over security concerns, was opened just for the use of the former governor, was a political misstep from Jonathan’s men which raised concerns within the US.

    The US tipped off South African authorities that fund for illegal purchase of arms is being carried through their shores, and they suspected that the arms might end in the hands of the insurgents. The South African authorities, bent on ridding Africa of this scourge, failed to cooperate with the unknown arms vendors and buyers.

    The US believes that any lethal weapon they give to the military authorities might end up in the

    hands of the insurgents, and that any deployment of American troops as combatants would be easily sabotaged, their soldiers captured and another dimension to the war on terror will be introduced.

    The US believes that if the Nigerian government handles high-level corruption, poverty, and unemployment, social unrest will reduce drastically and the insurgents may find the business of blood-letting unattractive.

    The Nigerian government knows why the US cannot commit sensitive men and materials to aid its fight against terror. Prof Adefuye’s vituperation, though patriotic, does not show sufficient understanding of the situation the US met on the ground. Blaming foreigners for letting Nigeria down in the fight against Boko Haram is sweeping sensitive puzzles under the carpet. The erudite professor should interact with the US military advisers and officials in Washington and around the US, and they will avail him of the rot they met on the ground and get more insight into why the US government refused to assist Nigeria with the needed technology to fight Boko Haram; that done, he will be able to apportion the blames more proportionately.

  • The case for re-authorisation of US Ex-Im Bank

    The case for re-authorisation of US Ex-Im Bank

    The charter which authorized the existence of Export – Import Bank of the United States (U.S. Ex-Im) was due for renewal at the end of this past September. Its re-authorisation required congressional approval. But the renewal of the charter seemed to have fallen due at the wrong time. Bipartisan consensus on virtually anything has been difficult to come by for some time now, for reasons that could very easily be linked to the mid-term election in November, 2014. This had made the U.S. Ex-Im to teeter on the brink of dissolution until its charter was extended for nine months pending long-term re-authorization.

    I had expected the renewal of the charter of the Bank to be a seamless exercise. But it wasn’t. Instead, the debate became rancorous and polarized along party lines in the most awkward way. For instance, President Barack Obama lent voice support to the renewal of the charter. He said every country has an institutional framework like the Ex-Im Bank to support its exports. He also noted that, if the U.S. Ex-Im became defunct, U.S. companies would struggle to compete abroad. This position is a marked departure from when in 2008, as a Democrat senator, Mr. Obama criticized the Ex-Im Bank as a government programme that doesn’t work and “little more than a fund for corporate welfare.” In another twist of irony, the Republican-dominated House of Representatives has stood in the way of the renewal of the U.S. Ex-Im charter. Whereas it is the Tea Party, mainly conservative Republicans, that traditionally supports business — the very businesses that U.S. Ex-Im is set up to provide funding support to. This tends to demonstrate the fluidity of policy positions that are established by partisan considerations.

    Nevertheless, the debate has actually helped to shed more light on the activities of the Bank. Otherwise uninformed U.S. business owners, who want to sell in overseas markets, now know about the specialized bank, which some commentators had described to be ‘little-known outside Washington DC.’ A similar case of institutional obscurity was made, with validity, against Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM Bank) before I came into office and until we rolled out what remains a robust communication strategy. Inadequate corporate communication might have led to the accusation that the U.S. Ex-Im was little transparent and accountable. This provides an important learning experience that highly specialized institutions of the state nevertheless need to share information about their activities with the general public.

    The U.S. Ex-Im Bank is a Development Finance Institution (DFI) which was chartered to act as the Export Credit Agency (ECA) of the United States. The objective of the Bank is to help U.S. businesses access foreign markets. There are a few tools that have been developed to achieve this objective. They include provision of guarantee, export insurance and buyer credit. Together, they help make U.S. products to be competitive abroad, since exports of other countries are similarly incentivized, if not subsidized, by their governments. It is this same objective that informs the creation of the ECOWAS Trade Support Facility by NEXIM Bank to assist Nigerian exporters gain more access to the West African market where we compete with exports from China and the European Union.

    ECAs help to mitigate the risk of entry into a foreign market. They also help to provide funding to build capacity for export. Thereby, local businesses are able to achieve higher profit and employ more local people. The virtuous cycle that is created by an ECA also entails helping the country to move towards a positive current account position, by reducing trade deficit. By helping to create export markets, an ECA invariably helps in boosting domestic economic growth.

    The US Ex-Im has a rich history of performance. The Bank is more than 80 years old. It has since its founding, till now, funded $567 billion of U.S. exports. The Bank has raised its intervention in the past few years, partly because Africa has come under the radar of some U.S. companies. Its intervention in U.S. export amounted to $37 billion in 2013 alone. The aggregate funding has supported over 1.2 million U.S. jobs over the years. More than 80% of its funding has benefitted small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs).  The US Ex-Im also funds big U.S. businesses including General Electric, Caterpillar and Boeing. Funding by the Bank has helped U.S. businesses to innovate and compete in new technology, including renewable energy. What’s more, the bank has been profitable, placing no burden on tax payers in covering its cost of operation.

    Considering its good purpose, positive performance, and setting aside politics, one may ask: “why should U.S. lawmakers be reluctant to keep the Ex-Im Bank going?” Some of the answers reveal very little understanding of the unique role an export credit agency plays. Some people have argued that the U.S. Ex-Im is in competition with the commercial banks. Not really. ECAs usually fund businesses or operations which are considered to be too risky by commercial banks. The businesses might be at an early-stage of growth and exploration of export markets. Without much institutional track-record and operational experience in a foreign market, most businesses cannot expand through conventional bank financing. They would be dogged by high risk evaluation that will either deny them funding or the price of credit would be too high for their affordability. In Nigeria, an additional obstacle which conventional finance would pose to the businesses is the predilection of commercial banks for short-term lending. But, a specially mandated DFI like the U.S. Ex-Im or NEXIM Bank would take on these risks and back the businesses on the strength of its balance sheet and sovereign mandate (not necessarily involving issuance of a sovereign guarantee).

    Funding by ECAs can prepare a business and help it through the difficult early stages until it is capable of attracting or affording commercial loans. This process can work the other way round at the later stages of the corporate development of a business. A growing business, which had accessed commercial lending from the banks, may nevertheless need a specialized bank to help it access a foreign market. Therefore, the role of an export credit agency is very supportive of both commercial banks as well as local businesses.

    Some detractors have talked about excessive risk-taking by ECAs. This claim is based on generalized risk evaluation.  Such assessments do not always take into account that ECAs have special risk management tools that are suited to the kind of risk they bear. For instance, NEXIM Bank makes the point of understanding specific risks of its clients. We follow our clients to the market to understand the peculiar variables that constitute risks to them. We then develop specific products to help address the risks. Regarding the U.S. Ex-Im, its track record is strong enough to denounce any accusation of excessive risk-taking. Since its founding, the Bank has witnessed episodes of serious financial crises in the domestic, emerging and global markets. Yet, the U.S. Ex-Im has been unscathed in any of them. Its recent non-performing loan is 0.2% of total portfolio.

    The accusation of cronyism also derives from a misunderstanding of the role of an ECA. For instance, NEXIM Bank is designated as the Official Trade Policy Bank of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This means the operations of the bank must necessarily be in alignment with the trade objectives of the government. In this regard, NEXIM Bank has been pushing the programme of economic diversification in the non-oil sectors as enunciated under the Transformation Agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan. The programme entails the broadening of the export base in order to generate more foreign exchange for the country and create more local jobs. Local industries which are capable of scaling up to help deliver on this policy objectives are naturally supported by NEXIM Bank.

    The allusion to giving loans to some beneficiary big U.S. companies to establish cronyism accusation is not well-founded.  Between 2007 and 2014, loans to SMEs accounted for 68% of the total portfolio of the U.S. Ex-Im. While a few organisations have dominated the list of beneficiary big firms, it is not without justification. Companies like Boeing and Caterpillar are manufacturers of expensive heavy duty equipment and machines. The equipment and machines are very much needed in the delivery of public works and infrastructure projects in Africa and in other developing regions that are witnessing an economic renaissance. Accordingly, these firms are bound to generate big-ticket transactions which will require some of the financing tools at the disposal of the Ex-Im Bank to consummate. The same argument more or less holds for the involvement of General Electric which, in recent times, has shown interest in the investment opportunities of sub Saharan Africa’s infrastructure and electric power. The proactive investment of GE in the SSA power sector ensures it is a reliable vehicle and partner for the delivery of President Obama’s Power Africa Initiative.

    To be fair, the U.S. Ex-Im Bank has discharged its mandate creditably. The institution has inspired establishment of similar export credit agencies around the world. The Bank seems to have entered a new phase whereby it would play a more active role in boosting trade between the U.S. and Africa in general, and U.S. and Nigeria in particular. NEXIM Bank is in a collaborative relationship with U.S. Ex-Im and several other ECAs with the aim of sharing knowledge and capacities. This will require strengthening the U.S. institution after its charter has been renewed for long-term.

  • Fears grow in US over Ebola’s spread outside West Africa

    Fears grow in US over Ebola’s spread outside West Africa

    Fears are growing in the United States about Ebola with about 200 airline cabin cleaners walking off the job in New York and some lawmakers demanding the government ban travelers from the West African countries hit hardest by the virus.

    “The nation is frightened, and people are frightened of this disease,” the U.S. cabinet secretary for health, Sylvia Burwell, said on Thursday, a day after the death in Texas of the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the United States.

    U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Burwell told a news conference that people were frightened because Ebola “has a very high mortality rate. They’re frightened because they need to learn and understand what the facts are about that disease.”

    As the government prepares to start screening passengers from West Africa for fever at five major airports over the next week, cleaners at New York’s LaGuardia Airport staged a one-day work stoppage over what they say is insufficient protection for workers whose jobs include cleaning up vomit and bathrooms. The cleaners will return to work Thursday night.

    U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson said the goal was to expand airport screenings for Ebola internationally to “as many different checkpoints as possible.”

  • US marshal’s syringe attack

    It is difficult to ignore the widely publicized story on the alleged attack on a United States of America (US) federal air marshal at the Murtala Muhammed International airport Lagos. Not with the dangerous insinuations that have come with it especially in the foreign media.

    Reports had it that a US federal air marshal was screened and quarantined for Ebola virus in Houston, Texas US after he was injected with a syringe full of unknown substance in an insecure area of the airport. Though the assailant could not be apprehended as he was said to have vanished into the thin air, but other air marshals traveling with the victim were able to secure the needle and bring it on the flight for testing in the US.

    US law enforcement officers were said to have been alarmed by the bizarre and unprovoked attack because the assailant was able to inject the unknown substance into the back of one of the air marshals who was traveling under cover.

    The US federal air marshal service is a law enforcement agency under the supervision of the Transportation Security Administration.

    Sequel to the incident, the US Embassy in Lagos, at its request, met with the airport joint security team and viewed footages of the movements of the said marshal captured in the airports CCTV cameras.

    “Preliminary observation from the CCTV footages did not show evidence of such occurrence. Relevant security agencies have since commenced investigations into the matter”, the Federal Airport Authority said in a statement denying the alleged attack. The statement further reassured all travelers of the commitment of the authorities of the airport to their safety and security.

    The alleged attack, as worrisome as it is, raises many questions that hinge on its credibility. Good enough, the airport authorities that viewed footages of the movements of the said air marshal in the presence of the US officials have come out to say no such a thing was evident from the recordings of the CCTV. They have however promised further investigations just as the US authorities are investigating and testing the needle said to have been secured by other air marshals on the traveling team.

    Without prejudice to whatever may turn out as the final outcome of the inquiry, it is rather curious that such an attack could take place within the vicinity of the airport without the victim or any of his colleagues raising serious alarm. The overall impression that comes to mind from the way the matter has been presented, is that all the air marshals did was to secure the needle only to board their flight and report the matter on arrival at their home country.

    That does not seem to tally with the high efficiency for which US security operatives are well known. There is also no evidence that the matter was reported either to the airports’ array of security personnel or the police. Matters are not helped by the revelation of the airport police command that the duty officer in charge on the day of the alleged incident did not record any such report.

    This casts a very big slur on the entire story. This is more so with the expert knowledge, skills and training of the marshals in security matters. The least expectation from such a very knowledgeable group is that they would have raised alarm to alert the airport security and all those within that vicinity. Had they done that, there could have ensured some hot pursuit for the assailant not only from the law enforcement agencies but other sympathizers within that vicinity. Nigerians are good at showing sympathy in such circumstances.

    Beyond that, the scramble that would have ensued would have left no one in doubt in the CCTV footage that such an attack took place. It takes some time to administer an injection with a syringe. For, apart from piercing the tissue, the liquid substance will have to be administered into the body. How possible is it to accomplish these without being caught?

    Again, the information we got was that the other marshals were able to secure the needle. So what happened to the syringe? Or was the assailant also able to unlock the syringe before fleeing?  If that was the case, then he must have spent some time with his victim such that the chances of his arrest were quite high.

    The point being raised by these posers is that there is more to the story than ordinarily meets the eyes. These are the issues to ponder as investigations into the matter progress. The way they are resolved will take us closer to untying the riddle presented by the incident.

    But we must get out of stereotyping and profiling if we are to get at the veracity or lack of it of the alleged attack. Two speculated motives that have featured in the matter are terrorism and the intent to spread the deadly Ebola virus. The US law enforcement officers feared the injection could contain the Ebola virus. For Jon Adler, national president of the federation law enforcement officers association, it is a “reminder that international cowards will attempt to take sneaky lethal shots at our honorable men and women abroad”.

    Even as no evidence has been adduced to show that the attack was real, such profiling will do the investigations no good because it gives the miserable impression of a people working from a predetermined end. But for the Boko Haram insurgency which is a relatively new development within the Nigerian shores, it would have been an exercise in hasty generalization to feature terrorism as a prime motive for the alleged attack.

    Perhaps, with the exception of the bomb attack at the United Nations building in Abuja, insurgency targets in the country have largely been confined to our local people. Records of attacks on foreigners especially US citizens have been rare if not completely non-existent.

    Moreover, since the air marshals were traveling under cover, it would have been nigh impossible to detect their citizenship. It would have been safer to suspect that the alleged attack was based on skin pigment. The theory that the attack was targeted at US citizens seems a remote possibility unless the assailant has a working knowledge of the activities and movements of the air marshals.

    The other scaring dimension is the suspicion that the substance injected on the air marshal contained the Ebola virus. It is true that Nigeria has in the last two months been battling to contain the spread of the Ebola virus. Before then, little or nothing was known of the scourge in the country. Could we have progressed from coming to terms with the reality of the Ebola virus to perfecting the lethal technology for exporting it to other countries through unwholesome means? Or has this profiling got to do with the recurring references to Liberian-American, Patrick Sawyer as the sole source of all identified cases of the virus in Nigeria? These are the issues to ponder.

  • Youths get leadership training in US

    Some young Nigerians have arrived the country after a two-week  leadership training and mentoring in the United States  of America.

    The youngsters, who were drawn from  different  secondary schools,  attended a  Global Youth Leadership Programme  were accorded a rousing reception  at the Prince  Georges County, Maryland, which also featured  notable community leaders, including Dr. James Dula, a retired Airforce  chief, Dr Frank Forka, Director  of Africa Trade Office USA, Rev. Michelle Agnew, Director of Youth at Greater Mt Nebo in Maryland  and members of CTU news crew.

    The scheme was initiated by Mrs Remi Duyile, a youth advocate, to expose and engage  Africa’s young leaders  between ages 10  and 17 to  where they can learn best practices, have positive mindset and ultimately, ‘I can do’  attitude and spirit  at a very young age. The young Nigerians interacted with leaders of strategic institutions that collaborated with the programme.

    They enjoyed a tour of the White House, the official residence of the US president. They also had the privilege of sitting in galleries of the America’s Senate and Congress where they watched the legislative arm of the US government in session. Thereafter, some of the pupils interacted with some of the lawmakers and community leaders, who lectured them on how leadership qualities could be imbibed.

  • Nigeria,US and trial drug for Ebola

    The use of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) trial drugs, Zmapp in the United States of America (USA) gave many Nigerians a ray of hope against the deadly disease which  the late Liberian-American, Patrick Sawyer brought into Nigeria in July.

    Currently, there is no vaccine against the disease that has claimed the lives of over 1,300 persons in the West African sub-region.The World Health Organisation (WHO) has approved untested drugs to be administered as research work continues towards finding a cure to the disease.

    Two United States aid workers, Nancy Writebol and Dr Kent Brantly, who were infected with the virus while in Liberia, had responded positively to Zmapp in Atlanta.

    While Writebol was discharged on Tuesday, Dr Brantly was discharged few hours later.

    Dr. Brantly, who was brought to the US along with his colleagues for treatment four weeks ago, thanked supporters for their prayers at a news conference in Atlanta last week.

    Even though the Zmapp trial drug that worked wonders in the two Americans had never been tested on humans, it was not the same story for a Spanish Priest who was given the same drug but died from the disease.

    Three Liberian health workers, also given the drugs, are said to be responding to treatment, as the Liberian Ministry of Health declared last week that they have shown “very positive signs of recovery”.

    To stop those infected in Nigeria from death, the Nigerian government did not waste time to request for Zmapp as some Nigerians who had primary and secondary contact with the late Sawyer were falling ill.

    The request for the trial drugs had not been met even though five persons, including Sawyer, as at last Wednesday, have died from the disease in Nigeria.

    During a visit to the Nigerian Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu on Monday last week, the US Ambassador to Nigeria, James Entwistle, said his country was not yet in a position to make Zmapp available to Nigeria as the drug was not available in sufficient quantity to go round all the countries requesting for it.

    While some Nigerians were not happy that the drug, rather than coming to Nigeria, was given for the treatment of some health workers in Liberia, some other Nigerians believed that the US should not be blamed if it is still more attached to its former colony.

    Speaking during the US Ambassador’s visit, Prof. Chukwu revealed that the Nigerian Government was withholding its approval for an anti-Ebola drug Nano-Silver produced by a Nigerian because it did not meet the requirements of the National Health Research Ethics Code.

    Briefing State House correspondents early this month on bitter cola as a cure for the disease, Prof. Chukwu said: “As the Minister of Health of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I say that right now, there is no scientific proof to suggest that if you just eat bitter kola you will prevent the disease or where you have it, it will help to cure it.

    “However, we are aware that in 1999, Prof. Maurice Iwu worked along with an administration in United States of America and conducted research which at the level of the laboratory …

    “This shows that some extract they had obtained from the bitter cola which is common in West Africa and in Nigeria …. tend to have some activities against the virus. But that research was not concluded and therefore, as at today, there is no evidence to link that as a cure or preventive measure against Ebola Virus Disease.”

    But some Nigerians have continued to wonder why Nigeria has not pushed forward the Iwu’s research work further since 1999 as it won’t be a curse if Nigeria is involved with the international community to develop a drug and come to the aid of other West African countries that are suffering from the disease.

    To tackle Ebola, Director-General of the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD), Prof. Karniyus S. Gamaniel has called for urgent upgrade of its laboratory towards researching and producing necessary drugs to cope with the threat of the virus.

    He said: “Our laboratories need a little upgrading with facilities like the P4 bio-safety cabinet which will make the laboratory very competent and very useful, and we insist that the situation is an emergency given the position of Abuja as a centrally-placed city.

    “Ebola is a deadly pathogen and the facilities we have needed to be upgraded. We don’t have the P4 facility but we have a structured laboratory suitable for handling the virus and the various studies that are relevant.”

    No doubt, Nigeria has been commended for properly tracing and containing the disease since the virus found its way to Nigeria through Mr. Sawyer, but more needs to be done towards finding a cure in Nigeria.

    Bitter cola, which is abundantly available in Nigeria and has been said to be very active in killing the virus, may be the major ingredient needed to find a cure for the disease in human beings.

    Nigeria should get its act together now and give those concerned with finding a cure in Nigeria, especially NIPRD and other researchers, genuine supports in all ramifications.

    The era must be brought to an end where Nigeria richly blessed with fruits, food crops and other resources like oranges, mango, potatoes, palm trees, oil and petroleum resources continue to import processed fruit juice, palm oil, vegetable oil, potato chips and refined petroleum products.

    Even though some of the items are on the prohibition list of the Nigeria Customs Service, they still find their way into the country.

    The reversal of the trend should be the case now not only for the economic and financial benefit to Nigeria as a country but also to provide the needed jobs for the large unemployed youths in the country.

  • Nobody believed in us — Oshoala

    Nobody believed in us — Oshoala

    Player of the moment, Asisat Oshoala has revealed that prior to the commencement of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, nobody believed the Falconets will get this far.

    She told SportingLife that it was based on this that the players resolved to give their best and as such put the challenges behind them.

    “We are happy that we have been able to get Nigerians behind us at this stage due to our outing.It shows how sweet success is,” said the player who two years ago wept when the team lost the third place match to Japan.

    It will be remembered that the pre-training tour of the team to Canada was disrupted by the suspension on Nigeria as they could not travel at the scheduled time.

    Also,the team are always at the receiving end anytime Super Eagles are involved in the World Cup as they are usually given little or no attention by the FA.

    In 2010 shortly after the World Cup in South Africa, the girls travelled to Germany unannounced but reached the finals before losing to the host side.

    It is the same scenario this year which has further been worsened by the elections into the NFF executive committee.

  • US Consulate begins summer reading in Lagos

    The United State Consulate-General, Barack Obama American Corner, in conjunction with Ovie Brume Foundation, have commenced its annual summer reading programme for primary school pupils within the ages of six to 12 in Lagos

    The three-week event aimed at increasing the reading culture of the pupils, started on  Monday at the Obama American Corner, Victoria Island, Lagos.

    Mrs Marlore Brown, who represented the U S Consulate,  said the programme was meant to encourage pupils to read and learn during their holiday period.

    Her words: “The summer reading programme is designed for children ages six to 12 to encourage them to read, learn and have fun during the summer holiday that children are out of the school. The events of programme will include reading, writing and activities like Spelling Bee and other games so that the children will not only increase their reading ability, but also have fun during their holiday.”

    Speaking with The Nation, the Coordinator, Barrack Obama American Corner, Mrs Lois Ekeleme urged pupils to maximise their holiday period to improve on their reading skills rather than spending it on frivolities.