The Nation Newspaper

Tag: World

  • Rising nationalism and world peace

    As a student of history it is a matter of concern to see incipient nationalism rising all over the world. The connection between this and war is crystal clear to me. In Europe, the then political centre of the world during the period of European imperialism, the clash of interest and the struggle for world domination led to the First World War. That struggle was underpinned by the clash of cultures and ideologies of pan-germanism, pan-slavism and what can also be described as pan anglo-saxonism signifying the desires by Imperial Germany, czarist Russia and imperial Britain to assert their superiority over their rivals. There was also what one can loosely call some kind of racism in the struggle. The argument then usually centred around which country had the largest army or the biggest navy. The strategy then was to ensure no one country had superiority in both arms of the military. The Air Force was still not in the equation then neither were there any strategic forces as constituted today by nuclear armaments. This was going to come into the equation after Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

    The unresolved issues of the First World War led directly to the Second World War which exposed the vulnerability of human civilization to self-destruction unless care was taken. Clash between super powers armed with nuclear weapons has become inconceivable and unthinkable. But this has not eliminated the outbreak of proxy wars as had been the case in Korea, Vietnam, the liberation wars in Southern Africa from the Congo to Angola, the two Rhodesias (Zambia and Zimbabwe) Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa itself. Some kind of proxy wars were waged in Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia and Columbia by factions supported by different global military and ideological patrons. We have not seen the end of this trend even after the collapse of global communism. National interests previously camouflaged by ideology has now reasserted themselves in places like Ukraine where a supposedly democratic regime under Vladimir Putin has severed the Crimea peninsula from independent Ukraine and has virtually divided the country into two by supporting ethnic Russians to lay claim to the eastern half of the country as part of Russia abroad. This has led to sabre-rattling by NATO in its preparedness to defend its new members in Poland and the Baltic Sea against resurgent Russia driven by nationalist pride.

    The Chinese too are no longer manifesting proletarian brotherhood in their relation with Vietnam over rival claims in the South China Sea. China is striking out to put feet down in the area by reclaiming land in the sea and building military bases and challenging even the United States in international waters in the South China Sea.   This has led the United States selling advanced fighter bombers to Vietnam with which it fought a bitter war in the 1960s. Shinzo Abe in Japan is seriously thinking of expunging from its constitution the clause against a big military imposed on Japan by the Allies after the Second World War in view of threat constantly posed to it by North Korea under its erratic and irrational young leader. Japan also has its eyes on reclaiming the Kuriles islands seized from it towards the end of the Second World War by the then Soviet Union. No one can predict the future of peace in Asia because of several flash points and the fact that the nuclear weapons states of North Korea, China India and Pakistan may be joined by the technologically advanced countries like Japan and South Korea if the opportunities present themselves.

    The republican presidential candidate Donald Trump recently said he would not be averse to South Korea and Japan having their own nuclear deterrence by becoming nuclear weapons states so that they can defend themselves apparently in a thermonuclear war as envisaged by Trump. India and Pakistan are so much against each other that if there is a place today of likely possible use of nuclear weapons, it will be the Indian sub-continent. The rising nationalism and antagonism there between the Muslim fundamentalist government in Pakistan and the Hindu nationalist government in India  does not augur well for the future of peaceful relations between these largely poor countries of almost one a half billion people in their combined population.

    The most frightening situation is in the USA and Europe. The rise of Donald Trump, an unprincipled megalomaniac who will tell any lie to be elected president of the most powerful country presents urgent and immediate danger to world peace. This is a man who lied about something as simple as the ethnic origins of his parents when he claimed they were swedes when in fact they were Germans. A man who sets up a so-called university simply to rip off unsuspecting poor people he deceived about making them instant millionaires like himself. A man who inherited millions of dollars from his father yet claims he started from nothing and self-made himself. This is the man who claims he wants to make America great again by seeing all previous international treaties like the ones setting up the WTO, NATO and NAFTA and the Paris climate change protocol as chiffon de paper only good for the waste paper basket. He is preying on the discontent of blue collar workers who have lost their jobs because of movement of some manufacturing industries to China and Mexico. His trump card is immigration and Islamic terrorism. He said he would deport all illegal immigrants numbering about 11 million people and build a wall to shut out migrants from Latin America whom he sees as rapists, drug peddlers and criminals taking jobs from Americans. He would bar Muslims from coming to the USA. He also says he would put tariff of up to 40 percent on goods entering the United States. His tirades seem to be good music to the ears of largely white working class Americans who fear that they are being overwhelmed by immigrants thus reducing the relative population of white people to that of non-white peoples. This demographic trend made the former President George Bush to say he feared that he may be the last republican president of the USA. Nativism and nationalism are driving Trump to advocate for fortress America turning its back on the rest of the world in a policy shift of isolationism not seen since the end of the Second World War.

    If Trump wins and disrupts the global economy and existing Defence architecture, then the entire world will be up for grabs by the most powerful countries thus taking us back to a politics of war-lordism seen in places like China in a previous era.

    The recent BREXIT by Great Britain falls into the same pattern of nationalism of blaming other countries and peoples for one’s national problem. Inward looking sometimes leads to lashing out against other people in a rising tide of negativism and nationalism. The most dangerous part of this trend in Europe is that it is spreading and manifesting itself in France where Marine Le Pen, leader of the French right is threatening to take France out of the European Union if she wins the presidential election in France next year. If she tears the EU apart, then the architecture for peace in Europe would have been destroyed. Already Germany’s right wing party is rearing its ugly head and condemning what it calls Angela Merkel’s wilkommenkultur, a reference to Germany welcoming over a million refugees from the Middle East. This Merkel’s policy, in my view, was really an unwise policy by the German government in a country which has not completely assimilated the three million Turks who migrated to the country after 1945. If the right wing parties take over in the European continent and begin to expel unwanted nationals of other countries, there is bound to be reaction. Compounding this problem is the increase in terrorism fuelled by fundamentalist ideology being exploited by some fanatics claiming to be Muslims where as they are simply anarchists with strange agenda. This impending Armageddon may yet be avoided if these right wing elements lose in the elections that are coming up soon or if world leaders realizing the futility of possible conflict begin to rein in their supporters or begin to moderate their rhetoric and instead of policy of hate and division begin to practice and advocate politics of international interdependence, tolerance.

    We in Africa delude ourselves if we think the gathering storm will not affect us. No part of the world will be spared from global melt down occasioned by political differences mercantilist economic competition and policies fuelled by racial or national hatred. This is why we in Nigeria should get our act together instead of dissipating our energies in unending political debates and planning to tinker with the constitution instead of seeing our inability to make any system work as the reason for our seeming developmental inertia. This is the time to build a virile country with a strong economy and defence. We must see beyond our national horizon because we as a country whether willingly or not carry the burden of defending Africa’s interest on our back

  • World at their feet

    World at their feet

    THE week in passing was an interesting one as Britain harvested the immediate fall-out of her June 23rd Brexit referendum vote which raised a whirlwind of sudden political developments in the United Kingdom in particular  and Europe at large.

    First was the resignation of Prime Minister David Cameron; the abrupt pull-out of consideration for the top job by Angela Leadsom, which finally paved the way for the installation of the former Home Secretary, Theresa May, as the new prime minister.

    The intricate political machinations which truncated supranationalism by the handiwork of sugar-coated nationalism will definitely be issues for generations of the British yet unborn.

     59-year- old Theresa May is now the second Prime Minister in the history of the UK following on the footstep of  late Baroness Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013), fondly referred to as ‘The Iron Lady’ for her characteristic bluntness, pragmatism and staunch conservatism.

    A change of guard at that level is unusual as there were no general elections held, just as one is not due until 2020. As the Home Secretary under Cameron, she definitely knows her onions well enough, especially in the most important factor which tilted the referendum to the favour of the Leave Campaigners-immigration control and free movements across Europe.

    Her credentials also as a conservative have been likened to the giddy old days of Thatcherism; always at war path with trade unions, cuts in social welfare programmes and even in the midst of high unemployment and financial difficulties plunged Britain in 1982 against Argentina in the now infamous Falkland War.

    Theresa may lack the charisma and gutsy no-nonsense attitude of Margaret Thatcher, yet she has set out a clear vision of inclusivity to Britain’s financial independence in the years ahead. Her sacking or advising the Chancellor of the Exchequer under Cameron, George Osborne, to resign because the figures from his office are not adding up, is quite instructive in this regard. She replaced him with Philip Hammond in one of the first set of appointments she made on Day One on the job on Wednesday.

    If her first speech were to be taken on the face value, maybe the Brits can a little rest assured of good intentions. Although this might be different from what the realities on the ground are suggesting at present time. Also the times are different from the era of Margaret Thatcher, not to talk of the grave challenges which quitting the European Union portends for the people of the United Kingdom.

    Angela Merkel is the Chancellor of Germany, Time Magazine Person of the Year 2015 and one of the architects of the European Union. With a PhD in Physical Chemistry, this daughter of a protestant theologian, has led Germany to the envious position of one of the most prosperous countries in Europe since 2005.

    In announcing Merkel as the Person of the Year, Time Managing Editor, Nancy Gibbs, pointed to her handling of a vast array of issues – including the European economic crisis tied to countries such as Greece, the flood of refugees into the continent from the Middle East and Africa and several deadly terrorist attacks in the region.

    “No one was tested the way she was,” Gibbs said. “…She has stepped up in a way that was uncharacteristic, even for her.”

    Although she was at first disappointed about the outcome of the Brexit referendum, she was in her usual pragmatic self, able to respect and appreciate the right of the democratic process which led to the extrication, and wasted no time in calling for the immediate activation of Article 50 of the EU, otherwise known as the Treaty of Lisbon, in order to let the remaining 27 nations left in the Union, to move on without further prevarication as Britain bids her time in deciding which leg to put up front.

    On the other side of the world, the United States of America is immersed in the depth of her quadrennial Presidential Elections with both political parties’ Conventions coming  up (July 18-21 for the Republican Party) in Cleveland, Ohio and (July 25-28 for the Democratic Party) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

    Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders, who has been holding out, this week finally endorsed her rival in the primaries, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is the front runner for the Democratic   Presidential ticket.

     if Lady   Luck conjoins with the political realities now untangling in the  presidential electioneering campaigns, as she is now leading her presumptive nominee in the Republican party, business man Donald Trump in most polls, then Hillary Clinton might join the exclusive league of women handling the affairs of their nations. In the process, she will be making history as the first woman to occupy 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. The White House

     Of course, we have had women at the helm of national affairs before both as in executive or non-executive, elective or selective positions: Indira Gandhi in India; Golda Meir in Israel; Corazon Aquino – Philippines; Ellen Sirleaf – Liberia; Joyce Banda – Malawi; Benazir Bhutto -Pakistan; Dilma Rousseff-Brazil and so many others.

    Yet, as Clinton pointed out during her first attempt at the presidential contest against President Barack Obama in 2008, which she lost, breaking the glass ceiling is not always an easy task to accomplish in a mostly male-dominated world as we are in.

    The lady from Park Ridge, a Chicago suburb in the Land of Lincoln- State of Illinois, has been noted as a brilliant lawyer, child advocate and a policy wonk.

    No sooner had her husband, Bill Clinton, settled at the White House after winning the 1992 elections than they both reminded Americans that they should be ready for two for the price of one. This meant in all practical terms, that First Lady Hillary Clinton will be a partner in power and will be heading a task force, to fashion a comprehensive health care reform for America.

    If Hillary Clinton wins the Presidential Election come November, as most pointers indicate, that will mean the three women will be leading and directing the affairs of their nations’ combined population of about 480 million people. Will this be an indication of a new paradigm shift in the power calculus, which now seems to return to accommodating women in positions of national leadership?

    Are the ceiling glasses now being shattered with much ease and frequency in the international political arena? Are the erstwhile, pre-conceived notions of social class, culture, religion, gender and other impediments to the advancement of women to the ultimate top now assailable?

    These might be the true tests of women empowerment as panacea to social justice and total emancipation.

    According to The National Democratic Institute, a non-profit organisation, women consist of over 50 percent of the world’s population, but continue to be under-represented as voters, political leaders and elected officials. It noted that democracy cannot truly deliver for all of its citizens if half of the population remains underrepresented in the political arena.

    “Every country deserves to have the best possible leader and that means that women have to be given a chance to compete.  If they’re never allowed to compete in the electoral process then the countries are really robbing themselves of a great deal of talent,” says Madeleine K. Albright.

    The innate tenderness, care, compassion and trust with which women are naturally imbued have been touted all along to equip them better than men in leadership positions. It is left for them to continue to push for their rightful place and be more involved in shaping the affairs of their citizens in a free-spirited and egalitarian society.

  • It’s World Refugee Day

    IR: Today June 20, the global community commemorates the World Refugee Day. On December 4, 2000, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in its unanimous resolution decided that from 2001, June 20 of every year would be celebrated as World Refugee Day. In the resolution, the General Assembly noted that 2001 marked the golden jubilee or the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Convention relating to the status of Refugees.

    Each year on June 20, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and countless civic groups around the world host World Refugee Day events in order to draw public attention to the millions of refugees and people who are internally displaced worldwide.

    Statistics show that not less than 43 million people worldwide are presently displaced as a result of conflict and persecution, which is the highest number since the middle of 1990s. More than 15 million of the aforementioned figure are refugees who fled their home countries, while the rest are people who remain displaced by conflict within their own homelands and they are generally regarded as Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

    Worldwide, refugees have really suffered an untold hardship in the respective camps or localities they are being hosted or they found themselves; they mostly lack the three basic needs of food, clothing and shelter. Most of them are often killed by deadly diseases, or hazards attached to the environment they reside in.

    Since refugees are mainly victims of either manmade or natural disasters, there is a compelling need to take appropriate and drastic measures that would thoroughly address all forms of disaster or conflict witnessed by mankind virtually on a daily basis.

    As Nigeria joins the rest of the world to mark the 16th commemoration of the World Refugee Day, there’s a compelling need for the various civil society organizations as well as religious bodies to embark on a massive and rigorous awareness crusade that would educate the entire public on the dangers inherent in any form of crisis, which will go a long way to bring a holistic attitudinal change among the overall citizenry. Think about it!

     

    • Comr Fred Doc Nwaozor,

    Owerri, Imo State.

  • Turkey: Time the world intervened

    In composing his famous tripartite epic poem, The Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri included in the first part called Inferno, what has since become one of the most meaningful quotes of all time, emphasising that “the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in times of moral crisis preserve their neutrality.” The quote was made more popular by late American President J.F. Kennedy, who aptly used it very often in 50s and 60s.

    Perhaps more than anything else, the two major things that happened in quick succession last week, namely the misclassification of the Gulen-inspired Hizmet (Service) Movement by Turkish President Erdogan as a terrorist group, as well as the sentencing of former beauty queen, Miss Turkey for the ridiculous offence of “insulting” Erdogan, should serve as a final warning to the civilised world that this man it keeps tolerating, mainly because he is a NATO member and his country holds a major key to resolving the European refugee crisis, has since become a loose cannon, a major threat to world peace, freedom, liberty and everything all sane societies hold in awe.

    For those who may not know, the Hizmet Movement, a group dedicated to rendering selfless service, providing critical aids and emergency interventions, as well as killing of ignorance, and President Erdogan were best of friends. In fact, members of the group helped bring him to power. However, Hizmetrealised that the man they innocently thought was going to serve Turkey selflessly and honestly, was fast becoming something else. Seeing Ankara becoming more and more enmeshed in corruption, and knowing the bitter ills of that cankerworm and how it inhibits societal growth, the  independent media in Turkey launched an intensive investigative reporting that uncovered large-scale fraud and corruption involving some members of Erdogan’s government and immediate family, with the first such reports published on December 17, 2013.

    Since then, Turkey has hardly known peace. Instead of addressing the message by stopping the widespread corruption, Erdogan blamed the media investigation on Hizmet Movement and started labelling them with all sorts of names. He swooped on all businesses and investments that have even one Hizmet member as owner or co-owner, closing down newspapers (including the famous Zaman newspaper that was publishing more than a million copies, daily), broadcast houses, banks, etc, using the flimsiest pretext. He also embarked on dangerous propaganda aimed at rubbishing the Hizmet Movement, and when he realised he was not making much headway in Turkey, Erdogan strangely decided to export his hate campaign abroad. Going from one country to another, he kept asking presidents and parliaments to close down schools, hospitals and other foreign investments he suspects to be Hizmet affiliated.

    If Hizmet were a terrorist organisation as being wickedly bandied about by the Turkish President, the nationals of these countries having Hizmet-inspired schools should know because the children attending the institutions are their own. A terrorist organisation should never be at the forefront of clear efforts at killing ignorance, or set up schools and run them in full concert with approved curriculum of their host country, and in a most transparent manner. Also, you cannot call an institution a terrorist school when after several years since its establishment, not even one of their products or graduates has engaged in crime or terrorism. All over the world, students that passed through Hizmet-inspired schools are at the frontline of contributing to the growth and well-being of their societies.

    It also amounts to an insult on the intelligence services and citizens of these host countries for Erdogan to think that on their own, they don’t have the wherewithal to differentiate light from darkness. And because no one can fool people all the time, Erdogan keeps deservedly getting the cold shoulder from these countries, with the citizens and their leaders angry that he is importing his dirty, shamelessly-desperate politics to their sane climes.

    However, now that instead of toeing the path of decency and reason, Erdogan is even digging deeper in his trenches, the civilised world must rise beyond rhetoric to tame the Turkish President. To be fair to the rest of the world, a lot of efforts are being put in place to call the repressive Erdogan to order. There are several examples:

    On May 29, last year, the European Association of Judges (EAJ) released a damning report that condemned Erdogan for foisting a regime of tyranny in Turkey, dismissing 49 judges basically because they passed judgements in favour of adherents of free speech he desperately wanted to jail. And this was a month after the Venice Commission, the Council of Europe’s advisory body on judicial and constitutional reform issues, harshly criticised Turkey on June 20, 2015. The Venice Commission said it had found “serious interference with the independence of judiciary in Turkey.”

    On June 2, 2015, in faraway Washington DC, the World Editors Forum and the World Association of Newspapers issued a strong-worded statement in form of petition condemning Erdogan for making life most miserable for independent journalists in his country. As a Nigerian delegate to that conference, I was privileged to be a signatory to that petition, which was co-signed by 700 other top media personalities from 80 different countries of the world and sent to President Erdogan.

    Similarly, the Nigerian Guild of Editors, the apex body of the journalism profession in Nigeria, has on two major occasions last year issued a communique strongly condemning President Erdogan and asking him to ensure freedom of the press in Turkey as well as freeing of all journalists jailed by his government.

    Western governments and international press advocacy groups have accused Turkey of suppressing dissent and muzzling critics, forcing the sale of newspapers to government-friendly businessmen and exploiting laws to lock up journalists.  The Reporters Without Borders, the world’s largest press advocacy group, ranks Turkey 159th out of 170 countries surveyed, while Freedom House classified Turkey “not free” in its latest press freedom index.  The Committee to Protect Journalists, another major group advocating press freedom said “Turkish authorities are using never-before-seen methods to stipple dissent in the country.  Scores of journalists are either behind bars or facing criminal charges over their reporting in Turkey.”

    And as pointed earlier, Today’s Zaman, the largest selling newspaper in Turkey, whose daily circulation is one million copies, is being severely harassed, with some of its top editors arrested because it is owned by people sympathetic to the Hizmet (Gulen) Movement.  So also are the Cihan News Agency, the Samanyolu Broadcasters, as well as the Journalists and Writers Foundation, which have been in the forefront of campaign against according prominence to dastardly acts of terrorists, including publishing stories about their heroics on the front pages of newspapers.  The Foundation believes, and rightly so, that such publications always give terrorists a psychological edge. The sweeping media crackdown is aimed at ensuring organisations like the Cihan, a reputable news agency through which the rest of the world get authentic news about Turkey, close shop or forced to be administered by pro-Erdogan trustees.

    Hassan Cemal, a  respected 72 year old veteran journalist with 47 years’ experience in a symposium on press freedom last year, said:  “I have witnessed military coups.  I have seen my newspaper being shut down several times.  I have lost friends to political murders.  Many of my colleagues spent time in prison, many were subjected to torture.”  But the heartache he felt three months ago was like “none I had felt before.”

    Sadly, these represent only a tip of the iceberg. And the world can only afford to fold its arms or maintain neutrality at its peril. This, and definitely not later, is the time to rise beyond rhetoric to ensure the world does not end up with an avoidable Hitler

     

    • Gaya is the Vice President (North) of the Nigerian Guild of Editors.
  • Lagos joins rest of the world to celebrate International Jazz Day

    Lagos joins rest of the world to celebrate International Jazz Day

    •IJD activities will showcase tourism potentials of Lagos to the World, says Ambode

    As Jazz promoters around the world harp on the directive by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)’s directive to celebrate the International Jazz Day (IJD) on April 30, Lagos State Governor, Mr Akinmumi Ambode, is set to host lovers of the elevated genre at the State House, Alausa, Ikeja.

    Disclosing this to news men at the Baguada Press Centre, Alausa, on Tuesday, Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, said the IJD is providing another opportunity for the governor to fulfill some of his campaign promises around arts, entertainment and tourism.

    While the State government is supporting the shows taking place at different venues in Lagos, Ambode will be hosting captains of industry, socialites and other bigwigs, including the Ooni of Ife at the State House where his vision of tourism for Lagos will be further established.

    Tagged ‘Lagos in tune with the world’, Ayorinde said that the state is excited to join the rest of the world in this celebration, for which the President of the United States of America, Barrack Obama, will also be celebrating in the White House.

    Recall that Ambode’s touted Project T.H.E.S.E (Tourism, Hospitality, Entertainment/Arts, Sports for Excellence) initiative promises practical deliverables in marketing Lagos as a choice destination and job creation through the One Lagos Festival.

    Some of the Jazz artistes listed for the Lagos show include Dare Art-Alade, Yinka Davies, Lekan Babalola (two time Grammy-winner) with the Eko Brass Band, Herbert Kunle Ajayi, veteran Jazz Saxophone; Bright Gain, Adeh and the Spectacle Band, Ubong Ntia, Sam and the Jazz Apostle, Dotun Bankole, Victor Ademola Band, Omolara, among others.

    According to Ayorinde, “Since 2011, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has designed April 30 as the International Jazz Day.

    “In view of this, many countries of the world have always used the day to celebrate jazz-related types of music and jazz artistes. Here in Lagos also, the entire month of April is designed as Jazz Appreciation Month, culminating on April 30th International Jazz Day.

    “Nigeria and Lagos in particular has also shown commitment to commemorating the jazz day with concerts and various forms of performances. Those who have shown commitment to the Jazz Day are the Inspire Productions’ Lagos International Jazz Festival, The MUSON Center’s annual MUSON Festival and Jazz Day, Satchmos Jazz and Cultural Festival and the Runway Jazz among others.”

    While the Runway Jazz will be taking place at Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, the Lagos International Jazz Festival will be thrilling audience at the Freedom Park, Marina, among pockets of other shows around Lagos.

    Ayorinde stated that this year’s show is a build-up to a grand stage concert in 2017, which is planned as the biggest jazz concert in the world.

    Hosted by Gbenga Adeyinka and Dare Art Alade, Ayorinde noted that the Governor’s action is in sync with what the president of the United States of America would be doing too, at the White House of Friday 29th. “It is because he loves Jazz and music in all its ramifications. It is good to remember that music played a prominent role at his campaign. He knows that music can also be a veritable tool for the creation of jobs for the teeming youth population,” he said.

    Director of the Lagos International Jazz Festival, Ayoola Sadare who described Jazz as ‘Freedom’ genre, expressed optimism that the festival would draw investment worth millions of Naira to the State, giving example of how the Cape Town International Jazz Festival (CTIJF) has boosted the economy of South Africa. But Ambode’s vision is to surpass the records of the CTIJF.

    “We want to emulate and even surpass the International Jazz Festival in Cape Town, South Africa, and then be on the world stage and that is the significance of this collaboration that we have decided to go into,” Ambode said on Tuesday, while receiving some of the groups collaborating with the state government on the forthcoming star-studded concert at the Lagos House, Ikeja.

    He expressed optimism that the activities lined up for the forthcoming Lagos International Jazz Day will go a long way to showcase the tourism potentials of the State to the World.

    He said apart from being the financial and commercial hub of Nigeria, his administration will work hard to equally transform Lagos to the tourism hub of Africa.

    The groups on the courtesy visit include Lagos International Jazz Festival Group, Runway Jazz and Satchmo Jazz.

  • AVRS celebrates World Intellectual Property Day

    AVRS celebrates World Intellectual Property Day

    •Mobilises against digital piracy

    As the world marks World Intellectual Property Day on April 26, Chairman of Audio Visual Rights Society of Nigeria (AVRS), Mr Bond Emeruwa, has said that despite the boom the Nigerian creative industry has witnessed, many creatives are yet to adequately benefit from it, mainly because of piracy.

    He said this in a statement to mark this year’s event which has as its theme, ‘Digital Creativity: Culture Reimagined.’

    “Given that we live in a digital age where digital revolution has been the game changer in all sectors, it may be assumed that stakeholders in the creative industries are only enjoying the blessings of digital creativity,” Emeruwa said.

    “But a closer look at the nexus between intellectual property rights and digital creativity would show that the challenges faced by creators in the digital landscape are quite intricate and enormous, with direct impact on the future of the creative content economy.

    “Central among such challenges is the menace of digital piracy – the unauthorized reproduction and commercial exploitation of copyrighted materials available in electronic form. Available digital piracy statistics within and outside Nigeria would show how deeply this debilitating cancer has eaten into our creative economy and denied us unimaginable revenue which, in most cases have truncated the creative efforts of practitioners leaving them jobless after investing heavily in their respective creative processes.”

    Emeruwa then said, “AVRS would like to use the commemoration of the 2016 World Intellectual Property Day to mobilise public support towards the eradication of digital piracy, not only as it affects the film industry, but the entire creative sector.”

    World Intellectual Property Day was established by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 2000 to “raise awareness of how patents, copyright, trademarks and designs impact on daily life” and “to celebrate creativity, and the contribution made by creators and innovators to the development of societies across the globe.”

    AVRS is Nigeria’s sole collective management organisation for cinematograph films

    The AVRS boss also commended efforts of the Nigerian Copyright Commission towards actualising the implementation of the Copyright Levy (on Materials) order 2012 but beckoned on the Federal Government to hasten its implementation

    “The time has come, however, when we, the stakeholders must take it upon ourselves to embark on a sustained campaign to ensure the implementation of the Order, which would go a long way to reduce the cancer of digital piracy,” he said.

  • Today is World Poetry Day

    SIR: Today Monday, March 21, the world over commemorates the 2016 World Poetry Day. The decision to proclaim March 21 as an annual World Poetry Day was adopted during the 30th session of the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) conference held in Paris, France in 1999.

    One of the main objectives of the Day is to support linguistic diversity through poetic expressions, and to offer endangered languages the opportunity to be heard within their respective communities. In celebrating World Poetry Day, UNESCO recognizes the unique ability of poetry to capture the creative spirit of the human mind.

    From the middle of twentieth (20th) century, poetry has sometimes been more generally regarded as a fundamental creative act that employs language. Because of its nature of emphasizing linguistic form rather than using language purely for its content, poetry is notoriously difficult to translate from one language into another. A possible example of this is the Hebrew Psalms, where the beauty is found more in the balance of ideas than in specific vocabulary.

    Howbeit, poetry has indeed created an enormous positive impact on literature, and has contributed immensely in the promotion of languages, cultures and education in general. No doubt, poetry has succeeded in awakening man’s quest for learning or discovery as well as his interest to educate, entertain or inform his immediate society through the use of any language within his reach.

    As the global community marks the World Poetry Day, I enjoin every individual across the globe, especially Nigerians, to endeavour to promote the unique role of poetry in literature by understanding the fact that poetry reaffirms our common humanity by revealing to us that individuals, anywhere in the world, share the same questions and feelings. Thus, we ought to comprehend that poetry is the mainstay of oral tradition; and over centuries, can communicate or convey the innermost values of diverse cultures. Above all, we should always note that poetry is the only genre of literature that saves time, space as well as energy, and can be written or expressed in any language as it pleases the writer.

    I urge every concerned sector and stakeholder such as the parents, guardians, counsellors, teachers and various citadels of learning, to vigorously contribute their respective quotas towards ensuring that the unique art of poetry will no longer be considered as an outdated form of literature, but one which enables any society to regain and assert its real identity.

     

    • Comr Fred Doc Nwaozor

    Owerri, Imo State.

  • The world about to end?

    Do you remember that this world was supposed to come to an end on Friday, December 21, 2012? Yes, a big noise was made about this in the months, and even the years, before that date. And even though December 21, 2012 passed like all other days, the belief that the world will soon suddenly end has remained strong.

    And believe me, a whole lot of people are still preparing for it in very many countries.  And such people are taking countless ingenious and creative steps to ensure that they and their families would survive when the end suddenly comes.  The Noah of the time of the Biblical flood received instruction from God about how he and his family should survive. The would-be Noahs of today are adopting countless survival measures, based on the enormous store of mankind’s knowledge of technology.  Being a historian by training and profession, I am attracted to watching what these folks were doing – mostly in the technologically most advanced countries of the world.  Altogether, it is an awesome spectacle of man at his smartest, his most technologically savvy, his most foolish, and his most funny.

    The Noah of the Bible received his fore-warning from God that the world in which he was living was about to be destroyed.  So, where did our own folks in today’s world get their fore-warnings from?  From an endless number of sources. Many who are Christians claim that they got their warnings from God – from some special reading of some books of the Bible. Of such Bible books, the most popular with these folks is the last book in the Bible – the book of Revelation.  Very many claim that from reading the book of Revelation, plus of course other Bible books like Daniel and Ezekiel, they have come to the very certain knowledge that the sudden end of the world is just around the corner.

    But other powerful warnings of theirs come, not from the Bible, but from certain prophecies in more recent human history. Of these, the most authoritative, according to the Doomsday believers, is the calendar created hundreds of years ago by the Mayan civilization which existed in Central America, and which became extinct at about the beginning of modern times. The evidence available to us show that the Mayan civilization was very sophisticated in many things – especially in architecture, astronomy, astrology, and the reading of the stars.  For many years now, archaeologists and anthropologists have told the world that the  Mayan calendar is so highly sophisticated that it contains  correct records and predictions  of stellar happenings dating all the way back to 23,000 BC.  They have also told the world that this mysterious Mayan calendar stopped abruptly on December 21, 2012, the day of the Winter Solstice when the Sun annually stands at its lowest altitude above the Earth.  From this, many people conclude that the Mayan calendar includes the prediction that the world would come to an abrupt end on December 21, 2012, or soon after that.

    Human imagination quickly added a flood of other “prophecies”. An ancient North America people called the Hopi had a tradition which said that five words would be created in succession and that as each perished its successor would appear; that each would exist for millions of years and then perish, for its successor to appear. This Hopi tradition claimed that four worlds have come and perished, and that the fifth world, which would be the last world, is our present world which has been in existence for many millions of years and which is now due to perish. Believers in the Doomsday prophecies quickly added this Hopi tradition to their picture – as proof that the world is about to disappear.

    But there are many other prophecies – written prophecies attributed to known authors in our modern world. The greatest of these modern prophets is Nostradamus, a Frenchman who lived in the early 16th century. Nostradamus wrote down his prophecies, and today we have books of his prophecies in libraries across the world. Those who have studied his prophecies say that he clearly prophesied the coming of Napoleon Bonaparte, Adolf Hitler, the First and Second World Wars, the assassination of President John Kennedy, and many other events in our modern world. They also say that he prophesied that the world would end through a number of cataclysmic events – such as worldwide earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, enormous wars, and fires falling from the sky. He is said to have identified Napoleon and Hitler as the first and second Antichrists spoken of in the book of Revelation; and to have prophesied the coming of the third and last Antichrist not long after Hitler.

    Not surprisingly, the Doomsday people developed very fascinating scenarios of how the world would end. Their most interesting end-point scenario is that a large piece of blazing rock – an asteroid – from space would hit the earth. According to their fascinating calculations, an asteroid measuring about one mile by one mile by one mile, if it hit the earth, is sure to hit with 10,000 times the destructive power of the greatest atomic bomb that man has ever produced. Under the impact of such a devastating force, the earth would be so massively disrupted as to bring all life on the earth to an end. Its immediate impact would destroy all houses on the earth, and incinerate most of the earth’s surface. A thick cloud of dust and smoke would envelope the earth for many years, radically changing the earth’s climate. If there were human survivors, they would be very few and scattered, and they would find themselves in a world from which all signs of human civilization has disappeared. They would have to start all over to create the basic elements of human civilization.

    And so there arose the people who call themselves Doomsday Preppers – that is, humans who are determined that if they survive, they would have some basic things with which to keep their lives going, and with which to start civilization all over again.  Believe me, these people are not kidding; they are very serious. Their preparations include many carefully thought-out measures. To be sure that if they survived they would have food and water to continue to live on until they could produce some crops, they have created underground food dumps in various locations and taught their families how to find the dumps. They included seeds in the dumps, as well as simple hand tools for scratching the earth and planting seeds. They calculated that other survivors who had no preparation and therefore no food or water might become desperate and begin to attack those who had such supplies. Therefore, a major part of each Doomsday Prepper’s preparation is to buy guns and teach his family how to use them. Many Preppers have built underground bunkers, or otherwise specially fortified homes, where they and their families would be able to live in safety until life becomes safer. Some groups have even formed companies or clubs to build large underground bunkers where small communities of survivors could live.

    Perhaps the greatest thing which demonstrates the mighty seriousness of Doomsday Prepping is an international seed dump built in the far north of Norway. Here, the inside of a mountain has been dug out to create a large frozen warehouse where millions of carefully preserved seeds from all over the world have been stored. Similar but smaller versions of this have been built in some other countries. The idea is that if Doomsday does come and everything on the earth is incinerated, the few humans who survive may find ways to take advantage of the seeds hidden in these secret warehouses.

    Well, we may laugh at these things. But, on second thoughts, we cannot but pay respect to man’s ingenuity, and man’s thoughtfulness about his future. Also, we cannot but wonder why we Nigerians – indeed why we members of the Black race in Africa – seem so unconcerned about our collective future, why we never seem to be able to make orderly preparations for our future, and why the prominent ones among us are invariably obsessed only with grabbing all power and all resources for themselves – without any concern for the group’s future? For instance, when we Nigerians came into possession of enormous revenues from petroleum, side by side with widespread predictions that petroleum was likely soon to fade out of the world economy, why did our leaders not use the revenues to prepare for our future in a serious, orderly and sustained manner? Why is such a disaster as this replicated in virtually all Black African countries? What is wrong with us as a race? Who, ultimately, are we?

  • Will Nigeria join world’s organic farming revolution?

    There is no doubt any longer that our food from our once natural farms are now being contaminated with killer poisons in the forms of pesticides and herbicides. And wow, the food still  grace our kitchens and dining tables in Nigeria. All the thanks for this go to agriculture practices from Europe and America. As we battle cancers and other degenerative diseases caused by these poisons, news of the fight against them can be exciting such was the news that, like some people in her generation, lawyer Olusola Owemimo has set up an organic farm in Nigeria where only natural forms of agriculture will be done. Recently, she attended a conference of organic farming in the United Kingdom.  Today, she shares her experiences with readers of this column… ‘My Experience At The 10th Organic Producer’s Conference January 27-28 2016’

    I went into organic farming as a choice because I have my personal ideals, one of which is to endeavour to eat healthy. I grew up with parents who ate healthy and we always had an edible garden at the back of every home we lived. I have therefore always preferred organic food where possible.

     

    You may ask why organic?

    Organically grown foods have no pesticides with chemicals or any toxic ingredients, and even the manure from cows and chickens cannot be used without curing. No cruelty is allowed to animals so a truly organic farm will allow its chickens to roam about as some of us knew when we were growing up.

    There are many researches that prove organic is more beneficial. For example, an international team led by Newcastle University has shown that organic crops are up to 69 percent  higher in a number of key antioxidants than conventionally-grown crops.

    Numerous studies have linked antioxidants to a reduced risk of chronic diseases, including cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases and certain cancers.

    The study found that a switch to eating organic fruit, vegetable and cereals – and food made from them – would provide additional antioxidants equivalent to eating between one to two extra portions of fruit and vegetables a day.

    Our mission statement at Ope Farms is to grow and supply organically grown foods from rich mineral soils that truly nourish the body for healthy lifestyles and our vision is to be a trusted foremost organic food producer for healthy living.

    When Ope Farms began operation a little over a year ago, I discovered that there is a non-governmental body in Nigeria known as Nigerian Organic Agriculture Network (NOAN). It is a non-governmental organisation created to serve as an umbrella body for all stakeholders involved in organic agriculture in Nigeria.The secretariat of NOAN is at the Department of Agronomy, University of Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria.

    embership is drawn from scientists, farmers, processors, exporters, individuals, institutions, NGOs and organisations that are key players in the organic agriculture sector in Nigeria.NOAN also serves as a link body between organic agriculture stakeholders in Nigeria and international bodies interested in organic agriculture. They hosted the highly successful 3rd African Organic Agriculture conference last year October. The conference made us appreciate that organic agriculture is here to stay in Africa.

    I was therefore excited to stumble on the advertisement for the 10th Organic Producer’s Conference online. The conference was for producers. The two-day conference was attended by about 240 growers and it was held at Novotel. One of the major sponsors was Accor Hotels. I was highly impressed to learn of the many things Accor Hotels has been doing for agriculture in the UK. Accor Hotels supports innovative and sustainable agroforestry models, bringing many benefits to their ecosystems. It initiated a ‘Plant for the Planet in the U.K.’ Programme. Since 2012, it has planted 37,298 trees, invested £240,000 in agroforestry and supported 29 innovative farmers in all the country.

    In Accor Hotels, guests are invited to reuse their towels for more than one night so that 50 per cent of the laundry savings can then be used to fund restoration projects.

    Another sponsor was Triodos Bank which has been helping farmers grow their businesses for almost 30 years. For example, the bank helped Wheatland Farm in Devon purchase and install an 11kw turbine. Triodos supports another customer Jamie’s Farm in their family run-project that supports the development of vulnerable young people by providing opportunities for achievement and wellbeing in an agricultural setting. A Triodos loan helped Tom Mattyear and Mark Sparrow to buy Haddon Copse Farm, a 30 acre organic smallholding in the heart of Dorset.

    Some of the other supporters of the conference are Organic Growers Alliance, Soil Association, Ernest Cook Trust and Greenham Common Trust.

    The theme for the programme was ‘Common ground – Agroecology, food sovereignty and organic farming in practice’. There were presentations, discussions, Question and Answer Sessions.

    The theme for the first day was: A shared vision for future – bringing different traditions together. The discussion centre red on movement for change in Agriculture embraces a wide range of agroecological traditions, from integrated pest/crop management to permaculture, from organic farming to agroforestry and holistic management. The big question is ‘Are they really all uniquely different, or is the common ground they share, in terms of ideas and history, more important?

    Topics such as ‘Rejuvenating Our Landscape – The Allerton Approach by Phil Jarvis who shared his personal vision for the future of farming and food. One of which is ‘Innovation that combines well researched technology and sound agricultural husbandry, that can be transferred with the skills required, to our next generation of land managers and another of his visions is ‘A farming landscape that embraces the environment,rejuvenates our souls and continues to support our rural communities.

    Christine Gosling of Berkeley Farm, as an organic dairy farmer said her vision of the future of farming and food is one balance where:

    • everything that is borrowed or taken from nature is paid back or compensated for
    • every person is fed adequately with a balanced, nourishing diet, relieving the pressure on the earth to produce higher yields of resource
    • there is balance of respect for biodiversity and our need to produce food.

    Iyoti Fernandes(Land Workers’ Alliance and Organic Smallholder Fivepenny Farm, Dorset) said as a small-scale producer and representative of the Land Workers Alliance, their vision for the future of agriculture is:

    • A much higher percentage of land in the UK is farmed sustainably with a large proportion of food being produced on small and medium scale farms primarily for British markets to contribute towards greater food security
    • Research undertaken illustrates that it is possible to feed the projected population of the UK with small and medium scale farms using sustainable agriculture.
    • The alliance envisions that this model of agricultural development would have greater benefits to the UK in the long run than a food and farming strategy based on sustainable intensification of larger scale industrial agriculture and the export economy

    Jonty Brunyee of The Pasture-Fed Livestock Association and Cotsworld Organic Farmer said his vision for the future of farming is:

    • a farming system that provides nutritious food from high welfare ruminants, positive economic returns for farming families and environmental regeneration.
    • I believe that beef, sheep and diary systems based on a natural diet of 100 per cent pasture consisting of grasses, herbs and legumes offers a sustainable solution to many of the problems associated with the livestock industry today.
    • highlights the benefits of dropping the damaging inefficient grain habit and embracing the pasture for life ethos which rebuilds soil, soaks up rainwater, provides pollinator and farmland bird habitat, improving animal welfare and rearing livestock that produce great tasting meat and milk with enhanced nutritional profiles.
    • High outputs and reduced costs are possible and exciting opportunities exist for branding and added value sales. It’s a no grainier!

    The workshops included topics such as: Business tools and support for new entrants/converters. The session was chaired by Susan Padel of Organic Research Centre (ORC).. The aim is to ensure financial viability for new businesses and for those entering conversion. The tools available for planning and benchmarking and how the support mechanism can be used for business success.

    Phil Sumption of Organic Centre (ORC) spoke about Business tools for growers including horticultural costings.

    • making financial data, ‘fit for purpose’ for small growers was the mission they set for themselves as part of the Organic Centre Wales’s Better Organic Business Links (BOBL) project. There is an absence of tailored information on the viability and productivity of market gardens and small scale horticultural holding growing in Wales.

    The problem is exacerbated by lack of financial skills/kJonathan Storkey of Rothamsted Research spoke on why the world needs Weed Biologists.

    ‘’ The discipline of weed biology has suffered a steady decline in funding and support over the past three decades beginning with the closure of the Weed Research Organisation in 1985.

    ’’Part of the reason for the decline has been the efficacy of modern herbicides in conventional systems, as long as you can read pesticide labels, weeds can easily be controlled.

    ‘’ The loss of active ingredients due to European Legislation and the evolution of herbicide resistance have highlighted the need for integrated weed management that relies on knowledge of weed biology and the response of different species to alternative management scenarios

    ‘’ In addition, increasing recognition of the positive role weeds play in the agro- ecosystem as a food source for invertebrates and birds has further highlighted the need to understand weed biology.

    From personal experience, I say many of what we call weeds are medicinal. I have a firsthand experience when someone who knows a lot about herbs visited our farm and could not contain her excitement at seeing what we thought were weeds as herbs, calling them by their names. We had decided from start up that we were not going to disturb the ecosystem drastically and this decision has been a blessing.

    The UK has recently invested £1million in a large project to improve the control of herbicide resistant black-grass. The current activity at Rothamsted will be reviewed with an emphasis on how the tools being developed are relevant to organic systems.

    At the Customer satisfaction workshop, how to ensure that there is consistent supply and quality organic produce was discussed. The take home for me was, as farmers, we must ensure we plan cropping schedules for continuity and variety, get the basics of soil fertility and agronomy right and storing and we ought to pack and present for optimal freshness and appearance while also minimising waste.

    Alan Schofield of Growining with Nature, in his presentaion, ‘Variety is the spice of life’ spoke about how since1992, they have been supplying organically grown vegetables direct to people’s homes. They work with 4 other organic growers planning crop timings and sharing out the growing of crops for the box scheme which he runs from his own holding they shared the production between growers in a fair and an amicable manner. They undertake cleaning and processing by themselves and then undertake germination to ensure viability. Their long term plan is to reverse the decline of seed production in UK providing a resilient base on which to build a sustainable farming future.

    Roger Hutchings of RHMH consulting spoke of the importance of the soil for consistent quality production. He showed different types of soil to enable farmer appreciate that their crops need soil that can deliver the required level of fertility and manageability year in, year out for the business to survive for the long term. He emphasised the fundamental organic techniques of rotation, fertility crops, on-farm composting, careful cultivation etc are key to getting the best from soils considered to be marginal.

    here were more talks on energy, soil carbon and tree planting. Carlo Leifert spoke on the effects of organic farming practices on food composition and human health. From recent meta-analysis of published data on the nutritional crops and livestock products have identified substantial and nutritionally relevant differences between organic and conventional crops and livestock production. Organic crops have a higher concentration of a wide range of antioxidants, 50% lower concentration of the toxic metal cadmium and pesticide residues more than 4 times more frequently found in conventional compared to organic crops. Organic Milk and beef were shown to have higher concentrations of omega-3 fatty acids and organic milk also contained higher levels of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and certain antioxidants/vitamins (carotenoids, vitamin E). From a 4 human cohort study, focused on the health of mothers and newborn children or infants, it was reported that organic vegetable and/or dairy consumption is associated with a reduced incidence in male genital deformationat birth, eczema in infants and/or pre-eclampsia in mothers.

    Bennan Tong spoke on the subject: Is Organic Better? For some positively-rated substances seem to show higher levels than conventional food. The evaluation of well over 300 comparative studies (Baransky et al 2014) revealed an increase of up to 69% in the content of certain antioxidants like polyphenols in organic crops antioxidants could have a positive impact on health. It has been proved antioxidants could have a positive impact on health, Organic products need to be authentic and processed with care. Therefore, only essential additives and processing aids are allowed and the number and extent of the interventions are reduced to a practical minimum.

    The programme rounded up with a presentation about Canaan model for a sustainable crop value chain approach in Palestine by Dr Samer Jarrar and The UN Ten Year Framework of programmes on sustainable consumption andproduction by Charles Arden-Clarke (UNEP)

    Tea breaks had options of organic fruits and pastries while lunch was organic food from organic farms.

    There was something that completely surprised me; I learnt that Organic Farming came from Africa. At the conference, I met Dr. Phillip Conford, a Historian of Organic Agriculture who when I showed surprise at his profession and also asked him about his work, he told me that an English man, Sir Richard St Barbe Baker, a forester, environmental activist and author, who contributed greatly to worldwide reforestation efforts. As a leader, he founded an organization called Men of the Trees which is still active today. He was aforerunner of organic agriculture havinglived in Kenya. Thereafter Sir Albert Howard influenced Asia and India on soil improvement and also developed a certain composting for them.

    From the lessons from this conference, I believe organic has come to stay and it is definitely the new present!

  • Quadri returns to top 30 in the world

    Quadri returns to top 30 in the world

    Nigeria’s Aruna  Quadri’s performance at the ITTF World Team Championship in Malaysia yielded for the 2014 ITTF Star Player as the Nigerian is now ranked 30 in the world ahead of his continental rival – Egypt’s Omar Assar.

    According to the March 2016 ranking released today by the world table tennis ruling body, Quadri who was ranked 37 in February garnered 58points from his performance at the ITTF Top 16 Cup as well as ITTF World Team Championship where he only lost to India’s Sharath Achanta.

    Again, Quadri has reclaimed his status as the highest ranked African player in the world displacing Egypt’s Omar Assar who dominated the continent throughout 2015.

    The ranking was released at the end of the ITTF World Team Championship with Egypt’s Assar who lost two matches in Malaysia dropped to 36 from 33.

    Also, Nigeria’s Segun Toriola who inspired the team in Malaysia returned emphatically to the ranking to become the third rated African player in the world. Toriola, who will be attending his seventh Olympics in Rio, Brazil this year is rated 116 in the world while Bode Abiodun who has continued to rise in the ranking moved from 213 to 185 to become the sixth ranked African player behind Egypt’s duo of El-Sayed Lashin and Mohammed El-Beiali, who are both ranked 135 and 162 respectively.

    This development has now put Nigeria ahead of Egypt in terms of the men’s team event qualification for the Olympic Games.

    According to President, African Table Tennis Federation (ATTF), Khaled El-Salhy, the May ranking of the three top players in Nigeria and Egypt will decide the eventual team that will qualify for the men’s team event of the Rio Olympic Games.

    “ITTF ranking in March might change the situation slightly but it will not be the final as we should also await the ranking list of April 2016 after the results of the Kuwait Open & Qatar Open, then finally the ranking list of May 2016 after the results of Poland Open.”