In the BusinessDay of December 29, 2009 There is a thing about being so close to something that one does not see it anymore. Anthropologists normally refer to it as going native. You have gone native when you no longer see the obvious things anymore, when the things that an outsider notices stares you in… Read More »
From the BBC: Nigerian police killing at will, says Amnesty Nigerian police are carrying out a shocking level of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, Amnesty International says. The rights group’s three-year inquiry details cases of prisoners tortured to death and shootings at roadblocks. Amnesty says the police complain they are poorly trained and that criminals… Read More »
No, it is not 419. The BBC reports: Charles Taylor ‘duped’ by Nigeria: Former Liberian President Charles Taylor has said he was duped by Nigeria into being arrested there in 2006. Speaking at his war crimes trial in The Hague, he said Nigeria’s then-leader had reneged on a promise to let him leave the country… Read More »
Yahoo! news: ABUJA (AFP) – Nigeria on Monday signed a deal worth almost a billion dollars with a state-owned Chinese engineering firm to resuscitate part of its dilapidated railway system, the transport minister said. The 875-million-dollar (588-million-euro) contract was signed by Transport Minister Ibrahim Isa Bio and the managing director of the China Civil Engineering… Read More »
1. Nigeria to Limit Domestic Banks’ Market Share to 20% 2. Nigeria in big scamster crackdown 3. Achebe calls for revolution in Nigeria 4. Berlin Wall: 20 years after the fall (with video) 5. Some (Possibly Heretical) Thoughts on Agriculture 6. Is UK Aid failing?
Financial Times: Africa governance prize finds no winners: Mo Ibrahim, the Sudanese telecoms magnate, will not award his $5m African leadership prize this year, a decision seen as a rebuke to the former presidents of Nigeria, South Africa and Ghana, among others. The prize, now in its third year, is given to heads of state… Read More »
WSJ: A Lack of Flare: In the oil-rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria, petroleum companies use giant torches to burn off natural gas found with deposits of crude oil. The decades-old industry practice, known as flaring, has long been criticized as wasteful and harmful to the environment because of the carbon dioxide it releases into… Read More »
reports the BBC: Nigerian officials are reportedly planning to give 10% of the country’s oil revenues to people in the Niger Delta, an area plagued by insurgencies. Presidential adviser Emmanuel Egbogah told the UK’s Financial Times that the money would go directly to communities, bypassing powerful state governors. Analysts say the government fears local officials… Read More »
1. The financial crisis, a view from a Brazilian barrio 2. The British Social Science Research Council‘s African Argument’s blog has a Citizenship Debate series 3. Shitting on Hope: Obama and the Peace Controversy 4. A really interesting episode of This American Life, in which the producers try to understand the healthcare debate and the… Read More »
Really good initiative reported by Next: The Lagos State council of tradesmen and artisans have embraced the use of the Internet as a means of attracting a wider audience and bringing their services closer to the public. At a formal introduction to the council members by Advert Africa, an Internet advert service provider, yesterday in… Read More »