I might be wrong and the Daily Trust is quoting the police.
I just don't know. It is perfectly possible that teens could be fooling around, I just don't know. Never heard of fireworks around any embassy before in Nigeria and the US embassy isn't exactly in a heavily populated area. It is a fortress like building in a semi-isolated part of Abuja (near the Chinese embassy which is also quite impressive - somebody is trying to make a statement here).
Food scarcity looms as farmers flee Boko Haram attacks
Fallout out from Boko Haram. They expect the effects to be felt at the end of the year. Can anyone please explain further what the impact is likely to be?
http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/index...nal&Itemid=559THE National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has warned of a possible famine in the country, following a massive displacement of small and large-scale farmers from the North-East as a result of the Boko Haram insurgency in the area.
To curb further migration of farmers and livestock breeders, NEMA has constituted an Inter-Agency Contingency Committee (IACC).
The warning was made in the “2012 NEMA Report on Boko Haram Insurgency and Disasters in the North-East” made available to The Guardian yesterday in Maiduguri, Borno State.
The report read in part: “Nigeria may face famine by the end of this year because most of the small-scale farmers and big-time farmers in the North are threatened by the Boko Haram attacks. More than 65 per cent of such farmers have already migrated to the southern parts of Nigeria, fearing that the insecurity to both lives and property, including their farmlands and livestock, continues to persist for nearly three years.”
It further stated: “The Boko Haram attacks on these farmers who produce beans, onions, pepper, maize, rice, livestock and catfish in the Lake Chad area for the southern states in the country, have forced them to migrate since the insurgency broke out in Borno State in July 2009.”
The report also stated that the Boko Haram attacks had caused “a wholesale shift to a terrorism-focused approach to disasters in the North-East states,” comprising Borno, Adamawa, Yobe, Gombe, Bauchi and Taraba.
In addition, the report disclosed that the zonal office of NEMA had received an alert from the military on the need to prepare humanitarian contingency frame-work on the implications of the United Nations (UN) Peace-keeping troops withdrawals from Chad and Sudan, as well as the relative peace that might return to Central African Republic.
The displaced and idle rebels from these countries, it is feared, may see Nigeria as a fertile ground to explore for their nefarious activities, especially the border-states in the North-East.
The NEMA report stated that the insurgents, who invaded from neighbouring countries, have attacked several villages in Kala/Balge Local Council of Borno State.
“The foreign invaders imposed various sum of levies and taxes on the villagers ranging from N1 million to N3 million, according to the sizes of the village,” it stated.
The report also stated that the post-election violence displaced 10,000 people in the sub-region, with Bauchi State having the highest of 4,300 while Yobe and Gombe states had 507 and 498 in that order.
I believe they are quoting the local hire cop at the embassy. Those tend to be better fed, paid and trained, and, generally don't BS the regional security officer.Originally Posted by KingJaja
I checked out the area with our maps today. There is literally tons of room for young boys to get into trouble around the embassy - did you not do stupid things in your childhood ? May have to send you back to the States and show you how we blew up jack-o'-lanterns right across the street from the White House
As for the fortresses - remember the theory about the weakest link ?
The UN could pay better attention to why we don't have any more vehicles speeding into our embassies. No straight path - real simple stuff that a lot of people had to die for before we figured out the obvious.
If you want to blend in, take the bus
US slaps sanctions on 2 Iranian companies, 3 Quds Force officials, Nigerian shipping
The Nigerian name quoted is Northern, and Muslim. Doesn't help North-South, Muslim-Christian relationships.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politi...EeS_story.htmlWASHINGTON — The U.S. has hit two Iranian companies with sanctions for helping Iranian special forces export arms.
Tuesday’s action also penalized a Nigerian shipping agent and three members of Iran’s hardline Quds Force.
The Treasury Department said Yas Air and Quds officials Esmail Ghani, Sayyid Ali Akbar Tabatabaei and Hosein Aghajani shipped weapons to the Mideast and Africa as Iran sought to “evade international sanctions and export violence.” The airline moved assault rifles and mortar shells to Syria under cover of humanitarian aid.
The department cited Behineh Trading’s involvement in a shipment of grenades, rockets and mortars seized in Nigeria in 2010. Nigerian agent Ali Abbas Usman Jega was described as complicit.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Removing illicit arms and larger caliber projectiles from waring factions (among other things and destinations) was the intent of the sanctions, at least according to the Department of the Treasury's website here. But no, it probably won't do much for the current impasse in Nigeria.
This however has some semblance of hope:Behineh Trading, the shipping company, and the Nigerian agent designated today were involved in a weapons shipment seized in Nigeria in late October 2010. This weapons shipment – orchestrated by the IRGC-QF and intended for The Gambia – is part of a larger pattern of Iranian lethal aid shipments to clients in Africa and around the world.
Bomb factory discovered in Kogi
If you want to blend in, take the bus
Nigeria: Most Lagos Schools Privately Owned, Survey Reveals
Nothing illustrates a state in retreat/a failing state like this factoid - up to 70 percent of all schools in Lagos are privately owned! Think about it, in spite of the massive amounts of money available to Nigerian government over the last decade, the government has failed to (a) either provide the infrastructure for education or (b) adequately train teachers.
There are about 1.9 million children of school age in Lagos and out of that number only about 400,000 are enrolled in public schools. Since the literacy rate in Lagos is about 92 percent, one can assume that at least 1.4 million children are enrolled in private schools!
Lagos is the richest part of Nigeria. The situation in Lagos should give you an idea of what the difficulties would be in Northern Nigeria. Spending money on that part of the country simply won't do the trick. Government lacks the capacity to adequately administer Nigeria. Very troubling.
Lagos — A peep into the result of census of schools in Lagos conducted towards the end of last year has shown that most of the schools in the state are privately owned.
A comprehensive result of the census of primary and secondary schools conducted by the Lagos State Government in collaboration with Education Sector Support Programme in Nigeria (ESSPIN) beginning last year November would be made known in a later date.
ESSPIN Lagos State Team Leader, Dr. Gboyega Ilusanya, disclosed that as many as 70 per cent of all the schools in the state are owned by private operators. He, however, emphasised that the census is basically for data collection intended to develop the sector through strategic planning.
Ilusanya, who was guest at a recent media-training event in Lagos, also noted that the private schools were more willing to be part of the census, because they were assured that the exercise was not going to be used to deal with them for defaulting on standards.
He said the result of the census would aid in the provision of necessary information on enrolment, location and name-search for both public and private schools operating in the state.
EMIS State Specialist of ESSPIN (Kwara and Lagos), Dr. Joanna Harma, who explained the rationale for the schools' census in an interview with Daily Independent said, "The private school growth in Lagos has been spontaneous and unassisted by government, and these schools' ability to serve the population at nearly all socio-economic levels is highly significant. Therefore, the contributions of private schools needed to be recognised and better understood."
She remarked that the federal government's estimation of about 1.9 million children of school age in the state cannot be adequately backed by any document, adding that the state government can only account for 400,000 in public schools, meaning the rest of the children are out of the school or in private schools.
She also doused fears that the exercise was meant for inspection purposes and tax collection, adding that the data was basically to be used for planning purposes and possibly for designing intervention programmes to support private school initiatives in the state.
Ilusanya noted, "There is a peculiar issue in Lagos. The number of children in public primary school is documented by government. At the point of transition to Junior Secondary School, the state usually had more than 100 per cent transition. If we are expecting 100 from public schools to move into JSS or SSS classes in schools owned by government, we end up having more than 100 per cent enrolment. At that time one begins to wonder where they are coming from. This, most times, destabilises government plans, programmes and strategy for learning because the data of likely number that may come from the private schools is not accurate or non-existent and these are important and invaluable information needed for planning
Evangelicals and US Foreign Policy
I know that US foreign policy towards Israel is heavily influenced by evangelicals. What impact would these people have on US Africa policy if current Islamist inspired terrorism is presented as a struggle between Islam and Christianity for souls in one of the World's largest "mission grounds".
When are we likely to start hearing from Franklin Graham?
I recall that Gbagbo was presented as "Christian" being undermined by "Muslims". And that a serving US parliamentarian was openly in support of Gbagbo. Gbagbo is small potatoes, but Nigeria with its mega pastors and TBN (Trinity Broadcasting Network) superstars may be another matter all together.
The actual degree of influence is very much debatable. Lots of factors driving US support for Israel, difficult to say exactly how much influence any given one actually has.
My guess would be none. There's a very strong resistance in the US to involvement in African conflicts, it's seen as a black hole from which no positive escape is possible. I doubt that the evangelicals could overcome that resistance, or even that they'd try very hard.
“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary”
H.L. Mencken
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